(Lieutenant)

10/02/08 10:39 PM

74.74.248.205

Re: SOI and Garrison Limits

05/05/2006

Garrison and DOW/Attack Limitations: These will go into full effect on Monday and Tuesday. The garrison limits are visible all over the game where they are applicable and most people should be pretty familiar with how they will work and look. If you are exceeding the garrison limit in any zone the game will automatically mobilize however many units it needs to bring you in line with the garrison limit. It always starts with the cheapest units in that zone and the standard 30 Nevday minimum mobilization time still applies. Towers will be "mobilized" if they are the cheapest units.

Determining Max Garrison: The maximum garrison for ANY zone is 216 units. You can have more units than that in the zone but they need to be mobilized. Mobilization costs will likely be increasing when the attack costs are decreased in coming weeks. To calculate your max garrison in any given zone, the game looks at how many zones you both own AND have SOI control of within a 9x9 box around that zone. Every zone adds 4 units to the max garrison. This means that you only need to own/control 54 of the possible 81 zones to get a full 216 units in that zone.

SOI Calculations: A Sphere of Influence (SOI) is exerted by ANY zone with at least one building in it. SOI has two distinct attributes, RANGE and POWER. The range of the SOI is 10 zones in every direction. A zone with one building in it surrounded by empty zones would control all zones with its range. The only thing that can negate this control is the SOI of another empire's cities, which is where power comes into play. The power of the SOI is determined by the size and number of buildings in the city. The more jobs/population a city has, the higher it's influence. This power diminishes significantly each zone farther from the city you go. Proximity is probably the single biggest factor in determining who controls what zone. The power of your SOI can be significantly increased by having more than one city in a small area. Three medium sized cities in close proximity may exert a stronger influence of the zones in their shared SOI than a single large one.

SOI Strategy: SOI rules encourage players to build in one main area since your SOI is strongest when you have large numbers of cities in a relatively small area. You CAN push out your neighbors by building cities near them, and then continuing to build closer and closer as your SOI permits you to purchase their land off of them. This will make it harder and harder for them to defend their land and thus not want to be in that area. On the flip side, land that you want to keep you will need to build cities on to ward of the influence of nearby empires. If you are worried about a neighbor encroaching on your land, the best thing you can do is to build near them. This will go a long way towards negating their ability to influence your land, but if they are able to build more than you are, you might find your land getting more and more exncroached on. At this point you have a few options.

You can:

A: Build your cities bigger and stronger to counteract their SOI.

B: Contact your neighbor and negotiate boundaries and city growth,

C: Attack the neighbor or hire a merc to attack them (this option coming soon) and then either keep or burn the offending cities or

D: either burn your own cities and build elsewhere or simply be content with having some underdefended cities (remember, your enemies probably won't be able to defend them either so it might not be very hard to get them back if they are lost in battle).

Some Other Details:

-You can claim any unclaimed zone whether in your SOI or not. Just because a zone is in your SOI does NOT mean you have to claim it.

-There are 400 zones that your SOI affects (10 zone radius from all cities) and if yours is the strongest on any particular zone then you will have control of it. This means that most empires at some point or another will have SOI control of zones that are not inside the 4 zone radius that counts towards the max garrison of a city.

-Once you claim or conquer a zone in your SOI you may NOT unclaim that zone.

-You may not purchase a zone from someone you are currently at war with.

-Surrendering cancels all DOW's and allows SOI zone purchasing to continue normally.

-You can not purchase an SOI zone that has been attacked in the last 30 Nevdays.