1/27/2015 - Treasure Bonuses Live

[Alex]

This is a pretty straightforward announcement: the treasures that were unveiled a few days ago have now been randomly scattered and actually offer the bonuses they state. If you have one, you'll see the treasure shown on your revenue page, and the bonus applied. To get a treasure, you can either have it randomly spawn in your nation or by defeating someone in war (6 Immense Triumph Ground Battles) you will take their treasures. They each respawn after 30 days in a random nation, with one treasure respawning per day.

 

Before you have a fit thinking that one of these things is going to spawn in your nation someday and you'll become the victim of 1,000 war declarations and lose everything in a matter of minutes before you even log on and know what happened, remember that on average there's about 550 nations that these things can spawn in. The odds of you receiving one is incredibly low, and should you receive one there's a 0% guarantee you'll be attacked, etc.

 

Tl;dr - Treasures now provide the bonuses they say they do. Don't freak out about it.

 

Also, there is currently no stacking alliance bonus for an alliance possessing X amount of treasures, but expect a feature like that to come soon.

 

This is from the last thread, to help address FAQ:

 

 

Okay, so first off, what are treasures?

 

Treasures are bonuses that randomly spawn in nations. There are 30 of them total. They are intended to provide a bonus to your gross income, but it's possible that some bonuses may provide other benefits, like reduced infrastructure costs, increased resource production, or reduced nation expenses. Treasures are not commodities, and can only be transferred through losing a war. If you defeat a nation with treasure(s), they instantly transfer to your nation and you get the bonus.

 

Why can't we trade them?

 

The game has a complex economy based around resources, and that's great. The reason that you can't trade treasures like resources is because we want to promote war, not trade. The economics of the game is doing very, very well. The issue we're seeing is that in higher tiers nations and alliances don't want to fight each other. Treasures are here to incentivize war.

 

How exactly do treasures spawn?

 

10 of the 30 treasures spawn based on color. That is, there's one treasure that spawns exclusively on each color. 6 of the 30 treasures spawn based on continent. Like the color based treasures, they spawn exclusively on each continent. There is also a score range, which is anywhere from .015*Highest Score in Game - 0.65*Highest Score in Game. The reason for the score range is to keep new, potentially inactive nations from receiving the treasures and to promote war in higher tiers where it's less common.

 

Why are you targeting neutrals?

 

This change isn't meant to eradicate neutrals from the game. It simply is aimed at increasing their participation in the politics & war aspect of the game. I fully expect neutral alliances to continue to exist as before, but they will be forced into choosing whether to defend their nations that spawn treasures or allow them to be defeated in war and let the other alliances take them, etc. It will help level the playing field when it comes to the advantage neutral nations get from not getting beaten down from war.

 

How are the 30 treasures broken down?

 

10 of the treasures are gemstones, one for each color. Each of these will provide a 5% gross income bonus.

6 of the treasures are continent specific, one for each continent. Each of these will provide a 5% gross income bonus.

The other 14 treasures are non-specific and anyone can spawn them. They are broken down into 3 tiers:

 

Tier 1 - 3 Treasures

There are 3 treasures that offer a 9% gross income bonus.

 

Tier 2 - 5 Treasures

There are 5 treasures that offer a 6% gross income bonus.

 

Tier 3 - 6 Treasures

There are 6 treasures that offer a 3% gross income bonus.

 

Why are the bonuses so low?

 

The bonuses are intended to be optimized to provide incentive to capture them, without making them too powerful to hold. They may be adjusted yet.

 

Can I see a list of all treasures?

 

Yes, there is a leaderboards page displaying all of the treasures and who owns them.

 

How do I know who has each treasure?

 

There is a leaderboards page displaying all of the treasures and who owns them.

 

Can I declare war on someone and take their treasure?

 

Yes, at this point you can declare war and win treasures.

 

Will I get to keep my treasures when the bonuses go live?

 

No, the treasures will be randomly scattered before any bonuses go live.

 

Can I have more than one treasure?

