Anniversary Balloons

Based on an ongoing discussion on Ares global, I took a look at the available information for the anniversary event. As usual, fairly comprehensive tables were available through the European wiki, including the amounts of balloons needed for the individual quests, the amount needed for the general server goal, and the conversion rate for resources to balloons. Much of the conversation included increasing water production, as was needed in the last anniversary event. However, looking at my stored resources, it was clear that water would not allow me to complete the event. This encouraged me to look more closely at the balloons that could be obtained from resources.

In the first iteration, I simply compared the number of resources required for each level for some of the products. The products were selected for what resources were more likely to be donated, although ultimately it does not matter. The results are shown below:

http://i66.tinypic.com/25zglg7.jpg

In the second iteration, I normalized the number of resources required to get balloons. The numbers are rounded visually, although the entire number is stored. From the information shown, between 30 and 40, the value of water substantially drops, making it the worst of the listed resources. Before level 40, the resources best ratio to worst are: marble > sausage, horses > water, HWP > wheat > brew > bread. After level 40 (including the final group of resources), the ratios change to: saddle cloth > wool cloth > EWP > marble > sausage > horse > HWP > wheat > brew > bread > water.

http://i64.tinypic.com/abjxg0.jpg

Finally, the increase in the amounts was calculated based on the normalized resource ratios. From there, it is obvious that a fixed ratio to determine the increase of resources required against level. Water seems to have been singled out with a 10x normal increase going from levels 30 to 40. Otherwise, the number of resources increase as shown, with the largest normal increase going from levels 40 to 50.

http://i67.tinypic.com/b3t0fl.jpg

The missing variable is the time required to convert the resources. Otherwise, balloons can be produced at a lower cost by lower level players. This would only be of value once the individual player has completed their personal goal for the event. The real question is if there are enough active people on the servers that it will be possible for us to donate sufficient balloons.

Aces!
Thanks for all your hard work Aurboth!

Someone brought up Wheels as a potential item for donation. There are some good features about wheels. Using the same normalization, is it only 1.4 wheels per balloon at level 50, 3.1 at level 60, and 3.9 at level 70. It misses the double penalty of the pre-level 50 increase. The drawback is that there may be production limitations, from the iron required to make them, the cost of increasing production, and normally low baseline production.

The Good Captain (Part 4) quest at level 66 requires us to have 2 level 6 wheelmakers, so there will finally be a use for them:p

I was looking at http://settlersonlinewiki.eu/en/even...ry-event-2018/ and trying to figure out how this event is going to work. The very first quest says to activate three concurrent productions in the festival hall, which raises two questions for me: Do we have to select three different resources, and is the selection permanent for the event? Does anybody know how this is going to work, or do we all just have to wait and see?

I was just making a bunch of wheels so I would have enough carriages for MCC. Okay if you have the iron to burn.

Glad you posted this. I'm not prepared for this event. I wasn't expecting to need to be. Looks like it may help to stockpile a couple more resources.

Thanks For The Info Aurboth :)

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Originally Posted by HortonsWho

I was looking at http://settlersonlinewiki.eu/en/even...ry-event-2018/ and trying to figure out how this event is going to work. The very first quest says to activate three concurrent productions in the festival hall, which raises two questions for me: Do we have to select three different resources, and is the selection permanent for the event? Does anybody know how this is going to work, or do we all just have to wait and see?

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On test I was able to make all 3 resources the same. Every time I logged on, my choices were still selected and producing balloons. That doesn't guarantee that BB doesn't change it between test and live, but why would they other than to be mean to us lol.

I'm kind of worried about the Goal. And if there are enough active players. Because outside of the hall there is no other way to obtain balloons (besides paying gems- but I see that as something you do if you fall short on your 15000 personal donation goal at the end of the 14days.)

I really hope we don't have to 'panic purchase on the 6th day just to get the Settlers HQ goal.

BB_Alex has said that if all active players meet their personal goal, the community goal will be easily met. It's going to take about 48,000 active players worldwide producing max balloons to hit the goal. I think the counter has slowed since our European brethren have gone to bed, hopefully it'll jump in the morning.

