Inactive galaxies, and the issues concerned

[Killeah]

Before I ramble on, I´d like to state the facts that I´ve so far been reading or have been told, should something have gone past my attention then please enlighten me since I see a crucial problem with the composition of galaxies and newcomming players once the round is started.

The facts:

There´s 1 galaxy shuffle to balance out the galaxies at the start of the round.

You have an option of self exileing for a cost, with no idea of where you might end up after doing so.

You can if you´re GC exile others.

People that are inactive are first deleted after 14 days, and if they do a login after 13 - they got another 14 days to run with

The problem:

I started playing again after a 10 year break, yea I know that´s litteraly a decade and much has certainly changed, most for the better I belive. However the galaxy I joined were composed of 9 other people who all are inactive, and with inactive I mean they do not respond to mails, they don´t answer GC forum threads, and they don´t have an online tag when I´m on atleast.

Now as the game is build up largely around a community, where one is alliance and the other being galaxy, I find it kind of odd that I as a new player during a round have little to no chance of enjoying that imop huge part of the game. I guess if I were completely unaware of the things planetarion has to offer, I would prolly go inactive after 3-4 days also and join the rest of my galaxy, then when someone is kicked due to inactivity, a new player who hopes to get something good out of the game joins - and the circle starts over.
My point being - that this issue isn´t only affecting me and the rest who are experiencing the game in a similiar way, it´s also affecting the evolution of planetarion, since many - atleast as I see it - will leave the game - before they get to really know it. Thus not bringing new players to the game. And ofcourse it´s a matter of taste wether you would like 200 irc active or 2000, in my point of view the latter is by far the best.

The solution:

I haven´t given this full thought, so any other suggestions and comments would be much appreciated. However I see a general problem with the slow exchange rate of inactive planets and galaxies. below are my input for a change of action.

Bring in more shuffles - perhaps even a weekly one. But make it intelligent - I´m sure the PA Crew got all the nessecary means to see who´s online and not and in which galaxies, do shuffles on the inactive galaxies behalf and leave the working ones. - would benefit all - the active gals will get more targets to roid and compete with, and the inactive victims would actually enjoy the game as it should be.

Make the exile intelligent - Let the exileing run through a scan before a destination galaxy is picked - and then choose a random galaxy among the 20 most active gals - if they are full then it´s number 20-40, and so on - surely the PA crew got means to initiate such an improvement, the entire idea of exileing from one inactive galaxy to another, just destroys the entire idea

Restrict the inactive period - 14 days seems like a lot to me when an entire round is 50. what about a 2 or 3 days inactive limit - and ofc. quite some more for paying players. I mean none in my current galaxy are paying except me ( yea I know , I´m a moron). but the idea of being able to stall the game for others for 1/5 of a round just seems wrong in my eyes.

Give better GC election options - I understand that you just need more votes than any other in your galaxy, however if all are inactive it´s quite hard to become one and then start exiling those who are inactive, Put in a game mechanic that registers online time over 3-4 days and if none in the galaxy has more than 1 vote, the player who is online most i.e the active one with become GC and then he or she can beging to exile ppl, however I don´t like this idea since it basically just means you´re pushing the piece of garbage to a new galaxy. But atleast it´ll be an action compared to the current nothingness.


Anyway that was my contribution regarding the inactivity issue, I´m aware of the fact, that most people who are using this forum are in active galaxies and most likely been around for dozens of rounds, my appeal to you is to try and look at it from a returning or newcommer to the game, that arrives mid-round.

And ofc. all the usual posts with - go find an alliance moron, are more than welcome. I´ve been used to much worse forums than what I´ve read here, I won´t go drama on you



Regards.

Killeah

[Mzyxptlk]

I completely agree with your analysis of the problem; I doubt you'll be able to find anyone who disagrees. 'Nuff said there.

Originally Posted by Killeah

Bring in more shuffles - perhaps even a weekly one. But make it intelligent - I´m sure the PA Crew got all the nessecary means to see who´s online and not and in which galaxies, do shuffles on the inactive galaxies behalf and leave the working ones. - would benefit all - the active gals will get more targets to roid and compete with, and the inactive victims would actually enjoy the game as it should be.

This highlights one of the main problems with PA: there is only a 2 week interval for new players to find the game in a state in which they can at least begin to compete, namely the signup period. However, being forced to wait for 2 weeks before the game actually begins is, to say the least, discouraging.

Your suggestion partly solves that issue, in that people who signup halfway through the round have a chance to get into a decent galaxy. Even top galaxies often have a couple of spots that are filled with inactives, who are then exiled, only to be replaced by other inactives. It would be nice if the game gave active players in inactive galaxies a better chance to land in decent galaxies.

Not everyone needs or wants to be in the top 3, but presumably the vast majority of players wants to be in a galaxy that is enjoyable to them (obligatory "get an alliance, moron" here, as requested).

Originally Posted by Killeah

Make the exile intelligent - Let the exileing run through a scan before a destination galaxy is picked - and then choose a random galaxy among the 20 most active gals - if they are full then it´s number 20-40, and so on - surely the PA crew got means to initiate such an improvement, the entire idea of exileing from one inactive galaxy to another, just destroys the entire idea

There is a danger of making it too easy to create fortresses in top galaxies. Don't forget that there's a great degree of coordination in good alliances, to the point that would be almost unimaginable for new players.

Originally Posted by Killeah

Restrict the inactive period - 14 days seems like a lot to me when an entire round is 50. what about a 2 or 3 days inactive limit - and ofc. quite some more for paying players. I mean none in my current galaxy are paying except me ( yea I know , I´m a moron). but the idea of being able to stall the game for others for 1/5 of a round just seems wrong in my eyes.

This is quite reasonable, though it already happens, to a degree. Paid and unpaid are treated differently, as are trusted/wanted and not wanted. I'd warn against throwing the baby out with the bath water, people in active alliances can stay away from the game for days at a time without getting destroyed. Thus, the current limits can be lowered a little, but not too much (a week for unpaid but trusted or paid planets seems alright).

Additionally, while I have no problem with moving inactives to cluster 200, I am very much against deleting accounts for inactivity.

Originally Posted by Killeah

Give better GC election options - I understand that you just need more votes than any other in your galaxy, however if all are inactive it´s quite hard to become one and then start exiling those who are inactive, Put in a game mechanic that registers online time over 3-4 days and if none in the galaxy has more than 1 vote, the player who is online most i.e the active one with become GC and then he or she can beging to exile ppl, however I don´t like this idea since it basically just means you´re pushing the piece of garbage to a new galaxy. But atleast it´ll be an action compared to the current nothingness.

This seems hard to get right and I think your other suggestions do a better job of solving the problem.