search algorithm is kinda funny after the maintenance

[Silken]

To beat them, again training time is the issue, Shockers, Rams, Blasters, Protectors all need to be trained and these take ages.

If I read it correctly, beams are not enough to get what you want, you have to use multiple programs and that is the main problem? Weird. You could discuss the time or cost or something, sure, but thats another thing completely.

The new search system has killed farming. Please fix it ASAP.

Was really shameless beam+ice farming the thing that made the game interesting?

Anyway, I used to prefer upgrading resource nodes (since I dont have that much time mto perform attacks all the time, I prefer the more passive building approach), now these have a bit higher value since they provide you some income and you are less easily hackable by others due to the search prioritizing higher levels. Ergo there is another side of the coin as well just so you know.

No you didn't read correctly, in fact I don't think you read my post at all. Especially since you just selected one line.

I use rams and blasters on most bases at level 54. Most bases have good sentry, you can't just beam. On the few farms that were about, you could farm a couple of million, then you had to hit a few decent bases to get the rest of 7-8 million that I need for upgrades. I take 7 shockers, 4 rams, 4 protectors, 4 blasters on most hacks. I just don't wish to use them every hack. Which, now I only see pimped level 60 bases, I would have to.

Passive play is fine, upgrading resources is fine, as long as a game has shields, it doesn't, it also isn't balanced. All of these points I made as well. If you actually bother to read.

[Yopee]

The idea here is that high level players are punished.
The new search basically means rep is no longer important. Search depends only on level, showing mainly players that are higher level than you.

A higher level player will find fewer targets now.
A lower level player can find all of those same targets and more.

So the result is the targets that higher level players can find are shared between them and the lower level players.
Meanwhile, lower level players have exclusive access to targets that cannot be found by the higher level players.

Any higher level player who focused on their program offense will be punished because they cannot find targets rich enough to be worth attacking.
Any higher level player who focused on their farms/mines will also be punished because they can no longer pick a rep to camp/hide at and more lower level players can find them too.

To beat them, again training time is the issue, Shockers, Rams, Blasters, Protectors all need to be trained and these take ages.

If I read it correctly, beams are not enough to get what you want, you have to use multiple programs and that is the main problem? Weird. You could discuss the time or cost or something, sure, but thats another thing completely.

The new search system has killed farming. Please fix it ASAP.

Was really shameless beam+ice farming the thing that made the game interesting?

Anyway, I used to prefer upgrading resource nodes (since I dont have that much time mto perform attacks all the time, I prefer the more passive building approach), now these have a bit higher value since they provide you some income and you are less easily hackable by others due to the search prioritizing higher levels. Ergo there is another side of the coin as well just so you know.

You have completely missed the point. You're thinking as a dirty beamer who only uses beam+ice wall to attack.
They are complaining about the fact that none of the targets are worth using more than just beam+ice wall now.

You will actually have a tougher time as a farmer now too like I said above. The more you upgrade you farms, the more exposed you will be to players who focused on program offense to take you down. Upgrading nodes will level you up much much more than programs.
So now, you have to worry about the 20 players below you who can take your stuff rather than the one or two above you.

[Trickster]

Search engine has been improved today. Distribution of results in search is (as we believe) is much better and is a good compromise between what new and seasoned players expect from the game.

Reputation and Level are still taken into account. You will receive targets of various strenght around your reputation level.

Low rep farming is not suported gameplay feature from our side (though there still will be some farms/inactive players on various levels of reputation). To help you save resources we trippled time of the "invisible" sheild after you have been hacked.

Constructive feedback is always welcome, we listen and do our best to find most suitable solutions.

[Pixie]

Was really shameless beam+ice farming the thing that made the game interesting?

I like challenges. But when you have to get 6 million is 3 hours. Beam + Ice is the best option. At my level beam+ice isnt feasible. I use lots of shockers as well. But with current system I need to use wraiths ever so frequently. Each costs 15 mins compile time. So upgrading nodes at high levels isnt really possible without farming once in a while.

[Silken]

Search engine has been improved today. Distribution of results in search is (as we believe) is much better and is a good compromise between what new and seasoned players expect from the game.

Reputation and Level are still taken into account. You will receive targets of various strenght around your reputation level.

Low rep farming is not suported gameplay feature from our side (though there still will be some farms/inactive players on various levels of reputation). To help you save resources we trippled time of the "invisible" sheild after you have been hacked.

Constructive feedback is always welcome, we listen and do our best to find most suitable solutions.

Honestly at level 54 it's not really better. Just farmed for an hour. Hit a level 62, couple of level 55's, level 59, one 48 twice, first time I forgot my walls failed...sigh, retrained up - smashed him, then all the pimp mid level 60's keep appearing again.

