Has there been any change to the New Player Missions? I know quite a long time ago I had suggested some changes/rewrites. But the truth we have to face is we need more players, and the game is abysmally slow to start out, which means unless someone has a friend that has convinced them to stick it out, chances are they are not going to stick with it past day 1 when you have to wait for another day to gather enough to be able to capture another planet and you are stuck with junk ships that you can't really do anything with, even in newb arena they are a hindrance.
I don't like to point out issues without possible solutions, so I'll just toss a few out off the top of my head since I haven't given this much thought. To backtrack, where my current train of thought is leading me, is I'm thinking about the difference between a couple different games, I don't play many of them, but thinking about an RPG and a ... I don't know what it is considered, strategy I suppose.
In these games, there is a HUGE difference between the capability of a new player and a veteran (caveman with a club vs advanced armored tanks), and a HUGE difference in the speed at which a new player can advance (you kill one boss and you level up as a new player, you kill 50 bosses when you are level 90 and you finally level up.... or it takes 20 minutes to upgrade a building as a new player vs 14 days as a high level player). A lvl 90 player isn't going to run into a lvl 2 player in many of these games and just crush them like a bug. The key is, there is quick advancement at the start to help a player get going, and in this game, there is no difference between a new player that just dropped out of 2 weeks in newb arena and a vet.
So suggestions...
Make sure newb arena has a ton of planets- massive SP chains, I can follow chains all day, gives me something to do. The planets don't need to grow to 20x though- maybe random static pp- probably a coding issue- or a varying/occasional flush/reset/disposal of planets in newb arena to get rid of all the higher pp ones.
Newb arena time frame- leave them in there as long as want--- no, because then could end up with a 'king' that doesn't ever leave there- give them three months- plenty of time to build up in a fairly safe place where they only have to worry about other new players.... started on the next topic, and just came back to this one- leave them in there if they have not completed the newb missions- once complete- then 3 month countdown starts-... falls in with a coming thought
MORE MORE MORE- more resources, quicker- .... let me start over-
1- Better ships- at least a 1M tranny and a 100k assault- I mentioned a use for 1k assaults, but really- they should be 500k or nothing, otherwise you are wasting troops, unless you fire up a recycling building- but that is another topic.
2- More planets- free upgrades while in the newb arena- let them get 50 planets- let them build buildings quicker- all upgrades are free in newb arena.
3- More resources- oooohhhh, here is a thought- make ALL the systems in newb arena single SP double green- that way, you get to spend 10k T taking the SP and you get 10k T from the greens... but that could be fairly easily exploited, just jump your tranny to the system, nearby it and keep going smoking all the greens enroute. Hmmm, alternatively, could do 2 SP and a green, then the double nearby would pick up the 2 SP, so less chance of being able to jump continually to new systems.
3b- other additional resource ideas- higher rewards for completing each new player mission- give them troops for completing each mission- new players need to be able to get troops quicker so they can spread out quicker- once they have 50 planets, then T can flow a bit better and keep them busy- also need some additional Iron so can get more assaults going-
3c- Optionally- give new player more starting resources- 500k T/V/I- better yet a mil of each- if have it so they stay in newb arena if don't complete missions then it is not a bonus to us vets- but nice bonus for another newb that finds them and has enough power to take them- nice mini HW challenge for them to take out-
3d- Faster production time, or higher production points- probably coding difficult- but have newb planets gather resources faster, every 5 minutes rather than 15- or have 3 or 4 times the pp that get reset when move to real arena.
Alright- that is all on that train of thought for the moment
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