Looting System Update. Release Notes, Dec 22, 2023

Dec.22.2023 BY KIX_Klutch

Commanders,

A significant change is being implemented. This will significantly help all players find more resources. Read on for the full details.

Having a rule in Rogue Assault where players can only attack and steal from players within 10 levels has several negative impacts on the game’s overall health and player experience:

1. Limited Targets and Repetitiveness: Players often find a reduced pool of opponents to attack, especially at higher levels where fewer players exist. This can lead to repetitive gameplay and a lack of variety in attack strategies, making the game less engaging.

2. Difficulty in Progressing: Players who level up their Command Center quickly but have underdeveloped units and defences might find winning battles against similarly levelled players extremely challenging. This difficulty in earning resources through battles can hinder their progress, leading to frustration.

3. Resource Drought for Lower-Level Players: Higher-level players tend to accumulate more resources. If they are off-limits to lower-level players, it could lead to a resource drought for these players, making it harder for them to progress and maintain interest in Rogue Assault.

4. Discouraging New Players: New players might feel overwhelmed or disadvantaged if they cannot attack weaker or similarly progressing players for resources. This could discourage them from continuing with the game.

5. Stagnation at Certain Levels: Players might intentionally avoid upgrading their buildings to stay at a lower, more comfortable level where they can successfully attack and defend, leading to stagnation in overall game progress.

6. Unbalanced Matchmaking and Leagues: The game’s matchmaking system structure might become unbalanced, as players are restricted to attacking only those within 10 levels. In many situations, 10 levels is only one power band range in Rogue Assault. This could lead to unfair matchups and dissatisfy competitive players.

7. Reduced Strategic Depth: Part of the strategic depth in games like Rogue Assault comes from deciding when to level up your player versus strengthening your existing defences and units. Limiting attacks to the same level power range, 10-level range, reduces these strategic considerations.

8. Economic Imbalance: The game’s economy (resource allocation, earning, and spending) can become imbalanced, as players at certain levels hoard resources with fewer risks of being attacked, while others struggle to accumulate what they need.

Rogue Assault is committed to making progression intuitive, reducing stagnation, balancing matchmaking, increasing strategic depth, and a balanced economy where players feel a sense of agency, control, and motivation over their game progression. With this, Rogue Assault is making the updates that follow.

Looting Rules – Quick Recap

Loot can be stolen from two types of sources: resource storages, and resource harvesters. Each source has rules governing how much loot is available from buildings of that type.

Loot from Storages: a fixed percentage of resources stored across all storages.

Loot from Harvesters: a fixed percentage of resources stored across all harvesters.

New Steal Level Rules & Loot Penalty System

The following major updates are happening:

A. Looting from Matchmaking is being significantly increased

B. The 10-level steal rate rule is being replaced with a system that uses the relative power levels of opponents.

C. The min and max player levels above and below you that you can loot from are being increased

Expected Impact: Significant

Why are these Changes Good?

Right now it’s difficult to farm for resources in a meaningful way. Right now it’s near impossible for a rushed base to farm enough resources to progress given the 10-level rule. There are “dead spots” in the game where some players are starved for resources given the 10-level rule. In addition to correcting the eight challenges above, these changes solve both of these two challenges by increasing the number of available targets appropriate for all players. Note that the more resources lost from bases above players attacking them is offset by war zone bubbles, matchmaking bubbles, and the increased number of targets available below a players level. Overall, the total economy balance will be significantly improved with this change and individual players will have more options to meaningful farm than ever before.

A. Matchmaking Steal Rates increased

The amount available to be looted in matchmaking has significantly increased.

• Harvesters: 2.5% -> 20%
• Storage: 0.5% -> 4%

Future Update Disclosure: ‘Next’ Button will Cost Metal in the New Year

With the above increase in looting rates in Matchmaking, Rogue Assault will be implementing a small Metal cost to tap the ‘Next’ button in Matchmaking in the New Year. The dev team didn’t want to wait to deliver this overwhelming value to you until we developed the ‘Next’ button fee, so we have released the increased Matchmaking looting rates ahead of time so that Rogue Assault Commanders can enjoy their Winter Holidays with this new element of gameplay.

B. New Looting System increases available targets

The legacy 10-level steal rate rule is being replaced with a system that considers the relative power levels of opponents. This will increase the number of targets available to loot

To stop players with higher levels from going after those with lower levels, there’s now a rule called the “loot penalty.” This rule decreases the loot you can get from attacking players who are at a lower level than you. This loot penalty comes into play after they figure out how much loot you’d normally get.

The loot penalty is determined by considering the difference in the power level of the attacker and defender’s Player Level, and is shown in the table below:

Power level ranges are assigned by the strength and availability of units at that player level, and is shown in the table below:

C. Steal Level Range significantly increased

The min and max player level range that can be stolen from relative to your level has been increased to improve the health of the game for the reasons at the top of this page.

• Max Player Level Below that can be stolen from: 10 -> 60
• Max Player Level Above that can be stolen from: 10 -> 60

Conclusion

This is a significant change that will significantly improve the game’s health. We understand that not all players will be immediately happy with this update and want to assure these players that we strongly believe these changes significantly improve the individual player experience overall and open up a door for significant growth for existing and new Rogue Assault players game-wide by correcting a significant source of player frustration and by increasing the ways that players can achieve massive individual growth in a way that respects their time and rewards skill, strategy, and effort.

Happy Hunting, Commander.

Join and meet the community!

If you’d like to meet other players and hear them discuss these changes, and discover new strategies for progressing efficiently, consider joining our growing Rogue Assault Discord!

Outside of being able to meet like-minded people, we post announcements for new updates, post surveys about proposed updates, and staff regularly drops in to chat with our players in discord.