the guy made his country name Bison Flaming heh. well within the bot naming pattern ... and went 0 spies and played down turns.
then decided to wreck me and ebert. kind of sucks in my case since i wasn't multi tapping bots like most of the server, but definitely paid heavy for my few hits on bison (in the score sheet at that time there were 4 other countries that tapped him more than 3 times)

As i stated in pms i wanted to mix it up this week and someone was gonna take the bait just happened to be you and ebert. Sucks but fluff happens in express

http://slantmouth.com/...ppets/images/nice-job.jpg

Lmao, BaZiNgA!

I spied you and you looked just like a bot, lol. What a trap! Well played

ah you guys lol.
imo it was poorly played. the name was actually taken directly from a bot from previous sets.

and i feel it was poorly played because of this:
bots were an attempt to make land more readily available as player base dwindles. the idea is that with more land, more players will have a better game play experience and are more likely to stay and more new players are likely to do the same.

tonight's "trap" was a stupid one, and it sets these otherwise great changes from qz and pang well back. (again, ya, come on. me and kingme had even discussed the concept of someone being able to make a country name same as a bot and just go 0 spies. it's not rocket science, but it's harmful to the game imo)
far bigger ramifications than me and ebert with gs'ed out techers right now. this immediately reverses a lot of the benefit of the bot changes.
kind of like a sniper picking off random people in public. sucks, takes no military skill, but sure as hell drives people into panic and forces them inside

I don't quite understand it either. And I think bots should be labeled as such and no one else can have a name that a bot has. But oh well. Just 1 round no big deal.

I wont make this a regular occurance but did want to try it out.

The bot addition has alot positives for the game but the downfall i see is the game has essentially become rape the bots if you want to go for a win. In hindsight i couldve shown some restraint with Vic since he was not wrecking bots but i only had 4 targets to choose from.

i mean it was a matter of time before someone did it. on a positive note, it will cause qz and pang to consider just want they want out of the bots as well as some of the flaws of the current system.

With the current state of bots i like eberts idea of having them labelled. At least everyone is on an even playing field than and not just players that have knowledge of the game to recognize them

it seems there is general dissatisfaction with the current express environment that almost forces one to farm bots in order to compete. but there is also still a need for more land - and especially as player base has decreased.
so maybe a potential adjustment is that only 1 hit per player is allowed on bots within a 24 hr window. if they try to hit more than that, they'll just see a msg that says the window isn't up.
that way it creates more land, but forces players to be more resourceful to get the maximum out of the 1 hit - max strat, nw match, send right amount of units for max ghost acres, etc. that way it ensures that the more talented players are rewarded, but the system can't be as abused (or almost can't be abused at all that way)
thoughts?

ok lets just do away with hitting altogether,those jets,turrets,tanks and troops are just too expensive to maintain.We all can just explore for our land that way we will not hurt anyones feeling for destroy a country that took so much time to build. I hate most of the new rules and most changes that limit hitting suck

WTG MountainYeti, I happen to know a guy that did that in first set of bot introduction and like you had a blast!

Cheers mate!!!

yes this happene din the very first set of bots when their names were akjshakjsalks or whatever. it's not a new idea. maybe if loads of people did this every round, people wouldnt be able to simply land farm bots. maybe theyd actually have to play the game. single tap the bots unless you wanna risk a war sort of thing. theyd still add land to the game, theyd just make slightly less of a mockery out of it

People are used to running weak countries with no troops, tanks or SDI because of GDI. With no threats around you can get a high NW by running low defense.

These bots have created a Huge increase in available resources. You can spy them 120 times every 24 hours for $5m per turn plus. You can farm them for buildings. acres, cash and tech. There's so much stuff to grab its like one of those contests where people try to load up a grocery cart as much as possible in 10 minutes. In fact, its hard work grabbing it all, and that is now the way to "win".

I think if we are going to be able to grab like that we should increase the threats and risks so people need defenses.

As a side note, while I am trying not to laugh at Ebert over this, note that when I attacked him the last 2 or 3 sets he was forced to build defense and ended up wth a more reasonable networth, like around $31m instead of an astronomical ridiculous NW.

The bots have also changed the dynamics in other ways aside from raping the bots to win. Since the bots have been introduced I've finished in top ten, or close to it, nearly every set, and I play all-x.

The round I had 40 mill plus was because tech was over 3000 all round long as well as food being about 34 to 37 all round long. That is a techers dream. Awesome tech prices and minimal losses from stocking. You do not cause me to have a higher defense. I run similar countries each round.

