TNT Cannons and Upcoming Slime Block Planes

[ValenceLP]

Yo, ValenceLP spittin' mad suggestions your way. I feel that TNT cannons should be re-introduced.

This is not a suggestion that I'm making because I want to raid, but it is a suggestion that I think could improve the community interaction of the server itself. I would hope that everyone reading this right now would want a server that is thriving and active with ample interactions and as much stimulation as you can handle, because I know that I do.

Yes, there are many people who are content with surviving peacefully, accumulating supplies, and building 24/7 with no conflict whatsoever. Sadly, not everyone can do that. Raiding, I find, is an EXTREMELY important part to a server's culture, and not even specifically for the raider(s). Being raided sucks, but it makes you want revenge, so you play more to gain supplies back and get a chance at getting your original gear. The goal is not make people quit, the goal is to make people play.

The problem that I find is that there are "End-Game" building techniques to totally prevent raiding 100%. Whether it be FKA being levitated 20 blocks in the air, Dellsmite's dome, or Albion's wall, eventually every town will have one of these raid-proof techniques. The only solution to this problem is to make the magnitude of these "End-Game" builds bigger, and more resource-intensive so the raider(s) can have a bigger window to get to the loot.

Obviously, TNT cannons and slime block planes could fix this. TNT cannons would make the need to have obsidian/water walls higher, and those could take a long time based on the town's protection radius. The planes would also make the need to have a HUGE wall higher. But, having these increasingly ugly options would also force town owners to choose between having a pretty town that has a varied chance of raiding or a 100% un-raidable town that is an atrocity. Some town owners will not have a problem with the ugly option, but I will ABSOLUTELY not sacrifice aesthetics for safety, because I welcome raiding.

I don't know the difficulty of coding this, so forgive me if it's inconceivable, but If TNT cannons are included, There could, depending on if it's even possible, be an option to pay extra emeralds a day to have placed blocks that were destroyed by an explosion to regenerate over time.

Please improve my ideas and make suggestions in the comments, it means people are reading it.

TL;DR: ValenceLP is super sexy, as well as concerned about raiding and the activity on the server. Also, ValenceLP has nice hair and looks stunningly like Bradley Cooper.

Edit: Also, let me say that by making raiding easier, you promote conflict. Nobody is going to meet in a field and kill each other for no reward other than leveling in world pvp stats. So even if you dislike raiding, do it for the conflict. (Thanks to Jedi for reminding me of a point I missed.)

 

[Ronshaud]

Hmm.. You do make a point. Having people to get raided and to have a chance to get at the person that raided them by getting their things back from the raider. At first I didnt like the idea of this, but you have a point. I give this a Thumbs Up !

 

[Jedoi]

On one hand I want raiding back and on the other hand, I don't want to be raided. I do like the idea of more conflict though, so. I'm for it.

 

[ValenceLP]

Having people to get raided and to have a chance to get at the person that raided them by getting their things back from the raider. At first I didnt like the idea of this, but you have a point. !

By that, I mean you would have to become a raider yourself. You would need to take back your items the way you do now, it's just not as common now because it's hard to penetrate a wall that you can't make a dent in.

 

[Ronshaud]

By that, I man you would have to become a raider yourself. You would need to take back your items the way you do now, it's just not as common now because it's hard to penetrate a wall that you can't make a dent in.

I've always wanted to be a raider !

 

[hyhu]

The thing is that not everyone has time to put up defenses against raiding. If tnt cannons were allowed the only way to counteract them is to have a huge obsidian wall, domes covered in water or having max town radius. Not everyone will want to or be able to protect themselves, and in the end will halt the server's population growth and lower it rather than increase it. This isn't a factions server, this server has experienced very low points in terms of population because no one really wants to spend time building a home only to have it tnt'd. People should be able to be safe if they put in the effort, but protecting from tnt cannons is too much for the average minecraft player.