 

Yes, you can have as many treasures as you can capture at once, but if you are defeated in a war you will lose them all.

[Neo-Nexus]

Great update, can't wait for the alliance bonus to come in!

Do you have an ETA?

Edited January 28, 2015 by Neo-Nexus

[Ayayay]

This is stupid

[MRBOOTY]

Hey, Mr. Booty is the first response

I want to say this update rocks

Hopefully it will make things more interesting

And it will be a badge of honor to be carrying that bling

But this could very well start a global war

If a member goes for a treasure that another alliance has hoard (ed)

I think we'll see some treaties formed

Of alliances promising not to attack each other if a member is adorned

We'll see though

Great update, Mr. Sheep-o

[Donald Sterling]

too many flaws needs to be rethought.  

[Kurdanak]

Do the treasures only spawn in nations who are in an alliance?

[Kim Jong-Il]

One suggestion:

 

Make the treasure page display if a holder is in your war range next to the score. A bit lazy, but it saves time 

[Atzuya]

GPA got none, neutrality is saved \o/

 

I'm looking forward for the first war that will inevitably start because of this

[Spyro]

 

Before you have a fit thinking that one of these things is going to spawn in your nation someday and you'll become the victim of 1,000 war declarations and lose everything in a matter of minutes before you even log on and know what happened, remember that on average there's about 550 nations that these things can spawn in. The odds of you receiving one is incredibly low, and should you receive one there's a 0% guarantee you'll be attacked, etc.

 

No real point in having it then.

 

Seems moreless a waste of time that could have been spent on something more productive to the game.

[Alex]

Do the treasures only spawn in nations who are in an alliance?

 

The treasures will spawn in any nation between 1/3rd of half the highest nation score and 1 1/3 times half the highest nation score that aren't on beige or gray. If the treasure is continent or color specific then those restrictions apply as well.

 

Great update, can't wait for the alliance bonus to come in!

Do you have an ETA?

 

If I don't get it done tomorrow night, then most likely not until late next week. I'll be away from home from this Thursday until next Saturday, which is going to make it very difficult to accomplish anything development wise in the time.

 

No real point in having it then.

 

Seems moreless a waste of time that could have been spent on something more productive to the game.

 

Promoting war (and politics) at the higher ranges is something that's been at the forefront of the suggestion forum for some time. You're free to have your opinions on this update, but I think it was a good investment of development time.

[Alex]

One suggestion:

 

Make the treasure page display if a holder is in your war range next to the score. A bit lazy, but it saves time 

 

Done.

[ChestnutRice]

I remember somebody mentioning in a previous thread how the current looting pattern of "winner takes all" for treasures means that eventually only a few nations will have them after a bunch of wars. Has this been addressed yet?

[emperor666]

I remember somebody mentioning in a previous thread how the current looting pattern of "winner takes all" for treasures means that eventually only a few nations will have them after a bunch of wars. Has this been addressed yet?

I think the treasures despawn and then spawn again in a different person's nation periodically (i had this same thought)

[iljohn]

yea each day a treasure despawns and is sent to a new nation so having all 30 impossible

[Dwynn]

As I said on IRC:

 

Sheepy: "Hey guys! We've got a great new idea I'd like to implement. Let's talk about it."

Community: "Ok, well X, Y, Z need to happen to make it a viable option to tackle the problem you're trying to address."

Sheepy: "OK GUYS! I IMPLEMENTED IT THE WAY I SAID I WAS GOING TO IGNORING ALL YOUR INPUT! BYYYEEEEEEEEE"

 

 

*sigh

 

 

yea each day a treasure despawns and is sent to a new nation so having all 30 impossible

 

Also not entirely true. It simply takes coordination to accomplish 1 nation with all 30 treasures for a day.

[ataraxis]

Question: do you mean 0.15*highest score instead of 0.015? Because it seems all of these nations are in the 100+ score range when 40 is the median.

[WISD0MTREE]

I hate this RNG. 

