Planetarion Forums - Round 10, traveltime and alliances

4 Apr 2003, 07:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Spinner
Quite intentional tbh. Its a bit harsh, but it might lead to "new people" being trained and playing together with more experienced people, and further make the game more even and fun and challenging.

A few rounds ago I managed to have a hardcore player in my galaxy. His constant complaints that we weren't pulling our weight eventually split the galaxy. We all fell out with each other, and it ruined the round.

The bottom line... hard core or experienced players don't want to play with new, inexperienced, or "fun" players.

cypher · 4 Apr 2003, 07:29

so quite basically you are saying we should have a round where we init to 1k roids as that's by far cheapest and smartest. there is no way in hell anyone would attack if it would take 24 ticks... hell it's hard enough to attack on eta 8 or 7.
for newbies with no friends this will be even much harder...
if you do implement this idea.. something like a 15 hour max (still ridiculously much) would have to be implemented aswell...
this is actually just a sad/lame idea

i'm wondering about next round name btw... did you decide on Planetopia? or not?

Amun · 4 Apr 2003, 07:35

I just wanted to say something about the suggestion being made.

If this is going on i will probably stop playing pa.
This results in
-only attacks near your own cluster, because you dont want to have to wait 20X ticks to arrive at a target since it will be defended.

- an even smaller universe then it is already, which means a smaller round to play pa, if the big guys in the nearest C are determined, rounds basically over.

- you can not defend friends who r in a cluster far away from you.

- no private gals will result in not playing with your friends in a galaxy, hardcore players will find them selves in a gal with n00bs and will quit due to activity opinions.

I still think the big problem is a universe thats way to small for a pa round to be flexible and fun for a longer time.

if the possible changes for round 10 are implemented, pa will loose lots of very good pa players.

CdErius · 4 Apr 2003, 07:40

Quote:

Originally posted by Axis_WLF
Perhaps there can be a DECLARE WAR button for alliances to go against another alliance making attack time for both cheaper as well as eonium spendage...

utopia has this

the game sucks thou

4 Apr 2003, 07:46

I think the increased travel time is great. I personaly do not like the way the game is played because of alliances. So if it can hinder them, thats even better. I would suggest though that having the jumpgate reduce the time for travel, not just the amount of eonium used. But limit it's use (for example 1 use per week) and make it only work if a minimum of the galaxy is going through (maybe 60% of the galaxy has to go through). Maybe that will help make more people in the galaxy be active in joint attacks. As it is right now, no one makes joint attacks unless they are in a private galaxy with friends.

DarkPrince · 4 Apr 2003, 07:47

I would have to totally agree with LordBlackheart2000, though i did get somewhat confused with all those Groupings.

The way i see it, this might well benefit powerblocks, as only a powerblock or really big alliance would have enough players to make an impact in all the different regions of the universe. A powerblock having close to a third of the planets in the universe could easily control each region, setting up regional wings, simular to todays cluster/para alliances.

What i would see as a much better option was not to change the traveltime, but (like suggested in earlier threads) make the Eonium cost greater, the longer away from your home planet, you travel.

I also like the idea posted by Necro (i think) of being able to jump directly from planet to planet, without having to return home first. However i think pods who capture roids, will have to return home with their captured cargo to "deliver" them at the planet. This would also help small alliances as their main problem is usually running out of defence. This would also open up new possibilities on attack, as you could stage huge attacks on planets from another planet within the same cluster/para, making it easier to take out the biggest planets.

cypher · 4 Apr 2003, 07:50

btw... talking about trying to get players to bash others... i know if i play that round (which i seriously doubt with these changes) that it's quite likely that we'll bash every n00b untill he's at 20% that's every planet in the neighbourhood then btw:/

poor newbies

4 Apr 2003, 07:55

i both like it and dislike it...

i like it because it will be exciting with something new and it would be fun with more tactical playing and no big alliance ruling the entire universe (hopefully)

-I dislike it because it would be totally unfair to 1:1 and 50:10 in a universe with 50 clusters... 1.1 and 50:10 cant attack 0:9 and 51:1 like 25.1 can attack 24.9 and 26.1 and the once around there on both sides with low eta......

and what if one of the galaxies that normally had been top 10-5 or even rank 1 in a normal universe gets in the n00bie "neigbourhood"? where they overgrow everyone so much that they soon cant attack em at all witihin eta 10?? and they got no targets and cant get roids.... and the players in that "neigbourhood" is very n00bish and etc....