As for saying that people who get raided will be fueled to counterattack is not necessarily true, people who get raided and have a job or school to go to as well as other things that make them busy may simply quit, as has happened.

 

[Lazuli73]

In other threads like this before, which the whole debate on whether or not to re able TNT cannons, true "raiders" said they have raid to get the riches out of vaults and into the community again. See now that statement is pure bull as once they are done raiding they hoard it in there own vault. If we were to re enable TNT cannons we would have to disable ender pearls again. Also why does everyone NEED to have conflict to play on Loka, are you all blood thirsty sadistic murderous psychopaths. Violence isn't always the answer, not all new players want to have their new towns have vultures hovering around all the time. Persistent violence to new players would only chase them away.

 

[Psychedelic98]

The thing is that not everyone has time to put up defenses against raiding. If tnt cannons were allowed the only way to counteract them is to have a huge obsidian wall, domes covered in water or having max town radius.

If you contain your items to your vault, you will not need to spend hours constructing walls, just 20 minutes or so gathering obsidian. If you wish to have your valuables scattered throughout your town in open areas, then of course you will need to have large obsidian walls or water covered. It only makes sense that protecting a small area should be fairly easy but protecting an entire town should be fairly hard and time consuming.

If we were to re enable TNT cannons we would have to disable ender pearls again.

Why is this the case? Pearls are fairly useless at half power with whatever plugin we have going atm, and really help defenders more than attackers once your town is leveled up.

Also why does everyone NEED to have conflict to play on Loka, are you all blood thirsty sadistic murderous psychopaths.

Conflict is what makes anything interesting. Whether it be in books, movies, tv shows, or games, a plot is what makes things fun.

Violence isn't always the answer, not all new players want to have their new towns have vultures hovering around all the time. Persistent violence to new players would only chase them away.

Besides the fact that most raiders give new towns a chance to grow, many of those who want to raid are the newer players. When Val started, he had a town of 7 people who apparently weren't entertained enough to stick around. The Reach cited their favor of cannons over bridges before they left. It seems that towns are more likely to die without cannons than with them.
Also, if 78% of people say they want something, then it doesn't really make sense not to do it.

 

[Jedoi]

Also why does everyone NEED to have conflict to play on Loka, are you all blood thirsty sadistic murderous psychopaths.

Possibly.

 

[hyhu]

If you contain your items to your vault, you will not need to spend hours constructing walls, just 20 minutes or so gathering obsidian. If you wish to have your valuables scattered throughout your town in open areas, then of course you will need to have large obsidian walls or water covered. It only makes sense that protecting a small area should be fairly easy but protecting an entire town should be fairly hard and time consuming.

The reason walls are built is to keep unwanted people out of the town, if TNT is re-enabled, although we can have obisidian vaults, the people will be terrorized and every building that has a purpose of storing something will be looted. Not every item can be kept in a vault, because the more you visit the vault the higher the chance that you will be followed in. Protecting an entire town already is time consuming, and having to protect a town against TNT cannons and bridges would greatly affect the overall beauty of the town.

Besides the fact that most raiders give new towns a chance to grow, many of those who want to raid are the newer players. When Val started, he had a town of 7 people who apparently weren't entertained enough to stick around. The Reach cited their favor of cannons over bridges before they left. It seems that towns are more likely to die without cannons than with them.
Also, if 78% of people say they want something, then it doesn't really make sense not to do it.

When I joined, TNT cannons were still allowed. There was only one person online, and that was Jedi. The only active players at the time were you, Jedi and Pard. When we moved to the new world older players people came back yes, and that was a huge shock for someone who was used to the server only having a max of 3 people, but ever since TNT cannons were disabled, Loka has grown in population instead of decreased. The fact that players can build their homes without worrying about TNT flying in and wrecking their shit has helped in population growth. As for the Reach, why did they leave? Weren't they sick of getting attacked so often?

 

[Zor95]

Weellll... the Reach is something very special.

