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Neighborhood programming is pathetic

DeletedUser101925

No, actually I reached the top 5 since I went into PE. Before that I had under 50 total fights and under 200k points and was always ranked somewhere in the top 20. My points have always been pretty low because my main objective was reaching PE as fast as possible. So if it was based on research I should've been moved between hoods quite a lot.

Edit: I'm at 49 total battles now, lol!
 
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DeletedUser2989

This was linked in this thread before but as it is relevant (and where I draw my information from) I'll link it here again:
http://forum.en.forgeofempires.com/showthread.php?22384-Changes-to-neighborhood-merge

This is the system as we have it now (previously it was based on score,See here if your curious) and also one of the best descriptions we have of how it works. thanatos100 and Seserous Omega are correct when they say the system isn't perfect, it has glitches and occasionally mixes up where people should be placed. This alone doesn't prove that it is not based on tech progression but does prove it isn't perfect.

-> If this was truly the case there wouldn't be any BA/IA/EMA stuck with PME/ME players.
-> If this was truly the case then I wouldn't be the first in my hood to reach Colonial Age, Industrial Age AND now Progressive Age AND be the strongest player overall for months in a row. (in my hood anyway)

In regards to the first point: If you or any other players are aware of people in BA/IA/EMA being stuck with players in PME/ME after any merge takes place can you/they please contact support as this should not be happening. The additional information may help to find what in the program is causing this and it may be possible to move these people to more appropriate neighborhoods.

In regards to the second point: While tech progress is important to the "chunking and neighborhood forming" process it is not unreasonable to see a neighborhood with a three age difference (especially right right before a merge). You might be the first into the higher ages but if by the time the next merge is due to happen other have also caught up (or are very close to the next age) the "chunk" your in may stay the same. A good thing to keep in mind is that the program only considers current tech progression at the time of the merge (not the actual speed you progress at). If you advance really fast but started at the bottom or even mid way down the neighborhood (in terms of tech level not score) then you'll probably stay in the neighborhood.

The system we have isn't perfect and since we have had a lot of updates and additions to the game since the merge system was changed, I won't defend it saying "it's perfect and should stay". I think that while it hasn't been the focus of this thread there have been a few times where people have pointed out the dramatic difference that GB's make (not to mention event buildings that buff defenses) and that they should be considered when constructing the neighborhoods. It would be great if this thread could also find other things that might be useful in a new and improved merge system, but until then we must work with what Inno has given and wait till Inno can think (and find time to) implement a new merge system.
 

DeletedUser

In regards to the first point: If you or any other players are aware of people in BA/IA/EMA being stuck with players in PME/ME after any merge takes place can you/they please contact support as this should not be happening. The additional information may help to find what in the program is causing this and it may be possible to move these people to more appropriate neighborhoods.

May I please ask if this is also true of players in LMA? After the merge I am now 78/81 in my neighbourhood and all of those above me are PME. The person above me has 400k+ points compared to my 45k. I have been attacked 8 times since the merger and can't realistically defend myself. I don't want to moan about game mechanics as if that's the way it's meant to be, then I guess I have to put up with it until I'm moved again but it's such a shame. I planned to stay LMA for a while as I love the design but it's going to be tough going!

I have submitted a ticket to ask the question but don't know what the response times are like and wondered if anyone here would be able to give me an idea what the verdict will be?

Thanks!
 

DeletedUser99445

Soon after I started I was mixed into a hood where everyone was Colonial Age or higher and I loved it.
I visited them everyday and Polished and Motivate them and Guess What? I received BluePrints for the better GB's and I was happy.
Yes I was plundered but I could easily replace those items. Blue Prints are the Gold Standard here so Why would I complain about being in an Advanced Hood when the advantage Far Outweighs the Plunder.
Don't change the Merge system.
 

DeletedUser103478

@ Gate2

I complained and had good reason too, i was LMA and was put in with people in modern era, and do you know what happened? well i could not progress at all in a month due to no trades being taken as every thing i had no one needed so i spent a month stuck doing 0 progressions cause of it. i tried to build stuff my self, 5 goods a day when you need 200 + is not fun. i also earned 0 blueprints for my age as no one had LMA buildings, yes i got a few blue prints for modern era stuff but guess what? i cant build them as i cant get hold of the goods so pointless getting them also missed out on a round 2k medals as i could not fight tanks with sticks and stones so missed out on PVP.

i got moved today and unlocked 4 things on my tech tree and i could do TRADE!!!!!! PVP !!! infact you could say that i can finally after a hole month play the game again.

Moral of the story. If your in the wrong hood it does seriously affect you time playing the game.
 

DeletedUser

If you had been in a good guild, you would have been able to find trades. I bet a lot of those people in the hood would have been able to help you with trades too, if you had bothered to ask. I'm in PE, still got plenty of goods from all the eras below me that I don't need. You could have participated in GvG for medals (even ghosting would have been sufficient, given that you probably didn't have much competition on your LMA tower, and given that ghosting is now virtually cost free, there is even less excuse to not utilize it) or worked on the continental map. Your need for BPs would have been cured by either a guild or a proper friend list to motivate. I also doubt that there wasn't at least one player with a LMA building still on their yard for sentimental value. And there had to have been GBs that you could have given your fps to to not only earn desired BPs but possible FP packages later.

