An interesting scenario of warhammer (Nordenwatch)
DateTime:7/8/2009 5:21:12 PM

Because it throws the normal “nodes are all that matters” mentality out the window. If you look at the point layout, holding a single node for 8 seconds is less than half the amount of points that you get for killing one player. This means that fighting on the road isn’t necessarily the same unforgivable sin that it has been in most scenario-type games that I’ve participated in, although it isn’t ideal, of course. In the end, the nodes and kills are on equal ground point-wise, although how they exactly match up will differ from strategy to strategy and game to game.

To further clarify this, let’s take a closer look at the numbers. If you’re willing to just believe me on this and are allergic to numbers, feel free to skip to this paragraph and the next paragraph. Okay, if you’re holding just one node, then you get 2 points every 8 seconds. This means you get 5 points, the equivalent of a single player kill, in 20 seconds (8 seconds *2.5 times as many points for a kill verses a node=20 seconds to get the same amount of points). With two nodes, you get 5 points in 10 seconds (8 seconds*1.25 times as many points=10 seconds to get 5 points). With a three cap, you get 5 points in just less than 7 seconds (8 * 5/6 = 6 2/3).

Now, to apply these numbers, let’s look at a model of a team with 1 node vs. a team with 2 nodes. We’ll say we’re on the team with 1. Beginning at zero, we have to earn 500 points to win. Our opposition will obtain these 500 points in 1000 seconds (10 seconds for five points* 100, which is the number of ticks of five will be needed to win). This is 16 minutes and 20 seconds, meaning the game would end with time, kills not looked at. At 15 minutes (900 seconds), the game will end prematurely, and we’ll have 225 points (you can do the math if you want). The difference is 175 points, or 35 kills. This means we need to be 35 kills ahead of our opponents by the time the clock reaches 0. This kind of feat seems rather difficult, but I’ve certainly seen it done before by good groups, and I don’t just mean groups my guild runs.

The thing is, though, is that this model assumes that from 15:00, your opponents have you 2-capped, which is impossible. Also, if you’re good enough to do even slightly better in kills than your opponent, they won’t be holding a steady 2-cap the entire time unless you sit on your node without doing anything else. Node-based points suffer from tons of conflict/transfer time, while kills suffer only from respawn and travel time.