Packs of buddies in a random universe

[Spinner]

In regards to "Private Packs" or buddy-codes, which you can read about here:
http://pirate.planetarion.com/showthread.php?p=2689727

I would like you to take this poll.

[Synthetic_Sid]

Out of the three options available i favour the third (I've suggested a few alternatives in various threads myself - but appreciate there's not time for substantial reworking of the system prior to R11). The buddies code as implemented is too likely to be abused for my liking. The problem isn't so much the few private galaxies that would result : rather it's the galaxies left with all the free planets created to try to abuse the system which would effectively be functioning as reduced size galaxies.

[Gerbie]

I think random is random, however you should meet people who want packs half way or they will quit. We can't afford to lose them. So I voted for the packs thing (buddy-code). Splitting the universe would be quite useless. In that case it would be better not to bother with free accounts at all.

[TheRat]

Buddy code is nice, but needs to be worked on to not be abused. Also I suggest no more than one pack of buddies in a gal.

[t0ne]

random is the way to go...

t0ne

[AndroX]

I have to agree with Sid here. Altho I voted for the first option as its nice to have new planetarion players into a galaxy with people who can learn them the game and community.

[Neferti]

i voted for the second one - it would make a change and i think it's worth a try even it it turns out not to work.

[Spinner]

The abuse can be "handeled", even though I'd be a fool to go into details as to how
But it should be known that we will rather look for such abuse, and then wait with closing the planets until say tick 48 or 72 so it is not attempted again. That way it hurts a bit more for the abusers.

[Synthetic_Sid]

Originally Posted by Spinner

The abuse can be "handeled", even though I'd be a fool to go into details as to how
But it should be known that we will rather look for such abuse, and then wait with closing the planets until say tick 48 or 72 so it is not attempted again. That way it hurts a bit more for the abusers.

Unless some shuffle is done as well, it also hurts for the 4 players left in a galaxy after 2 packs of 3 who cheated to get together in it are deleted.

[Spinner]

Yes it does, no doubt. Same thing happens when we close people for multing, account-trading, sharing etc, and it isnt nice. I shall ponder on this some more and see if a solution can be found. Maybe a little "zipping" can be applied here to merge half gals at the time.

[Achilles]

I went with the buddy code system as I have a somewhat misguided belief that PATeam will stop it being abused.

I actually feel stupid for having said that though :-/

But I'd really like new players to have a chance.

Hum Maybe a dumb question but.... what does the woting answers mean?

I understand it`s aboute random or not in the galaxies!.

Annyway how bout this: 50% random %50 choosen ?, there must be a way to do this

For example: people can choose 3 (or 5) pals they want to be in the same galaxy with.
and with a ranking system (1 beeing high, 5 low) make a matchup with those people from the list and the ones who score the lowest points gets in the same galaxies with 5 other !?

Edit: Unless thats what the buddy-code option means ! :eek:

[mist]

the abuse can be dealt with simply by shuffling, as sid seems to have pointed out more than once.

however, your poll seems to miss out one of the important issies: making free planets worth having in your galaxy. at the moment they're just dead weight, so anyone interested in their own wellbeing will vote against having them

-mist

[Jackal2112]

i like the idea of buddy codes. DO IT

[wakey]

With some slight changes to fix the abuse potential the buddy system is good BUT as mist says the key is to make the free accounts playable while not letting them have too much access that they dont need to pay. As I've already said you got the limititations on free accounts last round almost perfect. You gave people a chance to try the game out, find an alliance that suited them ect ect and thus gave many of them a reason to pay and as long as these people did pay (or got paid for) by the time the limititations kicked in (or not long after) they were not a major liability for any galaxy or alliance.

While people will always exile freebies as some people are all about winning the lack of galaxy status access is basically making it neccesary , potentially even more so with the buddy system (imagine you get two groups of friends in your galaxy who are freebies who like some of this rounds players have no intention of paying, unless you end up paying for them which not everyone can justify your screwed from tick 1) They need some kind of galaxy status even if its only showing the offensive fleets and not the defensive so they know when theres incoming, they can send defence and warn your alliance.

You need to limit them in ways so that they are of use and that they are playable, while limiting in a way where they ultimatly have to pay to go that step further

[Nitros]

random
but if you do decide to do the buddy system - then atleast put the freebees and paid accounts together after a shuffle

[kingclunge]

Can't everything just be left the same? Private gals and random free gals. This works fine in my opinion. People who go free can upgrade and join a private if they want. This 'buddy packs' thing sounds far too complicated

[Stifler]

Originally Posted by kingclunge

Can't everything just be left the same? Private gals and random free gals. This works fine in my opinion. People who go free can upgrade and join a private if they want. This 'buddy packs' thing sounds far too complicated

private gals encourage blocking more and blocks less likely to split if we get stagnation as we did this round

Also i voted for "Random is random" but if ypu use the private packs, make the code generated not chosen

also make sure the universe is "cleared" of all accounts that have not logged in since tick start mayb around tick 40 or whenever the shuffle is, this way any gals that have this problem get their inactives removed and get people playing moved in, paid or free

[Nadar]

I like to play random actually.. Meet new people etc.. Then I also like full private rounds So, switching between random and private is what I prefer

[Chika]

I went for private packs. Random private packs. We have the Mentor team in place, let them do thier job.

