Map Visits & City Moves

[Deborah M]

In a recent conversation I was reminded that my advice to others is to do map visits if they are interested in upgrading Ancient Wonders faster or even get through research faster. I had drifted away from doing them but have started again. It isn't too bad doing 39 pages if I do them on my laptop but it is more time consuming to do them on my iPad since they haven't upgraded the map visit mechanism like on PC. Today I received excess coin in the amount that it required me to buy 20 KP along the way since my coin maxed out multiple times. Here's the dig! I then picked up 89 coin provinces where there are not cities. I have only ever been moved once in almost 8 years. I am seriously wondering why. What criteria can I possibly be missing? I play every day, usually multiple times per day, have finished all chapters, and participate in all of the various aspects of the game. I have close to 4.5M ranking points and I am still #2 ranked on Elcysandir. According to prior discussions when they moved many, many cities I remember that active cities were being moved closer to the center of the map. I beg to differ with that. I think it seems that was a misrepresentation when I have entire rows of explored provinces that are coin. I should also mention that I have other Fellowship members who definitely participate but are also still surrounded by coin provinces and have almost no trades showing up in the trader. Any idea what the problem could be? Or is Inno just overtly unfair in this aspect of the game?

 

[Dew Spinner]

It seems that Inno doesn't want to solve this problem as there is a simple fix to the problem. Delete inactive cities or archive the ones that have bought or spent Diamonds, if they log on again they can be placed back on the map. This would open up plenty of spots for players like you to be moved into. Very Simple!

 

[defiantoneks]

there's a thread City Movement that covers a lot. A previous Community Manager suggested submitting a help ticket with a request to be moved. Although it can't officially be done, that CM was keeping a list to try and assist players by having more info to push upstream. After my ticket, and repeatedly adding comments to that thread with my dead city count, i finally got moved. Took several months of having a lot of coin cities, but am in a better neighborhood now.

 

[Deborah M]

@Dew Spinner I am under the impression they have already done what you are suggesting when they theoretically moved those cities to the outer edges.

@defiantoneks Yeah, I think I commented in that thread multiple times. Initially, I was encouraged since I was moved for the first time ever. It was the first time I had another highly ranked player who I recognized as a neighbor. Helya did a great job trying to answer the myriad of questions and problems when they did the great migration. The only thing I can think of that she said was that sometimes there is delay in being moved because of having to find a fit for boosted goods. I find that understandable since I can picture the algorithms they use performing one huge Tetris puzzle. I do not find it understandable why they must have plenty of others with my boosted who are probably not as active as I am and/or who have not spent the $ I have who apparently are not as far toward the edge as I am. My question is that after this much time and them supposedly being back to doing a weekly run through, why has my world map steadily gotten worse instead of better? In my frustration, I am asking whether anybody has any hint of a reason why it isn't working for me and some others in my Fellowship.

 

[ajqtrz]

If I were to consider the movement of thousands and thousands of players I'd first figure out two things: which players are most active (amount of time on line, etc) and which of those players were closest to the center of the map. I wouldn't then move them but make them the "anchors" of the area where I intend to concentrate the other active players. Which might suggest that players who are very large and very active might not be moved, especially if they were reasonably close to the center and had a great set of active neighbors ("active" being a bit relative, I'd think). You may be in an area with a higher than average activity level (or was when the Great Migration occurred).

Just a guess, and frankly, probably wrong. LOL

AJ

 

[Dew Spinner]

@Dew Spinner I am under the impression they have already done what you are suggesting when they theoretically moved those cities to the outer edges.

@defiantoneks Yeah, I think I commented in that thread multiple times. Initially, I was encouraged since I was moved for the first time ever. It was the first time I had another highly ranked player who I recognized as a neighbor. Helya did a great job trying to answer the myriad of questions and problems when they did the great migration. The only thing I can think of that she said was that sometimes there is delay in being moved because of having to find a fit for boosted goods. I find that understandable since I can picture the algorithms they use performing one huge Tetris puzzle. I do not find it understandable why they must have plenty of others with my boosted who are probably not as active as I am and/or who have not spent the $ I have who apparently are not as far toward the edge as I am. My question is that after this much time and them supposedly being back to doing a weekly run through, why has my world map steadily gotten worse instead of better? In my frustration, I am asking whether anybody has any hint of a reason why it isn't working for me and some others in my Fellowship.

It should be an on going proccess,, not a once and done. They say they do it weekly but something is not working properly for this problem to be continuously happening.

 

[Deborah M]

Thanks @ajqtrz That would make sense and I actually wouldn’t mind if I thought that is the case. A strategy like that has never been mentioned so I don’t know whether it is a plausible explanation or not. It would be really nice to know whether that is one of their strategies. I would be happy rather than frustrated.

I should add that trades aren’t a problem for me. I pick up all trades for my boosted that are same tier and one or two stars at least a couple times per day. I only occasionally have to post any trades for T1, 2 or 3. I am glad I am in a position to do that instead of arbitrarily ‘balancing’ my goods.

 

[Ashrem]

I'm going to postulate a theory, based solely on applying a little logic which is as likely as not to be wrong.

Theory: You'd almost never fit the algorithm, so there's almost no chance of you ever being moved.

You have:
39 pages (assuming the last one is half full) = 346 +89 inactive = 435
Even assuming you are in a full fellowship, that means about 19-20 explored rings

Assumptions
Reserve 10% of opened spaces for new accounts created in the coming week
then move existing players according to how many "active*" cities they can help.
Probably puts you in the bottom 1%, (since you have "active*" 346 cities), so anyone with fewer than that might get moved first.)
So finally a week comes when they're ready to move you.

