Just curious exactly how a system becomes locked down, and what determines which ships get to enter and which don't, in the case of multiple ships attempting to enter. I had an 8 ship battle fleet trying to enter a system with 5 enemy ships in it. 4 of my ships entered (total value 1360), and there are 5 other ships in it (total value 2000), and the system is now locked, with my 4 support ships outside, and my 4 battleships inside. Can't recall exactly, but there are 6 or so planets in the system, if that matters.

It does matter. See the rules extract below. There is a bug for systems with only 1 race in at the moment- you can exceed the 600 pts sometimes.

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Locked systems
Your ships may enter any open system. If yours is the only fleet in the system then you can only jump in 600 pts worth of ship. You can jump in more ships when enemies are in the system providing your fleet does not exceed the maximum pts allowed. There is also a limit for the total pts in the system based upon the number of planets (including asteroid belts) * 250. If this pts limit is reached then no new ships can enter the system, it is locked.

Additionally, ships can fire lock down drones which prevent further ships from entering the system. Finally, should an ancient ship (DL 20 or more) fire a lock down drone, then an Epic battle with other ancients in the system will start - this is a fight to the death.

GameAdmin wrote:

There is a bug for systems with only 1 race in at the moment- you can exceed the 600 pts sometimes.

I'd say usually lol. Most of my single race systems have over 600 points. Thanks for clearing this up Seems I'll have to be more careful in choosing what I try to send into a system.

Is it 250 per planet per race, or combined totals of all races? There seems to be a problem in Surrienne (16,20). Including asteriod belts, there are 10 planets, so the max in system would be 2500 points. Currently I only have 1360, and whoever else is in sytem has 2000. Either per race, or combined, the math doesnt add up, and the system is still locked.

I bypassed the limit in Surrienne by jumping small "seed" ships in and using the isolation to grow them to their full size... I intended to move them to use them elsewhere later, but hadn't gotten around to it. ergo, my ships didn't exceed entry limits when they entered, but caused the limit to be exceeded quickly when you jumped in.

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that putting a single-race limit of 600 on a system gives invaders a huge advantage. Could we shift the single-race limit to half the max? That way a single ship (or group of ships) in-system isn't forced to simply wait for a fleet twice their size to jump in and possibly close the system.

Ah, so system limits are by total ships in system, not per race? Then 600 points for a single race system is indeed grossly unfair. In the system in question, for example, there is a max capacity of 2500. If I start in-system with the max of 600, an invader can bring in up to 1900, resulting in more than a 3:1 advantage. Not cool lol!

no, a system has 3 limits;

if only one race is in system-
1) 600 points of ships.

If two or more races are in-system;
2) no more than 3x opposing ships in-system.
3) a total value of ships < the number of planets * 250.

My concern is, assuming a 2500 max value;
Gal Turn 1; Player 1 jumps in 600 points of ship (the max).
Gal Turn 2; Player 2 jumps in 1800 points of ships (600x3, the max) knowing Player 1's 600 are already in-system. This brings total value to 2400.
Gal Turn 3; Assuming any player (other than 2, who can currently bring in no more ships) jumps in another 100 points of ship the system closes.

Ergo, being the first race in-system means you will likely face 3:1 odds against for being the defender.
Suggestion change limit 1 at the top to (number of planets * 125) OR limit 2 to (2 * opposing ships in system).
Alternately, allow defenders to fire other drones (mines, beholders, and possibly grav-stars to be specific) and actually arrange defenses.

I was thinking that maybe the limit should a hard 600 at any time.
ie no race can jump in more than 600 pts in a turn.

I like 600 as a large ship is about 330 pts. So ships will jump in as pairs. Or as 3 or 4 small ships.

The same limits would apply:
never outnumber the enemy more than 2 to 1
tot pts limited by planets*250

that works.

I guess it depnds on how you want to define the term "small fleet" in a small fleet battle game then. To me, 2 ships, or 3-4 small ships is not a small fleet, more like a scouting party really. I prefer the tactical opportunities present when you have 3-5 mid-sized ships myself. That to me is a small fleet. Obviously, there has to be some limiter on fleet size or everyone will be jumping in 10-20 ships per battle, but for me an absolute 600 points is just too small to be really engaging.

Ooops. I didn't mean 600 pts per player, I meant 600 pts per galactic turn. So you could still end up with 5 or 6 ships, but depending on your designs that might take up to 3 galactic turns to jump in.

It means that if someone has 600 pts in the system, you can't simply jump in with 1200 points.

Jonathan

Ah, much better lol.

this might be too much complexity, or opening a door not worth looking at, but could the system lockdown rules be progressive? limiting the fleet sizes in systems with relation to each other so a player can be outmatched, but if they choose to "keep up" the system can escalate?
ie;
* no fleet can drop in more than 600 points in a turn.
* no fleet can drop in more than 600 points without an opponent.
* systems with opponents can drop in points up to twice their opponents so long as the total points in-system do not exceed (planets in system * 250).
* systems where each opponent has {((planets in system * 250)/number of races in system} each race may continue adding ships to the system so long as they do not exceed 1.5x any one other race's total.


this would allow those who want to have huge battles do so, but keep smaller/new players from being completely overwhelmed.
just a thought.

just a thought here... but could you please have the limit of what a single race in a system can have be more then just 600? or 650? like... 700? the reason is this:

a size 64 ship using no superstructures is worth 680 points or so... this means the only way for the ship to ever actually go into a system is if there is already an enemy present

or perhaps a special 1k limit if the open ssytem in question is your home system?

after some tinkering I found a dreadnaught class ship going along those lines is worth 610, and will run into the same problem as well, and this was with using some superstructures as well.

or was this on purpose? I'm confused...

Hi,

It will be raised to 700 sometime in the next day or two.

Cheers,
Jonathan