Moral of the story, if you're in the wrong hood it absolutely affects you. But if you're a smart player who utilizes all the game's functionality, that effect is minimal to zero.
 

DeletedUser2989

May I please ask if this is also true of players in LMA? After the merge I am now 78/81 in my neighbourhood and all of those above me are PME. The person above me has 400k+ points compared to my 45k. I have been attacked 8 times since the merger and can't realistically defend myself. I don't want to moan about game mechanics as if that's the way it's meant to be, then I guess I have to put up with it until I'm moved again but it's such a shame. I planned to stay LMA for a while as I love the design but it's going to be tough going!

I have submitted a ticket to ask the question but don't know what the response times are like and wondered if anyone here would be able to give me an idea what the verdict will be?

Thanks!

I'll answer that using the following two quotes:
As a general rule players 'should' only really be in hoods with others up to around two or at a push three eras apart, so if they are iron age and in a hood that sounds like maybe there are far more advanced players, I would expect they should move out at the next merge. As I said below though, if they dont, theres no reason not to send in a ticket, as the merge system could be altered (by the devs not me lol) if proven not to be working as well as it could be. Kim.
Hi mosin
please can i ask you - and anyone else who has received a really unbalanced hood merge today (containing a wide range of Ages/Eras of cities - not directly linked to points scores) - to contact the ingame support team. We need to gather as much information as possible in order to assist the developers to improve the current merge system.
To contact support, right click within your city or use the button at the top of this page FOE - support.
Thanks for your help.

Jampots
Senior Forum Moderator

The ticket that you have sent will be the best way to find out if you can be moved due to a merge error or if it is a actual part of the game mechanics which (as Kimba mentioned) may need to be altered. It's not intended that there would be a 5 age gap between players in the same neighborhood so any further information (number of people in what age, size of current hood, are any of them from your old neighborhood or not, etc...) in your ticket will be great and the in game team will be able to help sort this out. :)
 

DeletedUser99445

@ Gate2

I complained and had good reason too, i was LMA and was put in with people in modern era, and do you know what happened? well i could not progress at all in a month due to no trades being taken as every thing i had no one needed so i spent a month stuck doing 0 progressions cause of it. i tried to build stuff my self, 5 goods a day when you need 200 + is not fun. i also earned 0 blueprints for my age as no one had LMA buildings, yes i got a few blue prints for modern era stuff but guess what? i cant build them as i cant get hold of the goods so pointless getting them also missed out on a round 2k medals as i could not fight tanks with sticks and stones so missed out on PVP.

i got moved today and unlocked 4 things on my tech tree and i could do TRADE!!!!!! PVP !!! infact you could say that i can finally after a hole month play the game again.

Moral of the story. If your in the wrong hood it does seriously affect you time playing the game.

As I said, I was in the wrong hood and it paid off very well for me with BP's I would have failed to get in my own era.
I was with a good guild of 70 plus players who are always the best means of trading with so no problem there.
This meant that I got the goods needed for the Tree and I had better GB's quicker than the competition.
Thanks Inno for a serious leg up. Put the complainers back in a low era and slow them down to keep them happy.
 

DeletedUser

The ticket that you have sent will be the best way to find out if you can be moved due to a merge error or if it is a actual part of the game mechanics which (as Kimba mentioned) may need to be altered. It's not intended that there would be a 5 age gap between players in the same neighborhood so any further information (number of people in what age, size of current hood, are any of them from your old neighborhood or not, etc...) in your ticket will be great and the in game team will be able to help sort this out. :)

Thank you! I put in as much detail as poss but at the moment they say they cannot move me, not that they won't but that it's not possible to do this. This would appear to be incorrect based on an above poster saying they also submitted a ticket and then were moved. I've been really polite and expressed disappointment rather than demanded to be moved, so I hope they see it's simply because I feel like a bit of the game has been made unavailable to me until the possibility of getting luckier during another merge! I will ask once more :)
 

DeletedUser97155

Sorry to bump this cause I'm sure most folk have had their fill of discussing it but after months of stating that I had never ever been near the top of a hood two weeks ago I suddenly found myself 5th in one !! It was utter bliss, medals galore, points galore and no need to set collection times as not one person even attacked me let alone plundered me (I didn't plunder once fwiw)

Because of this I took the 'advice' of folk on here - "you're going to fast !" etc - so I didn't put any Forge points into advancing through the tech tree and put them all into GBs instead, sure fire way to ensure this is how life will be from now on !

The result !? This morning I find that I've moved hoods again - 85th this time - doom and gloom, collections times set etc - back to putting Forge points into tech to give a chance of gaining units to fight folk off.

