499 allies vs 500

[What?]

I know it's been discussed before, but there seems to be two different worlds going on in the upper levels. Those with 500 or more allies and those with 499 and below. Me personally, I like to do raids for extra cash, but sometimes I can search for a while trying to find targets and other times I've exhausted available targets. Once I reach the colonel rank I will try to play on both worlds by adding and removing allies one at a time once I feel like I've been searching for targets for a while. Doing this will allow me to play on both worlds which means more targets which hopefully will equate to more money. Only time will tell though. I have a good amount of requests so that shouldn't be a problem.

[JMC]

You actually make money from raids? :O

[Fifth Reich]

You actually make money from raids? :O I lose like 6 Super Hornets when I kill a base and usually don't earn much unless I find a level 6 oil rig...

[JMC]

I lose like 6 Super Hornets when I kill a base and usually don't earn much unless I find a level 6 oil rig...

Yeah, that's what i mean. I don't raid because it'd be useless.

[JohnnyR]

When was the last time raiding was profitable for you JMC? I effed with my units and now my SHs are dying 4x faster. :-( Other than that, raiding is a very healthy source of income for me...

[Fifth Reich]

I'm actually happy when somebody raid's my base because I can see them crying after they lose a SF.

[JMC]

When was the last time raiding was profitable for you JMC? I effed with my units and now my SHs are dying 4x faster. :-( Other than that, raiding is a very healthy source of income for me...

Never.

Well i guess raiding these guys that i attack for zero casualties is profitable, but its not like they have any good buildings. I make a couple thousand a raid.

[What?]

I do make money from raids although sometimes actually very rarely I lose a stealth bomber, but mostly just valor and loot units that die off, and they are usually replaceable and in my opinion worth the risk. I can make like 30 million a day if I do it right. There are certain buildings that I will only touch and certain level buildings as well.

[andymac106]

Not as good as what's but I can usually pull in quite a big haul from raiding. You would be surprised how many Nanos and high level oil rigs are left not collected from

[Fifth Reich]

I wish there were raid valor missions...

[JMC]

Here's how i see it. Unless the player is extremely weak and i can take zero casualties on him it won't be worth it. Level 2 nanotech for instance pays out 400K every 12 hours. First of all this will be tough to find, especially uncollected. Raiding 3 times would net me 240K of that 400K. However there will be guaranteed 1-3 casualties every single hit. With an army like mine, that will be at least 3-5 high value valor units. Or at least 3-5 high value cash units that would amount to millions lost.

Even when i had SEALs as meatshields assuming they are the only thing that dies, the profibility of the raid is very low or none.

Now if you're just losing valor units and loot items, i guess you'd earn cash, but it's more of a trade-off than a profit.

[JohnnyR]

I guess I got a good thing going on then, keeping my stats low with snipers and warthogs till I can't afford anymore upgrades. Did you happen to have an intermediate meatshield b/w flamethrowers and seals JMC? It is quite a jump, and raids aren't gonna be profitable if I have to replace one or two seals every raid...

[Ourpalace]

I attacked and raided a lot when I just started the game. I late realized that it was not profitable and stopped raiding and attacking. It's the new ranking system bring me back for some missions.

[Poopenshire]

I guess I got a good thing going on then, keeping my stats low with snipers and warthogs till I can't afford anymore upgrades. Did you happen to have an intermediate meatshield b/w flamethrowers and seals JMC? It is quite a jump, and raids aren't gonna be profitable if I have to replace one or two seals every raid...

Flamethrowers just stopped being my meatsheilds. by defeault I am currently going with a mix of seals, submarines, and all the odd units between 10 att and 20 attack. its getting very very expensive, and even with 425k IPH I cannot keep up with too many fights or raids a day.

[JMC]

Nope, infantry are by far best meatshield and there's nothing between flamethrowers or SEALs. Heavy gunners are between them in cost, but attack stat is lower than the flamethrower, so it could not be used.

Ground is next best and there's nothing between them in the cost range that would suffice either.
Air and sea also have no such units, nor would they even work very well as the casualty rates of your meatshields wouldn't be high enough to shield your other units.

After flamethrowers it's SEALs and theres nothing you can use otherwise from any of the categories.

[What?]

