Planetarion Forums

18 Dec 2002, 23:26

According to Zeus there will be private galaxies once again, wot do ppl feel about this announcement, i for one am happy to see them integrate this back in, but wot is ur opinion?:deer: :frosty: :xmas: :smiley1:

Gayle29uk · 18 Dec 2002, 23:28

As I read it, round 9 will be a warmup for Jolt and a way of keeping the current playerbase happy while round 10 is prepared for a mass publicity campaign and what will be effectively a relaunch of PA. Anyone else see it that way?

janks · 18 Dec 2002, 23:31

I agree and am looking forward to play r10, but i will play r9 too and be happy to be able to play with friends

Grimble · 18 Dec 2002, 23:32

Quote:

Originally posted by Gayle28uk
As I read it, round 9 will be a warmup for Jolt and a way of keeping the current playerbase happy while round 10 is prepared for a mass publicity campaign and what will be effectively a relaunch of PA. Anyone else see it that way?

1. This would probably be a good way to go about it
2. They've hired Spinner, Zeus and Fudge

it just doesn't add up :smiley1:

edit: I'll probably play round 9, if only to have a shared politics board with some friends to take the piss

gzambo · 18 Dec 2002, 23:40

anyone else notice they neglected to mention if rd9 is free or p2p

Zeus · 18 Dec 2002, 23:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Gayle28uk
As I read it, round 9 will be a warmup for Jolt and a way of keeping the current playerbase happy while round 10 is prepared for a mass publicity campaign and what will be effectively a relaunch of PA. Anyone else see it that way?

\o/ someone sees it

Emyn^ · 18 Dec 2002, 23:47

i'd prefer a wait then a r10 (as round 9 (or can't we name them something other than rounds and start at 0 (or sth))) with new, "exciting" features. a p2p private galaxy r9 will just loose the few people hanging onto the game, imo by the time they get to r10 there will no longer be an interest.

give us a revised game (r3 revised) with random, 25 galaxies and make it worth the wait, or make round 9 short (e.g. 1 month

)

anyway, grats to zeus, spinner etc on joining jolt, lets get back to r4-6 style mmm, the good old days so to speak

WST · 18 Dec 2002, 23:50

see round 9 as champ manager 2002/3, and round 10 as champ manager 4, a complete revamp, not just an update

good to see private gals back

Emyn^ · 18 Dec 2002, 23:51

while im here, get those damn new graphics in

Gayle29uk · 18 Dec 2002, 23:51

Quote:

Originally posted by Zeus
\o/ someone sees it

I always do

Congratulations on your new appointment and good luck to all three of you. Ignore the imbeciles knocking you and get back to your baby

-QS- · 19 Dec 2002, 00:30

Whatever PA will look like I`m in, cause I`m addicted

Well, I would have loved to see another random round, but when you look on p-board, you`ll see that some decent allies will leave the game, so there might be a new order. Anyways, I think priv gals lead to stagnation which slowly destroys the game. Possibly and hopefully I am wrong.

Pld pa-crew and congratz to your new jobs! Looking for forward to see tons of innovations here in the future, thx 4 saving PA!!!!!!

General Martok · 19 Dec 2002, 02:01

If r9 would ahve meen random I would have skipped it. With my bad luck it's useless to go random. My gal had rank 550 after 2 weeks, and the gay I exciled to was around rank 500

[Cymru] · 19 Dec 2002, 03:03

I agree with the organised galaxies. Not many people will continue to play this game if each round is just dictated by how many losers end up in their gal.

If it is p2p then imo they set up 15 player gals consisting of two groups of 5 organised people in with 5 randoms or maybe even 20 per gal with 10 randoms, then at least it will integrate some randomness into the game while stopping most of the suspicions of spies and in-gal backstabbing.

If its free however, i think there should be three groups of 5 organised players shuffled into 15 player galaxies.

And for the sake of the game R10 should be free even if it means a shorter round.

r72dk · 19 Dec 2002, 03:10

my opinion goes here

http://www.jolt.co.uk/paf/showthread...hreadid=155463

zenopus · 19 Dec 2002, 03:21

I agree that private galaxies should be available, but random and private galaxies have to be balanced.
R7 (was it?) saw 15 planet priv gals and 25 planet random gals. That was not enough of a disadvantage.
We need something like;
private gals of 4 planets (1 group of 4 players)
private gals of 6 planets (2 groups of 3 players)
private gals of 8 planets (4 groups of 2 players)
random gals of 10 planets.

Which of those options would you choose? And based purely on strategic considerations? If you can't make up your mind, they are probably well balanced...

