Changes coming to Express next round (March 30th reset)

Slagpit

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Mar 27th 2021, 20:06:29

This was posted on announcements but I'm also posting it here for visibility.

* All countries start in GDI. A country may leave GDI before the final six hours of the reset if it has not attacked or been attacked. If a country leaves GDI it is not able to rejoin.
* The -10% gains penalty for GDI has been removed.
* Bonus turns awarded every 4 and 6 hours have been removed until we can replace this with a better system.
* Planned Strike time increased from 2 hours to 4 hours.
* First round of NPC improvements: https://www.earthempires.com/...0-2021-49914?t=1616425197

Edited By: Slagpit on Mar 28th 2021, 0:34:25
See Original Post

sfbob

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Mar 27th 2021, 20:13:33

Who knew there was a 10% gains penalty for GDI???

Slagpit

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Mar 27th 2021, 20:15:02

Originally posted by sfbob:

Who knew there was a 10% gains penalty for GDI???

Yeah that's part of the problem. Honestly I forgot about it until I saw someone mention it on the boards.

BaDonkaDonks

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Mar 27th 2021, 22:16:59

I also noticed that by default my country started with 100% spy production, not 20% for each unit this round. I like that.

Gerdler

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Mar 27th 2021, 23:01:28

Originally posted by Slagpit:

* All countries start in GDI. A country may leave GDI before the final six hours of the reset if it has not attacked or been attacked. If a country leaves GDI it is not able to rejoin.

Epic lol. I must say I have had some of my more fun sets when I forgot GDI, which happens so damned always lol (last set for instance). But awesome change nonetheless.

Originally posted by Slagpit:

* The -10% gains penalty for GDI has been removed.
* Planned Strike time increased from 2 hours to 4 hours.

Great way to lower insane toll it takes to play express on tryhard mode and at the same balance the loss of those PSs by 11% more grabbing gains. Very simple, smart, easy and experience-lifting changes!

KoHeartsGPA

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Mar 27th 2021, 23:30:01

Originally posted by BaDonkaDonks:

I also noticed that by default my country started with 100% spy production, not 20% for each unit this round. I like that.

Yeah that answered my question to myself, couple days ago when I went to manage screen and noticed the production was already set to 100% spies, it drove me nuts that I couldn't recall having done that LOL

Mess with me you better kill me, or I'll just take your pride & joy and jack it up
(•_•)

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Slagpit

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Mar 28th 2021, 0:35:28

I'm pretty sure I found a simple way to disable the 4/6 hour timers for bonus turns so I went ahead and threw that in too.

Kahuna

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Mar 28th 2021, 1:28:39

HE S KILLING EXPRESS!!

Gerdler

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Mar 28th 2021, 1:37:27

just make bonus points give 5x as much effect to counter most of the loss of bonus turns.

SuperFly

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Mar 28th 2021, 6:11:31

How will you bot farming SOBs win now that the bots will fight back?

The bots will rise and AB u all! Lol lol lol

MILORD

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Mar 28th 2021, 6:24:49

Originally posted by Kahuna:

HE S KILLING EXPRESS!!

A killer express is when 500 (500) turns and a LOL .
Turn is added every minute. It's super dynamic!

PS
I hope the developers will forgive me for nastalgiru, on the express Mars2025, which is no longer and probably will not be. On express earthempires, there are many advantages: - it is the market and the GDI.
On express Mars 2025, to get to the top, you had to destroy the enemy team, and then deal with the top!
There they fought and killed, and then the winners shared the top.

born in the USSR

MILORD

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Mar 28th 2021, 6:25:51

Originally posted by MILORD:

Originally posted by Kahuna:

HE S KILLING EXPRESS!!

A killer express is when 500 (500) turns and a LOL .
Turn is added every minute. It's super dynamic!

PS
I hope the developers will forgive me for nostalgia, on the express Mars2025, which is no longer and probably will not be. On express earthempires, there are many advantages: - it is the market and the GDI.
On express Mars 2025, to get to the top, you had to destroy the enemy team, and then deal with the top!
There they fought and killed, and then the winners shared the top.

born in the USSR

MILORD

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Mar 28th 2021, 6:40:56

Gentlemen, developers! I have the following proposal for you:
Take an Express Test Drive. 1 turn per minute and 500 (500) moves. This will bring novelty, attract the attention of players, and provide opportunities for new records. The results of the top 10 do not need to be saved, otherwise it will not be fair in relation to the previous winners. Only one-time experiment and test drive.

born in the USSR

Kahuna

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Mar 28th 2021, 8:05:05

Originally posted by MILORD:

+1
Also add more bots please.

