Play Now Login Create Account
illyriad
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - 29NOV12 - Sovereignty Stew
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Register Register  Login Login

Topic Closed29NOV12 - Sovereignty Stew

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  123>
Author
GM Stormcrow View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar
GM

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Location: Illyria
Status: Offline
Points: 3926
Direct Link To This Post Topic: 29NOV12 - Sovereignty Stew
    Posted: 29 Nov 2012 at 06:41
tldr; tldr; version

If the map shows you that you own sov that you're not actually paying any upkeep for, it's going to go bye-bye. And no one else need attend with pitchforks and torches.


tldr version;

  • There are a few things broken in sov
  • We're trying to fix them
  • The first step in fixing them is to remove sovereignty (the squares and the structures thereon) from any town that isn't actually paying any Gold or RP upkeep for said square
  • We will be doing this on Saturday the 1st of December

Poetic Version: 
Making the perfect Sovereignty Stew

The Sovereignty Stew consists of many ingredients:
  1. Some are freshly grown, 
  2. Some have been cultivated over many seasons, and 
  3. Some are plucked and crushed by the pestles of pestilence and the mortars of siege
However, as with any great stew that has been bubbling in the tribal pot - renewing continuously over many generations - there's always been the possibility of small flies inadvertently falling in.

There have been many young, thrusting and dynamic chefs who have arrived on the scene with their new version of the basic stew that we all know and love so well, producing amazing dishes from the recipes available.

Whilst some new chefs have contributed to the stew's development in unexpected but flavoursome directions, others have remained in the kitchen - whilst abandoning their stewmaking halfway through - so that they might move onto other recipes.... but this has left the poor kitchen staff with a mess to clear up.  

Yet other more-established chefs have fought over ingredients in unexpected ways, throwing down their tools and leaving the kitchen halfway through their preparations, like a horribly sabotaged version of Masterchef... leaving the kitchen staff to clean up the ensuing culinary disaster!

And in an exciting twist, half way through the competition, Oh my!  The judges replaced all the chefs' kitchen equipment with a new set of sovereignty UI pages! 

Oh wait, dammit.  UI isn't a kitchen metaphor.

What I'm trying to say here is that the recipe is sovereignty itself, the dishes are the sovereign structures, the ingredients are the maptiles, the chefs are the players, the devs are the kitchen staff and the flies are the bugs.  Chefs who abandon stewmaking but remain in the kitchen are those who run out of Gold and RP. Chefs who fight over ingredients are those who counterclaim sov, and the devs changed the kitchen equipment sov page a few months ago. 

Which means the devs are the judges and the kitchen staff.  No wait again... that can't be right.  

The stew is sovereignty, the recipe is the codebase, and the ingredients are the maptiles. Or are they the new resource tiles?  No... no.. I can do this...

Oh, double dammit. I can't.  And this horribly extended metaphor started so well.

Ignore the Poetic Version.

Here goes again.

Straightforward version

THE PROBLEM

There are a few issues with sovereignty upkeep after some sets of circumstances, and this has left some extra knock on effects to other towns.

HOW CAN I TELL IF THIS ISSUE AFFECTS MY TOWN

IF your sovereignty page shows:
  1. you have sovereignty that you cannot increase a claim on (above your town's sovereign research level, ofc and where you meet all the sovereignty requirements), or
  2. you have sovereignty that you cannot decrease a claim on (brackets as above), or
  3. you have sovereignty that you cannot upgrade or downgrade a structure on (above your town's sovereign research level, ofc)
  4. AND THIS SOVEREIGNTY IS NOT COSTING YOUR TOWN ANY GOLD OR RESEARCH UPKEEP

    OR

  5. You are trying to counterclaim sovereignty on any square that is (doubtless unbeknownst to you) affected by the issue above but you either get an error message when trying to counterclaim or are NOT BEING CHARGED ANY GOLD OR RESEARCH UPKEEP FOR YOUR COUNTERCLAIM 
... then you are probably affected by this.

I would hazard a guess that if you haven't opened a petition (or, indeed, dozens of identical petitions) with the subject line "Sovereignty claim/counter-claim bug" in each... then you probably aren't affected by this.

HOW MANY PLAYERS ARE AFFECTED BY THIS?

There are some 120 players owning about 140 towns with about 700 squares of sovereignty between them.

