I’m not sure if any of these ideas have been discussed before. I know that most of the players in SI are not English speaking, so I thank you for taking the time to read something in another language!

I think a number of players have made some observations (not judgments, just observations!) over the last few years, and I think there might be some kind of a solution to address one or two of these observations. I am not a programmer, so many of my suggestions might be impossible. The hardware and related costs of my suggestions might also not be possible. It is still worth mentioning these ideas.

• Observation 1 – players that do well are often unemployed, or retired, or on long term leave. Time = success and growth in this game. Those of us who love the game but who work long hours cannot compete.
• Observation 2 – Players that lose their fleet often give up.
• Observation 3 – New players often give up on the game before getting into the deeper tactics because it takes too long to build a strong account (the high speed unis help with this, but then fleet loss becomes a problem before they can build the skills to protect their fleet).
• Observation 4 – the interdimensional transmitter, the paid assistants, and other seasonal fun activities help to keep interest in the game, these are great ideas and should continue. It’s just that sometimes these fun activities don’t have a direct connection to in-game skills.
• Observation 5 – the new paid features are really helpful, but they create an uneven playing field. Money wins.
• Observation 6 – the same players always get to the top in ranking, either because they are 1 – more skilled, or 2 – have more time to play, or 3 – spend money to get there, or 4 – all of the above, so other players don’t have the chance or motivation to compete.

My suggestion is to start a new “Weekend Warrior Universe” that has a few special features to address the above observations:

• It should run on a weekly cycle. By weekly cycle I mean this:
  
  
  • Full-features between Friday 18:00 GMT to Monday 06:00 GMT (over the weekend)
    
    
    • Everything runs normally, attacks, EF, building, research, etc.
  • Attack Protection between Friday 01:00-18:00 GMT and Monday 06:00-12:00 GMT, so basically there is a “warm up” and “cool down” time each weekend.
    
    
    • Only Recycling, EFs, transports, colonizing, building and research. No attacks.
  • Complete stop from Monday 12:00 GMT to Friday 06:00 GMT.
    
    
    • Nothing can happen. All fleets should have a system recall to the planet where they started. All buildings and research should freeze.
    • If players want to log in, they can. But they can only enjoy the view, rename planets, chat… (Active players who have free time during the week can play in other universes.)
• It should restart from zero regularly. Every 3 months? Every 6 months? Yearly? But it shouldn’t be a place where massive dinosaur accounts can fall asleep and go extinct. Keep everyone active.
  
  
  • There can be a “Legends Hall of Fame” to show all amazing successes over previous versions of the “Weekend Warrior” universes. Highest fleet, fastest to AZ 17, highest research, etc.
• It must be high speed.
  
  
  • This can compensate for only playing weekends.
  • Possibly the high speed flights should still have a minimum 5 minute flight time on attacks like the speed universes now.
• It must have limited VM choice!
  
  
  • If players sign up for this universe, they have to take the risk of needing to at least do an escape flight every weekend. The blue of VM planets will seldom be visible here.
  • If someone cannot play over the weekend, they have 18 hours “warm up” time on Friday to do an EF. If they really can’t do an EF on Friday for that weekend, they may lose fleet, but please read the fleet loss compensation below…
  • There should be a 1 weekend VM option per month (for emergencies). But after their VM time is finished, they cannot go into VM again for that month.
• It should have a fleet loss compensation system so that people don’t give up.
  
  
  • If a player loses over 50% of their fleet, they should have an option to go into a system VM for one weekend to rebuild, with a large resource gift (enough to replace about 60% of their loss, maybe up to 70% replacement with purchase). The gift should be resources, not actual fleet (they still need to build fleet, not just receive a gift). Also, it is possible a player wants to change fleet type, so resources are better than straight ships. But in any compensation system, they must still be a little weaker than before their crash. (Please read about gifts below, fleet compensation resources should be the only gift in this universe.)
• It must have better features earlier on, for ALL players, but with purchasable upgrades (I know the game needs to make money).
  
