I'd been looking at those recent videos of multiplayer sessions with 400+ players, and it got me thinking about how to make something already so great even better. Implementing this idea would involve a few things:
1. Adding faction-related commands players can type in
2. Adding faction-related options/features to certain existing game objects and the game itself
3. Adding one or two items in order to improve the faction system
1. Faction Commands and Ranks
Each faction can contain any number of players. These players can be sorted into three possible ranks(Admin <-> Mod <-> Member), with related faction abilities. Initially, every player would have access to a command like "CF/ Pandas", which in this case would create a new faction named "Pandas", with the faction creator being made an admin.
Admin - Any admin has access to the following commands:
- Change faction name (if new name is available)
- Promote/Demote given player within faction
- Able to create/dissolve relation with another faction (Hostile/Neutral/Ally. More on this later)
- Invite/Kick given player into/out of faction
- Ability to change current research
Mod - Any mod has access to the following commands:
- Invite/Kick given (non-mod, non-admin) player into/out of faction
- Ability to change current research
Member - Members have no commands, but receive benefits for being in a given faction.
So now we have a faction, and we have our players neatly in their hierarchy. What does this mean for us? Well, first of all, All research is shared in a faction to faction basis. This means that if you're just entering a server and want to benefit from a bigger faction, you have to be invited in. Now this would mean, of course, that implementation would require a bit of re-working of how research currently works. Perhaps a "Channel" system, where each player by default is in their own "channel" with their own research tree upon joining a server, but upon joining a faction, they would then adopt that faction's research and all of its benefits (or downsides, if they, say, switched from a faction with high research to one with less).
Then we have faction relations. By default, each faction starts off hostile to one another (such is the way). This will become more important further down, but the relations of any faction (alterable only by admins from each group), can range from being hostile, to neutral, to allies. The interesting thing is that each relation is only a one-way street. For two factions to truly be "allied" for example, an admin from both must set the other faction as an "allied" faction. This would mean that your ally could switch their own relation to you as "hostile" without you knowing for some kind of sneak attack with you none the wiser.
This would mean that setting any faction as "neutral", and especially "allied" is not something to be taken lightly!
So we've got research, but how else can this be made interesting? Well...
2. Faction-related options/features with current game objects/game
First of all, any object placed on the ground will be given a tag matching the faction of the person who placed it (null if not in a faction). This means that if you place a block anywhere and someone in a (non-ally/non-neutral) faction removes it, the game will respond as if a hostile alien had attacked and destroyed it. This way everyone in the faction will know right away if someone is messing with their city (unless it's some kind of faction relation related sneak attack).
So we know that factions can attack factions, but how can they defend themselves? That's where the walls and defenses, normally meant for mindless aliens, come into play.
Walls - By default, all walls would be -far- harder to remove if it's placed by a member of another hostile faction. This would mean that rather than walking up and mining, an aggressive party would instead try to break them down, as one would expect.
Turrets and Defenses - By default, turrets would only attack aliens once placed, as they currently do. Once placed, however, they could be altered to attack certain targets both in a broad and specific respect, although specific options would be more difficult to set up.
Broad targets - by opening up a given turret's menu (or through hot-key-click), a turret can be set to attack "aliens only", "aliens + hostile factions", or "aliens + hostile/neutral factions". anyone who fits into a given parameter would now be a target. This would allow factions to not only set up defenses against other factions, but also allow for a "tiered" defense system in the city (eg. an outer wall that allows neutral factions to pass by, but an inner wall that allows only faction members and ally factions through).
Specific targets - through the use of signals and a circuit network, factions can make turrets "smarter" by opening up new possibilities for those they target. They will still follow their broad target rules, but now a player could, say, pass in a signal to all turrets in one network that tell them "Also shoot any normal members". This would allow them to create a safehouse area that only mods and admins are allowed to enter, and all others would be targeted. The same would hold true for a signal to "also shoot mods" or perhaps even "also shoot admins" to make things more interesting.
Combat drones - by default, combat drones would only attack aliens. However, if the player holds down a given hotkey before tossing them out, they can be specified to target "aliens + hostile factions" or "aliens + hostile/neutral factions"
Floor Tiles - Not strictly for defense, the floor tiles could be changed to keep hostile players from easily causing havoc in a given faction's base. Essentially, if a player tries to place something onto a tile (stone or concrete), the game checks to see if said player is part of a hostile faction. If they are, they can't place the object until the player in question removes the tile (which would set off the same warnings as a hostile faction would destroying any other base part). This means that using concrete tiles, factions can essentially "claim land" for their own, areas they not only move faster, but where hostile, potentially warring factions can't simply run in and spam turrets and walls within.
Then, there are the other game objects. Most would not need entirely new commands, but rather slight additions to account for factions. As an example, if a storage container has contents removed by someone of another faction, it could provide a related warning (with sound or without) depending on if the given person is from a hostile or neutral faction, so those within the faction can gauge how worried they should be. (This would mean that anther faction could potentially enact a "Raid" on one of your mining facilities or a sabotage on a trainstop location, either to destroy objects or simply steal goods). Finally, there are the new, faction-gameplay specific items.
3. New faction related items
Trading Storage - This storage bin would contain storage on the left (for items to be sold) and storage on the right (for items received). The layout would look something like this (forgive my artwork):
Much like any other item, this item would be given a "faction tag" for the person who placed it. This would mean that only members of that faction would be allowed to alter the contents or requirements of that box. the area in the middle would be where one would change what object(s) are to be sold (left box), and for how much they will be purchased for (right box). To use it, a non-faction-member would approach and open the box. then, they could select the blue center button if they wished to initiate a trade. This box would then do as follows:
- Check box contents to see if there are enough items available to be sold
- Check requesting player's inventory to see if they have the needed item to complete the trade
- Check if there is room in player's/boxes inventory to complete the trade
- remove X items from player's inventory into the box's right side, and take requested item from the right side and place it into player's inventory.
There could also be an option on the box to determine whether it can be altered by all faction members or only by the player who placed it, for more potential item-trading possibilities.
"Currency" - Whether this be a coin or some such, this would be a craftable item that can be stacked much higher than others, and whose purpose would solely be for assisting in item trades between players. I can imagine the crafting value/cost would roughly make it so that one "coin" would be equal in value to roughly 100 pieces of iron or copper plates.
Faction Spawn Pad - When this item is placed, it would act as the location for players of a particular faction to spawn in when they either die or log on to the server.
With a combination of factions, relations, defense options, trading and currency, I can see the potential for servers with hundreds of people, each in their own grouped factions built in different parts of the map, trading and warring between one another, and making Factorio into a real "living" world. What do you folks think?