I used to take aircraft carriers into battle and lost a few so I spent saved up valor to push them out of my attacking force. Really all I have now are venal fighters, super hornets, elite helicopters, and 100 stealth bombers. Also have event indestructible units. If I lost a stealth bomber every hit it certainly would not be profitable, but actually they are seldom lost.

[JMC]

losing a super hornet/elite ops helicopter is not worth it either. Do you not lose too many of those somehow?

[What?]

I lose them, but not every fight. Super hornets I lose a lot more than helicopters, but I also have a lot more of them to lose.

[Mcdoc]

Nope, infantry are by far best meatshield and there's nothing between flamethrowers or SEALs. Heavy gunners are between them in cost, but attack stat is lower than the flamethrower, so it could not be used. . . . After flamethrowers it's SEALs and theres nothing you can use otherwise from any of the categories.I say the best Infantry unit for a meat shield Is the FREE Amphibious Troop with the casualty rate of "I surrender".

[War Priest]

499 vs 500. You bring 4 more units to battle. :D smart a** I know...

[JMC]

I say the best Infantry unit for a meat shield Is the FREE Amphibious Troop with the casualty rate of "I surrender".

Loots will die off fast and they take long to get. Not to mention all the wasted energy.

1 day of income should be able to buy you 150-200 of whatever you're using for meat shields, at least.

[What?]

I don't know how this turned into a casualty rate thread. I'm just trying to point out there is a way to double even triple your targets by straddling that 499/500 area and going freely between the seemingly different worlds to better your chances to earn more money. I finally got colonel rank and I think my strategy is going to start off at 499 allies get as many hits as I can then add an ally from my requests. Then I will prowl the 500+ people for more targets and then drop back down to 499 before I go to bed. Then I will do the same the next day. I will also try to be strategic who I drop as an ally and drop only people in my range that I can beat. It might seem a little darwinian, but more targets could mean more money. Personally I think this is a good strategy and very easy to implement if you have requests lined up.

[Jhoemel]

I don't know how this turned into a casualty rate thread. I'm just trying to point out there is a way to double even triple your targets by straddling that 499/500 area and going freely between the seemingly different worlds to better your chances to earn more money. I finally got colonel rank and I think my strategy is going to start off at 499 allies get as many hits as I can then add an ally from my requests. Then I will prowl the 500+ people for more targets and then drop back down to 499 before I go to bed. Then I will do the same the next day. I will also try to be strategic who I drop as an ally and drop only people in my range that I can beat. It might seem a little darwinian, but more targets could mean more money. Personally I think this is a good strategy and very easy to implement if you have requests lined up.

Im going to ask. Guys with 500 allies will not see people with 499 allies and below, is that correct? And vice versa

[Q Raider]

Some of the higher maps actually provide a good income buffer as well.

Last couple of days there seems to have been yet another change to the loss rates, right after the event ended in fact....

So today I decided to work out Just what the earnings can be from some of the high end PVE missions.

Took the amount of energy you earn a day divided it by each missions energy cost to come up with number of returns per day. As a payout I just averaged the min and max figure. Turns out you can earn almost 100k per hour from some of those targets (not the bosses) and get some nice mid range loot to boot.

Test was on the sewerage processor in Bom Bahia City map. Seven hits so far and the payout average is matching up with the prediction nicely, plus those Osprey loot drops are a nice bonus.

[What?]

That is correct. 500+ sees 500 to as high as thousands of allies and 499 maybe sees around 400-540. With that extra tier there are hundreds of targets that you would miss if you stayed at above 500 or below 500.


Im going to ask. Guys with 500 allies will not see people with 499 allies and below, is that correct? And vice versa

[Jhoemel]

That is correct. 500+ sees 500 to as high as thousands of allies and 499 maybe sees around 400-540. With that extra tier there are hundreds of targets that you would miss if you stayed at above 500 or below 500.

I see, that was really helpful man. Im preparing to go full allies after a long time with low allies. Thanks

[Agent Orange]

I know it's been discussed before, but there seems to be two different worlds going on in the upper levels. Those with 500 or more allies and those with 499 and below. Me personally, I like to do raids for extra cash, but sometimes I can search for a while trying to find targets and other times I've exhausted available targets. Once I reach the colonel rank I will try to play on both worlds by adding and removing allies one at a time once I feel like I've been searching for targets for a while. Doing this will allow me to play on both worlds which means more targets which hopefully will equate to more money. Only time will tell though. I have a good amount of requests so that shouldn't be a problem.

