Release Notes version 1.21

[SoggyShorts]

@Aider What day of the week is the weekly player movement happening? It used to be on a Monday because of tournaments, but since your neighbors don't matter any more... Wednesdays?

 

[DeletedUser2191]

@Aider What day of the week is the weekly player movement happening? It used to be on a Monday because of tournaments, but since your neighbors don't matter any more... Wednesdays?

It already happened this past Saturday or Sunday, one of my cities had a gold mine filled in with a somewhat developed city. The kind of progress that can't be achieved in a couple days time.

 

[DeletedUser4220]

And please explain why your wish for a change to be added (kps for supplies) would not be considered whining while you re at it.

It is not whining, because unlike whiners, I do not say the game is hard and dumb and I am quitting the game if they do not do it. It is just a suggestions to give us an option to convert excess supplies (similarly as coins) to KPs, rather than burning them at the wholesaler. Would you not like that?
Sorry for going after you hard but I just cannot stand anybody who appears to sound like a whining spoiled brat and keeps doing it over and over.

 

[DeletedUser2870]

So, when you suggest or want something its ok, but when another does its whining? Because many people have put in suggestions, myself included (and including that one) but when you do so its suddenly different?

I ll try to explain one more time:
- Im not opposed to things being hard, or made harder, but I am opposed to things being (suddenly) made impossible. Mostly because it discourages players, so the net result is more players quitting.
- Im not opposed to changes in the game, but I am opposed to changes that alter basic priciples of the game in a negative way. Especially when this is done despite almost exclusively negative feedback on the beta testworld
- Im not opposed to a battle element here, but the game is promoted as a citybuilding game, not a game with battle as its corebusiness. I already play battlegames elsewhere, this one I choose for its being (or supposed to be) a citybuilding game. But for months on end the only 'new' stuff has been battlerelated. And yet there has been NOTHING useful there for advanced players.
- Im not opposed to paid funtions and them making money, Ive been a paying player myself. But I am oposed to sudden changes that leave those paying advanced players almost completely stuck without any seriously practical way of changing that or getting back to a playable zone.
- I find it highly offensive to ask players to come up with ideas and suggestions, then completely ignore them, without even taking the trouble of giving any feedback. Even very simple to realise suggestions have been, and still are being, ignored without any kind of reaction.
- I find it strange to say the least to have a beta testworld, asking players there to test things, then implement them even when its made clear they dont work or improve the game

What you call whining is more a voice from the field, where more and more players are leaving in disgust and disappointment. And my voice is far from the only one on the forum that signals the same thing.
Add to that the fact that only a very small fraction of players ever get to the forum, and several of those speak for many people in their fellowship. That would for any serious company be a cause for concern. Even more so when many players decide not to buy the premium features anymore. And yet more so again when a great many of your active players become less active or just quit.

Dont get me wrong, Im just as well ready to cheer good changes. However, I havent seen any of those in a long time.

 

[SoggyShorts]

It already happened this past Saturday or Sunday, one of my cities had a gold mine filled in with a somewhat developed city. The kind of progress that can't be achieved in a couple days time.

I dunno... The first move ever almost 90% of my FS members got moved on all servers, and in the second zero, and if another one happened a couple days ago, zero moved then as well. If it is indeed working, it isn't working very well.

 

[DeletedUser2870]

I dunno... The first move ever almost 90% of my FS members got moved on all servers, and in the second zero, and if another one happened a couple days ago, zero moved then as well. If it is indeed working, it isn't working very well.

Grins. Now there is a big surprise.

 

[Mykan]

I dunno... The first move ever almost 90% of my FS members got moved on all servers, and in the second zero, and if another one happened a couple days ago, zero moved then as well. If it is indeed working, it isn't working very well.

One would expect this is because the safe harbour towns are not being moved out to the edge on a weekly (or any) basis as well.. We are gaining density of players that is great but it includes active and inactive (safe harbour) towns alike. Hopefully they can effect a move the opposite way or some other solution so the density is active towns only.

 

[DeletedUser2191]

One would expect this is because the safe harbour towns are not being moved out to the edge on a weekly (or any) basis as well.. We are gaining density of players that is great but it includes active and inactive (safe harbour) towns alike. Hopefully they can effect a move the opposite way or some other solution so the density is active towns only.

They need to make player movement a 2 step process each week. I also think they should do a weekly purge which precedes the player movement. So, 3 steps total each week. Could make it a fourth step if you add another round of purging of inactive cities that are above the score and diamonds threshold.

Step 1) Purge out inactive cities that fall below the minimum score and diamond threshold.
Step 2) Move out inactive cities that are above the minimum score and diamond threshold to the outer edges.
Step 3) Move in active cities closer to the center, providing matching boosts are available.
Step 4) Purge out inactive cities that are above the minimum score and diamond threshold.

 

[Ashrem]

Step 2) Move out inactive cities that are above the minimum score and diamond threshold to the outer edges.

I haven't seen an option to "auto move to a worse place if I go inactive" Where do we turn that on?

