UPDATE: GOLD FREE ELITE CHALLENGE MAPS - REAL TIME STATS AND MORE

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    • UPDATE: GOLD FREE ELITE CHALLENGE MAPS - REAL TIME STATS AND MORE

      ATTENTION: we are working on a version of maps we will be hosting for Alliances - gold free. The idea is that after implementing them, ONLY these will give Alliance rank points - so matches will be fair and even.

      We would need to know from you:
      a) how many resources would you like on this map (22 player world map extra balanced for no-gold-competition) - serious answers only
      b) would you like this map to be normal time?
      c) would you like to have all researches available (no unlock day)?
      d) would you like to have researches faster than vanilla (eg. 2x or 4x as fast)
      e) AI and Insurgents - how would you like them served? (not at all - only light/passive - full on aggro)
      f) being an Elite Competitive Mode - what should the minimum rank be?


      Rules:
      The idea is we would balance this map to alliance specs - offering them EXCLUSIVELY for ranked Alliance matches.
      Alliances will need to ensure they are strong enough (there will be a minimum amount of players required to play this map)
      There probably will be a minimum rank required to play them - to keep newbies from spamming us with map requests
      Quite surely there will be a max amount of active challenges an alliance will be allowed to host
      We host them - as you can imagine that GOLD FREE is a very very hot topic.

      I believe this way we can have the best of two worlds and also function as "referees".

      Planned at first is a overhauled special Challenge World map based on the redux version but optimized for competitive free play. It will have 22 nations.
      Further planned is a small EU map with less players but this is second stage - depending on your feedback and requirements.


      FYI we are currently finishing the implementation of the promised "real time" stats system - making ranking points more or less immediate.
      We also overhauled the ranking points for units and buildings (filling gaps, and adding stuff).
      With this we will also be adding and updating the achievements.
      This is planned for next update.

      IMPORTANT: Please note that we are planning to only allow these maps to be spawned by Dorado - under our control and solely with the purpose of alliance challenge / rank play. Not for training, not for fun. No exceptions. This will allow us to host fair and competitive matches, grow the serious gamer community while retaining control over the system.

      /// PLEASE ADD YOUR THOUGHTS AND WISHES BELOW
      "Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion." Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf

      The post was edited 8 times, last by Germanico ().

    • Work in Progress list of WORLD CHALLENGE Map 22 Players based on an overhauled World Redux 28 player map

      Playable Nations

      N. America
      -----------------
      Canada
      America
      Mexico

      S. America
      -----------------
      Brazil
      Argentina
      Columbia

      Africa
      -----------
      Algeria
      Congo
      Egypt

      Europe
      -----------
      Russia
      Germany
      France
      UK
      Poland
      Italy

      Asia
      ----------
      China
      India
      Iran
      Saudi Arabia
      Turkey

      Pacific Region
      ------------------
      Australia
      Japan
      "Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion." Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf
    • I didn't play any Alliance challenge, but I guess I will play someday so:
      a) No difference for me. Playing with less resources is same interesting as playing with lots.
      b) Normal time, absolutely,
      c) yes, it gives more choice, after few games it becomes too schematic
      d) yes, specially at mid game there's a need of this one.

      Wishes:
      choosing start units,
      raging insurgents (stealth, high movement etc)
      fog of war everywhere
      and many other my concepts in suggestions
      Display Spoiler

      ***

      "We rarely recognize how wonderful it is that a person can traverse an entire lifetime without making a single really serious mistake — like putting a fork in one's eye or using a window instead of a door."
      - Marvin Lee Minsky

      ***



      The post was edited 1 time, last by Efreet ().

    • I like where this is going.



      "Dorado, please purchase Supremacy and CoW."

      a°) A delicate topic. As CoN is really really great in mid game, and considering that the pace of challenges will NEVER let people "build their economy" out of conquest, but instead "destroy the opponent one", I would suggest "starter production" that roughly equals what we get from a 25-30 cities empires. At that point, i would say "factor 2 for production in cities". I suppose that here, we can go "wild" and focus on "this must be intense".

      b°) Most challenges i followed were quite long "build up time" followed by titanic wars of extermination that were quite short in comparison. If production is higher and research quicker, the "vanilla" experience of time combat is perfect, without need to be sped up. Peace period is a classic now of challenges, but maybe they will get shorter with the higher "output" of tech and cities.

      c°) I suppose this would only make the possible build and strategies more deep and complex, so big yes, from me.

      d°) This would be very fun to see challenges go a bit later in tech trees, so, big yes from me. However, i would suggest a small X2 too.

      e°) Vanilla setting in my opinion.


