Well we'll see. Ralph said this week's server tick and I said the longest it'll stay is after this weekend. People who know us are already aware that these timelines are based on what we think FD will do based on their behaviour in other cases over these past few years. They're free to agree or disagree, to take our advice or not. They don't have a problem with what we said.
I'm ok with people saying "My guess is..." and not having supporting evidence, however the statements are made as fact, currently, which doesn't benefit anyone (commanders are already unhappy about Fleet Carrier parking spots near the Megaships, a 'rush' to buy based on a guess is not going to help matters). I personally think the information suggests
at least one month following the Update 3 deployment:
- when economies and populations begin to settle [megaships repurposed]
- [population] growth is based on a curve and will grow quickly for the first month before slowing to a more gradual pace
That's the only statements we have that talk about a timescale in any way and I see that there's a loose relationship between those two statements. That's my interpretation of the official comms.
I'm not saying that your experiences don't provide insights, quite the opposite; it's really good to provide that context when making statements, it helps others (particularly newer commanders that may not be aware of your standing) make informed decisions. Sure, we can never be certain (and sometimes i'm sure FDev don't know!) when something is going to happen...until it does.
o7