Ok, before I begin, I'd just like to state the following is just my opinions. I wish to politely discuss my opinions with fellow players

definitions:
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"Way back when" or "Back in the day": means early MBBS days, which only seems like a long time ago to me:)


Lets begin! imho, some things in TW2002 are just wrong and need to be fixed, or at least optional.

1) Extern: extern is legacy. It was originally used for maintenance and AI stuff in the old single player doors version of TW. TW2002 has evolved to be a real time / multi player game and the events of TW should occur in real time too. The fact that strategies are devised around extern is bad too! This means players have to log in at midnight to insure nothing will happen to their assets! I enjoy TW, but I do not enjoy logging in at midnight to make sure nothing happens. Not everyone can dedicate 24/7 of their time to TW.

2) Zero Turn mapping: back in the day when I discovered this and wrote a program to map the universe, I thought I was the coolest kid on the block. However ztm makes a 5000 sector universe seem very small. I don't know if removing the course plotting (the display of the course plot) is a viable option or not. I don't even know if we'll ever be able to stop ztm, but I'd be interested to hear what every one thinks?

3) Mixed alignment corps: mixed alignment corps throw off the balance of the game. You get the best of both worlds. I can go into great detail of the game balance and the advantages of being good or evil, but I'm sure everyone here knows this.

4) Photons?: I'm all for photons. What I would like to see is some sort of admin function for creating a photon schedule. way back when, it was common to leave photons off during the first couple weeks of a new game and then turn them up higher as the game age progressed. This could at least be an option:) Admins can still leave them on the entire game.

5) Game details: You can view the number of fighters and planets in the game. Why? I can understand if a player wants to start playing he would check this information to see if its possible to get a good game, but isnt game age enough? In large games this information is not as useful assessing your enemy, but your average (aged) game only has a couple contenders making it pretty easy to asses your enemies.

6) CIM/Port Reports: What is the point of the CIM? except to interface with helpers? The game should not tailor to helpers else the game play might ends up tarnished. This also means I disagree with port reports. This point is very minor in my book. game play isnt really tarnished, except for cim hunting.


These are just my opinions. Yes, they could truly change basic strategies of the game. I'm not lobbying to get them forced into the game, but at least optional.

Thanks for your time.

hmmmmmm....ok, I think the game has evolved from the days of MBBS. That is why u see these things. I don't think It would be a good idea to get rid of this stuff, because what u are getting rid of is 10 years of game evolution. I can almost go as far as to say Helpers of sorts are necessary to play the game. I have said it before, and Ill say it again, Back in the day, TW was a slow game cuz the net was slow...now, The net is Fast so TW had to adapt. Get rid of these things and u will get bored FAST.
Just my opinion,
L8ter

*Proud Member of the Alliance*

Live Long And Prosper!

oh yea, and I think we should remove the whos online feature too:)

quote:
Ok, before I begin, I'd just like to state the following is just my opinions. I wish to politely discuss my opinions with fellow players


Almost all of these suggestions you made are being discussed for Trade Wars 2002 v4. You'll likely not see any major changes to TW v3, but changes for v4 are already being discussed.

The only item you mentioned that hasn't been covered was the photon schedule. I personally don't see a very large need for a photon schedule to be integrated. If you need to change the photon settings, a TWGS sysop can do so through TEDIT. Though it would be a nice little feature. I just don't see it being a priority feature.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave
uhndagrowhn bbs

uhndagrowhn bbs
telnet://uhndagrowhn.merseine.nu

I agree with pretty much all those points and EAGERLY await version 4 . Really, though since version 4 is likely a long way off, can anyone offer us any relief in the meantime? Like my favorite, a toggle to disable type II twarp, a mode to make mixed align corps cost evils 50% of their exp or more? Things like that would help tide us over... Of course I understand the issue with getting to a stable version... But boy, would I love such options. Hell, I would even be willing to pay $30 or something extra for an "option pack" that let me do that stuff.

"Jedi do not concern me" -The Sith

v4 will be door compatible, right?

Cuz there is no way I'm ever paying for the glorified batch file they call TWGS.

quote:
I agree with pretty much all those points and EAGERLY await version 4 . Really, though since version 4 is likely a long way off, can anyone offer us any relief in the meantime? Like my favorite, a toggle to disable type II twarp, a mode to make mixed align corps cost evils 50% of their exp or more? Things like that would help tide us over... Of course I understand the issue with getting to a stable version... But boy, would I love such options. Hell, I would even be willing to pay $30 or something extra for an "option pack" that let me do that stuff.


I doubt there will be any additional major changes to v3.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave
uhndagrowhn bbs

uhndagrowhn bbs
telnet://uhndagrowhn.merseine.nu

quote:
v4 will be door compatible, right?

