New round changes / updates

[virus man]

These are the updates for the new round. Mostly PvP / balance related updates.

- delete / modify / recover log: 2 AP

- buy new server, double the cost for each new server (exponential increase)
- increased delete mission rewards by 30%
- new secret servers total numbers can not exceed 200 with the game progress
- if secret servers count reach 200, instead of spawning new servers, the existing server get increased hardware / protection updates with the game progress
- version increase to NPC server with each new server / upgrade is by 0.5 version. Note: On an update the server hardware is updated with the new hardware. If the server has been hit by malware and values are starting values, the server still gets full benefit of a new server with new hardware as the corps upgrade it again. The old hardware is simply removed and replaced with better hardware.
- when the NPC server upgrades hardware / protection, it will also change password.

Regarding the AP change to logs.  I would say only on REMOTE server logs.  Don't charge the AP for doing the logs on your own server.

With the change to Secret Servers, I would suggest also having them do an IP change.  After all if an admin were to go and update a server and find that it has been hacked they would change the IP address on top of the upgrades.

Delete mission rewards increase.  I would not add that in.  It will not do anything towards PVP and only allow people to achieve higher levels in the game faster.

With regards to all the requests to double max AP I would instead increase the rate at which you regain AP to fix the real issue of there being little to do.  After all increasing max AP by 100% will not allow you to do anymore in the game than you do now.  However increasing AP generation by 50% or 100% will allow you do to considerably more in the game.  So as you can see increasing max AP 100% to "increase what you can do in the game" is plain stupid.

With regards to Faith and Revelations.  These are suggestions I made to you a LONG time ago Titam but since that PM was ignored I am going to post it here.

1> Allow Faith and Revelations to be killed.  AP Cost for it should be 50% of what Revelations would cost to install.
2> Decrease AP usage of Revelations along with install and disinfect times.  Right now .8 roughly is all that is needed to end the game.  By doing the above you allow higher versions to then be useful.  If you want the exact numbers I will get them for you.
The current top version takes approx 33.6 minutes per GB to install.  (272.5 minutes / 490.4 = .56 <rounded up> * 60 = 33.6 minutes)  If you were to cut that in half or even more then it would allow a real war between Pro-Rev and Pro-Faith players.  As is the current setup is a joke as has been proven.
You can keep the AP cost the same just reduce the times.

Actually fix Research instead of doing ineffective patches to it.  It should be harder and harder to research higher and higher levels of software.  Right now it is not.  All it takes is the hardware.  So how do you fix this?  As was suggested over 3 months ago.  Decreasing returns.
At the current rate of research the version increases .006 per hour no matter what the level is.  Have it so that at some divisible of say 10 the amount gained from research is reduced by 10%.
That would have versions go as such.
.1 - 1.0 = .006 per hour
1.1 - 2.0 = .0054 per hour
2.1 - 3.0 = .00486 per hour
3.1 - 4.0 = .004374 per hour
and so forth.  Heck you can even decrease the intervals between the drop in games.

That is what should be done to TRULY limit research.

Now to fix hardware
Your one fix for servers is not bad.  However I would say a X1.2 increase instead of X2.0 increase per server bought.
Now we just need to limit the amount of hardware bought on each server.  I would say increase the cost by X1.2 every time the stats double.
Example
550 MHz CPU to start
going from 550 - 1100 = 1,500 HPD
1100 - 2200 = 3,960 HPD
2200 - 4400 = 9,504 HPD
and so forth

Again this is to limit growth in a feasible manner.

What are your thoughts Titam?

[Donn]

Very good post Ebolla.

Emi, answer it mate!

[siremi]

Great suggestions Ebolla.

I will implement your diminishing research idea.
There will not be an AP cost for changing localhost logs.

I think hardware upgrades are fine for the moment.
AP replenish time is also fine for the moment.

Only time will tell. Hopefully, with the increase in PvP we can also release the Factions Update where you gang up with a corporation and fight the other gangs from the other corps 

[virus man]

Great suggestions Ebolla.

I will implement your diminishing research idea.
There will not be an AP cost for changing localhost logs.

I think hardware upgrades are fine for the moment.
AP replenish time is also fine for the moment.

