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Holding Ground
Or: Why Shotcops Are Ontologically Anti-RP
(And a Pro-RP Alternative)
Or: Why Shotcops Are Ontologically Anti-RP
(And a Pro-RP Alternative)
The Reason for This Thread (Why Shotcops Need Disincentivizing)
If you decide to read onwards, I want you to brush aside your 6 or so years of conceived notions about shotcops, rebelRP, and the dichotomy between rebels and the Combine. Your prior experiences will inevitably taint your experience of reading this suggestion, since it indisputably changes an aspect of the server that many people consider part of its core identity, and many would rank it as a “sacred cow” aspect of HL2RP.
Arguing against shotcops is a radically stupid idea, and I have been warned by many people not to make this thread with the explanation of "regardless of the content of your suggestion, people will take the piss out of you because you want to disincentivize shotcops.” I’m making this suggestion regardless, because I think change, and the discussion of change, will inevitably bring better solutions. With that in mind:
I asked around on the rebel discord about why they shotcop, particularly, what they gain from it. Here are the answers I received.
Shotcops are an antiquated, 6+ year-old creation from many iterations ago, that people think far too fondly about in comparison to what it actually brings to the table.
What it brings to the table is pretty needless S2K that wastes the time of both the rebels and Combine, putting a dampener on the roleplay in the server. Now, maybe you're in agreement with most others, and think that the simple reason of "it's fun" justifies its own existence, even though it boldly and bravely goes against most-everything this server tries to achieve. It's the black sheep of nebulous, a perfect combination of technically justifiable IC reasoning (I hate the Combine because they enslaved the earth, killed my family, etc) and OOC actual reasoning (I want to shoot someone). These justifications are the perfect blend of both reasonable from an in-character perspective, and completely flies in the face of roleplay from an out-of-character perspective.
Shotcops have, historically, only really brought pain and bad experiences. Multi-hour long sweeps, PK appeals for uninvolved characters who got caught in the crossfire, entire situations being voided due to a rule break, both the rebels and CPs having to drop all of their RP to engage in a grinding, attritional bit of warfare, losing ammo and guns and having to deal with NLR, all because ONE (1) person decided they wanted a dopamine hit from shooting a cop and legging it. And yet, even though shotcops exist solely for the OOC fun of one person, whilst ruining the fun for many others, people simply consider this part and parcel for the server. Besides entrenched stockholm syndrome to years-old rules and traditions, I can’t see why.
The Solution Presented (An Alternative to Wanton Murder)
If you’ve ever played an action tactics game like Dawn of War, Company of Heroes and the likes, you’ll understand immediately what my suggestion is:
Holding Territory. Command Points. Frontline Warfare. Take and Hold.
On each map, some staff, maybe the SD, maybe the lead crafter, will mark areas of the map as areas of interest for the rebels to hold. Holding and maintaining a key location will drip-feed the rebels thematically appropriate loot, allowing them to consistently, fairly, and, in a manner that the Combine can interact with, gain power.
Let’s give an example:
One map has a warehouse. This warehouse is marked as a key location. So long as rebels hold the warehouse (the definition of hold here is up to common sense. If there are rebels there uncontested, it’s held. If the Combine haven’t sweeped it, it’s held, etc.), then every 24 hours (or once an hour, or some other measurement of time), the rebels get given x amount of chunks of plastic, spools of cable, scrap metal, boxes of screws, etc. So if the rebels really need a toolbox, they can send a sortie out, hold the warehouse for some time, and then have the materials to create one.
But the Combine obviously don’t want this happening. So, they send their own sorties and sweeps across their territories, firstly trying to find what locations the rebels are holding, and then, trying to flush them out from it. Sticking with the idea of this drip-feeding being once a day, let’s say the Combine can only perform this sweep once a day, lest we have an infinity sweep that just BTFO’s all the rebels back to the safe zone. So, the Combine get one opportunity per day to flush the rebels out, and if they fail, rebels get another surplus of items. If they succeed, rebels aren’t able to retake the warehouse for some time, maybe a day or two, lest we have jank leapfrog mechanics of rebels running in to hold the warehouse mere seconds after the sweep’s ended.
If you wanted to be more specific in what the rebels are given, you can opt to give them specific items instead of crafting materials. Hold a medical center, get medkits. Hold an abandoned armory, get firearms. Hopefully you understand the idea.
The Escalation of Resistance (Wait, Why Are We Fighting Again?)
Of course, holding relatively out-of-the-way warehouses, apartment buildings, stores, etc, isn’t indicative of real resisting. That’s why this system would be designed with the core principle that the closer the key location is to the city centre, or the nexus, or the Combine base, the more beneficial it is for the rebels. This simulates an encroaching front line, as the rebels slowly increase in power by holding the safer areas, before pushing deeper and deeper into Combine territory. Holding some location of low importance miles away from the enemy would give you a trickle of goods, but in return, you’re relatively safe, and in your own territory for the most part.
This is a Cold Hold. If the Combine sweep and kill the rebels holding the location, they get NLR and the key location is locked for a while.
This serves as the baseline function of the mechanic, and should always be the default and norm so that rebels can always progress economically, even if at a slow rate.
