Correct Galaxy page colors are not being assigned to the largest NPCs in SFCO

[Admiral T-Wayne]

For the past several weeks, the larger players in SFCO have noticed that the larger NPCs display with a "floor" color level (the color level varies by player, naturally!) that does not vary as the size of the larger NPCs varies.  Current case in point:  I am looking at two NPCs in my galaxy page view.  Both are light green, with an RGB value of 344.  One target yields 85M DSPs and has 29M Missile Launchers, with other defenses to match.  The other NPC yields 42M DSPs and has 14.6 Missile Launchers, with other defenses to match.  Clearly, the first NPC is about twice as large as the second.  But, both display to me identically (light green, with an RGB value of 344).  My understanding is that NPC colors should be differentiated based upon the RSPs level that is assigned to the targets.  Given that one NPC is twice the size of the other, they should not be assigned the same RSPs, thus they should not display with the same color.

Further, this color level increases (becomes greener) for a given player on a daily basis, as his/her RSP level rises.  Case in point:  I first noticed this behavior a number of weeks ago, when suddenly there were no "red" NPCs and the "floor" color code for me was in the 280's.  This "floor" color code has migrated upwards to 344, and it moves up a few points each day.  The implication is that the RSPs value that is assigned to the largest NPCs is not changing as the NPCs grow.  So, as a player grows, the largest NPCs, with this fixed-in-place RSPs value, progressively appear to be greener and greener.  As time goes on, all NPCs will appear to be bright green (RGB = 510) to the very large players.

Conclusion:  There is some maximum RSPs value that is assigned to any NPC in SFCO, thereby resulting in undifferentiated coloration for the largest NPCs and creeping migration of this "floor" color toward bright green.  This is baaaaad, for the reason I describe below.

Impact:  larger players are progressively losing the ability to differentiate NPCs based on Galaxy Page color.  As time goes on, there will be no differentiation.  Once this occurs, we will not be able to filter our probing decisions based on target color.  Scanning will become an increasingly onerous activity.  Enjoyment with the game will decrease, less fleets will fly, less hydro will be spent, less trips to the Merchant will be made, BFG revenues will decrease.

The standard answer from BFG regarding NPCs is along the line of, "nothing has been changed".  That might be the case.  HOWEVER, I think that it is worthwhile to check the code that controls how colors are assigned to NPCs, to determine if it has been broken (applies a ceiling RSPs value to very large NPCs) since "day one", and this breakage is only now becoming manifest as NPCs (and players) have reached a certain size in SFCO. 

We really, truly need to have NPC differentiation-by-color, even for the largest NPCs.  I hope that BFG will consider this issue to be sufficiently significant to justify some exploration on their part.

[SilentBob]

Largers NPCs for me register between 309 and 311. Very little variation, even when the DSPs vary considerably. Both Wayne & I are ranked in the overall and RSP top ten. Like ATW I think we have grown so far the code can no longer cope as it was not designed for people to have the RSP levels that we have.

[Monkey D. Luffy]

I've been using that script for a while now too - and I've noticed the same thing - however, I've noticed that as I climb in RSP and overall points, the value threshold increases as well...

What I mean is, back when I first started using the script that assigns the numeric value to NPCs based on their relative color (with the lower the number, being a more difficult / harder to kill NPC / aka: "redder" color NPC), I used to find NPCs that were in 200 range occasionally - as I've gained points and RSP over the months since I started using the script, the number "ranks" of NPCs is getting worse and worse... in the last month, I haven't found 1 single NPC with a numeric value lower than 450 (I believe that the numeric value is based on the color scale of the NPC, if I'm not mistaken) however, despite this problem, I'm finding huge NPCs as well as small ones...

For example, both of these NPCs show a rank of 460 to me:

Encounter Abandoned Colossus Platform [2:116:11e] has:
RESOURCES:
* ore: 113,400,070 
* crystal: 403,209,228 
* hydrogen: 303,311,974 
================================
Total plunder: 409,960,636 (3280 carm / 16399 herc / 81993 atlas)
DSP: 11,757,637.5 (318182 Dios / 1272728 Zags)

SEEKERS'S SHIPS:
* Artemis Class Fighter: 27,471
* Atlas Class Cargo: 6,097
* Apollo Class Fighter: 18,714
* Zagreus Class Recycler: 3,987
* Hercules Class Cargo: 284
* Dionysus Class Recycler: 64,953
* Poseidon Class Cruiser: 55
* Carmanor Class Cargo: 9,401
* Athena Class Battleship: 1,972
* Ares Class Bomber: 527
* Hades Class Battleship: 2,114
* Prometheus Class Destroyer: 2,059
* Zeus Class: 2,108

DEFENSES:
* Missile Battery: 21,273,774
* Laser Cannon: 15,483,953
* Pulse Cannon: 1,720,789
* Particle Cannon: 3,512,263
* Decoy: 1
* Gauss Cannon: 266,098
* Large Decoy: 1
* Plasma Cannon: 126,000

TECHS:
* Armor Tech: 20
* Weapons Tech: 20
* Shield Tech: 20

_________________________________________________________


Encounter Abandoned Colossus Platform ‎[2:105:12e] has:
RESOURCES:
* ore: 325,503,365
* crystal: 576,093,093
* hydrogen: 465,141,582
================================
Total plunder: 683,369,020 (5467 carm / 27335 herc / 136674 atlas)
DSP: 124,226,064 (3442053 Dios / 13768212 Zags)

