Vacation Mode Limitations

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    • With that option you can roughly (very roughly, just an example, not very detailed) play 6 days a month without fleetsaving (in truth it could be even one or two more days I think):

      Day 1, then day 2 and 3 in v-mode
      Day 4, then day 5 to 7 in v-mode
      Day 8, then day 9 to 12 in v-mode
      Day 13, then day 14 to 18 in v-mode
      Day 19, then day 20 to 24 in v-mode
      Day 25, then day 26 to 30 in v-mode

      It's not that bad, and people will be less likely to abuse v-mode. I don't like the fact that at some point you might be able to get back to playing after putting v-mode for some personal reason (not to abuse it), and you won't be able to come back until a few days later when it's enabled. In that regard, I see the 5 (or 6) times per month more reasonable; complete freedom to exit v-mode to those well intended, and just 5 days of playing at much for those who abuse v-mode.

    • As I did mention. This suggestion is not perfect and well I am sure that there are many ways to modify it to make it better.


      The reason for this idea is to prevent further abusing the v mode feature. @Smoke Nightvogue and @Minion, both of you have something that could work and make it better. You do have a point in a way and maybe a limited number of exits from v mode would be logical.


      Thank you for your input. Maybe GameForge can pick up a few things from everyone providing input on this.. :)

    • V mode has a lot of benefits now, your building queue gets paused, your research gets paused, I think all of theese benefits should be stripped away, I have to work too and lots of other things and yet, I was in V mode for 2 days only for the whole year.
      I have a problem with players going V mode when I colonise next door and deploy my fleet, so my deut is spent, my planning thrown away, and Im thinking what the heck do I need this game, Its real time strategy game not Age of Empires, no PAUSE, and thats why this game is dying, there is less and less pro players every day because noob idiots can use v mode as shield, cmon either play this game as intended or go away.

      So my suggestion

      1. Limited number of activating V mode per month
      2. 3 months check in (deletetion of account or turning off V mode choice option ingame)
      3. Cooldown period after getting out of V mode (at least as long as V mode duration)
      4. Stripping pause of buildings, research and shipyard queue
      5. V mode requires deuterium to activate (your military personel goes on some kind of vacation) and when activated your planets are left like space floating mining abbandoned (not really but only workersleft and not harmed by anyone raiding, not even solar sats) planets for others to farm

      Im good with suggestions for now, if something more comes up ill visit again

    • TGWo wrote:

      I suggest to implement this idea in a more simple way ........... decide an amounts of time that is possible to start v-mode in a year (no matter for how long you will stay in v-mode).

      So for example number could be 365/7 = 52 (or less)
      I lLike this version a lot more if it's going to be changed. I know when I went overseas on deployment, I just left my account in vmode that entire time and would check in whenever i manged to get a connection. the suggestion in original post would have made that impossible and would have most likely just quit the game at that point

    • tarikmeister wrote:

      V mode has a lot of benefits now, your building queue gets paused, your research gets paused, I think all of theese benefits should be stripped away, I have to work too and lots of other things and yet, I was in V mode for 2 days only for the whole year.
      Yeah, I agree: remove everything the volunteers crafted there for about 5 years in relation to the subject, so that it'll all simply turn into collecting more purchases of DM: for speeding-up the researches, buildings, and of course, scrapping up the fleets. ^^

      tarikmeister wrote:

      So my suggestion

      2. 3 months check in (deletetion of account or turning off V mode choice option ingame)
      This is a bad one. The proper method should consist of DROP query on the entire database, so that everything deletes faster, since after half of what you've suggested, about 40% of players in old, post-merged Universes will have no sense to come back to the game no account they could actually log into, unless they were fast enough to renew it after seeing their fleets crashed & being discussed in HoF. :D

      tarikmeister wrote:

      3. Cooldown period after getting out of V mode (at least as long as V mode duration)
      And what if it's a fleet account on which V-Mode lasted for a year? Nevermind, the previous option solves that. ^^

      tarikmeister wrote:

      4. Stripping pause of buildings, research and shipyard queue
      As I noticed in the beginning, that would be a good start, at least no one in the marketing department will be unhappy about that. ^^ And later on, the rest of this terror could be unleashed, hehe.

      The post was edited 4 times, last by Smoke Nightvogue ().

    • It's not 24 hours now, was recently changed to 48. :) In any case, whenever it comes to inconvenient user limitations or something they're compelled to follow, none of such things gain my personal favor or support, even if I'm trying to do my best to actually polish those. Restrictions as such are simply in discrepancy with how I envision game design overall.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Smoke Nightvogue ().

    • @tarikmeister Well, as you say, in the end this is a "[...] game [...]", so it should act like one. It's not black an white. If I cannot play there's no point in forcing me to play, because the alternative is leaving the game; I don't want to be disgusted here, this is a game after all.

