[Mzyxptlk]

Originally Posted by Tiamat101

Steal races REALLY took a big hit from this because aside from the 1st week most attack mission recall so stealing on defense wont ever happen, so almost all steals are on attack which is how they should be because then they don't get to do MASSIVE value gains off steal + salvage. Right now Zik and sometime Etd are gimped really hard because as of late the stats havent given them enough effiency to compensate for the firing last. They should be able to stand up to some one other than emp. With out this then they need to RELY on getting constant or even regular steals to keep up with the universe. Otherwise they end up with only ~~ 5% of stolen ships and 95% zik ships.

Then the stats for these races should be improved. If a problem with game mechanic B can be solved in game mechanic B, then there is no reason to tinker with game mechanic A, with all the side effects that that inevitably has. Fortunately, there is no need to do anything. Zik and Etd stats were just fine last round. And since their stats were fine, there's nothing wrong with Zik planets with only 5% stolen ships.

Originally Posted by Tiamat101

The VERY rare planets you see with alot of stolen ships are either gotten via FC's OR! from being donated, not stolen, DONATED. Alot the same people that play zik have vnc'd 2 planets so they can donate them say 100k beetles or what ever the popular ship is for that round.

You forget faking, which good Zik players (ie, not me) have used to great effect to steal lots of ships.

Your approach to Zik is exactly what I dislike about this suggestion. Apparently, lots of people are either incapable of executing smart attacks or unwilling to put in the effort of setting up FCs and therefore you want to make stealing easier for all the lazy Ziks out there. You are sitting on a branch somewhere halfway of the skill tree, and you're looking up at the good Ziks and down at the newbies and tell yourself "I think the game should not reward those jerks above me for being better than me, but I do think it should reward me for being better than those idiots below me". Sorry, but this is not hypocrite central, and that's just not how games work.

Fact of the matter is, Zik is not for everyone. I was never any good with them, which is why I only played them for a couple of rounds. If you're like me, then instead of reducing stealing to the lowest common denominator, maybe you could play one of the other races. Even if they're not necessarily easier, at least they're more straightforward.

Originally Posted by Tiamat101

1) It forces players to actually be aware of there planet most of the time

Why is this a good thing? How does it make PA a better game?

Originally Posted by Tiamat101

2) When the rule was created it was originally intended to be a psuedo-replacement for vacation mode, and Frankly it hasn't worked.

Who told you that was what it was intended to do? The only source of information I could find that agrees with that assertion is the original thread. Yes, allowing people to stay away from the game for more than 8 hours at a time was certainly discussed by several people (myself included), but no PA team member participated in the discussion. In that same thread, making it harder to steal from inactives is discussed by the same people, but again, no PA team member participated.

But ok, let's assume for a moment, just for argument's sake, that that was indeed the aim. Why does that matter in the slightest? Originally, alliance play was not an intended to be an element of PA, but they came into being because the environment encouraged working together, even though the original creator did not envision it. Do you think alliances should be removed too? In the end, all that matters is if a feature has a net positive or net negative impact. Now, I understand that you believe R&H has a net negative impact, but arguments about "intent of features" are completely irrelevant when the only pertinent aim of PA is this: allowing people to have fun. Any feature or change that makes PA a better game should be kept, regardless of what their goal was.

Originally Posted by Tiamat101

Do you Not Read Influence.... Changing Run/Hide isnt just to fix steal races. Its to fix the entire activity issue, and the fact that planets do well for not being active and even active planets have trouble succeeding because of all the ways people can play inactively.

Bullshit. As long as your goal is to do well on alliance, galaxy and/or planet rankings, PA does not, in any shape, way or form, reward inactivity more than activity. Any strategy that can be executed while playing inactively can be executed better by playing actively.