Attn Vets...need your expertise regarding the Rivals List!

[nopenopenope]

For my first started thread on these forums, I'd like to pose a bit of a stumper in the hopes you vets can help me explain why I'm seeing what I'm seeing...

I've befriended a few campers on my secondary account to compare and contrast different camping playstyles (yes there is such a thing), and I have befriended the below on my camper account. Let me state first that this is NOT a question related to camping so please continue reading...

Second, I suspect the person below is running on an older version build. And now the meat...

I have been trying to find a level 5 "rival" (LONG-time camper), with max mob for his level who had over 2200 defense at the time (now over 3000). I have been trying to find him through the Rivals list for 3 weeks using a third iOS device and a bluestacks Android VM (both started anew, leveled to 5, max mafia), because my secondary is now level 6. I have been completely unable to find this person, despite over 1000 refreshes of the Rivals List. My intentions are not to attack or rob him, only to visit him as he is no longer accepting mafia invites since hitting 300 for NC's.

Now the facts:

1. Up until his most recent activity of bumping up his defense to 3k, the W/L totals (and all other stats except money on hand) NEVER CHANGED for that 3 week period, even after the recent PvP event.

2. He no-banks for good reason, so he should've been a HUGE target at least in defensively won attacks from the PvP and everyday gameplay.

3. Because his W/L stats are not changing, he is not gaining defensive XP, and can remain at level 5 seemingly forever.

If he was "too beat up", I could understand not finding him on the Rivals List, but he's in the top 1% defensively for this level, and again his W/L stats have been unchanged over that course of time.

I thought I saw posts in the past that alluded to a refresh interval of the Rivals List in order to see a completely new list of names. I have been waiting about 15 minutes, but I continually see repeated names. 95% of the time I can only see others with max mafia as intended in the RL. If my suspicions of him playing on an older build are true, could he be missing from the RL?

As of 2 days ago, his win total finally changed by 5, and his loss totals remain unchanged (1). I suspect he initiated those attack wins himself.

Any ideas? I will fill in any gaps that I may have missed during questioning. Thanks!

[nopenopenope]

Sorry for the double post but I had one more question for you,

Are any of you still using a very old build? Circa 2.0.1 or older? I assume those engaged in events are always up to date to ensure eligibility. Thanks!

[PawnXIIX]

Well the rival list I thought was organized by mafia, how many mafia members do you have? Maybe he isn't appearing because he's not in your bracket? Just my opinion since the bracketing algorithm was kept away from us

He's probably not gaining defensive XP because he's obviously not being attacked ergo #3 makes sence. The brackets where he is are so small that anyone else around him probably doesn't have the strength to successfully attack him, and people are probably so worried about their precious ratios on their camper accounts that they don't want to lose their attacks. Nobody other than campers purposely stack up 300 mafia on level 5 without relative strength or purpose.

[ANSWER]: He is not on your list because the rival list is broken down first by level, then broken down secondary by mafia. Thus, it gives you a list that is "fair" for your level of people near your level and then near your mafia count. From what I can comprehend you started a brand new account and then tried to find him on that brand new account. You can't find him because he is on your level bracket but he far outweighs your mafia bracket. So you won't find him no matter how hard you try.

If i'm wrong somebody correct me, i'm not exactly a "veteran" I'm just trying to make sense of this.

[nopenopenope]

Pawn, I've been playing this game for a very long time, I know how the bracketing works. I've already stated that his and my 2 test accounts have max mafia for level 5 -- 25. 95% of the time my RL shows others at 25.

To think that others wouldn't at least attack once is rediculous....even if he was blindly attacked. He had 45mil unbanked for NC build 1, and now sits at 33mil for NC2 (his income nets about 1.2mil per day).

I always bank on my level 6, and I already have 300+ losses from others attacking me through the normal course of the game. His totals just don't make sense unless he is also unseen by others in the RL.

[PawnXIIX]

Pawn, I've been playing this game for a very long time, I know how the bracketing works. I've already stated that his and my 2 test accounts have max mafia for level 5 -- 25. 95% of the time my RL shows others at 25.

I'm not saying you don't understand the rival list...If he isn't showing then we are all wrong.

What i'm implying is that the rival list isn't bracketed by just those 2 portions. There are many other people that have way higher defense than me even with the same mafia and level, that means that there are people excluded based upon their stats.

Maybe the rival list is bracketed by stats as well?

[msjo]

I'm not saying you don't understand the rival list...If he isn't showing then we are all wrong.

Maybe the rival list is bracketed by stats as well?

I think it must be using at least some other criteria.

When white frog and I were experimenting last week, we had a really hard time finding each other on the list and I think it must be partly because our stats are pretty mismatched (i.e., white frog can kick my poor character's butt without blinking).

[nopenopenope]

If you need additional help in your testing, I'd be down. I wish Funzio required game updates to connect to their servers like other games do, which would eliminate multi-version possibilities, and I also suspect what you say could be true. If that's the case, add another thing to the list that we will never know...

[AppleMacGuy]

Probably doesn't help much but I know for a fact (FYI acknowledged in a support ticket) that there are issues with the list in that players you should see but actually don't...I think thie bug/s have existed for a long long time...supposedly they are being fixed...but I'm not holding my breath

[nopenopenope]

Thanks AMG, responses like that are what I'm looking for. For all we know they did fix the bug(s) in later versions, which is what made me think he's immune until he updates if truly on an older build. Anyone's guess...

[PawnXIIX]

I've never seen somebody with defense less than half my attack and i've never seen people with more than double my attack...but I know they exist. There has to be more players at my level or mafia that have worse stats or far higher stats.

There has to be.

[iteachem]

I can easily seen both half and double my attack. I am at 97 with 375 Mafia 19/19K attack defense

I can see down to 315 Mafia and up to the max.

I have seen attack def as low as 3K and up to 50K

[Chisel]

The playing field is absolutely, completely, utterly not fair. Some dink at Funzio responded to my similar question regarding the rivals list and his idiot response was to the effect that they, "...cannot control who is able to see you on the rivals list, but we do suggest you increase your defense score by upgrading your defensive buildings..." Well, no **** Sherlock. I've been doing that for 152 levels and I still get whacked by those at level 200 and with attack scores much more than double my defense. It's been happening since I was at level 90 or so. My def is 24k+ and my att is 34k+. I never see anyone more than 5 or 6 levels up or down from me, yet I'm constantly hit by those so far above it's laughable. It's a complete scam and Funzio knows exactly what it's doing.

[murf]

I've never seen somebody with defense less than half my attack and i've never seen people with more than double my attack...but I know they exist. There has to be more players at my level or mafia that have worse stats or far higher stats.

There has to be.

I saw a level200 for the 1st time today with 5k/6k stats...

[Johnny70]

IMO there is a game glitch that some players have found and are not sharing, I know of a few people that seem to be able to control if they show up on rivals lists at all. at least one of the suspected people is partisipating in events so I assume they are using the current version... again all speculation.