Troop payment warning prior to joining tournaments.

[JPierreD]

I made the noob mistake of joining my first tournament not knowing I would not be able to do anything in it, including paying the troops. Luckily while I was still on my way my troops complained about not being paid in some time, so I had time to return, pay them and go back to the tournament, only losing a few turns, coins and one point of honor.

It would be nice if there was either a small text warning you to pay your troops if you have them before joining the tournament, for you will not be able to pay them there, or gave you the options to pay them and join it or leave without having payed them.

[Eithad]

You will not be able to do anything else until the tournament is over.

this is what it currently says, maybe it needs to be in big red letters but people probable still won't read it.

[JPierreD]

this is what it currently says, maybe it needs to be in big red letters but people probable still won't read it.

Do you have access to the text to quote it here? Perhaps I simply missed it.

[Eithad]

[JPierreD]

It is under actions, right? Perhaps a gentle reminder that it includes paying your troops would be nice. Now I hear it happened with another noble, and that was not his first tournament as me.

[Tom]

BM is a game that doesn't do handholding. I know the current trend in gaming is to tell you "press space to jump" for the first 10 hours of gameplay and then forever in loading-screen "hints", but I'm not joining that trend.

The basic principle of BM is the Unix principle: The game assumes that you know what you are doing and are aware of the consequences.

[Anaris]

BM is a game that doesn't do handholding. I know the current trend in gaming is to tell you "press space to jump" for the first 10 hours of gameplay and then forever in loading-screen "hints", but I'm not joining that trend.

The basic principle of BM is the Unix principle: The game assumes that you know what you are doing and are aware of the consequences.

However, Unix generally assumes that because there are always man pages to find out.

I don't think it would be beyond the pale to extend that "won't be able to do anything" notice to explicitly state that you won't be able to pay your men until you return.

[egamma]

However, Unix generally assumes that because there are always man pages to find out.

I don't think it would be beyond the pale to extend that "won't be able to do anything" notice to explicitly state that you won't be able to pay your men until you return.

I've gotten caught by this several times. I simply don't attend tournaments often enough to remember to pay my men first.

[Indirik]

I've gotten caught by this several times.

Same here. Well, not *many* times, but I've done it. Luckily I got back before they deserted. 8)

[Sacha]

Hmm... perhaps an option to pay your men in advance? Nothing mandatory, just something you can do to not have to worry about it later.

[Tom]

However, Unix generally assumes that because there are always man pages to find out.

Wiki

I don't think it would be beyond the pale to extend that "won't be able to do anything" notice to explicitly state that you won't be able to pay your men until you return.

The problem isn't that someone thought the "anything" would exclude troop payment. It was that someone didn't pay attention to the sentence at all. So anything we add to it would've been ignored just the same.


Yes, we could calculate the time until tournament and pop up a warning. The most user-friendly solution would be to do that and show a direct link to troop payment if and only if the tournament duration + current unpaid days is above the limit for troops getting tricky.

[JPierreD]

The problem isn't that someone thought the "anything" would exclude troop payment. It was that someone didn't pay attention to the sentence at all. So anything we add to it would've been ignored just the same.

So the Devs and players that posted here all ignored the sentence, even having read it before? Or could it be perhaps a common mistake to which many people are subject to? I mean, people are entitled not to be paying attention to everything, and unless you want to punish that, why not putting a small little warning?

Yes, we could calculate the time until tournament and pop up a warning. The most user-friendly solution would be to do that and show a direct link to troop payment if and only if the tournament duration + current unpaid days is above the limit for troops getting tricky.

It would be indeed the most user-friendly. What I was suggesting was something simpler to avoid you too much work (just slightly changing the text, or always giving you the option to pay your troops before joining it).

[fodder]

the most "friendly" thing would actually be.. troops get paid by autopay whether you are at tournament or in prison (for example)

because you have an underling to lug the gold around to do the paying... (though... if judges can steal off you, i guess the underling gets taken with you too)



though i think this has been shot down a zillion times.

[Anaris]

Yes, we could calculate the time until tournament and pop up a warning. The most user-friendly solution would be to do that and show a direct link to troop payment if and only if the tournament duration + current unpaid days is above the limit for troops getting tricky.

Yeah, that's probably best. We'll also almost always be displaying it, since most tournaments are 7 days, and when you add in the aftertour and return, it comes to 8, which is long enough that any unit will at least be complaining.

Another thing to keep in mind is autopayment. Even though it might be reasonable to interpret "you can't do anything" to mean "you can't click on Pay your men", I think many or most people would expect their autopay settings to still work if they don't already know that they won't. Heck, it caught me out at least once.

[Indirik]

Part of the problem with troops is that, well, most people don't pay their own troops. They use autopay. Troop payment doesn't exactly take a very prominent place in your zone of awareness.