June 29th Updates (big / many...)

[Calibretto]

i try to offer options, choices and variable paths. if one option does not suit, maybe another option?

"LONE WOLF
With more and more benefit for alliances, and houses (which require alliance), the person in no alliance, thus no house, will receive a 'i am so tough i fight alone like chuck norris' bonus of 10% to natural DEFENSE and COVERT. This is ontop of any commander/no commander/own commander bonuses, and deals specificly with alliance or no alliance. "

"... difficulty in maintaining non-house relations..."
Great... now we're playing GatePolitics. I deal with enough politics in real life wondering about the status of unemployment benefits. The last thing I want to do is deal with them in a frickin' game.

a graphic aid to help conceptualize: http://herebegames.com/files/file.php?u=1001&id=81012&albumID=53

and on the surveys - pretty sure i do bank it, and also the company limits the amount a person can do in any given time....

Question, about the Lone wolf bonus...

How fast after going lone wolf does this bonus kick in? Can be abused/exploited during vendetta. For Example: When being massed quickly go Lone Wolf...you get a 10% bonus on def/covert...yumyum

[Wepwaet]

I really think you might want to relook at how the changes affect massing a defense. It seems a bit... extreme

I picked a random target in beta who started out with:
5750/5750
Defensive Action 49,683,043,659,325

To my:
Roughly 17,000,000,000,000 Attack Action



40 15AT hits and 36 minutes later he's only dropped to 5598/5750

****************************************************
1400 AT and 2 minutes to take down a non noxed inferior def.
Things will certainly get interesting... or stagnate.

[Robe]

I really think you might want to relook at how the changes affect massing a defense. It seems a bit... extreme

I guess thats because some players kept complaining that defences were too easy to mass...

Its even worse with planets...

Once we go live, we should review the update for defences and planets as a matter of urgency because I agree that this will remove a lot of enjoyment from the game.

[Iƒrit]

If someone else would like to test a defense on beta I have built a 18t, no defense planets. Also a healthy amount of spies/AC units have fun. Ill post losses/kills when I check it, as well as turns spent.

[Sarevok]

I really think you might want to relook at how the changes affect massing a defense. It seems a bit... extreme

I picked a random target in beta who started out with:
Defensive Action 49,683,043,659,325 & 5750/5750

To my:
Roughly 17,000,000,000,000 Attack Action

40 15AT hits and 36 minutes later he's only dropped to 5598/5750
****************************************************
1400 AT and 2 minutes to take down a non noxed inferior def.
Things will certainly get interesting... or stagnate.

Based off what you said, you had 34.21% of the required 35% to do damage. IN short, when you get blessed, and they DON'T, that is the ONLY time you caused damage.

What is the result when you use 50T attack, vs 49.6T defence?

Question, about the Lone wolf bonus...

How fast after going lone wolf does this bonus kick in? Can be abused/exploited during vendetta. For Example: When being massed quickly go Lone Wolf...you get a 10% bonus on def/covert...yumyum

Agreed, valid question. There should be a 24hr delay when you leave an alliance in a house before the bonus, and 24hrs before you get the house bonus when re-joining an alliance.
BUT, i do agree with the large bonuses they get. They have NO help from alliance in terms of alliance logs, and now they won't get all the alliance gifts as well. Fair compensation IMO.


I would also suggest, rather then 1 planet every 8 hours, something like 2 or 3 planets every 24 hours. As others have said to me, you can get a friend to take a token planet from you, to protect you from a planet massing, so when you DO get back online, you could PPT, and get another token planet for next time.

[Unimatrix881]

The defense upgrade(s) look like they will definitely need some ironing out. The fact of the matter is that defenses are already hard to take out if you are facing a well built opponent. You can bet that in most cases currently, it will cost the attacker more in ATs and units alone than the entire defense if the defender has a much better MS and a couple of decent defense planets.

In most cases, people can't any longer go around and mass almost any defense they want, unless of course they have a massive mothership and at least 70% of their strike in planets. By going through and adding all of these extra defense updates, defenses will be harder for these large players to mass, yes, but they will also be near impossible for any smaller players to even bother considering.

Why else in some wars going on nowadays do you see alliances with so many members that have intact defenses around 0.5-2T? They're hard enough already if the opponent has a decent MS and a planet or two.

[Sarevok]

Making it a challenge, instead of the one-hit-wonder style that is done now, where 1 person runs through alliances or empires.

