[REQUEST] Aid Flags!

[Enfaru]

Dear Mods,

I would like to request a contribution for the Raiding Defending Game. Aid Flags.

A simple item that Regional Officers can interact with based on their permissions (say...Communications?) whereby they can put a "Flag" on to the top of their region. I dunno something like a flashing red cross, meaning a call for aid.

This would then flag up on all allied Embassy regions, denoting the region and their aid status. This could be used in two ways.

1. A Call to Arms - Central Command has issued a command to go on a raid against...well, contact CO for details.
2. A Call to Defence - Ally has noted suspicious raiders incoming or believes they are under attack.

When that flag is called, WAs from every allied region flock to the cause.

That said it would nice to use Aid Flags in a more role-play like manner as well. So not just about raiding and defending but perhaps just to reflect the "status" of the region, whether they're "at peace", "at war", "defeated" so on and so forth.

----

Further...

Would there be a way to negate or increase influence costs during a raid? Say by raiders sabotaging somehow? The way I see it working is that a raider can sneak in and press a button that would decrease the amount of influence a regional officer has perhaps related to the amount of influence they have. Likewise once this has begun, WA's would also have the option of supporting the Regional Officers at the cost of their own influence.

It's just a thought.

...(for someone that takes no part in the game...dammit).

[The Blaatschapen]

Considering that most military actions get organised in private, I wonder if any Raider or Defender would actually use this?

[Sanctaria]

Couldn't they just write it in the WFE?

[Czkauvek]

I like this idea!

Not all allies will check your WFE, so it would be good to have some form of alert system for your allies.

[Enfaru]

Considering that most military actions get organised in private, I wonder if any Raider or Defender would actually use this?

Raiders, I'm not entirely sure as I don't know how they operate. Defenders would though!

It really depends on how the Raiders are structured and to my knowledge *would* be useful.

Raiders usually I think operate from either one region, spread out and conquer many regions (in which they establish embassies). These players then have to listen for a command on what their next target it is, when to return to base and so on. Allowing a Raiding flag, allows the players to know that there is an operation on (spreading fear and terror amongst the defender regions of course >:D) without letting anyone know who their target is. The flags would go up in all allied regions and the attack would immediately commence at least for all those listening.

An additional flag, "Conquered Flag" could also be implemented and would encourage "Siege Raids" that is, they [raiders] would have to hold a region for Seven days, while the flag "loads" after which it would label the region as conquered, forever in the Raiding region's permanent history. This would give more meaning than to how regions are currently raided.

They charge in, get a one hit wonder, change some tags around and maybe...if we're all lucky establish an embassy and pretend that they've won some kind of victory. *applauds the sheer inanity*. Most regions cite their trophies on some kind of Gameplay Page but to be fair, I can say what I like on Gameplay pages...so can raiders. Yet the proof would be in the pudding.

I can't see a raider objecting a Conquered Flag and I think most of them, once they realize that it can be a rallying cry as well as a battle cry, striking fear into the heart of all innocent regions.... that they'll use it too. Just for the terrorism factor.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

Sounds awful like officially adding a war function to the game

[Enfaru]

Not quite... at least... not in any way Violet doesn't heartily approve of!

The difference between this suggestion and most other war suggestions is that this isn't about attacking or doing damage to nations. It's not really about doing damage to regions (no more so than is already encouraged). It is however about making Embassies more useful and making the Gameplay more exciting (because c'mon, gameplay is no longer about how to choose issues, it's about Raiding and Defending XD).

[The Blaatschapen]

(because c'mon, gameplay is no longer about how to choose issues, it's about Raiding and Defending XD).

More people answer issues than participate in raiding or defending.

[Enfaru]

I was referring to the Gameplay Forum area...which for example...has it's own "Complete Guide to Military Gameplay" rather that whether there's a greater number of people who answer issues than to abuse the WA Delegate system (which is no longer considered an abuse). In fact most recent additions, such as Regional Officers, are there not for the benefit of regional management but to make the R&D game more interesting. (Evidenced by the Gameplay "R/D" Summit SUBFORUM... for something that is just a small part of nationstates...it sure gets a helluva lot attention). But that's just me whining.

