1001 MORE things you can do with faction points

[Ithirahad]

This is a weird system. I'm not sure if I like the idea of turning faction points into what is essentially faction mana for predefined and named area spells. I was thinking more along the lines of a currency, to hire NPCs, buy NPC faction ships, hire mercenary ships as part of fleets or for system patrols, and maybe even order your faction's ships en masse from the trading guild. That last one would have to cost a lot though, obviously, and would probably have some hard size/mass limit.

Instead of 'game-y' ability points, think of faction points as a stand-in for your faction's unseen non-player population, resources, and currencies that, for obvious reasons, can't all actually be simulated. As your faction gains members, resources, and influence, you can do more, and as other factions defeat you in combat, you lose territory, and lose resources, and if you lose too much your faction collapses.(i.e. the homebase becomes vulnerable, in game terms, though homebase invulnerability mightn't even be necessary eventually)

 

[QuantumAnomaly]

Instead of 'game-y' ability points, think of faction points as a stand-in for your faction's unseen non-player population, resources, and currencies that, for obvious reasons, can't all actually be simulated. As your faction gains members, resources, and influence, you can do more, and as other factions defeat you in combat, you lose territory, and lose resources, and if you lose too much your faction collapses.(i.e. the homebase becomes vulnerable, in game terms, though homebase invulnerability mightn't even be necessary eventually)

I like this a lot as well. I can agree on a little less AOE-type stuff, but just wanted to get people's minds thinking about doing something DIFFERENT is all. I like faction points as a stand-in for your reputation, power, influence, etc. I like the idea of using it to call in support, or do some other things to help other faction members (or even hurt enemies).

With the increase in the number of NPC factions, even some political warfare could be neat, where you "badmouth" a player faction to someone like the trade guild, who raises prices on the offending player faction, of course it would have to be balanced so you couldnt break someones bank over it, or maybe have a backfire chance where the trade guild doesnt believe you and raises prices on you instead. I dunno, a little more risk, and a lot more choice, is what i want to see.

 

[Ithirahad]

Yeah, agreed. But magically buffing allies and debuffing enemies? I think not... All the optimization, tuning, and engineering of ships will mean nothing if you suddenly find yourself forced down in power by some artificial mechanic.

 

[Broomsage]

You could supply what ships spawn with something like the ai wave editor thing that admin have. The gui is already there!(kind of)
First you would need to tell how many faction points = credits. Spawning a fleet would cost faction points.

The cost of spawning the fleet would be determined by the combined mass of the ships spawned.
Basically, have a mass spawn ships button and a wave management button for non admins that cost faction points.
Spawning cost should be Fp=mass to spawn*distance from faction home base.

This allows for your enemies to deplete your faction points so they can then damage your home base.

Also perks for being in faction territory shouldn't cost anything but should be unlocked as your faction grows and you lose them when you expend assets for war or defense. Ex; 100 FP perk times 1.5, 500 FP perk times 2 ect
This certainly requires a way to make more faction points per turn so that factions can actually afford things without alt accounts

 

[nightrune]

I was thinking more along the lines of a currency, to hire NPCs, buy NPC faction ships, hire mercenary ships as part of fleets or for system patrols, and maybe even order your faction's ships en masse from the trading guild. That last one would have to cost a lot though, obviously, and would probably have some hard size/mass limit.

Currency is close but I'm looking at it as influence. I'm hoping it acts like a stand in for micro managing politics. So possibly being able to sell/buy sectors from the npcs and other factions without war. Or create allies for a cost.