You are still not addressing the planet slot and rank point problems. I think you can at least recognize why dropping 500 ranks with the extra 2500 rank points could be problematic, they would be able to autorank 500 times again easier and easier and eventually they could do it in hours if they put it all into engineers and do missions or donate to a base. why bother going any higher? You can 2500 rank points in a few hours and increase you attack 5k just for donating to a base or getting a bunch of purgers.

the idea is good, but ranks is not the solution, something that prevents actual ranking is better because it slows you down and doesn't make you a super ship for nothing.

As already mentioned, the stumbling blocks would be spent rank points (?keep them or not?), NPC modules and planet slots. Though to be fair, by rank 2000 as in your latest tweak, when you drop back to 1500 you would still be eligible for all the current NPC mods. Also, because of the non-linear colonization/invasion cost, you're extremely likely to have that many planet slots empty anyway.

Now without trying to make this some kind of UG clone, if you do get to keep the rank points you've already spent, there should be some kind of "penalty" to dropping back. Higher xp requirement to re-rank is one possiblity. Instead of needing x amount of xp to rank up like "normal" people at that rank, you could, for example, need x+10%. This is because many of those rank points would have most likely been spent on energy and you would be able to rank back up to the threshold even faster. Another option would be that you need to SAVE x amount of rank points. 500 ranks would be 2500 points, so add another 10-25% on top of that. You would have to save 2750-3125 rank points.

Also, would this be a one-time thing or repeatable? If repeatable, the next time it should be harder, like rank 2100. Third time, 2200, and so on. This shouldn't be an automatic option either. At the specified rank, a high energy, obstacle course kind of mission (for want of a better name, but I think you get the idea) could become available. And I don't mean another larva-type bug hunt. Multiple tasks would have to be performed that are unlocked at certain points during the completion of the main mission.

Another point to consider if you keep your rank points when you drop back. PvP. A "dropped back" Rank 1500 is going to be incredibly more powerful than a normal 1500. I haven't figured out a balancing factor for that yet though. Without some kind of balancing factor, those that drop back would be able to stompy stomp on much lower ranks. Narrowing the battle tab, maybe... IDK.

How's about an option, unlocked at rank 1500, that allows you to sacrifice XP. It can be taken back further then you last rank, but it must be regained before ranking. You can pledge XP in increments of 5k, and once you have pledged 300k XP(?), you receive a module that lowers invasion and colinisation costs by 10-15%.

Not sure on numbers, but the core idea could work. You can't pledge all you XP at once, because then you'd be stuck at the same rank for ages, and rely on refills/recharge to level.

it would be easier to simply make it so the exp bar doesn't get smaller when u drop ranks...
for example, at rank 1k, it takes 40k to rank up.
when u drop to 500, it STILL takes 40k to rank up (and 40040 for 501 etc)

In any case, as far as I see it, dropping in ranks in most method of implementation is a GOOD thing(the only thing you really lose is planet spot which most ppl over 500 have too many of)
getting something in return is ALSO a good thing...
that just seem... OP

So I rly think the no-energy-refill-on-rank-up(until u get back to ur "old" rank) idea is most appropriate

Maybe I should have been a little more clear on the x+10% xp bar... You would KEEP the bar you already had (just like your point) but you would have an additional 10% or so on top of that. So for your 1000-500 example, the dropped back player would still need the 40,000.. PLUS 10% so a total of 44,000 xp required to rank up. This would also have the effect of making the rank to rank increment 44xp rather than 40xp. Which would help reduce the ability to autorank just a little bit more. I know that extra 4 xp isn't much, but we've all seen lately how Dan seems to be discouraging fast ranking. After a couple drop backs, that seemingly insignificant amount of extra xp is going to pile up rather nicely.

As for being OP, that's why I suggested balancing factors be needed.

that could work
I think drops could be in blocks of 100 ranks, and for each 100 ranks dropped, the multiplier increase by 2.5% (the base amount is 40*(total_rank_gained))

so 100 dropped makes increment into 41 for further lvls, drop of total 500 into 45 and so on. nice and clean so we don't need to mess with freaky roundings.

there should be a minimal bound to dropping too, would be too insane to have a rank 2000 stat ship flowing in the 300s.
I think it might be appropriate to make the minimal bound ((planets-1-DCS)*4) OR 500, whichever is higher.

600 is when some of the drops stop and have no replacements, right? so 500 minimal bound should be more than sufficent.

Im not adressing the planet spot becuase i dontknow anyone above 1500 that is saying i need to rank up apme more to have more planet slots. When your faced with 50 billion per colonization. Your not that eager for the next planet to show up.

If not for thw 40 day medal(clear skies) i would be credit hungry right now. Rank points awarded are already spent you cant take that back. It gives people a chance to do something qith having such a high rank they dont have anyonw to target in their battle tab

Why not just rank up? Easy. Wait for others to catch up.

Patience. We all have some amount of it. You just need to develop it.

No offense, but as a low rank player you're not going to understand the problem. High rank players are extremely limited with what they can do.

• Spamclick NPCs and rank up real fast.
• Spamclick REPEATABLE missions and rank up fairly fast.
• Spamclick Bases and claim a Triphase once or twice a day.
• Donate to the base until they get so bored they quit the game.

Waiting for others to "catch up" isn't an option, because those of us that are getting close have been informed that there's nothing there. So we're in no rush to get there until there is some kind of content that can keep us interested in the game.

pvp

Have you noticed how ridiculous PvP is at our rank?

I like the mtg reference. But i still have to say -1. maybe pay nrg for buffs ? spend nrg with NO exp gain ?