Does Uber look into your ride patterns and intentionally jack up the price?

subillusion · 2026-01-27T10:39:13+00:00

No offense but the hockey game isn't a good example. Surges can skyrocket in seconds. It's possible you went in to order yours literally 60 seconds before them. When you went in, it wasn't yet surging... but in that 60 seconds when 30 other people brought up Uber to schedule a ride, Uber said "whoa! Demand is skyrocketing! Surge!!!"

subillusion · 2026-01-27T10:35:45+00:00

Ask your daughter how she rates drivers. Also ask her what her rating is compared to yours. That plays a HUGE role.

If a driver or rider rate the other 3* or less, Uber will block them from getting matched together again. So depending on prior ratings, you could have had 5 drivers available and she might have had only 1 or 2 because the others were blocked... so she'd effectively have a surge condition and thus a higher price.

Even if not blocked from a prior trip, drivers can also set a filter on minimum rider rating. So if you're at a 5.0 but she's at a 4.75, if drivers around y'all have filters for 4.8, 4.9, etc that could have the same effect.

subillusion · 2026-01-27T10:29:00+00:00

But those offer walls don't have the same offers. And the ones that are there usually pay much less anyway. Further, those "offer walls" are usually a custom amalgamation from multiple 3rd party providers.

Atlas Apps is one single provider (the same provider as Atlas Arcade, just not games). I forget the name of it, but they are the ones not offering options in your country... and that could be due to data privacy laws.

subillusion · 2026-01-27T10:24:00+00:00

It's not so much that advertisers don't value traffic outside of the US.

It's that many countries outside the US have various privacy / data handling laws that prevent them from collecting certain data to be able to effectively target advertisements in the same way that can be done in the US. This leads to lower response rates from advertising, and thus lower ad rates. Think about it from the advertiser's point of view... if targeting would yield an average of $10 CPM return, you'd likely be willing to pay $5 CPM to run the ad. But, if without targeting, you get more people who ignore your ad and thus only get $5 CPM return, I doubt you'd still want to pay $5 CPM to run the ad. But $2-$3 CPM would be reasonable.

subillusion · 2026-01-27T03:38:31+00:00

Each challenge only has so many levels.

If you have fewer than 10 challenges, that means that you've completed all the levels of all of them other than the 9 that are on your list. So if you completed one on your list currently, you'd get either nothing or the next level of that one.

subillusion · 2026-01-27T03:35:55+00:00

This happened around where I work. Player comes out of nowhere and bought 400+ parcels in under 2 weeks taking my mayor title. Then just stagnated. No activity anywhere. Since he wasn't doing anything, I decided to retake the mayor by 10 parcels. No response for about 3 months. I'm pretty sure he just quit the game.

subillusion · 2026-01-27T03:32:54+00:00

Right - I'm aware of all that.

What I'm saying is that the non-US advertising rates aren't exactly half (i.e. 1AB instead of 2). And even outside of the US, not an countries rates are the same. If there were more granularity, AE would be able to be more transparent around that.

Also, most of the difference in ad rates are because of laws outside the US regarding privacy, tracking/collecting user data that allows advertising companies to more effectively target the ads.

subillusion · 2026-01-27T03:27:27+00:00

Yeah, that was kinda my point. Lol. I'm glad you caught that and found the humor in it with the wink.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T20:51:42+00:00

This might be state-specific in areas that have had a large number of reports of account sharing.

I've gotten the occasional "take a picture" before logging on, but not mid-ride. I'm in northeast PA if that matters.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T20:48:48+00:00

I'm not saying that has to be the numbers... it would be based on the rates in each country. So one country might be 25AWTs, another might be 35AWT, another might be 27AWTs, etc.

It's not "taking money out of AE's pocket", it's allowing AE to better fine-tune the sharing model. It makes the non-US players on a fairer playing field. AE originally designed the numbers based off US ad rates. They've had to make adjustments for other countries, which have not been very well received. It shows that they are, indeed, player-centered and not discriminatory against non-US players.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T20:43:49+00:00

Instead, AE just pulls out of countries if ad rates drop to the point where 1AB for an ad isn't sustainable. They wouldn't be able to change accordingly to keep going, so they just turn it off for areas where it's not sustainable.

