In my opinion, the documentation on some of the aetherflare stuff needs to be fleshed out more. I've tried reading up on it, and I'm still left confused as to the various ways one is supposed to do this.

Truth. You won't believe how badly Gaudiguch was running around like headless chickens because NONE of us had taken part in a Nexus Weakening before, so we had zero clue as to how aetherflares worked.

I think it would make more sense to do it like wild nodes... at a reasonable hour, every other Saturday or so. All orgs could be in ready-mode for the more limited and predictable time-frame. The domoth model is kind of weird, and the same for villages. There's no direct competition or opposition between the bubbles, and while it could be contrived (anything's possible) that's how it would feel, being added at this point.

Regarding general fairness - Mag, Glom, and Celest all took pains to be as prepared as possible for it, with shrines, flash points, ships moved to bubbles, and (I'm assuming) colossi. Other orgs did not. Those who would be most justified in venting frustrations at lack of numbers or other difficulties do not appear to be asking that the game be changed at this point.

I can understand peoples' wish that the system were better documented. I can understand griping about the fact that these things keep occurring between 3-5 a.m.. I cannot understand how some very active people can sit back and effectively say, 'well I didn't even bother trying, and I won't even have to, because eventually they'll make it so we can win a bit by default, let's just bitch about it 'til then.'

Lolshrines.

Welp, Mag had defiled a Viravain shrine on Cankermore a couple of days ago and replaced it with war shrines from both Fain and Raezon, so I'm afraid you can't blame Glom for starting this one! Further, considering we perpetually have less than half the population of any other org, yes, I'll happily welcome my homunculi allies to any fight, guilt free.

Actually, it was a Terentia shrine on Cankermore, and a Viravain shrine on Mucklemarsh.

And here's the thing about defiling them - they were already there. It's not like we raised them ourselves. So you can hardly claim that's what started it.

And yes, I believe the aetherflares do need to be reviewed.

Wildnodes being at a "reasonable" hour is highly suspect. I think I've still only ever seen...3?

I wasn't saying anything about Glomdoring or New Celest in particular, though they are the biggest "offenders." I'd like to see the use of shrines limited to home defense, not thrown all over the place so that two people can beat six in a fight.

I distinctly recall people saying that numbers shouldn't always be the determiners of a fight, hmmmmmmmmmmm.

I actually hadn't considered pre-shrining for flares until the discovery of the two war shrines on one bubble, at which point I said, oh it's going to be like THAT, huh? Shrines go up and down during domoths all the time, and are left on bubbles all the time, and it is more in the common way for you to defile when no defenders are logged in, or else when claiming on a bubble that defenders are mechanically forbidden from reaching. This was clearly a horse of a different color.

I'm curious as to what you have in mind for a review of flares, is it the same hard cap on winability as the others?

This would be nice. Or tie them into order vs. order conflict, but it's just annoying that shrines are somehow Just Another Win Factor.

EDIT: Not directed at this instance or any instance in particular. Just in general.

Possibly. I'd prefer to free up more bubbles at once, and restrict the number of ships that can be bombarding a bubble.

I've yet to see anyone state clearly what it is about the current setup that favours Celest/Glom. There have been mutterings about odd hours, shrines and the relative strength of bombard and collosi, but none of this seems to be an advantage that belongs solely to one side.

Is there some aspect to flares that is giving an advantage to those who are doing so well? Or, is POLITICS AETHERSPACE just a reflection of those who have been able to field the strongest team at the times of the flares?

Plus, it's just Celest and Glom against... Serenwilde, Hallifax, and Magnagora? Glomdoring also boasts of no great population; even in our Days of Glory and Might we still had less population than Serenwilde. That's two organizations against three, and three bubbles open up during an aetherflare.

It's not that it favors Celest or Glom, it's that it favors whoever is currently the winner, by too much, and thus creates too much positive feedback, too much winning org momentum. In a well-balanced game, gaining ground brings both benefits (e.g., more resources, more participants, better morale, more powers) and liabilities (e.g., more borders to defend, spreading those resources more thinly). This ensures that there's an advantage to being ahead, but it's not so overwhelming an advantage that, if you're not ahead, it's not worth bothering to try. Lusternia is not a well-balanced game, and aetherflares -- by providing significant benefits and absolutely no liabilities -- only skewed that farther in the wrong direction. Limits on winning org momentum in other areas have made a small improvement in making it so if you're on the bottom it's not so cripplingly not worth it to even try, but nowhere near enough. Similar limits might be needed in aetherflares.

No one has said that the current setup directly favours Celest and Glom, in any way except possibly access to ships, and bubblixes which really is only a disadvantage towards Hallifax and Gaudiguch, and won't be lingering around for long as they build up an aetherfleet. Everything else is a factor of there not being knowledgeable people around when the flare begins. Introducing a domoth mechanic won't really limit a monopoly, as rings would still be split evenly. Like all kinds of revolts, aether-ring revolts have a huge element of luck on who is around at the moment. If you want a "solution", it should be the introduction of more rings and larger revolt groups, as seen by how neatly the mountain villages tend to split up. And with more rings, perhaps limit each nexus to only four rings, as that's all they need to get all their constructs up and running.

As is, aetherflares are won by bombarding mostly. I don't see how someone with control over a few bubbles has an advantage to someone without, unless the new constructs for all orgs but Celest boost aethercombat or aethercraft in general somehow.
Holding bubbles and having constructs on them means easier access for people without bubblixes and may help for domoths or fights on the bubbles in general (obviously doesn't apply while they're in play, though), but I don't see the neverending momentum there.

As far as the 2+shrine vs 6 goes that Iasmos mentioned; if that happens, those six did something very wrong.

Yes, they did do something wrong: they stepped onto an aetherbubble with Wrath, Invasion, Gravity, pits, and a meld. (Also, the 2v6 is a number I pulled out of thin air, but feel free to use any numbers you like better.)

Numbers are the core of matter, so I'm not sure pulling them out of thin air will do much good. Sure, shrines can undo a numerical advantage, but within limits, they don't make you invincible. Invasion mobs can provide a nasty damage burst if they're together in a room, but they also die rather quickly, so once you manage to kill a few, the threat is pretty much gone. Wrath is useless on its own and will do nothing at all if you're outgunned heavily. Gravity helps in certain setups more than others, but in a direct standoff, it does little, too.

And the thing is, even if you run into such a deathtrap once and don't manage to kill the mobs right away, you could just focus on doing that, despite a few deaths. Or walk to a breaking/defiling spot graced - in a group, so the mobs don't squish you one by one. And if you lose a person or two in the cause, you might still get a foothold somewhere and even have the invasion mobs scatter a bit.

to be fair, if you're losing with 6 people against 2 in a shrine, it isn't the shrines fault, it's your own