Jouldax - The Emerald Cut

[JettJackson]

So, I'm open to increasing racial galaxy size (say, 7x7?), but again, I don't really want to reward people for trading in their racials. There should NEVER be an 8x in any racial, and the only reason there has been the past couple games is because early game money was thought to be an issue. Well, giving people early game money just makes it quicker to get planets and go hide behind them, taking away a key aspect of the game. This is all experimental, folks, but given the limited activity we have now, I'm trying to optimize the game for the current player base.

7X7 is fine, 5x5 is too small. There won't be players just racial trading all game except people named Holy and that is all he does.

[jouldax]

Let's not throw stones on the MB. I'll raise the racial sizes to 7x7, but I still don't want to have any routes bigger than 5x locally.

Let's also be clear - I don't want to disenfranchise individual players, I simply want to encourage teamwork.

More feedback would be great.

[JettJackson]

Let's not throw stones on the MB. I'll raise the racial sizes to 7x7, but I still don't want to have any routes bigger than 5x locally.

Let's also be clear - I don't want to disenfranchise individual players, I simply want to encourage teamwork.

More feedback would be great.

Wasn't really a stone throw just a truth, that is all he does really, however it is what he wants to do so it is his purgative.

[jouldax]

prerogative

and

I hear you, but it could be taken negatively. There's no reason to call out individual play styles in discussing the map . Now give me your own feedback about the rest of the map.

[JettJackson]

prerogative

and

I hear you, but it could be taken negatively. There's no reason to call out individual play styles in discussing the map . Now give me your own feedback about the rest of the map.

Everything else is fine, if you make the adjustment to 7x7 vs 5x5 for racials

[Dilbert]

What about making racial gals representative to their races I.e better trading routes in skant?

[Incognito]

What about making racial gals representative to their races I.e better trading routes in skant?

Skants already get benefits for relations plus they have the best trade ships. They don't also need the best routes.

[jouldax]

Revisions have been made to the map on page 1 after receiving feedback. Please keep your comments coming.

[JettJackson]

I think the no port in planet gal and no high level ports in racials is a bad idea, people already hate trading as it is and if you make the ability to make cash all that much harder it will turn off players. Even if you put a port in the planet gal at say level 1 it would require a large sum of money to build it, and then you'd still have to probably bust. this still allows the ability to have a decent route. With the lower alliance caps it is already hard enough to get OPs for busts, but to force the issue even more will be all that much more limiting. Then you combine in the less number of players to make money. All these things combined slows the game down way too much in my eyes, especially considering the cost factor of building planets. Yes you said this was how it was before but the problem is the cost of building planets isn't what it is like before, and we can't say 'well then don't build planets' because that will make the game go stale even faster. The whole reason why the game can get exciting in the later parts of the rounds is busting planet gals. However if people cant afford them and there is no trade route out in the planet gals either, what is the benefit of building them. Especially when arming can be done on such short turns.

[jouldax]

This game for the last several rounds has been:

1. Trade locally for a couple weeks
2. Build planets
3. Build a route and mine it so you can trade unfettered
4. Sit in galaxies on super routes until you can get enough to bust a rock

This is killing the game. Lowering initial multipliers won't stop trading...it will force people to trade MORE to achieve the same results, increasing the time people are in hunters, or the mid game which is usually the most active. Also, god forbid you have to plan how to build a route with what's around you. There will be ports in those walled off sections; use one of those as a starting point. PRs have been made easier and it's an aspect of the game that goes largely ignored. And now, with galaxies somewhat near each other, you might screw up each other's routes and, in doing so, force the map to evolve for everyone. You complained last game when Nij had an accidental perfect 7x in their quadrant, and I agreed it shouldn't have gone into the game. I'm sorry, but I don't think trading in racial the entire game should ever give you a chance to come anywhere near the top of the rankings, and that's been expressed repeatedly on these boards and in private to me. People don't even trade if there's a potential hunter on cpl because they've been conditioned by optimal placement of ports near fed and there's nothing in the game now that forces you to switch your strategy to succeed.

TLDR: Same old same old is not working. We need to be trying something different. This was a common suggestion to me going into the next round and I'd like to try it out.