Spiral Knights - End of Level/Mission Ranking and Rewards

End of Level/Mission Ranking and Rewards

10 replies [Last post]

Sun, 07/01/2012 - 16:21

Maharito

Previous well-received ideas: Remove gaming complacency!

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Folks determine for themselves how to fight monsters and explore the depths, and generally it boils down to some combination of quickness and thoroughness. Nobody tells them how to do this; it's just a matter of personal time availability and the desire to get the most bang for the energy buck.

...But what if we were evaluated for our diving prowess?

Whether it happens at the end of every level or only upon completion of a stratum/tier/mission, I think we deserve recognition for our efforts to play the game well. A ranking system (run by an NPC squad member) would provide us feedback and encourage a balance of quick, thorough playing. There would be no penalty for just rushing a level (unless indirectly by slightly nerfing level payouts so the new bonuses wouldn't imbalance things). But you would have to do well to earn a spin on the prize wheel, and particularly skilled play would earn additional rewards like a crown/heat multiplier bonus.

Example: For completing a Stratum 3 level:

Time (based on first person reaching lift or last crown/heat obtained, whichever occurs last; people can then wait for a depth change if they want)
★☆☆☆☆ - 20:01 or more
★★☆☆☆ - 13:01-20:00
★★★☆☆ - 10:01-13:00
★★★★☆ - 08:01-10:00
★★★★★ - 08:00 or less

(Note: This may need to be tweaked for arenas and fixed theme levels.)

Damage (each player receives their own stars)
★☆☆☆☆ - 161 or more HP lost in damage (more than 20 pips)
★★☆☆☆ - 81-160 HP lost in damage
★★★☆☆ - 25-80 HP lost in damage
★★★★☆ - 9-24 HP lost in damage
★★★★★ - 8 or less HP lost in damage (no more than a full pip); no revivals

(Note: This may need to be tweaked for arenas.)

Completion
★★ - For defeating every non-respawning enemy (half credit for missing no more than 3)
★ - For opening every treasure box possible
★ - For collecting all heat/crowns available from enemies/boxes (none faded out after the 120-second timer)
★ - For breaking (nearly?) all destructible objects that can contain items (e.g. grass)
★ - For every player obtaining a mineral

2-3 stars - E
4-6 stars - D
7-9 stars - C (earn prize wheel)
10-12 stars - B (earn prize wheel, +5% crowns/heat)
13-15 stars - A (earn prize wheel, +10% crowns/heat)
16 stars - S (earn prize wheel, +15% crowns/heat; maybe also +10 prestige if Tier 3 access not yet obtained)

These could be adjusted for different strata and extended to entire missions/strata/tiers (though the damage ratings could be softened for these scenarios).

Extension: If missions get ranks, save those ranks on the mission selection screen. Let people strive for the best rank in all missions. Perhaps grant additional rewards for getting all Bs/As/Ss...? Maybe even require a minimum rank to complete a mission??)

I just think this would make the game more fun all around and would encourage me to strive for perfection even more.

Sun, 07/01/2012 - 16:59

Demonicsothe

Time: Sometimes I

Time: Sometimes I purposefully leave heat on the ground because nobody needs heat. I know they despawn, but that's a few minutes of added time if we leave the area and proceed onto a party pad. Otherwise, it seems like an ok idea to add.

Damage: I don't think it should be damage, since nobody has really figured out the exactly number of hp per bar. There was a bunch of mathtalk earlier this year that said its about 40hp per bar, but its an estimate. Go by bars. Much easier to keep track of.

Completion: There are places in clockworks that forces you to choose between treasure boxes and heart boxes. Also that one room/area where you have to either hit a ghost block to open up space to treasure boxes, or hit the breakable block without hitting the ghost block. Coming from the bottom, that's fairly easy to figure out. But coming from the top, it's impossible to see and you have to guess. Its probably not randomized, but still.

Breaking every breakable takes forever. You could gear for it, with weapons that hit fast and wide. But really, every bush, grass, block, 3 hit blocks, and whatever else? Takes a bunch of time to be honest.

