Question about requests

[yumyumsnack]

If you want to build an appliance that, for example, takes 20 screws-- and you ask 40 neighbors for screws--- if all 40 actually send screws, will you only receive 20 which will go toward the appliance...or will you receive 20 toward the appliance, and 20 additional which are stored in the gifts area (which you can use for a second appliance)?

Curious,
Thanks

[angelmama24]

Dear Curious, chances are you won't get all 40 that you requested. But any number over the 20 (or whatever number you need) will be stored in your gifts for use on another appliance.

[sharpguy32]

Should never request more than 20 parts per day, period. If you request more than 20 people, then some of it gets confused and queued up for the next day.

So if requesting same part for 40 people, will get a small handful, then next day, will get the rest of the previous day's requests. And requests carry over for a max of 7 days. So if the player didn't log in for 5 days, they would still see your part request and could still accept it. So you can get parts from several days ago too.

[jtdesignz]

I often get reqests up to 5 days after they were sent, have always wondered why is that? My nbrs probably think I dont respond half the time and its not like im getting many at a time, maybe one or two here and there. Its crazy. Has to be tl.

[maguar]

The parts don't go towards a specific device, they just go into your gifts so you can choose which appliance to apply them to. The others are right it's best not to request more than 20 in a day as it can cause delays.

[TinksThots]

I often get reqests up to 5 days after they were sent, have always wondered why is that? My nbrs probably think I dont respond half the time and its not like im getting many at a time, maybe one or two here and there. Its crazy. Has to be tl.
Those nbrs are probably sending way more than their allotted 20 per day and clogging themselves up, that'll delay their requests getting to you.

[yumyumsnack]

Thank you-- that is interesting and helpful. I would have thought if I had sent 40 requests, I might at least get the (lesser number of )needed parts, but my experience was as you stated: that it took quite a bit of time even though I could see my neighbors were playing...as if even the first 20 requests didn't immediately go through. Thanks or the insight-cheers

[happyheartfla]

I know that gifts are restricted to twenty each day, but did not realize that requests are limited also. Are you guys sure this is correct?? If I understan correctly, more than twenty requests will queue up on the server and be sent twenty at a time..is that right?? That would mean that an appliance that needed more than twenty total parts couldn't be built for at least two days (if you don't have a stockpile).

[sharpguy32]

Yup, I got a request for something today, that said 5 days ago. I do parts requests at least 10 times per day, every single day. So there is no chance that I missed that part request from 5 days ago. It just showed up saying 5 days ago. So I'd have to assume this person had queued up multiple +20 requests.

When I first started playing I was doing the same thing, checking the box of all of my 100+ neighbors, thinking that whoever clicks Accept first, I'd get the parts faster, but soon realized thats completely opposite and counter productive.

But if you think about it, that makes sense. If you sent 100 parts requests, the system knows you can't get more than 20 neighbors (checkbox) per day (each day resets at 12:00 AM PST -8:00 UTC/GMT). So if you were to send the request to all 100 neighbors, then the system would have to make an Accept/Decline button on all 100 neighbor's News screen. If you have already gotten 20 parts sent to you, then when the neighbor wakes up late, sees your request. Then clicks Accept, then the system would have to respond with "Sorry, they have reached max parts request for the day". That could be a good or bad thing. Good, that at least that stops the queueing thing. Bad that everyone now has 100 additional 'Accept/Decline' buttons to click each day in News screen (with a chance that the neighbor already received said 20 parts and could not receive any more, anyways).

So by just only sending out 20 requests per day, it at least prevents everyone from having too many unnecessary things to click.

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If anyone has been doing this daily (sending more than 20 requests daily), and this is the first time seeing a post like this, I suggest you fix this (empty your queue) by stop doing parts requests for a few days. Let all the daily queues run out!

Then when you start doing parts requests again, make sure you keep track and not do more than 20. At this point, you will know for sure, that when you send a part request, its going out (showing up on neighbor's News Screen) the same day (and should expect those parts coming in that same day - or next day if its close to reset time).

