July 29th 2010 -- look at all updates for balance/benefit

[BenjaminMS]

And why should you force people to join alliances/houses?....
We're already forcing people to ascend (because unascended players really can't keep up with the current game), now you want to force them to get an alliance too...? Sorry, but I was rather happy that Jason implemented the lone wolf bonus since alliances got the nice help from the alliance bank (like increase on all personal banks of those in the alliance)...
You really shouldn't force it upon players like that.

[MaxSterling]

And why should you force people to join alliances/houses?....
We're already forcing people to ascend (because unascended players really can't keep up with the current game), now you want to force them to get an alliance too...? Sorry, but I was rather happy that Jason implemented the lone wolf bonus since alliances got the nice help from the alliance bank (like increase on all personal banks of those in the alliance)...
You really shouldn't force it upon players like that.

This is a MMORPG. See the RPG? I have yet to see a RPG in which the idea wasn't to level up, to get more powerful. That's basically what ascending is, isn't it?

You're not forcing anyone to join alliances. You choose whether to join an alliance to get alliance gifts or not.

I'm in an alliance, and that alliance is in a House, but I choose to leave that alliance and get re-invited... thus negating me receiving that House bonus every week... just so I can still farm everyone within the House.

[GOLDEN WING]

I'm against bonuses for lone wolves and lone alliances and I'll tell you why...
There needs to be incentive to get people to join alliances or Houses ( even though I despise Houses ).

The whole purpose of being lone wolf is to prove you can tough it out on your own. You're not tough if you're crying for bonuses. The incentive to join an alliance, is the Alliance Gifts.

Alliances need an incentive to join Houses, hence the House bonus.

You give them both some sort of bonus, they have no reason to join either alliances or Houses and pretty much negates Admin's desire to even have Houses in the first place.

If admin still insists on doing these House bonuses, I still believe that they should be more along the lines of what I suggested in another thread...
viewtopic.php?f=43&p=2109083#p2109083
... and remove the natural enemy thing. As we have proved, it's pointless because a large empire can remove all enemies from it's natural enemy's House.

i would have prefered your idea instead of the current one.

also lease admin remove the MS not showing up for battle one of th eonly reasons i liked fighting was to MS mass now i get my ass kicked by a def 1T smaller then mine and MS doesn't even show up

eg my 3T strike vs their 2T def once they hit 500bil def im at 30bil strike

i like the idea but its not 100% right lol.

[MaxSterling]

also lease admin remove the MS not showing up for battle one of th eonly reasons i liked fighting was to MS mass now i get my ass kicked by a def 1T smaller then mine and MS doesn't even show up

eg my 3T strike vs their 2T def once they hit 500bil def im at 30bil strike

i like the idea but its not 100% right lol.

The reason it was implemented was because of the snipers that have no strike, no defense, no spies, and only MS mass, then send their MS away. If you're smart, you can now find a way to keep a big MS from massing you.

A better suggestion for the situation you described would be to increase weapons damage to somewhere between what it was and what it currently is.

[Iƒrit]

the whole removing a defense is a bit absurd, the decay rate needs to be worked on, that combined with def-con and nox + alliance weapon repairs is retarded. And for the love of god change the name of defcon status PLEASE!

[stuff of legends]

You could just say the ms cannot be sent away until x amount of time has passed from the last battle.

@Max: i dont think lonewolfes should be described as that, some dont want to be in alliances with all issues going on and just want to farm or be restriceted with NAPs, no hit lists etc, its not being brave, and so you/they wouldnt go crying for bonuses, well for bonuses like that who wouldnt go for them if they are available?

As far as lonewolf's and houses go it would be better if there were more and differential houses then what is available as of now. Its pretty boring and kinda basic. Especially since there are only a few 'good' ones that alliances are trying to get.

[Robe]

Lone Wolves deserve a good bonus.

If the House update continues to benefit Empires more than single alliances then they will keep lobbying until they receive a fair deal.

Maybe the bonuses should be adjustable... say have 10 houses and 100% in total bonuses. If a house has 98% of the collective house populations then that house gets a 2% bonus to that stat. If the house has 3% of the collective house populations then that house gets a 97% bonus to that stat.

Sounds good in theory but wouldn't that result in single alliances being booted when the goal is to encourage more to join?

[stuff of legends]

Sounds good in theory but wouldn't that result in single alliances being booted when the goal is to encourage more to join?

That fits in with my statement i made earlier about how that system can be exploited, even more so than houses are already/will be. However if its controlled it wouldnt be such a bad idea.

[Robe]

That fits in with my statement i made earlier about how that system can be exploited, even more so than houses are already/will be. However if its controlled it wouldnt be such a bad idea.

I agree its a good idea but you cant stop a House Leader from booting non allied alliances to protect or improve their bonus.

The simplest solution is often the best.

We currently have 3 Swans and 5 ugly ducklings.
A small tweak would give us 8 Swans and if that doesnt work...
introduce a few more Houses with useful bonuses to make the game more interesting.

[stuff of legends]

mmmm or possibly just shoot the three swans, fix up the ugly ducklings and bring in other houses that are not based on 'normal' bonuses. You would think admin is a lil extravagant.

[Clarkey]

Lone Wolves getting a 10% bonus on def and cov is just fine. Stop whining.

As for Lone Wolf Alliances..... don't be rediculous. They got their alliance bank, let them use that.

