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Thread: Solution to NPC problem

  1. #1
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    Default Solution to NPC problem

    There needs to be 2 types of flats.

    1. Neutral flats- players can build cities on them, and if they choose to abandon the city, the city becomes a NPC and stays as a NPC. Any NPCs not attacked within a week will be reverted back into a neutral flat.

    Reasons: NPCs are almost required to field larger sized armies, however sometimes innefficient NPC levels like lvl 1-3 NPCs are never used, and if they disappear from non usage, players can make more efficient ones such as lvl 5s and the effect would be the total amount of NPCs on the map will be reduced due improved efficiency.

    2. "Player only" flats - these flats can only hold player cities, and should the player abandon their city on these flats, the abandoned city reverts to the flat.

    Reasons: Having every flat inhabited by NPCs produces lots of lag. Also it is possible for a diligent player to surround himself with many miles of NPCs in either direction making it impossible to create a sat city next to him for quick city conquers. There needs to be player only flats for both practical and strategic reasons.

    If this is implemented then lands filled with neutral flats will be highly prized and even wars will be fought over them due to their NPC potential.

    By introducing 2 types of flats, it will make city building positioning very important.

    Tell me what you guys think.
    Last edited by Andante; 06-16-2009 at 01:11 PM.

  2. #2

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    I think there's a better way, and someone already suggested it in another thread, so I can't take credit for his idea.

    Get rid of the NPCs that haven't been attacked in 24 hours (or some other timeframe).

    I have a few NPCs that I created that I don't even bother farming anymore, because it's not worth my time to go harvest them. If those NPCs disappeared I wouldn't care.

    But there are other NPCs that I do farm regularly, and I would be annoyed if those NPCs disappeared.

    So let the players vote with their troops - if you want an NPC to stay, keep attacking it. If you don't care about an NPC, just ignore it and it will go away after the server restarts.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by EvNoob View Post
    I think there's a better way, and someone already suggested it in another thread, so I can't take credit for his idea.

    Get rid of the NPCs that haven't been attacked in 24 hours (or some other timeframe).

    I have a few NPCs that I created that I don't even bother farming anymore, because it's not worth my time to go harvest them. If those NPCs disappeared I wouldn't care.

    But there are other NPCs that I do farm regularly, and I would be annoyed if those NPCs disappeared.

    So let the players vote with their troops - if you want an NPC to stay, keep attacking it. If you don't care about an NPC, just ignore it and it will go away after the server restarts.
    the problem with this is that once the NPCs go away, it reverts to a flat and then players will just wait for that flat to turn to the appropriate lvl and build a NPC there.

    All this will do is make 90% of flats filled with lvl 5 NPCs.

    However thinking about it, this rule could be applied to "the neutral flats" to further ease the problem... there just made the edit.
    Last edited by Andante; 06-16-2009 at 12:57 PM.

  4. #4
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    Here's my solution. Revert back to the old Civony code(you know, the one that actually worked) and stop making kneejerk decisions based on the whinning of carebear players. All problems not related to lag are now solved.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Valin View Post
    Here's my solution. Revert back to the old Civony code(you know, the one that actually worked) and stop making kneejerk decisions based on the whinning of carebear players. All problems not related to lag are now solved.
    Yes the previous combat system without this wall defense imbalance imo was much better, however I can see how creating too many NPCs can be a problem.

    Right now I'm dealing with players that have literally created a 15-20 mile radius barrier filled with NPCs making city captures almost impossible, if that's not carebear, then I dont know what it is.

    There needs to be a way to ensure that there free flats out there.

  6. #6
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    You only need one NPC under the old system. The first NPC nerf only caused a mass increase in NPCs which the devs have no way to counter. Why is the average Evony player so much smarter than the average Evony dev?

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Andante View Post
    the problem with this is that once the NPCs go away, it reverts to a flat and then players will just wait for that flat to turn to the appropriate lvl and build a NPC there.

    All this will do is make 90% of flats filled with lvl 5 NPCs.
    Hi Andante, that is an excellent point, and I totally hear you, but I still think it would be a good method for the following reasons:

    First, I see lots of low-level NPCs that are in the middle of nowhere, and I strongly suspect nobody is farming them. If nobody is using that NPC, then nobody will care if it disappears and it will open up some space.

    Second, not deleting NPCs that are actually being attacked puts some control into the players' hands. We can finally affect how the server behaves.

    As for people rebuilding the NPCs, yes, people will always do that - either for farming or for protection against teleporters. But at least this way some space will be freed up and the impact on the users would be minimal, because the affected NPCs aren't being used anyway.

  8. #8
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    I see your point Evnoob. I altered my suggestion to be a sort of a hybrid of what you posted.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Valin View Post
    You only need one NPC under the old system. The first NPC nerf only caused a mass increase in NPCs which the devs have no way to counter. Why is the average Evony player so much smarter than the average Evony dev?
    I don't think it's so much that the average Evony player is so much smarter than the average Evony dev - it's that Evony developers are listening to the idiot noob crybabies on these forums who stomp their feet and keep suggesting changes without thinking things through.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by EvNoob View Post
    I don't think it's so much that the average Evony player is so much smarter than the average Evony dev - it's that Evony developers are listening to the idiot noob crybabies on these forums who stomp their feet and keep suggesting changes without thinking things through.
    Well, my point was that within 5 min of the NPC nerf, players were already posting how to counter it. We did in 5 min what the devs couldn't predict in at least a week of programing. To me, that suggest greater intelligence among players.

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