Kidding aside, that's a step which is fraught with marketing peril. The cities they leave alone have a significant expenditure of time and effort. Can they afford to have someone come back from a month in traction after a skiiing accident and start ranting up and down the server that they were tossed into the boonies and lost all their good neighbors? For good or ill, they've established a set of parameters which define a "safe" city, and pushing those cities to the boonies may be courting a level of ill-will that makes the devs sweat.

 

[DeletedUser2870]

I haven't seen an option to "auto move to a worse place if I go inactive" Where do we turn that on?

Kidding aside, that's a step which is fraught with marketing peril. The cities they leave alone have a significant expenditure of time and effort. Can they afford to have someone come back from a month in traction after a skiiing accident and start ranting up and down the server that they were tossed into the boonies and lost all their good neighbors? For good or ill, they've established a set of parameters which define a "safe" city, and pushing those cities to the boonies may be courting a level of ill-will that makes the devs sweat.

Such people can file a support ticket and get moved to a better spot again.
But considering the huge amount of cities into the chapers 4,5,6 on my map that
- have no increase in points for at least a month
- have not a single eventbuilding up
- never return a visit, even if they are closeby
- never answer a message

its pretty safe to say they have gone inactive. If THAT number of people all are in hospital or on extended journeys for that length of time something extroadinary must be going on

 

[Ashrem]

its pretty safe to say they have gone inactive.

Probably more than pretty safe. But it doesn't take very many angry people to cause a problem, especially if you suddenly do something that wasn't in the rules before.

Remember, I'm in favor of something similar, but it needs to be communicated up front, preferably months up front, in the form of a "Things we are planning"

I advocated before that movement should be part of the player ranking system, with cities closer to the busy core made up of people who are logging in every day, and getting points for being closer to the core, and everyone re-locating weekly whether they want to or not, based on their activity level.

The core would be filled by people who log in every day, which would give them a higher score than someone with an identical city who has been absent for a month and got pushed out a few rings. New players would be considered to have been active for perhaps a few weeks for purposes of determining their placement, and would immediately begin moving closer to or further from the center every week based on their activity. It gives an additional dimension to the ranking, with some people taking pride in their position on the map, as well as on their ranking.

 

[DeletedUser1791]

My location isn't terrible, but still I'd like to move to a more active spot. It'd be cool if Elvenar gave us some sort of token, a 1x1 culture item that we'd all be happy to plunk down. Anyone who did not have this item in their city after 30 days gets moved to a dead zone, everyone else gets compacted with active players. People gone that long shouldn't expect their place to be saved.

 

[DeletedUser2870]

Probably more than pretty safe. But it doesn't take very many angry people to cause a problem, especially if you suddenly do something that wasn't in the rules before.

Remember, I'm in favor of something similar, but it needs to be communicated up front, preferably months up front, in the form of a "Things we are planning"

I advocated before that movement should be part of the player ranking system, with cities closer to the busy core made up of people who are logging in every day, and getting points for being closer to the core, and everyone re-locating weekly whether they want to or not, based on their activity level.

The core would be filled by people who log in every day, which would give them a higher score than someone with an identical city who has been absent for a month and got pushed out a few rings. New players would be considered to have been active for perhaps a few weeks for purposes of determining their placement, and would immediately begin moving closer to or further from the center every week based on their activity. It gives an additional dimension to the ranking, with some people taking pride in their position on the map, as well as on their ranking.

I agree. Dutch world I was situated with about 250 provinces conquered but only 11 (!) other cities on my map, only 3 active and only 1 of those able to return visits. That lasted months.
Before the goldmines I got nearly nothing at all from rounds,while a friend who had started 2 weeks earlier had a prety full map, which really made a difference in the advance through the game.
The goldmines helped, but the relocation was what really solved the problem. A continuous movement like you suggest would be an interesting new component. It might temporarily disadvantage people who are absent for a while due to hospitalisation or travel etc, but when they pick up their old schedule again that will be reversed once more.

 

[Mykan]

Kidding aside, that's a step which is fraught with marketing peril. The cities they leave alone have a significant expenditure of time and effort. Can they afford to have someone come back from a month in traction after a skiiing accident and start ranting up and down the server that they were tossed into the boonies and lost all their good neighbors? For good or ill, they've established a set of parameters which define a "safe" city, and pushing those cities to the boonies may be courting a level of ill-will that makes the devs sweat.

I also saw your post after this. I don't think moving safe harbour towns to edges is that big a deal.

• It took them months to get the move inwards happening after announcing it cause it takes a lot of testing. So there is your warning system
• The inactive time frame can be adjusted and is likely more like 3 months which would dramaticaly reduce the chance of an "accidental" move for someone absent for a while
• I suspect the number of people with lots of inactive safe harbour cities would outweigh those in hospital/holidays for months who then return to the game, so more likely to be more grumpy active paying players if they don't do this (or something similar)
• The moment a person in such a situation logs in they automatically become active and being at the edges they become top priority for a center move

Not that this really matters as the suggestion was made back when they first announced the movement system. Either they are working on something or they are ignoring the feedback.

