playing for experience score - only a shortterm effect?

[Heartless]

So let's assume you get placed in one of the bottom ranked galaxies, where your galaxy mates are all inactive and only some of the new randoms show up on IRC from time to time.

Now personally I landed in such a small galaxy, which is perfectly fine with me as I do not intend to play this game "hardcore" this round. However, this one random guy who stuck with the galaxy for a few days joined IRC this morning after his second wave of incoming appeared. "More incs " he said, "go and retal them , you don't get XP from defending" I replied, which made him throw some hissy-fits about me not being a team-player and one would only be able to perform good by playing for the biggest value and roidsize... long story short: He is now self-exiling in the hope to find a "better" galaxy because he doesn't see himself being able to do good without having a lot of roids and value.

What do you people think?

[Achilles]

I agree with the person who isn't you. He seems a sensible chap.

[The Real Arfy]

Lets assume a small value all round long, he can hit smaller players who are generally fatter, and in worse galaxies.

Lets say he hits planets with 200 roids, at 75% of his value, and he does this every morning. Thats only 375 XP, but over an 8 week round he will receive 18375 XP which equates to just over 1.1mil score.

Now I've been pretty pessimistic about his roidcapping and bravery factor, but I don't think I'm too far off (I didn't include the first 168 ticks as roiding time either), but I've generously assumed he lands every day. I think if said player can find some luck in the targets they find, and can get the odd land on higher ranked planets, they can do well.

Now get him into an alliance with scans, and attack support, and he can do whatever he likes.

[Ultimate Newbie]

I think it also depends on a few other factors. Namely; time, alliance, attitude and race.

XP "wh0ring" for want of a better term, is very time-intensive. You have to be online enough to keep attacking again and again and again, with at least two and probably three fleets in attack at all times (if not returning). So if you dont have much time, i think that 'turtling' might be a better way to play - that is building ships that are excellent at defending yourself and/or your galaxy (Jesterina likes calling them Mobile PDS), at the expense of fast ships which are typcially good at defending alliancemates. Then, when you feel like it, you lash out and attack someone. Do not try to XP wh0re if you arent playing "hardcore" i think, as at the very least it will only be a very short term advantage (if any) that you have.

As for alliance, i think XP wh0ring is most effective if in conjuction with your standard run-of-the-mill alliance raid. Attacking solo and XP whoring tend not to work the best as typcially your fleet is smaller (in both numbers and value) to the 'normal' player, and thus your fleet is (relatively) easily defended against by the defender's alliance and/or galaxy. By participating in a raid, your XP wh0re fleet is merely another red line in a depressingly long list, and thus your sneaky attack may be disguised in the clutter and thus improving your chances of capping roids - without which XP wh0ring is pointless. Obviously, retal is another major source of roids for XP players, as your smaller fleet works best when your enemy's fleet is out - information which is most available to people in an alliance (plus if they recall to stop your attack, your alliancemate wins at least).

I think your attitude towards playing the game is also important. If you enjoy highly offensive gameplay, then XP wh0ring is going to be far more rewarding and more likely to succeed. If you dont mind getting attacked (as you will receive alot of incoming), and focus only on capturing as many roids as possible (more or less regardless of the cost), then XP wh0ring is for you. If you are a naturally defensive person (like me), then you are going to keep trying to protect yourself and/or become a major drain on your alliance/galaxy's defence - which is bad (unless they are Ziks ). In that case, i wouldnt suggest you try XP wh0ring.

Similarly, certain races tend to favour XP wh0ring, and others dont. Last round, Benneh (a mate of mine), ran a highly successful Terran planet where often he would XP wh0re, however due to the strength of his ships he would end up not loosing much in the way of value and he turned out to have a high roid and value planet at the end of the round (plus it helped having def h0es like me to help him out every night ). Cathaar is also a very highly offensive race, as their early initiative means that they can minimise their losses to the extent where XP wh0ring is viable, plus the fact that the race is unable to defend themselves leads to more agressive play. Recall attitude above; with Cathaar, the aim of attacking is not to receive no losses when attacking, only to use EMP to reduce them compared to other races. If you are playing as a Xan though, XP whoring is not likely to work. This is because Xan ships are so brittle that they tend to "crash or crash through" - ie you win by a large margin, or die. With a low valued fleet, Xan would tend to do more of the latter, and dead pods dont capture roids. Similarly, Zikonian as a race is best suited to the gain of value at the cost of roids, in the form of stealing ships. Thus the whole point of going Zik is to horde value, and not XP wh0re.