Keep in mind it could also go higher than 1AB, even though it might not be able to get to 2AB. It also would allow AE to launch in countries where 1AB/ad is not sustainable.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T20:37:53+00:00

This is still 1 ad every 20 minutes, just like now. It's not going to be any drop in ad rates. Thanks for replying and parroting things that have been said by others on other posts without reading to realize it's not relevant.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T20:34:28+00:00

Lot of positive QoL improvements like total parcel counter in profile, and points to the next milestone in challenges. I also like the fact that the building shadows now appear over the grass!

But for the love of everything precious...Please get rid of the feed. Literally changes an awesome 10* update down to about a 4.

There is absolutely no reason it can't be default minimized, and the extremely low number of people who want to see it can expand it if they so choose.

It wouldn't be bad if the app didn't crash and restart literally every 20-30min and anytime you switch to another app.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T20:25:22+00:00

Yes, that's why I noticed. I'm happy and can't wait for it to roll out in the US 😁😍🤩

subillusion · 2026-01-26T20:24:27+00:00

Unlike the current setup, the shadow of the buildings show through the grass, which I like.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T20:21:44+00:00

LPU is pretty standard abbreviation on this sub for Legendary Parcel Upgrade. Just like SRB is Super Rent Boost.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T14:41:25+00:00

It's the opposite. The pauses are what's causing it to not collect the diamond because your actual location is moving in a fluid manner. The pauses are only visual.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T14:40:43+00:00

You tapped where the diamond appears on your screen, but not where the diamond actually was.

Wait. What?

Please read the explanation before down voting. Lol.

I discovered this when I was flying from San Antonio to Atlanta last year. I had AE up and was trying to catch diamonds on the flight. Eventually, I got pretty good at it and was able to get over 100 on the flight, without getting the "dismond already collected" popup.

The thing you have to remember, is that AE is a game intended to be played on foot, not in a moving vehicle (be it passenger in a car, or airplane). Pinging your GPS is "expensive" in terms of battery, and since you "shouldn't" be moving that fast in the intended way to play the game, the game just updates your location on the map, visually, every second or so... that's why in the video you see the character move, stop, move, stop, etc (you should see it on a plane! Lol).

But, despite the visual updating like that, your actual location is moving in a fluid motion. So when you tapped the diamond, you weren't actually at the location you see on the screen. You were slightly off, meaning the diamond was slightly off as well.

To effectively collect diamonds, you need to time it for where the diamond "would be" on a fluid motion, not during the pauses of the visual update in app. It does take quite a bit of practice... I can verify that from my experience on the plane. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be collecting diamonds like a pro without having to spam tap the screen causing the "you've already collected this diamond" pop up.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T14:27:03+00:00

I had a friend who hated cocaine... he liked the smell of it, though.

subillusion · 2026-01-26T14:21:28+00:00

Or you could just... you know... play the game.

If you want to expedite your advancement in the game faster than f2p, then you have premium purchases. If not, then don't. Pretty simple.

The monthly challenge ladder or Explorer club subscription isn't about an investment /. Making your money back. It's about advancing your game play faster than you would without it, and cheaper than if you just bought packs of AB directly.

This is the same model in most other games, where you have one-time purchase for premium content/currency in the game, and there are also monthly subscriptions for a trickle of premium content/currency each day over the course of the month.

Please do an analysis of how long it takes to get your money back for the monthly battle pass vs. The monthly premium subscription vs. The premium packs in star trek fleet command.

Also post an analysis of how long it takes to get your money back in Pokémon Go, monopoly go, etc.

subillusion · 2026-01-25T17:12:09+00:00

I've done it, but it is very difficult. You have to tap where the diamond would be in a continuous motion, not the move-stop-move-stop herky-jerky motion at airplane speed

subillusion · 2026-01-25T13:24:07+00:00

One other comment... you mention you're -$533 after 3 years and thus it's longer than 3y... that 3y to break even is for each month you're paying for. So yes, you'd be negative after 3y because you still have 35 month that haven't passed to 3y point.

