Circular galaxy discussion:
Ever wonder what kind of galaxy is laid out in a straight line, with two distinct ends? No galaxy anywhere ever, that's the answer! Galaxies are disc shaped, spiral, circular, even spherical, but never exist as a line. Of course, my suggestion isn't that we be realistic, I think that galaxies should be made circular for very practical purposes. As it is right now, the first and last systems of a galaxy (eg, 1:1 and 1:499) are 498 systems apart, the distance between them is actually further than the distance from one galaxy to the next! My point is not that its absurdly unrealistic, unrealism can be an essential game element. If we make galaxies circular, that is, so that there is no 'end' or 'middle', so that 1:499 is immediately to the 'left' of 1:1, and so that no two systems in a single galaxy can be more than 249 systems apart, we still have the same amount of space but we bring all coordinates closer together.
Say you land a planet in 1:2:3, and you get a moon with a fancy phalanx on it, and you find yourself doing a lot of raids and using a lot of IPMs for turtle cracking. Now, were you positioned in 1:250:5 instead, you could launch attacks, conduct phalanx scans and pummel with nukes targets in BOTH directions, not just one! Making galaxies circular brings fairness in this sense. It also makes it harder for people to hide from one another, encouraging more interactions in the game.
I would actually suggest that this is a change which could be implemented not as a new feature in new universes, but in the next patch. Sure, many players have invested a great deal of time and resources into having a safe haven away from the more fussy areas of a given galaxy, but aren't they just taking the "Game" out of "OGame"? Who wants to play "O"? Why, you can't play O at all! Let's patch it in and see what happens! It could be very exciting! At the very least, it would be more convenient for a lot of people, making the universe smaller but with no less space!
And if realism does have any value, the nature of OGame's galaxies would now be explicable. Each of the nine galaxies in every universe is a perfect disc of the same size. Each galaxy has three regions; the core (full of large stars, black holes, intermittent supernova, problematic quasars and pulsars and such other nuisances that render the space uninhabitable and unnavigable); the fringes (where we go for our expeditions, full of aliens and pirates and rogue planets and dark matter and random dying stars of no use to anybody); and the nice habitable ring in the middle, exactly one solar system thick, which rings around the galaxy and leads back to itself. THIS is where the game is played!
....
it was me who suggested that... [i was responding to opposition to the idea of implementing circular universes - that is galaxy 1 and 9 being neighbours - in old unis] maybe i was a bit tongue in cheek, but not entirely... i dont think we should be too worried about changing people's circumstances, everyone can adapt to a new situation, if theres suddenly a bit more traffic in your system than you were used to, well, first of all, that could happen anyways. second of all, its not like you cant deal with it, third of all it might actually be fun to deal with it! i think we're putting nails in the old unis coffin if we're not willing to change them up a bit. If the old unis start to die, or even some of the unis that are only a year or two old, because another universe with another set of rules/different geography is taking everyone else, a lot of good experienced players might just quit. obviously retention is the key thing to balance, but i dont think we can be sure what effect making galaxies (not unis) circular would have on retention without experimenting with it.
Really, I think what would help OGame find good workable ideas is if entire universes that are already operating could vote to accept or reject a proposal that their uni test a new feature like this. Pay people with dark matter to fill in surveys (multiple choice) about what they think of the changes after the first week, month, two months, 4 months, 6 months, gather data to tweak the idea appropriately along the way (and also to assess whether it would be a good idea to apply the changes in another uni) and then have another vote to see whether or not they want to keep the feature.
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My apologies if the message is a bit long to read in one sitting. I hope something comes out of this, and I'll try to be available to flesh out and develop any ideas that spark any interest among you.
Ever wonder what kind of galaxy is laid out in a straight line, with two distinct ends? No galaxy anywhere ever, that's the answer! Galaxies are disc shaped, spiral, circular, even spherical, but never exist as a line. Of course, my suggestion isn't that we be realistic, I think that galaxies should be made circular for very practical purposes. As it is right now, the first and last systems of a galaxy (eg, 1:1 and 1:499) are 498 systems apart, the distance between them is actually further than the distance from one galaxy to the next! My point is not that its absurdly unrealistic, unrealism can be an essential game element. If we make galaxies circular, that is, so that there is no 'end' or 'middle', so that 1:499 is immediately to the 'left' of 1:1, and so that no two systems in a single galaxy can be more than 249 systems apart, we still have the same amount of space but we bring all coordinates closer together.
Say you land a planet in 1:2:3, and you get a moon with a fancy phalanx on it, and you find yourself doing a lot of raids and using a lot of IPMs for turtle cracking. Now, were you positioned in 1:250:5 instead, you could launch attacks, conduct phalanx scans and pummel with nukes targets in BOTH directions, not just one! Making galaxies circular brings fairness in this sense. It also makes it harder for people to hide from one another, encouraging more interactions in the game.
I would actually suggest that this is a change which could be implemented not as a new feature in new universes, but in the next patch. Sure, many players have invested a great deal of time and resources into having a safe haven away from the more fussy areas of a given galaxy, but aren't they just taking the "Game" out of "OGame"? Who wants to play "O"? Why, you can't play O at all! Let's patch it in and see what happens! It could be very exciting! At the very least, it would be more convenient for a lot of people, making the universe smaller but with no less space!
And if realism does have any value, the nature of OGame's galaxies would now be explicable. Each of the nine galaxies in every universe is a perfect disc of the same size. Each galaxy has three regions; the core (full of large stars, black holes, intermittent supernova, problematic quasars and pulsars and such other nuisances that render the space uninhabitable and unnavigable); the fringes (where we go for our expeditions, full of aliens and pirates and rogue planets and dark matter and random dying stars of no use to anybody); and the nice habitable ring in the middle, exactly one solar system thick, which rings around the galaxy and leads back to itself. THIS is where the game is played!
....
it was me who suggested that... [i was responding to opposition to the idea of implementing circular universes - that is galaxy 1 and 9 being neighbours - in old unis] maybe i was a bit tongue in cheek, but not entirely... i dont think we should be too worried about changing people's circumstances, everyone can adapt to a new situation, if theres suddenly a bit more traffic in your system than you were used to, well, first of all, that could happen anyways. second of all, its not like you cant deal with it, third of all it might actually be fun to deal with it! i think we're putting nails in the old unis coffin if we're not willing to change them up a bit. If the old unis start to die, or even some of the unis that are only a year or two old, because another universe with another set of rules/different geography is taking everyone else, a lot of good experienced players might just quit. obviously retention is the key thing to balance, but i dont think we can be sure what effect making galaxies (not unis) circular would have on retention without experimenting with it.
Really, I think what would help OGame find good workable ideas is if entire universes that are already operating could vote to accept or reject a proposal that their uni test a new feature like this. Pay people with dark matter to fill in surveys (multiple choice) about what they think of the changes after the first week, month, two months, 4 months, 6 months, gather data to tweak the idea appropriately along the way (and also to assess whether it would be a good idea to apply the changes in another uni) and then have another vote to see whether or not they want to keep the feature.
---
My apologies if the message is a bit long to read in one sitting. I hope something comes out of this, and I'll try to be available to flesh out and develop any ideas that spark any interest among you.
Not that I argue, it just doesn't solve the core population problem - boosting only existing competitive factor. On the other hand, this is a well-timed proposal to level the balance between farming and the upcoming noob protection changes, so, +1. 