So, if you are a highly active offensively minded well connected Terran or Cath, i would imagine that XP wh0ring is a viable and (more) long-term strategy. If you are an inactive, defensively set, lonely Xan (like me ), then XP wh0ring is likely to be a bad idea.

I reckon.

Edit: So to answer the Poll, its a combination of the bottom three points depending on a variety of factors - they obviously must know what they are doing, they must have the right attitude, they should be well connected and being of the right race helps enormously. Further, having a highly organised (and large) galaxy helps alot, as roids saved is more fleet to attack even larger targets for roids and thus more XP (like Benneh). However, if the above isnt your situation and/or you dont land any attacks for a while or you get your fleet killed, the XP wh0ring is likely to be only a short-term strategy. I reckon that for most of us, that is the most likely outcome, however that is far from saying that it cant be done.

[Nadar]

#2.

[lokken]

To play by any method be it by building value, xp you have to be a good planet manager, so #2 is really the only sensible answer.

[Legator]

Originally Posted by lokken

To play by any method be it by building value, xp you have to be a good planet manager, so #2 is really the only sensible answer.

i said #1 cause last round it worked very well for me and im not sure if iam a good planet manager

[pig]

I think xp whoring can only work if you know how to maximise your xp, what targets to attack etc. I agree with lokken that #2 is the most suitable, someone who knows what they are doing can succeed with xp, however those that dont well ;/

[Alki]

I voted it as a short term gain, you cannot do 'well' as an xp whore when your past the hallf way or 2/3rds or the round margin, it can only suceed if at this point in the roid can you turn your planet into a value whore planet, which is pretty hard but not impossible

[Tomkat]

Yes you can easily.

Losing roids = lower value = more XP

You don't even have to be good. Just three fleet each day/night, log in a couple of times a day. In fact it takes less skill, as you don't need to be on as much.

You have to make sure you don't lose your fleet, that's all.

[Goatsemaster]

Originally Posted by Tomkat

In fact it takes less skill, as you don't need to be on as much.

You may be confusing skill with activity there.

[Tomkat]

Originally Posted by ******master

You may be confusing skill with activity there.

There isnt much difference in PA.

How much skill does it take to pick targets that can't hit you, then 3 fleet, JGP it and land?

Not a lot.

[Legator]

Originally Posted by Tomkat

Yes you can easily.

Losing roids = lower value = more XP

You don't even have to be good. Just three fleet each day/night, log in a couple of times a day. In fact it takes less skill, as you don't need to be on as much.

You have to make sure you don't lose your fleet, that's all.

that explains it quite exactly.

[JonnyBGood]

I voted yes definitely (I also edited the poll so it was spelt correctly . As long as you have someone to scan for you and a few similar planets to attack with it's like throwing monkeys a dartboard. Christ knows what's going to happen next and it could easily result in you being covered in faeces but it should be fun anyways.

[Gate]

I think it can depend on a lot of factors. If you are in an alliance, you're not contributing much by going XP whoring; with greater value you can hit more targets and defend more effectively. Alliances generally don't win by XP alone. That said, round 15 stats definitely didn't favour xands playing for value. In some ways, an alliance was heavily punished for having large xands :/

If you are in a situation where value won't work (eg you do not have a good alliance/gal to back you up to keep your roids), then XP whoring is, IMO, one of hte only viable ways to get big scores. Your only other options are distorter whoring or planetNAPing major threats, and I for one have never considered signing a planetNAP as I feel it's tantamount to stabbing your alliance in the ass in most cases.

That said, you even need some skill to go XP whoring. Picking the right race & fleet balance, and the right targets is still a skill. If picking targets were so easy, we wouldn't see such a large differential in the starting roidgains of alliances when people generally just pick targets and go to bed...

[Tomkat]

Originally Posted by Gate

That said, you even need some skill to go XP whoring. Picking the right race & fleet balance, and the right targets is still a skill. If picking targets were so easy, we wouldn't see such a large differential in the starting roidgains of alliances when people generally just pick targets and go to bed...

