Booby Traps

[Aggressor]

-1 and -a bunch for the sake of all the plunderers out there
The idea of a booby trap would be the death of plundering. If these were inexpensive and accessible, then you could put them on your few special buildings that matter to plunderers (Indian Palace, Winter Train, Cider Mill, Terrace Farm, Hippodrome) and then plunderers would be left with useless buildings to plunder like houses or blacksmiths.
People, there is already a defense against plunderers! Its called a self aid kit! I have more of them than I'd ever need. Use your self aid kit on the buildings that matter and as far as goods buildings go simply collect from them!
I notice a lot how its never the good players complaining about plundering, it's the players who arent good and dont take the time to collect from their buildings or dont invest in a city defense and dont make it hard at all for plunderers to do their thing. I promise you if you got better and became the plunderer you would have different opinions.

Booby traps have been suggested several times before.

What he said ^^^
This has been suggested already once before within a week. Just search it before you suggest it and read what the feedback was on it to make sure that your idea hasnt already been discarded

 

[Emberguard]

So far no one here has actually offered any good reasons why this idea is not a good idea. All I see are comments that can be summarized by I do not like it because as a plunderer I might lose something of value to me or use the existing options to defend your city, which obviously do not work or we would not be having this conversation or the cliche collect on time which is the most useless statement ever made when it comes to this entire discussion.

Except they do work and reasons have been offered. You’ve rejected those reasons and rejected the options available. You want to take away a winning result and spite the plunderer with a penalty for winning. There’s nothing balanced about your idea within the current context of the game. It changes the results from win or lose based on the effort put in from both sides to a guaranteed loss to the winner every time they win. You’d have to remove every option currently available for traps to be a balanced idea. You already have options to make yourself fully plunderproof if you’re willing to put in the effort. It requires a trade off but it’s more then possible to never use plunderable buildings after researching PvP and still have a functional city.

I have used a city shield in the past. I have a lot of tavern silver it is not an issue for me. However, the players that get plundered most frequently are new or low era and may even still be finishing their tavern. They do not have the unrealistically high number of tavern silver required to purchase a city shield. Perhaps a better solution then is to bring the price of the city shield into reality.

City shield is absolutely a realistic price. It’s not meant to be a permanent easy out without effort. If you don’t have the time or motivation to maintain it 24/7 that’s ok, you don’t need to have it permanently to make use of it. That just means you have a limit of how many times it can be activated within a time period

 

[Vger]

I have used a city shield in the past. I have a lot of tavern silver it is not an issue for me. However, the players that get plundered most frequently are new or low era and may even still be finishing their tavern. They do not have the unrealistically high number of tavern silver required to purchase a city shield. Perhaps a better solution then is to bring the price of the city shield into reality.

Do you really think the players you are advocating for here, the ones that get plundered most frequently, are new or low era, haven't finished their tavern and (you didn't say it but...) also have the 2 spearmen defense....these people are going to figure out that getting traps and leveling them up from 10% to 100% for ever house, blacksmith shop and dye factory they own is the solution to being plundered? They don't know how to set a defensive army, but they know to chase traps? Would never happen.

We never once discussed the ridiculous advice of "collect on time". Why is that ridiculous? Because it assumes that everyone who plays is willing to order their life around a video game. Most people play video games to relax and enjoy they do not plan work, meals, sleep, vacations, and bathroom breaks around a game timer.

You keep using that term...video game. I guess if you want to think of this as a video game, you can. I never think of FOE that way. Pong was a video game (yeah,I'm that old). So was PacMan. I guess in my old fashioned mind "video game" equates to "Twitch game". Over simplification, I know.
To me, FOE is an online strategy game. You can twitch the mouse as slow as you want and still "win". But you have to think about what you are doing. You need a strategy. In fairness, I suppose your idea does add one more strategic element here. But it's one that isn't really needed.

 

[Farfle the smelly]

As someone who doesn’t plunder bit has been attacked several times (PVP, recurring quests, fun, etc) I have two solutions.

1. Join a better guild. A) your guild can go after the plunderer on your behalf, and b) can quickly level your defense buildings. I do admit that there is a lack of in-game instruction on why the spearmen defense is appalling. I had no idea until I watched a random FOE video on YouTube.

2. Get better at fighting by watching those attack playbacks. I’m still not excellent, but I am certainly better than I was, all from watching those playbacks.

Actually I have a #3: watch YouTube videos. I’m partial to Liliana the Magnificent, mostly due to her giggle, but she gets knee deep in how to defend your city. Since I instituted her advice, I’ve had more folks surrender rather than continue to attack after they saw my meager Iron Age defense. So it is possible. But if you’re going to do anything, I’d start with #1.

