Proposal Anti-Spam improvements to the game

Shuri2060

Strategos
Proposal:

I propose the following measures to deal with spam -

1. Change minimum attack percentage (currently 3%), either:

a) Increase, eg. 10%, or even 20%.
b) Formula, eg. 300/sqrt[used_pop]% (anything over 100% becomes 100%).

(Another way to look at this example formula is minimum attack population = 3*sqrt[used_pop]. If you have under 9 pop, you must attack with everything.)
J5afDIY.png
2. 'Preparation time' added on for all commands (in addition to minimum attack time). Applies to attacks, supports, spies, trades, except bandit/quests.

- Suggestion: 5 minutes.
- Commands can only be cancelled while they are being prepared.
- The command isn't sent out until preparation is finished - ie. the receiving player won't see it/receive any notifications until then. (Helmet would act after preparation time and not take it into account for the 10%.)
- The units aren't in the city during preparation.
- If a command is cancelled, units take the same time to return as the time they were preparing for. (ie. it doesn't change how dodging works).
- Preparation time would still be added on for non-cancellable commands (eg. returning attack, support sent back, trade accepted on market), BUT they should be visible for their entire duration (it would not make sense to hide them).

3. Creation of a 'ping system'. Similar to the messaging system, except when a player pings another, the receiver gets a notification on their phone and browser, similar to the attack alarm.

- Players will have a list of players they can receive pings from.
- By default, players have 'own alliance' on it. This can be removed. An alliance leader can toggle this default in alliance settings.
- By default, players cannot receive pings from anyone else. They can add 'all pact members' as an option. They can add specific alliances/individual players to the list.
- Individual players can be blocked.
- Including a short message with the ping would be a nice feature (visible in app notification).

Explanation:

These suggestions are aimed to tackle the most common types of spam.

1. Reduces concurrent minimum attacks. Also increases strategy with respect to resource management (resources being units and attacks). HCs costing more is not necessarily a bad thing. I would suggest b over a - a varying percentage deals with the specific issue of minimum attack spam better.

The example formula does not reduce concurrent minimum attacks from fully built cities by much (a full nuke can be split into ~20 attacks), but imo that already is a balanced action - the enemy can counter by putting biremes everywhere resulting in quite a large BP loss. This is a naive method of spamming as it is obvious what the 20 attacks are once one is wisdomed. The formula can be adjusted if this is still considered to be a problem.

2. Removes flash/cancel spam completely. Does not affect existing strategies such as timing. Increases total minimum attack time - this reduces the rate of repetitive spam from neighbours.

3. Friendly players would no longer be able to ping each other if 2 is implemented. This solves the issue.

Extra things/clarification:

- The above does not deal with Trade spam (2 only stops it being cancelled). I'm leaving this specific issue out for now as I haven't thought of a neat solution yet.

- Example to demonstrate 2:

TT before update from A to B is ~0:12:34 (no preparation time). After update, either:

a) Display TT as ~0:17:34 (attack window, planner, TT sim, etc). The receiver of the command will only see the command + get notifications when it's ~0:12:34 away. What I would suggest personally - I think it's easiest to understand + implement.
b) Display TT as ~0:12:34 (+5:00). Same for the rest.
c) Display TT as ~0:17:34 (0:12:34 + 5:00). Same for the rest (displays everything but imo clunky).

==============================================================================

This proposal follows on from a recent discussion here https://en.forum.grepolis.com/index.php?threads/new-rules-on-spam.62701/

With these changes, there would be no need to introduce subjective and imprecise rules against spamming.
 
Last edited:

Shuri2060

Strategos
Clarification:

The units aren't in the city during preparation (ie. it doesn't change how dodging works).
 

DeletedUser57069

Guest
This is a well-developed idea it looks like. I have one question. How would the preparation time impact the tt's of units? Does the prep time come off the tt or is it an additional 5 minutes.
 

Shuri2060

Strategos
This is a well-developed idea it looks like. I have one question. How would the preparation time impact the tt's of units? Does the prep time come off the tt or is it an additional 5 minutes.
Additional (and I think it should be constant regardless of speed settings), since minimum attack time isn't even necessarily 5 mins in some worlds atm (defender needs some reaction time) and I'm aiming to increase minimum round trip time to reduce spam from neighbours as well.

There are a few ways to go about this visually. Either just display the total TT in the attack window/TT simulator, etc, or make it clear there's an additional 5 minutes. I'm not sure which is the best tbh. I'm leaning towards just displaying total TT, and if you are trying to TT incoming attacks, you have to remember to subtract 5 mins from the TT simulator. Also note there isn't room in the atk planner for a larger display.

-----------------------------------------------------

To clarify what I was thinking, eg. -

TT before update from A to B is ~0:12:34 (no preparation time). After update, either:

a) Display TT as ~0:17:34 (attack window, planner, TT sim, etc). The receiver of the command will only see the command + get notifications when it's ~0:12:34 away. What I would suggest personally - I think it's easiest to understand + implement.
b) Display TT as ~0:12:34 (+5:00). Same for the rest.
c) Display TT as ~0:17:34 (0:12:34 + 5:00). Same for the rest (displays everything but imo clunky).

Note I am suggesting these TT changes to apply to all commands to avoid all types of flash spam. Attacks, supports, spies, trade.
 
Last edited:

DeletedUser56913

Guest
The issue I might have - is this gives the attacker 5 mins to send withdraw, send withdraw multiple times to obtain perfect timing
 

Hydna

Grepolis Team
I think the idea to find mechanisms to deal with this is good and we are doing the same.

This 5 mins preparation time I just don't really understand how this can work. Are you saying 5 mins before you are able to start timing in secret and then you have that whole 5 mins to send and recall before you set the attack? That seems to me to negate the anti timer.

or do you just mean that you add 5 mins tt to everything, that is your only cancellation time and effectively attacks cannot be cancelled after 5 mins
 

Shuri2060

Strategos
I think the idea to find mechanisms to deal with this is good and we are doing the same.

This 5 mins preparation time I just don't really understand how this can work. Are you saying 5 mins before you are able to start timing in secret and then you have that whole 5 mins to send and recall before you set the attack? That seems to me to negate the anti timer.

or do you just mean that you add 5 mins tt to everything, that is your only cancellation time and effectively attacks cannot be cancelled after 5 mins
The last, I meant.
 
Top