      What we want is to encourage people to play the active way, with the minimum v-mode, which is healthy to the game and actually makes the game more entertaining and interesting. This game has the characteristic that it can be fun because of the real time playing; we should hint or incentive that rather than abruptly force people to play that way. The end idea is that people should feel good by playing actively which is not the case at the moment for many players (only miners, rippers, and people with “small fleets” of 20-30M points can have fun with a decent amount of energy, with a decent balance between attention needed + deuterium cost of fleetsaving + risk of being targeted, for the rest, it's unbearable unless someone has sooo much time available).

      But that's what we want to do: encourage; bringing back some balance between ability to survive and energy put into the game; but definitely not force the people to play.

      So the changes about v-mode should not actually interfere with the freedom of players in my opinion, or interfere the least possible, and just make it a bit more attractive to play actively.

    • The question wasn't addressed to me, however, the answer is obvious enough to be provided nevertheless. At first, I would have gone researching Astrophysics level 21, and once it's done, I'd allocate 3 colonies to be permanent mobiles which are moved across the Universe, depending on interest in certain targets throughout multiple galaxies. If there are only 100 active players around, the waiting time until the Jump Gates are made shouldn't be an issue (especially since those can be accelerated with construction boosters). In other words, I wouldn't stick to tracking down one particular fleet, the owner of which can move in and out of VM, of course. :)

      The post was edited 2 times, last by Smoke Nightvogue ().

    • Ill give you my account in erididanius and you can prove your skill if you think you are able to do that wise guy, my fleet is there in his sys and he gets out of V, and if i destroy his moon while he is online there is no use, i need his fleet in fs in order to profit from moon destruction, otherwise he can just jump to another moon, but he doesnt even do that, as soon as he see my fleet he goes V again, there is nothing stopping him do that, his research gets paused, his buildings, shipyard, only thing he loose is his ress production, unless you want to change that to, so ress can be produced even when V?
      So, dont be wise if youre not fleeter, you cant understand me, V mode is too powerfull and it isnt used as its meant to because there is no restrictions, so restrictions have to be implemented

    • It's a bit strange that being a top 10 fleeter you still don't comprehend why he/she does that and how the problem could be solved. It's about that exact player's self-defensive habits, and trust me, even if there was 5 days minimal V-Mode restriction in place, the chances you'd manage to catch that fleet with described tactics are less than 20%. :) I lack enough time to get personally involved in your story, however, the thing I'd recommend is asking one of your friends, preferably without an associated alliance tag, to help on that moon destruction for you (no need for the main fleet to reside within the same system, optimally about 4-5 away). That appears to represent a much more reliable solution in particular case you described.

      The post was edited 3 times, last by Smoke Nightvogue ().

    • There are already few people working on moon destruction, but if he can jump back into V as soon as we send moon destruction, and there is no way to spy or take out his rip fleet without ACS and earn profits, then my rips would be sent into suicide, and as a fleeter, im more into profits than destruction, so there is no way to get him unless there is some kind of v mode cooldown implemented, or something that will make v mode hurt players who abuse it

    • tarikmeister wrote:

      1. Limited number of activating V mode per month
      This is already one of propose existing in this thread .......... only to decide how to work limit

      tarikmeister wrote:

      2. 3 months check in (deletetion of account or turning off V mode choice option ingame)
      I don't like ........ if you delete account, for sure universe has an player in minus, if account continue to stay in v-mode maybe a day it will resume or because there is a fusion, or because player has again time/fun to play, or because change player.
      To remove v-mode want to say to lose at same time account, with only the lucky of an attacker that it is near this planet.
      In any case i don't see this change as an improve of fun and life of universe.

      tarikmeister wrote:

      3. Cooldown period after getting out of V mode (at least as long as V mode duration)
      This sound interesting, but I think is need to put a cap time for cooldown (for example 7 days), because if i stay in holiday for 2 months and then i have to wait other 2 months if i will have a problem i will lose anything

      tarikmeister wrote:

      Stripping pause of buildings, research and shipyard queue
      I don't like. Especially if i'm building sometime that request N weeks to end, to reset will be an hard minus if i have to go in holiday

      tarikmeister wrote:

      V mode requires deuterium to activate (your military personel goes on some kind of vacation) and when activated your planets are left like space floating mining abbandoned (not really but only workersleft and not harmed by anyone raiding, not even solar sats) planets for others to farm
      I don't like idea that you spend deuterium any day that you stay in holiday. Holiday is in normal way a way to be sure don't lose an account when player need a break.
      We have to figth use of v-mode as fleetsave, no use of v-mode for that is created

    • TGWo wrote:

      tarikmeister wrote:

      3. Cooldown period after getting out of V mode (at least as long as V mode duration)
      This sound interesting, but I think is need to put a cap time for cooldown (for example 7 days), because if i stay in holiday for 2 months and then i have to wait other 2 months if i will have a problem i will lose anything
      That's a clear NO in my opinion, if I have to put v-mode, I think I should be able to do it no matter what (similar to limiting the amount of times one leaves vmode vs. puts vmode).

