Administrators Popular Post Alex Posted July 31, 2018 Administrators Popular Post Share Posted July 31, 2018 Hey everyone, This is just a public notice of my intent to go forward with the changes that have already been implemented on the Test Server during the last tournament. I'll outline the changes below for those of you who are unfamiliar. Custom Flags First, I intend to allow everyone to use custom nation and alliance flags. To be honest, not very many Credits get spent on these, and I think it would enhance gameplay and increase player interest by allowing any player to have their own custom flag. You'll still be able to select from the existing flags (including any flags you have donated for previously), but there will also be an option to upload your own flag image directly. This is more or less how it will look like: I also intend to give everyone who's donated for a nation flag previously a special superstar donator nation award that will not be available to anyone else, because I know it can seem unfair that you donated to get something that now everyone will have. Color Trade Blocs Why should the trade wars only happen in real life? This next change isn't exactly centered around trade wars, persay, but it does add meaning to Colors, which have otherwise been a pointless, free money mechanic. The Colors, which you all know and love, are going to be transformed into Color Trade Blocs, which are blocs of nations that have a sort of trade deal together, and as a result, get bonus income. Sounds a lot like the existing system, right? Well, let me tell you why this new system is way cooler and more fun. Instead of basically every nation in the game getting the same 3% flat bonus to gross income, the Color Trade Bonus is calculated based on the average monetary net income of all of the nations on a given color, divided by the number of nations on that color. As a result, the incentive is to get big nations onto your color, and kick the nations with small economies off. But, there's more. The bonus isn't a % bonus to gross income, it's actually a per-turn flat amount. Beige nations will always get $50K/turn, and Gray nations will always get $0/turn, but for the other 14 colors, it will be dependent upon the given alignment of nations at the end of each turn. You will still have to be on the same color as your alliance to get the bonus, however. And the length of time between changing colors for your nation will be increased to 5 days. But, the flat-rate income will help new nations grow, without really accelerating the growth of large nations in any meaningful way, helping to promote "catching up" and a less divided game overall, which is something you guys have been asking for for a long time. But wait, there's even more! Since we're not just dealing with Colors anymore, but Color Trade Blocs, they get their own names. And the fun part, is that it's up to you, the nations that make up the blocs. I have set up a voting interface where anyone on a color can suggest a name or vote for someone else's suggestion, and at the end of each turn, if a new name has a majority (>50%) vote, it becomes the new name. Hopefully that won't result in too much more moderation work for me... I should also note that Color Trade Blocs are capped at $75K/turn in bonus income, and on the other end, capped at $0 so that you couldn't ever go negative. And, of course, if any big imbalance or exploit issues arise due to this new mechanic, I will quickly change things to account for it, so if you think there's going to be some terrible flaw with this system, don't sweat it too much. The game won't die (like people have been telling me for 4 years now. By the way, did you know it's just 5 days until P&W's 4th birthday?!) I even updated the Leaderboards page: New Player Bonus Another thing that will become implemented is a new player bonus, which is a 100% gross income bonus for nations with 1 city, 90% bonus for nations with 2 cities, 80% for 3 cities, and so forth until 11 cities, at which no bonus is applied any longer. This extra income is just to make the game easier for new players, help them catch up, and hopefully, stick around. The revenue screen has been improved as well to make it clearer how all of these bonuses impact your income: There are various other improvements coming as well; bug fixes, those better information popovers, and more. I am hoping to have this all implemented on August 5th for P&W's 4th birthday. As well, I'll hopefully have the 4th birthday award special offer figured out soon, which I imagine many of you remember from previous birthdays. Now that you all know what I know, I'll be happy to answer any questions, and I hope that you're all as excited as I am! EDIT: I'll add as well that for naming Color Trade Blocs, you are required to include the color name in the bloc, to avoid confusion. But otherwise, there are no rules, aside from the usual no profanity, no nazism, etc. 7 17 Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radoje Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 (edited) I love the Flag implementation for one, and the Color Bloc thing might trigger a lot of people, but tbh we've been complaining about a somewhat exciting and mechanic change to the game for ages now, so I wont complain for one bit, I genuinely like it. Edited July 31, 2018 by Radoje 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheShadow Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Shit someone gt here faster. Anyways, good change. Will we be able to see which bloc has how much bonus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tan2019 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 I like it, seems fun to adapt too. now I wait for the downvotes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 These were alot of fun things on the test server should enjoy them on the real sever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quichwe10 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 IT'S BAAAAACK! COLOR STOCKS ARE BACK AFTER SO MANY YEARS! 