Old Reboot Ideas

Main points

The following points were made in 2011, they are here for reference and do not necessarily reflect our current thoughts.

Discussion on 27th Dec. 2011 between JT,Norway and icydee concerning re-design and reboot of TLE servers
Make the map size smaller, -3 to +3 rather than -5 to +5 (can we make all zones the same size, but allow trade with all adjacent zones (all 9)?)
Add to the ore types
Add to the glyph types
Add to the planet and asteroid types
Make some ores rarer than others
Put certain planet types (and hence ores) in certain zones.
Modify AI behavior so that some only inhabit certain zones.
Modify glyph plan recipes to use the rarer glyph types.
Modify buildings so they require some of the rarer ore types.
Development is likely to take place in the 1st quarter of 2012
No public announcements or discussion prior to the start of development.
Ideally at least a one month public announcement to give people time to get used to the idea

Primarily, how do we do this without losing a lot of existing players?
How do we make the transition from one server to the next?
1. Provide some form of code that allows people to transfer the bulk of their empire to the new server
2. (I can't remember option 2)
3. Equate their existing empire in terms of E and provide an essentia code for that amount.

Excavators to be changed so they get glyphs/ore based on the target. Note that this is already in progress on the current server.
Alliances will want to have some control over where their empires are, either close together or spread out. Allow new empires to choose the starting zone (requires a small change to the UI).
Option 1 seems the best choice, allow empires to take over to the new server the following:-
1. A building plan 1+x for every building in their empire
2. All existing plans
3. All existing glyphs
4. Perhaps their top 100 spies (but with offense and defense counts set to zero)