I much prefer to work with what I have and if that means abusing R&D to suit my own needs... >_>; (Seriously, Regional Management was a god send. Thanks).

[The Freehold of Caelton]

I think I like this idea... Wouldve helped me when I was raided this morning...
Maybe make it where, if enough of a % of "natives" as noted by the game itself(I dunno how the game itself classifies it...isnt it "someone who has been here a certain period of time"?) all click on the "call to defense" flag, it could make any password the raiders put in place obsolete, but only for allied regions? I dunno...just my own 2 cents...

[Enfaru]

Good idea for a failsafe, i.e no regional officers or wa delegate around for significant length of time. .

Edit.

Making the password obsolete is awesome. I like that.

[Reploid Productions]

Just gonna toss some quick US$0.02 in here:
If something like this was implemented, it would only function as a communication tool. I don't see the techies being down for something that auto-sets passwords or dismantles them.

[Alustrian]

"natives" as noted by the game itself(I dunno how the game itself classifies it...isnt it "someone who has been here a certain period of time"?)

The game has not classified nations as native/nonnative since the advent of influence.

The WFE, RMB, and the actual regional flag already cover a solid amount of this suggestion. For the massive deployments that you are talking about - DEN has placed deployment orders on its WFE, 10KI has used its RMB, etc.

[Enfaru]

Alustrian, check under polls and then tap who can vote, you should find Native/non-native under there somewhere.

It sounds like you are using NS++, I do not. Therefore regional flags absolutely do not cover that situation nor does the WFE. The RMB *might* if communications are permitted but even then, you have to go post in them individually. The Flag is a one click alarm. Sure I could go door to door to tell everyone of a raging fire...or I could sound the siren.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

Alustrian, check under polls and then tap who can vote, you should find Native/non-native under there somewhere.

It sounds like you are using NS++, I do not. Therefore regional flags absolutely do not cover that situation nor does the WFE. The RMB *might* if communications are permitted but even then, you have to go post in them individually. The Flag is a one click alarm. Sure I could go door to door to tell everyone of a raging fire...or I could sound the siren.

And then three dozen such alarms will go off every time a tag run sweeps by, rendering the whole lot meaningless.

Defenders are going to spot anything that requires their intervention rather than just a tidying up themselves, no flags needed, and occupied regions won;t have a native in power to deploy an alarm anyways.

[The Silver Sentinel]

Alustrian, check under polls and then tap who can vote, you should find Native/non-native under there somewhere.

It sounds like you are using NS++, I do not. Therefore regional flags absolutely do not cover that situation nor does the WFE. The RMB *might* if communications are permitted but even then, you have to go post in them individually. The Flag is a one click alarm. Sure I could go door to door to tell everyone of a raging fire...or I could sound the siren.

And then three dozen such alarms will go off every time a tag run sweeps by, rendering the whole lot meaningless.

Defenders are going to spot anything that requires their intervention rather than just a tidying up themselves, no flags needed, and occupied regions won;t have a native in power to deploy an alarm anyways.

Precisely. As an actual defender, I can say this is a terrible idea that would rarely if ever be used.

[Alustrian]

Alustrian, check under polls and then tap who can vote, you should find Native/non-native under there somewhere.

It sounds like you are using NS++, I do not. Therefore regional flags absolutely do not cover that situation nor does the WFE. The RMB *might* if communications are permitted but even then, you have to go post in them individually. The Flag is a one click alarm. Sure I could go door to door to tell everyone of a raging fire...or I could sound the siren.

And then three dozen such alarms will go off every time a tag run sweeps by, rendering the whole lot meaningless.

Defenders are going to spot anything that requires their intervention rather than just a tidying up themselves, no flags needed, and occupied regions won;t have a native in power to deploy an alarm anyways.

I didn't realize that poll option was available...and I have to admit I laughed a bit at the criteria (and it is a far cry from the long-debated definition of "native"). If we end up using that as an official definition in any additional contexts, we are truly in trouble.