Only time will tell. Hopefully, with the increase in PvP we can also release the Factions Update where you gang up with a corporation and fight the other gangs from the other corps 

Why not release it now since that in of itself will push PvP to the masses as well as encourage it with everyone in a fun and enjoyable manner.

My reasoning behind the Hardware costs increases is because right now on my alt can literally do an upgrade right now of 9999 in each catagory and still have HPD leftover.   Mind you I haven't played him in about 10 days but still 10 days income from his farms and he would still have about 6.5 mil HPD left over.  (Granted I used him to get the times on the Revelation 2.452 install so I spent about 4.5-5mil buying a server just for that)

Hope that clarifies the reasoning behind the suggested changes on the hardware.

And last but not least.  Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to the requests.  I really do appreciate it.

[HJ®]

One question: If the majority of the players agree that AP costs are wrong, maximum AP is wrong and AP regeneration is wrong, why do we keep being told it is right? We are the ones who play the game.

There is a severe problem with AP, especially now with the cost to modify logs. We are being limited in play and we all know better, this is not the intention. I also think the disinfect times for Faith should be a bit lower. Right now it takes less than a week's worth of research to research an unstoppable Rev bomb. How long is the round going to last after the reset? Is it even going to be worth playing?

[siremi]

One question: If the majority of the players agree that AP costs are wrong, maximum AP is wrong and AP regeneration is wrong, why do we keep being told it is right? We are the ones who play the game.

There is a severe problem with AP, especially now with the cost to modify logs. We are being limited in play and we all know better, this is not the intention. I also think the disinfect times for Faith should be a bit lower. Right now it takes less than a week's worth of research to research an unstoppable Rev bomb. How long is the round going to last after the reset? Is it even going to be worth playing?

There will be some changes to the Rev / Faith, once the new round starts and I can implement the updates, I will make sure the Rev gets rebalanced. That includes Rev / Faith can not be stolen by the software dealer, and other balancing issues.

As for the AP issue, I have something else in mind. Missions that reward in AP. They will require more skill and and will have a chance to drop items / interfaces to increase AP. This will be in the factions update I think...

[HJ®]

Okay. I am putting my faith in you, SirEmi.

[Exousia]

If nothing else, I'm sticking around to see what direction the game goes. A lot of the potential additions to the game will really flesh it out and make it more interesting. I'm still a fan of a persistent server, however, but as long as the rounds aren't too short I can deal with it. 

[siremi]

Research diminishing formulae for next round:

For each V 1 in version, decrease research efficiency by 0.0005 up to minimum of 0.001 increase / hour.

Examples:
Res a V 1.0 for 100 hours => V 1.55
Res a V 2.0 for 100 hours => V 2.5
Res a V 5.0 for 100 hours => V 5.35
Res a V 10.0 for 100 hours => V 10.1

This means the research gets diminishing returns for each hour until it reaches V10.
At V10 research only gets 0.001 version per hour.

[HJ®]

And that is the cap, correct?

[jimmi33]

Im looking forward to the reward in AP. AP is the only thing right now i hate about this game.

Because i played this game in the beginning was AP seemed to be unrealistic to get to 0 but now its nearly impossible to have above 100.

[gs 059]

I want to know how an item in this can give you a different ap regarge and still fit in the game...

new item, expresso maker, keeps your coffie hot to keep you awake, +.1/m for ap regen........

lol

[siremi]

The new round updates described in the first post are now in place.

You can test them in prep for the new round.

God Speed!

[siremi]

I want to know how an item in this can give you a different ap regarge and still fit in the game...

new item, expresso maker, keeps your coffie hot to keep you awake, +.1/m for ap regen........

lol

I'm thinking special algorithm programs. You get them as special rewards from special missions, and they can be used to increase your AP by a fixed amount. There is also a possibility to create some kind of system where you are able to mix / match algorithms in order to increase a file version or do all sorts of other things with it...

[jimmi33]

I want to know how an item in this can give you a different ap regarge and still fit in the game...

new item, expresso maker, keeps your coffie hot to keep you awake, +.1/m for ap regen........

lol

Like that idear lol. Since AP in no way can be set to something IRL unless of course you think about your power supply then that is the best idear I have seen.  ^^