Maybe I'm just so damn good at picking targets that I take it for granted and assume you're all as good as me!!

What?

It might be the reason

[Squidly]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

I voted yes definitely (I also edited the poll so it was spelt correctly . As long as you have someone to scan for you and a few similar planets to attack with it's like throwing monkeys a dartboard. Christ knows what's going to happen next and it could easily result in you being covered in faeces but it should be fun anyways.

That is without a doubt the strangest analogy I have ever seen. Well done.

[coffee-]

In round 13, one of the main reasons I did so well as cath was I was able to attack most of the round with a large zik nearly every night (The_Seal). We'd set it up so our attack fleet values were fairly similar and just launch/recall/launch on people in the top50 roid count.

[ComradeRob]

Playing for XP is a significantly better strategy for the "casual" player than playing for traditional roids/value.

When playing for roids/value, you're likely to be attacked often as you maintain a high-ish roid count and a high enough value that most of the universe can attack you profitably. The key factor here is that you need an alliance, which requires activity. The second key point is that you generally need to be online when incoming occurs, which is normally in the middle of the night (if not, you need to arrange for someone else to be online to report your incoming and such).

Playing for XP means you can happily sleep through the night, not caring whether you have incoming or not. Simply wake up and send your fleets out on attack in the morning. If your attackers land before your own attacks do - great, more XP because your value is now lower.

For casual players who can't keep up with the hyper-activity required of alliances, it's a far more fun way to play. Those who are good at it (and it's a lot easier to be good at playing for XP) can achieve a much higher rank than they would have achieved playing for roids and value.

Finally, XP is not an "investment". Roids/value is, and if you're away from an internet connection for more than 8 hours you could lose it all.

[The_Mad_Keg]

I totally agree with Comrade Rob on this one, although ive been up late at night doing defcalls etc i rarely wake up until the afternoon unless i have college and so far all has been successfull. Im top 400 atm, not exactly a brilliant place to be but thats with a single attack fleet only working on planets that give me 14-15 bravery factor and with the tiny amount of pods i had less than 100 roids per raid. Also looking at the progression i believe i will rise up the ranks a little further each night as thats whats been happening so far. i probably wont ever make top200 but where i am atm im happy with as im playing quite casually

[Europatriot]

when you got the skill and put in the effort, any half decent strategy should work well..
..however I still like to think this game "can not" be played alone

[TSP]

Originally Posted by ComradeRob

Playing for XP is a significantly better strategy for the "casual" player than playing for traditional roids/value.

When playing for roids/value, you're likely to be attacked often as you maintain a high-ish roid count and a high enough value that most of the universe can attack you profitably. The key factor here is that you need an alliance, which requires activity. The second key point is that you generally need to be online when incoming occurs, which is normally in the middle of the night (if not, you need to arrange for someone else to be online to report your incoming and such).

Playing for XP means you can happily sleep through the night, not caring whether you have incoming or not. Simply wake up and send your fleets out on attack in the morning. If your attackers land before your own attacks do - great, more XP because your value is now lower.

For casual players who can't keep up with the hyper-activity required of alliances, it's a far more fun way to play. Those who are good at it (and it's a lot easier to be good at playing for XP) can achieve a much higher rank than they would have achieved playing for roids and value.

Finally, XP is not an "investment". Roids/value is, and if you're away from an internet connection for more than 8 hours you could lose it all.

I think you've hit the nail on the head on there. I'm not a 'dedicated' player - I like my sleep, I'm in the final year of my degree which takes priority, and I'm not in an alliance that can fend off all my incoming with ease. I don't think I'd get anywhere but mediocrity sitting on my roids. At the moment I'm sitting at a pretty decent rank, but I don't maintain any illusions about being able to keep it for the whole round

At the moment XP is doing well for me, and I'm having more fun with the game than I would otherwise. I think XP "whoring" does require more skill than value hoarding, but less to do it successfully. You can get quite a way playing for XP with little skill, whereas if you have a lot of skill you can get further playing for value.

I'd like to see what a smaller, more casual alliance could do playing solely for XP though. I think it would be pretty successful (relatively).