ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
SOI and Garrison Limits
#152008 - 10/02/08 10:32 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
04/17/2006
Sphere Of Influence (Proposed Change): Click here to read this very important change proposal.
Proposed Sphere of Influence Change: We just wanted to reiterate that NOBODY will LOSE ANYTHING during the initial crossover. You will either be able to relocate cities or be compensated from the annexing empire for them. There is no rush to get this done and no models have been completed yet for its change. We all have LOTS of time to look at the models, think this through and make changes as needed.
===============================================================================================
04/18/2006
Sphere Of Influence Update: Click here to read this very important change proposal. It has been updated drastically from yesterday with MANY new additions.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152009 - 10/02/08 10:35 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
04/20/2006
SOI Updates: Every zone you own needs to be updated manually as it is currently set to calculate a proper SOI. If your SOI in a particular zone seems incorrect, then you probably need to click all the zones you in that area, because some or many are not updated. Simply clicking each zone is all it takes. We will likely do one huge update before SOI effects truly take place to make sure that all zones are done, but that will require shutting the game down for possibly several hours. For now, simply manually update your zones if you wish to see the proper Garrison Limits and SOI radii.
SOI Map Toggle: You can now toggle the SOI cross-hatchings on and off on the map. The default setting is "off" but once you turn it on it will stay on for the rest of your session unless you turn it off. This should save some visual confusion as well as a little bit of server power since you don't always need to see SOI markers.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152010 - 10/02/08 10:36 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
04/21/2006
Initial SOI and Unit Cap Changes: After a huge amount of player feedback we have found lots of potential problems with the proposed systems and made simple changes that shore things up significantly. Large numbers of players who are aggressive in their outcry against these changes either don't want change because they don't like change or don't want it because they see how it prevents them from using the system in a way that is advantageous to them personally. It is easy to understand why an empire with one big city where they live in relative immunity wouldn't want the SOI and zone garrison changes to go into effect. Others are simply looking for opportunities to attack us personally. Players who have come to us with legitimate concerns about these changes have been heard and we have made adjustments where necessary. Ultimately, these changes are going to make the game more fun and more balanced for all players. Many of them sound complicated because they are new ideas, but in practice they are very simple and require little effort to adapt to and utilize once implemented, that is part of why they are so attractive.
Because these are simple changes on our end that will require the most time to adapt by players, we will first be making the following changes to see action on Monday, April 24th:
SOI: The first element of this will be coded and players will be able to purchase, for $1 million, any non-city zone that is in their SOI. The $1 million will be paid to the former owner and any units in that zone will be moved out. Towers in the zone will be scrapped and the parts given to the owner of the tower. NO GARRISON LIMITS WILL BE PUT INTO EFFECT UNTIL
FURTHER NOTICE. We are entering a transition period only, where players can adapt to these new changes and we can all see their effects.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152011 - 10/02/08 10:36 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
04/24/2006
Building Construction: Building construction now maxes out at 25 buildings that can be built per zone at any given time. You will STILL be able to queue up as many building as you'd like, but only 25 of them will build at a time. With the click of one button (provided on the Empire Data page whenever buildings finish or by viewing the Buildings page in that zone) you will roll your queue up to the next ones queued to be built. This should give empires time to see other empires encroaching on their SOI and respond by either A. Attacking, B. Hiring a merc, C. building their own cities to defend their SOI or D. allowing the city to be encroached upon. I suppose you could use diplomacy and work out a deal with the offending empire, but who uses diplomacy? Buildings currently under contruction will complete normally, but new ones will be queued.
Towers are now put in your armoury instead of scrapped when a zone is purchased from you.
While Garrison Limits count the 4x4 area around your selected zone, SOI can reach far beyond that radius if unopposed by enemy cities.
Fixed a visual bug that made it appear that you could claim active mines though actually trying to claim them wouldn't have worked.
Water Zones: For the next 1 week you will be able to claim water zones within your SOI for $10 million, 1/10th the normal price. This will allow players with islands or near coastal areas to claim zones around their cities if they so choose. Zones claimed in this manner will NOT be buildable.
SOI zone purchasing is not a temporary feature, it is permanent.
Purchasing zones now costs $1 million, but only nets $200k for the original owner. We had considered other options but decided this was the best for now.
SOI Zone Purchasing: You may now buy non-city zones within your SOI for $1 million. The $1 million is paid directly to the empire you are buying the zone from. Towers in the zone are scrapped, with the parts being delivered to the owner's salvage zone. Non-towers are moved to the owner's primary salvage zone, or largest zone if they do not have a primary salvage zone flagged. You may purchase zones from any empire that you are NOT at war with and share an adjacent zone with.
Note: People will notice that their SOI, especially around a cluster of large cities, will stretch for quite a distance unless opposed by enemy cities. Proximity is the single most important factor in determining SOI, so border towns are an extremely effective way of preventing someone elses SOI from encroaching on your turf.
