4. Root controller request/clarification

Root controller request/clarification

  • Culture

    So we've all heard the root controller is coming. While I'm a fan of this in general I do see one problem- it's going to force empires to "compress" as they attempt to minimize transfer fees of sending energy to that root controller.

    I think instead of having one root controller we should get one root controller every 10 GCL (1 at "1", a second at 11, a third at 21, a fourth at 31). This way empires can use portals to spread out without penalizing them too much (otherwise it seems like portals exist only for griefing other players).

  • Culture

    For people who are not up to date: READ HERE

    Current Proposal/ideas from said topic

    • Root Controller property StructureController.root and the method StructureController.setRoot().
    • Only one single controller can be set as the root OR concept of multiple root controllers. Say, one root for every 10 GCL.
    • you can switch the root to another controller (probably with a cooldown).
    • Only energy put into the root controller contributes to your GCL. All other controllers simply upgrade their levels without affecting GCL.
    • There is no limit how much energy you can put in the root controller

     

     

     


  • Honestly, I hate the idea.

    I understand the need for large empires to be CPU efficient with their upgrading, but as a new player this screws me over particularly hard. Unless GCL cost per level is considerably modified, I'm getting kneecapped because I have multiple rooms that still need to take that massive step from RCL 7 to RCL 8 that are doing absolutely fuck-all for my GCL. (Some rough numbers say that my next GCL would be sometime next february, rather than early December).

    Beyond just screwing over people like me, it also seems to screw people like bovius and nhanho over pretty hard, even with the change you suggest.

     

    I'm very well aware that I'm not an expert here and that I lack the perspective of a large creep cluster, but from my point of view, this is a hell of a poison pill.

  • Culture

    There might also be the possibility to have no root controller, but just a bare maximum of 15 GCL per room, regardless of level, but no RCL cap

    Example:

    Upgrading a level 7 room with 60 energy/tick  with no root controller enabled at all will result in 15 CP and 60 RCL.

    If you set root controller on that room you will the full 60 CP and 60 RCL.

    if you set the root controller to another room you gain 0 CP and 60 RCL.

     

     

    Please keep in mind that this is still an open discussion, not a thing that will happen with said rules.


  • @dissi Unfortunately, that's not really any better (Marginally, barely, but still not much use).

     

    I'm aware it's still in the discussion stage. I just feel like the largest players are (understandably) dominating the discussion, and what's good for them and what they see from their perspective isn't necessarily good overall, though it obviously make sense that they should weigh as heavily as they do.


  • I agree with Knightshade -- removing the meta rewards for maxing out your rooms would make it a lot less satisfying. There must be a better alternative to the 15 energy limit.


  • Dear Tedivm,

    I am surprised to hear that the root controller is such a certain future feature. I would hope that is not the case.

    As I mentioned in the other thread, the idea of the root controller is great for me personally and I will certainly enjoy it. However, I think the overall impact will be negative for the community and that it introduces an unnecessary complication.

    The strategy employed by Bonzai is super rare and has limited benefits. I hope if the devs are set on the root controller, that they will change their mind.

    Kind regards,
    Atavus

  • Culture

    Atavus-

    Oh, I agree, I actually argued against it in the other thread. As I'm not one of the game developers my voice matters as much as yours does in this though.

    What I am asking though is for clarification on how the feature will be implemented if it does get implemented, and am making suggestions to improve how that feature will work if it does happen to come about.

     

    tedivm


  • Understood, that does make sense.

    I'll see if I can provide some useful input on this topic. Though it would be interesting to hear from the devs what they're stance on this subject is.


  • I hope "root controller" thing will never be introduced.. Is makes this game much more boring. Bonzai's strategy is nice, because it needs some skill and effort to make it possible to pump energy into your GCL. Tho as I know, Bonzai made it mostly for mineral gain. Implementing root controller will make game slower and more boring, as big players will get even bigger, and small players will develop themselves even slower.


  • So I'd like to ask for some clarification on the purpose of the root controller, I first saw this brought up by Artem in a discussion by Dissi about the "feed one room, rinse repeat strategy" and then most of the discussion on root controllers assumed that the purpose was 1 of 2 things. The first being to counter that "exploit" and the second being to limit the growth of larger players. Honestly I can't believe that the purpose of the root controller mechanic would be either one of those two reasons because with the first reason it would basically be the devs saying that not only is that strategy not an exploit (which personally I don't feel like it is, it is just that a strategy), it is in fact a key game mechanic and the only way to play the game because root controller essentially forces everyone to do the same thing. And to the second reason, as others have stated this mechanic would be a much larger hindrance to newer players with more rooms that need to be leveled to 8 than the larger players who normally have a lot of their rooms already at RCL8. And some would say that the root controller also brings changes to the GCL formula but at that point it is just those changes that are going to slow down larger players and it has nothing to do with the root controller mechanic. I personally don't like the idea of the root controller because like others have stated it will strongly encourage a much narrower style of game play, but I am especially against the core mechanic change because I haven't seen anything telling us what problems they are trying to correct with it. I've read in other post about feature changes that this information (purpose and statistics supporting the change) are more often expressed in the PTR discussions but as there are a lot of posts to sift through, maybe when these discussions reach these boards here we could just include a link to the previous discussion.


  • If there was a root controller, then the controller structure would essentially become irrelevant in RCL 8 rooms wouldn't it? All rooms but one would only need to upgrade the controller once per LARGE_NUMBER_OF_TICKS to keep the room from downgrading. Seems weird after having so much of a focus on upgrading in every room.