Apr 9th 2021, 18:13:48
This post builds on what I talked about here: https://www.earthempires.com/...oadmap-49938?t=1617095819
Please note that anything in this new post is subject to change at any time. It represents my current best prediction for the future direction of the game. To put it simply, I want all six of the main servers to each offer a fun and unique playing experience.
1) TOURNAMENT
The Tournament server will be redesigned into two tracks. The first track is for more experienced players and offers an elimination style tournament with a different gameplay experience for each game and only one champion per season. Each round of tournament will last 19 days and a season of tournament will cover three rounds. There will be three game levels for the first track: A, B, and C.
For round 1 of a season, all players will start in game C. Game C will have NPC countries that do not attack other players. The top 50% of players at the end of the round will advance to game B. The other players will remain in game C. Game B will consist only of NPC countries that can attack each other. Game A will consist of NPC countries running in "elite" mode. These countries will be tuned to play as well as most humans and will be able to attack any country, including those run by players.
For round 2 of a season, there will be human players in both games B and C. At the end of the round, the top 50% of players in game B will advance to game A and the top 5% of players in game C will advance to game A. All other players will be eliminated from competition.
Round 3 is the final round for the season. Only players who made it to game A will be able to compete in the final round. The champion of the season is the player who finishes in first place in Game A. If an NPC country finishes in first place then there is no champion. At the end of the round, all players who wish to play in the next season will start over in game C.
Here is a diagram to show how players can move between different games for the first track: https://imgur.com/a/AxIQiWY
The second track is only available for new accounts or recently created accounts. The aim is to offer a training experience where they can learn the game by competing against NPC countries that play at different competency levels. Each round of tournament will last 19 days but the seasons will not reset players as they do for the first track. There will be four game levels for the second track: W, X, Y, and Z.
Game Z is only available for new player accounts. NPC countries will be present in Z but will play in a deliberately weakened state. They will not attack players. All players automatically advance from game Z to game Y at the end of the round.
Game Y is the starting point for players who already have a game account but who haven't played for long. Game Y will have a mix of players and NPC countries. The NPC countries will play at a slightly higher competency than game Z but will still not attack players. All players will advance from game Y to game X after playing 2 rounds in game Y.
Game X will have a mix of players and NPC countries. The NPC countries will play at a slightly higher competency than game Y but will retal player attacks. All players will advance from game X to game W after playing two rounds in game X.
Game W will have a mix of players and NPC countries. The NPC countries will play at a slightly higher competency than game X but will retal player attacks. All players will graduate from game W after playing two rounds there. Players who wish to continue to play tournament can only sign up for the first track. Players may also opt out of Game W and immediately proceed to the first track.
To summarize, new players will spend between 4-7 rounds in the lower levels of Tournament to give them a chance to learn the game in a less competitive environment.
For both tracks, tournament will not allow ingame allies and will not allow country name changing during a season, even for players with Premium. The turn rate will be increased to getting one turn every 15 minutes. Express GDI will be required in all levels.
2) BLITZ
The Express server will be renamed to Blitz. This server offers fast-paced gameplay for players looking for something more intense than Tournament non-game A and less intense than Classic. NPC countries will be able to retal players who attack them and will attack each other, but will not pre-emptively attack players. Further gameplay improvements are planned for Blitz to improve the public market and to make the first day of the round more exciting. There are plans to bring the seasonal model to Blitz as well to allow players to compete on the leaderboards on equal footing.
3) CLASSIC
The Primary server will be renamed to Classic, but that will be the only change. This server offers solo play for the most dedicated players. At this time, there are no plans to add NPCs to the game. However, that may change depending on country count and the overall health of the server. If it is necessary to do so, NPCs running in "elite mode" as described for Tournament Game A may also be added to the Classic server.
4) SQUAD
The Squad server will replace Team. It will offer a clan-based environment for players looking for a more casual experience. Tag admins will be able to define their tag as a netgaining or warring tag during tag creation. Players will not be able to play as untagged. The server will have untagged NPC countries which are able to grab each other and to retal player attacks on them.
Netting tags will be limited in size to 8 players and will not be able to attack each other or players in other tags. Ingame allies work differently than usual for countries in netting tags. You are automatically allied to all countries in your tag, but will get a smaller percentage benefit from each country than usual. This means that tags that have 8 players will have some level of advantage over smaller tags. Players may also work together as a squad to maximize the advantage gained from having 7 ingame allies. FA packages are not allowed.
Warring tags will be unlimited in size and will be able to attack NPCs and players in other warring tags. The max turns on hand will be lower for warring countries compared to netting countries. Ingame allies and FA will work as usual. Countries in warring tags are not ranked in the end and warring tags are not ranked in the end for average networth or total networth.
Other details about the new server: a shorter than 60 day reset, 200(200) max turns for netting tag countries, 30% max sell size, 2-3 hour market time, and no building expenses bonus.
Squad would use a seasonal approach with different turn rates per season to keep things interesting.
5) ALLIANCE
Alliance will offer a clan-based environment for players looking for an experience where tag protection matters and clan level politics can be important. There may be some restrictions on how tags can interact, but for the most part, it is an expected part of the game that bigger alliances may take advantage of smaller alliances. NPC countries will have the ability to retal players who attack them.
6) FFA
FFA will offer a clan-based environment for the most dedicated players. There will be little to no restrictions on how tags can interact. At this time, NPC countries will not attack players. However, they will attack each other as they see fit to do so. NPCs attacking each other will make the game more dynamic and will hopefully improve the public market a bit.
I hope that the newly defined experiences here are able to better accommodate players who are looking for more casual or more hardcore gameplay than what is currently offered. Now is the time to offer any feedback you have on the newly defined servers.