Kahuna

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Mar 28th 2021, 15:20:04

Na jp, but ya we should try a 500 turn set. N also add more bots please.

SuperFly

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Mar 28th 2021, 15:36:41

Is DR going to be fixed? For example i just got topfed for 2k land. The jabroni #45 is in 127 DR thanks to a noob that GS’ed him. Now this jabroni is going around making big PS’es and I can’t retal.

KoHeartsGPA

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Mar 28th 2021, 18:46:52

Originally posted by SuperFly:

That's something that should have been addressed years ago when people were abusing DR and there was a topic about it, It should be addressed now.

Slagpit

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Mar 28th 2021, 18:54:19

On the DR topic, I had written the code but found it difficult to test. I also couldn't find any recent examples of DR abuse on Express, but now it seems that we have some. I will see what I can do.

SuperFly

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Mar 28th 2021, 19:01:12

Originally posted by Slagpit:

On the DR topic, I had written the code but found it difficult to test. I also couldn't find any recent examples of DR abuse on Express, but now it seems that we have some. I will see what I can do.

Excellent

KoHeartsGPA

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Mar 28th 2021, 19:25:02

Thank you Slagpit, yeah it was a big issue for a while and the moderating team got very aggressive shutting down that type of abuse and so it stopped for a while, however every once in a while it still happens.

Requiem

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Mar 29th 2021, 2:40:14

Originally posted by Slagpit:

On the DR topic, I had written the code but found it difficult to test. I also couldn't find any recent examples of DR abuse on Express, but now it seems that we have some. I will see what I can do.

Because words matter - let's be clear, in DR because of a failed kill run. I don't think that equates to DR abuse as he did not ask to be hit with GSs and not be killed by them.

Should the player self delete his country after a pathetically failed kill run?

Slagpit

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Mar 29th 2021, 5:08:44

Originally posted by Requiem:

Originally posted by Slagpit:

On the DR topic, I had written the code but found it difficult to test. I also couldn't find any recent examples of DR abuse on Express, but now it seems that we have some. I will see what I can do.

I try to read all of the messages posted on the Express board so I can do my part in creating the best possible experience for the players. Your recent messages are really tedious. Are you his lawyer? Just give it a rest already.

Requiem

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Mar 29th 2021, 11:59:56

I'll be happy to when things are fair and balanced for all players, not just a select few.

Chevs

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Mar 29th 2021, 15:34:12

Hessman says he was purpled for DR abuse.

Shouldn’t Gerd have been purpled too for putting him there?

What’s the rationale here ? Asking because if I play again I would not like to be purpled again.

Basically just want clarification...if there is someone I can’t beat, I’m allowed to just GS them 20 times and then watch them to get purpled if they do another land grab.

SOF Head Of Poop
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En4cer: Chevs... u would have beaten me by more than 100m

Slagpit

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Mar 29th 2021, 15:59:21

When you guys are done putting on a public performance and want to have an actual discussion, let me know.

Requiem

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Mar 29th 2021, 23:07:13

I don’t think it’s possible to have a discussion with you because you keep turning your head the other way instead of listening to the actual issues here.

I’ve been nothing but polite and just following a logical thought pattern and that seems to get nowhere these days. Fair and balanced moderation is what we all want to see I hope?

Ratski

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Mar 31st 2021, 2:00:14

The idea of 4 hour recovery after a PS ?? What was the motivation for that ? Was it to cut down the PS in a set ? It certainly will reduce the PS's this set,

Edited By: Ratski on Mar 31st 2021, 2:04:51
See Original Post

https://youtu.be/8rh6qqsmxNs

KoHeartsGPA

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Mar 31st 2021, 16:24:51

Originally posted by Ratski:

The idea of 4 hour recovery after a PS ?? What was the motivation for that ? Was it to cut down the PS in a set ? It certainly will reduce the PS's this set,

Bots Land Matter!!!!!

Now they're going to replenish better and PS them every 4 instead of 2 hrs will yield more land. At least that's what I'm thinking.