And this might be very weird since its "random" where you end up in the universe... and say if one alliance lets call it x got 200 players... and one called w got 500 players...

what if 50% of the x players ends up very close to eachother??? that is totally possible... then they would own that part of the universe easy..... but what if w got 200 of their players in close cluster/para.... then they will so fast own everyone and wont have any targets left....

This would devide the universe in two games and we it might be possible that we wont even get a winner of the round cause one alliance might own half universe and the other allie the other half!

but it sounds bit cool tho;P but eta 5+1 for each cluster;P should be even lower.. hehe then its cool=) and i agree 24 hour is to long "maximum time" 15 hours is better.. then its possible to attack far away from ur gal atleast....

-I dont want "peace"
-I wanna "piece"
-kNeRtEn

Khaine · 4 Apr 2003, 08:04

Quote:

Originally posted by Howling
You have to be kidding the current round is anything but fair with such a small player base and the major blocking i have a gal with some top players in it that havnt yet cracked it for a mill !!!

i didn't say the game is currently fair, i only said that it'll make the game even more unfair in a sense

though i do know it'll mess up alliances, which is probably why spinner consider it...

but i think something that ruin fairness on the base level would be much worse :/

Quote:

Originally posted by Howling

Instead of making the 1st and last clusters so far away would it be possible to configure it so the 1st gal 1:1 is right next door to the last gal say 25:25 .

very easy to do

XeroX · 4 Apr 2003, 08:15

Sadly, there's no way i will ever play if there's a chanse i might have to wait 24hours (or 15 for that matter) from i launch to i get roids.

Sure, nice idea - but i still it'll ruin the game.

Not_RIT · 4 Apr 2003, 08:15

Sounds like a good idea but possibly a bit too over board, perhaps it would be better to have the time travel increase at a lesser rate as it would be somewhat diasterous atm. I would also like to see Over Burn defence implemented again, especially with this time travel technique, it would allow smaller alliances to be able to get more def and 'fight where they can win'.

Waku · 4 Apr 2003, 08:20

Im so happy I wont be here r10 cause this is a stupid idea

4 Apr 2003, 08:20

well,i particulary like this idea.i've noticed something though...i see that the people who are complaining about it are probably the one's in the powerblocks.as for saying you'll quit PA and PA will die if this is implemented,its only a suggestion by spinner which he needs feedback for.if you can think of a better idea to reduce the eliteness of power blocks then please,suggest it.a reasonable answer can come out of this.

i loved the guerilla idea thing.that would be good for stealth attacks and even newbies would have chance to roid bigger people (aslong as the bigger person has their fleet out ofc)

that intel scan idea is good aswell.

as for private/random gals.even though its nice playing with friends,i'll have to go with random gals.maybe paying less for a random account could work but i think quite a few people will rather have a galaxy which they know who they're with therefore know they won't be left out to dry with defence.
the good thing about random gals are that new players get to meet the experienced and at a guess not all newbies know about IRC,so therefore they could be introduced to that aswell which will expand the IRC community.

the travel time thing is way too long though,as i think most of us agree.12-15 hours should be max travel time.maybe you could implement a feature where you could knock off say 1 hour off travel time by using double the amount of eonium, then for triple the amount you could knock off 2 hours.this would mean people wouldn't have as large amounts of eonium spare and also could make the 'bigger' planets send less fleet as they won't be able to afford sending a huge bashing fleet therefore limiting what they send which will give the newbies a chance.

the change of co-ords every so often would be good aswell.it may destroy bonds between gals which have made friends,but it would also mean everyone gets a chance to be 'in the middle',unless the universe was made as a circle...the latter i would prefer tbh.

the_angry_angel · 4 Apr 2003, 08:22

sounds great \o/

4 Apr 2003, 08:30

Quote:

Originally posted by KMM
,its only a suggestion by spinner which he needs feedback for.