 

[Aggressor]

As someone who doesn’t plunder bit has been attacked several times (PVP, recurring quests, fun, etc) I have two solutions.

1. Join a better guild. A) your guild can go after the plunderer on your behalf, and b) can quickly level your defense buildings. I do admit that there is a lack of in-game instruction on why the spearmen defense is appalling. I had no idea until I watched a random FOE video on YouTube.

2. Get better at fighting by watching those attack playbacks. I’m still not excellent, but I am certainly better than I was, all from watching those playbacks.

Actually I have a #3: watch YouTube videos. I’m partial to Liliana the Magnificent, mostly due to her giggle, but she gets knee deep in how to defend your city. Since I instituted her advice, I’ve had more folks surrender rather than continue to attack after they saw my meager Iron Age defense. So it is possible. But if you’re going to do anything, I’d start with #1.

FoE Hits is great for general news and ideas, but Liliana is great at detailed advice. Her giggle annoys me a little but she has a lot more personality than FoE Hints and they're really not to comparable. I watch both of their videos a lot.

 

[DeletedUser34111]

I thought mine was good: your premise and your assumptions are flawed which makes this idea fruit of the poisonous tree. Being plundered doesn't happen that often; it can be mitigated in several ways; and it's not that big a deal in the first place.



Except that it's the only absolutely, 100% effective method of avoiding being plundered. That makes it the most useful statement ever made when it comes to this discussion. The second most useful statement ever made when it comes to this discussion is to adjust your perspective.

Except that you yourself start with the flawed assumption that your premise is not flawed. For many players, especially new players and low-era players being plundered by multiple people daily is their reality and it is a really big deal. I have spoken to many players who quit the game because they could not stop being plundered daily and it became so frustrating that the game just was no longer worth it. You also incorrectly assume that being plundered can be easily mitigated, and is not a big deal to any player. Are really advocating that InnoGames would prefer to lose hundreds of new players and the potential income those players could provide to hold on to an archaic game mechanic that is no longer really needed now that GvG, GE, and GBG exist?

You also start with a faulty assumption that everyone who wants to play this game is willing to order their entire life around the game timer. Sure if you collect on time a plunderer may not be able to get your stuff (assuming you are fast enough to click the second a building is ready and the plunder is not sitting in your town waiting for the building to be ready), but that assumes that you are 100% able to initiate your collections at precisely the exact same time every single day 7-days a week without fail and that you are willing to stop other activities in real life to do so every single day. That level of commitment to the game is completely unrealistic and ridiculous to expect from any player.

 

[Nicholas002]

I have spoken to many players who quit the game because they could not stop being plundered daily and it became so frustrating that the game just was no longer worth it.

It is good that they quit at that point, because if they would have kept playing a little longer, they would have smashed their computer, or hurt someone when they got sniped for the first time.

Sure if you collect on time a plunderer may not be able to get your stuff (assuming you are fast enough to click the second a building is ready and the plunder is not sitting in your town waiting for the building to be ready), but that assumes that you are 100% able to initiate your collections at precisely the exact same time every single day 7-days a week without fail and that you are willing to stop other activities in real life to do so every single day.

you really have it backwards here.
the plunderer cannot see when your buildings are ready to collect. You can. If you collect within 10 minutes. your stuff will be safe, unless the plunderer is checking your city every ten minutes 24/7. No plunderer does that. Therefore you are completely in the driver's seat. Unless you leave your stuff for hours on end, only the most dedicated plunderer will have a small chance of getting your stuff.

You also start with a faulty assumption that everyone who wants to play this game is willing to order their entire life around the game timer.

That level of commitment to the game is completely unrealistic and ridiculous to expect from any player.

that is exactly what INNO wants: for you to spend as much time on their game as possible. While it is not necessary to plan your life around the game to mitigate plundering, using this argument ironically works against your mis-guided goal of convincing INNO to do away with plundering.


Finally, consider that anyone who sucks hard enough at the game to get plundered more than a couple times a week, probably does not have anything valuable to plunder, so they really are not losing much.

 

[AxMan The Butcher]

If it involves diamond purchases Inno will be all for it...

 

[ExtraMile]

For many players, especially new players and low-era players being plundered by multiple people daily is their reality and it is a really big deal.

Right. Losing a few coins, supplies, or occasionally a small amount of goods or FP is a huge deal.

I have spoken to many players who quit the game because they could not stop being plundered daily and it became so frustrating that the game just was no longer worth it.

You really think Inno cares? If plundering is enough to chase someone off, that individual likely wouldn’t have become a long time player/customer anyway. Usually the people Inno likes to cater to are the individuals that love their game enough to spend money on it - if you want proof look at the way events and new features are structured.

