Hello again KaWers, I recently noticed something odd about my plunder which I have only noticed happening in the last few weeks. I've had a quick flick through forums and I can't see anything about this so sorry if I missed a thread. First hit on an eb I was making 227M. I had an ally hired and my plunder increased by 2M to 229M (I know it's not a lot but that is beside the point). When I rehired, my plunder dropped back down to 227M. At no point was I below MP. And even if I was, it shouldn't have caused an increase in plunder after an ally hire. So I took my screenshots and emailed support. I expected the fantastically vague answer that I got but nonetheless, I thought I'd give it a try anyway. First I was told that it might be because I was not at MP and it's something they would keep an eye on. No explanation whatsoever. Of course this was not a satisfactory answer to my query. I reiterated again that I was definitely at max plunder and even if not, my plunder should have dropped after an ally hired if I wasn't. The 2 line response informed that changes were being made to ensure the game was balanced and to read about it in Charlie's threads. Now you may ask, what threads? Nothing has actually been changed by Charlie other than something that was reverted with in a few hours. Now all I wanted to know was why this was happening and when they introduced such a change. I also wanted to know whether having BFA is actually hurting plunder. It doesn't make sense. I was assured it wasn't a glitch. This is the detailed response I got in return: I'm sure as you can all tell, this answered all of my questions. It was not a vague or generic response in the least. :grin: Please bare in mind I don't want access to KaW formulas. All I'd like to know is why this has happened and when it has been introduced because it hasn't before a few weeks ago. It's possible I have missed something but I've read through Charlie's 90 posts and not found anything. I asked support again as to why this was the case and whether it was beneficial to have BFA or not. If less BFA means more plunder, what's the point of having it? Is this something that effects every player? What is the point of this adjustment, however slight? Support has offered no help. No surprise there. In fact, they have palmed off my issue by telling me to contact Charlie, directly through the forums. So, Hi Charlie! Could you please explain to me why this is the case because the support staff have no idea? If anyone else can shed light on this, please do so. It would be appreciated. Like I said, it's very possible that I have missed something but I don't believe I have. I have asked around and others don't know either. I understand the support staff are just that, support. But they should be able to answer simple mechanic questions. It's simply not good enough.
you were stronger vs whatever you were hitting so you received less gold. you gain less gold from hitting weaker targets. eb or player.
It was the same eb. My first hit generated 227M. An ally was hired. 15mins later when I was full, I hit again and got 229M. I rehired my ally, regened to full again then hit. It was back down to 227M. Never been an issue prior to a few weeks ago. No adjustments (that I can find) have been made that should effect this.
I know, Word. I'm saying this hasn't happened before a few weeks ago. Even when the exact same ally (or a stronger one) was hired.
you mean before charlie mentioned that the plunder decreases that people were experiencing were due to outgrowing their targets?
Your allies make you stronger, but if you were at MP idk how you would have a plunder increase. Maybe a building/mechanic cheat, sorta like the spy hoarfrost thing?
Where does he say that, Word? Possibly Snoopy? I hadn't really thought of that but I suppose it could be possible.
about a month ago. but this has always been a thing. attacking a stronger target has always earned more gold than attacking a weaker target. you just don't normally noticed it because as your build size increases, your gold income increases more than the drop in plunder. but remember how sos had the weird plunder loss until you built a certain number and then your plunder would start going up again? the background math is weird, and there are just certain points where you see plunder loss for getting stronger. i'm not sure that eq factors in. but i am pretty sure bfa was counted in the original formula.
Do you remember which thread? I'd like to read it if so. I know plunder changes depending on the strength of the opponent. However that's only something I've ever experienced while hitting other players. My understanding has always been that's something that applies only to hitting others (by saying this I'm only talking about what I outlined above hitting the same eb. I know switching ebs and UGing results in different plunder obviously). When only hitting an eb, it has never increased after the selling of an ally. It's only ever increased from UGs. As I said I may have missed an update. Of which, the 'support team' could easily have pointed me in the direction of where Charlie said it, as I asked them numerous times. I do vaguely remember about SOS. Still though, losing one ally doesn't make me significantly weaker to drop my plunder noticeably. It shouldn't have effected my strength to the effect that I was suddenly hitting a target stronger than me from one ally hire.
that is because it isn't linear, it seems to be tiered. you crossed a threshold to the next tier. A Cast of Falcons Chapter 6: Updates and Changes note that they reverted the plunder change that was announced in that thread, but that particular part was already a part of the game. they just temporarily changed how they calculated strength, which caused some people to see a plunder drop due to the game considering them "stronger" than it had previously.
The drop in plunder I noticed was well after that change was introduced and then reverted. Even before that change I experienced nothing like this despite being just about the same size and having the same BFA.
it had always been a thing, but it was made more visible then because of the sudden change in their relative strength. that mechanic was already there. it was only a big deal at the time due to the change in how they weighted player strength causing wide spread loss of plunder. again: they didn't just add a mechanic to adjust eb payout based on strength, that mechanic was already there. what they changed was the way the game calculated player strength. you never noticed it before because your gold increases more as your build increase than it decreases from the relative strength mechanic. it doesn't happen every time you lose or hire an ally because the relative strength mechanic is not linear. you noticed it this time because you are near a threshold.
Thank you, Word. I am going to continue to test it out. You have proven to be much more knowledgeable than the current support staff. If you are correct that this wasn't a recent change, the support staff should say so. Charlie actually hasn't changed a single thing in terms of mechs. Well not to the knowledge of the players. Yet the 'support staff' kept insisting this was all part of recent adjustments to KaW that have been released and that's why I'm only noticing it now...rather than it always being part of the game. Would still like to hear Charlie's explanation anyway.
i'm not saying it wasn't possibly a result of a recent change. i'm just offering a theory. they may have re-reverted the way the game calculates player strength, but done it in a more subtle way.
What you're saying makes sense. It could still be a recent change. It's hard to say. They've changed mechs without informing players before. Hopefully Charlie sees this. I'm of the view that any mechanic change should be explained to the community. With in reason of course. Particularly ones that change plunder. Even if only slightly.
I noticed your values were the relatively the same, I assume you're hitting the same EB, however, there is a falloff for smaller EBs, like T5 and below. The stronger you are, the less you'll make, encouraging larger players to hit larger ebs. However this doesn't seem like the case, although you may be getting a significant amount of stats from your ally and it may be triggering the falloff. Who knows. It's unfortunate that the support team doesn't do much. As much as I hate the vague responses, there's not much they can do when they deal with hundreds of emails a day, and they aren't actually game developers. They just help where they can. Maybe Charlie can shed some light on this. Let's flash the bat sign to get his attention.