<-- yes it is... he wants us to say our uppinion... and if we are negative to it we have to say it ofc.... i dont think the idea is stupid.. ireally dont... and atm i dont have a better idea;P hehe! well ill let spinner decide this=)

I dont want "peace"
I wanna "piece"
-kNeRtEn

KeeperOfSecrets · 4 Apr 2003, 08:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Waku
Im so happy I wont be here r10 cause this is a stupid idea

Agreed

-Xerxes

Rastaman · 4 Apr 2003, 08:39

ruin the game
spinner stop taking those drugs man
;-)
things r slow nuff
don't slow it down even more

PS : if u make the changes put me and my pals in the middle of the universe
PS : and 9 fleets plz
PS : bring back overburn

HRS · 4 Apr 2003, 08:39

will alliances get an eta-advantage or so?

if you don't small alliances will have a serious problem, for example, i want to rejoin TFD in r10 (not playing this round), if we make tfd gals with at least 5 tfd members or so there is a good change that 1 or 2 gals will be totally seperated form the rest of the alliance. If the round is full random some members will be..

but if alliances get a nice eta bonus it will be impossible to hit the big ones:/

the stuff of making new alliances and all that sounds nice, but i don't want another alliance, i want to play with TFD

Twiglet · 4 Apr 2003, 08:40

Im afraid this is another change to the game which i fear would bring about the worst. I cannot and will not play Planetarion if it can take up to 15 hours (let alone 24 hours) to get my fleet to the defender.
Although, perhaps changing the err "sensitivity" of the new travel times formula thing would make it a bit more playable? So instead of it taking 38 ticks to go to 25:10:z it could perhaps be divided by 10? And this is the "extra" number of ticks it would take (in this case, 4, rounding 3.8 to 4)
Or I could just be talking bull**** as its only 8:45am heh

LynchMob · 4 Apr 2003, 08:42

I( say if PA gives us 5 avail fleet slots and cuts travel time down to 15 then yeah its a good idea.

masochist · 4 Apr 2003, 08:46

i understood all: i send an attack and i got a few days vacation. right?

MadeMan · 4 Apr 2003, 08:47

hmm i have to say this sounds like a bad idea, if u want more players, just keep it free for a round! And dont do any major changes.

Must ppl play to play with theyre friends, atleast to play the same game, to defened each others to attack with each others, not to sit and watch ppl getting cnutted with nothing being able to help them at all.

Ill say change the races some, even maybe make a new race or two. And do some minor changes, because a travel time of 24 hours, i will belive must ppl will find that boring! .

4 Apr 2003, 08:48

ok i like the idea but i wouls like to suggest one or two differences

1. i think the best way to avoid fights over positation i would sugest that there is a wrap around at the fringes (ie if there are 50 gals 1:1 to 1:2 is the same distance as 1:1 to 50:1)

2. if you are in an alience that is on the other side of the uni they can build as a gal a jumpgate relay station that will reduce the time to traval to what it would be from that gal (well plus and extra time cost to reach it of course, but not the time it would take normally

3. it will split the big alliences that inherently ruin the game huge alliences that constently attack one gal over and over again the gal being attacked will get a chance to rebuild between attackes and not just get pounder into the ground

so all in all i am for the new plan

4 Apr 2003, 08:53

Hello, my name's Spinner. I've failed 8 rounds to get pa working, eventually we went bankrupt.