SEEKERS'S SHIPS:
* Artemis Class Fighter: 7,335,642
* Atlas Class Cargo: 615,447
* Apollo Class Fighter: 3,256,450
* Zagreus Class Recycler: 775,191
* Hercules Class Cargo: 48,072
* Dionysus Class Recycler: 461,482
* Poseidon Class Cruiser: 5,517
* Carmanor Class Cargo: 73,920
* Athena Class Battleship: 465,648
* Ares Class Bomber: 118,045
* Hades Class Battleship: 435,847
* Prometheus Class Destroyer: 384,839
* Zeus Class: 4,820

DEFENSES:
* Missile Battery: 1,218,720,678
* Laser Cannon: 577,524,078
* Pulse Cannon: 52,025,045
* Particle Cannon: 115,468,734
* Decoy: 1
* Gauss Cannon: 10,253,584
* Large Decoy: 1
* Plasma Cannon: 5,564,406

TECHS:
* Armor Tech: 16
* Weapons Tech: 16
* Shield Tech: 16


How can both of those NPCs be the exact same color to me?... do you see the difference between those NPCs, it's freaking ridiculous...

There is no possible way that both of these NPCs should be the same exact color to me (since they both have the exact same numeric value, I assume that means that they are the exact same color, that's how it works, right?)

Or am I missing something?

[Admiral T-Wayne]

Hi, Monkey,

What you are seeing is EXACTLY what I was referring to, with respect to the following:

Further, this color level increases (becomes greener) for a given player on a daily basis, as his/her RSP level rises.  ...  The implication is that the RSPs value that is assigned to the largest NPCs is not changing as the NPCs grow.  So, as a player grows, the largest NPCs, with this fixed-in-place RSPs value, progressively appear to be greener and greener.  As time goes on, all NPCs will appear to be bright green (RGB = 510) to the very large players.

We are losing our ability to differentiate NPCs based on color.  This is NOT a good thing, because it means that substantially increased time either (1) must be devoted to scanning/probing/evaluating probing results (your uni) or (2) such is right around the corner (in SFCO).

[lazoputz]

I too am having a great deal of difficulty locating targets suitable to hit. Either they are too small to be able to turn a profit on, or too large to be killable, even with my fairly large fleet. In both cases, the "number" system shows fairly similar, and they are ALL green. The result for me, is vastly reduced playing time. I log on, do a (usually) fruitless check-around, then log off for a few hours, and come back to repeat the process.

[sumisu]

wow... i can basically copy&paste lazoputz's post 

please do something about it asap

regards and happy holidays!

[Monkey D. Luffy]

Hi, Monkey,

What you are seeing is EXACTLY what I was referring to, with respect to the following:

Further, this color level increases (becomes greener) for a given player on a daily basis, as his/her RSP level rises.  ...  The implication is that the RSPs value that is assigned to the largest NPCs is not changing as the NPCs grow.  So, as a player grows, the largest NPCs, with this fixed-in-place RSPs value, progressively appear to be greener and greener.  As time goes on, all NPCs will appear to be bright green (RGB = 510) to the very large players.

We are losing our ability to differentiate NPCs based on color.  This is NOT a good thing, because it means that substantially increased time either (1) must be devoted to scanning/probing/evaluating probing results (your uni) or (2) such is right around the corner (in SFCO).

Exactly - I was agreeing with you, and showing the much larger correlation between the change as you get bigger and bigger... Almost every NPC that I see now, is above 500 to me, and I don't like that... as I continue to grow, even the huge NPCs that are currently showing at 470 to me, will eventually show at over 500,... I'm having trouble with finding good NPCs because of this issue myself.

[elnino]

I am #3 in RSPs in SFCO and I am noticing the same thing as well.  Large NPCs used to be ranked in the 200s for me and the odd really large ones in the high 100s. Now they are ranked between 360 and 380 or so for me and unless BFG adjust the NPC shading I have no doubt that they will all be in the 400s within a few weeks making it very hard to sort the wheat from the chaff.

[The Silence]

I'm with everyone above on this! Colours do not appear to be shown correctly and as such each day or so (with the RGB ranking), the lowest number I can see increases....

[llaubacher]

..... I have no doubt that they will all be in the 400s within a few weeks making it very hard to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Count on it :-D

The colouring has indeed lost its meaning and purpose and it should re-done/re-set.

[Pantin]

Not suggesting you guys don't have a point, but here's a quick fix.

Ask a friend

[Admiral T-Wayne]

Hi, Pantin,

If you are meaning, "ask a lower-ranking friend who still can see red", I think we all will agree that would be an onerous process for all who would be involved.  This is particularly so if we are hoping to facilitate a process that involves quickly determining which systems, among 1000 or so that are scanned, are good candidates for probing.

The better approach is for the game to be fixed, so that NPCs are assigned representative RSPs values that enable all players to effectively differentiate them using assigned Galaxy Page colors.  I don't care if BFG calculates these RSPs values based upon the NPC composition, or if they take an easy route and assign the NPC the same RSPs value as the player from which the NPC was spawned.  We simply need them to be assigned some RSPs value that reasonably differentiates them.

[Pantin]

I think we all will agree

This again... Did you go to Boris school?

I've had lower rankers find me suitable NPCs to hit for a while now and I can say with some certainty that all larties are happy with the cooperation. This said fixing it would be the best option; I was just pointing out that you could do otherwise in the meantime.

[lazoputz]

that may be fine for your obviously limited style of play, but those of us who probe literally hundreds of potential targets every few hours, would find having to rely on friends to do the searching for us to be onerous indeed. I do think perhaps, that T-Wayne should have said: "I think we all would agree (except Pantin)" since you seem to find an argument in virtually everyone's posts.

[Pantin]

that may be fine for your obviously limited style of play

LOL

I like you.