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bkc56

PK Server Invasion Documentation

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Since the loss of MrHide from the PK server, we have had no further invasions. Because his invasions were one of the high-points of the server, it's a significant loss. I heard (second-hand) that Radu visited once but there were to few people to have an invasion so nothing happened.

 

In the hopes that some mod might look kindly upon our loss, I thought I'd capture the information about the styles of invasion that have been run on the PK server. It's a very different environment than the main server, and the invasions have slightly different goals. I'm hoping that if I document it, someone might be interested in giving it a try for us.

 

Invasion Characteristics

 

PK invasions have smaller participation than main; between 4 and 8 people typically (although the count has been slowly growing). Of course that means a lot more critters per person which is a big advantage over invasion on the main server.

 

PK invasions typically happen between 10pm and midnight gmt (hours convenient for MrHide, but which also seemed to catch more people logged on). Typically there were one or two invasions per week (unless MrHide was on vacation or something).

 

Multi-wave PK invasions typically last about an hour or two. Most of that is the active invasions going on, the last bit is cleanup of anything left over.

 

Invasion Styles

 

There are three basic styles of invasions. But they all share one characteristic which is to try and provide different levels of difficulty so that everyone (even newbs) can find something to fight. The different styles are just different ways to achieve the separation.

 

Single-Map (aka "Bob's Birthday" or "Bob's BBQ"). This is a single-map invasion using a map that has some sort of natural boundaries to help separate the different difficulty levels. The idea is to place various levels of critters on different areas of a map and people can pick their area to defend. The natural boundaries help (but don't eliminate) the mixing of stronger/weaker critters. The two most common maps used are:

 

Portland (hence the Bob's invasions). Animals (rabbits through boars usually) invade from DP. Goblins from MM. Ogres through Fluffies from TD. And sometimes Hobgoblins from WS.

 

Desert Pines. Animals in the North forest. Goblins from PL. Birds from KF. And ogres through fluffies from TD.

 

In both cases, the invading critters are coming from a map or area that typically has them (so the story-line makes sense). As a footnote, goblins often vary between goblins, female goblins, and armed male goblins in the different waves. What critter is coming in the next wave is usually announced so that people can prepare (or run) as appropriate.

 

Multi-Map. Basically just like Single-Map except the difficulty levels take place on different maps so there is no mixing. They typically look something like the following. Animals in DP, CC, or NC. Goblins in PL, MM or TG. Ogres-Chims in GP. Perhaps other stuff on other maps.

 

For both the single and multi map styles, the invasion is made of multiple waves of the different levels to keep the participants busy for as long as the total invasion is going to last. What levels are provided is based on how many, and how strong the participants are for that invasion. So yes, it's customized for the participants.

 

Phased Invasion (I believe there was only one of these as this style was new and was still being developed). The idea here is to use one map (one of the smaller ones is best) and do multiple waves with each wave being a bit harder than the previous. This way, weaker players can simply leave when it gets to hard for them. It just works up the ladder: rabbits, foxes, dear, boars, goblins, fem-gobs, armed-gobs, hobgoblins, ogres, fluffies, etc. Add or subtract critters in the progression based on how fast things are going and who's participating.

 

 

There's one other type of activity MrHide would do. It hardly qualifies as an "invasion" but it used invasion critters. It typically amounted to hiding a few of something weak (like rats) and one or two of something hard (like a yeti or dragon) in a couple different buildings on C1 and letting people search for them. It's more like a contest with no prizes but brief bragging rights if you found and killed whatever was hidden.

 

Finally, just to make it clear, PK invasions are about providing fun to the participants. Of course supplies get used, and people die, but that's not the point. The point is for people to have fun. As such, there are no "tricks" used (like dropping a fluffy among the deer and foxes just to kill newbs). Often there are announced breaks in the waves so people have time to run to storage to save goodies and resupply. That's also why announcements are made about what's coming next so people can be ready. It's about having fun.

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One invasion that I really liked was the one in TG magic school that took 3? 4? days to clear. All of those creatures hidden in various rooms took a lot of cooperation just to find them, let alone kill them. Those fluffies in the maze was hysterical.

 

Those creatures were all various strengths as well. One unique aspect of that invasion was that there was a very large room full of goblins that was left alone by the stronger players so others could join as well. Since it was a larger room, they were able to escape (or flee?) after a while and still leave plenty for the lower leveled player who did eventually find them. That sort of consideration is a unique aspect of this server. Oh, and Bkc took down a dragon :P.

 

A nice aspect of this invasion was that it was pretty hands off. MrHide set everything in place before he went to bed and let us have our fun.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that I would love to stumble on a room full of ogres one day.

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