Utopia Classic Blog May 20th

[Lydias]

Please use this thread to comment on the latest Utopia Classic blog which can be read here.

[DHaran]

I love you guys. Week in and week out you make me more confident in your abilities to run this game. Don't let anyone keep you from doing what you want to do.

[Fate1316]

Always getting my posts deleted........ If I go report some posts I consider spam, can I have them deleted? And u could have waited 5 minutes.... I was editing in a real post :/

[DHaran]

(so the current WoL age will run for another 5-6 weeks at least)

This is disappointing, yet also understandable. Thanks for letting us know now, so we can adjust our kingdom plans accordingly.

[Fate1316]

Anyways..... The continual setbacks are kinda annoying, but I am sure they feel the same way.

1) Communal wiki would be a good idea, but there should be a basic guide at least imo.
2) Tooltips should be limited. Telling people what to build may not help unless you have race/pers strats tailored already. Even then, it may go against KD builds and such.

[butterflyFX]

2) Tooltips should be limited. Telling people what to build may not help unless you have race/pers strats tailored already. Even then, it may go against KD builds and such.

well, i think tooltops shouldn't tell you what to build etc at all, but they should explain, how buildings, or op work (to help new players to understand what they are meant for); however, there should be an option (for experienced players) to disable such tooltips.

[Fate1316]

(b) in-game documentation. This includes things like tooltips, to an in-game guide that overlays the actual site, helping first-time players build their first buildings, begin training and research etc.

Tooltips should say something like read the forums, send a msg to the monarch, and such.

[Luth]

From the blog (sorry too lazy to use the quote thingie)
5. Luth: … do we have an ETA yet on completion and installation onto gen?

The upshot is that we had to re-organise a bunch of code, which set us back about a week and a half. Put together with some other minor slippages and we’re about 2.5 weeks behind our last estimates, and looking at private alpha testing starting in early June, with Genesis deployment in mid-June, and WoL at the end of June at the earliest (so the current WoL age will run for another 5-6 weeks at least).


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LOL... did i call it, or what? from the start i said wol wouldn't go 4 weeks, it would be 6-8 weeks.

appreciate the honesty Sean & Brian.

[Luth]

and i do agree that tooltips should not include what to build. that should be up to the person running the province and any particular kingdom strat.

any guide/tips should only tell you what each building does, and not get into strats in any way shape or form.

maybe it should stress that things like a "rainbow" strat are not efficient, and that buildings should be focused, etc...

[ninjin]

Yay they acknowledge my question but sadly they spelt my alias wrong :(.
but good to know we will have longer age. can put more pressure on my KD then to shape up.

[DHaran]

From the blog (sorry too lazy to use the quote thingie)

It took you longer to type that then to just highlight and hit quote, silly Luthie! <3

Anyway, the wiki guide is a good idea, as long as it is checked for accuracy.

As for the delays, perhaps next time don't try to push yourselves into such a hard deadline, give yourselves the extra time needed to make sure everything is the way it should be. Think of a deadline you can meet, then add more time to it as a buffer for any setbacks or problems. We appreciate you letting us know, but still, it should be prevented from happening this way in the future.

[Bishop]

ive never seen a coding project come in on time - we have one due into us that is a year late \:D/

nice blog update though - it doesnt take much to keep us happy.

[tloblaw]

Hi,

I'm an average player, and not one who will scream down your throat. I wanted to make a suggestion, in the form of a question.

First,

Would you be able to provide Utopia Angel, Utopia Pimp, Metatron and Pimp Agent like tools in the future? For purchase of course? It would be much easier, at least as far as I know, for the makers of the game to incorporate these type of tools that will stay up to date with the ages. As a Monarch, I would pay, if it was reasonable enough, for my kingdom to have access to these tools. These tools obviously have no in game benefit, only benefit to the time/energy it takes to perform certain in game actions.

The reason this is important to me? There are kingdoms full of members who are single men/woman who can wake up at 3 am to make a hit. Who have time to sit online and idle in chat rooms. To be able to be online at certain times to organize waves. Then there are kingdoms like mine. Full of family men and woman, with kids, who don't have the time or schedule to compete with these kingdoms. Tools like these would be useful in helping to remove the massive divide that exists in WoL.

This also brings me to another question,

Are there any concerns with the massive divide in kingdom strengths? Are there thoughts of allowing kingdoms to merge without using their moves/trades? I see many kingdoms with under 10 provinces, and many with 15. Should they not have the opportunity to merge and eliminate these uber ghetto's?

[DHaran]

These tools are available for free, and updated every age, I'm confused why you want to pay for them....

There should be an ability to merge kingdoms with 12 or less provinces. I agree 100% there.

[butterflyFX]

Are there any concerns with the massive divide in kingdom strengths? Are there thoughts of allowing kingdoms to merge without using their moves/trades? I see many kingdoms with under 10 provinces, and many with 15. Should they not have the opportunity to merge and eliminate these uber ghetto's?

This seems like a nice idea.... ....but only in theory, me thinks: actually, in most cases this will end in endless discussions, and fights between members of the (former opposing) kds, since there'll be two designated (ex)monarchs that may not be willing to pass the crown to the other, etc etc etc....