  
  • An example of getting better benefits early in the game is that all players could get one asteroid on a planet of their choice, but only after some stage in development (maybe after reaching a certain AZ).
    
    
    • This asteroid should be very small – only space for 1 or 2 levels of scanner, further fields should be available to buy.
    • At least this way, all players get to experience the gameplay of seeing other players’ fleet movements.
  • Another feature suggestion is that players should have assistants during the active fight time 1 weekend a month, the rest of the time they need to pay. During the week, and even during the Friday and Monday “safe time”, these assistants will be turned off.This way they enjoy the benefits and are more likely to buy them. I know that is how I first bought anything – after I tried the EF assistant during an event, I fell in love!
    
    
    • To clarify, I think the assistants are well designed and are good features of the game. Let players taste them regularly, but not enough to make purchasing them unnecessary.
• It must have some limits on “pay to win”.
  
  
  • To clarify, the paid benefits that are provided now fall into two categories:
    
    
    • Gifts
      
      
      • Any resources or ships that the Interdimensional Transmitter gives are not earned. Fleeter packs are gifts that are not earned. Many of us have registered for a new uni just to play with the IT during events to see how much you can get in 10 spins every day. Look at “Krzysiek_1987” account in Retro – Building 1, Research 0, Fleet 8358, (179 transmitters, 492 spy probes, 370 recyclers) Cool! Obviously that is just IT spins.
    • Enhanced game play help
      
      
      • All assistants are very powerful, and they require you to engage in the game to benefit from them. You must build ships and mine or steal resources to use the EF assistant for example. This is much better as a paid benefit, it’s not just a gift.
  • I know the game must make money, but hopefully players that begin to really enjoy the game because of this uni will join other unis where they can spend money to become top 100. This uni should be a more level playing field.
  • Buying fields, planets, and assistants should be fine. But no fleet packages, no extra transmitter spins (only the daily free spins during weekends). Only “Enhanced game play help”, no “Gifts”.
• This universe can still add “luck” that engages with in-game play. For example, it could have a “Turbo boost” random gift each weekend after the universe is one month old.
  
  
  • This turbo boost should be a random lottery that gives some players (let’s say 10 to 20 players per weekend) a boost for one weekend.
  • The boost should be in production and temporary research – NOT a gift.
    
    
    • Production boost can be 5x higher for that weekend.
    • Research boost can be an extra 3 levels of all research for one weekend. After that player’s boost weekend, all techs go back to where they were. Previously queued research would continue, but no new research can be started during the boost weekend.
  • This boost should only happen once or twice per player in a year (maybe not per year if the restart is every 3 or 6 months). If the player gets a boost on a weekend where he/she wants to use the limited VM time, they lose their chance.
  • The turbo boost lottery spin should happen on Tuesdays, so the winners have time to arrange for their weekend.
  • The benefit to this kind of random “lucky” gift compared to the Interdimensional Transmitter is that the lucky player needs to play actively for that weekend to benefit from the boost.

I would be interested to hear where my ideas are not feasible. Please feel free to reply in other languages, I think google translate is ok.

Quote from Mariusz025

There are people who do not work from Monday to Friday. There are players who play in work (:D :D) if they can only not in free time after work. Dont forget about this.

Think here about Premium V-mode with lets say 50 % production, taken "few times" per this uni maybe. So at the begginning of active play players start with mined ressources.

Good point. I forgot about that possibility. Having a VM mode that encourages players to come back and check their accumulated resources may help.

Quote from Mariusz025

Hi speed: Production - yes, Research - Yes, Flieghts - No, I belive it would be better for players if this uni would run on 2 or 3x speed not bigger.

Yes! I didn't think through the specifics of what speed. I agree that flight speeds should be different to the other speeds.

Quote from Mariusz025

Maybe shorter time to became inactive after VM activation ? 5 days and you are yellow if you dont come back playing at least for 24 h.

Interesting! I think that might create some variety.

Quote from KagujaChisei

thats the only point i cant see like you but all other are correct

Thanks!