I think there's universal frustration with ranked wars being so severely affected by 3rd parties, but most view it as a necessary evil in this current system (see any thread in faction discussion that has a war involving mercs). Essentially, 3rd-party factions can prevent all attacks being made on a warring participant, with no extra effort required from the participants. There's been many suggestions, but most can lead to gameplay abuse in other areas.
Similar to the 15s attack delay that applies with flights, I propose a15s or 3s or whatever attack delay to initiate any attacks that are considered outside hits/ranked wars. This still allows for the gameplay of mercenaries, but it at least removes competing to be a matter of internet speed and physical location, similar to the rationale for the 15s delay timer for flights.
There's really no counterplay when there's an extra 1-2 second delay compared to someone living next to the server, and warring participants shouldn't have to compete in a click-race against people outside of the war.
EDIT:
A slightly modified version of this to further reduce impact on other gameplay (credit to ttyper):
Once someone has been released from the hospital, there's a 15s delay on initiating attacks from outside sources. It's slightly different from the original suggestion as it does not apply a 15s delay timer for all attacks that are initiated regardless of previous hospital status.
EDIt3: MIA made a great point and specified that perhaps the timer should only be applied to those naturally medding out. There can be some extra incentive to actively med out to get a merc hit.
EDIT2; I only put 15 seconds as that was the number Ched has used previously. That number is not my sticking point, so it’s really whatever Ched wants, whether it’s that or the 3s that others are adjusting.
EDIT3: To comment more on the exact delay: I'm living in the U.S. closer to the east coast with reasonably fast internet so 3s probably would be fine for me. There are times where I can load in instantly in <0.5 second, but there are also times where it takes me 2 seconds to load into the page (as noted by the log on the attack loader page) I know of others who are in Australia and other SEA regions where 3s definitely wouldn't be enough. In addition, I also am in an HoF faction and have reasonably high stats and equipment to finish fights quickly. Unsure if that is applicable to other factions. So yeah, definitely worth considering what delay would be best, whether it be 3s, 5s, 10s, 15s, etc.
Bug report submitted here: https://www.torn.com/forums.php#/p=threads&f=19&t=16327875&b=0&a=0&start=0&to=23428500
Similar to the 15s attack delay that applies with flights, I propose a
There's really no counterplay when there's an extra 1-2 second delay compared to someone living next to the server, and warring participants shouldn't have to compete in a click-race against people outside of the war.
EDIT:
A slightly modified version of this to further reduce impact on other gameplay (credit to ttyper):
Once someone has been released from the hospital, there's a 15s delay on initiating attacks from outside sources. It's slightly different from the original suggestion as it does not apply a 15s delay timer for all attacks that are initiated regardless of previous hospital status.
EDIt3: MIA made a great point and specified that perhaps the timer should only be applied to those naturally medding out. There can be some extra incentive to actively med out to get a merc hit.
EDIT2; I only put 15 seconds as that was the number Ched has used previously. That number is not my sticking point, so it’s really whatever Ched wants, whether it’s that or the 3s that others are adjusting.
EDIT3: To comment more on the exact delay: I'm living in the U.S. closer to the east coast with reasonably fast internet so 3s probably would be fine for me. There are times where I can load in instantly in <0.5 second, but there are also times where it takes me 2 seconds to load into the page (as noted by the log on the attack loader page) I know of others who are in Australia and other SEA regions where 3s definitely wouldn't be enough. In addition, I also am in an HoF faction and have reasonably high stats and equipment to finish fights quickly. Unsure if that is applicable to other factions. So yeah, definitely worth considering what delay would be best, whether it be 3s, 5s, 10s, 15s, etc.
Bug report submitted here: https://www.torn.com/forums.php#/p=threads&f=19&t=16327875&b=0&a=0&start=0&to=23428500
![[image: i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/taPGdDS.gif){kind=link}