Hi All;

Many of you will know the current TPT (Tech Per Turn) formula:

0.13*Labs*(1+Labs/Land)+3

We are going to tweak this to:

0.17*Labs*(1+Labs/Land))+3

Many of the older players here may remember that that was what it used to be back... well it was that way in '01 I think anyway.


This is partially a balancing adjustment, and partially a change to keep everyone on their toes ;)


This is, btw, "changeset 3" in case you see that in the server details (unless slag fancied that up already, I don't remember).


This will roll out to the servers as they reset, and will feature in the upcoming Alliance reset.

cool, should be interesting

will reduce tech prices and speed up tech starts

now people teching will be happy to keep teching to 1800/point like the old days instead of everyone kind of stopping at 2400/point

alliance is probably the one it matters most for so its ok primary and ffa missed it

btw the tpt reduction and i think the gdi cost increase was part of a misguided attempt by mehul/blake/giff/swirve/whoever to try and make less theos do well

and i believe it had the opposite effect by increasing tech purchase costs for non techers and allowing all servers to support more techers

btw there is a bonus for techers from this as their tech levels will average out higher than they have been if you sell the same proportion per day

basically 30% more tech on hand for techers means higher bus and res levels and so on

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was trying to balance things out but failed to really grasp what the market would do in response.

Yes I believe you are 100% correct; It seems like he wanted to nerf theo's hard, but he partially did with the govt reductions, but then did stuff like this which did the opposite...

hmmm, this may signal the resurgence of the 'tech start' during war sets.

Finally a change that may potentially help killers as much as tree huggers.

a lot of our changes help fighters more than netters... people just don't like to discuss or think about them :p

it'll be interesting to see how this plays out on the clan servers next round

nice, since I usually do a tech start whether warring or netting

nice ive been saying this for years;)

TTR here we come! lol

reducing tpt and increasing theo's priv. buying prices and also something was done to theo's max tech%s too.

ttr got nerfed but didn't matter since tech prices went up and demand increased so other strats except oiler suffered more than theos.

Problem wasnt the tpt formula change, just a bigger % of earthers playing non techers

exactly, supply and demand. the amount of people playing efficient techers ( aka, people that lg correctly ) has only declined as the game has progressed.

ha ha - gregg is gonna have a hissy fit.

DISCLAIMER- comments apply to express only

CONGRATULATIONS on improving the game
in combination with the dictator change
there is now a new strat to go with the old
techer/casher/farmer strats
it is the wargainer strat

i agree with the posts that this change helps efficient LG players
i also agree that efficient LG play has declined game wide
anything that improves LG yield is a welcome change

however

i expect greater elasticity of demand than the other posters
because
1) the limited number of turns on express does not allow most cashers or farmers to maximze tech so they will absorb the additional tech without a big drop in price
2) theos have been given an increase in their use of tech since this formula was in place as a result their minimum price is higher than it was in 2001
3) players are accustomed to certain prices at certain times and will pay the usual price for several sets at least


so i do not predict a dramatic fall in tech price on this server
i predict that this change will aid theos unduly
but cashers should easily max tech and i am in favor of a more competitive strat balance
commies have also had an increase in their use of tech since 2001 so we may see a research commie strat arise where the tech is used rather than sold
i would welcome that

with more tech and consequently more cash and more food in the game, PS for money rather than land will increase
the no drop land rule becomes even worse than it was
the dictator change mitigates this complaint for that gov
but since a high weapons/milstrat C or F can not drop land acquired at set end for tech/SPAL purposes there is still a problem with the no drop land rule for those countries

DISCLAIMER: express only

in combination with the dictator change,

I LOVE THIS RULE

so that's 30% more tech? I'm a power techer, this is huge.

YO, roll this fluff out in FFA now PLEASE =)

Our set just started!

that doesnt work like that

it lowers the price techers can sell for because they are making a bit of extra income and have a bit lower costs

what raises may be how much tech they want to keep on hand to make use of slightly higher tech levels

but if you do the same amount of sales per day as you used to your tech on hand raises 30% unless you wernt selling max beforehand

OUTDATED PRIVATE MARKET PRICES FOR MILITARY ARE KILLING Cs.

we have played two express sets with the new tpt formula

The result of the formula change is that the % of Rs and casher Hs is way up and a massive influx of cash has been injected into the global economy. The price inflation is obvious except where prices are kept artificially low by outdated private market prices



since i spy on every top country every set, i feel confident that this info is solid

fortunately there are a couple of easy fixes
a) reduce the amount of cash in the game by reducing H's pop bonus and reducing the effectiveness of bus and res tech

or

b) keep the new levels of cash in the game but make the adjustments needed so commies aren't hung out to dry.
last set there were approximately six commies and only 1 accomplished anything, they all finished way way down in the bottom half of the field
that was true despite the fact that jets and turrets sold for $174 all set long and most of the set there were none for sale


i prefer option b)
that means though that the private market price for military has got to go up at least 25%
if u have a way to check the volume of private market military purchases last express set and compare it to pre-tpt-change levels, u can exactly calculate the needed adjustments, i would actually say it is more like 40%

if u look at the history of express, when it started Cs won every set, now with one exception they are no factor
if u select option b) u will make commies competitive once again with the cashers but the farmers will be hurt

you need players, market problem solved.