In the meantime, I'm using mortars in all 3 slots with an enormous cake buff to jump start my goals. A level 6 foundry with a snow buff produces enough mortars to cover all 3 slots with around 70 extra a day. This in turn is producing 792 balloons a day unbuffed. x 2 = 1584. x 1.5 = 1188. So if I use gem purchased x 2 buffs for the first couple of days then switch to x 1.5 buffs after that it'll be easy to hit my 15,000 donation and then I'll keep on going till the end to help hit the community goal. Somewhere along the way maybe I'll have enough candles and dough to make my own x 2 buffs, but we'll see how that turns out.

If we want these goodies we're going to have to part with some resources and those of us who can, probably a few gems as well. The way I see it is I'd spend gems for this general so why not part with a small amount to guarantee my chances of getting him? We can earn some cool stuff by simply parting with some resources so why the heck not? It's all just pixels anyway, not like I've been breaking rocks on a chain gang to get this stuff I'm making balloons out of.

As far as the difficulty of getting dough that's been brought up elsewhere... I've placed 10 candle for 10 dough trades and got 100 dough in about 15 or 20 minutes. This isn't hard.

oh okay. So its not just Zeus server only. Thank god.


with 5d 22hrs left we're only at 30.12m and we need about roughly 71-83m a day. we're way off right now.

I feel like this event is very "superficial" based on how it is designed.

The event goals, I am sure is calculated based on "active players" donating a certain amount. And they assume everybody understands the mechanics and will hit their goal with the maximum production. So why offer variable production of 8 to 12 (14 max I guess for the higher level players). Why not have all the options be a fixed 12. and increase the required resources higher to meet the cost equivalent. When I first logged on I selected something I had a lot of but it only gave 10- and I picked that. But after doing some math and calculations, I realized I might not hit the donation goals if I do production of 10. But I have so much of "XXX" resources. I suppose I could work the trade office and sell those XXX resources for the YYY resources in need like Wheels. But this event is suppose to be a Resource Sink. I remember the first balloons event years around we had more flexibility in donating whatever to get rid of our junk stock pile.

But going back to my point on the Superficial Goal. What happens when we don't hit the goal? I don't believe they'll just give us nothing especially for the unique HQ that they worked so hard on (or reworked) to give out. Especially for the newer players who weren't here the first time they gave the HQ. So something tells me they're going to 'tweak' the numbers at the end to meet the goal. Which is why I say this is very superficial, because it makes us feel like we're working on something as a community but really it is a freebie disguised. And this event has no other way of donating more than necessary (beside said gem purchase). Or forcing everybody for the goal 2 (assuming we don't get anything for goal 1 if not met) to start bugging their facebook friends to play settlers. but then it has a minimum level count, and I doubt your friends will want to slug through the tutorials and starter phase just to do the balloons. The entry point into this game isn't as easy for new players who aren't into these type of games like other facebook click games.

I've played other games that have these so called community events, and as I said its superficial. The players didn't met the goal, and the developers decided to 'extend the event a few days more so people could meet the goal. Again, leading to my point on the superficial part.

They have lowered the goal so we will see. Unless we get a large bump in donations though, I just do not see how we will make it. After the next 21 hours we will be able to get a better idea on if we will make the deadline by the first week. As to individual goals. I got pointed out that we have 2 weeks to do this and the Master toolkit (the buff that can be made in the, Mayor's house) bumps it up to +100% (that is the only epic workyard buff that works other than the event specific buffs), so individual wise it shouldn't be a problem. Even using lower value resources, breaking 15k in 2 weeks won't be an issue. Knowing that we do not have to depend on the dough/candles for buffs, things can run more smoothly and just becomes a bit more of a res dump (collectables).

I haven't donated anything except the first 100 required by a quest. Will do so as I accumulate enough to satisfy quests/achievements, but it's not going to be a consistent number per day.

Getting 15k is NOT going to be an issue at all.

You practically, don't even need to worry about the cake buff as much either. Because if you look at the achievement rewards, they GIVE you enough buffs to hit the goal from just the reward buffs given to you.