After going P2P, and telling everyone R8 would be the last one(God we fooled so many peoples), we decided to stop the round half way. Then, we sold PA. We're going to have less then 2k players as new players doesn't stay because of our randoms galaxies, it is rather obvious that they are a big problem to our community and new players as a whole.

We hope to accure new players with the same crappy game that has been nearly the same for 8 rounds, with $10 for a Planetarion Round full of powerblocking, outnumbering, constant bashing and being stuck with other leet inactives players.

Private galaxies definately also helps a lot to stop powerblocking, we all know that without powerblocking, this game would probably be dead. This is our main reason of keeping it.

After ripping off half the money of our loyal clients in round 8, we decided eventhough we got a fully living game to charge at the highest price ever.

We are very excited about the new changes of round 10, eventhough most ideas basically comes from another rip-off called Hyperiums & various other spaces games.

Planetarion round 10: April Fools

4 Apr 2003, 08:57

Hi, I aint read all the replies yet due to being at work, so my idea may have been said already.

How about Universal Docking Stations where a fleet can be held in station for as long as they want. These stations could be at various places in da universe. (Or they could be set up by galaxies similar to way jumpgates are set up and opened to friendly planets only.)
Players can transfer a fleet from their home base and hold them in a docking station in a different part of the universe and have eta's for that fleet based on the location of the docking station and not their home planet. Obviously this will tie up a players fleet until it returns home but will give the player the chance to get involved in far flung parts of the universe.

Catwoman · 4 Apr 2003, 09:07

24 hours to attack or defend sounds boring game to me.
who the heck wants to wait arround that long for ships to return.

Illegal · 4 Apr 2003, 09:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Catwoman
who the heck wants to wait arround that long for ships to return.

You`d be suprised..

Illegal · 4 Apr 2003, 09:15

For the Spinner part: The best idea would be to create a "new" game. Tweaking most features in a game is not a new game, its the same game with a Patch. This is what you have been trying to do all rounds since round 1.

Tweaking every aspect is not the right way to go at it, you need to remake it.. Think of it as if you were making a new game, but do it with some old planetarion elements and ask for alot of feedback from players. (like this one, only with a little better imagination as higher Eta was voted NO back in R3)

mongob0ffel · 4 Apr 2003, 09:20

let the universe become round/sircular then, so there are no edges

ie, C1 can attack the highest clusters with reduced eta

4 Apr 2003, 09:23

Hi,
I have some opinions about the game myself.
- The new traveltimes are a nice idea, but won't be fair and need rethinking.
- Random Gals are far better for new players than private, because rarely a new player will come along with 9 friends
- 1) Travelling can be reduced by inventing some kind of gate before Gals. Through this gate no more ships with a ressource value higher than the defender can enter. This will make coop between different gals less important and bashing of targets almost impossible. Defenders should be limited than, too.
- 2) Tagged Allies get an eta 2 bonus in defense, as they play openly
Only 1 or 2 should be implemented, otherwise there will be no succesfull attacks
- make growth of planets linear, now it is exponential

Bertrant

IKG · 4 Apr 2003, 09:26

I don't think things need to be changed so much!
All we need is random gals, no -1 eta for parallels and freebie start to get new blood in!

We could have a option that it's free to start the game but you cannot have more 100 roids and 3million score unless you pay for your account.

The main problem with this round is THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH PPL PLAYING!.

Thats why gals are getting bashed, cus the big alliances have not got enough targets to go round!

Also is it possible to stop alliances setting NAPs and allies in AH.
In other words if you use the checker it only shows if you have members of your alliance in a target gal!

Illegal · 4 Apr 2003, 09:31

Quote:

Originally posted by Bertrant
Ideas.

Thing is most of these things will be abused to death. Like the Tag one, people would just tag their gals to whatever would fit at that time to get an advantage.

Illegal · 4 Apr 2003, 09:32

Quote:

Originally posted by IKG
and freebie start to get new blood in!

