it sticks, i know you could probably all say its apart ofthe game, but i am a new player to this game. Yes i joined a very small alliance with only a few players ( the Muppets ) but i mean im getting hit at least 5 times a day by countries up to 8 times my size??

That isn't encouraging for new players is it? It's also a sad sign for the game that clearly there isn't anyone else to hit? Are the larger alliances all agreed to not hit each other that they are forced to hit peeny little countries to get land or even just to have some sort of excitement in a 'war' game? Where is the excitement when you know the defender cannot hit back?

It's just really frustrating, and i like the concept of the game. I also like to have a go and see if its something worth sticking around and spending what could be hours a week on the game. But at this point it doesn't appear that way when daily growth is hindered by constant bottom feeding i think its called?

I know you would probably say just join one of the larger alliances and just become another number? But where is the fun in that. Yes i agreed being apart of a large team would be great, but what about the spirit of the underdog? Or going out on your own. There is excited in that, and i think something needs to be done about it. It looks like this game has been around for years, but the numbers are in serious decline, and its the same people playing. But clearly there is some sign here, from a brand new player that this exact situation is forcing me to just quit and never return. Where as if this wasn't happening, my original thought was to give it a go, and perhaps get some of my 'non playing friends' to come and join. But i don't see the need now...

You are not that new if you know what bottom feeding means.

i agree.

with that said, it sounds like youre in a spam tag and you obviously realize that being part of a small tag doesnt really work, so why not join another smaller tag that has some leadership and can use politics to not let you get farmed.

wiki

There is this whole incorrect perception that by joining a larger Alliance you just become "another number". There are no Alliance large enough anymore where you can truly become just "another number".

All Alliances, yes even LAF and SOL, are small now compared to where this game was several years ago. They are small enough that everyone knows everyone for the most part, unless of course you have one of those members who does not speak, participate or show himself.

In any Alliance anyone can have an impact. I have only ever been in 3 Alliances in all my years of Earth and in all that time I have had significant impacts on the Alliances I join, it all comes down to what you put in.

I suggest you join a larger Alliance and experience it for yourself before really commenting on being just "another number".

I suggest you play primary,tourney and express, hell, go to FFA! 1a and team servers are a bunch of vultures...

These servers are just not designed to promote solo or rebellious playing styles.

Perhaps so, Sov :/

It's even worse now that the game is so much smaller that as a solo player you stand out a lot more.

I think it would be nice to come up with a way to promote such playing styles in the game but unfortunately I just don't see a way of making that happen right now as it stands.

But the thing about this server that is appealing to most is the communities within the Alliances. Whilst you do not see it on this forum or you do not see it as an outsider ingame, within good Alliance great communities exist.

As an individual I welcome the challenge of being able to win the support of my peers and make a difference in an Alliance which is of benefit to them. I like representing my Alliance and playing my part in making it stronger. I also am proud of the fact that my input is in small ways making my Alliance more fair. That is what this server is about.

hmm

appreciate the warm welcome. I have read over these forums alot before making a post, as you can see in most posts you quickly get ripped a new one, or flammed or trolled like crazy so rather then sound like a complete nub, bottom feeding is also a terminology in stock or currency trading. It's not a special 'secret' earth terminology.

@pain i also thank you for pointing out that this game is an alliance server, and in the join process it is recommended you join an a clan. It should also be encouraged to start smaller clans. It's nice to see that a small clan that has not bothered anyone is automatically put into a 'spam tag' by simply following the game rules.

I was only stating that as a new player, i joined, joined a small clan from an ingame message. Go attacked within a few days, and it hasn't stopped. I check the size of these countries to see if i can attack back and they are 6, 7, 8, or even 10 times my size.

My point was clearly to state its not healthy, as a new player it makes me want to quit just days into the game...

A small tag can easily survive in this game if they take the appropriate steps necessary.