The point is there are lots of inactive cities in the middle that also need a future solution if they truly want active players grouped together. How they solve that is up to them.

 

[DeletedUser5800]

If they made it 6 months inactive at least half the cities near the center of US5 would still get kicked to the edges, which would be awesome because I've had to look at them well over 200 times.

I agree being around actives is a major plus (obviously). I just happened to spawn near center and in a pile of top 300 cities that allowed for an active trade market forever before I even bothered joining a FS and probably could have just never bothered. I'm pretty confident had I spawned in a dead zone or even had any idea how many cities were dead way back then I would have quit in week one but any trade I posted was taken within a few hours usually within an hour. That was a game changer for the first couple of months for sure.

As for mandatory movement, I would be pissed about that, I have kept the box unchecked from the moment it was added, as has most of my world-mates, because as mentioned, it's a nice group, they helped me grow and I in turn have helped a few other noobs come up. As such some of us have 'seen' each other everyday for months and though we may rarely talk I enjoy seeing familiar houses on the block. Just not abandoned ones!

So to echo others and myself previously they very much should move inactives out, whether it's 90 days or 120 or whatever, getting them out of the way so others could have a more pleasant experience would only help activity and longevity, but also embrace what I think was meant to be the general intent of the game feel from the start. Whereas being surrounded by permanent dead cities may be more depressing than gold mines once you realize how many there are.

All that said, that first week or two, having big neighbors to help get started and see where it all leads is a major encouragement so I also don't think you should have to earn center.

1. Wipe out noobs that never play. (Weekly)
2. Shuffle out dead cities (90 days inactive) (Weekly)
2. Shuffle in people with the box checked. (which should be unchecked by default and pointed out in the tutorial) (Bi-Weekly)
4. Keep adding noobs as close to center as possible always.

 

[Deleted User - 1028897]

I just happened to spawn near center and in a pile of top 300 cities that allowed for an active trade market forever before I even bothered joining a FS and probably could have just never bothered. I'm pretty confident had I spawned in a dead zone or even had any idea how many cities were dead way back then I would have quit in week one but any trade I posted was taken within a few hours usually within an hour.

Just chiming in to say this describes my experience as well. I didn't want to join a fellowship. I just wanted to build a city. It worked out that I didn't need to join one since the folks around me were thriving and trading.

Without reading the forum or talking to anyone it quickly became clear that I should focus on the boosts and put up trades to keep a good balance. It was like an economics class. Produce what you're good at and trade fair and everyone wins.

Now I'm getting another lesson... those unfortunate places that don't have good trade partners are at a major disadvantage. I'm glad they are doing something about it. I hope it reaches everyone sooner than later.

BTW, I've since joined a FS and get even more out of the game. My lucky placement early on does skew my view of the game, though, and I need to keep that in mind as I read posts from others who have not been as lucky.

 

[DeletedUser5800]

My lucky placement early on does skew my view of the game, though, and I need to keep that in mind as I read posts from others who have not been as lucky.

I know right, it took me finally starting a Beta city which I have since abandoned, that spawned in a horrible place for me to understand how stupid it makes everything and how lucky I was. Even now in a FS I go faster than everyone and always have because so many got indoctrinated in the slowly grind forever in the desolate wasteland method that it changes the entire way they play the game.

I've heard so many talk about how slow the start was and that wasn't the case for me. I went as fast as the scout and never looked back. The first time I had to wait for anything was in dwarves which was a nice check because I was to far ahead to battle anymore, now going into orcs I have slowed on purpose and regained the GZ but had I not flew through the first few chapters I would have quit a thousand times over.

So I have extreme sympathy for those that didn't get that and am glad they might actually get to play the game as it should be (by that metric at least) but also can't stress enough the importance of new players still getting that chance as well. Otherwise everyone moves in over and over and people still quit here and there for other reasons until there is no one left because all the new players got put on the edge and quit before they got a chance to understand why this game is *almost cool.
*At least if they would do more fixing and less breaking and stop adding the worst updates.
i.e. This should have been done six months ago and at least half of the updates in that six months should't have.

 

[Tauriel Dragonwood]

Has anyone experienced this glitch? I researched Dryads and Banshees. Took them onto the battlefield but only their squad #s are shown. They appear invisible on the screen. Those are the only two units I cannot see on the battlefield. I have contacted Inno several times but they just tell me they are looking into the matter. Does anyone have any suggestions what I need to do in order for these two units to display properly? I have changed browsers, cleared my cache, defragged my computer and refreshed the game, many, many times but nothing seems to work.

 

[DeletedUser2870]

Yes I had the same thing happen, but I only tried a few times to see what they looked like anyway, since I dont expect to use them.

As for solving it, you might try changing your graphics settings on your monitor to a lower resolution, that seems to have worked for some people, but I think its not worth it because I dont want to change my normal settings just for elvenar.

 

[DeletedUser5747]

This is above my paygrade, so can someone explain this message so I can help my guild fellow? "
"I have just produced banshees and it says that my villagers are scared and I need to fix this matter" Just how do we fix this issue?