Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Aug 14, 2014 12:01:10 GMT
So, little interesting tid-bit here. Post-update player retention on steam is actually significantly better than it ever has been. There has barely been any drop (actually a minor increase!?) in maximum concurrent players since the update was released almost a week ago. If we compare that to the last major release (V2.0.0), while the initial jump in players was higher (2000 vs 1200), within a week of that release, peak players had dropped to about 600 or ~25% of that 2000. Yesterday's peak figure of 1300 players is actually higher than the peak achieved last friday, the day of the latest release. Now the update was pretty late on friday, so maybe that somewhat explains the lower peak compared to the V2.0.0 release. But nothing I can see explains why so many people are still playing the game, except for the fact that they must be enjoying it. I'd be interested to hear peoples suggestions/comments on this  Perhaps 22Cans secretly expanded to 2200Cans? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2014 13:29:27 GMT
there's nothing like waking up to impossible happiness odds. and because there's no way to back up saves without the game miraculously progressing without itself running, i guess that's 4 days of gameplay wasted. :I  Yeah this is a bit of a mess isn't it. I like the idea that the world keeps going while I'm not playing, but its silly if their happiness jumps up and I can't do anything about it. |
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Post by dozvati on Aug 14, 2014 13:36:10 GMT
I've just realised you don't even need a Farmer's settlement. Super Fast Building, Rain of Purity, Larger Abodes, Builder's Settlement, Fitter Followers, Beautify, Longer Leash, Luxury Abodes. None of these are technically necessary to advance, and you unlock a Miner's Settlement simply by having ~500 followers. Super Fast Building is negated by having small buildings which are already quick to build, Builder's Settlements generate less belief than Farmer/Miner settlements. Fitter Followers and Beautify are probably the big misses, but it's very easy to get by without them. After you unlock Miner Settlements, every other upgrade requires either population or ore. And the best part is I can continue building houses as much as I like!! My method to survival is building mass slums purely for sacrifice. Sacrifice ~120 followers, get 50k belief. Meteor Astari. Repeat.   |
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Post by engarde on Aug 14, 2014 13:38:26 GMT
I went for the hard reset on Sunday after I made zero progress all day and lost 400 overall to astari where my max pop was 360 when I shutdown Saturday.
Post restart I avoided farms since as per usual they limit expansion, then I had a slightly more reactive workforce for astari.
No sacrifices no gem spends on gifts, but shed loads of happy trees which get real expensive far to quickly.
Swamp the astari temple, FoG the mockers ever trigger point - no more astari - aside from start of session or resuming from voyage - FoG time for them again.
Much better result for the first dozen or so hours.
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Post by Danjal on Aug 14, 2014 13:42:47 GMT
I commend your efficiency dozvati - systematic annihilation of the population to further your divine goals. I'm still amused by the claim that 22cans did not see this coming and that people do not play the game in this manner. engarde - Agreed, much better results that way. |
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Post by dozvati on Aug 14, 2014 14:01:40 GMT
I commend your efficiency dozvati - systematic annihilation of the population to further your divine goals. not efficient enough.. followers still get trapped on each others bodies when walking to the queue. made aisle terrain to force one entrance, but still getting traffic jams.. will have to reorganise slums for straighter pathways. |
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Post by Danjal on Aug 14, 2014 14:04:03 GMT
There's always room for improvement - and yes, I've noticed much the same. With followers coming from various directions they inevitably 'block' eachother and get stuck. Forming long queue pathways seems to be the solution.
Frankly this is part of the reason why I'd love to be able to build and move these structures rather than just patching the ruins up.
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Post by Qetesh on Aug 14, 2014 14:15:10 GMT
What about creating the zig sag technique everything from Banks to Airport use for their long congested lines?