And I apologize - I skimmed your suggestion and misunderstood. My cited examples were for internal communication and are indeed different from what you are suggesting (I do not use NS++, but that is not particularly relevant). With that said, what you are suggesting is not very useful Souls covered it well - during a raid there would be no one to deploy the alarm. It would be a very rare case where the raiders miss, stay in the region, and there is an RO with this "flag power" online that does not also have BC - and all this flag would do would save that nation some time TGing nations.

On the "conquered" note. No. >_> I am not sure precisely how/where you envision this Conquered Label being permanently displayed, but if it is 1-(actually prominent) then I see no reason to give raiders this extra ego boost, 2-(not prominent) then I do not see why it would matter

[The Freehold of Caelton]

Alustrian, check under polls and then tap who can vote, you should find Native/non-native under there somewhere.

It sounds like you are using NS++, I do not. Therefore regional flags absolutely do not cover that situation nor does the WFE. The RMB *might* if communications are permitted but even then, you have to go post in them individually. The Flag is a one click alarm. Sure I could go door to door to tell everyone of a raging fire...or I could sound the siren.

And then three dozen such alarms will go off every time a tag run sweeps by, rendering the whole lot meaningless.

Defenders are going to spot anything that requires their intervention rather than just a tidying up themselves, no flags needed, and occupied regions won;t have a native in power to deploy an alarm anyways.

My little suggestion of "A certain number of natives clicks the button" still stands... I am however not completely sure what qualifies under the criteria in-game of "native", so that may need updating or looking at...
Either way, if the region is simply tag raided, then it will be no issue when the founder/re-afixed delegate simply destroys the stuff, but when someone is *actually actively in control* of the region, and the natives can't control it, THEN it's a problem. I was lucky that mine was merely a tag raid, and I've done work to fix my mistakes, but really... If you have a founderless region without any way of retaliating, and there is a password against their will... What eactly do you do?

[Enfaru]

I didn't realize that poll option was available...and I have to admit I laughed a bit at the criteria (and it is a far cry from the long-debated definition of "native"). If we end up using that as an official definition in any additional contexts, we are truly in trouble.

And I apologize - I skimmed your suggestion and misunderstood. My cited examples were for internal communication and are indeed different from what you are suggesting (I do not use NS++, but that is not particularly relevant). With that said, what you are suggesting is not very useful Souls covered it well - during a raid there would be no one to deploy the alarm. It would be a very rare case where the raiders miss, stay in the region, and there is an RO with this "flag power" online that does not also have BC - and all this flag would do would save that nation some time TGing nations.

On the "conquered" note. No. >_> I am not sure precisely how/where you envision this Conquered Label being permanently displayed, but if it is 1-(actually prominent) then I see no reason to give raiders this extra ego boost, 2-(not prominent) then I do not see why it would matter

The Conquered item would go under History.

Lets say DEN invaded TEP. Sure they took it over briefly. Before being repelled at whim by defenders...and guess what. There's no lasting evidence that they did invade/take over.
So... apply the Conquered Flag to the situation.

DEN invades TEP, activates the flag (entering their region's name possibly) and manages to stay there and in control for 7 days (this would work best with regions that can't use password control). Once seven days has passed it would be entered into the permanent history of DEN:
https://www.nationstates.net/page=regio ... region=den

With the following phrase: x Days x Hours X Minutes ago: DEN conquered Region_Y

Makes it just a little bit more interesting both for defenders and raiders.

[Tim-Opolis]

As an R/D'er, I can say with confidence that capable raiders would definitely never use this, and defenders have better methods than this we already use. Plus, you make "flock to the cause" seem far easier than it is. If you want to help flock to the cause though, you can join us for Bi-Daily Refresh Simulator 2016, otherwise known as what R/D ultimately boils down to for either side. Not trying to legitimately recruit, just pointing out the futility of some sort of call like this, given that anybody not moving right during the region's update will be a waste of a nation.