Before anyone oils up the torches and sharpens the pitchforks, whilst the sovereignty hasn't cost them anything in terms of RP and Gold, it also hasn't given the players any production structure town benefit benefit either. 

SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

This Saturday, 1st December, we're going to remove all these sovereign squares, and the structure on them, from the game.

We've put in a bunch of bug-catching code in various critical points in the sov decision-making process so we can then work out more about how these "orphan" sovereignty squares came about.  

We're pretty sure it's through a combination of towns:
  • running out of gold and/or RP to support existing sov claims and not being tidied up correctly, and/or 
  • people counter-claiming on the selfsame squares, or
  • sovereignty left behind before the last exodus patch, or 
  • sovereign claims from the same player but from different towns, or
  • any combination of the above events
... but we'd like this confirmed on live before saying "yes, it's all good".

So. 

We think some of the flies in the stew (slap!) um... bugs in the sovereignty code will still be there come Sunday, but many existing issues directly affecting players will be gone, and we'll be able to track back the events of what might cause these issues much more carefully when they happen again in the future.

I'll make a post once the actual changes have been made, sometime on Saturday.

Best,

SC


Edited by GM Stormcrow - 29 Nov 2012 at 07:25
Back to Top
GM Stormcrow View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar
GM

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Location: Illyria
Status: Offline
Points: 3926
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2012 at 07:01
Actually, in a conversation I just had that really highlights the classic "programmer vs frustrated Eng Lit" guy debate, here's a real tldr;

If the map shows you that you own sov that you're not actually paying any upkeep for, it's going to go bye-bye. And no one else need attend with pitchforks and torches.

Sweet.

SC

EDIT: Added to main post as tldr;tldr;


Edited by GM Stormcrow - 29 Nov 2012 at 07:24
Back to Top
Diomedes View Drop Down
Forum Warrior
Forum Warrior
Avatar

Joined: 26 Mar 2012
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 208
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2012 at 08:44
I love the poetic version better, GM Stormcrow.... but then I'm one of the many crows in Illy, so I probably love all your work anyway
"Walk in the way of the good, for the righteous will dwell in the land"
Back to Top
Ryklaw View Drop Down
Wordsmith
Wordsmith
Avatar

Joined: 17 Aug 2012
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 113
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2012 at 13:08
Thanks not only for the hard work on this bug, but the excellent explanation.
Back to Top
KillerPoodle View Drop Down
Postmaster General
Postmaster General
Avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Status: Offline
Points: 1853
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2012 at 14:50
In the same why that a human being is just an egg's way of producing more eggs - is it possible that this entire game is just a way for you to have a platform to post extended metaphors and clever English?

"This is a bad idea and we shouldn't do it." - endorsement by HM

"a little name-calling is a positive thing." - Rill
Back to Top
Albatross View Drop Down
Postmaster General
Postmaster General


Joined: 11 May 2011
Status: Offline
Points: 1118
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2012 at 18:41
Hey, you should try putting the cooking wine in the food ;o)
Back to Top
Kumomoto View Drop Down
Postmaster General
Postmaster General


Joined: 19 Oct 2009
Status: Offline
Points: 2224
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Nov 2012 at 00:39
Is this going to solve the problem where you can't upgrade ocean sov anymore? (hope, hope!)
Back to Top
scaramouche View Drop Down
Forum Warrior
Forum Warrior


Joined: 25 Apr 2011
Status: Offline
Points: 432
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Nov 2012 at 19:03
i found another fault that remains when you exodus...but i aint spilling the beans, wise SC and his buddies will sort that out too....lol
NO..I dont do the Fandango!
Back to Top
GM Stormcrow View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar
GM

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Location: Illyria
Status: Offline
Points: 3926
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2012 at 20:49
This sovereignty cancellation has now been actioned.

Players who were affected by it have received ingame mail explaining what we've done.

Thanks for your patience.

Best,

SC


Edited by GM Stormcrow - 01 Dec 2012 at 20:49
Back to Top
The_Dude View Drop Down
Postmaster General
Postmaster General


Joined: 06 Apr 2010
Location: Texas
Status: Offline
Points: 2396
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2012 at 22:02
On behalf of my alt, El_Jeffe, Thank You!
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  123>
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.03
Copyright ©2001-2019 Web Wiz Ltd.