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Post by 13thGeneral on Aug 14, 2014 14:42:31 GMT
So, little interesting tid-bit here. Post-update player retention on steam is actually significantly better than it ever has been. There has barely been any drop (actually a minor increase!?) in maximum concurrent players since the update was released almost a week ago. If we compare that to the last major release (V2.0.0), while the initial jump in players was higher (2000 vs 1200), within a week of that release, peak players had dropped to about 600 or ~25% of that 2000. Yesterday's peak figure of 1300 players is actually higher than the peak achieved last friday, the day of the latest release. Now the update was pretty late on friday, so maybe that somewhat explains the lower peak compared to the V2.0.0 release. But nothing I can see explains why so many people are still playing the game, except for the fact that they must be enjoying it. I'd be interested to hear peoples suggestions/comments on this Perhaps 22Cans secretly expanded to 2200Cans? I suspect it has more to do with hopeful and tenacious players mixed with the incredibly long timers and constant struggle to keep your population up, versus actually enjoying the game. I'm still pushing on despite really despising much of the experience, mostly because I want to see the entirety of the content. It's maddening that we're still at a point in 'beta' where it's so imbalanced and impossibly frustrating that most play testers will never get to actaully play with most of the content - and those that do are essentially exploiting the flaws and loopholes in the mechanics (which just further highlights and exposes those problems). But the fact we're plodding on shows just how badly we all want this game to be good. |
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Post by dozvati on Aug 14, 2014 14:55:04 GMT
my boat has cherry blossoms. does your boat have cherry blossoms? i think not. B)  |
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Aug 14, 2014 14:57:42 GMT
my boat has cherry blossoms. does your boat have cherry blossoms? i think not. B) Your boat is the prettiest of them all. |
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Post by Danjal on Aug 14, 2014 15:01:52 GMT
I suspect it has more to do with hopeful and tenacious players mixed with the incredibly long timers and constant struggle to keep your population up, versus actually enjoying the game. I'm still pushing on despite really despising much of the experience, mostly because I want to see the entirety of the content. It's maddening that we're still at a point in 'beta' where it's so imbalanced and impossibly frustrating that most play testers will never get to actaully play with most of the content - and those that do are essentially exploiting the flaws and loopholes in the mechanics (which just further highlights and exposes those problems). But the fact we're plodding on shows just how badly we all want this game to be good. If I had to guess, I'd put my money on the inclusion of the Pit of Sacrificial Doom. You see, before players were met with an unmovable wall. And the only way to overcome this wall was to either sit through it or to cheat. Not many are willing to cheat, and most players will not waste their time sitting it through. Now however we are given a solution. Sack your people and get gems, spend gems to continue playing. True - there's tedium in having to micro-manage your people into the pit. BUT you can continue to play without too much delay. Many players had already established that the larger abodes often are less favorable unless you take breaks regularly. This information is readily available on the steam boards. And a lot of players are likely to take advantage of a mechanism like this. I would not be surprised if Analytics confirms this, and that many a player has been making use of the gems supplied through sacking their folks. Rather than having to fight the system, we can now make the system work for us and avoid much of the flaws by literally throwing the equivalent of money at the problem. As for the boat - I've had a rainbow over mine! Apparently there's a problem where the animation of the gift buildings (the tree in the linked picture and the fountain in my own game) get put over the boat instead. So yes... I had a spray of water coming out of the center of my boat with a rainbow over it. My boat had turned into a wooden whale! |
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Aug 14, 2014 15:18:32 GMT
True - there's tedium in having to micro-manage your people into the pit. Perhaps the inclusion of a "sacrifice" button would be an option. Click the button, enter an amount of followers you would like to send to their doom and the game automatically selects followers based on certain criteria to send to the pit. Add some options to suggest which followers you would prefer the game to select for you, for example old people or breeders. As for the boat - I've had a rainbow over mine! Apparently there's a problem where the animation of the gift buildings (the tree in the linked picture and the fountain in my own game) get put over the boat instead. So yes... I had a spray of water coming out of the center of my boat with a rainbow over it. My boat had turned into a wooden whale! And you have no screenshot of the wooden whale?  |
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Post by Danjal on Aug 14, 2014 15:35:02 GMT
Sorry, no screenshot.
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Post by dozvati on Aug 14, 2014 16:49:13 GMT
sacrificng followers no longer subtracts happiness. i like this update.  |
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Aug 14, 2014 16:58:10 GMT
Hmmmm... weird move. Or maybe not.
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Post by morsealworth on Aug 14, 2014 17:02:59 GMT
sacrificng followers no longer subtracts happiness. i like this update. From the point of the game world consistency it shouldn't anyway since being called by your god to join him is exalting. |
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Post by dozvati on Aug 15, 2014 4:47:37 GMT
I hit boost on a lowly Astari destined for the Pit o' Doom, and he raced up the steps and did a cannonball. I just.. I love vanity animations, you guys.
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Post by hardly on Aug 15, 2014 6:58:03 GMT
This is off topic but just so you know we are on page two of the google search for GODUS atm.
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Post by dozvati on Aug 15, 2014 12:05:49 GMT
my followers have started leaving skidmarks on the sand... questionable behaviour.  |
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