Re: Bribecap
CLem said:
99/100 times you cannot get a profit out of bribing if you attack "lawfully". It is a route that can ONLY kill small people OR people with stupid set ups, take that edge away no-one will play it.
Not a chance that a puppet route can stand up against another normal route that is similar size as themselves early on in the game until they get some decent bribes and they can't get there unless they "bash" to start.
Also I have never seen a puppet player being able to zero someone with just bribes when they are against a developed route and a normal set-up. At most you get half in kills and half in bribes (and this is when the puppet player really lucky), so not like you don't get anything back, you just don't get as MUCH as being attacked by other routes, if you get owned that much by a puppet route..then well ouchie for you.
P.S if you are a poor sod Assassin, POM or a Sorc player then I do feel sorry for you, cause they are the three routes that I would say takes the most beatings from a Puppet player without being able to do anything much if they do decide to bash you.
:respekt:
Perfect argument.
The idea that bribes should be treated the same as kills makes wonderful theory but practise is a whole different ball game. After all communism is a wonderful idea too.
Maybe I'm wrong but I don't recall bribers ever dominating the game and they're not now either. They've always been something of a niche for experienced players. All the injury changes have done is level the playing for bribers. Ok so this has led to greater numbers than there traditionally would be. Surely variety in the game is a good thing?
If you're being targetted by bribers time and time again either your set-up sucks or you chose a route which as a solo you should have been prepared to buy the P-unit for. Some routes will always attract bribers but any route can be set-up to make it not worth the bribers while.
It may well be that there are a lot more inexperienced bribers out there learning the trade? They may be choosing poorly and coming off the worst as they learn targetting. No great comfort for the targets but if vampire numbers were well up the SO / SA players would be extremely unhappy with all the incoming they attract too.
It's not as if anyone can say they've been repeatedly raped by the same briber. If you didn't get injuries you'd drop way out of his score. If you stay within his range he obviously hasn't bribed that many of your staff has he? Your score would drop dramatically and his would rise noticeably if he had. If you have been hit hard and you're still in his range then he attacked you at a higher score level, is very good at what he's doing and you should try learning from it in the first instance. Admittedly the last suggestion seems to be going out of fashion.
Am I biased? Quite possibly. I'm playing puppets, I mostly attack at 40-45%. Primarily because of the eta penalties. I knowingly took losses when I started bribing to avoid having to drop to 30%. I sometimes still do lose out. A loss I felt was worth it, or a chance I took because no-one had presented themselves as a ripe target in my range. It'll take awhile for me to bribe the mobile defensive units I need to be able to work more efficiently. My bribe damage is around the 40% mark of total kill & bribe damage. My kills & bribes received pretty much equals that which I have afflicted. Of that a negligible amount is bribe damage.
Given that at my attack range my injury rate is about 20% and my targets must be about ... 60%? I don't see a massive imbalance. Now whilst I would in no way claim to be the 'uber william86' briber version. I'm not bad. I think I can claim to be better than your average briber.
Yes, the numbers above will change as I start to acquire the set-up I want. I'm unlikely to bribe much more on an attack, but I will lose less. The point is it takes time to get yourself a set-up to be efficient with.
If you really want to reduce bribes because it sounds nice and balanced to match LET's. How about beefing up the toughness of the bribers so that they are capable of lasting against a more equal oppponent?
However, I honestly think things are about right. It's still quite hard to get started, but it is certainly doable and that's the key.
I don't play to win, I got bored of kills and land. I missed the bounty hunting glory days. I play to achieve minor goals such as no. 1 briber. Don't nerf my game and condemn bribing back to the sidelines because theory sounds nice.
