Settlement population cap.

[QueenSheba]

One way of slowing down the rampant inflation on Mars,
would be to put a cap on settlement population, say a maximum
of 50 or even less. Lower mineral payout means less MD's introduced
into the game.

If a settlement has reached it's maximum population, you can't join,
and with there being so many settlements now, that shouldn't really
be a problem for anyone joining everyone that they come across to
get it to it's max.

[Anthraxus]

While I like this idea, and I do, it would be very difficult to fairly unjoin people from settlements without just unjoining everyone from everywhere.

[nigey]

I don’t mind losing the settlements I have joined, without a cap, inflation will continue to rise out of control, with the recent increase of volcanoes to mine and less emphasis on collecting star cards, this may make matters worse.
   If drastic action is not taken against inflation, I think payouts will become more of a problem in future and the game will become unsustainable.
   All economies (even in games) must crash at some stage in order to survive, so long as the costs drop with income.

[benh7777]

Which is why I think the mineral payout should be changed like I mentioned in an earlier post. Keep it the same for subscribers, lower it by half for non subs.

[AvsAddict]

I'm actually ok with both happening.  Cutting payment on non subs by half and capping settlements.  I do think that we can cap the payouts on minerals without having to release the joined part of settlements.  We could just as easily cap the max number of people who joined that count.  For example the first 30 people who join count.  After that the payout on minerals is the same whether you have 31 or 3001.

[Anthraxus]

I think I prefer AVS's suggestion of simply capping the amount of population that counts towards mineral sales, to actually preventing people from joining.  If players were just locked out of joining settlements when they reach a certain pop cap, the settlements in the center of the map would quickly fill, preventing newbies from being able to join them and getting that benefit.

I also don't have a problem cutting payouts in half for non-subs.  That is a real bennie for subs.

[e76]

As a non-sub(only because I don't have any money) I think that's reasonable.

[nigey]

If the settlements are capped is there need to half the mineral payout for non-subs, this would create a two tier game.
 I would imagine the majority of new players remain as non-subs for a while, half of the mineral payment could be off putting for any new players, as it would take twice as long to upgrade their stats.

[AvsAddict]

If the settlements are capped is there need to half the mineral payout for non-subs, this would create a two tier game.
 I would imagine the majority of new players remain as non-subs for a while, half of the mineral payment could be off putting for any new players, as it would take twice as long to upgrade their stats.

OR they would see it as a good reason to become a sub.  As hard as it is for people (non-subs) to accept, it is ok for subs to have a significant to huge advantage.  They are the ones paying for everyone else to play and cashout.

[e76]

If, as I suspect from the number of people with a huge amount of settlements, there may only be a few subs, or else many people aren't using theirs, it seems like the subs are going to get sick of just taking settlements from each other. Almost all of the settlements I come across are owned by the same 2-3 people.

[QueenSheba]

If, as I suspect from the number of people with a huge amount of settlements, there may only be a few subs, or else many people aren't using theirs, it seems like the subs are going to get sick of just taking settlements from each other. Almost all of the settlements I come across are owned by the same 2-3 people.

Being a subscriber has no bearing on the number of settlements you own, I never started acquiring settlements till I started my own alliance, and I've been subbing for more than 2 years. I never had a need for settlements before now, now it's become a quest to be the number one alliance on Mars, and to hold that position requires attacking and re-attacking the same settlements over and over.

The same 2 or 3 people that you speak of, are people that are spending their time playing the game, I myself spend hours and hours at Exodus everyday, mainly 'cause I don't have a life. LOL.

I enjoy the game, I enjoy the people and I'm loving the changes that are planned for Exodus.