CHANGES DONE AT START OF FEBRUARY ROUND:

1. Interest Rates Cut in HALF now

Due to increased number of Home Worlds and the relative safety of these planets from attack (more HWs means lower risk of any specific planet being taken), the risk reduction for holding resources means that the rate of interest paid on resources can be reduced now. Interest per round is being reduced from 30% per round (1% per day) to 15% per round (0.5% per day). As before, interest is only paid on the first 1 million of any resource on the planet.

2. Stable Warp Introduced

You can now build a stable warp building on a planet. Cost is same as for Warp Deflector building. Stable Warp and Warp Deflector can exist on same planet (Deflector only interferes with the Unstable Warp at center of galaxy). The stable warp costs -1E to keep in operation on the planet, and it can be used just like the Warp in BattleZone, but is only able to be accessed by members of the same alliance as the player owning the planet. Warp is ONE WAY only, as the warp is opened and operates only from the planet which has a warp building on it. A planet can only create one Stable Warp, but a single planet or system can have any number of Stable Warps that END at a specific destination. Warp is destroyed if building is destroyed or planet is captured or left, but it will change ownership if the planet is given away to another player. Warp can only go to another planet owned by the player creating the warp, but it still works even after the destination planet is destroyed or given away. Only ships allowed in Battle Zone warp can use stable warp.

3. Warp COST Introduced and RISK eliminated

There will no longer be a risk of losing your ship when going through the warp. Instead, there will be a cost of 500 Uranium to use the warp for ANY ship entering ANY warp (whether BattleZone Warp or Stable Warp on player planet).

4. Ships allowed to use Warp NOT CHANGED

Although there has been some discussion of allowing ships other than fighters to use the warp, that change has NOT been made at this time. We are still contemplating such a change, but the decision to do so could have large and potentially negative consequences. Therefore, at this time, only fighters can use either stable or unstable warps.

Other upgrades anticipated for introduction for February round were not able to be completed by the start of this round, so have been postponed. Some may be introduced DURING the round, and some will be delayed to March.

CHANGES NOT YET INTRODUCED BUT PLANNED:

5. Credits Transfer (planned for introduction DURING round)

Allows players to transfer credits to alliance mates. Not ready at start of round, but planned in about two weeks.

6. Master Builder Upgrade (planned for introduction at start of March round)

Will allow building on more than one planet at once with this technology upgrade. More details will come later.

7. Defeated Players Automatic Restart (planned for introduction DURING round)

Will allow defeated players to restart immediately in new player arena. Not done yet, but will be done soon.

8. Newbie Arena Modifications (planned for introduction DURING round)

Will allow newbies to obliterate planets to help them prepare for survival in the real arena via elimination of chains. Also, newbies with more than one month experience will be forced to enter real arena at time of their second end of round event, and stars will be reset when new players enter real arena, so any additional stars gained in the new player arena are lost and any points gained or other stats are also lost upon entry to the real arena, but planets, ships, and resources gained in the newbie arena are retained upon entry to the real arena.

9. Nearby Planets Upgrade (planned for introduction DURING round)

Nearby planet button will detect your own planets as well as other players planets, with other player planets detected first and then ALL of your own nearby planets listed after showing the closed planet from other players.

10. Intergalactic Flight (planned for introduction at start of March round)

I-Fight risk will be reduced and cost increased for Extreme Speed / Deep Space flights. This modification has not been completed and tested yet, so it will be introduced in March round instead of this round.

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Make your move, reindeer games.

The four introduced ones I have no real problem with, except perhaps the Warp cost one but I can see the logic behind it. HOWEVER the un-introduced changes? Prof are you actually serious or is "April Fools" a bit earlier over there?


5. Credits Transfer (planned for introduction DURING round)

Allows players to transfer credits to alliance mates. Not ready at start of round, but planned in about two weeks.

Although in theory I agree with this I also see a real potential for abuse here. I think we may well see clans being subsidised by the cheque book of one of their players rather than playing for strategy. I'm sure that won't bother you seeing as it'll pay for the server, but it sure as hell bothers me seeing as it will have a massive effect on gameplay. Perhaps introduce a cap on just how many credits can be transferred?

"7. Defeated Players Automatic Restart (planned for introduction DURING round)

Will allow defeated players to restart immediately in new player arena. Not done yet, but will be done soon. "

I know you agree with serial restarting, but that's just asking for it. This way clans can keep planets within clan and gain poitns from defeating their own players who intend to continiously restart for safety. This is an awful change! It could also be used to find planets just as easily! Players come in, get defeated, restart immediately and respawn in real arena somewhere else! I don't think this one was thought through well at all.

