mhmm but we could always make it so once you've gotten out of say level 3, then you always start new countries at level 2 or up....

Or just give the option to stay, also, PLEASE do not eliminate the rename your country block when you advance to next lvl, if a person is a douche he must pay the price once he advances, if an ass decides to suicide and advances and the person who got hit also manages to hang on and advance, she should have the satisfaction of payback :D

I would like to see country numbers assigned by finish like they were in the old days.

Yeah, that was cool!

they were? heh that's awesome

I suppose we could do something like that; but i'd have to auto-create the countries beforehand i think? hm not sure

it's probably doable

But low on my priority list haha

Yep country # based on previous rank so in A 1-25 were the people who stayed #26 was the top finisher from the lower level so he was more of a threat then 10-25 etc.

Tournament would be a great place for new people to start if the #'s were expanded to 800ish. Even if half the people are inactive that's great for the n00bs who join and play. If your 1st ever round is game K and you play your crappy country (cause all of our 1st were) but cause your still better then the inactives you get to move up 1 round it makes you feel good about the game and want to try and move up more. Then month 2 you go up aginst real competition and start learing the game for real.

Yep, #26 and 27 were dangerous. They won game B and C and came into A with something to prove. #25 barely survived in game A.

I forget what number it was, but you had to be the #1 guy in game level H/I/J and you got to game A. Those guys were absolute loose cannons as they came from a game they bullied everyone in to game A. You had to avoid those #s for the first week to let them over extend and get farmed down.

I really liked when the numbers were assigned. #1 was the guy that won the last set.

heh that is cool i guess ^^

how did it work from games B/C on though?

Well the bottom level (X Y Z) was just order of joining. But all the other levels you could tell where they promoted from, or in the case of game A, where they finished last round.

The more I think about it, the more I think Tourney would be a good starting server since ostensibly the bottom rungs should be packed with other newer players. The GDI lets them get their hands dirty which they might enjoy, and it's running (practically) everyday.

The big question is whether there's a way to let beginners start with enough turns to get engaged. Tournament max turns is 100 (100) so they wouldn't be able to come out of protection much if at all when they first start. (The other obstacle to getting engaged is probably just that it's a dense numbers-based text game, but not much we can do about that haha.)

Just give players in games X, Y, and Z 120 turns at start up. Just the lowest level, let them play right out of protection the moment they log in. If they don't log in right away, it just starts storing turns.

It wouldn't matter in the scheme of things at the lowest level, and it gets them engaged.

I will say if it weren't for the tourney server way back when, I wouldn't be here. It wasn't hard, there was a clear cut goal to try and conquer, you were quickly rewarded in a month for great effort and planning.

You dreamed of working your way p to game A to test yourself against the best of the best. I just wanted to get into game A to grab 7th Heaven, just one grab. I was friends with Rob by the time I got there and never did grab him, but it was a huge goal for me to try and accomplish. I got my ass handed to me my first game in A. I jumped up from game H, and was that ever a rude awakening. Those guys could flat out play.

Tourney is absolutely what got me addicted. If Mehul hadn't pointed us newbies to tourney to start, I absolutely wouldn't have gotten addicted to still be playing a turn based text game as an old man.

^^^ You and me both.

All new players should be allowed to click on my country name and see my status, so they can learn how to play the game.

But we should use my countries only for this experiment... anyone elses and you run the risk of allowing these newbies to see imperfections.

All you'll accomplish is making them turn purple :p

I prefer magenta

Tourny is where I mostly got my start too, played a few of the randndom games (lower level of primary) but tourny is where I keep playing, wanted to get to A (and got my ass handed to me the 1st time I did) so then I wanted to stay up there.

And there is nothing wrong with starting someone at 100(100) in tourny if the startup late enough that everyone else has played that many turns.

Yea; a newer bottom level is definitely what i'm leaning towards

Wait, 7th Heaven was Rob? The same Rob that plays now?

I like this idea, just put extra starting turns somewhere in the 120-150 neighborhood in the bottom rung.

That might be a cool way to do it actually....

Tournament is the best setting.

The game length isn't too short or too long, and the idea was multiple levels to insulate players of differing skill.

