Suggestions from multiple players of this game - up to date

Since the old thread died by Vafika quitting Afterwind and Amok came back a few days ago, I put the original post into a shorther and up-dated form.
Whoever has an idea and wants it to be added can leave a comment, I will keep this list up to date and add points which are worth it, judged by the players.



These are the actual suggestions:


1) Game-mechanics

first turn attacks
- turn blocking or rushing (attacking the enemies capital with all units) can randomly decide a game in turn one
- bigger countries will beat a smaller one in turn 1 with a 50% chance
-> forbid attacking each others cities in turn one

coalition wars
- the coalition war (cw) mechanics have several problems
- players (enemy Leaders, Officers) can start a game without the host knowing
-> allow start only if all parties agreed
- the cw aspect of Afterwind is almost dead
-> implement a system where coalitions have to fight, combined with losing points over time

strategy balancing
- this strategies are still not balanced
- Tank General needs a boost
- Lucky Bastard (LB) is the worst strategy and inferior in every case

joining a game, entering later
- it is possible to join a game without picking a country, wait a few turns and enter then, even after the maximal joining week
- if the player limit is not reached, it is difficult for a player in the game to see if there is a player who actually joined, but didnt enter yet
->if you join a game you should be forced to pick right in this turn, otherwise you should have to click 'join game' again in the next turn


2) Game-aspects

Elo rating system
- player-rankings based on SP doesn't show a players skill, the following suggestions would also increase the competition in this game and be another step to make Afterwind the leading strategy-browser-game
-> implement a ladder ranking with brackets
-> point-system similar to ELO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system)
-> brackets could be: rated 1vs1, rated team-games: 2vs2, 3vs3
-> players would have to stay in their team, if the leave it to join another they loose their rank

games with equal conditions for every participant
- since the strategies are not balanced
-> add the possibility to create games where every player has the same strategy and without upgrades
-> this option should be the standard in the ranked 1vs1 games, as a result the games will be more skill-based and the ranking more meaningful

personal chat-rooms
- coalition chat is nice but sometimes you want to speak with a group of people
-> add a function where players can create chat rooms, where the host is also the mod and can invite/kick players

profile-comments
- many people have friends in this game and would like to communicate with them in a way similar to social networks
-> add profile comments to the game
-> the profile owner would have to unlock the comments before other players can see them to prevent defamation
-> ignored players would be unable to post

extended duel-list
- nowadays, it's only possible too see the last ten duels a player fought
-> make it possible to see all duels a player ever played while adding a scrollbar to limit the duel-list's space

rep in forums
- it would be useful if you could give a person rep in the forums if he helped you with something, this will increase his reliability for other players
-> add a function to give someone 'forum-rep'