You cant really have free accounts anymore due to the veteran players abusing this madly. Bots.. farms.. scan planets.. etc..

Deathrow · 4 Apr 2003, 09:38

About Pyro's idea for a fleetstation, i really like it

I like the idea spinner, given that it does have the circular form so the odds are the same for everyone.

Two other options might be usefull, i dont know if anyone else allready mentioned them:

1)
I dont know what other forms of anti-powerblocking you are going to implement. But how about non-random placement in the galform you described? If the alliances have to be formed before the round (which i think i read somewhere) it might be a very nice idea to make an extra option where representatives of the sides could pick coords one at a time (if they want, others could go random after that, with maybe a possibility for the newer players to be placed as far away from the blocks as possible.

It would be time consuming and hard to organize, but combine this with the ETA principles you just mentioned and you could get a very tactical game.

Example, Side A picks 50:1, Side b picks 40:2, side a then picks 50:2 to backup 50:1 and, B then picks 40:1 etc. I know its hard to pull off but it would take the tactics behind galraids to a new level of play. And if coordinated well, it could mean newer players could have the possibility to stay away from the blocks and play a better round.

A sidenote, theres an extra option where alliances (again of a pre determent maximum size) could subscribe. After which they are placed in the galaxy. Maybe even semi-random so noobs can be placed away from the blocks giving them a different roundstart.

If anyone has additions/changes to this plz tell so

2)
I think this option will probably allready be known because its quite simple. Give the ability before round start to couple yourself to 2/3 friends. Then devide these groups evenly over random gals so that each gal has a small group of friends and a group of newer players who they have to cooperate with to make a chance. It would to train the newer players and it wouldnt be as harsh as fullrandom.

Just my two cents, maybe it can add something in your way of seeig round10

And thanks for all the hard work you do for this game

seventh · 4 Apr 2003, 09:38

its a good idea, but if someones in 49:20 then thats 74 hours traveltime, which i feel is way too long. perhaps cluster (x) should be 1 tick and parallel (y) should be half tick or something. then you'd have to put in half ticks to the game just for military purposes which may result in a military tick coming back.

Cicada · 4 Apr 2003, 09:51

my main worry with this is that some players might get ahead, and be in no danger of ever getting attacked, because all the players with in a distance of them are too small..

4 Apr 2003, 09:56

I agree strongly with what Mr Spinner is saying. I believe his travel time theory could, and would (if the community were to accept it) work.

As i stated in my thread I think that a change in travel timing will have a positive affect on the playability and enjoyability of the game.
A more enjoyable and easy to play game will attract many new players, something we are distinctly lacking in at the moment.

If Planetarion is to survive as a 'Great online game and community' it needs fresh blood.

DarkAngel · 4 Apr 2003, 09:59

i like it, it makes it semi-realistic at least, hope it'l cost more e as well.

Telest · 4 Apr 2003, 10:08

Just to clarify, most people proposing "spherical" universe are in reality proposing a "doughnut" shaped univserse.

What worries me most is that this change doesn't really seem to impact power blocks much. By the sheer size of current blocks, most galaxies could have one or two allied galaxies at a short ETA. Also, being able to defend is only half the deal, attack's are the other part. If you can take the others down in attacks, defence ultimately doesn't matter much. A large number of "leet" galaxies napped in some area would end killing others out in the vicinity very quick.

I seriously doubt the proposed change would do much to stop the power blocks as they are.

One thing which might help PA is to try to force attacking to start when most people actually have some decent fleet. That way, when roids are lost at very beginning, the impact on local balance isn't that great, and scales aren't shifted in one or two nights. However, with the current rules, attacking starts as soon as ships are out, which in turn leads to those losing in first attacks seriously crippled of both fleet and roids.

4 Apr 2003, 10:13

I like parts of this new idea, but i also realize that thee has to be some changes made to make it really work.