      I would be proud to serve in creating and helping to monitor those games.
      On a more marketing note, the ability to say "yes, there are golds in the public games, Devs need to eat, but you can play gold free matches in alliances and competitions, so... GIT GUD, and join/create an alliance with your friends".
      Running an online alliance is pretty much like running a small company, except you need to find other way than money to keep your employees productive. May they play or work, they are humans.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Opulon ().

    • a) how many resources would you like on this map (22 player world map extra balanced for no-gold-competition) - serious answers only

      I would shoot for something in the middle. Something proven and worthy of an official match. Neither too generous or too strict.
      What I care more about in regard to resource balance is bringing the gap closer in homeland Cities. Instead of a range of 10 to 6 cities (per Nation). How about 9 to 7?
      Also making sure there are enough Electronic, Rares, and Components on the map in AI territories.


      b) would you like this map to be normal time?

      Normal Time is most definitely the priority. If we only get one, then this is it.
      But I'd prefer it if we could choose between normal, x2, and x4.


      c) would you like to have all researches available (no unlock day)?

      No interest in this at all.
      We'd love a map like this for testing and training.
      But never for true competition.

      d) would you like to have researches faster than vanilla (eg. 2x or 4x as fast)

      No. Definitely not. Challenges are the top competitive level and should be strictly played in the pure form of the game.

      e) AI and Insurgents - how would you like them served? (not at all - only light/passive - full on aggro)

      I would prefer that this setting follow the current setting used in the public games. But in general, it should probably never be set to high.



      And THANKS! :)


      ps.
      And how about Indonesia instead of Australia?
      People do not generally like the Australia port set up being almost entirely on the East.
    • In name of the Phantom Kommando I answer as follows:

      a) Resources should be higher than usual, so that intense battle is possible, though not to plenty, so that you still are forced to manage your resources well. Hard to put finger on exact numbers though. As a first basic we would suggest about 4,5k rare materials as daily production, so you can afford about 2 average researches per day. So you could say, we support Opulons suggestion with mid-game resource production level.

      How we deinfed the 4,5k:

      Mc_Johnsen aka Caaaaaake wrote:

      RARE MATERIALS:4500 / day ; 187,5/h

      It might seem a lot, but its actually quite low. Your average research(excluding expensive missiles/stealth and cheap Infantries) costs you 60-70 rare materials per hour. [Research cost divided by hours it takes to research it]. If you research double as fast while the economy doesn't produce as fast, you need a higher production to compensate for that. I believe you should be able to research some nice units, but not research that much that you can research whatever you want, no research spree.So how about you can constantly run ~1,5 researches?

      That is pretty much mid game, not late game where you drown in resources. You can go for fancy stuff like stealth and missiles without having to research much less to afford that, while they remain expensive and not that easily affordable. Here is the math:

      65 average rare materials per hour per research. Double the research speed makes it 130 rare materials per hour per research. For you to run 1,5 reseraches at one time, multiply it with 1,5: 130*1,5 = 195.

      Since the economy will grow, especially at the beginning, the research costs at the beginning are also cheaper and don't forget you can buy rare materials at the market and your starting resources, a bit less than 195 rares / hour will do. Just to have a good looking number we opted for 4500 / pay.

      Dont forget that in fact your rares production is halfed because you can and should research twice as much. 188 halfed is 94. 94 Rares /hour suddenly don't sound super OP anymore.

      Rare materials can be calculated with researches only since researches are what consumes most of your rare materials. Rare materials cost for buildings are rather low, if you want to build much of that fancy stuff which consumes rare materials, you will have to make compromises. You can't have everything.


      b) I general we are for normal speed, because many players are working and would hardly be able play in higher speeds. Also higher speed would make activity superior to tactical knowledge. Perhaps higher speed as something optional?

      c) Many units get their most important trait later in the game. Alliance games often last that long, as far as I heard, so a locked skill tree would make those units pretty much unplayable. That is why we support unlocked tech trees.

      d) We also support faster research speed, 2x would be fine, 4x might be too fast.

      e) I would guess Standard for Insurgents, they should not be the center of attention. Probably best for totally passiv AI, no war declaration or anything.



      We would also like to add some general questions:

      - Countries will be balanced, does that mean every country will produce exactly the same or will there some variance like for example: The total amount of production is the same, but Country A produces more Supply and Country B produces more Components.

      - Will it be possible to have resource trading back or at least to set the minimum prize on the market for everything to 1?

      - Perhaps it would be easier to have no starting units at all, just higher starting resources and production should be sufficient.

      - Australia seems to be pretty far of for a good starting position. Match is probably over before they have a chance to join?

      The post was edited 4 times, last by Kalrakh ().

