Planetarion Forums

Makhil · 25 May 2006, 11:05

There are some people out there with so many distorters, it's as if they started building them in Round 16. I find distorters as they work now against the spirit of the game. I suggest the Amps/Distorters ratio between scanner and target gives a percentage of success (with a minimum of 5% and a max of 95%). That way there wouldn't be unscannable targets, only it could be very costly to scan some of the best protected...
Failed scan could show in the News of the target (without coords of the scanner)...

bwtmc · 25 May 2006, 11:17

Cost means absolutely nothing with both the alliance fund and the resource hack.

Edit: Then again, it would make the game more annoying for scanners. I'm picturing Stoom asking JBG to repeat the same planet scan until it works.

Ultimate Newbie · 25 May 2006, 11:23

It is colossally expensive to actually build a decent number of Jammers, however, in addition those players also miss out on the research bonuses from labs, resource bonuses from mines and finance centres etc etc which also add greatly to the cost of going for a high jammer strategy. Additionally, they cant scan bugger all for themselves, and it only takes someone with 1 more amp to make it all worthless.

In a similar thread, i went through just some basic calculations to show how expensive it actually was, and it was mildly alarming.

Makhil · 25 May 2006, 11:24

Still i feel no planet should be unscanable, also a risk of failed scan should always exist...

furball · 25 May 2006, 11:31

I'd keep things as they are. I don't know know how the alliance fund works - but a delay should keep things in order.

It costs over 11 million of each resource to build 149 amps or distorters. If you're willing to spend this much, then you deserve its rewards.

Appocomaster · 25 May 2006, 11:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwtmc

Cost means absolutely nothing with both the alliance fund and the resource hack.

Edit: Then again, it would make the game more annoying for scanners. I'm picturing Stoom asking JBG to repeat the same planet scan until it works.

I can't quite remember how pre r10 setup was, but there was definitely more chance then. It also allowed you to do the same scan several times, saving you the hassle of clicking again and again and again and again and again and again

Edit: changing waves and distorters like this would make the game far more open - distorters would be less worthwhile building, and amplifiers would be less necessary for those who could throw more resources at it (such as bigger alliances). I'm sure someone would work out the optimum amount for scanning anyone with the least amount of resources, and so on, so basically it'd remove the focus from waves/distorters, and what does that leave?

XelNaga · 25 May 2006, 12:44

There is no unscannable planet.

Appocomaster · 25 May 2006, 12:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by XelNaga

There is no unscannable planet.

Technically, you're right. If someone had 150 amps, someone with 150 distorters could be scanned.

I know this isn't what you meant, but I'm not sure how you'd know that

JonnyBGood · 25 May 2006, 12:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Appocomaster

Technically, you're right. If someone had 150 amps, someone with 150 distorters could be scanned.

I know this isn't what you meant, but I'm not sure how you'd know that

If someone built 150 distorters they'd be the greatest tool in the history of man.

Makhil · 25 May 2006, 12:59

'unscanable' planets don't improve the game. It's not as if we had a huge universe to pick our targets from.
In my gal there's a guy who stays at 100 roids to be sure he's not attacked... good for him if he's happy with that, but what does he bring to the game ? unscanable planets are the same, it's a negation of the game.

XelNaga · 25 May 2006, 13:21

Appoco: that's exactly what I meant.

Distorters do improve the game by allowing a much wider spectrum of tactics and strategies. I can understand they annoy you and you don't like then. But fleets targetted at my fleet composition annoy me, too. And all the people in front of me in ranks. Let's remove them, then?

Monroe · 25 May 2006, 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

If someone built 150 distorters they'd be the greatest tool in the history of man.

Tool for what?

But on topic, I agree that the current system is the best given the current set of circumstances, for all of the reasons already mentioned.

bwtmc · 25 May 2006, 17:20

I think Xelnaga was suggesting that his alliance have a 148 amp scanner, and that no planet bettered that with distorters. Obviously, in reality there are unscannable planets whenever the top scanners aren't online.

Xalibur spoke to me a few days ago about his approach to the round and how much of a handicap that ~10mil res was to his growth. He's currently sitting half a mile under the positions he normally does.

Makhil, the whole point of amps and distorters is that the game is more fun when you have to make best guesses with incomplete information. Otherwise we'd spend twice as much time fiddling around with battlecalcs and half as much time playing planetarion. Do you want the 20% scan error removed too in an effort to kill the game off completely?

XelNaga · 25 May 2006, 17:45

As I already mentionned, I meant exactly what Appoco said. In theory, there are no unscannable planets, so anyone that wants to scan the big distorter whores will have the possibility to do it, either by becoming scanner himself or by using other means, i.e. set up decent alliance scanners.

I didn't refer to my alliance at all, and if you know how many amps our scanners have, you know more than me.