SO even if you gathered enough buffs materials- its just cheaper to build the 'small' buffs. and trade buffs with your friends for the friends trading achievement.

Alright, so individual balloons wont be an issue but as of right now, the community effort is going to fall flat. Even with the weekend. Considering they had a gem discount yesterday and we still didn't get the amount needed. Right now, after the change the total is 350,000,000 balloons. That is 50 mil a day for 7 days. We are already on day 2 with less than 100 mill. Considering there should have been a fairly large bump yesterday with people buying balloons and it didn't progress very much further. Unless they have delayed the scores from the other servers from being combined, I think we are SOL. Honestly the concept of the event is good but considering the resources being dumped, this really isn't all that appealing. I'll be honest. Not a fan of burning my resources when trades in the TO would get me the same items for cheaper (not counting the new stuff). Evil_J had a good idea about what could have been done BUT, I would also like to add that another route to get a hold of balloons should have been opened. Having the balloons in adventures could have solved this. The whole candle/dough thing is OK but it should have been geared towards achievements and a side bonus. Having players work together is fine but.... it should not have been the main goal. Especially considering that either the player base is too small or not a lot of people are interested. I am not saying balloons should be a free give away but another path for obtaining them should have been presented.

P.S. just got the anniversary gift. Thank you. That might go a long way in bumping the total up for the community. Good luck everyone.

I hit 5,458 in donations after just 2 days and 8 hours. I'm sacrificing mortars to get there. The 600 balloon anniversary gift helped a lot!

It's going to take more than wheat to get us where we need to be. Pony up people.

I'm running 3 x elite horses doubled from buff.. 72 an hour (just over)... built a store house near the island to get it to just over a hour per batch.

Community goal seems fine now. I still have only donated 100 myself. I may drop 3000 this afternoon for the achievement. There is not anything that would encourage people to donate a consistent amount every day, but rather get rewarded in lump sums.

Yeah, am relieved to see the community goal bounding along like it is. I think those cake buffs not working was hurting worse that we realized. The 600 balloons we got as a consolation must have helped quite a bit as well. But it looks like we're gonna hit 350 million with no problem.

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Originally Posted by Perwyn

Yeah, am relieved to see the community goal bounding along like it is. I think those cake buffs not working was hurting worse that we realized. The 600 balloons we got as a consolation must have helped quite a bit as well. But it looks like we're gonna hit 350 million with no problem.

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Glad to hear the balloons have helped and that you all are getting those donations in!

-BB_Odhran

Since this forum thread is for feedback and discussion, I'll give some feedback.

1. The event for personal rewards is great. It's basically, players paying some resources to buy the rewards. It's pretty much a fixed amount if you think about it. And the challenge is basically, you gotta make sure you login each day to apply the buff or rather hustle your friend(s) to apply the buff on your island and do the same to him. If you fail to do the necessary daily task, you fall short and must spend gems to buy the balloon difference. Can't make up for the loss once you pass some threshold of no recovery. Small cake is good enough, but if you need to make up for some shortage, you gotta bust chops to make a big cake to make up for the difference. Fair enough.

2. I think the community goal is completely superficial and just down right phony. And their readjustment of the goal and giving out balloons and cake simply proves this point. They're in control of whether you achieve this goal or not by tweaking the numbers either inflate the goal reduce the goal or hand out stuff or they could simply rig the numbers at the end of the day. All this for the perception that we're working together on some community goal that the players don't actually have a way to boost the balloon count on their own without spending gems on extra balloons. The donation count per player has a threshold. They might as well just give us the goal rewards rather than try to make players feel like we're actually working together.

In all fairness, adjusting the goal, giving out balloons and a cake were pretty much an apology for starting the event with buffs that didn't work. As it turns out, we're doing just fine hitting the goal and will likely do so early, so adjusting it down maybe was overkill, but the balloons and buffs were warranted given the initial bug.

