I have limited resource transfers so that you may only send resources to someone that is within your attack range.

Another day, another reset.  Here are the winners of the last round:


1. Moffington of Nirauan:    6293
2. USMCBEAR of Purple People Eaters:    4035
3. LTStorm07 of Jackson:    3787
4. realkuka of Weichafe:    3736
5. Vartanil of Tarn-Vedra:    3572
6. Jesse James of James Gang:    3522
7. Jacobi of Caesarea:    3439
8. ACF of Royal Welsh:    3273
9. Midnightnova of Mu:    2912
10. Atecs of Thai:    2697

Noteworthy changes are as follows:
-most ships must now be researched before being able to be built.  Researching a class can be done with cash or tokens, but actually building a ship of any class requires cash and steel for all of them now.  All ships are currently available for research by both means.  Expect the details regarding this change to vary in the near future as I tweak things.  Available to start are a selection of basic ships for each nation.
-there is a new tech for ground combat.
-you should no longer be able to use tokens to buy land if it will take you too close to the land total of whoever has the most land.
-the russian and american nationality perks have both been nerfed a bit.

And since it is now almost 3am local time, I will deal with your complaints all after work tomorrow. 

UPDATE:  It has been brought to my attention that the code that was calculating the winners from the last round was flawed.  I am updating the winners lists now with the correct names.

As a reminder to everyone, we're resetting the game on or about the 1st of April.  I dunno about most of you, but it's Easter Weekend up here so it's hard to get a precise timeline on that.  As usual, tokens expended won't be refunded.  I'm also going to be rolling out some changes that I've been sitting on for a while in the time leading up to the reset.

I have modified Tech Raids so that instead of destroying your victim's tech, you can learn some of it.  The rate which you gain is based on how much better their tech is than yours, and how much you win by.  Which tech field you attempt to raid is random.

I have added Australia as an option in the bonus nations section in the game store.  Their bonuses are as follows:

Crown Loyalists - Australian players recieve the same 10% discount to cost and upkeep on Bitish ships that British players do.
Death World - most Australian wildlife is actively trying to kill you.  Growing up in such a hostile environment makes Australian marines  15% more effective across the board.
Prison Colony - Australia was founded as a Prison Colony, and some things breed true.  Australian players gain 15% more resources then usual when stealing cash, resources, or land.

First off, a merry belated Christmas to you all.

Second, I have reset the game tonight.  I know I've been a bit vague about exactly when, but I've decided it needs to happen.  So it has.  Congratulations to the winners:

1: Jesse James of James Gang: 8665 points
2: Midnightnova of Mu: 6651 points
3: LTStorm07 of Jackson: 6300 points
4: Zephyr of Torent Island: 5669 points
5: Monster Kimex of kimiluvsmaya: 5631 points
6: Bishbash of England: 5606 points
7: the_Foxtrot of Totenstille: 4982 points
8: realkuka of Weichafe: 4287 points
9: Marcus Aurailious of CORE: 3872 points
10: x13spiral13x of Malatia: 3787 points

Third, while there is normally a no refund policy in effect when it comes to tokens and refunds, owing to the lack of information that I provided you all about it I have decided to void that policy in this specific instance only.  Those who purchased tokens in the last week will receive a full refund on them, and those who did so the week before will receive a half refund on them.  This will be paid out through the trickle system each update.

I am currently aiming for the next round to be a 3 month round, ending on or about the 1st of April.

If there are any questions, complaints, or anything that I've forgotten, let me know.

After months of playing and watching the game's population numbers, I think it's safe to say that the rapid game experiment is mostly a failed one.  Due to the inherently slow paced nature of this style of game, it is better suited by nature to a slower pace and longer time between resets.  If anyone doubts this, I would point out that Classic's population is roughly 50% higher then main's.

With SP main approaching it's designated reset point, and SP classic seeming to have slowed to a crawl, I propose that this would be the ideal time to reintegrate the servers back together.  From that point I believe a regular bi-annual reset cycle would be a workable compromise between all the time and almost never.

Further, along with these changes I am also considering a procedural change to land gains.  Combat land gains would be altered so that they are modified by the difference between the highest player and whoever is playing, in order to ease the rate at which players can catch up with the leaders despite starting at a significant disadvantage in a longer round.  The formula I am currently considering is the multiply land gains by (leaderstrength/2)/playerstrength.

If anyone has complaints or suggestions, this is probably a good time to table them. 

Just finished resetting the game.   This round will last approximately 8 weeks, ending in the end of November.

Round 2 winners:
    Player                         Score    Strength    People    Land    Region    Alliance      Alliance
1    RainbowLovePony of Paradise Estate    519    1312       81319    3070    The Solomon Islands    Micronesian Order of Armed Nations
2    Jesse James of James Gang          223    1298       46571    2622    The Society Islands    >_<
3    Midnightnova of Mu                139    1121       45182    2093    The Mariana Islands    >_<
4    watchwood of Carentan             192    998       57426    2377    The Gilbert Islands    Micronesian Order of Armed Nations
5    superdave of Shut                270    858       54637    2302    The Solomon Islands    >_<
6    Monster Kimex of kimiluvsmaya       164    907       56417    2831    The Solomon Islands    North Ceresean Trade Organization
7    Marcus Aurailious of CORE          298    726       53787    1888    The Society Islands    United Navy
8    UNSC Shooter of New Zanzibar       72       929       57720    1935    The Cook Islands       North Ceresean Trade Organization
9    kashif of Atlantis                24       860       44680    1693    The Society Islands    North Ceresean Trade Organization
10    Windfurry of Rabaul             87       796       51919    2182    The Marshall Islands    >_<

With the end of the round coming, there are a few points I wish to make.

1.  After several extensive discusssions with RLP, I have determined that the final rankings of the current round will be determined by combining the strength and score ratings of each player.  This is to prevent attempts at winning by bottomfeeding on new and inactive players.  Those who have been observing the ratings of top level players over the last few days will note that substantial increases in score are doable with the correct tactics.
2.  As I have stated before, the next round will be a long round lasting approximately 8 weeks.  I am currently planning for it to end on or about the 27th of October.
3.  The exact ending time of this round will be determined by random dice roll.  I shall roll several dice in secret, and end the round at a random point within roughly 24 hours each way of midday on the first, as determined by the variance of the dice roll from the statistical average.  I will then end the round as close as I can to the determined time, as reasonably limited by my work schedule.  In the interest of fairness, I will cease initiating conflicts once this period of time has been entered, though I will still counter attack to my full ability if I am attacked by someone else.
4.  Anyone in vacation mode, or whose economy is in the negative at the time of the round ending will be automatically disqualified from the victory standings.

If anyone has any suggestions for gameplay changes for the next round, this would be the ideal time for it.

Courtesy of Basileis and Jesse James, 42 new ship pictures have been added to the game.

Also, I've dropped the price of a nation change in the store from 500 tokens to 100 tokens, so that it is affordable for nearly anyone in the top 10 in each round.

And while I mentioned it a few times a while ago, I've been asked about it again a few times:  This round will be a short round that only lasts a month.  On or about the first of September, I plan on resetting the game and beginning a rather longer round of yet undecided length.