[ArcChas]

A random universe would probably help - but it wasn't the only (or main) factor that made round 8 so much better than this poor excuse for a round.

Last round, the lack of reduced ETA for any form of attack meant that attacks launched at 5:55 GMT could have been successfully defended by people getting out of bed at 07:30 - by use of reduced ETA "in cluster" allies and, of course, by the much maligned overburn fleets. This meant that attacks were (usually) launched a couple of hours earlier (often at 03:55 CEST not GMT) which meant that there was a chance of arranging defence before going to bed at night.

This round all major alliances launch their attacks at 05:55 (the advantage of attacking rather than defending at this hour is that "account sharing" allows most attackers to get a decent night's sleep while a "friend" launches for them). People such as myself (who can just about manage on 4 hours sleep per night) wake up to find that the incoming fleets are already beyond the point of anything other than in-galaxy defence - meaning that roid losses are inevitable at most of the planets in the galaxy.

I've played PA since R2 and I've never been a 133t player nor (until recently) have I been a member of a 133t alliance - so this is in no way a whinge about not being on the "winning" side. The sad fact is that the fun has gone out of the game. The fun we used to have defending our friends, our allies and our neighbours has been replaced by a sense of total futility as we are reduced to sending our ships out of harms way for the fifth time in as many days.

If these issues are not addressed in round 10 then there is no way that I (and many others in the UK & European timezones) will play another round. I wish that I could be confident that the wholesale changes expected next round will return the enjoyment factor to the game but previous experience makes me rather sceptical. After all, the creators have yet to demonstrate even the faintest understanding of the effects that their changes will make (or even have made) to the game.

Still, hope springs eternal .... and all that. Let's wait and see. :-)