Farming? I made it into the top five without having to farm anyone :-S

"The round I had 40 mill plus was because tech was over 3000 all round long as well as food being about 34 to 37 all round long. That is a techers dream. Awesome tech prices and minimal losses from stocking. You do not cause me to have a higher defense. I run similar countries each round. "

Fair enough, Ebert, I'll have to try harder :D

getafix that's some serious bot farming you're doing this set huh? :p

I support the lobsters!
http://youtu.be/qf_LzWQ0jpI

ok so mods please delete for coordination :p
just curious bud, with all your bot farming this set, if you spied this fake bot and he looked just like a bot to you... why did you mysteriously pass up hitting him ? ;)
i mean ... you did farm over 15 bots more than 4 times a piece.

DELETE THIS MAN! :)
(but seriously, curious why you did pass this one over with all those bot hits. seems akin to winning a small lottery heh)

He hit me once im guessing if i stayed pretend bot longer he wouldve come back for another round. I was thinking about a retal but with no jets on the market i dont think its gonna happen

yes it's very odd he hit you only once :p
and you were the only bot he did that to... but he himself said he had thought you were a bot.
just curious what caused him to make only 1 hit on you and all the other hits on the others when in his eyes, you were the same as the others :p

also, you coming in to defend why he may have hit you only once castes more suspicion on our friend rock lobster :p or should we just call him mountain yeti? :p
cmon getafix, answers! :)

OK, make me work. I will have to look up my spyop on Bison Flaming that I should have stored in Microsoft OneNote. Do I have permission to post that op?

ya post whatever its all good with me. I do know when he hit me I would've had essentially 0 dollars from a filled SO which I don't think a bot casher ever dips that low

Just set up bots 2:1 ratio per living players, make it where you get quadruple ghosties hitting bots and then everyone can have their own 2 bots to hit and there will be plenty of land for everyone! Smfh, what happened to the days of taking your chances and land grabbing someone not knowing if they were going to retal ? I understand the concept of land = now but no matter what changes the mods make there will always be complaints or exploitation. What has it come to that everyone wants to whine on a daily basis about everything....

OK, here it is:

The status of the Republic of Bison Flaming (#54)

The Basics Current Status Economics

Turns Left Money Tax Revenues
269 $30 $1,842,483
Turns Taken Population    Tax Rate
592 133,644 35%
Turns Stored Land    Per Capita Income
0 5978 Acres $39.39
Rank Food Expenses
72 125,395 bushels $75,823
Networth    Production    Military
$716,903 4 bushels $16,043
   Consumption    Alliance/GDI
4130 bushels $0
   Net Change    Land
-4126 bushels $59,780
Oil Net Income
0 barrels $1,766,660
Military Forces Technology
Land Distribution
Spies Military
Enterprise Zones 0 0
2771 Troops Medical
Residences 75,373 0
3010 Jets Business
Industrial Complexes 11,537 29,150
0 Turrets Residential
Military Bases 33,774 26,847
0 Tanks Agricultural
Research Labs 0 0
0 Nuclear Missiles Warfare
Farms 1 0
0 Chemical Missiles Military Strategy
Oil Rigs 1 0
0 Cruise Missiles Weapons
Construction Sites 0 0
188 Defensive Bonus Industrial
Unused Lands 0% 0
9 Spy
0
SDI
0

From <http://www.earthempires.com/express/spy>;

34+38=72
72/1.5/1.25/1.084=35.4244

2015-03-06 09:29:02 PS Rock Lobster (#82) Bison Flaming (#54) 122A (187A)

From <http://www.eestats.com/express/country/82>;

2015-03-06 20:13:28 GS Bison Flaming (#54) DeathFromAbove (#1) DH
2015-03-06 20:13:14 GS Bison Flaming (#54) DeathFromAbove (#1) DH
2015-03-06 20:13:06 GS Bison Flaming (#54) DeathFromAbove (#1) DH
2015-03-06 10:03:12 SS BeE Po bEe po BEe pO (#45) Bison Flaming (#54) 65A (72A)
2015-03-06 10:03:06 SS BeE Po bEe po BEe pO (#45) Bison Flaming (#54) 89A (102A)
2015-03-06 10:02:36 SS BeE Po bEe po BEe pO (#45) Bison Flaming (#54) 122A (144A)
2015-03-06 10:02:29 SS BeE Po bEe po BEe pO (#45) Bison Flaming (#54) 167A (205A)
2015-03-06 09:29:02 PS Rock Lobster (#82) Bison Flaming (#54) 122A (187A)
2015-03-06 05:08:05 PS DeathFromAbove (#1) Bison Flaming (#54) 117A (139A)
2015-03-06 05:08:01 PS DeathFromAbove (#1) Bison Flaming (#54) 144A (181A)
2015-03-06 05:07:57 PS DeathFromAbove (#1) Bison Flaming (#54) 177A (235A)