      TGWo wrote:

      tarikmeister wrote:

      Stripping pause of buildings, research and shipyard queue
      I don't like. Especially if i'm building sometime that request N weeks to end, to reset will be an hard minus if i have to go in holiday
      I personally like this, but I don't see GameForge reimplementing (or more exactly, re-deimplementing) those “features”. The fun of the game was the strategy, one had to actually think and plan to be able to play this game. Now I think on one side people has to plan muuuuuch less, and on the other side there's no real point on planning since you cannot secure your account if you are on the loosing side and you can hit “easy” if you have enough power. I'm an advocate from bringing back some difficulties (similar to removing +25 fields), but I see this as my personal opinion and not easily welcome by the rest.

      TGWo wrote:

      We have to figth use of v-mode as fleetsave, no use of v-mode for that is created
      Exactly :)

      By the way, just to keep the debate about number of times (so GameForge has something to read here):
      52 per year?
      4 or 5 per month? Or may be number of mondays depending on the month?

      In my opinion, better a few per month, because by rationing the users you can get a more even distribution of activity, and also you ensure that no one abuses (may be without realizing what they are doing).

      Or, may be, another option that also solves that problem: 30 a year plus 2 each month. That way if you end up abusing it for some reason, you still get two new tickets every month. In fact I kinda like this. In the end you have 54 per year, but that's more than okey.

      Of course, I still believe this achieves nothing if there's no change to bring 8h security to moons plus 8h fleetsave with little deuterium consumption (to emulate the recycling to own coordinates). That would imply much less moon pops (and much more planning needed) but bringing back other strategies, in the past players still hit other players! And of course 4min attacks in x5 universes are still possible :P

    • Ok from what I have seen posted I have a few ideas that can be used as a compromise.. Also an incentive idea to enable this proposal to be more appealing to every type of player whether it be the weekend warrior or active player. I will post it within the next 24 hours.



      This idea will include many new changes to the original suggestion and hopefully this would be something that can work without any damage to any one group of players.


      Thanks again for all the input and information guys.. I really appreciate it that we have kept this active to try and find the best possible solution.. We clearly see many players are in favour of something to make the game evenly balanced.

    • Hi guys, sorry on the delay, got called in for work.


      After careful consideration I have decided to include various ideas brought forth by the many participants here. Hopefully this suggestion can be a compromise to everyone whether you are the weekend warrior or the active player.


      Revised suggestion:


      All ogame accounts receive 52 Vacation Mode Sessions per civil year with a counter reset at the beginning of the year/new cycle.


      Notes:


      (a.) This gives the weekend warrior to activate vacation mode every weekend at their own discreation.
      (b.) There is no limit as to length of time you decide to leave account in v mode, however the regular standard time of 24hours still applies before you are able to de -activate v mode.
      (c.) Each Vacation Mode Session can be used at players discreation. There is no once per week or once per month and so on. If player activates v mode on a Monday and decides to play Wednesday, he/she is still able to active v mode once again that same week at the cost of another Vacation Mode Session. So player would have used 2 sessions out of 52 total sessions.
      (d.)       Activating v mode does not affect the fact that you can still log in at will, this remains standard as per how v mode reacts now in game. All standard vacation rules still apply, but logging in doesn't affect your v mode session.
      (e.) This in turn will control the v mode abuse and create a much more balanced gameplay.


      Optional additions to the suggestion which can be an incentive to keep players actively playing.


      Optionals:


      Gameforge can create an additional subsection in the merchant market area or even add it to the merchant trader. This is to reward players who actively played their account through the cycle/civil year to be able to trade out their remaining vacation mode sessions for DM at the 5 day remaining mark before cycle reset.


      (a.) Trade system can be like moon, dm, discount events. Only exception is that event only starts once a year at the 5 days before cycle reset for the duration of the 5 days to give ample time for the player to trade in their remaining Vacation Mode Sessions for DM.
      (b.) Trade system will allow you to trade all remaining Vacation Mode Sessions down to 1. This means that you will always have 1 Vacation Mode Session to end the cycle before the reset. This allows you to activate v mode in case of an emergency. A fail safe if you will.
      (c.) Amount of DM rewarded per Vacation Mode Session can be determined by Gameforge or something we can brainstorm on to be a reasonable amount.


      Thoughts on this new proposal is greatly appreciated. Hope this is better than before and could appeal to every class of player..


      Thank you all once again for your support in making this thread active.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by RadioSweetHeart ().

    • I would advocate for at least 1 extra ticket per month. Say 40 of free use, and each month one more. In total 52, but you ensure at least it cannot be abused over the possibilities of the player, and give opportunity to come back to the active OGame.

      Personally, I think 28 of free use and two extra tickets per month would be better. Totaling 52 per year but you give two each month, so if someone spends all of them, still can come back the next month with option to put v-mode once in that month.

      But don't forget that this achieves nothing if people cannot survive. If someone can just play 52 days without fleetsaving, and he cannot possibly fleetsave in a bearable way, he won't play “more”, which is the intention.

      But yes, I think this reformulated suggestion is great.