The New Production Queue - Plus Planets Con Updates

Saturday, August 30, 2014
During the keynote State of the Nuniverse address at PlanetsCon 2014 a significant new feature was released addressing the age old discussion of the Ship Limit and Priority Build Control. The new feature is called the "Production Queue". 

Planets Con Update


The Planets Conference is going off well. There have been some fantastic presentations made today on various strategies. All players are invited to watch the live streams here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PlanetsmagazinePlanetsCon/posts

A huge thanks go out to SpaceSquad and Thin Lizzy who have organized the event. They have done an incredible job! Also a huge shout out to all the players who made the trip from all over the world to make this event a success. You guys are amazing! 

The Production Queue


For the full detailed analysis of why this change was released and what it is you can watch the video here: 


Presentation slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-pOfK6mHfDmOgWVV0ldc23k-d5Su05Zy_GbSe1CHUGM/edit#slide=id.p

Disclaimer

Before even starting please remember that classic games will always be available and will always be "classic" without any changes. This new change will be rolled out into select games in the coming weeks to test and ensure that the new mechanics are sound.  

Background:

The current ship limit is a fundamental element of the game which creates the unique strategic feeling that we experience now. It puts the focus on strategy and tactics rather than pure economics. Maintaining this feeling and concept was core to any change. Therefore the Nu solution is a modified version of the existing system rather than an entirely new approach. It consists of 4 changes.

Details

Change #1 - Priority Queue

  • If you have Priority Points you can use them to build.

    • Even if there is already 500 ships in the game. 
      (soft ship limit)
    • Use pbX friendly codes to build.
    • Priority points are never used for “regular” builds
    • Do not need 20 PP to use them. 

Change #2 - Regular Queue

  • Starbases always build in Random order up to 500 ships.

  • Starbases not set to build earn 2 PP.

    • Before and after ship limit (if randomly selected).

Change #3

  • All ships cost +1 more priority point than they do now.

New:

  • If you destroy an enemy starbase you steal 2 PP from them (if they have some).
More Info:

Host Order is: Priority Builds, Regular Builds, Clone, movement/combat etc, Regular Builds

The values of +1 for cost, 2 pp stolen for a destroyed base and 2 pp for no ship build are configurable in private games and will be experimented with.

Full game documentation has been updated here: http://planets.nu/documentation/queue


Release Date


Games with the new feature will be released in the coming days and will be available for private and test games beginning Sept 1st.  

Questions welcome!