New Game Killer: Underdog Tools

[Raja]

Originally Posted by CelloStorm The transfers makes drawing conclusions about the underdog tools difficult. It would have been nice to reset all the underdog stuff to neutral as soon as the transfers went live. Those tools actually impacted transfer decisions making. I know some Spanish are still on Kidd to take advantage of the tools before they transfer off, and no question on Antigua its really messed with the Spanish since they are clearly not the force they were in comparison to the other nations when they won the last 2 maps. Until the transfers stabalize and the map flips, the underdog tools will continue to seem wildly out of whack. They might be regardless, but I think its very hard to tell right now. One thing I dont get though is why do the underdog tools make it harder to defend your own ports. I think it should make it harder to be the aggressor only.

I think it'd be a sad state of affairs if the spaniards who have not yet transferred scatter among the possible destinations and we're left with a gimped Spain on all servers.

[Brutzaj]

Pre tools on Bonny I could sail to a non newbies Port, and after a couple of hours land a couple of hundred contention. What happens now is the contention I built is more than half gone by the time I leave the second battle, if not all gone!

Its seriously taking the ****, and I doubt if the super large Brit nations would find it easy to flip other nations ports if they were top dogs. Just look at the Brit town of Bartica on Antigua, the Brits are not top dog, the port was flipped by the underdog French and its still not over 5k in contention, its at zero right now after a few days of being French owned.

The only effect being top dog does is place your nation 100% in defence mode. Attacking others is near impossible, and if you lose a port its gone until reset by the looks of it.

[CaptainDartwick]

The solution I see is to roll toons on 2 servers(or even 3) and have your guild only play actively on what ever server is underdog atm.

[Fidgiter]

There are so many cogs in motion at this point it is very difficult to truly know what is going on with Rakham. Going beyond the underdog rules there are strategic elements to the game flow and skill levels of the players to be considered not to mention how the transfers are causing fluxes in server populations.

The reason Spain is loosing could just be a case of their piling up resources

In the previous cycle the Spanish, despite having a numerical disadvantage, came into the mix winning. They were winning for a long while until everyone ganged up on them (except the Pirates who, like Pirates, played both sides). They then laid low for several weeks accepting their losses and piling resources and as the French and British turned against each other came back with a roar and kicked everyones buttox.

Having lots of players doesn’t make a side stronger

If one side has a cadre of skilled and dedicated players who, on average, are more skilled and dedicated than the average player on another nation, then they not at as much of as disadvantage as the numbers may suggest. The fact of the matter is the average player is a n00b relative to the skills and resources of the hardcore player. Player skill absolute does matter as a bunch of n00bs can destroy a well laid plan.

Migrations have not settled down yet

I heard someone say how the sky was falling because a guild came to Rakham with a ton of 1st, 2nd and 3rd rates and the balance of power would forever be shifted and everyone but them will be subjected to servitude forevermore. That group that transferred over underestimated the influence of skill and made a mistake that was exploited.

Rewarding the winning side makes sense but if you reward the winning side then they are more likely to win again to get more rewards which means they’ll win again and this will ultimately lead to the irreparable imbalance in power. The current system doesn’t make the player less effective in battle; it makes it so they have to do more to win the points required for victory.

I think it is much too early to cast judgment about whether the underdog tools impact on Rakham. The powers that be within Spain may well be preparing for their move much like they had in the last round that they had won. The lower population may be more organized and skilled and has demonstrated the ability to effectively counter the higher populations of their adversaries. Sever populations shifts are still in flux and the dust hasn’t come clost to settling yet.

Let us not jump to conclusions too hastily. The sky is not falling.

[isildur]

There's another piece of the tools that isn't in place yet: figuring out who's the underdog in a more sophisticated way than simply looking at the winner rankings from the last server victory.

While we work on that, we're going to be tuning down the impact of the rewards.

[Seco]

Originally Posted by isildur There's another piece of the tools that isn't in place yet: figuring out who's the underdog in a more sophisticated way than simply looking at the winner rankings from the last server victory. While we work on that, we're going to be tuning down the impact of the rewards.

Any idea how soon we will see the "tuning down"?

[Xylander]

Originally Posted by Brutzaj Pre tools on Bonny I could sail to a non newbies Port, and after a couple of hours land a couple of hundred contention. What happens now is the contention I built is more than half gone by the time I leave the second battle, if not all gone! Its seriously taking the ****, and I doubt if the super large Brit nations would find it easy to flip other nations ports if they were top dogs. Just look at the Brit town of Bartica on Antigua, the Brits are not top dog, the port was flipped by the underdog French and its still not over 5k in contention, its at zero right now after a few days of being French owned. The only effect being top dog does is place your nation 100% in defence mode. Attacking others is near impossible, and if you lose a port its gone until reset by the looks of it.

The general consensus on Antigua is that we don't care about Bartica enough to get it back. I sat in on a discussion about this a couple days ago and we came to the agreement that it would take an eco-bomb of around 150-175 100pt unrest bundles to flip it. Once done, it would then be farmed for 3 days by pirates and French coming to kill lowbies...and then...when PB time comes...like last time...we'll just end up with 14 low levels because they get mobs of contention points just for being in the area.

So, we'd spend around 400k or more to flip it...just to be guaranteed to lose it again. It's not a defeatist comment. Our low levels accept invites to PBs...and the French ones in this area of the game world don't.

I'd however be all for it if we could guarantee we didn't get hijacked by 10 or more L18s in bermuda sloops.

[Undrsiege]

Originally Posted by P. Pete Unfortunately its punishing Spain on Antigua. Many people have little motivation to bang their heads against a 55% contention penalty for french even though now there is nothing underdog about the french side. so what it does it provide less incentive for people to log in which then furthers the problem for those who do. In a month or so when a map is won and lost it may be ok, but how many people will we loose in that month? Spain is already the least populated and now its harder to get people back due to the problem of the underdog tools making conquest near pointless.

I agree 100% with you.

[Keyh]

Originally Posted by isildur There's another piece of the tools that isn't in place yet: figuring out who's the underdog in a more sophisticated way than simply looking at the winner rankings from the last server victory. While we work on that, we're going to be tuning down the impact of the rewards.

I don't know, I think the bigger problem is the penalty, not the rewards. I could be just going off of the fact that Spain on the Rack is getting hit by the penalty.

[SaneMalk]

Originally Posted by Keyh I don't know, I think the bigger problem is the penalty, not the rewards. I could be just going off of the fact that Spain on the Rack is getting hit by the penalty.

Congrats, you win the map! Here is your nerf reward! Have a nice day.