Cuz there is no way I'm ever paying for the glorified batch file they call TWGS.


TWGS is EIS' "flagship" product at this time, and it's likely that any games written in the forseeable future will be written specifically for TWGS.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave
uhndagrowhn bbs

uhndagrowhn bbs
telnet://uhndagrowhn.merseine.nu

Is it me, or is doing away with the things mentionned above slow down the game considerably. I don't want to go back to the days where it was normal to have a slow moving game!

*Proud Member of the Alliance*

Live Long And Prosper!

quote:
Is it me, or is doing away with the things mentionned above slow down the game considerably. I don't want to go back to the days where it was normal to have a slow moving game!


What it will stop is you hitting a fig and having a planet appear beneath you before you can blink. Or porting at a port and a moment later having a photoned delivered courtesy of the nearest CIM hunter.

v3 will remain a scripter's paradise. v4 isn't necessarily meant to replace v3. v4 will cater more to the casual player (the majority of TW players), while v3 will continue to thrive on players who prefer to utilize reactive scripts. At least that was one of the possibilities discussed.

Again, nothing that has been discussed is anything more than conceptual. No final design for the game has been laid out. v4 itself isn't even a 100% sure thing at the moment. Nothing more than ideas being tossed out and discussions surrounding those ideas. More of a think tank than an actual in-progress project.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave
uhndagrowhn bbs

uhndagrowhn bbs
telnet://uhndagrowhn.merseine.nu

I disagree with you on most points. Can you imagine SST'ing with a script to help you? It would be very slow and time consuming, not to mention boring. And if a planet gets dropped on you because you crossed someones toll fig, maybe that will teach you some caution when they're online.

quote:
I disagree with you on most points. Can you imagine SST'ing with a script to help you? It would be very slow and time consuming, not to mention boring. And if a planet gets dropped on you because you crossed someones toll fig, maybe that will teach you some caution when they're online.


Automation (PPT, SST, SDT, SDF, Colonizing scripts and the like) wouldn't be affected. Reactive scripts would. Also, v4 as it stands now is not meant to replace v3. Sysops could run one or both side by side.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave

The game has changed alot in the last 10 years and it will change more in the next 10, As far as toll figs and planet drop scripts go, if you dont enter the sector your not gonna get nailed. these scripts are fine, there are some that are totaly unfair and should be banned.
The worst of them in my opinion is the cim hunter script. this script monitors the cim ports every 60 seconds and tells the user when there is any change. even if port has no figs buy it and you put one there, that change is shown to the user cause they can no longer read the port. And if you port there they know it as well. I know the people who have this script will disagree and so will the author as He is makin money off it, but I dont think this is fair or even good for the game, just my opinion. One other change I would like to see is the ztm. I liked the old days when you and your enemy had to search for the bubbles, now you can find or be found in no time at all. Time limits are a good idea, this keeps people from using a 24/7 bot. I think that a messege delay is a bad idea, again in my opinion I think this will hurt the defender as well. I like playin in mixed corps, it adds alot to the game as far as strategy and team work, I have learned tons since I started playing red in mixxed corps.

quote:
The game has changed alot in the last 10 years and it will change more in the next 10, As far as toll figs and planet drop scripts go, if you dont enter the sector your not gonna get nailed. these scripts are fine, there are some that are totaly unfair and should be banned.
The worst of them in my opinion is the cim hunter script. this script monitors the cim ports every 60 seconds and tells the user when there is any change. even if port has no figs buy it and you put one there, that change is shown to the user cause they can no longer read the port. And if you port there they know it as well. I know the people who have this script will disagree and so will the author as He is makin money off it, but I dont think this is fair or even good for the game, just my opinion. One other change I would like to see is the ztm. I liked the old days when you and your enemy had to search for the bubbles, now you can find or be found in no time at all. Time limits are a good idea, this keeps people from using a 24/7 bot. I think that a messege delay is a bad idea, again in my opinion I think this will hurt the defender as well. I like playin in mixed corps, it adds alot to the game as far as strategy and team work, I have learned tons since I started playing red in mixxed corps.


When and if v4 is started, expect ZTM to be a thing of the past and CIM to be seriously modified to prevent CIM hunting from being anywhere near as effective as it is under v3.

As for the message delays, there are many things that will offset the seeming disadvantage to the defender. If anything, the defender will always have a slight to moderate advantage over an attacker, just as it should be. It should always be easier for a player to defend what he has than to attack what another player has.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave

TW has not changed much since the mbbs days.. the scripts and helpers have.

somehow I think this thread has swayed away from my original message:)
What are we disliking here? message delay? or something else I said? because I would like to defend my opinions if we are disagreeing with something I've said:)

-post