• Mace
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Topic: Drafting, Virgo, and the second shuffle

Round 8 of Imperial Conflict arrived with a bang and the game would never be the same again. The round was announced and started near the end of September 2002, and for the first time drafting was to be legalised.

A family was allowed 4 VIPs to draft themselves in and 4 additional drafts (one per VIP). Perhaps by good fortune, or arguably cynical timing, families were shuffled at the end of round 7 for round 8. Anyone wishing to play with their friends would be dependent on a draft - legal or otherwise.

Imperial Conflict also introduced a training galaxy at this time, Virgo. The idea  had many merits, but also many flaws. Virgo would dramatically cut multi-account making, reduce inactives in the main galaxies, etc. However, it also provided a barrier of entry to new players. A gentle learning curve, perhaps, but also a pain to complete.

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2 Reply by Gondor (edited by Gondor 04-Dec-2009 04:15:49)

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Re: Drafting, Virgo, and the second shuffle

Round 8 of what Galaxy? I'm pretty sure i drafted a family in Andro round 7 and deleted (because of a traitor) and im sure i was drafted into a family in Tri round 7

Quite sure now looking at the rankings page i kept in college, lol
http://people.morrisville.edu/~coger93/Race9.htm

I mean legal drafting of course. I've never illegally drafted

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Re: Drafting, Virgo, and the second shuffle

I'm not sure all the galaxies kept the same round number after the first server crash... I know we were playing MW round 4, the server crashed and when we restarted it was MW round 5, only by name because everything else was the same (same families etc).

I think some galaxies did not go with the new naming, but officialy Mace is right when he says it was round 8.

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  • Mace
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Re: Drafting, Virgo, and the second shuffle

The galaxies operated on different cycles. According to my records it was for Andromeda (possibly called round 7 there) and Milky Way (round 8). I believe drafting was already an option in SD (and possibly Pinwheel and Triangulum) before it reached Milky Way as it introduced a load of bugs into the game.

The round naming was contentious even at the time. I preferred it to be called Round 7, but the MW consensus was 8. As  Genesis says, MW had a partial round earlier which some players wished to count.

Anyway Milky Way was the definer of IC. No planet or Networth records or achievements outside MW really mattered. Anyone who did well in SD, Pinwheel or Andro ultimately came to MW (and could now bring their family) to test themselves.

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5 Reply by Warhammer (edited by Warhammer 09-Dec-2009 10:32:59)

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Re: Drafting, Virgo, and the second shuffle

mw rd 8 was one  the best rd ever definately part of the golden age of mw.

“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

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  • Mace
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Re: Drafting, Virgo, and the second shuffle

I think it marked the end of the Golden Age of Imperial Conflict. Though some would argue MW [and IC] was at its height around Rounds 1 and 2. The VIP features introduced around this time (probably slightly earlier) such as Unexplored Planets, Fam Systems, etc killed the game.

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Re: Drafting, Virgo, and the second shuffle

The golden age ended when the decline of players became too severe. Hard to point out
when this was, probably around 2004-2005.

Bitching about certain features is common, and no doubt has been around since time itself.

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  • Mace
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Re: Drafting, Virgo, and the second shuffle

Some features make the game more fun. Some do not. The problem with the Family Systems feature is clear:
It meant it very easy to spot "intrusions" into a 'core'. This ultimately has led to a game with a lot fewer grabs and turned every skirmish into a war. Obviously the decline in families, players etc, has escalated the issue.

I would say that post-Round 8 the game had a period of 5-6 rounds where the player base was still strong and the game was very competitive. However, Golden Age: No.

The problem with Find Unexplored is, there's great reward for an active VIP. But it has taken away that satisfaction of finding an unexplored planet - not such an issue anyway in Andro this round as expo-phase could easily last another 6 weeks tongue But there was a reward for effort in searching for planets in the past.

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