Please note that anything in this new post is subject to change at any time. It represents my current best prediction for the future direction of the game. To put it simply, I want all six of the main servers to each offer a fun and unique playing experience.
1) TOURNAMENT
The Tournament server will be redesigned into two tracks. The first track is for more experienced players and offers an elimination style tournament with a different gameplay experience for each game and only one champion per season. Each round of tournament will last 19 days and a season of tournament will cover three rounds. There will be three game levels for the first track: A, B, and C.
For round 1 of a season, all players will start in game C. Game C will have NPC countries that do not attack other players. The top 50% of players at the end of the round will advance to game B. The other players will remain in game C. Game B will consist only of NPC countries that can attack each other. Game A will consist of NPC countries running in "elite" mode. These countries will be tuned to play as well as most humans and will be able to attack any country, including those run by players.
For round 2 of a season, there will be human players in both games B and C. At the end of the round, the top 50% of players in game B will advance to game A and the top 5% of players in game C will advance to game A. All other players will be eliminated from competition.
Round 3 is the final round for the season. Only players who made it to game A will be able to compete in the final round. The champion of the season is the player who finishes in first place in Game A. If an NPC country finishes in first place then there is no champion. At the end of the round, all players who wish to play in the next season will start over in game C.
Here is a diagram to show how players can move between different games for the first track: https://imgur.com/a/AxIQiWY
The second track is only available for new accounts or recently created accounts. The aim is to offer a training experience where they can learn the game by competing against NPC countries that play at different competency levels. Each round of tournament will last 19 days but the seasons will not reset players as they do for the first track. There will be four game levels for the second track: W, X, Y, and Z.
Game Z is only available for new player accounts. NPC countries will be present in Z but will play in a deliberately weakened state. They will not attack players. All players automatically advance from game Z to game Y at the end of the round.
Game Y is the starting point for players who already have a game account but who haven't played for long. Game Y will have a mix of players and NPC countries. The NPC countries will play at a slightly higher competency than game Z but will still not attack players. All players will advance from game Y to game X after playing 2 rounds in game Y.
Game X will have a mix of players and NPC countries. The NPC countries will play at a slightly higher competency than game Y but will retal player attacks. All players will advance from game X to game W after playing two rounds in game X.
Game W will have a mix of players and NPC countries. The NPC countries will play at a slightly higher competency than game X but will retal player attacks. All players will graduate from game W after playing two rounds there. Players who wish to continue to play tournament can only sign up for the first track. Players may also opt out of Game W and immediately proceed to the first track.
To summarize, new players will spend between 4-7 rounds in the lower levels of Tournament to give them a chance to learn the game in a less competitive environment.
For both tracks, tournament will not allow ingame allies and will not allow country name changing during a season, even for players with Premium. The turn rate will be increased to getting one turn every 15 minutes. Express GDI will be required in all levels.
2) BLITZ
The Express server will be renamed to Blitz. This server offers fast-paced gameplay for players looking for something more intense than Tournament non-game A and less intense than Classic. NPC countries will be able to retal players who attack them and will attack each other, but will not pre-emptively attack players. Further gameplay improvements are planned for Blitz to improve the public market and to make the first day of the round more exciting. There are plans to bring the seasonal model to Blitz as well to allow players to compete on the leaderboards on equal footing.
3) CLASSIC
The Primary server will be renamed to Classic, but that will be the only change. This server offers solo play for the most dedicated players. At this time, there are no plans to add NPCs to the game. However, that may change depending on country count and the overall health of the server. If it is necessary to do so, NPCs running in "elite mode" as described for Tournament Game A may also be added to the Classic server.
4) SQUAD
The Squad server will replace Team. It will offer a clan-based environment for players looking for a more casual experience. Tag admins will be able to define their tag as a netgaining or warring tag during tag creation. Players will not be able to play as untagged. The server will have untagged NPC countries which are able to grab each other and to retal player attacks on them.
Netting tags will be limited in size to 8 players and will not be able to attack each other or players in other tags. Ingame allies work differently than usual for countries in netting tags. You are automatically allied to all countries in your tag, but will get a smaller percentage benefit from each country than usual. This means that tags that have 8 players will have some level of advantage over smaller tags. Players may also work together as a squad to maximize the advantage gained from having 7 ingame allies. FA packages are not allowed.
Warring tags will be unlimited in size and will be able to attack NPCs and players in other warring tags. The max turns on hand will be lower for warring countries compared to netting countries. Ingame allies and FA will work as usual. Countries in warring tags are not ranked in the end and warring tags are not ranked in the end for average networth or total networth.
Other details about the new server: a shorter than 60 day reset, 200(200) max turns for netting tag countries, 30% max sell size, 2-3 hour market time, and no building expenses bonus.
Squad would use a seasonal approach with different turn rates per season to keep things interesting.
5) ALLIANCE
Alliance will offer a clan-based environment for players looking for an experience where tag protection matters and clan level politics can be important. There may be some restrictions on how tags can interact, but for the most part, it is an expected part of the game that bigger alliances may take advantage of smaller alliances. NPC countries will have the ability to retal players who attack them.
6) FFA
FFA will offer a clan-based environment for the most dedicated players. There will be little to no restrictions on how tags can interact. At this time, NPC countries will not attack players. However, they will attack each other as they see fit to do so. NPCs attacking each other will make the game more dynamic and will hopefully improve the public market a bit.
I hope that the newly defined experiences here are able to better accommodate players who are looking for more casual or more hardcore gameplay than what is currently offered. Now is the time to offer any feedback you have on the newly defined servers.
Edited By: Slagpit on Apr 11th 2021, 17:18:52
See Original Post
See Original Post