 

[ValenceLP]

Also why does everyone NEED to have conflict to play on Loka, are you all blood thirsty sadistic murderous psychopaths. Violence isn't always the answer, not all new players want to have their new towns have vultures hovering around all the time. Persistent violence to new players would only chase them away.

I'm not saying that everyone needs violence, but conflict has an awesome power in that it can bring people on to the server at a moment's notice. If you were to send someone a message in skype and said "OMG DELLSMITE IS BEING RAIDED", I promise you that you that people who would have been "busy" in a less serious situation would get on in seconds.

Even in the event that you do get raided and stuff is successfully stolen from you and multiple town members, that would bring them on so you could band together and not have to fight alone to get your stuff back.

Alliances would actually be useful as well if new ways to raid a town are introduced. If you want to abstain from any conflict, you could always join an alliance with a town willing to fight on your behalf. Arcadia, back when I was in it, almost became a "mercenary" type town at one point and would only provide protection to the highest bidder.

When I joined, TNT cannons were still allowed. There was only one person online, and that was Jedi. The only active players at the time were you, Jedi and Pard. When we moved to the new world older players people came back yes, and that was a huge shock for someone who was used to the server only having a max of 3 people, but ever since TNT cannons were disabled, Loka has grown in population instead of decreased. The fact that players can build their homes without worrying about TNT flying in and wrecking their shit has helped in population growth. As for the Reach, why did they leave? Weren't they sick of getting attacked so often?

I am not as seasoned a veteran as you are to the server, but I can honestly tell you that because there is no conflict, people are leaving. FatPoulet gave up ownership responsibilities of Arcadia because it was boring. Have you seen Art on frequently? I haven't. What is the point of recruiting and having strong PVP'ers when you cannot raid or be raided because your supplies are untouchable? So yes, TNT cannons may have made people leave, but not having TNT cannons or a feasible way to get in to a town is just as damaging to the population.

As I said in my original post, which I would like confirmation on, is the ability to spend a few extra emeralds a day for block regen in the event of an explosion. Obviously it wouldn't be instant, but would come back over time so that it could leave a window for people to get through.

 

[Lazuli73]

Why is this the case? Pearls are fairly useless at half power with whatever plugin we have going atm, and really help defenders more than attackers once your town is leveled up.

Pearls are not useless even at half strength. Say if you had both TNT cannons and pearls active one could blow a hole in a wall and just chuck a pearl through a hole that any normal player couldn't fit through. Unless your avatar/player does a hell of a lot of yoga I am very sure you can't fit through a 1 block hole.

 

[mopb3]

I'm with Psy on these things.

 

[MasterAegon]

I support cannons if pearls are disabled again.

As far as making the point that people don't have time to make walls, it's very easy to make a small vault out of sight and inaccessible without perms. I have seen this. I have done this.

You may also build a very small wall inside an inner area of the city that you want to be Level 5 zone only.

There are plenty of ways to mitigate being raided that don't take forever and a day. As far as doing it aesthetically, that's possible too. It's just a soul sucking process if you do it like Dragonstone -_-

 

[Kobeyador]

TLR opinions and info at bottom.

Well, this discussion what inevitable, so i feel like i should throw in my 2 cents. Everyone has there own preference. Raiding, conflicts, trolling, building, mining, socializing, ect: We all play on this server for different reasons. However , over time things have changed and the basics of the server seems to be changing with it.
If I can remember correctly, this server started off as a semi-vanilla survive or die server. When issues can up rules and guidelines were made to limit the damage but also keep things fair. For example: when tnt cannons became an issue and ended up more on the griefing side, we made a simple rule for tnt cannons to be used for entry only and the rest fell under common sense and the guardians judgement. But, I can agree that even one shot of a tnt might go over board.
Anyways, now-a-days we have banned all things that have the ability to break through a wall(to not scare anyone away), pluggins for almost everything(to try to keep people occupied), and any and all role play has come to a halt(IMO). This just seems very different then when I first joined the server. I am not saying that these are a bad thing..... just stating the changes that I have noticed that have taken effect.
Anyways, I miss the days of my solo sieges on a town with an inventory full of invise pots and me vs 3 attackers at my gates. However, it seems I am just now just grinding to pay for the gen of my town, whenever I have the chance to log in. I am not one for raiding, but the most I got out of raiding(while i was in FKA) was a diamond set of armor and some stacks of obsidian. I mainly just want the ability to break into a town and lay siege until they can kill me and find my entry point.

