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

[Wepwaet]

First question. Why has planet defence minimums dropped from original 22.5%, to 15%? Why bother doing that, and not just increase platform minimums to 12%, and planet defences as 12% as well...

And if we are, can we make the platform power actually ADD to the planet power, rather then them being worked out separately. As there's no real "surprise" as they were meant to be, unless 10% of the platform power, is greater then the minimum for the planets natural power anyway

Then there should be a way to find out about platform's size too, without risking your fleets being totally destroyed
~N

I believe platform power does add to planet power. And yes, I agree that if you do anything making platforms harder to mass,then they should be spyable, as having them hidden is already one of the costliest things to fail at hitting. There is a surprise, but admin makes it where you can't just put a 30 bil platform on there and try to blow up fleets that barely make it. You actually need to invest in a platform if you want to use it to do that.

@ Neim
If we had more than 3 platforms i'd agree that you should be able to spy them but the whole point to limiting their numbers was to make them a surprise/tatic.

@ Sarevok & BMMJ13
Yall have proved my point about no one knowing how the planet defense & platform mechanics actually work.

[Forum]

but if you set war back nox does not engage...
are you all saying people will watch other people's accounts, and try to time hits after the 240 turns used?
or are you referring to auto-war at 240 on one person?

Sadly, I have to agree with C2 (he's a pain, so sue me)

"I" massed someone today who has me set to war, granted my strike and ms were bigger but it took me less than a minute to mass him down WHILE he was online. Nox might be a pain, but it adds a 'life line' to those with 1) weaker ms/def 2) those with a crap connection.

[BenjaminMS]

I think Earendil meant to say that people will watch the attack count.... but not sure.

Can it be made that Nox cannot be set again when you pass a certain amount of attacks per day... say 3x the un-Nox limit? So that overly aggressive actions on an day 'reward' you with being unable to get the Nox anymore for let's say the following 24 hours...

[caesar2]

but if you set war back nox does not engage...
are you all saying people will watch other people's accounts, and try to time hits after the 240 turns used?
or are you referring to auto-war at 240 on one person?

Sadly, I have to agree with C2 (he's a pain, so sue me)

"I" massed someone today who has me set to war, granted my strike and ms were bigger but it took me less than a minute to mass him down WHILE he was online. Nox might be a pain, but it adds a 'life line' to those with 1) weaker ms/def 2) those with a crap connection.

Jason, basicly, 20T defence can be massed in 1 minute if account have no nox or made over 16 attacks- used 240 ATs. In server it means, if you are statbuilder and are not using attack button, you will loose defence in 1 - 3 tunrs. If you are farmer or raider, you can be massed in 15 - 120 seconds, nomther how big defence you have. Whats different than? If statbuilder wdecides o sit and repair only, he will get phased and hes untocuhable. Active players will be free targets for everyone.

In wars it will mean just a disaster, cuse everyones account will be smashed in few seconds. war 1v1 is simple, 10v10 as well. 100v100 will be a real fire of resources. wars of empires will be just a fun, wars few vs many (known as snipers vs empires as well) will be poor sniping on both sides.

Jason, realy... bad bad update. Am missing logic here.

[Forum]

as for how the planets work...
1) a check is done versus planet only. you need minimum offense amount to attack it (15% now)
2) a 2nd check is done, and you need 1/1000th of 15% of TOTAL defense including platforms, in order to attack. (stops 1ship attack on empty planet with mobile def)
3) on attack, all planet and mobile defenses are totalled, and used against your fleet.
4) your fleet damages mobile first, then planet when mobile gone.

as for the exact when you fleet is destroyed, it *should* still be at 10% ... of total defenses.

[Forum]

i will watch the 'auto remove nox' then and either up limit, nix update, or something...
i still hold philosophically that nox should not be used to buffer you up in a war
but practically i can see the point of your argument against auto-remove-nox...

but ontop of that - it does make farming/warring/massing more .... time sensitive \:)

but if you set war back nox does not engage...
are you all saying people will watch other people's accounts, and try to time hits after the 240 turns used?
or are you referring to auto-war at 240 on one person?

Sadly, I have to agree with C2 (he's a pain, so sue me)

"I" massed someone today who has me set to war, granted my strike and ms were bigger but it took me less than a minute to mass him down WHILE he was online. Nox might be a pain, but it adds a 'life line' to those with 1) weaker ms/def 2) those with a crap connection.