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted July 31, 2018 Author Administrators Share Posted July 31, 2018 2 minutes ago, TheShadow said: Shit someone gt here faster. Anyways, good change. Will we be able to see which bloc has how much bonus? Yes, the Color Trade Bloc leaderboard page contains all that information. I included a screenshot above of what that page looks like currently on the Test Server, I'll post it here again: Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucifer Morningstar Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Flags: Means I save about 20mil on the market. Colour blocs: trade wars could be fun I like the sound of these updates. Keep it up Alex 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynder Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 5 minutes ago, Alex said: New Player Bonus Another thing that will become implemented is a new player bonus, which is a 100% gross income bonus for nations with 1 city, 90% bonus for nations with 2 cities, 80% for 3 cities, and so forth until 11 cities, at which no bonus is applied any longer. This extra income is just to make the game easier for new players, help them catch up, and hopefully, stick around. Actually, I think this is a really great idea, it will also boost the economies of micro alliances and is more rewarding for raiders in the lower tier. I like this update. 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Scarfalot Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 So, are you going to go forward with the war changes that have been tested and implemented on the test server as well, or are those going to be discarded? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Epi Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 (edited) 680 Edited February 16, 2021 by Epi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheShadow Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Someone just pointed to me that Quote "And the length of time between changing colors for your nation will be increased to 5 turns." increased from 24 turns to 5 turns? I am guessing this is a typo. But the real question is: Say I am in beige and i want to declare war. That will get me kicked to gray and i won't be able to change colors for a long time. Is there a fix fr that? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted July 31, 2018 Author Administrators Share Posted July 31, 2018 4 minutes ago, Sir Scarfalot said: So, are you going to go forward with the war changes that have been tested and implemented on the test server as well, or are those going to be discarded? No, I am not implementing any war changes with this update. 2 minutes ago, TheShadow said: Someone just pointed to me that I am guessing this is a typo. But the real question is: Say I am in beige and i want to declare war. That will get me kicked to gray and i won't be able to change colors for a long time. Is there a fix fr that? It is a typo, I meant 5 days. You can always change your color from Beige before you declare a war. Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted July 31, 2018 Author Administrators Share Posted July 31, 2018 I will point out as well that anyone who wants to help test out these changes before they're live can on the test server, the link is http://test.politicsandwar.com Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mad Titan Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Is there any way we could see the current bonuses that each color would have this point in time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted July 31, 2018 Author Administrators Share Posted July 31, 2018 24 minutes ago, LeotheGreat said: Is there any way we could see the current bonuses that each color would have this point in time? These would be the as-is values currently: Of course colors Brown and Maroon would be reduced to $75,000/turn as that is the max. Beige would also get a flat $50K/turn regardless of economy size or nation count, and Gray always has $0/turn. Vacation Mode nations would not affect these figures as well, of course. Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchy Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 (edited) Looks good, as long as its balanced. Have to wait to see on that. My only concern is the bonus being based on average income, as that seems to disproportionately hurt lower tier mass member alliances, and incentivizes alliances to band together with upper heavy alliances. Suppose it depends how much the bonus is. Also if that breaks this tiering bloc metagame, suppose its for the better. The switch to flat income amounts is a good call generally too, noobs don't make any money for a bonus to apply too. Free flags is going to be interesting, designers will be getting a lot of business now I suspect. ------------------------- Also just to clarify, are trade blocs limited to one per color? IF so, how are names decided, IF not, how do you prevent alliances from placing their upper tier into one trade bloc and their lower tier into another one. It looks like trade blocs aren't tied to alliances, or am I mistaken? EDIT: NVM I read the full post instead of skimming it. Ok that all looks good. Edited July 31, 2018 by Sketchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted July 31, 2018 Author Administrators Share Posted July 31, 2018 3 minutes ago, Sketchy said: Also just to clarify, are trade blocs limited to one per color? IF so, how are names decided, IF not, how do you prevent alliances from placing their upper tier into one trade bloc and their lower tier into another one. It looks like trade blocs aren't tied to alliances, or am I mistaken? EDIT: NVM I read the full post instead of skimming it. Ok that all looks good. I'll just respond anyway to clarify for everyone else; yes there is one bloc per color (each color is a bloc) and names are decided by majority vote. They will all start with some lame made-up names by me, and each turn if there is no majority vote for a name then whatever the existing name is will be kept. To get the bonus, you do have to be on the same color as your alliance. That will (theoretically) keep alliances all together one the same color. It is possible alliances will split apart to get larger bonuses, and that could become an issue that I have to address by changing the game mechanics, but I am willing to wait and see how it turns out in practice first. Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 (edited) 2013, we meet again. I'm curious to see how well various alliances police their colors. I remember a lot of work in the old days to that effect, but there was always the challenge of small or inactive nations you couldn't reliably hit, or just wouldn't care, dragging down the bonus of even the most tightly controlled color. It may be worth considering basing the average income on nations within an alliance, or alliance over 5 members. That would reduce the dilution from the masses of inactive and 1-2 city nations who dragged the system down last time, which should also heighten the tension between major alliance to secure their own colors. Nevermind I totally forgot that inactive nations get their color changed to grey now, so the old issue shouldn't be nearly as big of a problem. Edited July 31, 2018 by Mikey Quote Archduke Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden, Lord Paramount of the Reach, Warden of the South, Breaker of Forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erland Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 16 minutes ago, Alex said: These would be the as-is values currently: Of course colors Brown and Maroon would be reduced to $75,000/turn as that is the max. Beige would also get a flat $50K/turn regardless of economy size or nation count, and Gray always has $0/turn. Vacation Mode nations would not affect these figures as well, of course. You missed white and yellow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchy Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 1 minute ago, Alex said: I'll just respond anyway to clarify for everyone else; yes there is one bloc per color (each color is a bloc) and names are decided by majority vote. They will all start with some lame made-up names by me, and each turn if there is no majority vote for a name then whatever the existing name is will be kept. To get the bonus, you do have to be on the same color as your alliance. That will (theoretically) keep alliances all together one the same color. It is possible alliances will split apart to get larger bonuses, and that could become an issue that I have to address by changing the game mechanics, but I am willing to wait and see how it turns out in practice first. Are people automatically placed into a bloc based on their color? Or do they have to "join"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Sketchy said: Also if that breaks this tiering bloc metagame, suppose its for the better. ------------------------- If anything this will further incentive tighter tiering. There is no detriment to evry top tier AA being on the same color, where there is when they start letting in lower ANS alliances. Maybe blocs across multiple tiers will try and force out lower tier AA's from other blocs while keeping their own. That way they boost the growth of their lower tier allies at the sacrifice of growth in the higher tier bloc members, but that's the only scenario I can think of and it doesn't seem as likely. Maybe it will happen as the flat bonus is worth more to lower tier nations, but even at 10mil per day in income, if you can get the full bonus you are getting nearly 10% increase, so there is still good incentive among the higher ANS alliances to regulate their colors. Even making 20mil a day its still the equivalent of a treasure. Edited July 31, 2018 by Mikey Quote Archduke Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden, Lord Paramount of the Reach, Warden of the South, Breaker of Forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted July 31, 2018 Author Administrators Share Posted July 31, 2018 22 minutes ago, Sketchy said: Are people automatically placed into a bloc based on their color? Or do they have to "join"? Yes. Instead of selecting a Color, you select a Color Trade Bloc you want to join. Forgive the lewd names people have already come up with on the test server, but this is what the new dropdown on the edit page looks like: You'll note that the names of the Blocs are required to include the name of the color they're representing to avoid confusion. 