The problem is on this server there is more interactiion between Alliances. There are "unwritten" rules between Alliances that are policies which have been formed through years of wars.

Then it also comes down to quite simply being able to retal.

This server is not for new players to be honest. It never was. And any tag started by small players will not understand the mechanics of this server which is outside of the game rules. You need to learn the ropes first in an established Alliance and then earn your way.

I could start an Alliance now and whilst it may have only 10 members or less, it will survive because I know what is expected of an Alliance on this server to operate.

If you are new to the game I suggest you play the Primary Server which is designed for new players. Think of Alliance Server as the Advanced Server. If you are not willing to play in an Advanced fashion then you will lose out.

jesst, unfortunately, this is has really been how the game has always been. I started playing nearly 10 years ago, took a break for a good 5 years or more, and I come back to see many of the same tags, same mechanics, and same practices. So, I guess, my point is that either you figure out a way to enjoy the game as it is, or move on.

The best way to get into alliance server, is to join a well established alliance. Otherwise you're going to be farmland.

It's how the alliance server has always been. There's other servers for solo play.

Stay where you are and fight the system!

Make your leaders contact the much more larger alliances and see if they are willing to "ally" up your tag and build up relations :)

We don't need more people in the big alliances, we need more tags! Filled with people! :D

this isn't the "play solo server" this is the alliance server. It was designed to be in large tags. By playing in this server, you are going to be subjected to certain things.

you can complain all you want, and call out who you want, but it won't change the complexity of the server.

Either you can try and fight, and most likely fail, or you can join an alliance and net and war. Those are the choices you have on this server.

jesst, as Omega's Minister of Foreign Affairs, I encourage you to have your leaders contact me regarding any issues that exist between Omega and your clan. Part of being on the alliance server is simply showing that you care enough to find out who to talk to in order to resolve issues. All small tags are determined to be Spam tags until proven otherwise. People like Sov may form a small clan, but be recognized as true "alliance" immediately because they take the steps to say that they are an "alliance" and not just a "clan". The difference being that an "alliance" engages in politics (at least minimally) with other "alliances" where a clan doesn't really engage in politics to any extent.

The alliances on this server know the political rules of the road because they have fought the wars to determine just what those rules would be in the first place. There are still times that the rules become blurred and alliances attempt to focus the rules in their favor through war or diplomatic means, but this is generally over smaller issues and the alliances still know what they're not fighting over. At this point, I'm basically just restating what's already been said, but let me give you some solid advice:

1. Have your clan contact me if you have issues with The Omega or would even just like to discuss a pact.

2. Contact alliances, negotiate and sign pacts, get FAs to okay retals on their members (letting them know to expect hits coming from your alliance make FAs lives easier and they'll teach you what the retal policies are).

3. Consider trying to find a veteran of the game to join your clan and advise you. Someone who doesn't want to devote much time to the game can teach you without, necessarily, taking the clan over. You could even just try to find a retired veteran to just advise you without actually playing.

4. We have explained the limitations and circumstances of this server here. This is a no holds barred environment in which you either sink or you swim. Try to understand this environment, learn to swim in it, and only after that can you try to change the environment.

I recommend joining an established Alliance, big or small first to learn the mechanics of the game and of the server. If you don't want a large Alliance, join a small 20 member tag.

As I said earlier, this is an advanced server so you need to do your "apprenticeship" and learn somewhere first before rolling out on your own.

Run away and never turn back.

By far best post of this thread!
+1

Don't be so negative :p

I stopped reading after the first sentence, simply because being a "new player" and having decent knowledge of such concepts as "bottomfeeding" is not congruent.

I deduce you are lying.

Jesst, I suggest you stay relatively small and unopposing while stocking bushels on the public market. Keep track of which alliance hits you the most and the most belligerently, and then buy lots of jets near the end of the set to get your sweet sweet revenge.

i don't think the smaller countries want to fair fight. they're kinda like ants waiting for somebody to grab a magnifying glass on a sunny day.

thanks for the responses, in particular Angel1 sort of explains the political side of the server. Cheers, I guess we need to try and establish a few things, cut some cheese and stick with it... and hopefully a war can break out so we become ignored somewhat.

