Zorg, you say the changes will not make the game that different for veteran players, but many of these changes you outline will be problematic, at least for fleeters and players who actively engage in PvP. Increasing defense regeneration up to 100% will mean players will be able to keep vast fleets behind shells relatively safely... I could accept increasing it slightly, but 90% or above is way too high, in my opinion. IPMs are not even able to target moons currently, so someone could build a shell on a moon and no one would be able to touch it if it were big enough... (This has long been an issue... IPMs should be able to target moons, and I hope at least this is corrected in the new universe). Adding expedition to fleetsave in addition to keeping huge ruby moons will make lanxing no longer a part of gameplay at all... It is already barely a part of gameplay because of impossible to destroy moons. Similarly, intoduction of the storage den will mean large amounts of resources are relatively safe (though I could accept this change; the defense regeneration increase worries me much more). This will likewise decrease PvP. My broader point is this: All of these changes I see so far are going to decrease rather than increase competitiveness, player interaction, and PvP...Zorg wrote:Huge moons is not something we will change.
Do not worry about the game being inappropriate for veterans or too easy. The core of the game will not change dramatically. The gameplay will be a bit different though.
In particular, we are thinking to use some things from Generals and in particular Storage Den, Colonization Technology and Voyager ( http://www.zorgempire.net/forums/viewto ... 57&t=11201 ). All will be available to all as there are no Generals in this universe. The key difference here is storage den of course which will allow players to protect their resources against other players.
Another thing we will laid our hands on, again to aid newcomers a bit, is the fleetsave options. Using expedition as fleetsave will be viable as expeditions will be reformed and fleet destruction will no longer be possible. They will grant rubies though. Voyagers will play the key role in Expeditions.
Another thing that we are revising, is the removal of the bashing rule. Storage Den will help in keeping resources and as for defenses, we will increase standard regeneration to 90%. There will also be an extra technology to take this to 100% regeneration. This means, that a fully research technology will allow 100% regeneration of defenses so destruction of them will only be possible with missiles.
We also want to put more strategy in deuterium management. I know this is already an important part but we can improve this in the good way.
There are some more interesting ideas that I do not want to unveil yet. I will do in short time though. Till then, feel free to give us your feedback to these ideas.
Now, regarding the delay, you are 100% right. We have no excuse for the delays and we are stressed about it already. Thing is, we started to create A, we then said we will also create B and now are close to T. What I mean is that the original idea was much more simpler to what we are dealing with now.
When you said ruby options would be like Generals I assumed (wrongly) that this would include moons. I still hope there will be no ruby moons available for at least the first month or so, and would prefer if it were longer. Ruby moons are by far the biggest advantage that players who pay to play have over those who don't, in many instances.
I understand you are trying to make a newcomer friendly server, but the more details that emerge, the more concerned I become that it really will be a "bunny" server with limited appeal to the most committed and skilled players. I realize everyone has different ideas and this is only my opinion; I don't mean to be antagonistic, only honest. Some of these changes and details are simply not what I was hoping for.