Hey gang,

I know this is probably asking a lot of the game creators and moderators, but please hear me out.

Since coming back a few months ago, I've been having a lot of fun, even despite not being very good overall at EE. But if there is one thing I'm enjoying as much as the game itself, it's reading through the array of topics in the BUG/SUG forum. It's my work in game design that really helps me see the good that this forum can bring.

Sure, there are plently of swing-and-miss threads here, but there are quite a few gems! From imagining the possibilities of bright new avenues of gameplay; bold, fresh strategies; creative takes on combat; to pioneering ways to wheel-and-deal your country's revenue, this forum is a wellspring of creativity that could take Earth Empires and give it the funnest, freshest coat of paint it has had in (from what I've come to understand) a good, long while.

But of course, the creators and coders can only offer so much at any one time, and implementing new changes to the resets of our familiar game modes may be a bit jarring, even for the most seasoned of EE Players.

Enter my suggestion: A New Server; one designed specifically to test new game features.

Each Reset for the server would be 2 weeks long and feature some change (or 2) to existing gameplay. The change will stay for 3 or 4 resets as people strategize with the new change, and a vote is taken between the resets wheter or not to keep testing it, scrap it, or adjust it, and discussion on the forums will help the coders and creators tweak and polish the new game feature.

Some ideas that I either came up with or that I saw while browsing BUG/SUG that, in my opinion, couldn't hurt to test:

Alternate Power Sources to Oil (Wind, Solar, Nuclear)
Selling Missiles on Private Market
New types of Missiles
Naval Forces (Either as Military Units or Buildings)
Adjustments to Restarts
Adjustments to Tech
Adjustments to how GDI operates
Adjustments to the UI (Maybe at the same time testing a new gameplay feature)
Selling on Public Market while Under Protection (Maybe limited to 2 times)
A "Last Country Standing"-type game.
Experiment with new types of Buildings (Schools, Shipyards, Solar/Wind Fields, Strip Mines)
Experiment with new types of Tech (Diplomacy, Energy [If Solar/Nuclear power is implemented])

Of course, it's up to the game's creators and the community to come together to make this idea a thing. What do you all think?

there are alpha-servers where things can be tested.

There are?

No. There are not.

There is an alpha server to test current game functions.

Marshal is what you get when people skim and answer.

I like your idea though.

Thank you for clarifying, and for the support of the idea. :D

I like it

I meant no need to make new server, just modify alpha alliance for testing new energies etc.

yeah i think a bunch of modifications should liven the game up a bit..

Does the alpha server operate like an actual reset; where you have to wait for turns and strategize your time? Or is it just "Make a country and fiddle with things without timing or consequence"?

If it's the latter, then I don't think using the alpha server would provide the gameplay experience and data necessary to facilitate changes that would affect actual games and actual resets.

That, and how many people use this alpha server?

The alpha servers serve important purposes but this would be a totally different purpose.

alphas have sets like normal servers (or should be) and are used by devs and players to break things so those won't (read shouldn't) break when added to normal servers.

as for players on alphas it is up to guesses since there are bots too.

What are you even saying?

how many of those countries on each alpha server is run by players and how many by bots.

there are no bots on alphaffa at least and thats the one I use.

So long since I used alpha so I cant swear it but I thought no bots there either.

the ai server is almost always all bots but thats a regular server, not an alpha.