No difference, you meant to say 498 allies right...Or have things changed again?

I see no difference going from 499 to 500 and back, main difference is that rivals can double dip you on valour goals.

[What?]

I went from 499 to 500 and saw a huge difference in rivals. This isn't the 498 to avoid being a valor target. I'm talking about rival list game mechanics and trying to take advantage of it. I just did this real quick, because they say a picture is worth 1000 words. The first picture is me at 500 allies and the second is me at 499 allies. If I was at 500 allies the players at 499 would never be seen in my rivals list and at 499 the same for the other picture.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj105/slowmotionnoob/78b44c8a.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj105/slowmotionnoob/f8b0deb8.jpg


No difference, you meant to say 498 allies right...Or have things changed again?

I see no difference going from 499 to 500 and back, main difference is that rivals can double dip you on valour goals.

[stricker]

...what? and AO, how long have you noticed for the rivals list to make the adjustment when you change your number of allies??? typically, i've noticed a significant lag time as the server side seems to repopulate a rivals list to my player profile... AO, we sort of talked around this issue before.

[What?]

I just refresh and its changed...

[Agent Orange]

...what? and AO, how long have you noticed for the rivals list to make the adjustment when you change your number of allies??? typically, i've noticed a significant lag time as the server side seems to repopulate a rivals list to my player profile... AO, we sort of talked around this issue before.

That could be part of it, level also seems to really come into play suddenly and What? Is at a lower level than me and the game does take level into account when calculating the rivals list. Why Team Pirate has always been mentioning how broken the rivals list is.

What? Is probably sitting in a sweet spot right now were a large group of players is sitting, therefore he has that result but if he were to quickly level up to where I'm at his results will be a lot different.

[stricker]

I just refresh and its changed...

haha... maybe my 3g really isn't 3g then!!! ;p

[Poopenshire]

I am probably too low to have any effect, but alot of times when I refresh my list I can sometimes see as low as 275 allies to as high as >600 allies (>600 is not very often but does appear sometimes). I currently have 412 at level 110.

[stricker]

...logically, that seems to make a lot of sense AO. imo it would be odd to cross some magic level threshold (i.e. whale teritory) and everyone is on the same playing field... obvious, there is a whale threshold but there certainly has to be some subset tiers w/in whale territory... just saying, because idk... i just leveled up to 97... but whale territory has consistantly migrated as more and more ppls have moved to the higher level ranks... (what i call 'more chum' for the whales... hahaha ;p)

[What?]

That could be part of it, level also seems to really come into play suddenly and What? Is at a lower level than me and the game does take level into account when calculating the rivals list. Why Team Pirate has always been mentioning how broken the rivals list is.

What? Is probably sitting in a sweet spot right now were a large group of players is sitting, therefore he has that result but if he were to quickly level up to where I'm at his results will be a lot different.

When was the last time you confirmed that your list doesn't change? It seems the game is always changing in one way or another. If it hasn't been very recent I would check again.

[Agent Orange]

When was the last time you confirmed that your list doesn't change? It seems the game is always changing in one way or another. If it hasn't been very recent I would check again.

Yesterday, plus I now have taken over my two brothers accounts who are also in the 100's so I can take my data from 3 samples instead of 1. My LLP somehow made it up L81 but this is too low a level to count other than to verify that there has always been a correlation between your level and number of allies which is used to determine your rivals list.

I currently have players with as low as 100 allies, 250, 448 and 501. Yes the game is always in a state of flux but it does not mean that the data you are collecting from 1 sampling is consistent with the rest of us and even I don't have enough data to really support anything conclusive.

[JohnnyR]

I don't know about you guys, but my rivals list has changed yet again. Level 120 here with 400 allies, just started seeing rivals with 500+ allies and fewer of my 300 ally honeypots. Been trying to record my raid takes and it seems very difficult to win anything as there are fewer buildings and more losses. :-( Just 5 days ago at the same level and ally number I was able to pull in 2.5 mil profit in 88 shots of stamina, can't even burn through half of my 30 stamina now though....and barely breaking even. Hope this is just a rough patch.