To purchase a zone in your SOI, click the zone and then click Terrain Info. If you are able, the option will appear.
Updating SOI: SOI is only updated if the zone in question has been clicked on since SOI was implemented. If you think your zone garrison limits are not as high as they should be, simply click the zones around your turf and you will update the SOI and thus the Garrison Limits.
While Garrison Limits are NOT in effect, you can view them for any zone you own on the map. MANY people have not yet updated their SOI properly, and thus are seeing improper Garrison Limits (*cough*...Xibious...*cough* *cough*). If you believe that your SOI may have changed, perhap because you built or destroyed a city, enlarged or shrunk an existing one, or conquered new cities, you will need to click the zones in question to update the SOI. EACH ZONE MUST BE CLICKED INDIVIDUALLY. A little tedious but we have sped it up.
Sped up the zone claiming process significantly.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152012 - 10/02/08 10:37 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
04/25/2006
SOI Update If you have the option to view SOI active on the map (click the red SOI button) then zones that have not yet had their SOI updated will show a red circle in the upper right corner of the zone. Simply click the zone once and the SOI will update. If your zones or empires near your borders are colored red, you may need to change the zone color for the red circle to show.
If your Garrison Limit seems low, then it is likely because you have not yet updated the SOI for zones in your area OR it is simply that you do not have SOI control of all the zones that you own. Several people who have opened tickets have clearly not yet looked at the SOI version of the map. Just because you own a zone does NOT mean you have SOI control of it and thus will NOT be able to count it towards your Garrison Limit. Only zones that you both own and have SOI control of will count towards your garrison limit.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152013 - 10/02/08 10:37 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
04/29/2006
SOI Updating: A low-usage program has been started that updates SOI in zones that have not yet been updated at the rate of about 30 per minute beginning with the largest empires in the game and moving downwards. To shut the game down and update them all at once would likely take between 5-8 hours, so we are reluctant to do it. The method implemented doesn't create any extra server drag and no downtime. We expect that it will update all zones in all empires over the next 10 - 12 days. If there are zones that you need to update right away because you need to see a proper zone garrison number, then you can simply click on the zone in question and update it. Once all the zones have been updated once, SOI will only update if you click on the zone manually. This means that if you enlarge a city or build a new one, you will need to check the zones in that area that are not currently under your SOI to see if they have changed hands.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152014 - 10/02/08 10:38 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
05/02/2006
SOI Transition Deadline: The last day we will take requests for SOI transition help is this Friday, May 6th. Requests received after that will simply be closed. Max Garrison limits and DOW/attack restrictions will likely be put into place next week. These are ONLY the limits on numbers of unmobilized units in each zone and the limitations on who you can attack and DOW mentioned in earlier updates and forum posts. The Cease Fire (mini-surrender), free attack costs
Added and tested some infrastructure for implementing garrison limits and made further progress evaluating and preparing for SOI transition assistance.
The SOI robots have worked through all of the level 14, 10 and 9 empires in the game and are currently working on level 13, 12 and 8 empires. All of the updates should be completed in the next 2 days and all zones will be fully updated. At that point SOI updates will only occurr manually by players clicking on the zones in question.
SOI Transition: We have begun working through the requests for SOI transition assistance. We would like to reiterate that our intent is to help players who have critical infrastructure that is put at significantly greater risk because of SOI changes. While many of the requests viewed so far have been legitimate, many have also been rediculous. This is NOT an opportunity to get the admins to consolidate your empire to a tiny core. Some of the cities we have been asked to review are single zones, with hundreds of unclaimed zones around them. Others have been largish cities near the borders of someone's main zones that have a garrison limit of nearly 200 units and with buildable space around them that could easily be used to further strengthen the SOI in that area. If you have other options then you will be expected to take those in-game options available to you. This means that if there are SOI zones you can claim then you should claim them, if you are surrounded by an ally who could easily give you zones to build in then you should negotiate with that ally, or if the zone is one that is not a significant portion of your empire then you simply need to decide handle it on your own.
Players that we HAVE helped so far have been ones who have infrastructure that was either gotten with donation bonuses or represents a very sginificant amount of infrastructre to the empire that is put at significant risk beacuse of SOI issues.
If there is something you do not understand about SOI, please open a help ticket! We are happy to explain it to you. We have answered tickets from some players who claim their empires is "screwed" by SOI changes when it has actually made it MORE defensible.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152015 - 10/02/08 10:38 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
05/04/2006
Added an auto-update to the map when clicking on a zone with the intent to SOI claim it that properly updates some entries regarding the number of buildings in that zone. Some information was not updating properly and preventing people from purchasing zones in rare cases.
You can not SOI purchase a zone that has been attacked in the last 30 nevdays.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152016 - 10/02/08 10:39 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
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.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152017 - 10/02/08 10:39 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
05/06/2006
Updated some procdures when deleting buidlings and burning cities that will update SOI power and city circles on the map better.
