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Post by _DD_ on Apr 3, 2018 15:27:38 GMT
I also would like to ask again about the under 125 tasks - 125 is actually our lower limit, and I would like to encourage taking those only if REALLY "need be", if in any way possible. I think most know that limit and do take higher usually.
What I now find very confusing is you allowing even reservations for lower than 125 tasks -- is that really necessary? We have a Coop with great helpers, so no-one fights alone, and almost everyone trying to get 135's to get us on the podium, we even try to avoid below 130 -- is it really necessary to take these low ones into reservations even! While it is probably nicely meant for lower levels or for players who can't wait, IMO it can just as well be seen as a bit inconsiderate towards those who wait and make and do to get the tasks in the frame of our limits.
So, what are the "yes, but"s? ;-)
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Post by Pink on Apr 3, 2018 18:52:41 GMT
We initially dumped planes and trains because they take a long time to complete, almost no-one wanted them, and appeared so frequently, it was felt that they could easily be taken or requested when seen. We allowed them to be reserved, so that one popping up would be saved for whomever made the request. They are not fast, easy or extremely popular like mining, hol etc, but we now have more members who like them, plus you also highlighted that at least one train should remain on the board for the first few days, and this is happening. Therefore, it makes sense that they are reserved to prevent them from being dumped possibly too soon. Planes are pretty much still dumped immediately, so will definitely need to be reserved if wanted. If a train pops up, and those who like trains are already working on train tasks, then it is more than likely, further train tasks will be dumped, unless the board is pretty empty. So yes, you are right, we are not dumping all trains now as soon as they appear. Flagging/reserving tasks, should make it easier to see which tasks can be dumped especially those of 130 above. From last week's screenshots of the taskboard, it's clear that there are some tasks sitting on the board hour after hour, so this is something that needs tightening up. We've always had some members who have taken lower point tasks and this continued after setting the 125 dump limit. Those who can wait, do, those who can't wait, don't. We've always allowed for those who have difficulty completing all tasks, which is why we have the current limit of 10 tasks or 1000 points. If we want everyone to do 125 minimum, then we would need to increase our limit to 1250, which is feasible, as I think most achieve this each week. The majority of the co-op would need to be in agreement with this, and I think most would be. So to answer your question, is allowing tasks of under 125 to be taken 'really necessary'? Possibly not. This is something we can discuss implementing
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Post by _DD_ on Apr 5, 2018 6:57:53 GMT
Thanks, Pink. I would still like to know whether a reserved 135-train-task can be taken by everyone, and in any case I don't think everyone would know the answer, i.e. how to behave correctly. Dunno, I think my suggestion is to stop making the 135-trains an exception from our usual behaviour of keeping them for some time. Then they don't need to be reserved, and all this "if this, then that" would be over. Note, speaking of the 135's only.
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Post by _DD_ on Apr 5, 2018 7:11:20 GMT
We've always had some members who have taken lower point tasks and this continued after setting the 125 dump limit. Those who can wait, do, those who can't wait, don't. We've always allowed for those who have difficulty completing all tasks, which is why we have the current limit of 10 tasks or 1000 points. If we want everyone to do 125 minimum, then we would need to increase our limit to 1250, which is feasible, as I think most achieve this each week. The majority of the co-op would need to be in agreement with this, and I think most would be. So to answer your question, is allowing tasks of under 125 to be taken 'really necessary'? Possibly not. This is something we can discuss implementing sorry, can't keep so much in mind at the same time, so, making it two again. BTW, I checked a while ago, and at least the Coop description only contains the "10 tasks". As the racing goes at the moment, I couldn't guarantee I can reach over 1250 myself. The 135's esp. are taken or now reserved so fast, I would have to set a clock, I guess. For me personally, making the Coop bigger didn't help. I didn't think of that, when trying to formulate my concern above. I would have been interested to know, what the reasons really are; I still think it could be some other reasons like NOT knowing what is desired (I think that since I learned that not everyone is reading the forum), or "have always done it this way" ... and see this way, whether it can be changed, or indeed, should be at all - but I think, I take it back. It should not be my concern. I will try to just play, as others do also.
