[Bashar]

I've made this thread to discuss a problem that has been seeping into PA for a while. I know that the entire community has made moaning and whinging a pastime since the dawn of PA, but I am going to try to provide a slightly more structured argument than the standard "PA SUCKS NOW!!!111 BRIN BAK ROUND £!".

The point I wish to discuss is galaxies (yes, the old private/random debate). I was one of those people who argued strongly for the current system, and suggested it repeatedly for several rounds before it was introduced, but I feel that, with the small playerbase we now have, the galaxy setup is detrimental as it is. I remember when galaxies were a major part of the game, it was a last refuge if your alliance couldn't help you, it was a source of friendship and entertainment. I spent many a late night sat in galaxy channels just talking with my gal mates, and I made many friends that I still know today. Most people put their alliance first, this has always been the case and always will be as alliances are the most constant part of PA, but people still valued their galaxies highly, and would want their galaxy to do well.

The trouble now is that you can pretty much guarantee that if you are in a big alliance, you will land in a galaxy with someone hostile, or who you can guarantee will be hostile at some point in the round. As a result, big alliance players are on their guard from the instance that their galaxy is created. They are weary of forming ties in case they have to be broken, they are suspiscious of their gal mates loyalty, and are constantly on the guard for their galmates giving information on their activity patterns to hostile alliances and not reporting incomming. This suspiscion is a two way thing, and likely creates problems that weren't there before, a classic case of people being so paranoid about something happening that they actually create it. Now I know there are people on these boards who are going to jump on this and say it is a problem with the big alliances themselves and the way they are, but the way they are is not going to change, it is how people choose to play the game, which is (as much as people may hate it) their perrogative. The result (whatever you believe the root cause to be) is that galaxies now lack cohesion. The comradeship, morale and friendship that used to be there is gone. People sit in galaxy channels because they have more to lose by not sitting in them. They no longer sit in there because they want to. I know this is something that people have been complaining about for ages, and there will always be galaxies like this, but it appears to me to be becoming increasingly widespread.

The problem I feel is that the current galaxy setup is not suited to the player base. The near guarantee that you will end up in a galaxy with hostiles removes the inclination to put effort into a galaxy. The horror stories of galaxies from recent rounds get peoples guard up. The large galaxy size compounds this by forcing alliances to hit their own galaxies due to a lack of other targets, which creates a serious dilema for anybody who has a decent galaxy, and the knowledge this will happen makes people reluctant to form any attatchments. The dreaded and much maligned private galaxies are a better option than buddypacks now. Private galaxies allowed people to play with a decent sized group of friends, and almost guarantee that there would be little in-galaxy conflict. I do of course see the problems with private galaxies, and I don't feel they are an adequate solution to the problem. What I instead feel is a sensible solution is to return to the round 6 galaxy system where you have a half random half private galaxy system. You could have for example 5 private's per galaxy and then fill up with randoms after that, or maybe even only 4 privates and the rest randoms. Ultimately, I feel that the number of galaxies needs to increase and the divisions that are ripping galaxies apart before they have a chance to develop proper friendships need to be avoided. I know that lots of people hate private galaxies, but I think that the current buddypack system is doing more harm to the game. Even a full random round is better than the current situation, as at least that forces people to make friendship ties. With a much larger playerbase, the buddypack system would probably be brilliant as landing in a hostile galaxy would be unlikely, but in an age where most people who go in a buddypack are in an alliance that's challenging for top spot, buddypacks are not sensible. It's an idea that was suggested to fix problems that were developing, but was introduced too late, once those problems had got their grip and the suggestion was no longer relevant.

These are my thoughts on the galaxy setup, and I would be interested to know what other people feel.