Are really advocating that InnoGames would prefer to lose hundreds of new players and the potential income those players could provide

No. As I said above, the individuals who are dedicated to the game are usually the ones Inno caters to. A large portion of dedicated players frequently plunder. Those individuals are much more likely to spend money on the game than snowflake noobs who can’t stand losing their imaginary stuff. Inno caters to its dedicated diamond buyers. Reducing plundering would upset many of these players and would most definitely cause Inno to lose out on money.

You also incorrectly assume that being plundered can be easily mitigated, and is not a big deal to any player.

It can be easily mitigated. Getting online for 2 minutes to make collections on time is not very difficult.

You also start with a faulty assumption that everyone who wants to play this game is willing to order their entire life around the game timer.

Event buildings almost always have 24 hour production timers. You can set 24 hour productions on your goods/supply buildings. In this way, your collections can be made just once at the same time every day, for example, right before you go to bed. This doesn’t require much rigorous structure at all, and if you think it does, time management must not be your strong suit.

Finally, consider that anyone who sucks hard enough at the game to get plundered more than a couple times a week, probably does not have anything valuable to plunder, so they really are not losing much.

^^this

Moral of the story:
Inno does not cater to noobs who quit the game over their own shortcomings. Whining, complaining, and refusing to accept criticism on the forum will not change that.

 

[DevaCat]

Except that you yourself start with the flawed assumption that your premise is not flawed. For many players, especially new players and low-era players being plundered by multiple people daily is their reality and it is a really big deal. I have spoken to many players who quit the game because they could not stop being plundered daily and it became so frustrating that the game just was no longer worth it. You also incorrectly assume that being plundered can be easily mitigated, and is not a big deal to any player. Are really advocating that InnoGames would prefer to lose hundreds of new players and the potential income those players could provide to hold on to an archaic game mechanic that is no longer really needed now that GvG, GE, and GBG exist?

You also start with a faulty assumption that everyone who wants to play this game is willing to order their entire life around the game timer. Sure if you collect on time a plunderer may not be able to get your stuff (assuming you are fast enough to click the second a building is ready and the plunder is not sitting in your town waiting for the building to be ready), but that assumes that you are 100% able to initiate your collections at precisely the exact same time every single day 7-days a week without fail and that you are willing to stop other activities in real life to do so every single day. That level of commitment to the game is completely unrealistic and ridiculous to expect from any player.

I think I'll let @Graviton respond for himself, but I just have to laugh reading the twisted logic and assumptions contained in that first paragraph. For those poor souls who are being attacked and plundered multiple times a day there is indeed an easy fix -- stop rushing tech and aging up too quickly. But you already know that, don't you? There are numbers of very sound, very workable, very effective techniques freely available for anyone to learn about here and use in the game. They do require some effort to employ, but they mitigate the problem -- this is fact, not opinion. But you know that already, don't you?

As far as hundreds throwing up their hands and quitting, taking their dollars with them, all because of plundering, do you really think Inno isn't already watching every aspect of the game which might effect their bottom line? You think they are seeing a snowflake exodus? A no longer needed archaic game mechanic? That's pure opinion, not fact. But you know that already I bet.

Collecting on time? You seem to have a completely unrealistic and ridiculous understanding of how that works. But you know that already.

Folks, it's pointless to offer any advice to the op because it's clear he does not want to hear it, nor hear about how truly flawed his grand idea is. Frankly, the Mods should have moved this from Ideas to one of the existing "Help I'm being plundered and I'm but-hurt about it!" threads where it really belongs.

 

[Graviton]

Except that you yourself start with the flawed assumption that your premise is not flawed.

Whether or not my premise is flawed (which it isn't) is irrelevant to your premise and your proposal.

For many players, especially new players and low-era players being plundered by multiple people daily is their reality and it is a really big deal.

Then they need to learn how to mitigate it, and/or adjust their perspective. Just like everybody else on this forum is trying to tell you. You're trying to dismiss the collective wisdom of years and years of experience because you're upset. That is not wise.

You also incorrectly assume that being plundered can be easily mitigated, and is not a big deal to any player.

It's not an assumption that it can be easily mitigated, it is a very simple fact. Objectively it is not a big deal, as you don't lose very much. Subjectively it is only a big deal if you make it into one. Thus the advice to adjust your perspective. There are certainly people who cannot adjust their perspective and who will take too personally the loss of a few trinkets now and then. Those people should quit and find a game that they won't stress so much about.

Are really advocating that InnoGames would prefer to lose hundreds of new players and the potential income those players could provide to hold on to an archaic game mechanic that is no longer really needed now that GvG, GE, and GBG exist?