    • This sounds awesome! I don't have much experience in alliance games at all... umm... one game so far. Another to start soon so I admit my input here may not be as valuable as some of the more experienced players.

      A. balanced and moderate
      B. Normal or maybe first ever 2x (2x could be very interesting)
      C. No. Let it come as world speed dictates.
      D. 2x would be awesome in 1 x world, 4x if 2x world. Let them sweat resource management.
      E. Light if at all. Best to be focused on the opponent than on insurgent uprisings.

      My 2 cents. Take it for what it's worth and thank you for coming up with a new innovative way to play!
    • I disagree a bit with Cyclone on the "pure form" of the game as it remains a business, restricting per nature, and this new format would instead allow to play some kind of "CoN to full potential". However, i agree it must not run "too far" from the rest of the game.

      Maybe that if resources are highers (pretty much on the format of Mc Johnsen explanation), there is no need to quicker research, as being able to "research 2 tech 24/24 7/7" would already be sufficient, and make strategic choices based on time instead of "plentiness of resources".

      About the countries, i agree that Australia is "off" and may benefit from being disabled, for the sake of density. Maybe replace it by a Country in Africa (Indonesia is okay, but i find Africa to be a bit lacking :D) ?
      Running an online alliance is pretty much like running a small company, except you need to find other way than money to keep your employees productive. May they play or work, they are humans.
    • Africa is lacking deliberately - once you start placing many nations into africa it becomes the make / break of the game - something we feel neither represents the current world powers nor the suspension of disbelief.

      In regards to speed of game - we can basically set it FIXED to anything (any change here is NOT a dropdown menu or such and requires us to create a separate, extra, new scenario from the base).

      This means 2x is possible if you want it - even 1.5 x should be doable with 16 h days... just saying.

      In regards to the resources: not an issue. Remember, this is about being able to play a match in 2-4 weeks (my expectations) - or even faster, meaning we should and will supply what you want.
      "Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion." Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf
    • Please also tell me how you see restrictions:

      We need rank restrictions - this is an ELITE mode for advanced players of CON.

      For obvious reasons we need to be selective and restrict access to this mode to seriously dedicated players - not run of the mill newbies.
      "Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion." Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf
    • Thanks CON this is indeed great news for many alliances. We want to thank you for asking what players would like and then doing your very best to accommodate us . WELL DONE !

      A: I think mid range would work well as it would allow a much larger verity of units to come into play. and also allow for units of higher level to be present in a match .

      B: X1 would allow real life players ( players with jobs and a life ) the greatest chance to participate. but X2 would be cool as well. having the option of the 2 would be a very good thing Indeed .

      C: NO . This would be a huge change to the match dynamics and should be avoided

      D: Yes But if it could scale the build time to match the game speed. The reduction of dead time being the goal here.

      E: Remain as is. We all hate them but they do add a certain element to the matches. give the air of random events and real life occurrences .

      Personal notes : Would it be possible to add sea port to the larger Island to allow for a larger variety of Ingress options. As many of these work well to become pre attack staging areas and give matches a more complex options for plans of attack.

      Also an option to set a truce time to facilitate the building of a structured plan of attack. And allow members to have time to read these plans ( not all players are on at the same time ) We want the best from every challenge to limit this down grades the match quality .

      About game rules how would CON as the acting referee deal with game infraction ?

      Once again thanks to CON from you now very happy players ! Is it ok that i now go spend some gold in my public matches to celebrate !



      I wish i could talk like Crang does ! Wait I am Crang ! SALUTE
      "There are only two types of aircraft — fighters and targets."
      — Doyle 'Wahoo' Nicholson, USMC.
    • About game rules how would CON as the acting referee deal with game infraction ?

      The fact that "if you want to gold, you can't" should already help greatly, haha.

      What types of infractions were you thinking of ? Multi account, sitting, this kind of thing ? Moderation teams can help with that
      Running an online alliance is pretty much like running a small company, except you need to find other way than money to keep your employees productive. May they play or work, they are humans.
    • This is awesome! Thanks you very much for creating this map for the alliances. This is truly a huge step for us.

      a.) I like cyclones idea of more balanced city numbers per player, closing the gap. With that a good mid range on resources to allow us to build but still require some working knowledge of resource/production management.

      b.) I say normal time. Maybe bring in other speeds later if this works well enough for you to want to build more. :) As mentioned before, many of us are working as these challenges are going so I feel the speed it is works well enough.

      c.) I don't agree with an unlocked tech tree. I do see how it could create a different style of game which could be interesting, but for me I prefer the challenge of the build.

      d.) Again I see the allure of faster research in having access to advanced units quicker. I would prefer this over a full unlocked tech tree. Perhaps the resource balancing could mitigate the dead time as crang mentioned, allowing the research speed to stay the same and still relying on player ability to accomplish the tasks.

      e.) It's a love/hate with the AI but they do add some spice to the contest. In most of the challenges I have played, the practice of occupying a city until it is no longer threatened by insurgents doesn't come until a winner has already become more or less apparent and the insurgents are mopped up later. I don't see the need to change them.