(1) (IMO) TnT cannons, slime piston planes, and Piston bridges are very powerful and can definitely be used(IF used properly) to liven up pvp and tensions between towns and alliances.

(2) Slime planes and Piston bridges not only allows raids and sieges to take place on a town. they also supply the town that is raided/sieged the materials to retaliate or go on sieges/raids of there own.

(3) Slime planes and piston bridges Are more accurate but cheaper to protect against then tnt cannons.

(4) Slime planes power does not rely on the ability to get over walls. It main ability would be the ability to punch a hole STRAIGHT through a wall.

(5) With the slime planes ability to punch holes through walls, would add an amazing tool for raiders who just need a simple hole to pearl through. These also cause little to no block damage other then pushing blocks out of the way and breaking torches and similar items broken by a pistons push. They also don't use more then 6-15 blocks to achieve entry, so there is no massive amount of blocks being placed to count as griefing.

(6) the main down fall to some slime plane models is that they run automatically and will keep going until destroyed or they have run into enough blocks.I.E If a Slime plane was used to punch a hole through my town walls, if placed in the right location, it literally will fly through all my walls in my town and keep going out the other side.

 

[Psychedelic98]

The reason walls are built is to keep unwanted people out of the town, if TNT is re-enabled, although we can have obisidian vaults, the people will be terrorized and every building that has a purpose of storing something will be looted. Not every item can be kept in a vault, because the more you visit the vault the higher the chance that you will be followed in. Protecting an entire town already is time consuming, and having to protect a town against TNT cannons and bridges would greatly affect the overall beauty of the town.

Walls can be built to stop TNT, and just because your walls don't stop TNT doesn't mean you'll be terrorized. Every item can be kept in a vault, any decent minecrafter would notice an invis person behind them. Protecting an entire town is only time consuming if you make it that way. Also, what about the people who spent hours protecting their town from TNT and bridges before they were nerfed?

When I joined, TNT cannons were still allowed. There was only one person online, and that was Jedi. The only active players at the time were you, Jedi and Pard. When we moved to the new world older players people came back yes, and that was a huge shock for someone who was used to the server only having a max of 3 people, but ever since TNT cannons were disabled, Loka has grown in population instead of decreased. The fact that players can build their homes without worrying about TNT flying in and wrecking their shit has helped in population growth. As for the Reach, why did they leave? Weren't they sick of getting attacked so often?

When cannons were disabled, the only active town (Dellsmite) was against them. When you're that desperate for members, it's natural to try and hold on to what you have. Short term, it seemed like a good decision. Loka became active because several old members were unbanned, but since then things have died down. Loka needs cannons back to have the spark it once had.

 

[hyhu]

Walls can be built to stop TNT, and just because your walls don't stop TNT doesn't mean you'll be terrorized. Every item can be kept in a vault, any decent minecrafter would notice an invis person behind them. Protecting an entire town is only time consuming if you make it that way. Also, what about the people who spent hours protecting their town from TNT and bridges before they were nerfed?

I can modify my walls to stop TNT, the problem is that it's ugly as fuck to have water cover your view of the already slightly obstructed sky. No, not every item can be kept in an obsidian vault. If you placed any other block except for obsidian in the entrance, that can be blasted off, and no one wants to mine obsidian to get to even semi valuable items after a time. The only towns left from when TNT cannons were enabled (from what I've seen) is Dellsmite, Albion, and your town. Where did the others go, and why did they leave?