Examples of Cold Hold locations include notable spots far away from Combine territory, like warehouses, abandoned apartments, buildings that’ve been adjusted via props (2-3 props is enough to turn a ruin into “an old medical centre”) and similar.
Diving deep into the city to take Union Medical by storm and hold it while you ransack it of all the medkits you can is a Hot Hold. The rate of resource acquisition is far faster, maybe 30-60 minutes compared to the usual 1 day. This is a raid, not a long-term holding prospect.
Get killed holding one of these, and you get a TK/PK (can’t decide between them presently. Maybe a 3 day TK to represent a grievous injury, or perhaps getting captured. Either way, consequences occur). Successfully hold off the sweep entirely, and you get a large payout of the materials you were after, a notification (via local event or such) that the place has been looted dry, and a heavy recommendation to run back to safety, because at this point, the Combine are able to unleash a full, unending sweep until all the involved rebels get back to the rebel zone. If a Hot Hold ends, regardless of whether it was successful or not, the location becomes locked for the rest of the map. You only get one shot with each spot, so the rebels are heavily incentivized to plan this out.
Examples of Hot Hold locations include anything that is distinctly within core Combine territory, or within line of sight of their base. Buildings that’re generally owned by the Combine.
Explanations (But Why? Why Would I Do Any of This?)
You like shooting cops. Okay. That’s fair. Can we make shooting cops actually beneficial to the server, though? Beyond the instinctual satisfaction of blowing someone’s head off, you can do the exact same thing whilst actively aiding your own faction by attacking, taking, and holding points on the map. You get your S2K. You get your cool ambushes. You get that visceral feeling of glee from running into the city to start a shootout.
But now instead of being an asshole that’s under PK risk, you’re a freedom fighter taking a risk to benefit your people.
You’re still shooting cops. You still run into the city streets and blow a CP away with a shotgun. But this time, instead of running away and forcing every CP and rebel on the server to engage in prolonged S2K for little to no actual reason, you’re backed up by a squad. You raid a building. You hold and defend that building. You gather supplies. You fight the cops off. You flee before OTA arrive. Maybe then you fight off the sweep, having gained a multitude of medical supplies, or ammunition, or even weapons. Maybe some of the key locations don’t even have tangible bonuses, but instead give RP rewards like access to long-range radios that let you contact Lambda.
Ain’t that more interesting than “I shoot cop because it’s fun”?
Implementation (I Ain’t Counting Hours Every Day!)
Alright, so this is the challenging part. I can wax and wane all day about it would be so awesome, it would be so cool for this to be implemented. But then someone would have to keep check of all the locations, who owns them, and how long they’ve owned them. Maybe spreadsheets would help, but that’s eh.
All in all, this may come to coding. Some kind of tool that lets you map out an area (or just a circular radius tool) and then ticks 24 hours, checking to see if the last person in it was holding the Combine flag or was a citizen. If Combine, lock it for 24 hours, and then start the check after that?
I’m not completely certain on how to code it, so if this idea gets traction it may genuinely just come down to staff eyeballing it and going “yeah you’ve held the warehouse for about a day, you get your supply stimulus.”
Afterword (In a Suggestion? Really?)
This is a monumental shift in both mindset and how HL2RP servers in general are ran. I doubt this’ll get any serious consideration, but I had to throw the idea out there just so there’d be discussion, at the very least.
If you’ve read this entire thing, thanks for reading.
Finally, I'll ping some folks who argue good, or would likely have a vested interest in aspects of this change.
@Rabid (Lawyer)
@Subeh @deathwolf @Nathant18 (Rebel Leaders afaik)
@TheInnkeeper (Crafting)
@Rod (Makes actual Maps and thus would allow easier marking of key locations)
Suggestion: Do the above
Why it would be worth adding: Explained above
Necessary content: Maybe coding, but maybe not
Why it would be worth adding: Explained above
Necessary content: Maybe coding, but maybe not
Addendum
After some consideration, I'd realized this suggestion was one-sided towards rebels. It promises interactive territory control and a proactive way for rebels to acquire equipment, hold land, and feel like they're actually participating in a war against the Combine.
But, I'd made it so the only interaction the Combine had with this system was "stop it happening" through. The Combine could only stop rebels having fun, not have any of their own.
So, addendum. A few changes:
- Combine no longer get automatic stimulus boosts of equipment via vendors.
- Instead, they operate on the same rules as the Rebels, needing to take and hold ground to get their equipment.
- Areas nearer to Combine spawn provides more vital gear like guns and medkits in order to keep fighting.
- Capturing areas that are predominantly considered to be "in rebel territory" will grant the Combine more beneficial bonuses, such as re-activating the local Dispatch (and getting Synth/Heavy Support).
This adds a tug-of-war element to the server, allowing a CONCRETE and DEFINITIVE way of seeing who is winning the war on the current map.
Optionally, you could make it so that once all territory is owned by a particular faction, a full-scale attack can be launched on the opposing faction's base in order to achieve victory on that map. Add a timer to it to ensure it doesn't get rushed immediately, and you're golden.
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