From <http://www.eestats.com/express/country/54>;

As you can see, right after my hit on Bison Flaming, he was put into deep DR. Unlike some other bot targets he had very little cash or tech anyway and was a relatively poor bot target.

So I didn't suspect it was a real player, it was just a poor target.

don't do it if it risks your finish bud :p

but ... is this to say that you are now suggesting there is something in the op that did indeed make you think twice about hitting it? which obviously invalidates your original statement that it looked like a bot :)

you are also ebert aren't you!!?

haha look at you going to work getafix :p

Pretty simple using OneNote. It took about 5 minutes to cut and paste everything and double check it. I just searched for "Bison" and it went right there. Note the attack calc that I type right in OneNote. I often post the results too, but for this little hit i didn't.

PS I have games stored with all the spyops and attacks going back to Dec 2013 in OneNote. Here is my first stored game, co-incidentally:

Dictator farmer strategy
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
8:12 PM

Black mamba's strat to turn 130
80 CS, 500 IC, sell tanks on PM to turn 90
Switch to 100% turrets sell on market (at $168)
Build to 188 CS, 90 turrets, 10% spies
Build farms to 1920 acres
Explore to 2400 acres, build farms, buy tech, sell bushels at $68!
Switch to dictator

The Status of the Dictatorship of But we didnt want an abbatoir (#63)

omg i knew you were a nub!! attack calculator for express! ? ! ? ! :P

who uses an attack calculator. windows and most phones have calculators. the formula is simple as fluff especially without allies.

i wouldnt trust an attack calculator unless it was an excel spreadsheet i made myself.

also, the game stores ops now too. on your intel page. only for the current set though

This was my calculation, as i posted;
34+38=72
72/1.5/1.25/1.084=35.4244

The point is, I can type in OneNote just like a calculator, but the spyops are right there on the same page and I can wheel up and down to double check the allies, and double check my calculation. I have made mistakes lots of times, but this way I have the calculation right there, stored, to check if I've forgotten something like govt % before I make the hit.

listen to both of you guys :p
calculators of any kind?!?!
the math is /1.5 , *1.25, *1.5, *1.1, /2, *2, etc ...
this is HEAD stuff :p
i would literally feel like i was cheating if i calc'ed this stuff :)

yeah vic, that is why you bounce grabs all the time. nub!

haha you are right though, on my occasional bounce a calc would force me to slow down and double check :)
this set i didn't throw in *1.25 for the dict i tried to retal :)

i go one step further, and just never grab. cant fail what you dont attempt!

I'm with Vic its not hard to do these calcs in your head. Note my DH's on ebert were because I had 0 spies.

You are a bunch of liars :) Even Xinhuan uses Windows calc.

as an engineer i dont do many things without checking my numbers at least 17 and a half times.

pffft the most you could ever convince me to do would be google calc in search it's kinda like idgaf calc'ing :p

i have windows calc pinned on my taskbar, along with notepad

notepad, the microsoft word of the south

lol looking forward to this response

it opens far faster than word, and has many uses that word doesnt have. i aint writing an essay, im taking notes!

You should try OneNote. It comes with the Microsoft Office package. I've used Office 2010 for years, and 2007 for years before that. The new OneNote 2013 has a lot of good search features and more Excel type capabilities. I store all sorts of stuff in there; like user ids and pws in a table under a password protected folder. Or copies of recipes, or people I meet walking the dog, or copies of chats, etc etc

I was looking for a classic ford ATTACK that was way too civil

They've got him on tranks since his kid shot him

No no no getafix you have NO idea how negative my associations with one note are!!!
The guy who installed the office computers set it up and all I wanted to do was hit print on a doc and I was running late for a meeting and all of a sudden this one note thing pops up and I lost it!!!! I had no clue what was going on or how to print from there it is SO poorly designed right now imo! DEATHTOONENOTE