Cap Exchange / Round Draw?

[jitspoe]

I'm trying to come up with a balance here... the old system had some pretty big flaws that resulted on cap-on-the-newbie fests or just flat out cap fests where there'd be 1 person alive on each team running back and forth capping flags, sometimes scoring 20 or 30 points before the round ended.  This really detracted from teamwork and left the major burdon on the last player alive (which was often some newbie who camped in the corner all round).

The new system with the flag cap ends round and flag must be at base settings helped out a lot, I think.  If somebody capped on a newbie, he'd only be able to get 1 capture and the round would restart.  Teamwork improved because people would actually back the flag carrier up rather than waiting in the enemy base for the flag to be returned.  A single player on each team wouldn't rack up a bunch of points by repeated flag runs because he couldn't capture the flag while the other team's player had his flag, but that lead to a small problem that has upset a lot of people with short attention spans.

When a player on each team has the flag, they wait in their base for their teammates to go kill the other flag carrier.  This can go on for a while, so I'm looking for a way to keep the game flowing in a fair manner.

One idea I had was some type of "cap exchange."  If both teams have the flag, and both carriers are touching their bases (maybe after a certain period of time, or only if the other teammates are eliminated), both teams get a couple of points and the round ends.

Another option would be some type of "round draw" where after a certain period of time the round just ends.

Thoughts?

[agent-hwk]

like they get points for haveing the flag and the round ends?

[jitspoe]

I'm not sure how point bonuses should work in the round draw scenario.  Also, it might be difficult to make the round draw work well.  If it's purely time based, you might have a killer round going on with lots of flag grabs, flag carrier kills, going back and forth for a while, but nothing that actually triggers a round end.  In that case it would kind of suck to just have all of a sudden, BOOM round draw!  Possibly right as somebody's about to capture the flag.  It would need to be done in such a way that the round draw only occurs after there's been no flag activity for a while, I guess...  I'm not sure what the ideal way to do it would be.

I'm also not sure if I should go with just the cap exchange, just the round draw, or both.

[agent-hwk]

yeah it mite make the gameplay alot more wierd. what about if there people playing that dnt make it to the flag for a while newbs?

[jitspoe]

There's also the size of the map to be considered.  A round on brainstorm can easily last several minutes, regardless of server settings.

[Cobo]

how about if each team member is allowed to cap only one time for each roud.
that way when all the members capped the only thing they can do is eliminate the enemy.
hat would be a fair way to play.

[jitspoe]

That sounds a little complicated, and unfair in situations where the teams are unbalanced due to odd numbers of players.

[Cobo]

ok... what if you make every cap after the first one worth less points?

[loial21]

Dear Sir,

     I have come to the conclusion that the way capping is being done sucks.

   Worse case and most often when only one player left on per team (castle1,renior,brainstorm,etc...) and both just grabbed the flag, you can literally chase each other around till the cows come home (how fun is that ? answer meh!) or sit by cap zone and wait for your team to respawn so that they can hunt down flag (how fun is that? answer meh!) 

Now I know you know all of this however, My point is this , ITS PHAQING BORING!!!!  and you know this!!!

IS there any way to make cap end of round instead?

Thanks poopy

sorry i guess that was a little harsh

[Eiii]

I think the current way is great. A lot better then the old 'flag runs' that happened.

[loial21]

Yes the current way is better but cap ends the round is best.

[Eiii]

The current way is cap ends round.

[loial21]

I refering to the pickups

[agent-hwk]

yeah i like it where the cap ends the round and you have to have you're flag to cap