[stuff of legends]

Who is whining?

As for the alliance bank, what you just gonna increase your bank size and ppt for a few hours? haha against a permanent (theoretical) stat bonus?

[Wepwaet]

The simplest solution is often the best.

We currently have 3 Swans and 5 ugly ducklings.
A small tweak would give us 8 Swans and if that doesnt work...
introduce a few more Houses with useful bonuses to make the game more interesting.

A small tweak... Lets be honest, whatever "tweak" forum introduces is going to make some houses desirable and others not. You'll still have everyone and their dog trying to get into the best bonus house they can realisticly stay in. A few more houses won't change that and would actually make things worse. There needs to be a way to encourage people to spread out into all the houses instead of the current situation. If its dynamic then it stays interesting, instead of 3 weeks down the line everyone having settled into whatever house they want/can get and houses end up as nothing more than a boost to some stat. The only way to make ALL the houses desirable is to let them equalize on their own, free market style.

Your not going to see 1 alliance hold a house by itself with this change like some of you fear, it can't happen because their is just too much of a chance that a group of non-allied people will move in and take the house from them. You couldn't exploit it that way and hope to stay in power very long unless you had several other alliances willing to do without bonuses most/all the time to support you. I'd like to see someone try selling that to an ally

[BenjaminMS]

The simplest solution is often the best.

We currently have 3 Swans and 5 ugly ducklings.
A small tweak would give us 8 Swans and if that doesnt work...
introduce a few more Houses with useful bonuses to make the game more interesting.

A small tweak... Lets be honest, whatever "tweak" forum introduces is going to make some houses desirable and others not. You'll still have everyone and their dog trying to get into the best bonus house they can realisticly stay in. A few more houses won't change that and would actually make things worse. There needs to be a way to encourage people to spread out into all the houses instead of the current situation. If its dynamic then it stays interesting, instead of 3 weeks down the line everyone having settled into whatever house they want/can get and houses end up as nothing more than a boost to some stat. The only way to make ALL the houses desirable is to let them equalize on their own, free market style.

Your not going to see 1 alliance hold a house by itself with this change like some of you fear, it can't happen because their is just too much of a chance that a group of non-allied people will move in and take the house from them. You couldn't exploit it that way and hope to stay in power very long unless you had several other alliances willing to do without bonuses most/all the time to support you. I'd like to see someone try selling that to an ally

The flaw in your plan is, that there is one day where alliances are very vulnerable... the period between the 5th and the 6th day. Unless you make the vulnerable moment = vote counting moment the same, the house leader at that time has got plenty of time to kick out any unwanted alliance. And make that x8 for every house, and you'll see how few alliances will be in each house likely and in the end how much alliances just won't be allowed to even get into an house if they want to...

[MEZZANINE]

Houses - Worst update so far, horribly unbalanced basically giving best bonus to the largest empire since the largest empire can pick and dominate whichever house they choose. IMO Houses should have NO bonuses, and should be honestly renamed as Empires/Coalitions/Confederacies with unlimited 'houses' and the ability for any 3+ alliances to form a 'house' and to rename the 'House' with the name of their 'house' leaders choice. This will formalise empires and other grouped alliances ingame. If you insist on 'house' bonuses then every house should be able to select it's bonus from a list, independent alliances should also be able to select a comparable bonus, and all bonuses should have a daily cost from the alliance/house banks based on army size of membership.

Increase in Def / Att values - Seems pointless, just means bigger numbers in the stats.

Autowar - I like this, if you mass someone you should be at war.

Attackers increased losses - Seems good in theory to make stats more worthwhile BUT when combined with the sab increase & alliance repair weapons functions it basically kills off massing, and gives the advantage to those with the highest covert levels for sabbing instead.

Increased Sab effect - Bad for reason above.

Decreased covert value - Bad as it makes it harder for ascending players to get G&R, fine for Unknowns like me, but means current Unknowns had far easier ascensions than those only a few months behind us.

Alliance repair weapons - Bad as it stands, an active leader/2IC can save low or inactive defs players without engaging the enemy, this should be removed or limited use, maybe once a day max.

Alliance PPT - Will rarely suit everyone, good if all alliance building for joint strike but full of bugs and 12 hours is to much, again should be removed or limited to 1 or 2 hours per week.

Fleet min. - little impact on game, those how have invested vast amounts in planet def still have unkillable planets against the original idea of planets.

Nox - I like the reduced time delay so you can take someones repair naq in battle but with autowar this in unnecessary and not being able to phase someone who is attacking your allies is bad.

Increased minimum attack needed - Good, prevents people with huge att planets from using a strike half their planets to mass with little loses

MS not engage - Good I guess to stop big MS accounts doing nothing ut slaughter little MSs, not experienced it yet myself.

Planet stripping - Mixed views, I like that it protects a player from losing all when out numbered, but this was often the only way to retaliate against sniper/vulture accounts who have nothing else worth taking.

Spying costs nothing - Obvious advantages but bad overall, spies ( as well as all other troops ) should get tired from over use to prevent one person in an alliance doing all the work. See my previous suggestion of a fatigue meter.


The recent updates have some good points and idea's to be developed, but as they stand I would have to say they are unbalanced in favor of the accounts/empires that were already in the strongest positions. They make the game harder for newer up and coming players, and seem to want to end the independent alliances structure the game was built on in favor of just having several empires in the game.