[19-Dec-2007] Missed turns, payments and server upgrade

lackattack · Post by **lackattack** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:04 pm

Yesterday we experienced technical difficulties with some people not being able to access the website and others getting errors in the game. Those were growing pains, as the problems all stemmed from the server upgrade. So now that things are back to normal let's celebrate with some good news!

Server upgrade

We've added a second webserver and a load balancer to split traffic between the two of them. This should really boost performance during peak hours and give us much more capacity to handle growth in membership. Furthermore, we will soon upgrade the original webserver by installing a second dual-core CPU to make both servers equally powerful. In other words, the hardware running this website is dope!

Speed game speedup

To take advantage of this server power we're speeding up the auto-refresh to occur ever 10 seconds in a speed game. Auto-refresh will no longer reset your card selections when cashing in a set.

Credit card payments

Now you can purchase Peremium Membership without PayPal. We take Visa and MasterCard directly and securely, with American Express to follow. You can still use PayPal as an alternative.

Missed turns & deferred armies

It's no secret that some people intentionally miss turns to get their armies multiplied, making the game much slower than necessary. Multiplied armies may give turn-missers an unfair advantage due to the element of surprise. So, the formula has been changed: when you miss a turn, you'll be compensated with deferred armies equal to the normal amount of armies received (or double if you missed 2 consecutive turns). Deferred armies must be deployed in one shot after the attack phase. Thanks to Brahms for suggesting this and everyone else who gave their input over the months.

8-player games

Now you can battle it out with an even larger assemblage of casual online world domination junkies! Naturally, this means you can also play 7-player games, 8-player doubles and 8-player quadruples.

Colour codes

At times it can be hard to tell which armies belong to which player, even for those of us who are not colourblind. Now that we can have up to 8 army colours on the map, this could become even more of an issue. The colourblind setting is now something you can toggle on and off in-game (just like map size) and we've renamed it "colour codes" to reflect this. We've also enhanced colour codes to prefix player names and card names.

[spoiler=Color Codes]Red
Green
Blue
Yellow
Pink
Cyan
Orange
Slate / Silver[/spoiler]

Gilligan · Post by **Gilligan** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:17 pm

Great job!

Kaplowitz · Post by **Kaplowitz** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:17 pm

I ♥ you

KingOfGods · Post by **KingOfGods** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:17 pm

Awesome update lack

Gilligan · Post by **Gilligan** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:18 pm

*waits to see color for player 7 and 8*

0ojakeo0 · Post by **0ojakeo0** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:18 pm

I thought this was a sorry for me missing a turn in a speed game a minute ago but this is better

sweet job lack

hecter · Post by **hecter** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:19 pm

Cool...

0ojakeo0 · Post by **0ojakeo0** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:20 pm

hecter wrote:Cool...

7 and 8 player games??? better than cool.

Jondalar · Post by **Jondalar** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:23 pm

Thanks very much. This looks great!!

Gilligan · Post by **Gilligan** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:24 pm

What about Age of Might?

Russianfire8371 · Post by **Russianfire8371** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:25 pm

Thanks for the update Lack!

rebelman · Post by **rebelman** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:27 pm

Nice work on the latest upgrade in general especially the addition of 7 & 8 player games

I do believe though that the missed turns change should not be considered part of the upgrade as anything that is a retrograde step for the site that in effect double penalises those players that miss a turn for genuine reasons, because of the behaviour of a very small minority is clearly not an upgrade and I'd like to hope this can be reconsidered.

pimphawks70 · Post by **pimphawks70** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:28 pm

sick nasty

hockeyfreek · Post by **hockeyfreek** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:29 pm

I won the first 8 player game!!!!

Gilligan · Post by **Gilligan** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:31 pm

1428709

135 points :shock:

CatronixFilms · Post by **CatronixFilms** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:31 pm

Badass. Very nice!!

UnderSeage · Post by **UnderSeage** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:32 pm

awesome good times

wicked · Post by **wicked** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:32 pm

Gilligan wrote:What about Age of Might?

You shouldnt be able to make 7-8 player games on AoM b/c you wouldn't start with a castle. If you ARE able to make this game, let us know!

-ShadySoul- · Post by **-ShadySoul-** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:33 pm

holy shit

NICE!!!!!!

when i couldnt access the website yesterday i FREAKED

. I thought i had a virus or something, eve nscanned my comp twice.

Anyway, these are all great updates, especially the additional server one.

Skittles! · Post by **Skittles!** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:33 pm

Yay for Lack! Yay for new Servers! Yay for 8 player games -melts-

Thanks lack for another great update.

Gilligan · Post by **Gilligan** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:34 pm

wicked wrote:
Gilligan wrote:What about Age of Might?

You shouldnt be able to make 7-8 player games on AoM b/c you wouldn't start with a castle. If you ARE able to make this game, let us know!

I just tried; it didn't work.

Deech · Post by **Deech** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:37 pm

those are some solid upgrades right there

dcowboys055 · Post by **dcowboys055** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:37 pm

8 players!!!!!!!!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSS

Fircoal · Post by **Fircoal** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:41 pm

this is awesome, thanks Lack. ^_^

Skittles! · Post by **Skittles!** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:43 pm

I love you Lack. WILL YOU MARRY ME? :lol:

[19-Dec-2007] Missed turns, payments and server upgrade

[19-Dec-2007] Missed turns, payments and server upgrade

Brilliant.