Jason, basicly, 20T defence can be massed in 1 minute if account have no nox or made over 16 attacks- used 240 ATs. In server it means, if you are statbuilder and are not using attack button, you will loose defence in 1 - 3 tunrs. If you are farmer or raider, you can be massed in 15 - 120 seconds, nomther how big defence you have. Whats different than? If statbuilder wdecides o sit and repair only, he will get phased and hes untocuhable. Active players will be free targets for everyone.

In wars it will mean just a disaster, cuse everyones account will be smashed in few seconds. war 1v1 is simple, 10v10 as well. 100v100 will be a real fire of resources. wars of empires will be just a fun, wars few vs many (known as snipers vs empires as well) will be poor sniping on both sides.

Jason, realy... bad bad update. Am missing logic here.

[MaxSterling]

as for the exact when you fleet is destroyed, it *should* still be at 10% ... of total defenses.

So what you're saying is that now there is 0% chance of fleets getting splattered against a planet with no platforms. Last time I checked, if you need 15% sent in, but under 10% will get splattered... let me check my numbers... 15% > 10% and therefore 0% chance of fleets getting splattered against a planet defense alone.

[Forum]

how was it? i don't think i changed the splatter mark, and did raise the min to attack from 12.5 to 15% ...
10 is also less than 12.5 -- was it possible to splatter previously with no platform and full strength fleets??

as for the exact when you fleet is destroyed, it *should* still be at 10% ... of total defenses.

So what you're saying is that now there is 0% chance of fleets getting splattered against a planet with no platforms. Last time I checked, if you need 15% sent in, but under 10% will get splattered... let me check my numbers... 15% > 10% and therefore 0% chance of fleets getting splattered against a planet defense alone.

[MaxSterling]

how was it? i don't think i changed the splatter mark, and did raise the min to attack from 12.5 to 15% ...
10 is also less than 12.5 -- was it possible to splatter previously with no platform and full strength fleets??

When I did testing with the previous update,
10% was required to not get that message about it being suicide.
Admin states that 12.5% needed to be sent in to survive.... but...
during testing it was actually more like 15% of a plenet's defense needed to be sent in to survive without getting splattered.

In short, yes it was somehow possible to get splattered against only planet defenses.

[Forum]

hmm...
need some testing...
it should not have been possible, or there is something in my code i am forgetting about

how was it? i don't think i changed the splatter mark, and did raise the min to attack from 12.5 to 15% ...
10 is also less than 12.5 -- was it possible to splatter previously with no platform and full strength fleets??

When I did testing with the previous update,
10% was required to not get that message about it being suicide.
Admin states that 12.5% needed to be sent in to survive.... but...
during testing it was actually more like 15% of a plenet's defense needed to be sent in to survive without getting splattered.

In short, yes it was somehow possible to get splattered against only planet defenses.

[dastupy]

Admin , what hour today will the updates be released?

[MaxSterling]

Admin , what hour today will the updates be released?

Daspoooooooopy. Reading is fundamental...

HERE THEY ARE!! THE NEW UPDATES THAT'R A COMIN HERE... with GO LIVE TUESDAY JUNE 29th, 2010 - about 10am.

[MaxSterling]

hmm...
need some testing...
it should not have been possible, or there is something in my code i am forgetting about

Was it possible to splatter fleets on a planet before the last batch of updates that included the platforms? If so, that may be the place to start looking. Personally, I liked it when someone sent in the bare minimum fleets and got splattered on just my planet defenses.

[Wepwaet]

Many thanks for explaining how planets/platforms work.

Personally I favor having the effectiveness of nox/realm alert bleed away over time. So over the course of say a week or a month of non-action on your part you slowly drop down levels til eventually you have neither on. If your active against others the time period is shorter, say you could drop fully off of both in as little as half a day. Changing nox/realm alert resets the timer. If you didn't change the cost of changing nox/realm alert then it shouldn't be a burden on people to reapply for the higher levels if they want to. You could always have a tiered system for the cost of changing nox/realm alert too. The more AT you use in the last X time period the higher the cost you pay to engage the nox(overcome their reluctance in helping you).

The reasoning behind this is that the more agressive you are the less and less the nox want anything to do with you. On the flip side, the nox are a reclusive people and only help those who actively seek their help. The more time you stay under their protection the more they feel you can help yourself.

[BenjaminMS]

Can it be made that Nox cannot be set again when you pass a certain amount of attacks per day... say 3x the un-Nox limit? So that overly aggressive actions on an day 'reward' you with being unable to get the Nox anymore for let's say the following 24 hours...

*pushes it again*