Later, SO Main

[Renshaak]

Have fun, boys and girls, but I'm out.

Before dismissing this as the rantings of a single whiner, consider that from Nemesis Proclamation alone, Joe-RO and Ebola are also out and from my alt's alliance a number of less experienced players left rather than growing into worthy adversaries.

I'll probably find out that PvE isn't really my cup of tea either, but I'm tired of SO Main so I'm trying out PvE for now.  I wanted to play a war game and wound up finding my role is "Russian Peasant during WWII".  This becomes just plain dull.  Last round was weird and I don't see anything changing.  A lot of players are using phrases like "highly PvP game".  I thought it was moderately PvP and "highly" was what Wars was for.  Some tweaks could turn this into a true MMORPG.  But what Emi can't seem to fix or PvP-centric players can't seem to grasp is that most people don't want to spend a long time playing a tedious UI just hoping to avoid becoming someone else's fodder.

From my admittedly simmer-skewed POV here's a large part of what's broken.  Some of these I've posted suggestions to fix under, um, Suggestions.  I'll possibly follow up with more.
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Marines.  Awful.  Their only use is to make my ships 1/3 more expensive (WAAAAAYYYYYY moreso once my line is improved) PLUS requiring that I keep a lot of credits in reserve to resupply.  Even then, I can run out of credits if someone is hell-bent on destroying me or if I'm "lucky" I get tinied and only lose ships rather than all my ships AND reserve credits.

DDay.  Awful.  The day itself may be fun, but 2-6 months of a game that requires A LOT of your time comes down to your availability to be online at the last minute.  In a worldwide game, that implies that at least some section of the planet is screwed every round.

Counters.  Jokes.  Either you're wiped out and can't use it within 24 hours or any PvPer worth his salt has long since sold/reserved fleets to make it useless.

Bounties.  See "Counters".  They can rarely be used both because of the limits on bounty hunters and the attackers using the usual tricks (pships / selling or reserving fleets).

UI.  Tedious.  This is what will probably drive me off of the PvE server, too.

Combat.  All or nothing.  Most attacks either have no impact or wipe out everything.

Planets / Mining.  Indefensible.  I've posted formula-based turn cost ideas to attack smaller players' assets, but the only ideas I've seen Emi speak to make no difference in protecting smaller players while making it even harder for somewhat evenly matched players to fight amongst themselves.

PvP.  Overblown.  This is the big one.  I see complaints that PvP is too hard already, but that is a load of something unpleasant.  At the top ranks there isn't a lot largely due to PvPers constantly thinning out players from ever growing and staying to reach those ranks.  Overall, it may not be free, but that's a choice the attacker gets to make and I see a number of PvPers manage to do very well.  The only attack that can be truly defended against is inexperience.  Once the attacker knows the tricks, the defender simply cannot prevent all his fleets from being wiped out. 

The only way to protect oneself is to be in the right alliance.  Otherwise, you have to resort to buddy-nebbing or waste large percentages of your resources just to lower your chances of being raped.  What it comes down to is the game remains a small group focused on PvP and the rest of the players expected to play sheep for their slaughter.  Everything is on the PvPer's terms.  That's not to say I'm against PvP, but I am against PvP being all at the PvPer's discretion and being SOOOO costly to the targets. 

There's simply is no realistic consequence to the aggressor nor realistic way to protect oneself from them beyond self/buddy-nebbing.

Gameplay.  Demanding.  Due mainly to the flaws in PvP, players need to schedule their lives around blocking their turns together then spend back-to-back hours playing them in order to make use of a neb or reduce the time their fleets are exposed.  Or they must hold the majority of their resources in reserve just to be able to continue playing after an attack.  This, in turn, greatly reduces the payouts and impedes making progress.

Overall, it's a cool game that can't seem to keep traction in attracting and keeping players.  After a few years of playing it, I'm pretty comfortable in stating that the above issues are a big part of why.

[Qualopec]

Actually PvP is not that hard to defend against usually P-ships will stop anyone from ever doing any serious damage but if that doesn't work their are other ways you can't make it impossible to be hit but you an make it cost more for the attacker than what they get out of the attack you just gotta play a little longer and figure it out.

[Renshaak]

While pships protect against the novice and perhaps mid-level attacker, I've found pships almost useless once the attacker knows what he's doing--especially those who can afford to drop down and tiny you.  Such attacks generally wipe out everything.

[Qualopec]

Well like I said keep playing and figure out a way to stop them next them or hit them back and as for the other stuff there is no point in complaining about it nothing is going to change no matter how many people complain.

[Fatal Intuition]

my good sir fly at least 10 fleets above your ships and make top 1 or 2 big fleets that will put you in neb alone

[The-Joe]

First some comments:
I agree there is no way to really defend or even to put up a significant defense against players that have more credits. The only way is to keep your main fleets either reserved or, later in the game sell them. Marines double or triple the costs and risks also. I lost a fully marined ship only once every round, because of PVP, but i lost 5-6 ships each round in PVE. But marines adds to the flavor of the game... if nobody uses them, the one who does can beat them. If everybody uses them, the one that does not can beat them also...
PWS protect you only against repeated attacks. The first attack goes trough. And that attack can take your lead filled with marines...

And some more comments on a different issue:
The thing i like about this game is that it changes. Sometimes it takes a round or two for new ideas to be implemented and tweaks done to balance the game. That takes time, and effort from Sir Emi, and does not come over night.

This round is not so attractive 4 me, but the next one may be.

And as i have proven: you can beat Spenders... and i was very close on getting ahead the most powerful alliance in the game. All it takes is to know the game.

If i can do-it you all can do-it.

[TNTTony]

Sorry to see you go Ren...I hope you keep tabs on this game every now and then.
This game requires lots of updates and changes...but emi is just one man and sometimes it takes him a long time to make changes.
Last round there were hardly any changes..so I hope emi makes some more updates this round.

[ninjastrike40]

Yes you were a great player Ren. Become Brett Farve and change your mind... again

[Spayed]

you came close to coming first because you wouldnt help your alliance joe... every single player in our alliance sacraficed something to help someone else.

but coming first does not mean you beat us.. means you come first, but how can you beat somebody that you spent all round hiding from..


to ren, you honestly really underestimate the cost of pvp... its not cheap... sure if u lose your ships its expensive... but any player worth anything keeps money in reserve for just such attacks... you should be able to recover because if u know what your doing you will keep large amounts of cash hidden just incase..

[Renshaak]

Thanks, guys. 

I guess it's the idea of having to not use so much of one's resources that causes part of my issue, but that's likely just my own weirdness.

And to clarify one thing, my comment about Emi wasn't intended to indicate that he's somehow a failure.  I've been in Software for nearly 20 years and know that things take time and that just because I think something is a cool idea does not mean it's best for the entire user base.

Today I know I won't return this round beyond maybe keeping tabs, but I'm creature of habit enough to know that you may just have Ren to kick around at a later date.  GL all.

[Spayed]

haha have fun on pve ren

if ya need help im still happy to answer questions

[Saturn 7]

Hope to see you again soon Ren.