Gerdler

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Mar 31st 2021, 17:06:07

If people only PSed the bots would be way better to grab already before this set. But then you always have these guys who like to heptupletap all the rainbow bots until they yeild 40 acres. :)

Slagpit

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Mar 31st 2021, 17:07:11

Originally posted by Requiem:

Your repeated sarcastic comments do not register as politeness. Like I said, the public performance is really tedious and I'm not interested in participating in it.

Slagpit

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Mar 31st 2021, 17:10:55

Originally posted by Ratski:

The idea of 4 hour recovery after a PS ?? What was the motivation for that ? Was it to cut down the PS in a set ? It certainly will reduce the PS's this set,

A PS is a powerful attack type that gives 50% more attack gains and attack power. A 2 hour cool down is only 30 turns. For most governments, there wasn't really any reason not to PS because spending more than 10 attacking turns every 30 turns is usually a bad idea. In other words, the penalty for a PS (your units not being available for a while) didn't really hurt much. I increased the PS time to 4 hours to try to bring back more of a tradeoff between SS and PS. I also want to reduce the advantage gained by extreme levels of player activity (such as PSing every 2 hours).

Gerdler

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Mar 31st 2021, 17:14:25

Yeah, serious express play hurts the mind and body... I like the change a lot.

Molotov

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Apr 15th 2021, 14:58:29

PS brigades being available again every 30 turns seems like a fast turnaround... until you consider that after a good night's sleep, you wake up with 120 new turns on hand. Those high frequency planned strikes are a good way to eat into that overnight turn build-up while still spending turns efficiently. Not saying this change isn't going to be good (attacking every two hours *is* a high demand on activity) but just offering up the counterpoint that came to my mind. How has this been working out for everyone?

Tmac

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Apr 15th 2021, 16:05:04

I've ran fat rep cashers the past 2 sets. It's forced me to incorporate ss attacks. The 2 hour ps really just gave an advantage to extreme levels of activity. 4 hours falls in line with other servers ps length per turn.

Molotov

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Apr 15th 2021, 16:50:31

4 hours is 60 turns, which is slow compared to 40 in Primary and 48 in Tournament. 3 hours (45 turns) would actually be the closest match to other solo servers.

Tmac

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Apr 15th 2021, 16:52:57

Yeah, I was thinking of alliance and ffa. You're right.

Pedi

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Apr 15th 2021, 17:00:15

How am I supposed to get fat waiting 4 hrs to ps again?? Imo make it 20 minutes.. thats the fun part of playing express.

Tmac

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Apr 15th 2021, 17:11:19

20 minutes is 5 turns. It takes 10 on most govts to do 5 attacks.

Molotov

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Apr 15th 2021, 17:21:53

Yeah, but you have 100s of turns that built up from when you dared to go to sleep for the night! That's why it doesn't matter if you're spending them faster than they're coming in; you have a stockpile.

KoHeartsGPA

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Apr 15th 2021, 17:29:27

Molotov has a good point, this needs balancing, I'm sure Slagpit will look into it...

Slagpit

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Apr 15th 2021, 17:36:08

I'm not saying that 4 hours is perfect and I do want to hear from players on how they feel about the change. However, doing a PS should have a downside. At 2 hours there wasn't much of a downside. It was common for players to do five PSes even. After all, not being able to attack for 2 hours wasn't a big deal.

Tmac

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Apr 15th 2021, 17:54:06

You can also have 720 turns stored which is 40% of the set. You could stockpile your turns until your stocking phase.

Gerdler

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Apr 15th 2021, 17:56:47

I think 4 hours is well balanced. All those countries who did only PS before, that is a really unnatural state for express. you are not supposed to be able to do that. I used to play like 850 turns on Friday and it meant timing my PS and making my sales go through fast with no room for error. Now I have to play more spread out which gives me room to price my goods better and it gives me 4 hours between logins which basically allows me to do stuff in between. And like slagpit says there should be a downside to PSing.

If you log in with 120 turns which you have to spend for some reason, why can't you grow by SS to get rid of them?

In 1a theres 60 turns between a PS window. That is the same as we have here now. Remember that some people will use every PS window even on 2 hour PS.

Molotov

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Apr 15th 2021, 18:58:27

I haven't played a 4-hour PS set so I don't really know. It's been awhile since my days on this server! I used to like almost always having something to do back when I did play here, though... Of course that's the same reason I stopped playing it, because I no longer wanted to put the time effort in.