There's so much wrong with that sentence that in the interest of brevity I'm not even going to address it.

You also start with a faulty assumption that everyone who wants to play this game is willing to order their entire life around the game timer.

I didn't say that. You order your game timer around your life, or you decide that losing a handful of imaginary goodies is not that big of a problem, or you channel your butthurt into improving your city and learning how to mitigate the plundering.

Or you whine about being a perpetual victim and threaten to quit if the game isn't fundamentally changed so that plunderers are punished somehow.

Your choice, but the former is going to work a lot better and faster than the latter, and that's not an assumption.

 

[DeletedUser34111]

If most of you were working for me on my new product development teams I would have you removed from the teams as you clearly do not understand how brainstorming, idea refinement, concept maturation, and product development actually happens. If this is how InnoGames sources new ideas it is clear why there have been very few game improvements over the years and why the changes that have come through have all been very similar and lacking imagination.

Clearly the majority of the people here are of the mindset that improvements to the game are not good unless they themselves came up with the idea or they happen to agree with the idea. Many of you appear to want only fully developed and vetted ideas and are not really interested in developing ideas or even helping people develop and vet ideas. Your only concern is to shoot down ideas that may have a personal impact on you, whether they are actually an improvement to the game or not, and doing so in the rudest and most unprofessional way possible. The majority of you also seem to have forgotten what it is like to be new to the game.

I thought that perhaps the people here would be more open-minded and interested in improving the game than the rude and obnoxious people on the Facebook page, but apparently you are one and the same.

No dissenting opinions or ideas can be offered or discussed, got it. I will not bother wasting my time and energy trying to suggest improvements to the game again as most of you are far too set in your ways and close-minded to even consider a change to the game. I tried to suggest an improvement but was shut down by narrow-minded people stuck in the "old" ways. I will not waste any more of my time on you.

 

[Nicholas002]

If most of you were working for me on my new product development teams I would have you removed from the teams as you clearly do not understand how brainstorming, idea refinement, concept maturation, and product development actually happens. If this is how InnoGames sources new ideas it is clear why there have been very few game improvements over the years and why the changes that have come through have all been very similar and lacking imagination.

Clearly the majority of the people here are of the mindset that improvements to the game are not good unless they themselves came up with the idea or they happen to agree with the idea. Many of you appear to want only fully developed and vetted ideas and are not really interested in developing ideas or even helping people develop and vet ideas. Your only concern is to shoot down ideas that may have a personal impact on you, whether they are actually an improvement to the game or not, and doing so in the rudest and most unprofessional way possible. The majority of you also seem to have forgotten what it is like to be new to the game.

I thought that perhaps the people here would be more open-minded and interested in improving the game than the rude and obnoxious people on the Facebook page, but apparently you are one and the same.

No dissenting opinions or ideas can be offered or discussed, got it. I will not bother wasting my time and energy trying to suggest improvements to the game again as most of you are far too set in your ways and close-minded to even consider a change to the game. I tried to suggest an improvement but was shut down by narrow-minded people stuck in the "old" ways. I will not waste any more of my time on you.

1) we don't work for INNO (at least most of us don't)
2) Sure people who have been playing for years disagree with your idea. Even a newbie like me who has only been playing for 3 months can see that it is a bad idea.

 

[Agent327]

If most of you were working for me on my new product development teams I would have you removed from the teams as you clearly do not understand how brainstorming, idea refinement, concept maturation, and product development actually happens.

I seriously doubt if anyone here would want to wrk for you.

Clearly the majority of the people here are of the mindset that improvements to the game are not good unless they themselves came up with the idea or they happen to agree with the idea.

Agreeing with the idea is how it works. You can hardly expect ideas to be implemented cause one person thinks it is a good idea.

Your only concern is to shoot down ideas that may have a personal impact on you, whether they are actually an improvement to the game or not, and doing so in the rudest and most unprofessional way possible

The way I see it, only one rude and unprofessional here is you. Next comment confirms that.

I thought that perhaps the people here would be more open-minded and interested in improving the game than the rude and obnoxious people on the Facebook page, but apparently you are one and the same.

Or the following.

No dissenting opinions or ideas can be offered or discussed, got it. I will not bother wasting my time and energy trying to suggest improvements to the game again as most of you are far too set in your ways and close-minded to even consider a change to the game. I tried to suggest an improvement but was shut down by narrow-minded people stuck in the "old" ways. I will not waste any more of my time on you.

I could have closed this from the start, but wanted to give you a chance to discuss this. Bad judgement on my part. Am closing it now, cause this is a trainwreck waiting to happen.