When cannons were disabled, the only active town (Dellsmite) was against them. When you're that desperate for members, it's natural to try and hold on to what you have. Short term, it seemed like a good decision. Loka became active because several old members were unbanned, but since then things have died down. Loka needs cannons back to have the spark it once had.

I know Loka has hit some very very low points in terms of population, when TNT was disabled the server has grown. The only people who I know have been unbanned were Andre and the Reach, both of which are not active. I'm going to predict that if cannons are re enabled, yes, there will be plenty of conflict, but the population will again go down.

 

[Psychedelic98]

I can modify my walls to stop TNT, the problem is that it's ugly as fuck to have water cover your view of the already slightly obstructed sky. No, not every item can be kept in an obsidian vault. If you placed any other block except for obsidian in the entrance, that can be blasted off, and no one wants to mine obsidian to get to even semi valuable items after a time. The only towns left from when TNT cannons were enabled (from what I've seen) is Dellsmite, Albion, and your town. Where did the others go, and why did they leave?

It's possible to stop without obstructing the sky, without any sort of ugly builds for that matter. Of course it takes a lot of effort to do, but if you don't want to take the effort just put a little bit of effort into breaking 2 obsidian to get to your stuff.

The only towns left from when TNT cannons were enabled (from what I've seen) is Dellsmite, Albion, and your town. Where did the others go, and why did they leave?

During the reset from Loka to to the world you joined on, many towns combined or quit. We went from around 11 active towns to 6. The towns were Albion, Iria (turned to Fernwood, now Avarice), Dellsmite, Skaro (To become FKA), Whiterock, and Nightshade. Of these towns, 4 remain, 1 left after cannons were nerfed, and 1 possibly left because of cannons. There are less people on now than there were when only the 6 towns were active.

I know Loka has hit some very very low points in terms of population, when TNT was disabled the server has grown. The only people who I know have been unbanned were Andre and the Reach, both of which are not active. I'm going to predict that if cannons are re enabled, yes, there will be plenty of conflict, but the population will again go down.

When TNT was banned, several people were unbanned. The 2 most known were Andre and Hylian. They both brought a crowd back with them which did a great job of boosting our population. However, since cannons were outlawed, these people didn't stick around. I don't know what evidence you have to support you saying that the population will go down, but the survey showed that while only 8 people were against cannons, 29 people were for them. 29 people is a lot of people, I haven't even seen half that many on this week. If cannons are brought back a few people might leave to make a point, but many more will come back to enjoy them.

 

[Cryptite]

I don't think Cannons being allowed or banned really plays that heavily into our population fluctuations. It'll always make some people come or go, but I think even if we hadn't changed anything about cannons or bridges, The Reach would still have left as they all follow one (maybe two) guys, so it's whatever game they're playing at the time that the rest take part in.

Two things I think that currently explain the low-pop is that one: I've stopped all heavy marketing and advertising for Loka, and two, it's late summer, lots of people are constantly in and out on vacations. When school starts back up, it's pretty natural that our population goes up a little because many players get to spend all day thinking about Loka and then at night they can play with their friends. In the summer, everyone's schedules are all over the place.

The reason I stopped marketing is because of the development of Territories. Once it's released and has seen a week or two of action and polish, Loka will probably get a major rebranding focusing on Territories above all else. Plenty of servers have towns, arenas, minigames, battlegrounds, markets, RP; Loka has all of those things, but the servers that have Territories (factions) are fewer, and beyond that, I don't think any (aside from special servers like CivCraft and other custom, rare servers) are going to have what we will. Not even close, honestly.

Aside from the rebranding of Territories, the website needs to be updated to reflect the Towns 2.0 stuff, the Towns pages could use some additions and polish, and ultimately, YouTube videos. If I can start pumping out YT videos, we may see a big uptick in population because we can show what Loka is instead of just saying it on forums/reddit/etc.