Why change?

[Zoro]

Every single round the game changes
Ship names
Targeting
stats
Every new round there seems to be a frantic rush to balance the stats and we inveriably get threads saying 'i'm leaving the stats aren't anywhere near as good as round 14 blah blah blah'
I play Age of Empire online all the time
You can go online at any time and there are 3k + players online - there are many thousands (tens of thousands) of regular players. That games has not changed in the slightest for over 5 years now
I also play chess
There are hundereds of thousands of players online right now (various websites). That game hasn't changed atall in 500 years

I think all the PA staff and many players are just too obsessed with round by round change - they think this is what is needed to keep it interesting.
I believe that the game is most interesting when it's balanced/fair and each race has a chance
We could only get this balance with continuity - maybe each round slightly adjust the stats to balance the game round by round until eventually we end with a perfectly balanced game that would then appeal to more people (i'm sure)
Then the PA team could put all it's efforts into Marketing or even coding (the idea mentioned in another thread) Bot planets to make the universe BIGGER and an even better game.
I played that game Eve a while back and that is a space game with thousand of players - with computer controlled pirates and security forces to add a bit of spice to the game.

What do u think?

[Zeke]

Mmh I dont like the idea with the bots, but I like not changing stats drastically each round...

[XelNaga]

Age of Empires was also patched till it was balanced.

[Cannon_Fodder]

Originally Posted by Zoro

Every single round the game changes
Ship names
Targeting
stats
Every new round there seems to be a frantic rush to balance the stats and we inveriably get threads saying 'i'm leaving the stats aren't anywhere near as good as round 14 blah blah blah'

Those people are fools then.

I play Age of Empire online all the time
You can go online at any time and there are 3k + players online - there are many thousands (tens of thousands) of regular players. That games has not changed in the slightest for over 5 years now

Patches, add-ons, expansions, sequels. PA doesn't need them

I also play chess
There are hundereds of thousands of players online right now (various websites). That game hasn't changed atall in 500 years

I feel you get more enjoyment from PA, from the longer length of it, and the community.

I think all the PA staff and many players are just too obsessed with round by round change - they think this is what is needed to keep it interesting.
I believe that the game is most interesting when it's balanced/fair and each race has a chance

We could only get this balance with continuity - maybe each round slightly adjust the stats to balance the game round by round until eventually we end with a perfectly balanced game that would then appeal to more people (i'm sure)

You say they shouldn't change them, then suggest changing a little...

There is no such thing as the perfectly balanced game.

I'm glad the stats change, they make it more interesting as you have to stay on your toes looking for new combos to attack with/defend against. If the stats remained the same round after round, I feel they would become boring, and possibly unbalanced as people change races .

Then the PA team could put all it's efforts into Marketing or even coding (the idea mentioned in another thread)

It's Jolts money, and as most people have seen for a long time now, they seem fine to let the community try and salvage it while they make a dwindling profit.

Bot planets to make the universe BIGGER and an even better game. I played that game Eve a while back and that is a space game with thousand of players - with computer controlled pirates and security forces to add a bit of spice to the game.

I haven't looked at the bot threads recently, but I'm undecided on this pending what kind of system they would be implemented under.

[JonnyBGood]

You can't balance PA a priori ( ) it depends on which race people choose and how they play it.

[Banned]

Originally Posted by Zoro

Every single round the game changes
Ship names
Targeting

The former is a bit of a consequence of the latter. I tried to remain faithful to some sort of canon when making stats, with a priority of:

last round
round 6
round 7
the round before last
the round before that
etc

Of course, round 6 and 7 often contradicted last round. Some of it is to add color to the stats, some of it is utility, some of it is simply to leave your mark as stats creator. Last round I reintroduced some things players were asking for (Interceptor), and changed something I wasn't too fond of (Demeter) to add something with appropriate flavor that was somewhat bizarre (Ziz).

I've come around to the thinking that stats should not be redesigned from the ground up every round unless there is some fundamental change that needs to be made. In my opinion the current stats paradigm is sufficiently good to justify working on last round's stats instead of making fundamental alterations (I'm basically criticizing the pod-class changes.)

[Gate]

Originally Posted by Banned

In my opinion the current stats paradigm is sufficiently good to justify working on last round's stats instead of making fundamental alterations

For the original poster, the current stats are based off last round's stats. Terrans, for example, have seen 1 class change (mandrake, was the corvette class gryphon) and 1 target change (wyvern shot DE, now shoots CR)

Originally Posted by Banned

(I'm basically criticizing the pod-class changes.)

You bitch. I'll get my handbag!

[Bromcrysal]

I played Xan last round, and I'm playing them again this round. they look like they have changed a lot, but they really havn't. the Wraith and the Spectre/Broadsword have just switched targets, and since they are both produced from the same research, that's not a substantive change. The FI and CO have simply changed roles, pods moving from CO to FI, and basically taking the same ships along with them... now Illusion=Fireblade, and Banshee=Vsharrak, since the other two Xan FI/CO ships (R17 Phantom/Mirage, R16 Phantom/Arrowhead) just target each other, this is also not a substantive change. FR remain largely unchanged, with the Tzen changing in name and target, only to follow the FI/CO change and responsive change in Terran targeting, so still not a substantive change.

So the Xandathrii are practically the same race as last round. The only Real alteration to the Xandathrii race is the new Revenant, both to offer a change from the Practically Useless Peacekeeper last round, and to make up for the small hole in anti-CO caused by the Tzen/Shadow target change. But since this ship is not podcalssed, and unavailable in Alliance Def, it's still not a big change.

As far as what they attack, they Xandathrii Fighters can still swarm through Catharr like Corvettes could last round, The FR will have a slightly tougher time doing so, since they don't target the anti-FR killship anymore. FR can still attack Terrans, FI still can't, unless Pegasus are out. The Brigand will force FI attacks on Zik to bring CO along, much like the Assassin forced CO attacks to bring FI last round. The real change in the attacking patterns is that Xan FR will be able to target their Zik stealer, so that's another substantive change.

So the only real changes to Xandathrii are Peacekeeper to Revenant, and the Zik change from BS -> FR to CR -> FR. Everything else, from a Xan point of view, is just color.

[Shyne]

Originally Posted by XelNaga

Age of Empires was also patched till it was balanced.

A fair point, but pa stats arent balanced, they are redrawn from scratch.