The first change that really has to be made is that universe and parallel have to be made circulair. Wouldnt be fair otherwise, and the idea of making it possible to reduce your own travelltime from 1 extra hour to the next parallel, or cluster, to 1 extra hour for every other parallel or cluster, every third parallel or cluster, and so on... This would indeed give people more possibilities to find more targets further on in the game.

Also i think a travelltime may not ever be somewhere around 24 hours, this will make attacking impossible for smaller new players, since the targetted galaxy can easily defend every attacker with only 5 hour defence. Gal attacks will indeed become very important then, but the only gals able to do effective galraids are the hardcore players.

Another idea, which i read here, might do the trick without having to deal with this problems.

By not making the travelltime longer, but by making it much more expensive. This idea could work the same as the increasing of the trtavelltimes, by increasing the amount of e needed to launch to further parallels or clusters. You don''t make the universe more boring by longer travelltimes, you make it more fun, because you have to really know who your friends are, and who you want to defend. Defending people who are far away, would cost you a lot of e.
This will make attacking easier, and by that the game more interesting. people won't have a surpluss of eonium anymore.

Noone will probably ever read this, since i'm the 264718947th that replied to this, but hey, if i don't try, i won't get heard at all.

Loen.

4 Apr 2003, 10:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Dreadnought!
I see a flaw

say there are 50 clusters and 10 parralels

25:5 would have an unfair advantage as compared to say 50:10

as it would have double the gals to hit at half the eta

as there is no 51:11 but there is a 26:6

See my point? :\

It gives an unfair advantage at the start

accept if u make the universe a circele then 1:1 will lay next to 50:1 and 50:2 to 1:2 (highest cluster is 50 in this example)
this would reduce the \traveltime for cluster 1 to cluster 50 and will solve the problem that cluster 25 has advantige of attacking twice as mutch gals with a lower eta cause now every galaxy has the exact same amount of galayxies to attack with the lower eta

Andy_r · 4 Apr 2003, 11:08

...is that quite quickly the low numbered galaxies will get too big to attack the new high numbered ones that are being added next to them, which will leave them at a disavantage.

This could be solved by adding new players joining after this 0 to the end of galaxies, so we would all start with 10 people, and randoms would be added in 11th place, then when all the 11ths were full, they would be 12th, and so on.

I think this new travel time idea would combine well with the idea of 'roaming fleets'.

Put simply this would mean that your fleets don't return automatically, they would instead wait for new orders (maybe at x:y:0?). This would allow you to move on to a new target/defence with the travel time from your current location to the new location.

This opens up lots of new areas of strategy, players would have to balance the need to have their fleets nearby for self-defence with the desire to go further away to attack new targets, and the need to occasionally return home to move ships from base to the roaming fleets.

4 Apr 2003, 11:17

Hey I like it.
It will work and I for one realise that alot of effort and hard work will be needed to implement this change.
also Like the idea of the "Circular" and so the first and last galaxies have 2 ways of "travel just like the other galaxies in the middle would have ( reduced travel times for both directions in other words.... you know what I mean).
You could also perhaps make an "alliance just gate which may reduce travel times to that galaxy ( from 1:1 to 10:1 would be 10 ticks but if there was an alliance gate in 5:1 it may reduce the time to 8 ticks say????).Maybe it might be good to let there be a change of direction at this "Alliance gate" resulting another target or going home or carrying on... I don't know, I do know that the travel times shouldn't be too long or else people will get fed up I think.
BIG THUMBS UP FROM ME !!!!!!!

FooFighter · 4 Apr 2003, 11:19

Hmmm definetly sounds like Hyperiums another online game i play, next we will be getting GA's (Ground Armies), stasis fields, being able to control multiple planets then Hyperiums will make an announcement the rights for the game have been bought.

