Era 4 Alpha

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

Yeah, low-tech ships aren't really a good investment right now. High-tech ships have better armor, weapons and secondary abilities, and high-tech planets build more of them because of their large labor output potential, but their supply-chain inclusive labor cost is generally not that much higher. Until it becomes harder to maintain a high-tech empire, building low-tech units is a little wasteful.

I suggested two possible schemes to modify ships in the google sheet:

• High-tech ships are mostly distinguished from low-tech by having stronger secondary abilities like pointDef value, speed and attrition; low-tech ships get better armor and weapons then they currently have.
• High-tech ships are mostly distinguished from low-tech by stronger armor and weapons; existing armor and weapons values are mostly retained for most ships, but high- and low-tech ships mostly get equivalent secondary values

A third option is to mess around with unit costs so that low-tech ships have lower cost AND higher attrition, so that they can be built up fast but production also peaks faster.

For defenses I would like to see lower labor costs and higher resource costs, but we would also want to modify the % labor that independent worlds allocate to them so that independent planets don't end up impregnable at game start. George has suggested a pretty radical change to some defenses where they can be built on other planets and exported, this would change defense behavior a lot. So I don't know if it's worth messing around with defenses too much until we see the new mechanic in option.

I am not sure that we can get a ton of people to vote on this though.

[AdmiralZo]

Are the 'jump beacon' structures supposed to be destroyed once a world is no longer designated as a jumpship yard or fire-and-movement sector capital? I changed my empire doctrine to trade-and-enterprise yesterday, but my capital still has the 'jump beacon' structure.

[--Imperator--]

T&E capitals get jumpbeacons now, per this pull request: https://github.com/kronosaur/Anacreon-C ... 54f1508e73

Also from Ministry: http://ministry.kronosaur.com/record.hexm?id=75554

[AdmiralZo]

Right...ok. Thanks for the info.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

By what mechanic do worlds get added to Mesophon? There are TL3 and TL2 autonomous Mesophon worlds to the south of my empire which I'd swear weren't part of it at game start. They are not part of the trade network.

[TheBugKing]

Not to knock your question out of the way Watch, but I have my own question

For this Era 4 Alpha, is the actual Era 4 being implemented slowly or will Era 4 Alpha end when all of the updates are out and tested. In which case ushering in a new map and game of The Real Era 4?

Second question: Have jumpmissiles been messed with or are they still manual fire only? I was 'm' until someone erased my empire from existence so I saw that the space force numbers did at least reflect the absolute power of the missiles on world.

[--Imperator--]

In which case ushering in a new map and game of The Real Era 4?

5. At the end, I'll deploy a new Era 4 server and create an "Era 4 Beta" game. At this point, I'll shift my attention back to Transcendence, but you'll have some time to report any last-minute balance changes or killer-bugs.

There will be a new "Era 4 Beta" map: see this thread and quote above.

I was 'm' until someone erased my empire from existence

Whoops. It seems the Imperium and the Bugz are fated to engage in never-ending, intra-dimensional warfare across infinite parallel universes.

I do encourage those playing to start waging war left and right now, as this is just a "test game" and it provides a chance to test the siege mechanics.

[TheBugKing]

Whoops. It seems the Imperium and the Bugz are fated to engage in never-ending, intra-dimensional warfare across infinite parallel universes.

So be it. Game on old friend.

In a week in a half I will be back to my college and will have A LOT OF TIME before classes. Let's dance.

[MDFification]

Interstellar warfare, ho!

It's an ... interesting time for there to be an influx of new players. I've tried to let them know this is a test server so they're not put off by the sudden, inexplicable bloodlust of the rest of the civilized galaxy.

[TheBugKing]

Interstellar warfare, ho!

It's an ... interesting time for there to be an influx of new players. I've tried to let them know this is a test server so they're not put off by the sudden, inexplicable bloodlust of the rest of the civilized galaxy.

In what way were we EVER civilized?

They will catch on when the blood bath begins... It has already begun. Imerpium has claimed 2 empires already and is seeking a third whilst training with the Mesophone. It will be like it always is, some will fail to adapt and abandon the game, some will struggle for a time and come back after licking their wounds, others will be baptized anew and become warrior Emperor-Kings at our side as we do battle across the dimensions.

[TheBugKing]

On a lighter note:

Has anyone tested whether or not George has "fixed" the extra-galactic routes yet? I keep trying to route to the worlds beyond my region, but it says denied. However, I have noticed that occasionally denial by the system will result when there are not enough ships in a fleet. It stands to be very interesting game play if that were the only thing he changed. Yet, so much has changed that it feels like a new game already.

[MDFification]

Finally got to test out the new siege mechanics fighting Whales: GG WP if he's reading this, gave me a real run for my money. I learned a lot, especially as this is the first fight I've had where a defensive reaction was actually possible.

Feedback-wise, the main observation I have is that there really should be a way for attackers to withdraw from sieges, or at least transfer excess forces off of them. Whales had me on the ropes, and could have turned this war into a victory... if he hadn't accidentally got 400k armored infantry and their associated transports stuck on a planet of mine that I decided to turn into his personal Vietnam. With his infantry tied down, his advance stalled completely, and I was able to stalemate him. Blitzing is effectively a dead tactic, which is great, but Whales got put in a position where he couldn't make meaningful strategic decisions due to a single mistake.

[TheBugKing]

With his infantry tied down, his advance stalled completely, and I was able to stalemate him. Blitzing is effectively a dead tactic, which is great, but Whales got put in a position where he couldn't make meaningful strategic decisions due to a single mistake.

I was seriously hoping for this kind of thing to happen or to be able to happen. I think that it should be a highly calculated risk placing one's forces on world, and should be learned. I do not think that there should be a withdrawal option. Mistakes are costly, and should remain so. Whether they be a learning experience or something that loses you an empire... I think not being able to withdraw your troops adds an eliminate of commitment that we have not seen thus far in the game, and should be thought about deeply before removing it. Not being able to withdraw your troops from a world is also a form of chaos that can and should be in the game. There is no perfect game, and for there to be so would be utterly boring. The only perfect game I can think of is a game not started--all of the pieces are set but not yet moved. However, once a move is made, there is a commitment to that move and a vulnerability. There should be this amount of risk, this amount of commitment, this amount of "weighing the costs" before going to war that locking your troops in a ground war causes. Truly, war has now become a difficult thing in Anacreon, just as it should be.

[TheBugKing]

Priority Message Alert: Zombie Bug (No-Capital Bug)

For George, and everyone else. Seriously.

Someone who knows how to post to the Ministry also. WTD0.

The zombie bug lives. My empire is I.M.P., in the south of the map. In the south of the empire is the SC named Merv District Capital. To the immediate North there is the world named BR 3957. This world has the gaming ending No-Capital Bug from Era 2.


Interesting that it didn't happen until I named that area Merv District....


Details:

An unknown amount of time (a few hours at most perhaps) before the world became infected, there appeared several hundred of each type of jumpship for becoming a home world. I took these from this planet because it was mine and transferred them to my SC. Then the world took on the red color as though it was conquered, I saw it happen. I was zoomed out scouting around. When I zoomed in to see who had taken my world, it was the zombie bug. I notified Imperium and he concurs that it is the infamous game ender.

If anyone reads this message, please notify George and post it into the Ministry if it has not been logged already. This is the king of bugs and will end our game if it is not fixed.

[MDFification]

I realize that this quadrant has been infected by ghost empires, and that we are all inherently doomed, but Whaleduck has discovered a problem far more pressing.

Namely, that my empire resembles a chicken.