Only:
Of the available spots,
any of the outer 18+ rings don't improve you in the least, leaving you approximately the same distance from map centre as you are now, or worse
An additional 18 rings do improve things a bit, but don't leave you with no empty neighbours (better, but not a full map, so might be excluded from a move because you'd just come up again the following week as you still have dead neighbours)

Conclusion: (assuming the logical assumptions are relatively accurate) you won't get moved.

* which they consider active, which is not very useful, but we don't get to control.

 

[Lelanya]

Ah the missing piece of the equation is that Deborah is end game. The algorithm also factors in that she should also have neighbors that are equal or higher than her in chapter progress.

 

[Queen of Snacks]

I'm going to guess (only a guess, I cannot look at the entire map) that you are located several rings from the outer edge of active cities. Because you have many discovered neighbors, eventually, you encounter coin cities on one edge. Still, you are not close enough to that edge to be moved before the cities between yours and that empty area.

Purchases, size of the city, or chapter do not influence city movement. It is based on activity and proximity to the inactive section. If a space opens up in the more active center area, active players with matching boosts that are the furthest out have priority.

 

[Deborah M]

@Queen of Snacks Thank you very much!! I really could not figure out a reason. It might be nice to have a couple or few big cities in my trader but I do fine when needed by placing more not huge trades. I do fine where I am now but found it alarming when I counted all of those coin provinces.

 

[Queen of Snacks]

@Queen of Snacks Thank you very much!! I really could not figure out a reason. It might be nice to have a couple or few big cities in my trader but I do fine when needed by placing more not huge trades. I do fine where I am now but found it alarming when I counted all of those coin provinces.

It's possible there was just a purge of inactive in your area too. If that happens, you'll suddenly have more coins, but those will usually only fill with littles. I'm glad you're still about to get trades picked up. I feel that World map placement is less of an issue for larger cities because you have more neighbors scouted and because sentient and ascended goods are worldwide.

 

[defiantoneks]

I feel that World map placement is less of an issue for larger cities because you have more neighbors scouted and because sentient and ascended goods are worldwide.

i find the issue for larger cities to be one of getting help to maintain culture/productivity. If a third of your neighbors are inactive cities, you wont get visits to many of your eligible buildings (and since your city is bigger, you have more to be clicked). Since I got moved my culture bonus level has been steady at 160, and sometimes goes to 170 (supernova!). Prior to getting moved I was regularly 150 or less. All in the same chapter with the same number of buildings eligible for neighborly help.

 

[Deborah M]

It's possible there was just a purge of inactive in your area too. If that happens, you'll suddenly have more coins, but those will usually only fill with littles. I'm glad you're still about to get trades picked up. I feel that World map placement is less of an issue for larger cities because you have more neighbors scouted and because sentient and ascended goods are worldwide.

I can totally agree with that assessment. The Monday sweep left me with a half page fewer inhabited cities today. When I do post trades I feel a bit silly posting all 7 pages worth of smaller trades relatively speaking. It is just more trades for smaller quantities that I believe are not prohibitive for mid-sized cities. Sentient goods are a non-issue since that is entire world map anyway.

@defiantoneks I have no idea whether or not that is correct. I just got back to doing map visits so I may get more return visits. I am thinking it has been several years since I have paid any attention to culture boost from neighbor visits. My city is built to produce enough most of the time, including negotiating the Spire, If I am below my comfort level for something I occasionally use my blue Phoenix. The only time I can think of that I do that is when I am buying boat loads of KP for researching new chapters.

 

[Kadhrin]

i find the issue for larger cities to be one of getting help to maintain culture/productivity. If a third of your neighbors are inactive cities, you wont get visits to many of your eligible buildings (and since your city is bigger, you have more to be clicked).

Yup, this. Chapter 16 city on Harandar, with 87 mines, rarely if ever got to 150% let alone 170%.
I got moved yesterday-- but to the opposite edge of the map, so I still have mines (but "only" 14 of them). We'll see how much my typical culture percentage goes up.

 

[Yavimaya]

Yup, this. Chapter 16 city on Harandar, with 87 mines, rarely if ever got to 150% let alone 170%.
I got moved yesterday-- but to the opposite edge of the map, so I still have mines (but "only" 14 of them). We'll see how much my typical culture percentage goes up.

Only 14?! That isn't really that bad! (At least from how many I have it isn't, and what I've read from other players about how way many more than have than me.) I actually was too scared to post on the thread when it started bc of fear of them thinking I wanted moved and then getting moved to an even worse place like the numbers of coin cities I was reading about.

 

[Katwick]

To be fair, neither Goldmines nor Abandoned/Non-Visiting (Green) Cities yield supplies when you visit them, so you can be in the middle of a dead zone that's nowhere near the edge of the map.

 

[Alram]

I visited my whole map yesterday and had 57 mines out of 158 neighbor spaces. I got moved today and so far, no mines.

 

[Yavimaya]

I visited my whole map yesterday and had 57 mines out of 158 neighbor spaces. I got moved today and so far, no mines.

Congratulations!

 

[Angry Pyrate]

It seems that Inno doesn't want to solve this problem as there is a simple fix to the problem. Delete inactive cities or archive the ones that have bought or spent Diamonds, if they log on again they can be placed back on the map. This would open up plenty of spots for players like you to be moved into. Very Simple!

I recently sent a complaint to the devs because as an AM I'm struggling to recruit because over half of my map are 3-5 year inactives, and nearly all the generated names are. Hoping to discuss a solution to the inactives I was told to "just poach".