[LadyHawke]

I can see who has these treasures on the Leaderboard, but not the bonuses applied. It would be more of a motivator to go after these treasures if you could see the bonus in game. Otherwise I have no idea. I play this game from my phone.

Edited January 28, 2015 by LadyHawke

[Dolphman]

Before you have a fit thinking that one of these things is going to spawn in your nation someday and you'll become the victim of 1,000 war declarations and lose everything in a matter of minutes before you even log on and know what happened, remember that on average there's about 550 nations that these things can spawn in. The odds of you receiving one is incredibly low, and should you receive one there's a 0% guarantee you'll be attacked, etc.

 

This is what sheepy wants us to think. OPEN YOUR EYES SHEEPLE.

[Firetrout]

I can see who has these treasures on the Leaderboard, but not the bonuses applied. It would be more of a motivator to go after these treasures if you could see the bonus in game. Otherwise I have no idea. I play this game from my phone.

 

Find a computer and mouse over the treasure icon.

[Grillick]

Find a computer and mouse over the treasure icon.

That's a solution, but she's right that this is an issue. Mobile-friendly interface is practically a necessity for any website nowadays.

[Dolphman]

 

I can see who has these treasures on the Leaderboard, but not the bonuses applied. It would be more of a motivator to go after these treasures if you could see the bonus in game. Otherwise I have no idea. I play this game from my phone.

 

Most Decent browsers will read the text if you hold down on the object that contains the text.

[Alex]

I remember somebody mentioning in a previous thread how the current looting pattern of "winner takes all" for treasures means that eventually only a few nations will have them after a bunch of wars. Has this been addressed yet?

 

This was never any viable, the treasures respawn in a new nation every 30 days.

 

As I said on IRC:

 

Sheepy: "Hey guys! We've got a great new idea I'd like to implement. Let's talk about it."

Community: "Ok, well X, Y, Z need to happen to make it a viable option to tackle the problem you're trying to address."

Sheepy: "OK GUYS! I IMPLEMENTED IT THE WAY I SAID I WAS GOING TO IGNORING ALL YOUR INPUT! BYYYEEEEEEEEE"

 

 

*sigh

 

 

This isn't accurate. I did listen and read through all the feedback on the system, but the only way to actually see what will happen is to let it go live. Otherwise, everything is pure speculation.

[Phiney]

 

This isn't accurate. I did listen and read through all the feedback on the system, but the only way to actually see what will happen is to let it go live. Otherwise, everything is pure speculation.

 

Here's a clue to how its gone so far. A total of 1 war has been declared based on treasures, and that is against a nation whose alliance is already at war.

 

Edit: to clarify my position on this, there was no point implementing a system the vast majority predicted would be pointless and not achieve anything. You said yourself it needed more work and still does, so why implement a half baked idea. btw, unless the alliance bonuses are BIG, it'll end up being a case of the alliance with the biggest number of members receives the most bonus and that is how it stays. if you want to stick to the normal 30 day time frame, you have to bump the individual bonuses up to around 50%, and then alliances ones to 20% at least. That is the only way to make these treasures matter.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Phiney

[Alex]

Here's a clue to how its gone so far. A total of 1 war has been declared based on treasures, and that is against a nation whose alliance is already at war.

 

Edit: to clarify my position on this, there was no point implementing a system the vast majority predicted would be pointless and not achieve anything. You said yourself it needed more work and still does, so why implement a half baked idea. btw, unless the alliance bonuses are BIG, it'll end up being a case of the alliance with the biggest number of members receives the most bonus and that is how it stays. if you want to stick to the normal 30 day time frame, you have to bump the individual bonuses up to around 50%, and then alliances ones to 20% at least. That is the only way to make these treasures matter.

 

I think 50% is a bit excessive, but there's no reason the bonuses can't be increased at a later time. 

And yes, I am planning on adding an alliance bonus for holding a certain number of treasures, but I would like to see the treasures implemented in a normal fashion beforehand to make sure there's nothing terribly gamebreaking, etc. This is a gradual update, not something I'm slamming everyone with all at once.