1.3.1 auction feedback

[htman_2000]

Dont like new auction.  Timer is to fast,  it pretty much puts cap on land.  1st round auction can be won by someone that is not the richest    

[data2008]

We’ve made a small update of the game for the weekend. The Land Auction has been adjusted in a few ways:

    * The timer no longer slows down when players are moving to get better sync.
    * All players will now see the final bids of all the other players. Previously a player could see herself as the winner of the land auction even though the host had selected a different winner.
    * If a plot didn’t sell, no other plot is offered this round.
    * Fixed a bug which would show “Buy” instead of the price ($).

The timer is now 19 seconds and not slowing down when players move, as this wasnt the case in original land auction either, so there is a maximum gain that can be reached during that timeframe.

Please play a few games and tell us your thoughts, any comments on the changes are welcome, as there will be another update 1.3.2 next week fixing the host advantages in land grant.

The Dev-Team.

[rodz]

this is the most silly thing you have ever done with the land auctions.
i was loving the new auction system but now the player with the  least lag wins every time, if all players start at same time. there is no strategy left and late auctions are a farce. plots going for low prices under $3000 and as i say player wyth least lag will win every time. please revert to , preferably the last system or go back to original.
please please please.

i love to play mule( played more games than anyone else) but don't like this newest update and havent found anyone who does
 

[Death_Mule17]

 Good job on ending auction if plot  doesnt sell, but wow the timers waaaaay too fast(pull it back a bit pls).

  Also i noticed right away that ore pricing has dropped, we had an empty store twice and the highest we could sell for was under 140. Annnd food/nrg prices were higher and took a while to drop down again, and there were hardly ANY shortages....we had to find new ways to make big money as ore wasnt working so we turned to food and nrg to make ends meet. Idk if this is somthing you guys just slipped in or if its a side effect of the new land auction system. Either way i found it hard to play as it didnt feel like planetmule or the old c64 mule, i have to unlearn what ive learned here at planetmule to play this 1.3.1 version. Imo i say slow time down a bit /keep no auction after plot doesnt sell and put pricing back for ore,food, and nrg.


DM

[data2008]

Thanks for the feedback!

As for the timer/maximum cap:

We could make the timer run slower (longer), but that would make the game longer... its now 19 seconds.

Or we would increase the step value to $10 to have a similar effect.
Or we do a mixture of both.

Remember that in original version movement speed was much, much slower, so the maximimum cap was even more limited (about $400 max possible increase).

Of course the other auctions were much slower too, so the whole game had a much more controlled or "artifically limited" price range for everything...


As for the ore, nrg, food prices:
We didnt change anything related to that, so this is either some weird coincident or a related bug.
Can anyone confirm this, as its highly unlikely that this is a side-effect of the changes from land auction, as we haven't touched the code for price calculation.

Please keep suggestions coming.

[Death_Mule17]

  I based this off 1 game since 1.3.1 release, but it was sooo noticable the other 3 players were taking advantage of food and nrg prices while the store had almost 20 in stock....and round after round they did this while i sat on ore like a chump. I should of easly blew these 3 out of the water as i had most tite, i lost by 45...ouch. Ill try exploiting the food an nrg as they did and get back to you.

ps, i couldnt believe my eyes, i hadnt even smoked a fatty yet and i was tripping out!

[data2008]

Can you give us a link to the game?

[dynadan]

I agree with Rodz, the version before this has been the best of the 3 land auction variations in my opinion.  However i am still testing the new one out.  Only played 4 games with it.  I have not noticed any difference with the ore prices.  I can not verify what Rod mentioned about lowest ping winning every time yet.  But i have seen us all at different (but close) prices when i assume we all pressed up at same time.  So I am assuming he is correct.  If this is the case it's much better to go to last version where everyone has more time so ping doesn't matter as much.

Also, I don't know why the end land auctions when a plot goes unsold got thrown in along with the other changes.  I think people only suggested that as a change to fix people from having to run up multiple lands 2 versions ago.  So my vote is to let land auctions happen with same frequency as before.

I agree this has probably been the version closest to the original.  However i believe it is the least fun, least skillful, and least fair of any of the last 3 version of land auctions.

On a positive note, well done on creating an update so fast.  I can't believe we are so spoiled to have our very own programmers to take our crazy ideas and put them right into our favorite game.  This last change was exactly what i thought everyone was asking you guys to do.  I guess a new poll is in order.  (please don't put c64 style as a choice)

[Peter]

No prices should be changed since the previous version. Actually I'm positively surprised to hear that you can win by going in to food and energy. Those commodities are usually secondary in most games I've played, while smithore and crystite are the money makers.

We were worried that the time would be too short in the land auction, not letting players get up to the true value of land. We'll have to look this over for the next release. There might be other solutions than simply increasing the auction time.

Currently if all players press their up key from the start of the auction and throughout the whole auction it will be random, in connection with the ping, who gets the furthest. This can of course be adjusted so that all players will get equally far and then give the plot of land to the last player. Or like someone stated for the original Atari game, give it to a random player if all players have equal bids. Still it infuses the artificial cap on the price.

We had a plan to do one of those options above but released the current version 1.3.1 slightly prematurely to get some general feedback on the new auction system. We're planning a new update release soon, based on the feedback, and also addressing the land grant a bit.

[mattdune]

The new land auction does not seem to slow down when players move.  The timer is very quick.  This limits an increase in price to about $1200 and really negates the advantage of having the most money for an auction.  All players will just push up the entire auction and player lowest in the player order will win.  Very frustrating.

[Asphodel]

I'm not one of the better players around here but I do really enjoy this game. I was in the game with Death_Mule17 with the new update and although I have to admit I was a bit out of it, I wasn't so much to notice how wacky things were. The prices were absolutely crazy, although I'm not quite sure why. As to the new update with the land auctions, I hate to say it but I thought it was awful. There seems to be no strategy involved at all. I was so surprised last night when just because I ran up a moment before everyone else I won. Please, please, please change this back.... 

Asphodel

[Keybounce]

My memory of the original was that when you moved, the timer slowed down.

In any event, the time max plus the delta amount *NEEDS* to be enough that you can reach a ridiculous amount before it runs out. At a minimum, $5000 should be a target.

[leahcim99]

Played a few games with update and I think the developers are moving in the right direction, however, as others have said, the timer or value should be increased so that plots are bought for what they are worth.

Also, the ping issue should be addressed as well so that the bidding field is level and not slanted towards the lower pings (HOST has lowest)

Thanks

[Death_Mule17]

  You see, im not totally crazy>

I was in the game with Death_Mule17 with the new update and although I have to admit I was a bit out of it, I wasn't so much to notice how wacky things were. The prices were absolutely crazy, although I'm not quite sure why.

Now i know asphodel had a few ,but there were 2 others who saw this "wacky" pricing. Anyways heres the link>>>http://www.planetmule.com/hi-score-game/game?game_id=31233

ps. I played again, this time with bad brad(#3) and he didnt notice the low ore pricing ...tried to point it out, but he said it was normal(prob thinks im a nut). We did get it up to 230(once), but i still say somthings a li'le off.

[Death_Mule17]

   And heres the chat log>>http://www.planetmule.com/server/chats/chat_game_31233_user_5265.html
 If you count the "wtf"'s and the "omg"'s you will see its much higher than your average everyday game.