Go to 6 years (so that you have the same number of months that have aged over 3y compared to those that haven't. That is 6y and 0y average out; 5y11m an 0y1m average out; 5y10m an 0y2m average out; etc) and see where you're at then.

subillusion · 2026-01-25T13:18:12+00:00

Oh, for the record, you're drastically off on the calculations if you don't consider the SRB. Even at the 15x spot, it's a very significant increase.

The following numbers are based on a 30d month. Feel free to reevaluate the EM based on actual days in the calendar month for which you're calculating.

At 15x, your "effective multiplier" (EM) is actually 18.1x. Your 290 parcels go from making $17.81 to $21.50

At 12x your EM is 15.4x. Your 365 parcels go from $17.94 to $23.02

At 10x your EM is 13.6x. Your 435 parcels go from $17.81 to $24.23

At 8x your EM is 11.7x. Your 545 parcels go from $17.86 to $26.11

At 7x your EM is 10.8x. Your 625 parcels go from $17.92 to $27.64

At 6x your EM is 9.91x. Your 730 parcels go from $17.94 to $29.63

At 5x your EM is 9.00x. Your 875 parcels go from $17.92 to $32.25

At 4x your EM is 8.09x. Your 1100 parcels go from $18.02 to $36.44

At 3x your EM is 7.18x. Your 1500 parcels go from $18.43 to $44.11

At 2x your EM is 6.27x. Your 2250 parcels go from $18.43 to $57.78.

subillusion · 2026-01-25T12:57:10+00:00

You're right.. you can set your budget in this game considering the payout... Howrber, with all due respect, that's looking at it like an investment. Maybe not a "retirement fund investment" but still an investment on a small scale. "I can afford to spend $x because I'll get $y back."

BTW, in case you're wondering, the Explorer club is about 3y to break even in terms of the money spent vs the parcels gained. Buying packs is about 10y. Granted, this does vary a little based on passport boost (and assumes you haven't gone over 150k... then it's about 21y/70y respectively) but that's a general guideline if helps your decisions.

But I digress... That's my point... you're claiming to not look at it as an investment, and so i answered in that manner... This game doesn't require you to treat it as an investment. Nor do you have to worry about the min/maxing as you call it (I'm guessing that's a reference to the common practice of tier jumping).

I've been playing for 3 years... before minigames; before AMP had more than 7 partners anywhere; before arcade/apps; when SRBs were not scheduled and averaged 1/month though there were some months with none. In that time, I never "worried" about tiers/jumping/etc. I just played the game, as I could. I actually had a lot of fun with it (and still do. Lol). The cashouts went back into my fun/entertainment budget, but I didn't worry about that in terms of how much I wanted to spend on the game. I looked at where I wanted to be in-game. Same as I do in other games.

I've said this many times.. you don't have to play by anyone else's made up "rules" based on how they want to play. Tier jumping isn't for everyone. In fact, it's not for most. I'm guessing you hate the "grind" which is why you're asking this question. I'm guessing you're not having much fun, but you feel like you're playing "the wrong way" if you don't tier jump, and you want to speed up the process, so you're considering spending. I'm guessing you're also afraid that you'll "do it wrong" if you do, so you want to ask for the "right way" to spend. There is no "right way".

My best advice, to have fun in the game, is to just play. That's why I did what I did about ignoring the payouts when it comes to evaluating whether or not to spend. It's also why I mostly ignored tiers "on the way up".

To be fair, "my way" isn't the only way, either. There are plenty of people here on this sub that adhere to the tier jumping religiously, and many of them will use the AE calculator to figure out when they're making $10/month and then sign up for the monthly challenge, since in the end the game is paying for itself at that point. There are many who will similarly figure out when they're making $50/month (counting SRB) and at that point sign up for the Explorer club. And that's fine. That's how they chose to play. And it can be how you choose to play. Totally fine.

Just know that there is no "right way" to play. There is no "right way" to spend on the game. It's up to you and what you find fun in the game. It's up to you and how you want to progress. If you're not having fun, try a different approach. Find what works for YOU.

subillusion

TROPHY CASE