The Battle of Polytopia News

[h2]Background[/h2]
We have measured the win rate of the different tribes in online games completed in the last few months. We see that some tribes are a lot more prone to win than others.

Today we are releasing a first balance pass that aim to make the tribes more equal!

By looking at this chart it is obvious to see that Bardur, Luxidoor and Kickoo are overpowered. That is also a known fact in the competitive scene and those three tribes are banned in many competitions.

A few other tribes are also falling behind and will receive some improvements later on to help them reach a competitive level.

Cymanti is not present on this list because we do not have enough data on them yet. We will study them more closely in the next balance pass.


[h2]Process[/h2]
To accomplish this we will do several balance passes and analyze the effect of them before we move on with the next pass. That way we can better understand the impact of the changes we make and correct them if necessary.


[h2]Adjustments[/h2]
In this first pass we focus on balancing the overpowered tribes: Bardur, Luxidoor and Kickoo. We have experimented with a lot of different things and finally settled on four changes that we think will bring more balance to the world of Polytopia:

[h3]Less Whales[/h3]
We made sure whales never hang out directly next to a city or next to other whales. This will remove situations where Kickoo start with one or more whales in the vicinity of their capital, giving them a jump start that is hard to beat.

[h3]Split up Forestry[/h3]
Forests are a very powerful type of nature since they can provide population from both animals and lumber huts and also provide direct income by clearing it. Since the Forestry tech contains both the Clear Forest and Lumber Hut improvements it becomes much stronger than other level 2 techs. This benefits Bardur much more since they are closest to Forestry in the Tech Tree.
Therefore we decided to split it up by moving Clear Forest to the Free Spirit tech. This change also opens up for new strategies in the Riding branch.
Thematically it fits well with the destructive aspects of the Riding branch (Disband ability, Clear Forest, Burn Forest), while the Hunting branch now leans more towards Forest Management (Forest Defence, Grow Forest, Lumber Huts and Sawmills).

[h3]Reduced income from Clear Forest[/h3]
Getting 2 stars from each forest is very powerful and overshadows most other strategies. When we moved it to Free Spirit it opened up a hyper express route to Knights and also invalidated the Forestry tech for most tribes. Therefore we decided to bring the reward down to 1 star.

[h3]Luxidoor Capital[/h3]
The special force of the Luxidoor tribe is that they start with a huge city, but it seems that it might have been just a bit too huge, so we changed it from a level 3 to a level 2 city. This will make them more balanced while still keeping their unique play style in place.

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
All of these changes have been thoroughly tested by the alpha team and debated for eons. We are confident and hopeful that they will make Polytopia more balanced and fun to play, but we won't know for sure until we try it out. That’s why this release is so exciting!

Hugs & Kisses,
-Midjiwan

Hello Polytopians,

It's the beginning of the ∑∫ỹriȱŋ Tribe Week, a full week of communing with nature and riding Unicorns!

Tending to the forest isn't just a hobby for ∑∫ỹriȱŋ citizens, but a way of life, and we will plant a real tree for each ∑∫ỹriȱŋ Tribe we sell this week! Can we plant more than last year? Go and buy ∑∫ỹriȱŋ or get your friends to do it!

If you have already purchased ∑∫ỹriȱŋ, you can go to the Canopy Reforestation Project website and donate directly by going here: https://donate.earthday.org/donate_to_the_canopy_project#earthday

Now, tell us what you think about the ∑∫ỹriȱŋ in the comments!

-Zoythrus

Tangy, refreshing, and fits in your hand, the plump Ixi fruit is a delightfully versatile fruit that can be found all throughout the lands of the Xin-Xi. The Ixi fruits are considered a token of good fortune, and are often handed to traveling parties to bestow them luck on their adventures.

Hello Polytopians,

It's the Xin-Xi Tribe Moon, a whole month dedicated to celebrating the Xin-Xi, our favorite mountain-climbing traditionalists.

Not enough Xin-Xi in your life? We're having discounts on all Xin-Xi merchandise at https://shop.midjiwan.com until March 30th!

Now, tell us what you think about the Xin-Xi in the comments!

-Zoythrus

Midijwan, the developers behind “The Battle of Polytopia” are now entering the world of robotics as they prepare to launch their first pet robot in collaboration with the Japanese toy manufacturer Eipurirufūru Co. Ltd.

The PolyPet™ is expected to excite the robotics community since it is the first robotic pet using Emotional Artificial Intelligence. All actions of the PolyPet™ are enriched through emulated emotions, making it a somewhat unpredictable, yet intriguing, robotic companion that will quickly work its way into your heart.

By combining Explainable AI and Deep Learning, the PolyPet™ can mimic 5 basic emotions: sadness, happiness, confusion, anger, and suspicion. In addition, the PolyPet™ is also equipped with various other features such as speech recognition, full body motion, fall management, problem solving algorithms, and sound localization.

This requires its owner to actually teach the robotic pet how to act in a human social context. One drawback from this advanced type of AI is that some of the PolyPets™ are experiencing issues like a bad temper and low self esteem as well as questioning the meaning of their own existence. In some cases, The PolyPets™ have developed tendencies toward prejudice that have led to badmouthing other PolyPets™, especially if they are from other tribes.

The less aggressive ones have sometimes developed traits such as navel-gazing, interrupting others, philosophical rambling, and constantly talking about themselves. Some of the units have even started writing endless poems about the hardship in life as well as speculations about what was on “the other side of the Square”.

While Midjiwan has promised these issues will be solved in an upcoming software update, most defective units can also be corrected by inserting a 12” screwdriver into the prefrontal cortex (sold separately).

“Early tests have proven that the PolyPet™ can be a bit of a handful for its caretakers, but we are constantly updating the software to handle these somewhat negative traits in their personalities," says the lead researcher Chang Chi-yun at Yamagoza University,

The expected retail price for a PolyPet™ is set at $1999 and is available for pre-order at the Eipurirufūru Co. Ltd. website.

Disclaimer:

Midjiwan AB, Eipurirufūru Co. Ltd., and the University of Yamagoza are not responsible for any bodily injury, destruction of property, due to an aggressive or overly emotional PolyPet™. Please use adult supervision when handling a PolyPet™. The PolyPet™ requires 14 AA batteries to function (sold separately).

Heya, Polytopians!
We'd like to update you on our current plans now that Cymanti have been released!

[h2]The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For…[/h2]
Up next is something you've all been waiting for - Diplomacy! While we're not ready yet to go into detail on everything that entails, we can assure you it's going to be the next technology after Shields and will let you have some interesting interactions with your neighbors. Embassies, intrigue, and constantly-shifting treaties should keep the game much more dynamic and fun!



[h2]Is that it?[/h2]
No, don’t worry, there’s more! In addition to Diplomacy, we’re going to be doing some balance passes throughout the year to adjust some of the tribes to make multiplayer a bit more fun! Buffs to some, nerfs to others, and adjustments scattered throughout. After our changes, you might actually find some tribes you’ve probably never seen before in multiplayer. :)

[h2]Makes sense, but what else can we expect in the future?[/h2]
Well, we’ve got another set of Tribe Duels planned for the summer (a fan favorite), tons of bug fixes, improvements to multiplayer, more balance passes and adjustments, and some really cool secrets planned for later down the road!

2021 is shaping up to be an action-packed year for Polytopia! We’re glad that you’re here to join us on this journey, and we assure you that we’ve got a whole bunch of fun things in store!

-Zoythrus