      As far as rank restrictions go I think the alliances that are actively participating in these matches are pretty much a limited group already. There are only what 6-7 that are really active in them. As an alliance we try to determine the appropriate players for these challenges before they are even made. As a newer alliance with players that are still very willingly learning, these alliance challenges have proven to be very valuable in a learning aspect and have also shown that the players rank doesn't necessarily correlate with their skill level.

      Thank you again for allowing us this opportunity. This is truly great news!
    • Active moderation would be make stuff like player replacement in case of incident much easier, I guess. Not sure what kind of infractions there might happen, depends on what can be hardcoded from the start like AI and player truce times.

      Map should also offer both country modes: randomness and player choice in case alliances would want to use something like draft mode.
    • About rules that we have had to deal with as use of gold but that is getting much better these days. but with the truce on human players but open AI. Clashes do happen ( 2 players going for the same AI city) we have used Screen Shots and CoN News to make a ruling and first player there keeps the city ! 2nd player is to go back the same way he came. We always tried to avoid lose of units on both sides ! It worked ok but for a few problems ! So how would we now deal with this Issue ?
      "There are only two types of aircraft — fighters and targets."
      — Doyle 'Wahoo' Nicholson, USMC.
    • a) how many resources would you like on this map (22 player world map extra balanced for no-gold-competition) - serious answers only
      above average, but dynamic, yet balanced. Allow trading between teammates so a comps rich nation can trade with a rare rich nation etc. Team co-ordination of resources is key.

      b) would you like this map to be normal time?
      1-2x would be fine, I know players that excel and prefer 1x, and others that excel and prefer 4x.. I don't think 4x belongs in alliance challenges, but an x2 mode is a good in between spot

      c) would you like to have all researches available (no unlock day)?
      NO, I can see nukes flying on day 4 already....

      d) would you like to have researches faster than vanilla (eg. 2x or 4x as fast)
      I am good with standard, though 2x wouldnt be bad either, that being said, often research is restricted early by available resources, so what would the benefit be?

      e) AI and Insurgents - how would you like them served? (not at all - only light/passive - full on aggro)
      regular is good, though this variable can greatly affect tactics for the setting....

      None, would be players running rampantly through cities and plowing on without holding them.
      Standard would be the take a risk of holding or moving on.
      Aggro would slow things down as you DO NOT want a rogue spawn as all hell would break loose and everyone could end up losing to Rogue State winning the challenge!.

      Honestly I think a 3 option choice slider per map :)
      Or to have some real fun, set this to random so players in the challenge can find out which setting it is for the particular challenge as they play... hehehe


      I agree Australia doesn't work int his scenario, adding an african nation in its place would work, or elsewhere even..doesn't matter. Australia is as irrelavent as Canada.

      The post was edited 2 times, last by Zolutar ().

    • We would need to know from you:
      a) how many resources would you like on this map (22 player world map extra balanced for no-gold-competition) - serious answers only
      -perfectly ballanced - even spies should be usable without production stop on factories. Your thoughts are best example for resources on map

      Germanico wrote:

      In regards to the resources: not an issue. Remember, this is about being able to play a match in 2-4 weeks (my expectations) - or even faster, meaning we should and will supply what you want.
      b) would you like this map to be normal time?
      -normal time would be normal time. x1; events with x+++ could be possible.

      c) would you like to have all researches available (no unlock day)?
      -Not really - in that case it would be a little bit simmilar to apokalypse map.

      d) would you like to have researches faster than vanilla (eg. 2x or 4x as fast)
      -max 2x

      e) AI and Insurgents - how would you like them served? (not at all - only light/passive - full on aggro)
      -full or at least half on aggro. I mean sure too strong insurgents can wipe out every one who has to few time for single map. But playing 10+ maps a time and trying not to lose them all is not problem for all players on same map. If you are in you are in, if you are out you are out. Not easier like that. And for every one who is *in* are hard insurgents only another fun on map. Mostly usable against enemies.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Last warrior ().

    • i like the guys comment above about having the the economy of a 35 city terrritory at the beginning but i think it should 4 times the speed and give something like 20 infantry and 20 second level tanks and 5 artliery and 5 fighters jets but you still would have research everything from the begining all research unlocked that would make things more interesting right there i like endymions comment on e no rogue nation
      • hello

      The post was edited 2 times, last by ross222 ().