Those of us who are trading candles and dough back and forth on a 1:1 ratio actually are working together to help each other out. People who happened to be in my friends list and who also happened to be charging thousands in coin for a hundred or so dough on TO.... they're no longer in my friends list. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

I absolutely took advantage of the fact I am one of the few lvl 50- players active on Zeus. People were willing to pay tons of coin for my dough. And why not, with so many more high lvls this was absolutely a way to help out the lower lvls make some faster progression. But the market has already evened out mostly. You can easily do your 1:1 trades for the event collectibles now.

I think the adjustment of the community goal reflects the number of dead accounts.

I think the 500 million was a reasonable goal, and now we are almost on pace to hit that mark even. People didn't get that there was no reason or way for people to donate that much that early, so the numbers looked artificially low because of course they were going to be the first 24 hours. I didn't think most of the complaints were overly justified. The really bad one was the broken buffs, but once that was fixed, everything seemed fine to me. I lost a few hundred balloons from that, which the compensation more than made up for, but it wasn't entirely a gift. Otherwise, I can see the argument for adjusting candles:dough conversion to 2:1. That seems more reasonable.

I wouldn't mind contributing, if only my Festival Hall actually worked; it's been stalled for well over 24 hours now...

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Originally Posted by Bordoc

I absolutely took advantage of the fact I am one of the few lvl 50- players active on Zeus. People were willing to pay tons of coin for my dough. And why not, with so many more high lvls this was absolutely a way to help out the lower lvls make some faster progression. But the market has already evened out mostly. You can easily do your 1:1 trades for the event collectibles now.

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So you donated all your proceeds to lower level players as community spirit overwhelmed you to do good things for others???

I've been easily doing my 1:1 trades all along, in spite of people like you price gouging.

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Originally Posted by RonEmpire

2. I think the community goal is completely superficial and just down right phony. And their readjustment of the goal and giving out balloons and cake simply proves this point. They're in control of whether you achieve this goal or not by tweaking the numbers either inflate the goal reduce the goal or hand out stuff or they could simply rig the numbers at the end of the day. All this for the perception that we're working together on some community goal that the players don't actually have a way to boost the balloon count on their own without spending gems on extra balloons. The donation count per player has a threshold. They might as well just give us the goal rewards rather than try to make players feel like we're actually working together.

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Congrats to BB on reaching level 1 of customer care and to you for understanding how it works.

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Originally Posted by tomsb1176

I think the adjustment of the community goal reflects the number of dead accounts.

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Depends what you mean by this. Numbers were based on this years Easter event. To think that 30% of accounts from Easter are dead is pretty grim but possible I guess.

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Originally Posted by Perwyn

In all fairness, adjusting the goal, giving out balloons and a cake were pretty much an apology for starting the event with buffs that didn't work. As it turns out, we're doing just fine hitting the goal and will likely do so early, so adjusting it down maybe was overkill, but the balloons and buffs were warranted given the initial bug.

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You would be surprised how many cheapskates or ppl who just dont care are out there. We are making the goal thanks to those 600 free balloons everyone got. No point not to donate those as you cant do or get anything for them.

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Originally Posted by Perwyn

So you donated all your proceeds to lower level players as community spirit overwhelmed you to do good things for others???

I've been easily doing my 1:1 trades all along, in spite of people like you price gouging.

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If I was a 50- player I would definitely have sold dough to make sure I have enough to keep the donation going and buffed 24/7 and that im well prepared for future events.
Do you think that people like them are more likely to help with the goal if people like you tell them off?

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Originally Posted by SSSecretSquirrel

........Do you think that people like them are more likely to help with the goal if people like you tell them off?

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No, of course not. Some people are just plain greedy, coupled with an overblown sense of entitlement. Once life whops them upside the head with a 2 by 4, with any luck for those around them, they begin to change.

As long as there's someone willing to pay exorbitant prices, there will be someone wanting to sell at them. I've also done 1:1 trades all along no problem, and now that the conversion has been adjusted to 2:1, there is no reason to overpay. Some still will. The gougers are fulfilling a need, though it's not one that really should exist. BB created an environment where you can get these things without cost, and for that matter, you can produce enough on your own that really you don't even need to make any buffs to achieve the goals.