[Poopenshire]

I don't know about you guys, but my rivals list has changed yet again. Level 120 here with 400 allies, just started seeing rivals with 500+ allies and fewer of my 300 ally honeypots. Been trying to record my raid takes and it seems very difficult to win anything as there are fewer buildings and more losses. :-( Just 5 days ago at the same level and ally number I was able to pull in 2.5 mil profit in 88 shots of stamina, can't even burn through half of my 30 stamina now though....and barely breaking even. Hope this is just a rough patch.

I am finding not many honey pots, but alot of empty or abandoned accounts. I am PVPing them valor missions. I have found enough to keep leveling up in the last week that its boosting my att and defense very nicely.

[Aidan]

In the same boat with What. I'm level 121

At 500 allies, i can only see 500-6000+.
At 499 i'm seeing 275-530+

2 totally diff world.

[Gabbahh]

Same here guys n girls. Lvl 112.
Last few levels I was at around 440 allies and saw mostly 380 - 540 allies.
Now at lvl 111 and 112 at 500 allies I only see rivals with 500+.

[Agent Orange]

Must be the level factor, I'm at L162. I dropped a number of weak allies this morning to go see what my friends are attacking below 500. The range I see is from just over 400 to around 490. Most of Team Pirate had dropped below 499 allies to go hunting those using that threshold as a hiding place.

I had suggested that players under 499 allies should not be able to attack those who have over 498 allies since they could collect on the valour goals but not be a target for the same ones. Granted there are a number of different thresholds you can cross that affect what you see in your rivals list and these may have been rejigged finally.

[Agent Orange]

In the same boat with What. I'm level 121

At 500 allies, i can only see 500-6000+.
At 499 i'm seeing 275-530+

2 totally diff world.

Hey whatever happened to the fake "A" haven't seen him in my rivals list lately.

[Aidan]

Hey whatever happened to the fake "A" haven't seen him in my rivals list lately.

Short story; Trashed, gangbaged, stripped and banned. Lol

[Agent Orange]

Short story; Trashed, gangbaged, stripped and banned. Lol

Dang, I was having fun nuking his base. I hit every building on it, took down all his defence buildings except for 1 last hit on some everything else was lights out.

[War player]

If I recall, one of the pirates was on here saying that at 499 allies, he had alot more targets/rivals than he had over 500. Maybe he was looking at it from "different" targets, but that's what he thought.

[JohnnyR]

I had suggested that players under 499 allies should not be able to attack those who have over 498 allies since they could collect on the valour goals but not be a target for the same ones. Granted there are a number of different thresholds you can cross that affect what you see in your rivals list and these may have been rejigged finally.

Easily avoided by adding and dropping allies.

Something long term like an income bonus or what have you for MAINTAINING 500 allies would cut that tactic off, IMO. Drop below, and lose that bonus.

[Agent Orange]

Easily avoided by adding and dropping allies.

Something long term like an income bonus or what have you for MAINTAINING 500 allies would cut that tactic off, IMO. Drop below, and lose that bonus.

Best way would be to not allow those below 499 allies to see anyone at or over 499 thus eliminating their ability to the Force Degradation operations for 2000 valour. That was one of the hot button items, that someone could drop below 499 but would still see 499 and above and therefore be able to hit up others for 2000 valour.

[What?]

That kind of stinks you have that AO. I was thinking from like lvl 120-200 were in a huge pool the kiddy pool and the deep end are divided at that 499/500 threshold. Just by adding and removing that one ally you can navigate both areas. Just to keep going with the analogy you can pee in the deep end and then quickly retreat to the kiddy pool ;). This isn't for everyone apparently in the high levels but it is something I've been trying out this past day or two and it is working well for me.

[Agent Orange]

That kind of stinks you have that AO. I was thinking from like lvl 120-200 were in a huge pool the kiddy pool and the deep end are divided at that 499/500 threshold. Just by adding and removing that one ally you can navigate both areas. Just to keep going with the analogy you can pee in the deep end and then quickly retreat to the kiddy pool ;). This isn't for everyone apparently in the high levels but it is something I've been trying out this past day or two and it is working well for me.

Well a lot of people were doing just that but a large group of he most powerful Team Pirate members have dropped their allies to 500 or lower and are specifically targeting and wiping out those players.

I've been dropping my allies and following a lot of players down, some did this to escape and some have done this to go after all the weak targets down here.