Recent changes to MvM games
We've been putting a lot of effort into improving the MvM experience lately (they are quite important to the growth of Planets Nu), and I thought I'd share some of the details with you, as it's com up recently in the feed:
- When Accelerated Start was released a few months back, a major reason for it was the MvM games. We wanted players to be able to do more in their first game then the rather simple first turn before having to wait for the game to fill and host.
- We've shrunk the map a little, and moved the midshipmen in some from the edge. This let's them get into combat sooner, and with less need for long distance fuel logistics. It's important that they learn how to develop, but getting to fight is the fun part that will keep them playing.
- Players that don't complete the 5 turn accel start period are cleared from the game, so there aren't a bunch of abandoned ships and stuff floating around. This gives the active players more room to expand, and in general just looks better than having a bunch of unplayed stuff sitting there.
- Player slots that are dropped after the accel start period are opened up as usual (we actually do see a fair number of replacements in these games, so it's good to leave some positions for this). However, the midshipmen have the option to drop the alliance with open/dead slots to attack them if they like.
- Upon completing the accel start period, players are immediately started into the single player levels, so they have something to play while waiting for the game to start.
- One of the most significant new changes: as a MvM game fills, players that have not even played the first turn (the "looky-loos" I call them), are removed from the game to give a chance for an active player to take the position. This helps increase the number of active players in each game. For example, instead of having 2 games start with 5 active players each, now we might have only 1 game with 10 active players. Which make things better for the both the midshipmen and the mentor.
A lot of these changes have been going in over the last month, so it's still too early to fully judge the effects, but so far it's looking encouraging. Out of the last 15 MvM games to start, 12 still have 4 or more players, and 11 of those have 5 or more. |
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