Hala · 19 Dec 2002, 03:31

Annoucement seems fine

except for one little thing I noticed which might want to be changed (see further down). Would be nice to know about whether its free or p2p, I for one won't be dishing out any money for another round of pa simply because of the player numbers. As for those whinging about it being private, one simple fact about last round, if you did well you had fun, if your gal was crap then you didn't, not surprising to see those who did well last round (who on the whole were lucky enough to end up in l33t galaxies (not all, some did very well with shocking gals, but very few) whinging about it.

Anyway the thing I noticed in the announcement was this:

Quote:

As many of you know, the infamous gaming company Jolt now control the Planetarion game.

I don't think infamous is the right word

Perhaps famous...
to quote dictionary.com

in·fa·mous
adj.
1. Having an exceedingly bad reputation; notorious.
2. Causing or deserving infamy; heinous: an infamous deed.

I for one haven't heard anything bad about jolt, and I doubt someone now employed by them would be calling them that unless it was a simple gramatical error (I hope

) so perhaps changing it (removing the in and making it just famous) would be advisable.

yodaa800 · 19 Dec 2002, 04:01

Quote:

Originally posted by gzambo
anyone else notice they neglected to mention if rd9 is free or p2p

yes

branko · 19 Dec 2002, 04:17

Quote:

Originally posted by [Cymru]
I agree with the organised galaxies. Not many people will continue to play this game if each round is just dictated by how many losers end up in their gal.

If it is p2p then imo they set up 15 player gals consisting of two groups of 5 organised people in with 5 randoms or maybe even 20 per gal with 10 randoms, then at least it will integrate some randomness into the game while stopping most of the suspicions of spies and in-gal backstabbing.

If its free however, i think there should be three groups of 5 organised players shuffled into 15 player galaxies.

And for the sake of the game R10 should be free even if it means a shorter round.

Mostly it mean nothing how good your galaxy is I was finish in top 20 planet and myself was holding about 65% of roids and score that make my galaxy wary unpopular target,Why?? coz every single BC when looking for a target thay usualy take about target looking on score first (about 100-150 or 200-250 or 300-350 galaxy place) depends of his battlegroups.Then he take a look at galaxy roids-ratio (total) and when he see that in some galaxy one guy is holding almoust ALL of roids and score he say **** this let me see another one galaxy.The best targets is where almoust all ppl in galaxy have about same size-score.Yes I know there are always ppl who can team-up in one target (my usual incoming was about 10-15 mid size ppl or 5-7 BIG guys,Bigger then me,except few situation when half of one big alliance launch on me,also few waves from ketchup and his BG but this was not usual) And guess what I lose 0 roids entire round.Every single BC with a little brain knows that top planets cant be roided in regular attacks.

The private galaxy is just for a ppl who like to siting in the fence and enjoy in his powerblock domination.But when this ppl go in galaxy where thay are on there own uuups one morning all fleets are gone

19 Dec 2002, 04:22

ah, god dammit, I'm gonna have to find a new ISP somewhere all the flat rate monthly fee ones barred me b/c I was on 24/7... hmmm, don't want to miss r9 :-(

branko · 19 Dec 2002, 04:23

one more thing in private galaxy there is account shering like hell.

are someone see account shering in random galaxy?????

Hicks · 19 Dec 2002, 04:31

Sid suggested mini private galaxies in Round 4 nice to see by Round 9 you've all caught up. Now we just have to wait until Round 11 until the creators realise it may be a good idea

Eol · 19 Dec 2002, 04:36

Quote:

Originally posted by gzambo
anyone else notice they neglected to mention if rd9 is free or p2p

Hicks · 19 Dec 2002, 04:38

Apparently Zeus is recommending that it remains P2P for R9

Tactitus · 19 Dec 2002, 05:54

I think private galaxies would be a really bad idea for R9.

They should be looking to broaden their user base at this point. New owners, new host--time to bring some new blood into the game (and lure back some of the tens of thousands who've left).

A free random round would be best. Even a free random mini-round (say, 6 weeks) if that's all they can afford. Next best would be a free private round. Worst would be a p2p private round. A p2p private round caters only to the hard-core players, most of whom frankly would probably play R9 regardless.

Given that this is PA, and they've brought back the old management, I guess we're looking at p2p private for R9.

:reindeer:

r72dk · 19 Dec 2002, 05:55

p2p again ??

now that i was thinking in playign again and see PA filling with ppl...

Lets face it, better have a 100k universe even if 20k are bots, multis and others than 5k which only 1k play actively and 250 keep bothering after 2 months playtime.

no p2p plz..

r72dk

Gayle29uk · 19 Dec 2002, 13:17

Quote:

Originally posted by r72dk
p2p again ??

now that i was thinking in playign again and see PA filling with ppl...