[Forum]

thats the goal. and to encourage defenses....period. sure - the super high end may be...challenging but the other 96% hopefully see def as worthwhile...specially with the upcoming sab

Making it a challenge, instead of the one-hit-wonder style that is done now, where 1 person runs through alliances or empires.

i am ok with 3 planets per 24hours instead of 1 per 8... that would solve some of the 'downside' mentioned, yet still offer a slow bleed versus decap on planet losses.
*thinking*

lone wolf bonus i can 'kick in' 24hr after leaving..and the alliance gift ppt monthly limit i like.

bonuses given in alliance gift, stay on account. so a new member would start at no gift bonus. a member leaving keeps their bonus got.
the naq was spent, after all... and..the cost goes up by member count (in steps).

for defense numbers (is it 1/3 old? or is 1/2 better? is /alert level best or / 1/2 alert level? -- we can fine tune quickly after we see how it play 'in real' ..) and other updates -- i will be watching after the launch. Likely set a date where decisions are made, 30 days up the road or so -- unless something goes very very wrong

here to make this work... best we can. and not everyone will like every update, but hopefully most find a majority useful/good...

[Rottenking]

thats the goal. and to encourage defenses....period. sure - the super high end may be...challenging but the other 96% hopefully see def as worthwhile...specially with the upcoming sab

Making it a challenge, instead of the one-hit-wonder style that is done now, where 1 person runs through alliances or empires.

i am ok with 3 planets per 24hours instead of 1 per 8... that would solve some of the 'downside' mentioned, yet still offer a slow bleed versus decap on planet losses.
*thinking*

im glad you will change that, it makes much better sence that way im my opinion.

im glad these updates are finnaly comeing out, and while i am a bit hesidant on some of the defence updates, i see the merit and look forward in seeing how they will turn out in live.

[solmyr]

fleets resell at 90%

and i like the boost in def resell, means ill have a defence for my last 5 ascends, so i guess its already working

the 1 at thing (i presume to stop MS's) is horrible though, it stops alot of proficient raiders.

[Unimatrix881]

fleets resell at 90%

and i like the boost in def resell, means ill have a defence for my last 5 ascends, so i guess its already working

the 1 at thing (i presume to stop MS's) is horrible though, it stops alot of proficient raiders.

This will be accounted for with unlimited spying.

Also,
in my opinion I believe there should be a better balance in between these two updates:
* Defense weapons are damaged at about 1/3 of their previous values.
* Defense weapon damage is adjusted by defcon rate - ranging from a 10 to 50% further reduction in weapon damage rates.

One of them would probably be more than enough. With all the defense updates coming out, I think it would be a better idea to start them off a little slower rather than dividing the degradation rate by 3-4.5x (which I assume means 3-4.5x more ATs needed as well). Perhaps a better rate would be 1.5x the current, which with nox would be 2.25x the current. It seems a little more fair considering there is also the % minimum being bumped from 30 to 35%.

[Robe]

i am ok with 3 planets per 24hours instead of 1 per 8... that would solve some of the 'downside' mentioned, yet still offer a slow bleed versus decap on planet losses.*thinking*

I understand the delima but limiting the number of planets that can be taken in a day will be widely abused to prevent planets being stolen during wars and avoid having to defend them in peace.

Example:
Use 2 MT to PPT for 4 days, 1 MT to get 5 merlins (was 3).
Take 3 disposable planets when off PPT and send ship out for more when on PPT.
Get others to take 3 disposable planets on the 1-2 days a week you dont PPT or merlin.

Surely planets are getting enough protection now with increased MT merlins and cheaper natural defences?

Making them impossible to take will remove a lot of enjoyment from the game.

[Sarevok]

the 1 at thing (i presume to stop MS's) is horrible though, it stops alot of proficient raiders.

Why will it. They can now spy freely without using covert turns, and just need to learn the minimum they are willing to accept

Also,
in my opinion I believe there should be a better balance in between these two updates:
* Defense weapons are damaged at about 1/3 of their previous values.
* Defense weapon damage is adjusted by defcon rate - ranging from a 10 to 50% further reduction in weapon damage rates.

I think 1/2 in stead of 1/3. It just means that instead of weapons dying, then free for all on supers left over, weapons will last a bit longer, and more supers will be killed off whilst still providing a defence.

[Sarevok]

But Robe, you are only able to acquire 7 planets/week. Whereas you'd need at least 6, if not 9, for it to be effective. And even with 6 token planets, that means you can only have 4 good planets. Even if they are all duals, that is still only 200% bonus, instead of the spread that exists now, which give 500%

[[BoT] Jason]

???? what, who, where, why, when????

You require a confirmation code from your cell number...which is probs limited

I tried it on beta and I am not sure if its only in my country but it requires confirmation via a code sent by message to your cell number.