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This is thread is for the purpose to find a way to work out any kinks in the SI platform. There is a census that SI has new players that come on board, build their accounts up, and leave the game for various reasons. These reason may be:
- Lose of their 1st fleet, don't want to re-build it
- Time consumption of the game itself
- ...and other reasons that YOU, the forum participant, are going to mention.
The 2 problems I have listed above are the 2 main reasons I see players leave the game. I do see SI as some type of internet culture club, for those (like myself, at this current moment) are really involved in. BUT real life should always take priority over any game. Granted, the German designers of this game have done an excellent job of designing a game that complete absorbs their customers (typical cultural trait of the Germans too... excellent mechanical thinkers. that's why I do like certain business dealing with them).
But what if many players can't really be a part of the SI culture club like they would like to. IS the standard too high to be a part of it ? Because the standard of being a part of this culture club mandates many daily hours spent in front of the computer on this game. Thus we are seeing major hard hitting players taking a final bow & leaving the game for this very reason.
Not to include a multitude of others that don't have the popularity & fame.
So I ask that if we should explore a modified method to where we can include those who have the time to spend hours in front of the computers, as well as, those who don't, but love the game.
Because when one spends hours & hours & hours at a time building up there account to be something worth noticing.. and than that person loses their fleet for the first time... there are many who just leave the game. And I do agree to a certain extent that that is just someone being weak & whimpy about playing the game... but than again, we are losing more than most of us would like. So maybe we could adjust it a bit... agreed ??
So is there a happy medium ?
I believe there is. And this thread is meant to explore a way to find it. Because its need is rather undeniable by any intelligent, logical person who has been playing this game a while.
(PLEASE DON'T SPAM THIS THREAD - WE'RE BEING SERIOUS HERE)
I even have a suggestion to start the ball rolling.
On a previous thread there is the idea of increasing production for players. And I would like to support that idea, actually. If we had a way where player could join the ranks of high point players rather quickly, than there would be even more of an excitement for them.
FOR EXAMPLE: once a player gets their mines to around lvl 25 or so, that the mining actually only increases in smaller increments... thus slowing down the rate of growth process. (That's just a thought to provoke thought - that's all)
From that point we would have a rather nice pool of players who are around the same point range, but different experience levels. This makes the newbies happy... and it make the raiders happy too .
And changing the fact that a player can get to millions & millions, millions of points. If we made that more difficult, than we would have more people to play with... who are closer fit into more condensed AZs. Thus one's experience is what will make them successful.
And as far making SI less time consuming... I still need to think on that. Maybe I'll pass it through my company's think tank to see what we can come up with. (Normally I get paid for this - but I don't see me getting $$$ for this one. So, I'll participate anyways)
(please be aware that I may edit this first part as this thread develops)
EDITED PARTS:
For those who think that a change in the AZs (Attack Zones) would be the answer, than please check this thread:
i don't belive that you can reduce the risks or the ability to grow large with out totaly making the game un worth playing because the game is a lot of fun knowing that you have total control over your out come the decisions you make can cost you months of work making taking those big risks a rare thing, if it becomes hard to grow biger then you ruin the AZ system even if it doesn't change because a ship is always worth the same as a ship of the same kind..leaving you the only option to cap the game meaning that all the big guys will hit that ceiling and just stop fighting each other because the only out come is a draw.
the game works fine as is this is coming from the guy that has only ever lost when circumstances out side his control caused him to lose.. losing internet connection for 1 whole day i lost my entire fleet 2 months worth of work. lost connection a second time lost several more months of work, total time losses around 5 months maybe more i don't remember what my income was when i lost my fleet the second time.
each time i have gotten crashed i have come back stronger because i now have all the scavengers trying to finish me off and i ninja them with the minor parts of the fleet i have rebuilt, on top of all the new interest in me because players believe i can be crashed quite easily in my weakened state, that coupled with the drop to the AZ of the super noobs really helps replenish the recourse supply.
the main difference in the game is skill luck comes in when circumstances prevent the player from doing what they other wise would have done.. having to work late getting in a car crash the list goes on. but that is part of life and if your plan for interuptions like put your fleet to land 2 hours after your suposed to be home on a regular schedule or if you do my kind of escape flight which is i just pick a planet and escape flight at the slowest speed possible to it trying to shoot for around a 24hour return if it's not recalled.
then when i get home i recall it and the landing time is going to be while i am home and it's easy to set and alarm clock to be on when it returns.
now you might say that i just hurt myself telling you how i EF
but you still have to figure out which planet i chose to launch from/ when i launched and when down to a few second interval that i got on to plot a ef intercept and because my fleet has no perfect pattern that is predicable it is hard to intercept.
now when you think about how to randomize and minimize risk it should come down to strategy and those that come up with stupid tricks like this will be hard to catch, but the same rule applies if you get lazy and make a mistake with this your doomed.
oh i don't always escape flight like that only when i am not sure how the day is going to go all other times my fleet is back 30 minutes after i get home.
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Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum -Vegetius
In universe 1 I lost my fleet three times while in the 100K+ point range. All three were my own fault. From those incidents I learned valuable lessons. We all make mistakes. If we learn from them, and avoid repeating them, then we accumulate the experience and wisdom to grow and prosper.
My point is that it should NOT be easy for players to reach the highest AZ's! Attaining those milestones should be the reward for the time and effort that a player has put into building their empire. (That is also why I disagree with account transfers). If you make the process too easy, then the person will have no respect for the achievement. I have seen this over and over again in RL, let alone in the game.