Lets face it, better have a 100k universe even if 20k are bots, multis and others than 5k which only 1k play actively and 250 keep bothering after 2 months playtime.

no p2p plz..

r72dk

Remember round 9 is a 'holding pattern' for those of us already playing. At a guess I'd say they don't want too many new players until round 10 when everything is ready for a relaunch and the extensive development that's planned will almost certainly (as I see it) include the long lost mythical multi-detection toolkit enabling free players to play (hopefully crippled accounts though) without causing the utter mayhem of mass multis.

Scouse · 19 Dec 2002, 13:31

Well the way it's looking at the moment I can't see round 9 being very good.

Even less players than round 8 and no alliance wars.

Spearhead · 19 Dec 2002, 13:33

there will be wars scouse...always will be, its a war game isnt it ?
btw you playing ?

anyway if its p2p i cant be arsed sorry, but i aint p(l)aying...

DarkAngel · 19 Dec 2002, 13:34

i don't see why ppl bitch about paying tbh.

Spearhead · 19 Dec 2002, 13:37

well ill state my case :

if we have to pay, most wont join, this means there wont be many players...means not to many targets...means no fun...

its's just the way it is...and Azrael dont call me a bitch

or ill smack you on IRC later

Acid

wakey · 19 Dec 2002, 13:46

Quote:

Originally posted by Hicks
Apparently Zeus is recommending that it remains P2P for R9

Zeus has seemed to favour p2p in some discussions that have been had mainly due to the fact he doesnt see the business sense in Jolt taking a loss on the product immediatly. However the counter argument is that there wont be enough p2p people to actually support a fully p2p round without effectivly putting the final nail in the coffin of PA before jolt have time to make the planned changes. Its really got to the stage that PA needs a free round just to get it some good 'press' just so Jolt have something to work with for their 'relaunch'

Gayle29uk · 19 Dec 2002, 13:51

Quote:

Originally posted by wakey
<snip>

Rather than repeat myself, see my post in the sticky poll

DarkAngel · 19 Dec 2002, 14:01

Quote:

Originally posted by Spearhead
well ill state my case :

if we have to pay, most wont join, this means there wont be many players...means not to many targets...means no fun...

its's just the way it is...and Azrael dont call me a bitch or ill smack you on IRC later

Acid

nothing in life is free.

lo btw

Galaxian · 19 Dec 2002, 14:01

Quote:

Originally posted by wakey
Zeus has seemed to favour p2p in some discussions that have been had mainly due to the fact he doesnt see the business sense in Jolt taking a loss on the product immediatly. However the counter argument is that there wont be enough p2p people to actually support a fully p2p round without effectivly putting the final nail in the coffin of PA before jolt have time to make the planned changes. Its really got to the stage that PA needs a free round just to get it some good 'press' just so Jolt have something to work with for their 'relaunch'

I agree with this.

A p2p private-gal based round now will effectively kill off whats left of the current community. They will be lucky to get 3k players to sign up for round 9, and of those 3k, 2k will quit when they realise how crap such a small player base is. Not many will come back for round 10.

I know you think its just a 'holding pattern' until round 10 Gayle, but I don't see how killing off most of whats left of the current community helps the new owners promote PA.

Gayle29uk · 19 Dec 2002, 14:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Galaxian
...think its just a 'holding pattern' until round 10 Gayle, but I don't see how killing off most of whats left of the current community helps the new owners promote PA.

See my post in the sticky poll

Whis · 19 Dec 2002, 14:37

Quote:

Originally posted by wakey
Its really got to the stage that PA needs a free round just to get it some good 'press' just so Jolt have something to work with for their 'relaunch'

Yup, I agree with this also.

r72dk · 19 Dec 2002, 15:21

Quote:

Originally posted by branko
Mostly it mean nothing how good your galaxy is I was finish in top 20 planet and myself was holding about 65% of roids and score that make my galaxy wary unpopular target,Why?? coz every single BC when looking for......

Yes I know there are always ppl who can team-up in one target (my usual incoming was about 10-15 mid size ppl or 5-7 BIG guys,Bigger then me,except few situation when half of one big alliance launch on me,also few waves from ketchup and his BG but this was not usual) And guess what I lose 0 roids entire round

The private galaxy is just for a ppl who like to siting in the fence and enjoy in his powerblock domination.But when this ppl go in galaxy where thay are on there own uuups one morning all fleets are gone

I guess you speak on your person only.
Ever considered the fact that 70% players of this game, or those we aim to start playing the game dont have the possibilities or contacts or defence available you have ?

If you want more examples.... i was given a dying planet at mid round just for having a bit of fun.... i had between 500- 700 init roids and between 1,5 - 2 mil score if that much, i had incomigns for whole week and havent lost a single roid and killed most fleets that didnt recall. How did that happen, because i knew some high scored mates. How many newbies have that possibilities ? 1% if that much......

r72dk · 19 Dec 2002, 15:26

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkAngel
i don't see why ppl bitch about paying tbh.