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Post by Pink on Apr 5, 2018 16:09:09 GMT
Thanks, Pink. I would still like to know whether a reserved 135-train-task can be taken by everyone, and in any case I don't think everyone would know the answer, i.e. how to behave correctly. Dunno, I think my suggestion is to stop making the 135-trains an exception from our usual behaviour of keeping them for some time. Then they don't need to be reserved, and all this "if this, then that" would be over. Note, speaking of the 135's only. Those tasks 'taken by everyone' are the quick and easy tasks under 135, such as hol and mining. Trains don't come under this as they are not popular. We all tend to respect each others reservations, so I doubt very much that anyone will take another member's task, but I've left the easy under 135s open to all, as I keep trying to highlight that those without a task should take priority over someone who has reserved a task. Especially as those who have reserved tasks should be currently working on one. Trains and planes have always been reserved, so I don't intend to change that. What we've changed is to allow one to sit on the board for a period of time as opposed to dumping immediately as we used to do. This way it gives someone a chance to reserve it, if wanted. We have 3 types of tasks: - Those that need preparation - Boats, production, long crops
- Those that are popular, quick and easy -hol, mine etc
- Planes & trains
As they don't come under 2, it makes sense for them to be reserved as per point 1 so for reservations we have: - Those that need preparation - Boats, production, long crops
- Those that are under 135
- Planes & trains
We also have a problem at the moment,where we are not dumping often enough. This is highlighted in the screenshots that are being taken, so this is another factor hindering us from getting more tasks popping up on the board. If we really take note of what has been reserved, then we should be dumping certain tasks more often. This is something I'm going to refer to in another post.
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Post by _DD_ on Apr 5, 2018 16:35:03 GMT
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Sorry, still not sure whether the answer to my question about the reservation of a 135-train is a "yes" or "no", but we can leave it at that now, I won't touch it, JIC.
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Post by Pink on Apr 12, 2018 13:22:43 GMT
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Sorry, still not sure whether the answer to my question about the reservation of a 135-train is a "yes" or "no", but we can leave it at that now, I won't touch it, JIC. We haven't specifically said that trains are to be included or excluded, but as they are so frequent, I'd be in agreement with a reserved train being taken with a message sent out saying as such, and requesting that the next 135 train be reserved for that member. I am always stressing that those without tasks, should take priority over those with a reserved task as they are already working on one.
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Post by Pink on Jun 5, 2018 13:59:50 GMT
Something that DD tried on Sunday, was a suggestion made by Suz just before she disappeared, which is abandoning the reservation rules on the last day, so that absolutely anything can be reserved, to help identify those tasks that are not wanted which can then be dumped.
This has been discussed in chat intermittently but not fully. There was some suggestion that this may make the reservation rules more confusing, so I didn't pursue it. As DD tried it on Sunday, I think it would be good to try it again this week, and possibly over the whole weekend.
All we need do, is send out a message asking those still working on chests to flag any task that they don't want dumped. This again, may be a way to work towards only ever flagging tasks that we don't want dumped, rather than reserving them. We have yet to see how the new timelimit function works once implemented.
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Post by _DD_ on Jun 6, 2018 16:37:25 GMT
I wasn't aware that Suz had suggested this before (where is she, anyway? does she come back soon?), so two ppl having the same idea just shows how *helpful* this would be (on Sundays).
Or would have been - cos, as could also be seen on Sunday again, dunno why, this Coop is extremely silent (IMO), apart from "thank you's" (and the occasional chat, but not about tasks and status and the race). There was hardly a reaction, ppl storming in and out, IMO even w/o looking at the chat (not all, but some). well, we can't but try...
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Post by Pink on Jun 8, 2018 18:23:42 GMT
I would like to try this again this evening and overnight, to see how it works and what kind of board Europe wakes up to in the morning lol. If it seems to work well, then we can keep with it all through the weekend. If there are difficulties then maybe stop it on Saturday and try again through Sunday. This is really a way of trying to help everyone complete their tasks and determine what can be dumped on the board. From Tuesday to Friday, we still need to keep to the 2 hour limit whenever possible, especially when the tasks on the board are soo , giving members very little choice. If this format is found to be beneficial then we can continue with this in the future. If there are still too many of us trying to get enough tasks, then we may just have to limit this to Sundays or abandon it altogether. I still think it's well worth trying and could work well.
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Post by cathy on Jun 10, 2018 13:59:59 GMT
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Post by _DD_ on Jun 10, 2018 20:04:14 GMT
Glad to see you didn't forget that, Cathy!
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Post by Pink on Jun 23, 2018 13:39:23 GMT
OK, as it's the weekend, we're dropping reservation rules once again. Please reserve anything you want, so that anything that has been on the board for over 2 hours can be dumped.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2018 15:25:34 GMT
Thanks Sharon - thats such a great idea to minimize the racing stress - I really love racing without stress :-)
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