Change the Crystal Immunity Rule
When there are multiple Crystals in a sector, it is a real problem that they are immune to each other's webs. If there are multiple Crystals in a team game, this presents a severe disadvantage to any team without a Crystal on it. If two Crystals are on opposing teams, their racial advantage is gone and this is a true game-breaker.
The biggest manifestation of this problem is the fact that due to the Crystal immunity rule, team games are largely worthless if there is more than one Crystal in the sector. Many serious players who have figured this out choose to enter 11-player games with pre-made alliances rather than a team game if they simply want to play with a friend. Pre-made alliances have always been a contentious issue and an ethical grey area, but unless the Crystal immunity problem is rectified, players who are aware of the magnitude of this problem are unable to join team games if they just want to play with a friend.
The origin of the Crystal immunity rule was to allow Crystals to lay webs in other races' identities and later in the game not be stopped by the webs they laid earlier. The spirit of the rule can be preserved simply by changing the rule from "Crystals are immune to the effects of all webs" to "Crystals are immune to the effects of all webs laid in a non-Crystal identity".
-
seveiht commented
It is not a bug. It is the way things are, and have always been explicitly described. I don't mind people arguing for a change. But don't call it a bug :P
-
Nippurct commented
It is ridiculous that this bug has not yet been solved !!!!
-
Whisperer commented
This rule was created before the current 30-player melees, and before the current 2-player and 3-player team games. It applies perfectly to a Classic game, but the extensions that planets.nu has created have shown a hole in the rule. I agree that it's time that this hole be fixed. The proposed change appears to me to be the smallest possible rule change that will patch the hole, which means that it is the least likely to unbalance the came.