Because PA is only fun ALL round with over 60k active players.
Remember the change from 180k planets to 40k between r4 and r5?
Maybe you didnt notice in your alliance as i didnt notice when i was in legion, but while i was there me and leff were having fun gathering small alliances toghether, we managed to gather about 6-10 small ones and have close to 100 'casual' players in chans, all because we could. One week after p2p was announced half those were there, two weeks after we´ve quit the idea.

zenopus · 24 Dec 2002, 17:30

Quote:

Originally posted by Athila
ah, god dammit, I'm gonna have to find a new ISP somewhere all the flat rate monthly fee ones barred me b/c I was on 24/7... hmmm, don't want to miss r9 :-(

Just came across this article at Demon.

[Cymru] · 28 Dec 2002, 05:08

Quote:

Originally posted by zenopus
Just came across this article at Demon.

I hope you cleaned up afterwards!

Kileman · 28 Dec 2002, 11:05

Having to pay personally is a problem not for the money issue, but for the fact that it drives away potential players, resulting in a smaller and less interesting universe. And there is no way id pay for another random round.
________
Ford germany history

Chax · 28 Dec 2002, 11:42

Quote:

Originally posted by r72dk
I guess you speak on your person only.
Ever considered the fact that 70% players of this game, or those we aim to start playing the game dont have the possibilities or contacts or defence available you have ?

If you want more examples.... i was given a dying planet at mid round just for having a bit of fun.... i had between 500- 700 init roids and between 1,5 - 2 mil score if that much, i had incomigns for whole week and havent lost a single roid and killed most fleets that didnt recall. How did that happen, because i knew some high scored mates. How many newbies have that possibilities ? 1% if that much......

I hereby remove my suggestion to bring this guy in as a beta tester.

Cheaters should have no place in any such position

zenopus · 28 Dec 2002, 12:32

Quote:

Originally posted by r72dk
... i was given a dying planet at mid round ...

Quote:

Originally posted by Chax
I hereby remove my suggestion to bring this guy in as a beta tester.

Cheaters should have no place in any such position

OTOH, such a move would provide an opportunity to test anti-cheat features...

On a more serious note - such an admittal taints all his posts about wanting a free round. Well partially - any valid arguments he has made still hold ofc. But the integrity of his motives for wanting a free round has been compromised.

30 Dec 2002, 14:47

private gals are GOOD if you have a lot of close friends/ alliance however for those people who dont have close friends or alliances (people who are new to PA) are going to be buggered cos its going to lead to gangbanging etc.

I donno maybe people will use that damn stargate or whatever it is which the MoW controls or something?!?!?!? never actually seen that thing in action yet! i seen someone use it but thats about it...

Its also going to be unfair on people who end up in a super powerful gal and because he isnt a friend or as experianced as some members it would be very easy for them members of an alliance or group to team up and vote anyone out who they dont aprove of!

Mushroom · 30 Dec 2002, 15:07

Frankly i've never liked private galaxies... they were fun when they started, but it ruins the diplomacy of the game. Alliances and friends who inhabit gals can run all the politics out beforehand and it removes the element that drew me into Planetarion to start with... gaining people's trust enough to be GC or have a ministerial position etc...

But i fear diplomacy has gone from Planetarion forever

30 Dec 2002, 15:12

I think its better with random gals then you need skill to keep the gal together.

Neo · 30 Dec 2002, 15:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Mushroom
Frankly i've never liked private galaxies... they were fun when they started, but it ruins the diplomacy of the game. Alliances and friends who inhabit gals can run all the politics out beforehand and it removes the element that drew me into Planetarion to start with... gaining people's trust enough to be GC or have a ministerial position etc...

Couldn't agree more

Look at it another way...
Was the player base success of r4 caused by:

1) Finally being ables to be in your friends galaxy?

or

2) 3 random rounds where 'veterans' and newbies was put in the same boat?

Dibdevlin · 30 Dec 2002, 18:32

Having not actively played in a few rounds I will not play any round with Private Galaxies.

No chance of success or having fun.

RealJames · 30 Dec 2002, 19:15

Personally I'd like to see a return to the R7 system where you could opt to have private or random galaxies, thereby allowing players who want to go out there and share galaxies with new people the ability to do so, and those that want to choose who is in their galaxy the power to do so also.

Mushroom · 30 Dec 2002, 19:25

Quote:

Originally posted by RealJames
Personally I'd like to see a return to the R7 system where you could opt to have private or random galaxies, thereby allowing players who want to go out there and share galaxies with new people the ability to do so, and those that want to choose who is in their galaxy the power to do so also.

That didn't really work though, the people who did choose to go random (and were stuck with the free playing people) were at a disadvantage to the private gals, as there was a VERY bad ratio of experienced players to new players in the random galaxies. It only really works if you have all private gals or all random gals, which is a shame really because that system in theory would have pleased both sides