Hey all

Quick announcement -> The new bonus system we've been working on for a while is now up and running!

Instead of using a turns-based system, we'll be using a points based system. When you vote for Earth Empires using one of our ingame voting links, you'll be given 2 points. These points must be used within 48 hours of the time they are given to your country, using a first in, first out system. When you are given a bonus point, one is given to each of your countries. So if you have 16 FFA Countries, and countries on Alliance, Express and Tourney, each of your 19 countries will be given their own points.

You can spend these points on temporary bonuses for your country, such as an increase in per capita income or attack strength. The bonuses are level-based, so the more times you use each one, the better the bonus becomes, but at a higher cost. Each bonus is a little bit different and we'll be adding some more nuiances as we tweak things. We feel this adds a new layer of strategy to the game as well :)
To track what bonuses you currently have active, there is a panel on the right side of the ingame topbar. There is alo an alert telling you when you have bonuses available. We'll be restyling this, but we wanted to get the system out sooner than later :)


For the remainder of each current round on every server, we'll still continue to offer the 2 turn bonus. This can be purchased with bonus points at the same rate as we had with the previous system.

I think that's it... we'll be adding other ways to get points too (Facebook recruiting and stuff) and this is another positive step toward getting the game polished and updated :)

Whoa, overwhelming.

Definitely interesting.

This should mix things up a little ;)

And allow us to give bonuses for smaller things.

I hope you don't do one for facebook recruiting, the amount of crap I already have to block on there from other games that I don't play I don't want to have to spam this out. I've asked some of my friends if they would play and they have joined but the moment I have to start spamming it out just to keep up with the rest of this game, that's as bad as paying for privilages.

I don't like these new changes, especially not mid-set :-/. Some of them are a bit odd too, like +10% attack strength for 30 turns...DAMN

maybe it is just me...

They seem a bit overpowering in some cases, but I guess that's where the strategy part comes in.

Can't get bonus' from mobile again. You've got it set so the bonus link can only get to the page that describes the bonus' and now have no link to the actual "go to vote" page.

this is a lot to take in all at once... it definitely changes the game play

GARBAGE.. I just want turns

30 turns or 10 attacks... so that way a demo can get 10 attacks off, if they were so inclined

Is it progressive?

If you used 12 bonuses on a dict with max weps tech would you get 290% attack strength?

If so that would be outrageous. Suiciders could use this to rape people

You have never used this bonus before! (Max: 4)

ford there is a max of 4 for the wep bonus so the total of the bonus is less then wep tech

I like the change

How are the maximum's per country or per round? Do restarts have the ability to increase attack strength if your previous country already used that four times (or whatever the max is)?

Does the max for weapons tech bonus mean that the strength can only be increased 4 times but used multiple times at that level? I'd love more clarification on this because we don't really have the time to experiment mid set and we don't want to screw it up experimenting.

+10% Attack Strength is way overpowered.

You guys were talking about balancing the game and now first strike advantage is even more powerful.

I'd rather have it weakened to 5% but apply to both attacking and defending.

This is huge and very exciting! However, I wish that the implementation had been delayed until some time after the announcement and maybe at the same time as server restarts for at least most of the servers (Dec 31st/Jan 1st or Feb 1st if you wanted to cater to the Alliance folks).

could i suggest a cash bonus? maybe a $5m cash bonus. none of the bonuses help a starting strat. maybe a simple cash bonus would help that?

just a suggestion

Can other players see what bonuses you have active and for how long when they spy on your country?

Outside the unbalance concerns from the attack boost being 10% and stacking 4 times... I like the new bonus system a lot, it adds a layer to the game while maintaining the games general simplicity.

What?!? +explore, +PCI, +indy, +food, -food consumption, and -building cost ALL help start-ups (+attack str can also help start-ups)

However, I DO like the idea of a cash bonus. It could be a lifesaver when you find yourself out of cash and/or food to play your turns and your goods haven't sold. I'd suggest 1 point = 25% of NW in cash. It needs to be low enough that it's not more than one turn's production but high enough that it can actually be helpful.

The more I look at it the more I like it. The bonuses can be very strategic.

Just need to be careful about not allowing some overpowering bonuses.

This will be fun to explore and use. I also like dantzig's idea.

Bonuses don't stack on themselves, btw

You can only have 1 of each type of bonus active at a time. So if you have +10% attack strength active, you can't use another +10% attack strength until your current bonus has worn off. You can, however, have multiple bonuses active at the same time, which is to say that you can have +10% attack strength active at the same time as +10% PCI.

We made these bonuses with balance in mind. None should be unbalancing, but properly selecting how to use your points will give you a strategic advantage, like oats said.

good thoughts on this thread btw, but some should likely go on B&S :p

Thanks for the clarification. So the max: limits are the number of times per country that a bonus can be used? Hmmm....