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SUGGESTION FOR TEAM LAVA:

I do think Team Lava should implement some sort of thing to help this. At least make it more clearer about queueing somewhere, than from besides the forums. Not everyone reads the forums and I'm sure many people make this mistake (just like I did for a couple of weeks, minimum) when they first start playing. In fact, I'd be willing to bet 90% new players (who play daily) will make this mistake and queue up multiple days. I believe they can be queued up for 7 days? I've heard 5 or 7, but think its 7.

For a new player to not get the parts they need in a timely fashion (from the queue mistake) can turn people off because they can't build there appliances in a timely fashion. ie you need 1 more part to finish something. You send requests. But don't get that one part 3-7 days later, because you have been queued up for so long. Thats very aggravating and some might interpret it as 'My neighbors are bad'. They're thinking I sent out all these requests, I only need one part, yet 3 days later, no one has sent it >< But the reality is your neighbor is a good neighbor. They accept the request 10 mins after they got it. They are thinking they are good neighbors by accepting quickly. But because they got that request 3-7 days later, the requester is thinking "bad neighbor" or no one must be playing this game hardly. I'd be willing to bet that there is a significant amount of 3+ month old consistent players who aren't even aware of this queuing of parts request thing.


So again, i would encourage Team Lava to implement something to at least give a 'heads up' to consequences of +20 requests via error messages, something added to Help screen, etc.

Some If Then, Else statements could fix this issue easy.

Two Suggestions I can think of (and if anyone else has an idea, please post) :)

Implement the same method that Gifts use. If I send a Gift request and check all 100+ of my neighbor's boxes. Popup message will say "Sent, but only X out of Y neighbors got the Part because they received max for the day". So, if a person checks more than 20 boxes on Parts Request, only send the first 20 and display message that only first 20 requests got sent.

Thats the worst solution, but at least a solution. Likely you want certain people to be higher in priority than others (those you know who respond consistently vs some you are unsure about)


My second idea which I think would be very effective and simple to implement: Keep track of how many Parts requests are sent per person per day. If they check one or more boxes for a parts request, that exceeds the 20 requests (minus the amount they have made that day) then popup an error message, "You can only send 20 requests per day. You have sent X amount already today. You have Y amount of requests left". Or actually that shouldn't be only an error message, it should display that after each part request as well as error.


Perhaps this should be copied or moved to Suggestions. I started out by simply wanting to comment about my 5 day old request but got sidetracked into the suggestions. But please note this is constructive criticism. I love this game. Just adding my two cents to what might be better play experience.

Cheers!

[TinksThots]

^^^ This. ^^^

SOOO many people don't read the forums at all, and many don't even read the FAQ in the game. Someone on my friend's wall yesterday didn't even know how to find their own ID. More in-game help/advice/information is sooo badly needed. :( I'M TIRED OF BEING THE THE NEWB CATCH-ALL! THE WALL POST CHARACTER COUNT IS TOO SHORT FOR THAT! >.< =P

[happyheartfla]

I've been playing for about 8 months, play every day, and am up to level 60+.....BUT did not realize that parts REQUESTS were limited to 20 per day. If an appliance needed say 15 screws and 20 fuses, I sent out requests to that many friends plus a few for good measure!!! I really don't understand why the requests should be limited, as it is a way around the gift limits. How do players build 9 - 10 of the appliances so quickly for mass baking if you can't even request enough parts for one in a day?? I understand stockpiling parts, but the odds of having enough parts for large multiples is pretty slim. I think the most I've been able to build from stock was 4.

[happyheartfla]

I just wanted to add that I do read the forums, and search here first for answers. Sometimes it's hard to find them though because there so many pages of old posts. It was frustrating to me early on, when I would search and the answer would put me in another story game, like RS, and I would wonder how that helped fo BS! Until you play awhile you don't realize that the two games work similarly.

I also try to help the new players, but TinksThots is right, the wall posts don't let you give a whole lot of info.

[TinksThots]

I've been playing for about 8 months, play every day, and am up to level 60+.....BUT did not realize that parts REQUESTS were limited to 20 per day.
Of course not, because nothing anywhere told you so. Nothing stopped you from sending that many requests, or told you why they were taking so long to get to your nbrs and back to you. Nothing tells anyone hardly any pertinent info, unless it might entice them to spend money. If its merely gameplay help, you're on your own. It's Monopoly without the instruction booklet and with real cash on the board. It's... it's bad words. :x