For as long as I have played SI, there have been folks that wanted the AZ's changed because they felt that they were at a terrible disadvantage. But as has been said over and over again, if you Escape fleet and resources religiously, then all you lose is a part of your overnight production - losses that can be recouped in a few hours. Jump-starting new players with higher production rates for mines and BF has some merit, but also creates the probability that those same players will become disillusioned later on and leave the game once they stop receiving the bonus.
So my opinion is that the game, as it presently stands, is balanced and does not require any significant changes. Those who invest the time and effort will succeed. The rest will become disheartened and depart, providing us with yellow planets to raid.
WE all know ,, if crashed ,,,, it was our fault,,,
The subject realy is,,, how do we keep people here.
PEOPLE,,,,, its what this game revolves around. Sure you can pummel them ,, until they become inactive becaue they are disgusted in watching 2 months of ship building go down the tubes,,, because they had to run an errand,
In the Long run ,,, its a Death Spiral, People having fun up to a certain point in this Game ,,, suddenly ,,,,they are not having Fun.
Creating Inactives, is a losing scenario,,,, i would rather be facing active players,, pitting intelligence vs intelligence.
I would like it ,, if we were all having FUN.
I would like it , if this Game could have a small understanding ,, that some people have lives. that need to be attended to ,,,
To coldly say ,,,, just take it ,,, rebuild ,so i can take it from you again ,,, is missing the point, of the thread ,,,,(i think)
I have a tip of an ice berg of an idea,,,, forming ,,,, As TinMan got me thinking in a new direction,,, not ready to divulge it yet,,,,,,
i agree and disagree mate you can't tell me that the growth of roids is not going to one day cause a problem and stifle players raiding/ transporting distance from their planets, but thier is a fix for that AK which should clean the skies a little bit and allow the strategic remove of unwanted roids.
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Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum -Vegetius
Than this game will clearly never achieve what it's never had until it makes an improvement that it's never made before.
In my opinion, there are too many traditionalist with a strong pull in this game. Perhaps we'll just have to continue to watch players leave until this game gets taken over by another that is very similar to it. We live in an innovative generation. If modifcations are not made... than someone will re-create the wheel.. and a wheel much more attractive. So our thinking can't be so obtuse as to avoid making modification where needed. Thus, here's a thread to discuss what can be done.
If the game was PERFECT the way it is... than we wouldn't be hearing about issues of player retainage. So, not only do I disagree... but the stats disagree with you as well.
Sting - why do you want to cheapen the achievements of those who have worked to achieve AZ 15 by following the advice freely offered here in this forum? Because that is precisely what would happen as a result of the changes I nave see proposed to keep players interested in staying with it.
If you were a member of a sports team that dominated the league, would you endorse amending the rules of the game to make it easier for the other teams to compete?
I too agree the game is fine as it stands (aside from the server problems but that could be a reflection that the number of players is picking up again.)
I'm not sure the game needs to get any faster. I just think people are using the wrong strategies in their build orders. I've been able to get 2 accounts from 0-50 points with the techs to get to first flight in a week without any gifts of resources. I've spied some 0 point inactives and the majority of them quit with mines built and no fusion plants to power them or they just have a blast furnace and no pig iron mines to feed them. If training alliances could get to new players within the first 15? minutes of them signing up and helped trouble-shoot, I think we could retain a lot more players than tweaking AZ's and killing asteroids. Players in the first 4 AZ's who log in and build at least once a day probably don't even need to do things like escape flight because they don't have the resources or fleet to attract raiders.
I am a new player so please keep that in mind. I have been playing a few months and I enjoy this game greatly. It appears the bottom line here is fleet loss. After thinking for a bit and reading the posts here I came up with an idea that may work.
What if you were capped at a 50% or so fleet loss for battles and the loser would default to a surrender mode allowing the victor to get 2 free raids on your planet uncontested. When you are forced into surrender mode there would be a default period for fleet rebuild or something that would keep you from being ravaged by other attackers.
i wouldn't endorc25/8*9-+-e making them able to compete with out puting the same effort into wining that i had/ have too, but if thier were unbalences such as rules/ polices that gave me or others an un chalenged advantage i would endorse looking into those for ways to fix them.
the only ones i see in SI are :
roids those give players abilites others don't have and they are un able to be removed even by a much more skilled players.
information/ tactics/ strategies most noobs don't get the importain facts before they get it shoved in their face and a long time ago one of my ideas to fix it was passd and should see game play some time. basicly gives a run down on what every SI player should know andpoints them to the board so they can learn more.
if those were balenced and improved players would be on a more even footing and have no excuse as to why they quit other than the one i am going to use in 33 days when i probably quit. and my reason most likly will be i set out to be where i wanted to be .. the fastest fleeter in the UNI. and he game doesn't provide much interest any more because i have learned most peoples online times/ have no one wishing to test my defensive skills/ and of because because i am just running out of time to play on a day to day basis.
i have been asked what will i do when i retire from ingame play and i have been asked to become a GO, or to teach a new generation of noobs how to play like i used to do before i hung up my hat after being the leader of the biggest mass alliance in SI UNI 1 history. if memery serves it ws 378 members or something closer to 400 before it started shrinking. but i have yet to decide if i will quit in 33 days and thier are several factors playing into it, so we will see what hapens.
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Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum -Vegetius
Modifying Space Invasion
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Linear Mode