23 minutes ago, Erland said: You missed white and yellow. Wow, I can't believe I did that. Here's the updated list, I just lobbed those two off accidentally. 18 minutes ago, Mikey said: If anything this will further incentive tighter tiering. There is no detriment to evry top tier AA being on the same color, where there is when they start letting in lower ANS alliances. Maybe blocs across multiple tiers will try and force out lower tier AA's from other blocs while keeping their own. That way they boost the growth of their lower tier allies at the sacrifice of growth in the higher tier bloc members, but that's the only scenario I can think of and it doesn't seem as likely. You're right, all the top tier nations could join the same color together, but their bonus is limited to $75K/turn max. Nations at 15 cities average over $4,400,000 in monetary net revenue daily, and $900K/day is only about a 20% income increase for them (11% increase for 20 city nations). If the max bonus becomes too much, it can easily be lowered as well. I think larger nations will enjoy having a lot of sway over smaller nations and being able to use their economic power as leverage more than they will clustering together onto one color. The other fact is that if they do all cluster together, smaller nation alliances can just piggyback off of them by moving to the same color. Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchy Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 1 minute ago, Mikey said: If anything this will further incentive tighter tiering. There is no detriment to evry top tier AA being on the same color, where there is when they start letting in lower ANS alliances. Maybe blocs across multiple tiers will try and force out lower tier AA's from other blocs while keeping their own. That way they boost the growth of their lower tier allies at the sacrifice of growth in the higher tier bloc members, but that's the only scenario I can think of and it doesn't seem as likely. Maybe it will happen as the flat bonus is worth more to lower tier nations, but even at 12mil per day in income, if you can get the full bonus you are getting nearly 12% increase, so there is still good incentive among the higher ANS alliances to regulate their colors. It will incentivize upper tier tiering, but not lower tier. If lower tier people pursue upper tier allies, some of them will likely accept, so in effect it reduces the incentive. Plus the bonus is capped at 900k per day per nation, which is decent on a large scale but nothing to stake yourself politically on. That number is more significant to lower tier nations, upper tier nations would scoff at it. This all assumes people adjust to the meta and change their group color to a single color, which some alliances will do, others have too much of a stake in their color to do it I expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Alex said: You're right, all the top tier nations could join the same color together, but their bonus is limited to $75K/turn max. Nations at 10 cities average over $10,000,000 in monetary net revenue daily, and $75K is only about a 6% income increase for them. I think larger nations will enjoy having a lot of sway over smaller nations and being able to use their economic power as leverage more than they will clustering together onto one color. The other fact is that if they do all cluster together, smaller nation alliances can just piggyback off of them by moving to the same color. One thing I didn't think of was the fact that higher tier AA's can't actually kick out the small guys even if they wanted to. 75k per turn though is 900k per day. Sure, its only 6% of revenue for a 10 city, but its free money, and as a percentage of profit it will be much higher. At 20mil in daily profit it still represents a treasures worth of income increase, not as important sure, but even just at 10mil profit its a 10% bonus to that. And 10mil in profit (monetary, not counting resource selling) would put you solidly in the tip % of players. But still, higher tier AA's cant declare war on lower ones, so if they banded together to keep a color, they couldn't actually prevent lower guys coming in. Thus necessitating their own lower tier allies to help police across all the tiers. So having thought a bit more, I think this does solve most of the issues I remember from the color stock in 2013. Edited July 31, 2018 by Mikey Quote Archduke Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden, Lord Paramount of the Reach, Warden of the South, Breaker of Forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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