I dont mean to sound negative, but I feel it is best delivered to you bluntly.

Without any experience on this server in an established Alliance you will not survive. Why?

1) You will not have the game knowledge needed to be able to retal your own tag for an entire set.

2) No large Alliance (basically these days anyone over 40 members) is likely to pact you. One or two may but most large Alliances dont pact out all the 20 member Alliances so why would they pact out a 5 man tag that is potential land for their members?

3) To maintain a reasonable tag you would need a lot of coordination, and there is no way an inexperienced group of 5 people would be able to work out who things run here without experiencing it for themselves.

Sure you may recruit a "vet" who may help you organize, but he would then just become your leader because you have no idea for yourselves. Also it would take more than 1 vet to generate decent tag protection.

Even experienced players who go out to create their own tags often fail.

And after being farmland week after week, your members will be discouraged from logging in and then will become inactive.

You can ignore me and listen to someone who will sugarcoat it more for you and make it sound like you have a chance, but the reality is you pretty much don't.

As I said, join an established Alliance first. Even a small one.

Oh and the only thing that will stop your countries being farmed is your countries becoming so small that humanitarians will prevent larger countries from hitting you. Not all Alliances will go to war.

It's not fun playing the game when you are farmland.

It is lame. People say it takes skill to LG but it doesn't take skill to bottom feed. Maybe time if you watch news but skill? Naw.

I'll be honest, right now - all 5 player tags look like suiciders to me. I suspect this is nothing more than a troll.

There are no new players.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

This server directly encourages players to join alliances. If you aren't in one or are in one that is so small as to effectively not really be in one at all, then you really won't get anywhere.

It's a vicious cycle, because new players are encouraged to join alliances, which in turn farms untagged new players, which in turn either quit or joins an alliance, resulting in less and less untagged countries every reset, and the remaining untagged countries being farmed even harder.

This is a problem that can't really be solved, unless bot countries are added. Inherently, the design of the server is "flawed" and the only growth is mainly going to be clan recruitment from other servers/friends and returning players.

join NA

Look at the size of the server Xin, we've been depending on friends and returning players for a while.

We will really only achieve growth in this server when something new and drastic is done to entice players into Primary. Then Primary can feed Alliance.

I've been advocating facebook and iPhone app for a while as I believe them to be crucial to future growth.

or you can just do like #272 and get away with playing untagged every reset.

i also believe that New Players are a myth created by the multi-runners to trick us into being nice to at least one of their personalities.

Not everyone has his patience. Heh.

#272 I didn't look, croatia?

If its gogy most know him and leave him alone.

But you also need to understand the game just isn't just the game. It's the players that run the game. The players control how the game is played out. If the same players restrict the games growth for new players, i would of thought it would be in everyone's interest to change and adapt for the good of the game? To not attack new players? For the good of the game, atk an existing alliance so that a new player could stand a chance of hanging around?

Even after this post, my country has been continually hit, if not more so.

Right from the start there was no "hey were gonna keep hitting you, perhaps you should join an bigger alliance" it was just play outright hit after hit.

I like the idea of the game, i think that it's text based adds to the story that is played out in game. At first i also didn't know why there wasn't 10's of thousands of players. But i've learnt within days why. Perhaps it's not just this issue, perhaps the server is over allied and there is just NOONE ELSE TO HIT?

But nonone enjoys that anyway right? Someone talked of bot countries that play out a certain script? I think that might work in offering land targets, and some excitment. Then new players could come in and learn the ropes, join existing alliances or create smaller ones and develop friendships in game which will keep players around for the long term, real long term growth?

