V18.2 plans

[Tim]

So another age is done. Looks like it was a close one. Well played by all involved.

Before I announce when the next age starts, I first want to get opinions on how things went this age.

1. How did the clan size limit work? Did it help make things more competitive? Did it hinder clans abilities to be effective? Did it not really affect things one way or another?
2. Did the support system work well or were there issues? Did it help balance things out or was it exploitable?
3. Are there any other things that need tweaked?

[CainDarksblade75]

I loved how things played out this age. Like the game play as it is. And as for clans i think it helped more than any thing, but thats just me. Think it helped more players branch out into different clans. That and the way chat is now. Loved seeing some many new faces to.

[kaldar]

I think the clan size limit was a good thing. It allowed several clans to pop up instead of just a couple large ones. It made the smaller ones relevant. The support system with clan battles was an issue because it did allow a backdoor system of a large group of smaller clans to impose their will on the entire game with regards to controlling cities.

The forsaken was the most active of any clans, had the highest participation Ji of any clan, yet was unable in the end to control more than a single city due to the support mechanic of clan battles.

I guess if I were to suggest a change it would be putting a cap on support points in a clan battle based on the points the clan gains for itself. Maybe something like 50% of the points the clan gains itself can be added in support. So if clan A fights and builds up 6k points itself with NPC and duel battles, then their allies could contribute 3k more. We saw several instances last age where the clan would gain like 2k, not even do participation points, but then win the clan battle because of an additional 10k points in support.

[alSeen]

the clan size limit is good, frustrating at early ages, but i think it does help the game a lot by making us be in different clans which almost always have different allegiances. also, i second Kaldar's approach to the support system. it would make it so clans just cant spam clan battles and have allies do all the work. for one, it weakens the allied clans because they do a lot and get nothing (all the while their lands fall behind) and second, it stops frivolous clan battles

[Tim]

Yeah. Clan support was setup so the smaller clans COULD band together and compete with the large ones and stand a chance. Now that clan size is limited and clans are forced to a more equal footing, I worried it might need some tweaking. I'm gla it was effective though.

alSeen, you're giving me a mixed message though. Sounds like the allied clans doing all the work in the clan battles DID come at a cost, as the supporting clans did so at the cost of weakening their own lands.

Problem I see with limiting it to half the amount of the main clan is at the beginning of the battle, the supporting clans won't be able to earn any. Or even later in the battle if they do get to half of what the main clan gets, supporting clans will have to pause their running until the main clan runs more. Makes it complicated to coordinate.

If 3/4 the players in the game are in an alliance together, odds are it's going to be hard for the other 1/4 to compete, regardless of the changes I make...

[Siuansong]

I haven't seen any other clan size system but I really like the smaller and gradually growing clan sizes. It made it easier coming in to not feel or be so lost in a large group. I like thay there can be so many diverse clans with their own goals and plans making it feel like diverse nations rather than just an age long light vs. shadow. The struggle I had last age with the small clans was the communication of larger groups during the LB and other coordinated events  (as clan chat is segmented when split into different clans) but discord has bridged that gap. Otherwise it seems that the thing that hinders some diversity in competition isnt clan size but the inflexibility of 6 clan offices that I don't think can be sold/changed. This results in an inability to change direction of expansion if CBs go poorly or an alliance is agreed to.

I agree that the support system may be able to do too much in the current setup. It seemed the age was well balanced in the LB but if the same proportions exist next age, the current supports are easily used to keep the shadow from cities. And I would rather they not double in size to counter the support system The clan office limits make it difficult for them to adjust to taking the now weakened allied cities (Making it a lower risk loss for allies to support). Of course, like with Thak, the clan needing so much support to take the city wasn't able to maintain control even with supports and the CB boost. So maybe it balances out just fine. Idk. I don't understand game design enough to guess the far reaching effects of various changes.

[kaldar]

To your point Tim, keep track of the "actual" support points but just make them available as they are allowed. In other words, they generate 2000 support points at the start of the CB but have a max of 0, Display the max 0 but as the cap increases, display the new portion of the actual. If that makes any sense.

The most annoying part of what happened last age wasn't losing to support points, but losing to support points against a clan that wasn't even generating its own participation points.

It isn't a major deal, just an annoyance. After all, the shadow lives to destroy cities more than rule them.

[alSeen]

sorry tim, i meant it comes at no cost to the initiating clan, while the supports suffer usually due to promises of aid. and you are right, if the whole world is allied, nothing can be done to withstand that. plus, i now feel like there will be more shadow clans, meaning us Lighters will not be able to just focus on one to the exclusion of all else (so the support system will work better than it did)

what would really help is being able to delete or move or get more Clan Offices so clans could move around a bit more. because once a clan puts one of their 6 down, they have to fight to the death over that city from here on out. Clan Offices are too valuable to leave behind, meaning the clan just gets stuck

oh and can darkfriends get the fanatic class now? i thought the wiki said darkfriends were excluded from that class (asking for a build next age lol)

[alSeen]

oh and Tim, just know that this was one of the best ages ive ever played. wish you couldve had more time to be in the game because you deserve to be in the thick of things when the game is going so good (but i know RL comes first lol)

[terrisg]

I have no problems. Everything seems fine to me. Clans are better at smaller sizes. Alliances form, leads to a lot of interaction. The game is fun , I like to play it. WT didn't win a single clan battle even with all of it's allies. So support did not help me.