Yup. I sort of agree. This feels like a change that will require a number of other aspects of the game will need tweaking over time
I agree with you @Picklearmyā¦I think that would also help to keep rounds interestingā¦
Just make smaller fams 
Will help with keeping the IA in check!
5 player fams would be perfect!
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Interesting idea there. Although MW has traditionally been the big galaxy with large families and some resemblence of an orderly rule of play, as opposed to the smaller and somewhat lawless galaxies.
I agree with pickle ā¦ no draft all random with UA would at least give an equil starting groundā¦
Also maybe new spell check allies
I meant check naps
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A check on NAPS may not be as useful in a round full of IA/UAā¦PermaNAPs are still out so I donāt think people would watse NAPS on thier alliances.
And I think the fastest way to chase people away from the game (the few left) is to tell them the only way to play with a friend is random chance.
I probably would not be interested in playing full random gals. At least, I wouldnāt be interested in being a part of that fam anyway. Prob just SS it out from that point forward.
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I think what pie did with this round is a good way to keep going. Keep it random but also allow drafts. This was a random round, but it still allowed you to draft in your friends. @HydroP
The other perspective on this is that itāll be increasingly hard to attract new players if all that happens is two experienced families basically farm newer families.
I agree that families are one of the key features of this game. Playing alongside people you know can be more fun - particularly if you can trust them to do what needs to be done at the right time.
IC clans in the olden days were a big part of the game - but due to the sheer number of players, new clans were always growing, splitting and creating new clans.
Only a few rounds ago, fewer than 50 players competed in MW. It could be argued that some of the attrition weāve seen is down to people playing pretty consistently together, and when one of the group left, others would too.
Over the last few rounds Iāve played as a random each time, and had some great fun playing with people for the first time. The idea of randoming was viewed quite negatively before unofficial alliances were permitted - mainly due to the chances of you winning in a random fam were quite low.
Now you can play alongside your friends, even from other families. That makes it very interesting for meā¦!
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Well saidā¦well said
Playing alongside your friends and playing with are not the same thing.
Also, how many new players are coming to the game currently? I doubt we see more than 2-4 per round show up and then how many are actively trying to become part of the community? I do not believe that the solution to getting new players and keeping them is to run older players off because they prefer to play with some friends. And keep in mind, I am not advocating (although I like the idea of clans) full draft fams. 2 or 3 drafts is plenty so that you can play with some of your friends and still get randoms in the family that may or may not be new.
If you want to draw new blood to the game there are a multitude of ways to go about that and it has nothing to do with current fam setups. It has to do with advertising/marketing and making the game appealing to a generation of people that do not play text-based games.
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Yes - I donāt believe that full drafts should be allowed, but I do believe that itās critical we get a few new players into existing experienced families each round. And this applies most especially if the new players are complete n00bs!
The key for me is that new players can learn and be compete against existing players.
Iām not sure I completely agree with this. Yes, marketing and suchlike will bring new players inā¦ but if all theyāre confronted with each round is the same huge families owning them, then will they stay?
If the overall goal is to build a game with 40-50 active players, then fineā¦ but my view is that wanting to play solely with old pals wonāt improve the trend of player attrition.
^^ This one is important. My understanding is that keeping older players is as important as getting new ones in.
Most of the non-text-based games I play have the concept of player relationships, but not that many actually have formalised āfamiliesā. So perhaps UAs will be a relatively familiar concept for new playersā¦?
And what happens when those buddies that are in different families team up, kill off the other players in their respective families (to gain planets from portaled shares) and work together just as if they are in the same family?
I am not saying this is not going to work. I do not have a crystal ball to read into the future. But I am not sure that this will change new players from getting shit on by experienced players.
I still contend that new players need to be trained. Either a training galaxy or maybe when a new player joins having them placed into a specific family that has āauthorized trainersā that we know will be willing to take on and train new players.
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I like that idea a lotā¦!
Yeah, see I would be more than willing to take 1 or 2 new players in a fam and help train them up. Obviously it would suck if they just go inactive on me, but then I can always kill them off.
I donāt mind playing with new people to the game. All I ever ask is that they play as part of the fam and show active interest in learning it.
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You can take me next round. As any family will tell you, Iām terrible 
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I am not saying this is not going to work. I do not have a crystal ball to read into the future. But I am not sure that this will change new players from getting shit on by experienced players.
I think small random fams will help new players because you would NEED that player to be productive. I donāt really think new players are shunned or anything right now, but it is easy to just hide them behind 6 or 7 other active players and ignore them.
And what happens when those buddies that are in different families team up, kill off the other players in their respective families (to gain planets from portaled shares) and work together just as if they are in the same family?
I guess a leader could do this but why? 1st of all once you started attacking your own fam, the rest of the fam will take over leadership and mark you rogue. Even if you were able to pull this off you would be so far behind economically that there is no real payoff in doing that. A decent leader should be able to just convince their fam members to go along with an alliance of your friends.
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Please keep fams small! I already see huge potential alliances forming.
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