Just my thoughts. Probably already discussed.

try comparing it to new players in FPS games. i don't mind hopping around and goofing when there are only a couple of people on the map, but once the server gets full, it's game time and being a noob ain't going to save you from me fragging your ass with a wod of spam just to pwn the map.

but you simply can't compare as they are two totally different games. If i play multiplayer fps and i don't like the server, i get fragged 30 times in a row i just play another server just the same. It might be frustrating but i haven't gone backwards. The idea here is to grow your country, become bigger, and i can't be bothered to try and explain that, you get it. No comparison.

Obviously trying to bang against a brick wall here. It sounds like the people who play here want it to stay the same and don't see the problem because they are the problem, the poison. No offence intended, only its frustrating, but what do you do, quit i guess. Like most other new players.

the Alliance server isn't really made for new players though. it's not setup to cut people some slack while they learn how to play the game. it's where experienced players come to play as team members to pwn the server. how noobs play as a team, if they don't even understand the rules of how to play?

jesst, I probably did sugarcoat it a bit for you. The point that people here are trying to make is that you can form a small group of people (through overlapping in-game pacts) on the primary server to help you learn how to play this game. If you want to play on this server as five new players, then your best bet is to really get into an alliance (all five of you would likely be welcomed in many alliances). I have tried to build alliances before. Honestly, my efforts generally began in IRC channels and ended in failure. I grant you that with the same time that I had then, I could now make a better go of it, but creating something new on this server is hard. Everything is done to try to encourage single players (especially new players) to not play this server on their own or to join established alliances. The Omega has a habit of helping smaller alliances (making sure our members don't get carried away, offering 72hr DNHs, and even pacting smaller groups), it is in our nature and part of what makes us Omega. However, part of what makes this the alliance server is that small influxes of new players don't really impact the politics of this server. It takes a larger influx of new/returning players to impact this server. If a bunch of Arrow players decided to return to the game, that would cause an immediate impact. If WoG decided to make a go of it on their own on the server, that would make an immediate impact.

This is the server where the Helmets, Grelks, Martians, Floyds, Arsenals, etc. of the game come to prove their prowess by leading the armies of their members in wider coalitions to see what chaos they can create and to see who can come out on top. We may not be what we once were, but this is the server that fought world wars and at time crashed Swirve's servers. This is where alliances have been destroyed in a matter of hours and others have survived 7 week long endeavors to come out in victory. This is where IX established domination and was continually in the dominant coalition for years. This is where LaF and Evolution can't stop fighting each other and SoF/SoL look to create their own fun throughout. This is where Imag has fought more losing wars than perhaps any alliance in the game, but just smile all the way through because they mostly care to be able to fight in the first place and win in the second. This is where the right group of people can put together the most unexpected war or netgaining efforts. Welcome to the fire.

This server is fine for new players. Just not new players who try to play on their own and want to skip the apprenticeship learning phase.

thanks for the heads up. I'm going to stick it out a set under Muppets and stick it to the man! Hopefully the server can be kind?

dont get your hopes up jesst, but i wish you luck.

next set you should consider joining any alliance to at least get a grasp of how things work.

Good luck to you then bud. Just remember what to respect and don't let it get you down. If you decide to join an Alliance I'd be happy to teach you how things work.

jeest, join me and help us prove them all wrong ;)

Doesn't prove anyone wrong Spawn, you are a former Alliance leader and I made a point about that sort of thing earlier ;)

@spawn excuse my ignorance but im new. Who would i be joining?

And the hits just don't stop.

I guess my hope would be in all my comments, was that there are 700 + other countries who are in other alliances who are either closer in size or larger why not attack them? Surely there is no fun in hitting a country 10 times LESS your size who has NO ability to hit back?

only option would be to send missles back but i am guessing i would then be killed so whats the point?

The Alliances hit you because you can't retal. Alliances don't hit each other as much because they have pacts or they can retal based on established retal policies.

The game would be much more understandable if you join an established Alliance.