Res for Rubies Sprog. I didn't mean between players, I meant to stop it between players. If there was an option to buy rubies for res, via the Merchant, then that would effectively knock trades between players out.

It would be the only way that some players could get rubies.

The new universe must be designed in a way that will lure back old veterans from Zorg Empire and beyond.

To achieve this, we need to focus on the strengths of the game.
The biggest strength of the game, is arguably the fleet activity between players. This was the major characteristic that Zorg Empire enjoyed from day 1. This is what we need to promote with the universe design.

Here are some ideas we could use as a base.

Universe size/Fleet speed:
Building a very large universe, won't help much towards this. We think that a smaller universe and high fleet speed can help activity.

Planet Cap:
We still believe that an extensive number of planets do not help into bringing more players to the game. X-TREME has 21 planets: if you like many planets, play X-TREME. We need something that will allow all kind of players to engage.

The idea of using colonization tech, a very expensive colonization tech is preferrable. With no cap. But colonization tech should be very expensive so it ultimately becomes a strategic option and not a game winner. With current setup, the more planets the merrier (if you are active enough especially). With a very expensive colonization tech, this should not be the rule.

Cheap raiding ships:
We need some cheap raiding ships, easy to build that can be used to raid. Most players use cargo for raiding in existing universes. We could change this and let them use a raid ship, that is quick to build and fast. In detail:

So a cargo could only have more cargo load per resources spent. On the other hand, the raiding ship:
-Should be built faster.
-Should fight better.
-Should travel faster
-Should leave less debris (less of a target)

These ships should be good enough to attract non-fleeters into creating some, just to raid those inactive planets nearby. Small players/Newcomers should be very benefitted from this as it will give them a way to grow faster.

Better regen rates for defences:
Through a tech most probably, we could give players the ability to strengthen their regen rate. It could be a big scaling tech most probably,much like wsa. Generally though, we may need to tweak it in some way (expensive? TIme consuming? Too dependant on a single resource?) in order to allow diversification.


Something better than the bashing rule
We generally dislike rules. Unfortunately, they must be used in order to keep things fair. If there is however a rule that we dislike the most, then this is the bashing rule. There are only two good things about this rule: 1)Some protection but mostly, it can be lifted through war.

The second part, is a very good thing as it promotes alliance diplomacy. Sadly, there are few wars as most end up really fast, just because they all want to return to the bashing rule.

So, we obviously want a recipe here that we do not have (unfortunately).


Revamped Expeditions
These will be introduced first in existing universes. We still need to design them as existing ideas do not seem good enough. We prefer something along these lines:
-1 special ship for them (to prevent fleet saves there, which means you will not be able to send other ships)
-Mission select (the players should select what he wants his ships to try to do - not random selection)
-Less randomization and more information on expected results


More information available to all
-More stats/charts/information on what every player does, available to one.
-More info here: http://www.zorgempire.net/forums/viewto ... =7&t=11229 (the market idea is not well supported though)


More moon usage
Moons are cool to have and they help with strategy. Here are some ideas:
-Increase of chances for moonshots. Perhaps up to 30%.
-Cheaper buildings
-More special buildings for moons could be added

All these are ideas where we seek your feedback.

hmmm


personally i would rather everyone have the same planet cap. if you use a rapidly escalating system for determining how many planets you can have, the old accounts will be able to make a several more planets, and newbies will have more trouble getting planets up for raiding, i think. unless you make the first 4-5 planets extremeley cheap, and make later ones very expensive. but then, if you do that, why not just make it a hard planet cap like now?

the raiding ships will have to be more effective than battlecruisers+elite cargoes, to be used a lot, ultimately. assuming you mean to only have raiding ships present in the attacking force.

better regen rates for defenses - this is good and bad. it would reduce the impact of being defense bashed, obviously. on the other hand, people going inactive, would take much longer to wear down, and people will probably vastly prefer to smash the defense with fleet, rather than spend for ipms.

what if the bashing rule was reduced significantly to like 3-4? What if the hard limit on attacks was permanent, and could not be lifted? The last few hits (5-6) are usually profitable, for the most part, but nothing on the scale of the first few hits (assuming the attacks were successful). Assuming the attacker takes maximum resources each time, the defender is left with 1/8 of their resources (not fleet), after 3 attacks, or 1/16 after 4. I think that is still a pretty good haul for the attacker. Not taking in the last 4-5% of a target's resources will not kill the fleeter. In addition, the attacker sometimes can get a teammate to also hammer the target, so that makes the reduced resource accumulation largely moot. In the event that only one guy is allowed to attack the target 3 to 4 times, then the defender can rebuild much easier, since they have more resources left over, and i think this might make it easier to keep people after they get smashed.

^ tl dr: take away bashing, limit everyone to 3 (preferably) or 4 attacks.

I believe I already posted this thought elsewhere, but what if moons could be acquired by new accounts as a reward for certain point totals? also, it would be nice if we could remove the chance of having 15-20 moonshots with no success. ;-;

also, I would like to bump the idea of damage protection. (if someone gets hit majorly, then no more attacks can be launched on them for some period, or they are put into auto-vmode, or such. this would not affect attacks already outgoing)

As the days pass, the more we focus into making the new universe a "mainstream" universe. A universe where the majority of people would be able to play.

We want this new universe after all, to act as a gate towards the rest of the universes; through this universe all universes can harvest new players.

In order to have success in this, we need some special design that will more or less alter the core gameplay of the game. Then, whoever is fond of more "hardcore" gaming, can try one of the existing universes.

Although Standard has to be considered the most easy for newcomers, it is not what we call "mainstream". Standard offers slow speed for those with not much time at hands. This is not what we are after in the new universe.


One of the issues that we have to resolve, is the one of planet cap. Which we deem very important as planets tend to be a decisive factor in how big a player can be. I will post below with an idea that has an objective to keep things interesting for all types of players: Those with time, those without time, those that want micro manage, those that want fewer things to control.

New planet type: Military Bases

Military Bases are normal planets, like all you already know (size, temperature, they can have moons, etc) with two major differences:

1)No limit in how many Military Bases a player can have.
2)Military bases have no Mines and they have no production at all (mines cannot be built).

A military base must be flagged as such at the colonization mission. You will get to select what to do your colony ship (normal planet or military base).

So, we can propose a small number of normal planets (ie 5) and an unlimited amount of military bases, for the new universe.

I like the idea, but the base amount of colonies you can build on, would have to be determined based on the speeds in the universe. If it is similar to speed universe, I would suggest making it 10 colonies, if it's faster, 5 wouldn't be bad, if it's slower, more is better. Also, you'd need to be able to get moons on such bases, or make fleet movement from them hidden from lanx. If it's hidden from lanx, these military bases should be treated much like moons, where they can be destroyed.

For the military bases if that's the idea it does need a limit otherwise players could have hundreds and block out huge areas. While I like the idea it does need a cap however outrageously high it might be. The down side to this is I cam already see system after system with 1 planet and 15 military bases to protect save system roamers.
So yeah destroy able in my opinion after moons been destroyed.
Edit: perhaps that could be added to current servers limited to 2 so fleeter don't suffer in buildings for roamers and builders can still fleet without detrimental loss.

Doomrager wrote: Edit: perhaps that could be added to current servers limited to 2 so fleeter don't suffer in buildings for roamers and builders can still fleet without detrimental loss.

+1. I definitely like this notion

Doomrager wrote:perhaps that could be added to current servers limited to 2 so fleeter don't suffer in buildings for roamers and builders can still fleet without detrimental loss.

+1