Reg Reset Dec 31st

[windhound]

Hey all
Reg will be reset on Dec 31st, approx 12am EST

It'll be reopened with a slightly faster turn rate (2 every 10) and more turn storage (550 / 150), the same as the RtR server.
Roughly equates to full turns every 2 days.

The Reg server will then become our only open server, RtR and Turbo will close down. 

I'm open to suggestions as far as ongoing Reg resets. 
In the past Reg was allowed to run until either game events dictated a reset, a major code overhaul was implemented, or the admins decided to. 
But it is nice to have a goal to work towards with a definite end date. 
If it is decided to do resets I'll set a reminder in my Google Calendar so it'll actually happen, even if I get distracted again.

[Wolf Snare]

Can we please keep turbo?  A lot of people said they would keep playing.

TBH leave reg how it is. Just reset the other two.

[windhound]

We can talk about it, sure. 
Turbo did pick up a bit of activity since I last checked on it, but still only nine players....  seems like it takes a good 15 - 20 for the server to function like it should. 

[Wolf Snare]

We've had lowpoints of activity over the years, and we were still able to manage an impressive turnout for Return to Redwall. If we don't shut the servers down, RWL will live on. The only sure way to kill this place is shut 2/3 servers down...

[windhound]

Yes...  for a special one off round
Very few RTR people signed up for Reg or Turbo
There's no sense in keeping the RTR server around along with Reg, so saying we're cutting 2/3rds of the servers is kinda silly. 

I think (but I'm not sure?) that people liked RTR's turn rate, it makes sense to me to consolidate our existing players to one sever.  Turbo has indeed has it's ups and downs lately, but mostly downs...  7 players is probably the highest in years. 

This game was designed with a certain baseload in mind, both Reg and Turbo atm shows this clearly. 
Turbo has a super emp, with 5/7 players below 100 mil net. 
Reg has a reasonably strong emp with only one player under 100 mil net. 
That's really dead for Turbo, and anyone joining Reg right now could attack just one person.  Even the landfarm is waay out of range (wtf). 
Reg needs a reset.  Turbos' future is up in the air. 

Personally I like the idea of a single server, RTR turn rate, with quarterly resets. 
Prevents the inane net inflation Reg currently suffers from, but at a turn rate you don't have to run daily to play competitively. 
This was somewhat positively received in the topic in General

I'd appreciate additional thoughts on this, I sent out the ingame on each server with a link (non functional, because lazy) to this topic and only got a response from Snare...?

Anyways.  I've said it before, but as long as people want to play we'll keep a server open. 
More than can be said for most of the other promis. 

[Gen. Volkov]

I think consolidating into one server with the RTR turn rate is a good idea, but if Snare can think of a compelling reason to keep Turbo up, I'm willing to hear him out.

[Wolf Snare]

Let turbo continue running for the longevity of RWL.

Who's it harming? We really didn't even give this a chance. windy, you should have let turbo run for at least another round into the new year imho. If it was yet another 4 empire-sevz-dominated massacre, do away with turbo. However, I know I'm not the only one left here that likes  change in turn rate.

Excitement to check your empire and your progress in the games encourages activity in the forums as well. I always personally found reg to be a tad too stagnant to keep me interested in rovl solely to run / check my empire.

It's refreshing to have different turn rates. If it's a personal cost to the admins to run an extra server, let us know. Why scale us back to one server when there are surefire signs of life still in turbo? ( this is how other promis have died)

Turbo has always been an option to test out long term strategies and the turn rate gives newcomers a different feel for the game. I've recruited several people over the years that told me if it weren't for turbo, they would have lost interest. Let new players get a feel for the game without having to wait a week and lose interest.

If it isn't financially burdening someone IRL (if it is I'll pay for both servers for christ sake), reopen turbo for the sake of keeping RWL alive.

[windhound]

I actually wrote out a longish reply post...  but nah

Basically:
- No, doesn't cost any more to have multiple servers (at least at our scale) 
- Turbo has been very dead for a long time, RtR was it's opportunity for rejuvenation but it didn't work out. 
- Despite sending out mass-mails on all three game servers two weeks in advance I only got one objection to shutting Turbo down.  I expected, hoped for, more. 
- Reg was indeed painfully slow, but its slowness did encourage strategic turn use. 
- The new server is a hybrid, an attempt to mitigate the weaknesses of both servers to keep the game engaging.   


I get it.  Change is bad. 
But when I go to close down a game server and only get one person asking me to reconsider, eh. 
You see where I'm coming from right, even if you disagree? 

[Shadow]

It's not only player inactivity, too. Turbo wasn't really getting reset with any sort of regularity either due to admins simply not being available. When activity is down, motivation to keep updating regularly goes down with it.

The fast turn rate on turbo is fun but it doesn't really work past a few months at most, since with a low player base the active one just takes over and then nobody bothers trying to catch up. If it's not reset regularly, you just get one person netting away at the top and nobody bothers to play, which has been the state of turbo for the past year or so. Most of the themes are broken now anyway (even on the reg-like code), and nobody has time or motivation to fix them, so there's not much that can be done there, either.

I think the RtR turn rate with a static reg-style code represents a pretty decent compromise between a dynamic game with a decent turn rate while also not requiring resets and theme changes as regularly in order to be functional. It's not really a question of monetary cost (Peace runs RWL on the back of his actual website, and we are low traffic so I don't think we have any impact on his monthly bills). It's just a natural way to wind things down while keeping an active game running for those who want to play.

[Juska]

Can't you program the server to auto-reset? Also, if one person wants to play turbo and it doesn't require any real effort why not run the sever? No reason to upset 5% of the player base.....

[Briar]

Can we reset the "Emp" page?

[windhound]

Juska - probably could write an auto-reset, but then I'm spending hours on something wanted by one player.  Not that I don't <3 Snare of course. 

Briar - Good call, never paid attention to that page.  It's table mustn't be set to be cleared on reset, will get it tonight. 

[Briar]

If it is decided to do resets I'll set a reminder in my Google Calendar so it'll actually happen, even if I get distracted again.

Maybe once a quarter? 4 rounds/year?

[windhound]

Currently the plan, yep. 
I added 'quarterly reset' to the 'welcome' initial ingame message, will send out the date in a bit...  probably April 30th

[Wolf Snare]

I saw just run turbo anyway. opening the server does no harm. I know of 7 or 8 people that will join.