[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by LoBlo

What if there was a submarine MMOPG? What would it look like? How would the players interact? Is is plausible?

I'm thinking that it would be a fun game to play, but would be slow paced (absolutely a game that is played semi-afk). It wouldn't be fun without sub-on-sub combat, so that would make modern subsims a must.... probably 1980s cold war. The environment would have to be small enough that it was possible to run into another sub more than once in a blue moon... like the mediterranean... there would need to be at least three or four different sides/factions to facilitate combat (and chances that an enemy is encountered). Control points would need to be placed in order to incentivize combat. The control point can be a port, coast, or strategic waterway. Control could be achieved by moving a SAG, ESG, CVBG, convoy, etc to that point to achieve control. One side would need to move their surface group from its port to the control point to capture it.

The submarine combat is geared around leaving your port and moving as a player wishes in the waterspace. He/she can choose to play free style hunter/killer, or escort, or survellience, sneek into enemy waters or guard friendly territory. The world would persist and players would log on and off as they please. Once a player logs on they start in the same coordinates that they logged off. When they log off, the ship stops, then a 45 minute timer will keep the ship in the game (as a potential target) before it is removed from the gamespace... this would keep players from cheating by logging off before being hit by a torpedo... or attacked after spotted. For a change a player can also pilot ships, and aircraft (probably will need up to 3 characters per account... one for surface, one for sub, and one for aircraft.

Advancement is achieved by earning points and spending points on upgrades, better ship classess, upgraded weapons, sensors, or crews. Points are earned with kills and with achieving control points. These control points can be upgraded as well with defenses (minefields, SAM sites, etc) by first upgrading a convoy and then escorting the convoy from a port to a control point. Points could also be earned by survellience (ie persisting in an enemy territory without being detected) or trailing (ie having an enemy detected for an alotted amount of time).

Obviously there are a ton of ways this could be detailed. It would probably take a big commitment from a game developer to run the servers... and a small subscription fee... I definately would play it.

MP in SH3 was always a minority in number of players game but I'd certainly be interested in the above....provided the servers were reliable and preferably mobile (as in individuals could use their own bandwidth to perform the hosting function).