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Proposal to change the way Rankings work
As things currently stand, Rankings give people a great deal of advantageous meta-game information that their characters simply would not have access to within the context of the game world.
Rankings seamonsters for example tells people within a few small areas exactly where a ship is at any given time. Rankings mining (playername) can tell them that a particular player has active mines and sometimes even allow them to make educated guesses about the troop/miner ratios. Even ranking Fishing tells you that certain people are out on the water, regardless of gems, veils and com screens.
While I would love an opt-out option to this purely OOC scoreboard, I realize that will probably not be allowed. So instead I propose that the information for these things be updated only at Seranade each day, or better yet at random intervals every couple days, instead of having it be a more or less a tick for tick counter that eliminates the need to search out enemies.
Rankings seamonsters for example tells people within a few small areas exactly where a ship is at any given time. Rankings mining (playername) can tell them that a particular player has active mines and sometimes even allow them to make educated guesses about the troop/miner ratios. Even ranking Fishing tells you that certain people are out on the water, regardless of gems, veils and com screens.
While I would love an opt-out option to this purely OOC scoreboard, I realize that will probably not be allowed. So instead I propose that the information for these things be updated only at Seranade each day, or better yet at random intervals every couple days, instead of having it be a more or less a tick for tick counter that eliminates the need to search out enemies.
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Comments
And you won't understand the cause of your grief...
...But you'll always follow the voices beneath.
Also, I don't really need nor did I have to use this to figure out that someone might be seamonstering in one of the few areas where you can find ships usually? Like that's the last reason I'd care about for changing it.
And you won't understand the cause of your grief...
...But you'll always follow the voices beneath.
Yes, I completely understand how & why the variety of rankings systems could leave people in what they perceive as an "unfair" situation. However, consider the bigger picture. Are you reaping what you've sown?
As its been said time and time again, Achaea is a large-spanning world, and certain avenues and areas of it are dangerous, and do involve risks. I grow frustrated everytime I see people trying to mitigate and/or limit the way they're actually exposed to those risks.
Also, referring to it as an OOC scoreboard is just silly, because it's certainly not. It's rating and ranking things that are happening entirely IC. Simply because it's globally available instantly doesn't mean it doesn't fit within our fantasy realm - otherwise the same logic would apply to things like org channels, or the logs, or the entirety of the realms is interconnected in a metaphysical, telepathic network that lets us communicate and access information on demand.
Sometimes the numbers look too big. Just means the miners hit the bonus where they pulled extra product. It's not too frequent though. I only see 2 definite bonuses in this list and a few possible ones. Running it again on the next day would sort it all out. I see 2 probably collapsing mines. Comparing it to previous day would confirm if they are and give up the info about how well defended the mine is. Great time to attack since they won't fully collapse until 10-15 minutes after this report can be pulled. Can also guess whether someone is likely to be using high or low level defenders based on how far from a multiple of 20 their miners are at compared to how much mining they've done. I think it is too much information. I emailed Sarapis with a display like this in the first week or two of mining and he said he was going to obscure the numbers in the rankings, but since then I've assumed he either forgot or changed his mind.
I am not calling for the removal of rankings. However their up-to-the-minute nature does provide meta game information that removes any need to scout for your enemies and gives attackers a timing advantage. Who needs a black flare when you can see the seamonster counter go up and know within 1-4 areas where a ship is? Sure does make it easy to gather a crew and attack whenever it is convenient for the attackers, without all that bother of having to sail around for an hour or two and potentially get spotted and reported by other enemy ships.
Want to keep someone out of mining by attacking them every time they start up a mine? Scouting around every couple hours to see if they have established somewhere would take considerable time and effort. Why do the work when Rankings Mining (player) will tell you exactly what type of mines they have active, if any, just by watching the numbers change.
I feel like your post was ad hominem. I have not complained about being attacked. I'm proposing a change to how an aspect of the coding works that I believe is being exploited to side step the need to scout for enemies and to give a tremendous convenience to any attacking side that is unwarranted.
Cascades of quicksilver light streak across the firmament as the celestial voice of Ourania intones, "Oh Jarrod..."
Sea monsters it's rather easy. Note a person numbers killed and average level. Check back ever few minutes. If it changes do a calculation, you've narrowed where they are to 2-3 areas.
Mining, check if their total is going up. Then run about frantically reading signs till you find their mines.
Fishing, Xp, explorer rank not so easy. Unless it's the Sarapin or you catch a record for that year it doesn't update every fish you catch. And it only says 'your fishing' and doesn't really narrow down locales.
I've never really thought to look to rankings for a real-time check of what anyone is doing, and I don't think that's a common thing to refer to for the majority of us.
That love soon might end You are unbreaking
And be known in its aching Though quaking
Shown in this shaking Though crazy
Lately of my wasteland, baby That's just wasteland, baby
It is unfortunate that a degree of in-game factionalism seems to be bleeding onto the forum in terms of how we are addressing these mechanics and I do regret that there is this level of OOC animosity that seems to be at play whenever we discuss these issues. I actually had a tremendous amount of fun in our 40 minute long naval battle. Contrary to what your side seems to think you did have me on the ropes quite a few times. Having Mhaldor as an enemy to fight has given my experience on Achaea a focus I could not find any other way. Thank you for being my bad guy.