Is now live! The month of November is now active and the contest for Capital(s) is on!
If you're not up to snuff on what our plan is for Conquest, then read this first!
Otherwise, we've made some big changes to how Conquest attacks work and how Strength works for obtaining Capital. So here we go!
Strength is no longer tabulated nightly.
You no longer gain passive strength by owning TGens.
To win Conquest, you must play conquest. To play conquest, you must attack people. The new system of Conquest is all based around attacks and the Strength System is now, effectively, weighted ELO (like Arenas). This creates a system wherein battles are important and have real, understandable weight when carried out, and are no longer arguably optional, but in fact required.
If you're unfamiliar with ELO, the system works by assuming a winner and a loser and the rating changes on who "should" win. If a highly rated town defeats a low-rated town, neither town earns very much rating change. If, however, a low-rated town defeats a highly rated town's TGen, that can be worth a sizable chunk in strength change. This means high-rated towns should really defend their territory, or the little guys can pick away at you.
So, how Strength rating is calculated:
You shouldn't be able to wipe a town/alliance off the map in a day anymore
We've had situations in the past where a smaller town/alliance attempts to do some damage to a strong town or alliance and then the incumbent giant town retaliates with what we call a Scorched Earth policy. Effectively they spend the next 24 non-stop hours removing every TGen the attackers ever had. This is, frankly, extremely demoralizing for any would-be attacker and ends the fun/game almost immediately. We want people to fight and not be wiped out instantly.
Suffice it to say we feel this system is a lot more, let's say, intentional. The last system was all about building territory and waiting. This is real fightin' stuff here folks.
Now we realize this system sort of pushes Conquest even more to the PvP-only side. This is why we're calling this Phase 1. Phase 1 is simply tweaking the system to make more sense and get people out there doing damage. Phase 2+ will be addressing the other, missing parts of Conquest; bringing things like The Ruin back and other non-essential, but still fun and important fights.
Stay tuned, and Go Forth!
If you're not up to snuff on what our plan is for Conquest, then read this first!
Otherwise, we've made some big changes to how Conquest attacks work and how Strength works for obtaining Capital. So here we go!
Strength is no longer tabulated nightly.
You no longer gain passive strength by owning TGens.
To win Conquest, you must play conquest. To play conquest, you must attack people. The new system of Conquest is all based around attacks and the Strength System is now, effectively, weighted ELO (like Arenas). This creates a system wherein battles are important and have real, understandable weight when carried out, and are no longer arguably optional, but in fact required.
If you're unfamiliar with ELO, the system works by assuming a winner and a loser and the rating changes on who "should" win. If a highly rated town defeats a low-rated town, neither town earns very much rating change. If, however, a low-rated town defeats a highly rated town's TGen, that can be worth a sizable chunk in strength change. This means high-rated towns should really defend their territory, or the little guys can pick away at you.
So, how Strength rating is calculated:
- All towns and Alliances start out at 0 Strength at the beginning of a month (or rather, after the end of the month's Capitals are decided, which is about 8pm server-time the last night of the month.
- Each attack and defense is calculated like a real match. Defenses are no longer "worth less" than attacks. You win or you lose the attack, there is no difference between how much that's worth.
- We now have a resting ELO rating which is 1000. How this works is that each town/alliance's first 10 wins are worth 100 + the regular rating change. Towns/Alliances that are under 1000 are all considered to be rated 1000. This means, if you want to be capital, you have to put some skin in the game. A few lucky wins that puts you at a higher rating won't just do the trick.
- After your first 10 wins, your strength rating changes with each match as usual, without any boosting. This never changes until the month is over.
- You cannot have less than 0 strength.
- Strength rating is calculated like ELO but with a variable K-Factor (you can google that if you want to). In short, it is worth more to have more people in a fight. Be it attackers OR defenders, the 'bigger the battle', the more it's worth. It's less useful to be the single player doing attacks at 3 in the morning. Bring friends, and defend your bases and you'll get more out of it.
You shouldn't be able to wipe a town/alliance off the map in a day anymore
We've had situations in the past where a smaller town/alliance attempts to do some damage to a strong town or alliance and then the incumbent giant town retaliates with what we call a Scorched Earth policy. Effectively they spend the next 24 non-stop hours removing every TGen the attackers ever had. This is, frankly, extremely demoralizing for any would-be attacker and ends the fun/game almost immediately. We want people to fight and not be wiped out instantly.
- Attacks per-day are based on the number of active TGens you have. The max for a town is 5 attacks in 24 hours.
- The breakdown is:
- 1-4 TGens = 1 attack per day
- 5-9 TGens = 2 attacks per day
- 10-14 TGens = 3 attacks per day
- 15-19 TGens = 4 attacks per day
- 20+ TGens = 5 attacks per day
- Attacks per-day are reset at Midnight Server-time every day.
- An Alliance has a maximum of 10 attacks per day. We want Alliances to happen, and we think the strength in numbers and reinforcements is the reason why you should be in an Alliance. Previously, however, Alliances would be made up of many 3-man or alt towns so that lots and lots of inhibs could be placed. We don't want that. Alliances should be meaningful, and not just be cheesed to maximize attacks.
Suffice it to say we feel this system is a lot more, let's say, intentional. The last system was all about building territory and waiting. This is real fightin' stuff here folks.
Now we realize this system sort of pushes Conquest even more to the PvP-only side. This is why we're calling this Phase 1. Phase 1 is simply tweaking the system to make more sense and get people out there doing damage. Phase 2+ will be addressing the other, missing parts of Conquest; bringing things like The Ruin back and other non-essential, but still fun and important fights.
Stay tuned, and Go Forth!