You can't force players to pick up minerals. Some don't want to waste time doing it, some just don't want any.

Rewards: Any sort of crown multiplier has to be looked at carefully. Better to just not have it at all, to avoid inflation. 15% of 8000 is 1200, which is a significant amount. It basically boosts your crown gains to 9k per 50ce. A massive increase in crown output.

Sun, 07/01/2012 - 17:04

Mikeyye

I could dig into that. The game economy has struck down. So why not make the elevators more profitable?

Sun, 07/01/2012 - 17:09

Demonicsothe

Another person who thinks crown inflation is not a problem for rising ce prices.

Sun, 07/01/2012 - 17:58

Luguiru

"Who did the best" again

When I first saw this thread I thought this would be another one of those kinds of threads, then I reread the grading system and rewards. First of all, no crown multipliers; we already have inflation. More heat is acceptable, but plopping more crowns into the economic toilet would clog the pipes. I assume the bonus is only valid in floors which would normally cost energy to enter, meaning no effect for Basil and reward floors (expansion and the new daily mission).

Seeing as the longer floors tend to have a higher payout to begin with and require constant fighting, eight to ten minutes for the timed portion is fitting as a universal time frame. After ten minutes the party is taking their sweet time or is struggling. Applying the time bonus ought to be individual to prevent leeching abuse.

Damage to health bar/pip rates are not consistent throughout the Clockworks as a definable number universally applicable; one bar in a T1 floor is not necessarily equal to one bar in T3 due to defenses. Either base health lost on pips or find exact values. I appreciate this rating is based on damage taken and not dealt. Similar to the timer, a certain proportion would be appropriate depending on tier; not percentage based ratings, but pip based. If it were percentage based than all you need is more health trinkets. For example, in T1 with minimum equipment you have five bars of health and with regular health 2*+ equipment (no Vitasuit, Ancient Plate, Scarlet, etc.) you have seven bars. In T1 you would have between five and seven bars without health buffs (Vitasuit, Ancient Plate, Scarlet, Vitapods, health trinkets). Seeing as each tier is supposed to be twice as difficult as the previous, the scale would be set to double with every following tier; T1 would have the base scale, T2 would be double of that, T3 would be quadruple of T1. In T1 you have at least five health bars, meaning five pips and stars to use; the main issue would be how quickly stars would be lost. With the ability to revive from an ally health transferal is less of an issue, so going one to one would be unfitting. Therefore, in T1 the scaling system would have to start with either two or three bars of health lost causing one star for the reward to be lost. That means losing accumulatively ten or fifteen bars would dwindle the star count for the grade of damage taken in T1. In T2 the health scaling system is different, starting with at least seven bars of health with a 2* helmet and torso to eleven bars while using H10 3* equipment. That means you have seven to eleven bars in one life worth of health. Going back to the previous scale, every four or six bars lost would mean losing one star rating on the grade scale. That means in T2 you have between 28 to 44 bars before losing all credibility in this grading scale. In T3 your health is allowed to go further, with a 4* H1 set starting you with eleven bars and 5* H10 starting you with fifteen bars. Returning to the previous scale, every eight or twelve bars of health lost would mean losing a whole star rank in the grading scale. That means you have between 88 and 180 bars before losing all credibility in this grading scale. Liquids. Over a hundred bars. Stick to two being the base value for T1, four for T2, and eight for T3.

Completion grading would spite rushing. Exquisite. Setting the requisite to open every treasure box would force people to open the energy gates. Some non-respawning enemies are also behind energy gates but are placed as part of the floor spawn patterns before the team is able to reach it, let alone activate the door. Having everyone clean all bushes, boxes, buckets and bananas is excessively tedious. I support the idea of a completion scale but not if it means forcing people to finish every single little detail on every pixel of the floor, including areas which require an energy door to be activated.