Raided a million in an hour, fuck all bitcoins. Gave up, upgrading one low turret and a 16k Kraken that I don't actually want because bitcoin are so low.

Basically it looks ok at first, but once you hit a few people at the same level, all the pimped mid 60's appear again. I probably get one person lower than me once in three searches.

But at least the level 70's have dissappeared.

Try again tomorrow.

[Silken]

Oh correction. Ladty0 level 77 rep 1030.

Oh great 200k.

[EmGooser]

Search engine has been improved today. Distribution of results in search is (as we believe) is much better and is a good compromise between what new and seasoned players expect from the game.

Reputation and Level are still taken into account. You will receive targets of various strenght around your reputation level.

Low rep farming is not suported gameplay feature from our side (though there still will be some farms/inactive players on various levels of reputation). To help you save resources we trippled time of the "invisible" sheild after you have been hacked.

Constructive feedback is always welcome, we listen and do our best to find most suitable solutions.

I cant find a single viable target anymore, whatever "fix" you put in is not helping. A viable start to me has enough money and/or coin to make it worth my time compared to how much I would have to spend in programs to take it. Considering I am core 10 and almost every target I am seeing is core 12 and they have those nice white code gates and the shiny gold sentries, I am not even sure if I could break them anyway.

So ya... I cant gather resources anymore, I am not even able to finish the daily quests. I hate to say it, but if this is not fixed soon I will have to find something else. Not doing this to just get frustrated over and over.

[NekrosStratia]

Well... I havn't seen my base hacked in a long time, so I guess my next way to play the game is to just upgrade my farms right? Except....that will prolly take me to lvl 55ish, at which point I will be getting hacked again making my farms basically worthless too...

Idk...Em thought of some good ideas in his analysis thread... I really like the idea of NPC networks / daily targets, but then I feel like that's all people would really hit anyway.

So far my best solution still has to do with compile times.

Give us something to speed up compile times....

How about a side upgrade to compiler...

Compiler Lvl 5 - $25,000 bitcoins -- Speeds up compile times by 5%
Compiler Lvl 6 - $50,000 bitcoins -- Speeds up compile times by 10%
Compiler Lvl 7 - $75,000 bitcoins -- Speeds up compile times by 15%
Compiler Lvl 8 - $100,000 bitcoins -- Speeds up compile times by 20%
Compiler Lvl 9 - $125,000 bitcoins -- Speeds up compile times by 25%
Compiler Lvl 10 - $150,000 bitcoins -- Speeds up compile times by 30%
Compiler Lvl 11 - $175,000 bitcoins -- Speeds up compile times by 35%

Obviously all numbers could be adjusted.

[ILOVEYOU]

How about combing a couple different things people have suggested. Namely, have npc networks of varying difficulty to help farming, and give a substantial reward for higher reputation levels. Then if you make the npc networks worth very little rep, they will help with getting resources for farming, but not with getting good rep rewards.

The thing to examine when thinking about adding the npcs is of course, that it will inject resources into the game. To determine if that would be useful, you need to examine how much resource is being produced by players of a certain level versus how much is being used. If, for exampke, you want players in levels 40-50 to be fighting each other and not farming lower levels, then you need to make sure that the lvl 40-50 players are producing enough for everyone to have resources enough to build. Simply stealing from other active players does not provide enough resources for everyone, otherwise there would be no reason to steal. So farms for each play level are needed, you need to have some resources that are just accumulating and not being used that can then be taken by the active players. A balanced game should be knowledgeable about the current supply and demand issues each level of players is facing.

[EmGooser]

How about combing a couple different things people have suggested. Namely, have npc networks of varying difficulty to help farming, and give a substantial reward for higher reputation levels. Then if you make the npc networks worth very little rep, they will help with getting resources for farming, but not with getting good rep rewards.

The thing to examine when thinking about adding the npcs is of course, that it will inject resources into the game. To determine if that would be useful, you need to examine how much resource is being produced by players of a certain level versus how much is being used. If, for exampke, you want players in levels 40-50 to be fighting each other and not farming lower levels, then you need to make sure that the lvl 40-50 players are producing enough for everyone to have resources enough to build. Simply stealing from other active players does not provide enough resources for everyone, otherwise there would be no reason to steal. So farms for each play level are needed, you need to have some resources that are just accumulating and not being used that can then be taken by the active players. A balanced game should be knowledgeable about the current supply and demand issues each level of players is facing.

It could also be controlled by only allowing X many to be found per day or per hour. Something to make sure it doesn't crash the in game economy.