Increased the SOI zone purchase profit to $500,000 from $200,000. They still cost $1 million to purchase.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152018 - 10/02/08 10:40 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
05/10/2006
Claiming Zones: Due to recent SOi changes we can now allow surrendered empires to claim zones
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152019 - 10/02/08 10:41 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
05/13/2006
Declarations of War: The contiguous zone update listed below, as well as future updates that have not yet been finalized, require us to limit the cancellations of DOW's. Beginning Monday, any DOW declared will not cancel until one of the parties involved surrenders.
SOI Update: Max Garrison limits now use a continuity of zones check that ensures there is a path from your target zone to all the zones that it is counting towards your SOI. This will ensure that empires can't simply keep a ring of zones in the hands of an ally directly around their cities to force attackers to hotdrop but still keep a high garrison.
To prevent an attacker from simply being able to occupy the few zones directly around your city and force most of the unit in it to mobilize, any empire that you are currently at war with (or is at war with you) will NOT block zones from being counted as contiguous. This means that if an enemy declares war and then takes the 4 zones right around your city, you can still count any other zones within your 9x9 box that you own/control towards your max garrison. Attackers will need to occupy all of those other zones if they intend to force you to mobilize.
Currently the continuity check reaches several zones outside of the 9x9 box so that if you can connect zones via a circuitous path they will still count. This adds a significant number of checks to the process, and if it is deemed too slow it will be reduced to the normal 9x9 box meaning that you would need to trace a path within that 9x9 area to count zones. Hopefully that will not be necessary.
The $10 million SOI water claiming period has expired. We let it go on for far longer than originally announced or intended.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152020 - 10/02/08 10:41 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
5/15/06
Garrison Limits: As per previous announcements the Max Garrison limits based on SOI and zone ownership are in full effect. The declaration of war exception is also in effect. If you are at war with an enemy and they have zones that are in your SOI, you may count that as a contiguous zone for purposes of connecting other zones beyond it to your target zone. The enemy zone will NOT count towards your max garrison, it will only allow you to count other zones next to it that you both own and control towards your max garrison.
Example: Joey owns all 81 zones around his main city. Pancho the Heartless declares war and hot drops on the 4 zones immediately surrounding the city. Normally, Joey would only be able to keep 4 unmobilized units in that city (since he doesn't own any contiguous zones), but because he is at war with Pancho, the game ignores Pancho's zones. Joey still has 77 zones that count towards his max garrison.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152021 - 10/02/08 10:41 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
05/18/2006
Max Garrison: Remember that SOI is dynamic. If you have a neighbor who builds a larger city or captures one closer to you, then SOI can change and force mobilization of your units. Just because you have a zone under max garrison today doesn't mean that it will be tomorrow. SOI stability can only be ensured in areas where you have a strong SOI presence
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152022 - 10/02/08 10:42 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
06/12/2006
Removed a query that was calculating the SOI strength of any zone that was clicked every time it was clicked on the map. This is a very efficient process but it was beign done so much in this time of great war that it was quickly adding up to a substantial amount of lag. This process was shifted to be done every time a building is created (completed) or destroyed in a given zone.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152023 - 10/02/08 10:42 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
06/15/2006
SOI/Zone Garrison: You must have contiguous zones within your SOI to have more than (4) demobilized units in a zone. You can also buy any zone within your SOI for $1 million. SOI is determined by the number and size of buildinsg in any of your nearby cities in relation to those in enemy cities.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152024 - 10/02/08 10:42 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
06/25/2006
New SOI Zone Claiming Feature: You may now, once every 24 hours, use a one-click option to claim all zones within your SOI. All of the standard rules apply, including the $1 million per zone fee PLUS you may not be at war. The link to use this feature can be found on the Zones page. Please note! Because of adjacent zone rules it may NOT claim all the zones that are eligible in one go. Simply either claim those zones manually or wait 24 hours and try again
**Note: If I understood WWS correctly, this will claim all those pesky little DZs in your entire empire. It does not claim all the unclaimed zones that fall under your SOI. - ShadowMasterCM**
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152025 - 10/02/08 10:43 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
08/29/2006
Upcoming Faction Recruitment Change:
<snipped out non SOI portion>
The new empire's old cities will be burned for cash like normal, and they will have their units mobilized and moved to the new cities. The new player will need to establish their SOI and get their garrison limits in order, which the cash from their old buildings will more than make up for, and their is no time limit on demobilization unless their units were already mobed.
|
ShadowMasterCM
Lieutenant
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 495
Loc: New York
|
Re: SOI and Garrison Limits
[Re: ShadowMasterCM]
#152026 - 10/02/08 10:43 PM (74.74.248.205)
|
|
|
11/20/2006
The SOI button works and zones that are under the influence of an enemy empire show with some "SOI" text and a small block of color matching that of the controlling empire. It's ugly but it gets the job done.
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
