Planetarion Forums - Paying vs non-paying, how far can you go?

DIllar · 28 Nov 2005, 21:32

Just wondering what is the highest rank possible on a non-paying account? I don't mean therotically I mean realistically. Does anyone know the highest rank at the min by a non paying account?

Shyne · 28 Nov 2005, 22:49

I'd estimate top 500 to be nearly impossible, however theres always potential for ziks to score higher by stealing.

Nadar · 28 Nov 2005, 22:59

Think there was a rank 200+ unpaid planet last round or the round before that.

Neferti · 28 Nov 2005, 23:31

Kargool(?) gave a credit to the highest ranked freebie at the end of the round, last round. I think the rank was about 220th.

Haarken · 29 Nov 2005, 02:14

I'd say 1st, I mean as long as everyone else was incredibly bad and scores were fairly low

Wishmaster · 29 Nov 2005, 02:20

top 100 should clearly be doable in a good gal with correct setup.

And as zik.

Brimstone · 29 Nov 2005, 02:40

i would doubt as things stand you'd get into Top100, but T200-300 would probably be doable

Wishmaster · 29 Nov 2005, 02:49

I d like to make a wager I d end top 100 as freebie..but, then I d have to play

also, Pan might be V different and make it harder for freebies.

What do I know

furier · 2 Dec 2005, 08:28

T100 very doable with the settings wishmaster proposed... imo

Zeke · 23 Dec 2005, 20:30

Mhh there was an aacount in top100 calling himself "I am unpaid" or whatever, don't know if this was for real though...

soda · 24 Dec 2005, 06:09

I was unpaid, logged in once a day, no alliance and in an unorganized gal
Still i managed to end up ranked as #359.
It should be very doable to end up in T100 for a freebie if the setting was right, and especially if you went for xp.

Appocomaster · 24 Dec 2005, 10:32

soda, I was looking for you!
Your galaxy was pretty bad, but you were the top unpaid planet this round

Brimstone offered you a free credit for next round, but you hadn't logged into your account and didn't seem to be on IRC so I wanted to see if you were planning on playing the next paid round first

On the paid / unpaid front, obviously many alliances won't be happy with free accounts too much and so therefore won't support them because of the high ETAs.
It's actually around tick 150 or so that there starts to be a difference (we tested a couple of rounds ago in betas, and up until about that tick there wasn't a huge amount of difference as the free accounts were just a few roids behind). The real differences come when the ETA and roid research limits kick in, tbh. I'd like to see an emphasis on upgrading (apart from getting rid of all those damn banners) by allowing people to research techs that they can't use so that when they do upgrade they aren't penalised, and also to increase the amount they gain from upgrading to something more tick dependant than the current 5k of each resource bonus

Shyne · 24 Dec 2005, 14:24

I know a freebie who did well last round but ofc he was a zik and he just stole a TON of cat cr.

soda · 26 Dec 2005, 07:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Appocomaster

soda, I was looking for you!
Your galaxy was pretty bad, but you were the top unpaid planet this round

Brimstone offered you a free credit for next round, but you hadn't logged into your account and didn't seem to be on IRC so I wanted to see if you were planning on playing the next paid round first

Oh, thank you, i didnt know i was top unpaid

The gal was bad, but it is possible to adapt your playing style after the circumstanses.

I never have much time to play, but since i'm hooked i always play every round. When things seem to go ok i have a tendency to spend a little more time than i can afford

I am planning to play the next paid round, so i will be very grateful for a free credit.

s7n · 26 Dec 2005, 08:48

It would be very unrealistic to get t100, as the research does not take you far at all, you dont get all scans or even so you can use all your roids. However having only 200 roids will keep you away from incoming, which means you will be able to focus only on attack ships. For example this round, an xan could have only bought Tzen and Sabre for the whole round, which would have been alright. As for t100 goes, i was fighting hard to stay in the t100 this round, and it would have been impossible with an unpaid account.

soda · 28 Dec 2005, 08:12

The large majority of unpaid accounts are newbies, returning PA-player and retired PA-players.
Most of these lack the skill and/or dedication to get up to T1000

The active unpayed ones are mostly playing PA the traditional way. With emphasis on keeping roids and increase their score by value. For those the 300 roid limit kick in quite early and only the lucky few get up to T500.

For an unpaid account there is no limit on how much xp you can get.
You get the same amount of XP for any roid you steal as a paid account, depending on your relative size of you and your target. So if you are a little bit more aggressive and steal a few more roids than the average of those ranked above you, you can end up with the same or higher score-growth rate.
If you have a few days with failed attacks, you will ofc. immidiately fall way down in the rankings because your value growth is pitiful compared to others. But if you only rely on XP you dont have to worry about being brought back a month score wise because you have a bad night being attacked either.

There is a limit to how far a unpaid account can go this way, since you cannot get enough ships to attack those with most roids which will give you the most xp-gains. But it is my opinion that it is possible for an unpaid account to get into T100. But then you need to have a very good round, with few failed attacks. At this level one day without successful attacks will probably throw you back at least 50 spaces in rank.

During this round whenever i checked on my attackers i was more often than not surprised that they actually could attack me. Looks like a lot of people are contend to attack right at their bash limit, with a very small xp-gain. This conservative playing style means that a lot of people are only using half of their potential growth rate, and it opens up possibilites for those who choose to utilize the other half to compete

Wishmaster · 28 Dec 2005, 12:07

I d go as zik and farm inactive twats in shit gals. I d get a nice fleet which I could use to attack with 24/7 - never defend out of gal, and when I defended I d send steal ships to gain more value by doing so.

Ending top 100 is np if u r in the right galaxy, also I could get loads of naps from different alliances -which has been shown earlier how easy it is-

Kieker Jan · 29 Dec 2005, 08:39

squishy did a zik raiders only round a few rounds ago... fair enough he was paid but most of the time he spent with 48 roids...

he just go rape sume as high as he could get 2k roids... bein roid senceless over thext 24 hours and end up with nothing then hed go again scoring xp like a madman... if he hadnt been in australia and therefor hardly active hed ended up top100 for sure...
2k raiders.. 300k value and raping 3/4mil value planets