Ogame: Lost in Space

Although I had originally intended to expand into other games in this blog, I've decided to continue the next two blog posts by writing about an entirely different problem with the online game OGame (http://ogame.org/) and a possible solution to that problem.

Keeping track of the progress of your fleets.

Expeditions are a relatively new feature to Ogame, and can be accessed by researching the new Astrophysics technology. The new expedition system is also a feature that I believe to have amazing potential, but has sadly not liven up to it. Players with a high enough level in Astrophysics tech may send their fleets out to explore the final frontier, visit places unknown, and explore the vast emptiness of space via going on Expedition missions. Players may have their fleets of star ships explore for a number of hours based on their level of research, and supposedly, the longer your fleets spend exploring, the higher the likelihood that they'll encounter something in their travels. This is a great concept in my opinion, and has the potential for many, many things. Sadly, the amount of things that can be discovered is quite limited and, to make things worse, quite commonly harmful for the player.

When a fleet is sent on an expedition mission, the expedition fleet will randomly experience one of many events. These random events can be broken down into the following:


Combat
The expedition fleet may be attacked by a fleet of aliens or pirates. Combat related events may result in the loss of ships from the expedition fleet, or the loss of the entire expedition fleet itself, and there is no real benefit for partaking in this type of event. If the expedition fleet is victorious in this event, resources are not raided from the defeated, and whether victorious or not, the debris created from this event is lost.

Example: The expeditions fleet reports contact with unknown ships. The sensor readings are not decipherable, but it seems that the alien ships are activating their weapon system.


Benefit
The expedition fleet may acquire new ships or resources. The benefit event is highly dependent on the number and types of ships that the fleet consists of, and the time spent on and between expedition missions.

Example: We met a small convoy of civil ships which needed food and medicine desperately. In exchange to that we got loads of useful resources.


Time
The expedition fleet may be either delayed or hastened on the expedition mission. The amount of Deuterium used by the expedition fleet does not change, and the only real difference between a time related event and that of a nothing event is the amount of time it takes for the expedition fleet to return from the expedition mission.

Example: An unexpected back coupling in the energy spools of the engines hastened the expeditions return, it returns home earlier than expected. First reports tell they do not have anything thrilling to account for.


Special Benefit
The expedition fleet may come in contact with either Dark Matter or a Merchant. Special events are rare, and is often one of the main reasons players partake in expeditions. If a fleet experiences a Dark Matter event, the Dark Matter acquired will not be transported with the expedition fleet, and will instead be automatically added to the player's storage of Dark Matter. Merchant events are even more rare than Dark Matter events. If the expedition fleet experiences a Merchant event, a randomly generated Merchant will automatically be added to the player's Merchant section. If a player already had a Merchant prior to experiencing this event, the new Merchant will take priority and replace the previous Merchant. Outside from Expeditions, Merchants and Dark Matter can only be obtained by purchasing them with real money.

Example: Our expedition took over a ghost ship which was transporting a small amount of Dark Matter. We didn't find any hints of what happened to the original crew of the ship, but our technicians where able to rescue the Dark Matter.


Special Loss
The expedition fleet may be completely destroyed for one reason or another. The chance of obtaining this event is very small, but it is still a possibility.

Example: The last transmission we received from the expedition fleet was this magnificent picture of the opening of a black hole.


Nothing
This one is self explanatory. The expedition fleet may experience nothing of real significance on the expedition mission.

Example: Despite the first, very promising scans of this sector, we unfortunately returned empty handed.


As you can see above, Expeditions have a lot of drawbacks that tend to scare away players in partaking them. As such, I'll address a few possible solutions and ideas in my next blog post to make them that much more better, so stay tuned.