I agree with Chika

[MiX]

lets give this random packs a try, just hope abuse will be as little as possible..

MiX

[mist]

given spinner's latest plan to shuffle at tick 48 abuse is actually pretty tricky

[Tactitus]

Originally Posted by Stifler

also make sure the universe is "cleared" of all accounts that have not logged in since tick start mayb around tick 40 or whenever the shuffle is, this way any gals that have this problem get their inactives removed and get people playing moved in, paid or free

I can't emphasize this enough. I believe 95% of the problems with randoms are actually problems with inactives. Weed out inactive accounts early and often!

[wakey]

Originally Posted by Tactitus

I can't emphasize this enough. I believe 95% of the problems with randoms are actually problems with inactives. Weed out inactive accounts early and often!

Wouldnt quite go as far as saying 95% as I think the community itself has played a major role in failure of random in recent rounds (People have got 'selfish' due to private rounds, they just arent willing to help new players as much anymore, its a 'skill' this community needs to rediscover and it will only be done by forcing players to play with smaller players over a good number of rounds, hence why i dont like Nadars idea of having random one round, then private, then random) but on the whole your right thats a problem. Inactives need moved to a sperate area of the game where they dont tick and they cant be attacked if they havent logged in before ticks start and then regular after that all accounts who havent logged in in x number of ticks also need moved. If they login after they have been put in this area they get placed back into the real universe, otherwise after 14 days they are deleted

[Forest]

I have great problems with the buddy system after thought.

A lot of it is gonna be down to luck, with whom u land with, You have the potential to have either two enemy packs together, or two friendly packs together. This means u will end up with galaxies that are unstoppable.
This would still happen in a complete random gal, but the power it would create would be less.

I cant find the words to say what i want, its not here as i see it in my mind, i will try and paste again when ive had a think as to my wording, but fully random for me for sure.

[Thevoid]

Re: Packs of buddies in a random universe

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random is the way to go...

t0ne
__________________
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Wolfpack HC and loving it


Sorry,just didnt get the last sentence,love beeing wp hc

[newt]

I havent got a freaking clue what void means there, but whatever it is, he's spot on.

[Cayl]

I know what you mean Forest. You're worried that two friendly buddy groups will land in a galaxy, and boom 6 Reds or Blues or whatever suddenly have an all powerful galaxy. Meanwhile, 3 Reds land in the same galaxy as 3 Blues, and once they find out, they either fence sit their way to the top, or engage in endless strife which denies them a top spot altogether. Meanwhile everyone else will probably end up with about 5 inactives, and at least two who have no idea what IRC even refers to.

I think the answer to your argument is not that everyone will be equal. It is that everyone will have the same equal chance to be in a really good galaxy or a not so good galaxy. Part of this game, as in life, is making the best of what you've been dealt.

[Bode]

Personally I would rather the entire Universe be random. It allows first time players the off chance of landing in a galaxy with some very experienced players they can learn the game from. That happened to me when I first started playing and having such actives and experienced players to play along side with made the game more interesting for me. A lot of people are saying that getting rid of private galaxies will be the end of planetarion and that planetarion will start to lose players. But all random galaxies is how planetarion got all of those players in the first place. Its more like a return to their roots. I think that maybe for Round 11 the buddy system would be a more advisable method to ease into the transition. But PA Team should not be affraid to go all random next round. It would be the next step to planetarions rebirth.

[Sven]

Originally Posted by ThaRat

Buddy code is nice, but needs to be worked on to not be abused. Also I suggest no more than one pack of buddies in a gal.

if you try that, you would get too many half filled galaxies coz of players who want to be with their buddies nd too many buddy groups, not enough other randoms, if you follow the drift?

[Judge]

X None of the above

[Gerbie]

Originally Posted by Sven

if you try that, you would get too many half filled galaxies coz of players who want to be with their buddies nd too many buddy groups, not enough other randoms, if you follow the drift?

I'm not sure what I would do. Going random is a great way to fencesit yourself to the top. If you end up with friendlies, you'll at least have 4 friendlies while others have only three.

There's a good chance you'll end up with 3 good players, while if you sit in a gal with 2 friends you'll be lucky if you find someone experienced. And exiling is not realy much of an option when in a group as it would split you three apart.

[demiGOD]

so since going buddy packs is at 53%, does that mean we're doing it next round? because if we're doing packs of 3, our galaxies should consist of 9 planets, if not 6, - and also i suggest to network our packs, so lets say for example, im in a pack of 3, then another pack somewhere are 3 of my friends from.. florida for example, and we want to be in the same galaxy, then another pack of 3 in scotland that we want to be in the same galaxy with us, also.. we should be able to network 3 buddy packs, to make a galaxy of 9 planets.. this would be really cool.. actually its so cool that i might make another thread about this

[Kal]

look at the dates of the posts in this thread.... its for round 10.5

[Blixxard]

I totally missed the thread.

[Forest]

so close it and be done with it