Seriuosly the ETA in hyperiums r anywhere from 3 hours to 100+ hours and it sucks, the further u travel the longer it takes (obviously) im fed up with Hyperiums cos of the high ETA and it sucks big time, having this setup will suck and when i read ur announcement i thought "Hyperiums" then i thought "i don't think i'll be playing next round if this comes into play"

To add to points ppl have made nobody wants to wait a day b4 they get any roids then have to wait another day b4 their fleet comes home again to attack again, by the time u get there planets even closer would have been able to defend ur target, therefore the chances of getting roids is lower than it will ever be

I jyst wish we had a big playerbase then maybe this would work, but no, this round we only have 4800ish planets and its ****, every round i have played the numbers have got lower and lower and the game not as much fun, as u can see by even talking about bringing this into play will make many ppl unhappy, can PA really afford to lose more players??? and we all probably know PA aint gonna get much bigger even with Jolt advertising it, the price rises every round while the number of players fall, so i really don't see new players cominga long and wanting to spend money on a game they have never played b4, I wish they would though,i wish PA was free still and had the 125K + player base it once had but those days r long gone and PA will never see them again, i wish i could be more optimistic but the outlook of PA looks bleak, if more and more changes like this comeinto the game which have ppl split in the middle over wether they like it or not the player numbers will fall and PA will die eventually

HiHou · 4 Apr 2003, 11:29

I like this idea, spinner... very nice idea, ofc it needs some adjustment but as an idea it's great. interresting to see what other ideas u have for r10!

24h is too much for the maximum traveltime!
As a maximum eta I would suggest more like 16h (maybe even less but then this travetime idea would lose it's meaning).. just think of u going 24h on a target and then 24h back if u even have a fleet anymore :P 24h is just too much.

How will this affect to alliances etc. then? Well.. the "pre made" alliances will lose their meaning alot. Powerblocks will have that same destiny. New, maybe much bigger alliances will arise and try to take control.. this is what I hope

As for the universe to be flat or circular.. I'd prefer it to be circular as then it's even for all and there wont be quittings etc. for that.

Random gals pls!
It's sure better for the newbies to survive in the universe and not to get bashed that easily if they are in same gals with the experienced etc. ppl and not with each other. They learn from the experienced ppl and it's also much easier them to get in "better" alliances too.

As an little admission for the "pre made" alliances and ppl that want to be and attack/defend with their friends, they could have a choise to pair up with their best friend/allym8. And then before the round
starts the pairs and the total random guys would be shuffled together as gals. How u like that?

Tesla · 4 Apr 2003, 11:37

I personally dont like ur suggestion here Spinner, but thats just me.. Im not saying ur poinst aren't valid its just that I personally like travel the way it is.. The REAL problem in pa, as you and everyone else knows is the ever shrinking community.. And I think we are all aware of what pa needs (yes you too Spinner); just ONE free round to let the community grow again.. That would kill the prob wiv the large alliances a tad as there would be plenty of ppl to hit and give the smaller alliances / blocks a chance cuz the larger block/alliance would have other targets.. I.e u wouldnt see a scenario like u see this round, wiv VVOMM getting beaten to pulp in a numbers game.. And Im pretty sure thats gunna happen to the NaR gals that aren't fenceriding aswell, by the ever so large WEET... If we can't have a free round then pa is indeed doomed... Not next round, altough I suspect it to become even more boring cuz of even less plrs then now, but a few rounds ahead there will be no more planetarion no matter what great suggestions u come up wiv, it all doesnt matter cuz wiv no or few plrs u have a ****e game.. Oh I wish I could see a round 4 again :-/

Woodeh · 4 Apr 2003, 11:55

I think this would make the game a bit more realistic, assuming this universe was real you wouldn't call for defence from the other side of the universe and expect it to arrive at the same time as from the galaxy a few gals along.

I also think it will change the politics of the game. You'll have to get along with your neighbours better as not only are they the ones that can defend you quickly, they are the ones that can quickly attack you too. There are complications over this, but we don't know all of the changes yet, so maybe this balances out.

