#### Season Combat Experience Survey Update

Last week, we ran a large-scale survey in the ROCs community focused on core season combat experience. 650 players responded — thank you to everyone who took the time to fill it in. Here's what the data is telling us.

Most players reported encountering alliances far beyond their power level with no way to fight back. Most players also ranked fairness or meaningful participation above "stronger armies should win more" — the pure domination logic has almost no support in the community. When it comes to potential improvements, a majority of players supported auto-tiered matchmaking by power level, the direction with the broadest consensus across all tiers. And when asked whether top-tier alliances should be able to influence ordinary matches indirectly, most players said no.

650 players shared their actual experience — not outcomes we were steering toward. This goes directly into our version planning, and we'll come back with specifics when adjustments are made.

On the season side, we've taken your suggestions on board. Running the community is genuinely complex, and meaningful change takes time — but we've been working toward this goal and aim to make it happen as soon as we can.

Alongside the survey, four things from the past two weeks have stayed on our minds: mine cave placement, three days of crashes, BoH Alliance Showdown rules, and honor points coming in lower than expected. We've read through every post — here's where each one stands.

#### Mine Cave Placement: Congested, But Moving to the Desert Isn't the Fix

"The area where mine caves are located is congested. Placing them in the desert would be better since very few castles are placed there."

We hear this, and the logic sounds reasonable on the surface. Here's the design thinking behind current placement: mine caves need to be accessible to alliances across the power spectrum, not just large ones with the march capacity to defend remote locations. Moving mines to the desert would actually hurt smaller alliances more — only alliances with sustained march power could reliably hold desert mines, systematically cutting off mid-range and smaller alliances from a key resource.

That said, this doesn't mean the current layout is perfect. Some servers do have congestion hotspots where mining conflicts happen at unusually high frequency. @Lambert tracks map resource distribution data. If you have a specific situation on your server — a particular area where mining conflicts are consistently worse — leave your server number and a description in the comments. Specific scenarios are more useful than general feedback.

#### Persistent Crashes (3 Days): We've Identified One Trigger, Still Working on Others

"The game keeps crashing; it has been the same way for 3 days." — Turkey, May 26. Similar reports came in from multiple regions.

Current status: We've confirmed the crash exists and identified one trigger path — an abnormal exit in specific combat scenarios. @Lucifer is tracking that direction and has initial findings, but hasn't completed verification across all edge cases. Other potential triggers (during chest opening, UI transitions) are still under investigation with no fix conclusion yet.

We're not going to tell you "we're working hard on it" without giving you something actionable. If you've had persistent crashes recently, please submit via Support with: your device model, OS version (exact iOS/Android number), what you were doing when the crash occurred (entering battle, opening chests, logging in, specific UI screen), and the time window when crashes started. Specific data speeds up diagnosis. We'll update here when there's a fix to report.

#### BoH Alliance Showdown: Time, Participation, and Match Count

"What are the rules for Alliance Showdown in BoH? How is time allocated, how many people can participate, how many BoH sessions are there?"

A clear signal that the in-game guidance still isn't doing its job — this is on us. Let's cover the key points here, and we'll be working on improving how rules are communicated in-game.

Alliance Showdown triggers within each active BoH cycle. Up to 40 members per alliance can participate in a single showdown. The winner is determined by total points at the end of a fixed time window — the order of moves within the window doesn't affect the final result. Total BoH count is not fixed; it's determined by your alliance's region and current BoH cycle progress.

Note: specific parameters like window duration and point multipliers can be adjusted between seasons — the in-game display is always the most accurate source. If what you see in-game differs from what's described here, go with the in-game version, and let us know in the comments. @Lambert will investigate any discrepancies and address them in the next update.

#### Honor Points: 14M Received, Expected 20M

"Only getting 14 million honor points with these. I should be getting 20 million."

Honor point totals depend on several factors stacked together: the base multiplier for the activity stage you're in, any bonus items active at the time, and how those items are applied. The result can differ from an intuitive back-of-envelope estimate — but that doesn't mean the difference is automatically correct.

If you have a specific case — what items you used, which activity stage, when it happened — submit via Support with a screenshot of your honor points total and your basis for the expected amount. We'll check the actual calculation log. If the system underpaid, we'll make it right. If the calculation was correct, we'll explain the exact math so you know how it works going forward.

Each topic has a named responsible contact. Post in the comment thread of the relevant topic and they'll see it. No need to open a separate ticket for community feedback — this is the most direct channel.

For anything involving account or payment details, please use the Support module — don't post personal information publicly. Public posts can't protect your data; Support can.

Anything else — the comment section is open. We read everything, and your feedback is how we keep getting better — at the game and at how we work.

#### ROCs Operations Team