To the best of my knowledge, there are 5 levels/categories. I am sure I will be corrected on this but I am giving an example only.

Level 1 to 20, level 21 to 40, level 41 to 60, level 61 to 80 and level 81 and higher, as an example only. It starts out with you seeing in your league where you can also see the supreme league as well.

Now comes the confusion...

To be radical, let us take a category 1 who happens to be a level 19 player. Said player spends $10,000 and buys as much as he can and hits the light house.

If a real slammer, said player could be number 1 in all 5 categories, thereby winning a ton of rubies.

Other contests also have these step up categories. This week we have a member who is number 1 in his category and number xx in the Supreme League, not in lighthouse hits.

Unfair? Perhaps it is. When I was a pup, I could win rubies in 2 categories. Now, I never win a ruby so I opt out of doing the lighthouse. We do have a choice to play or to ignore certain aspects of the game. :)

MisterXike said:

I would like to know also. My highest level prize completed is 30 and I am grouped with someone who can dish out 172,000 points. So is this like a game where the player have to guess at everything and have no support from the developers as to how some things are?

I know some of the things in the game is meant for the players to discover for them self so it won't take the fun away. But in this case it should not be a guessing game. There should be a page on the game website with a table showing you how prize players are grouped. That way people will know not to go too far where they move to the next tier when they know they can't compete in it. Also placing a player that can earn that many points with a person that can't is not what you call competing, it is called a slaughter. 

If I was to clear out all my prizes I would probably make like 2,000 points max maybe even less. I feel like I am, being grouped with a player that has completed a level 70+ prize or so. No fairness in prize placements so far, I think plarium should work on that. 

I addressed this above to the best of my recollection while also asking lower level players than I am. You can not compete against one who decides to kill the LH and ruin it for themselves, one and done glory. Neither can you compete versus a coiner that does the same thing.

I like how the upgrade event is grouped, prize should be similar except not player level but prize level. Also I read in the update where it says that nothing is lost in the prizes, however when I read the prize banking page that is sticky it seems like some things are lost in prizes. Like for example when doing the adventures in the lighthouse you do not get credit for anything that is loss in there. 

With the specials that pop up every 5 levels or so, they are a positive 5% to 10%. With the LH in general, it is a negative, about 5%, contrary to what some mods write in here, unless, they get 5 or 10% for their services. I questioned this and the thread died fast, the LH being positive. If it were positive, all one would have to do if keep hitting it for a huge group of units.

Play the LH to convert pirates and mercs, which you can build, to fleet and armada which you can not build. Moot to me, I can build anything, I am done with the discoveries but I still use it to convert O to D or visa versa, knowing full well it will cost me.

Then there is something about pardoned units are only worth half of what a regular unit is. Shouldn't it be the opposite since you had to use pardons to get the unit. 

It is Plarium's game, they make the rules, not us. I don't recall a post of a 50% loss because it was pardoned but, in my BH. pardoned units are D only, with rare exceptions, and they stay in the presidios or are moved to the bastion.

Then the units that uses gears. Why not just make it where gears are banked also and you get payout for gear units and gears. 

Again, geared units like pardoned units, keep them out of the LH. Play the game using their rules and do it with wisdom.

Then it would make more sense when an official update that says something should really mean it. IDK about other people but when I read an official update and it says something I would expect it to be true about the game. 

Not some bogus lie to make me think nothing is wasted and then I throw all kinds of units into the adventures in the lighthouse and finding out I lost all those units for other units that are the reward from the adventure prize and not get any banking points from it. Point here is the update was telling a lie leading me and probably others to lose things that we should not have. 

No idea what you refer to here,, unless you again refer to the specials that lock into spot 1 and 2, are much stronger, and do pay in the positive if done correctly.

If I would have known that pardoned units was worth half of a regular unit I would have not pardon any units at all. Seeing that it is worth only half I feel so bad since most of my troops are already pardoned. I am never going to pardon any troops again unless I am using it to attack players or help out in a bastion or presidios attack with them. 

Again, I do not recall 50% being used. Each BH is different with different rules or with some, no rules at all. With too much control you get anarchy, with too little control, you get your head handed to you in an attack. I play for my BH, without them, I am nothing. I don't want or need individual glory, if it does not better my BH, I will not do it.

My post is bad jumping from 1 thing to another then back to that thing again sorry. English is not my first language and I did not get very far in school so my phrasing of things together isn't so well. Have a good day and please work on the grouping of players for prize events and also let us know what level is in what tier. Thank you.

Your English was fine, the lack of paragraphs made reading your post so difficult, I fear, most got through 4 or 5 lines and stopped reading it. Why I dissected your post as I did, easy to read and easy to reply to. 

Most of us believe that pardoned, brethren and veteran units have the same value as normal units, but it would be nice to see an official answer to this as there can be no reason for secrecy

Tournament tiers were changed recently and nobody knows how many tiers there are now, nor how players are selected for each tier. It is supposed to be based on their previous tournament successes, but many believe this selection is badly flawed as it throws level 40 players into the same tier as level 100
Success in one tournament will lead to failure in future tournaments

Secrecy breeds mistrust

The old system was simple to understand and everyone trusted it, except that plarium refused to add new tiers for levels 71+
It is obvious to me why they did this - adding new tiers would mean giving more rubies as rewards ... the new tier system gives fewer rewards

Kerching

Most of us believe that pardoned, brethren and veteran units have the same value as normal units, but it would be nice to see an official answer to this as there can be no reason for secrecy

Snowgoon said:

Most of us believe that pardoned, brethren and veteran units have the same value as normal units, but it would be nice to see an official answer to this as there can be no reason for secrecy

I play it safe and never send Brethren, Pardoned or Veteran units to the LH except with very rare exceptions. IMHO, they belong in our presidios or bastions due to lower rum consumption, if any thing. Vets have the same D value as plain units while brethrens and pardoned have more D value, for my second reason to load it top heavy with strong units.

Tournament tiers were changed recently and nobody knows how many tiers there are now, nor how players are selected for each tier. It is supposed to be based on their previous tournament successes, but many believe this selection is badly flawed as it throws level 40 players into the same tier as level 100
Success in one tournament will lead to failure in future tournaments

Got me there as I have no idea. Since I won't toss away good units chasing rainbows.

Secrecy breeds mistrust

Heh, amen to that but sadly, trust is long gone.

The old system was simple to understand and everyone trusted it, except that plarium refused to add new tiers for levels 71+
It is obvious to me why they did this - adding new tiers would mean giving more rubies as rewards ... the new tier system gives fewer rewards.

Makes one wonder why in every game, it starts out with decent benefits and slowly, they take more and more away until the game goes belly up.

Kerching

If the cash register rings fewer times, maybe their business model needs to be reevaluated?