When I started I tried primary and then quickly went to tournament and played in tournament for a while before moving on to the other servers, mainly because of the levels and the one month game.

Trying to keep up with intel/info on 50k players versus those within GDI range in your game level meant it was just easier to grasp game concepts and, quite importantly, progress was very easy to measure just by seeing what game you were in.

Along that same line of thinking, is another concept that I believe really brings you into the game and keep you engaged, which is what tourney and alliance are so good for.

Same country name every reset opens up the players to get engaged with politics; rivalries, vendetta's, allies. You get accustomed to seeing the same names and get to know people and get involved in, at least your game level dealing with the same people over and over again.

Primary is an anonymous server for new people, nothing there to really hook people in :/

This is a text based game, you can get thousands of new signups, not a whole lot of people are going to stick around to keep playing in this day and age. Every single person IRL that I've tried to bring here won't play it: Either because there is no graphics, or it's too complicated to get into without making a real hard effort.

no, the game in general is too slow and there is nothing new. Even if you get someone hooked, they will play a couple months and leave.

It's a text based game with zero to minimal changes(once in a miracle) made every reset. Who do you think would play this? I'll bet people are more willing to play if this was an app however.

He's back!!!! Weolcome back, tduong!

You should change Express to 2-week long resets, and encourage new players to start there instead.

2 weeks long gives quick turn-around time for experimentation with what works and what doesn't, but at the same time, doesn't demand you to log in every 6 or 12 hours like the current Express.

Get rid of primary, and make a 2 week long server instead rather than changing express. Primary is so boring, I refuse to play it

~ 1800 turns, 10min/turn 12 days, or 12.3 days if you want to make it an even 1800

Back in the day, if Mehul had made zero to minimal changes every reset, that would have been awesome! It was more like zero to none changes every reset. And yet E:2025 had a lot bigger following than this one does yet. I think the app idea is good, but I think overall tduong is incorrect. But, then, times change. Maybe people really are that short on attention span nowadays as opposed to back then.

I think UI changes will help a lot; pang is on that, but they're on hold, and in progress

The fact that you had to climb the tourney ladder is what hooked players.

I am going to see if I can't find that breakdown page on who went where.

http://i.imgur.com/eNNJf.png

That's it Blid, exactly what we needed.

It calls for thousands of players though :(

Speaking of tourney being the reason Earth 2025 excelled....

La Cosa Nostra was started in Tourney game I. A number of players allied together in the game formed an alliance. LCN is still awesome to this day!

Tourney was far and away what made E2025 great.

Just size it down. That has 200 players in game A. Cut everything to 1/4 of that and see what happens. You need 250 players.

Surely Mehul didn't start with all 26 games and 1,000 players. The first step is to add games C, D, and E.

Direct all new players to tourney and add level 3 games.

Actually, 143 in game A now that I do the math.

229, actually. The top ranking group of each level has to be multiplied by the number of games in that level.

TTT :)

So is this happening, player and admin support for the same change and one that should expand the game overall...should be a focus.

Personally i don't think Tourney is a newbie place: the GDI system and the limited amount of players make it a rough experience for unexperienced.

To me, tourney sounds like the all explore place, cause if you dare attack someone you better be really big, otherwise you won't go away with it.

With a GDI like in express it would probably be better, but as it is now i wouldn't suggest it for a newcomer to taste EE feeling.

How about adding computer controlled/programmed countries to fill up the lower level games. So that noobs can start farming and practicing their skills with relatively harmless "bot" countries. Kind of like the way people go hunting for NPC characters in MMORPG games. It could be a sort of training ground to get you to practice in relative safety.

Some bots can be more peaceful, while others retal or AB even. You could maybe even make it a separate "training ground" server

No, blid that wasn't me. I wasn't playing during the time 7th Heaven was playing. I started much later.

On this topic, i started playing in tourney too and it got me hooked.
However, its not the best starting place now because its really brutal.

I like the idea of a server somewhere in between Express and tourney speed for newbies to start. Fast enough to keep them engaged but not as demanding as express.

*looks around*

Bon Bon Bon, BONUS!