Hmm... unless I am 2 stoned, I believe the -10% building cost just charged me an extra 10% instead of lowering it... I went from paying 5.8mil a turn to 6.4mil a turn... :/

well the though process was when you have 200 farms starting the set the 10% bonus is only an added 20 farms which is not so significant (same with indy). minus building costs is not that substantial when you have 1k acres or below. PCI population growth is slow in the begining of the set. + explore might help but not when you are spending 300 turns on building CS.

i took the turns over those considering the 10% bonus for 10 turns is equivalent to 1 turn at 100% and i can get my CSs up faster. however considering the trading for turns will be discontinued that doesnt help me....

im not complaining... just suggesting

i'll have a look at that after work.... it should go the right way, I tested them all pretty thoroughly...

great change

adds strategy and diversity of strat
excellent

so.. i have a question :P
If im gonna block explore, and add the explore bonus before i block explore, will it adjust during my batch, or will it act similar as the game does (not adjusting for the lowered acres per turn until the batch is completed)

this was also discussed on B&S, but using the explore bonus impacts your base explore rate, so batch exploring with the bonus will be like your normal batch explore with an increased explore rate.

So in short, yes... :p

Confirmed that it will not change during the batch explore:
http://forums.earthempires.com/...point-bonus-is-pretty-bad

How about a Bonus competition where we come up with diffent types of bonuses,

and get rewarded with points:P

There is still no way to vote foryour bonus on the mobile version. It keeps sending you to the description page. Please repair this for us mobile users so we can try too. :)

right
i'll have to add that after work :-/

Thanks pang. Being a strictly mobile user, I appreciate it.

is there some kind of countdown timer to show when they'll expire?

Mobile stuff should be active.

Bonus points don't have a page to show when they'll expire yet. :)

Bonus points don't have a page to show when they'll expire yet. :)
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Well, what's the hold up?????
LOL

;o)


QM

The +10% Attack Strength, Spy Strength. Lets say I were to use that bonus, then not run a single turn and logout. If someone attacked me or tried to spy on me, would it be used defensively? Or is it only when I use it offensively?

well, attack strength is obviously a no. Not sure about spies. *shrug*

The attacking and spying bonuses are purely attack-based.

All of the bonuses actually require you to do something with your country to utilize the bonus.

does the spy bonus increase your spy strength or your spy effectiveness? example, if I CD someone, will it increase my spal or increase the amount of troops I kill?

I've updated batch teching so that you do NOT get to use the bonus beyond the 10 turns.

tech per turn is calculated on a per-turn basis, so if you tech 17 points with a bonus and 15 without a bonus, and you want to tech for 170 points but only have 6 turns of the bonus left, this will be your tech per turn:
Turn 1: 17 tech
Turn 2: 17 tech
Turn 3: 17 tech
Turn 4: 17 tech
Turn 5: 17 tech
Turn 6: 17 tech
Turn 7: 15 tech
Turn 8: 15 tech
Turn 9: 15 tech
Turn 10: 15 tech
Turn 11: 8 tech

This was done to make the bonus act more like cash, oil, indy production and food production in the sense that you can't "batch" it.

i'm lost.

I'm too stupid for this game now.

Pang,

I know it's a lot to ask, but is there a way to code in either a stop or a warning for that? It seems like if I accidentally go over the turn bonus, then I would lose some or most of an extra turn (that turn that I only tech 8 when I could've teched 15). This seems like a "punishment" that doesn't happen with the other bonuses because the other bonuses you actually control how many turns you use.

I updated the wording to make it more clear how the bonus impacts your teching.

It works by displaying it in the following format (Example assumes I have 65 turns):
You can research 15 technologies per turn (PLUS an additional 3 technologies per turn for the next 10 turns). You have time to develop 1,005 new technologies.

So the 1005 technologies I can develop is equal to 15*65 + 3*10 = 975 + 30 = 1005

Hopefully that is more clear now :)
When you don't have the teching bonus active, the extra info will not be shown.

Thanks Pang! Wonderful as always. I wonder though, whether it would be more clear if the wording were something like:

You can research 15 technologies per turn (18 technologies per turn for the next 10 turns). You have time to develop 1,005 new technologies.

instead of the PLUS 3 per turn. This is so that people don't have to do the addition in their heads. Also, most people don't tech all their turns at once, so it's more helpful to have the turn by turn tpt.

Also, in case you didn't see it, I posted a bug on B&S that you might want to check out =)

Turns: 138 nice

I just teched 3 times(10 turns ea) with the tech bonus. It said "You can research 1,019 technologies per turn.(PLUS an additional XXX technologies per turn for the next 10 turns). I assumed that the 1019 already included my bonus tpt. I just waste 30 turns worth of bonus tpt. Wish I read this thread first :(

I don't like this change. It makes taking the bonus turns a much better option. Why not simply limit the bonus and still allow it to apply over a batch tech. The new display is quite ugly as well and doesn't fit. (speaking solely on technology here)