9. Nearby Planets Upgrade (planned for introduction DURING round)

Nearby planet button will detect your own planets as well as other players planets, with other player planets detected first and then ALL of your own nearby planets listed after showing the closed planet from other players.

Finally. Good idea!

10. Intergalactic Flight (planned for introduction at start of March round)

I-Fight risk will be reduced and cost increased for Extreme Speed flights. This modification has not been completed and tested yet, so it will be introduced in March round instead of this round.

Wow, just one word - retarded.

There is already danger with I-Flight if you wish to get somewhere quick, that is what deep space is for! Increasing the cost makes little sense, although the extra energy burst that would be needed would make some sense. But adding risk for a flight? That's stupid and will seriously hinder game player.

Are you trying to cut attacking from the game completely? Because that is what most of your recent changes are doing. 700k points are now enough to win a round, not long ago that would have seen you barely inside the top 6 and even then it would be a close call. This change seriously damages attacking within the game. Depending on the risk level and your own luck and timing you could lunch 20 trained assualts and come out with 5 or less. Where is the sense in this change? Please, explain it to me because all I see here is another discouragement from attacking.

The game is already seriously slanted towards defending. When there were 2500% assualts it cost 3.8m troops to get 130k points, now it costs 13m troops and more. There are now turrets as well which only hinders attacking even more. The chances of destroying turrets and taking a HW now all in the same attack are not particularly high - even with good planning such as ship shields, pirating cover, rally points etc...

This change adds yet another pro-defence aspect to the game - a game of strategy and WAR that you are slowly removing the WAR section of. War implies attacking on it's own, war by nature is aggressive; you seek to take land and resources from your enemy. It is true you can also fight a defensive war; that is exactly what SL is becoming, a giant defensive war where people make petty stabs at each other with blunt blades. The attacking aspect of SL is slowly being smothered by changes exactly like this one and there is no phsyical way that can be good for gameplay. SL has always been a game of conquest and attacking, now it's just turning into a game of numbers and I'm sure as hell not playing to be an accountant.

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Make your move, reindeer games.

well ive alwas wanted deep I-flight to jsut cost like double the uranium?

instead of a 99% chance your ship dies...

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I am here to help in anyway I can! Let's have fun!

its 20% chance of losing your ship, and i don't yet have an opinion about this change yet, so i will reserve the right to add a coment about this later on

I-Fight risk will be reduced and cost increased for Extreme Speed flights. This modification has not been completed and tested yet, so it will be introduced in March round instead of this round.

Don't make such a fuss over it, it sound to me like it's a mistake. I-Flight risk will be reduced = Deep space risk reduced IMHO. No risk for extreme speed, except it's cost will be increased.
Well, I might be wrong

But I think it needs modifying, maybe add one more speed level above extreme, and remove deep flight.

To bring attacking back, we need not less interest, but weaker shields IMHO. Even 1% with weaker shields would be fine, then we'd get big risk versus big reward

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Waiting for technical singularity in 2035.

10% and NO shields...

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I am here to help in anyway I can! Let's have fun!

i know i just came from a b-day party and maybe i'm not exactly "normal" but wtf are u talking about? shields?

Lowering the power that shields on HW have I believe.

Hrmm.. my interpretation was that risk would be introduced for all levels of I-Flight but it would be dependant on the level you used, perhaps we need some clarification on that before I continue to make an arguement about that change. If my intpretation of the change is correct then it damages the attacking game. I'm not talking about bringing back more of the old attacking game we had, but preserving what we do have left of it. If my interpretation is correct then even more of that game is being lost.

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Make your move, reindeer games.

5. Credits Transfer (planned for introduction DURING round)

I don't think this will be a problem. There is already a limit on the amount of credits that can be purchased. I don't think anyone would want to give away any large amounts. Also credits are kind of transfered now through the market, this will just make it more convienient.

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THE SWARM

ELECTIONS OFFICAL

"A rumour without a leg to stand on will get around some other way."

MSN: dsdrodge@hotmail.com

For the most part I agree, I just see the potential for system abuse, nothing more.

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Make your move, reindeer games.

...i JUST left a game becasue the research ti involved....was ruined*made it cost 10X the points to get the same thing as before...literally* if ALL I-flgiht have risks...with the way "random" is calculated in this game...it'll be dead in a month

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I am here to help in anyway I can! Let's have fun!