Newbie Protection is designed to allow players the opportunity to grow without being destroyed by much stronger players. It also stops new players from attacking much stronger players who would destroy them in the ensuing melee.
How does Newbie Protection work?[]
Newbie Protection rules change according to how many points you have. < 5,000 points and > 5,000 points.
Anyone you can attack can also attack you. Similarly, anyone you cannot attack, cannot attack you.
Being inactive removes Newbie Protection.
For newer universes:- 0 to 50.000 points: general protection with a 1:5 ratio
- 50.000 to 500.000 points: general protection with a 1:10 ratio
The Rule of Fives
< 5,000 points:
You can't attack players with more than 500% of your points or less than 20% of your points.
(e.g. A player with 3,000 points cannot attack someone with fewer than 600 points, and vice versa)
Players with less than 20% of your points will be displayed on the Galaxy View screen in green and will have a small "n" displayed next to their names. No player may attack another who has more than 5 times their points if they are still in newbie protection.
(e.g. A player with 3,000 points would not be allowed to attack someone with more than 15,000 points, and vice versa.)
Players with more than 500% of your points will be displayed on the Galaxy View screen in red and will have a small "s" displayed next to their names if you are still in newbie protection.
> 5,000 points:
You can attack anyone who has more than 20% of your score and more than 5000 points.
> 25,000 points:
You can attack anyone who has more than 5.000 points (this is the same as the previous rule but simplified).
Simplified Explanation
* If you have less than 5,000 points you cannot be attacked or attack anyone with greater than 5 times your score.
* Anyone you are newbie protected from will have (s) next to their name and be in red; anyone who is newbie protected from you will have (n) next to their name and be in green.
* Anyone above 5,000 points can attack or be attacked by anyone else above 5,000 points.
Newbie Protection also extends to Espionage Probes and Interplanetary Missiles.
If a player is inactive, Newbie Protection does not apply.
Note: If one's points was at or above minimum amount of points required for a certain player to attack you, but has since dropped below it, if that player has already sent a fleet to attack prior to the drop, one will still get hit.
Termination of Newbie Protection
At 500.000 points, a player comes completely out of newbie protection. At that time, any other player may launch an attack. This is a critical time for new players.
Because it is a common practice for strong empires to observe the highscore list to watch for new players crossing the 500.000 point threshold, newer players need to ensure they understand fleetsaving thoroughly before this critical milestone.