Thanks for that two weeks though Oh Great Gods of Forge, probably never to be repeated - oh how the other half live :(
 

Rosletyne

Warrant Officer
This topic keeps coming up every two weeks, and I expect it always will until the game dies or InnoGames fixes the issue - as if any of us believe that would ever happen.

One thing I have been noticing is that besides the obvious problem of people being misplaced in neighborhoods far above their level, there is something else wrong in neighborhoods. For some reason, inactive players are being included in neighborhoods and taking up space that could be given to active players. Today I noticed one such dead player, and my neighborhood has been haunted by them before. Of course this could happen if said players have gone inactive recently and they happened to be hidden from view during the hours immediately after merge, but that is not the case here. The inactive player I saw today is also on my friends list, and I know he has left the game weeks ago. I've seen others like him before, and since I only ever see players close to my own score on the global list, there must have been many more I have not noticed over the months.
 

DeletedUser99588

When is a player considered inactive? 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or several months. If the neighbourhood system uses activity in its algorithm it certainly doesn't seem to distinguish between low activity and no activity. I have one player in my hood that has never been visible but does show he is meant to be there when viewing global rankings. In fact he would be number one if he logged in. :)
 

Rosletyne

Warrant Officer
That is an easy question. If a player has not logged in for one week, that player is hidden from the neighborhood. If a player is hidden when merge occurs, that player is removed from the neighborhood. That is how it should work anyway, instead it seems that the inactive players are shuffled to a new neighborhood to waste space there.

I just searched through the global rankings for any hidden neighbors, and I was surprised to find 8 of them. Three of them are on my friends list too, and since they have had nothing but cultural buildings and decorations to polish for several weeks, I know they are long gone. I have no way of knowing how long the other five have been gone, but I suspect their case is similar.

Simply put, players who were removed from a neighborhood due to inactivity should not be moved to another active neighborhood.
 

DeletedUser99588

I don't think hidden players are removed by default during a merge. I suspect these hidden players are only moved out of the hood when the tech difference becomes to great or when their tech progress is more suitable to another hood during a merge. This is why I raised the question of what is considered inactive because the merge system doesn't remove players even after several weeks of inactivity it just hides them. This could also be an underlying cause of skewed hoods that possibly have a lot of hidden players making the average tech tree position different to what is really happening in the hood.
 

DeletedUser10572

very very stupid ...ill probably stop to play this game ....
i was 4th in my neighbour last night and today when i log in i saw that im on 49th place ?!?!?
its ok to put me with some others better players but 45 better players :mad:
 
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Rosletyne

Warrant Officer
I don't think hidden players are removed by default during a merge.

This is incorrect. This used to be the case with the old merge system, where players were never removed from neighborhoods for any reason, but ever since the new system was implemented, hidden players have been removed every merge. I have observed this for many months. I am a heavy fighter, and therefore need to keep close track of my neighbors and their defensive armies. Every time I have seen neighbors become hidden, they have been removed on next merge.

For future reference, the following eight inactive players are currently in my neighborhood. I know that hezzlewood, Stang3x and Bubamara have been inactive for weeks. I expect to see them all removed on next merge.

kelsdomain
hezzlewood
Stang3x
Bubamara
pprimoz
Jason of Argos
Lady-Maggy
LowRyder
 

DeletedUser10572

can someone explain this merging when u r in one week 4th in your neighbourhood and next 49th ?
tnx in advance
 

DeletedUser99588

It will be interesting to see if they are as I can only comment on what I have observed in my own hood. Just checked and the player I was referring to is no longer in my hood. Must have gone today as he was there Friday and been there for several weeks. Although this is the first merge that I have seen any new players come in for a while plus a few that have been moved out.
 

DeletedUser2989

can someone explain this merging when u r in one week 4th in your neighbourhood and next 49th ?
tnx in advance

Reading some more of this thread may help you understand but I'll put a quick explanation here.

The neighborhoods are constructed using tech progress, your score determines your position. What this means is in your old neighborhood you were most likely more active in fighting/collecting/building (all the things that add to your score) and eventually your tech difference compared to your neighbors grew. After the merge you were placed in a new neighborhood where you'd find more people similar to your tech progress (this is how it is intended at least) but your position is 49th because the people that make up this new neighborhood are (or were) highly active.

I think the most basic way to describe it is:
Those that research slow but are active are more likely to be placed closer to the top of a neighborhood.
Those that research quick (regardless of activity) are more likely to end up placed closer to the bottom.

(Please note some diversity is intended in neighborhoods, a 2-3 age difference is currently acceptable variations greater should be reported)
 

DeletedUser97155

I think the most basic way to describe it is:
Those that research slow but are active are more likely to be placed closer to the top of a neighborhood.
Those that research quick (regardless of activity) are more likely to end up placed closer to the bottom.

There is of course a Catch22 situation with that - with me currently 80th in my hood the only way I will be able to defend myself properly (and have any chance of being active) is to improve my military capabilities by way of research, that very action therefore condemns me to perpetual doom and gloom !!
 
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