Having this generate more crowns is bad. Having it redirect players to something which consumes resources is good, such as giving tokens to be exchanged for recipes for new equipment yet to be described. To tie a few more loose ends, this system only applies through the Arcade; no missions. Want the new equipment? Arcade.

Sun, 07/01/2012 - 18:12

Maharito

I humbly object to the

I humbly object to the thought that people should ignore minerals. It's kind of the point of controlling the Clockworks that everyone pick up minerals and then deposit them to the gates! I didn't think I needed to clarify that. The game is more complex than a lot have reduced themselves to believing it is (hoarding the tradable kind of wealth to get equipment and customizations).

Also, I practically expect this would be coupled with a crown/heat nerf so that people earning about a B or A rank would be relatively unaffected, but consistent A/S performers would get ever so slightly more. It's less about the actual reward and more about making the player more invested in the experience. Sorry if that's a little too deep for your average suggestion. And maybe 100% grass-cutting is a bit ridiculous; give a margin of missing a few to make it saner. But yes, going for S rank would require a certain kind of preparation...and isn't that interesting in its own right??

Sun, 07/01/2012 - 18:59

Demonicsothe

Make it a stealth crown nerf.

Make it a stealth crown nerf. It would be great :D I would think S rank to have the current crown gains, if not less. Definately not more.

And it's not about what we should do, regarding minerals. The clockwork miles and similar, pathway typed depths often have side rooms with treasure and minerals. If one is pressed for time or wishing to simply not go and hit minerals, they would skip it. Another reason I object to everyone getting minerals is because one person can theoretically mess up the party member's ratings. Granted, this is a team game, but it would suck to miss S rank because 1 person decided not to spend time picking up minerals.

Mon, 07/02/2012 - 06:18

Dagunner

I like the idea. how about an actual score on levels and they can be put on a record sheet that can be seen when you inspect someone with full inspect. It be very useful for guild invitations, promotions, ect. it would show the players high scores. for example: least amounts of deaths in FSC, amount of times reaching the core, quickest Stratum 6 completion, lowest amount of damage lost in FSC, highest damage in a lock down match, ect.

Plus it would give people a way to distinguish the real pro's and noobs with good equip without having to do a level. (useful for GLD or SL runs)

Mon, 07/02/2012 - 06:27

Juances

lol, no. Statistics can be faked.

Least amounts of deaths in FSC? Die once and never revive :p Or sit in safely a corner. Same for damage received.
Boosting with friends can also be used to fake LD scores.
Quickest stratum 6? luck based, not skill. Whoever finds the shortest levels in a row.

We'd also need a honesty meter to take that seriously.

Mon, 07/02/2012 - 06:39

Dagunner

well...

obviously there would need to be some sort of preventative precautions to prevent faked scores. so for example if a person remains dead for too long the record isn't counted and also if the person doesn't attack enough it also isn't counted, fastest stratum 6 maybe not but fastest boss set would be not luck.
also in LD you can't fake a score just as you cant get in the same game as your friends at choice and GLD matches could be un recorded. and then there would have to be a thing in each level which records the percentage of how much you did. so if a random pro went into a T1 run the statistics would show that the pro guy did 90% of the work and only his records would be recorded preventing people getting scores that they don't deserve.

Wed, 07/04/2012 - 21:18

#10

Maharito

I'm not sure if anyone got

I'm not sure if anyone got the other implications of this ranking system... S is attainable, yes, but not consistently attainable. All you pro players think you'll get the top-of-the-heap rewards every time, but there ain't NOBODY who can kill every enemy without getting hit and open every box in any level in 8 minutes (this is even assuming your teammates help with the completion). It's just something you strive for. Luck will always play a significant role as it already does in a run's profitability (and a larger level that can't reasonably be S-Ranked would probably pay better anyway, wouldn't it?). Perhaps you should get an achievement for each stratum you get one S Rank on, just to show that you could do it.

And as I said already, the fixed levels like Plasamonium and Totem Trouble would get their own stringent 5-star requirements.

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End of Level/Mission Ranking and Rewards