Cassidy · 4 Apr 2003, 11:59

As has allready been mentioned by others, this change would result in the good gals continously bashing all nearby gals.

Also getting def from friends would be a problem, but some sort of hypergate/wormhole thing could solve that.

How about basing traveltime on galaxy sizes instead? This would be for attack only of course. Attacking gals smaller than yours would steadily increase your ETA the smaller the target gal was compared to yours.

If all the top 50 gals are allied, it will be frikkin hard for the top ones to attack anything.

Also, since travel time doesn't increase when attacking larger gals, the underdogs would have an advantage when striking back as well.

The coordinate system could be used for defs though, with travel tech resulted in lower ETA

ETA 0 -> ETA 5 + distance
ETA -1 -> ETA 5 + distance/2
ETA -2 -> ETA 5 + distance/3
ETA -3 -> ETA 5 + distance/4
ETA -4 -> ETA 5 + distance/5

Distance could either be calculated the way Spinner proposed, or using pythagors and rounding up. ie. square root of (cluster distance² + paralell distance²). With a circular universe as allready mentioned.

Overburn (def only) could be implemented like this:

1 x E cost : real ETA - 0
2 x E cost : real ETA - 1
4 x E cost : real ETA - 2
8 x E cost : real ETA - 3
16 x E cost : real ETA -4

Minimum should always be ETA 6. The overburn would simple just increase your range somewhat.

Also, anything beyond ETA 12 should be determined unreachable.

Oh, and the universe should be random ofc.

.

Morden · 4 Apr 2003, 12:02

well tbh I think this idea is rediculous, you've come close to having an ideal solution yet so far from it that im amazed, if you'd pushed this a few steps further..................

your solution does not solve the overall problem of new players joining getting and trashed straight away it just means they will become food for older people still and perhaps a few will get to grow big.

what needs to be done is to make them seperated a touch more but not too much i.e;

instead of changing the travel time by clusters, do it by parallels, i.e: parallels 1-5 as an example

Parallel 1 - Semi random, you and one mate and put into a gal with 4 other groups of 2. you are put up against the harder core players but roid initiation is slightly cheaper to make up for the higher difficulty.

Parallel 2.(seperated by{+25% high fuel cost} +2 eta on the base travel time from P1) fully random gals of 15 people, but the costs are slightly cheaper for roids.

Parallel 3.(seperated by{+25% high fuel cost} +2 eta on Base travel from P2 so it would be +4 for P1 to attack) fully random gals of 20 people for the people who know the game but just want to chill and have a nice easy round.

Parallel 4.(seperated by{+25% high fuel cost} +2 eta on Base travel from P2 so it would be +6 for P1 to attack) fully random gals with 25 people for the newer players to the game who have a bit of experience, there eta is slightly slower on attacks but -1 on defence incluster.

Parallel 5..(seperated by{+25% high fuel cost} +2 eta on Base travel from P2 so it would be +8 for P1 to attack) fully random gals/25 people, for people who sign up into the round so they gain a -2 eta incluster advantage in defence + cheaper roid initation and a 10% bonus on research time, (this para is not active until 3 weeks into the round)

-Concluesion:
this would make it more balanced because the higher level players would want to be in the higher levels thus they would select it. it would also give the newer players a chance to grow in reletive peace from people who're playing really really hardcore, and perhaps they can request to be moved up a para if they decide there ready for the next level of playing.

Alliances: -1 eta advantage incluster(+2 inpara) and a 25% fuel discount for them, maximum size 150(?) hard coded into the game.

Roid costs:

P1- 50% cheaper for the first 400.
P2- 25% cheaper for the first 350
P3- 0% Roid bonus
P4- 15% roid bonus and faster eta on defence incluster
P5- 25% cheaper for the first 500. and quicker research times along with faster eta incluster.

any comments welcome

Kurashima · 4 Apr 2003, 12:03

New , inventive , and possibly the best idea for breaking up alliance powerblocks that ive heard.

Teh Win