Messages

7681

Dwilight / Re: Dwilight IC and OOC updates and news!

« on: June 07, 2011, 12:33:31 AM »

If I remember and understand Tom's issues with the Blood Cult correctly, his objection was to the names, not the substance.

Change the names in the BC to be more medieval-fantasy and less Mesoamerica, and I'd say there'd be no problem with putting it on Dwilight.

If I remember correctly, this was not the case. It really was that he wanted european-inspired religions and cultures. At least, if it was only about the names, then I was never told, and that's not really something I was inflexible about.

7682

BM General Discussion / Re: Too much peace too much for Dwilight

« on: June 07, 2011, 12:04:32 AM »

I can agree with that, many realms have survived past their use by date and continue only because an old core remember the golden age. D'Hara could always abandon the isle territories and expand onto the main land.

That's all colonized. Besides, Paisly is making me filthy rich (though I'm still re-investing almost all of it), and if the other dukes bothered to put enough efforts on fetching food themselves, they'd be as well. And the advantage of the sea routes remains as compelling as ever, if not more so.

7683

Dwilight / Re: Madina needs YOU!

« on: June 06, 2011, 11:59:54 PM »

Funny, Luria Nova came to me a few times for discussions, without my approaching them.

Their council members are generally lame, though, I think.

7684

Dwilight / Re: Dwilight IC and OOC updates and news!

« on: June 06, 2011, 11:57:27 PM »

Yes. It is Serious. It is Medieval. It adds to the Atmosphere.

So would have the Blood Cult. It was dead-serious, promoted a system closer to british feudalism than many european systems, was from about the same time period, and was all about giving religion the role it deserved in the societies of the days.

I don't see how MP is any more SMA than the Blood Cult would have been. Mind you, I never favoured the euro-centric SMA tenant, and have always believed it made the experience poorer instead of richer.

7685

Dwilight / Re: Religions in Dwilight

« on: June 06, 2011, 11:47:38 PM »

Interesting. What about State Religions?

Dragon Worship in D'Hara's royalty. But all the power was handed down from the royal court to the House of Lords, and nobody outside of the royal court still follows the faith.

(read: the faith died, and all the ones who claimed themselves Dragon Kings or Dragon Queens are long auto-paused, but the republican regime decided not to cut all ties with the past)

7686

Helpline / Re: Investment

« on: June 06, 2011, 06:32:04 AM »

Dominic is correct in noting that, even in the medieval period, it is conceivable that gold could be "turned into" food. Sure, the marginal returns will decline, but the idea that the feudal economy ever had marginal returns below zero seems rather untenable.

However, in terms of game mechanics, it makes total sense to restrict the effect on food production. Otherwise, it would be conceivable to support a city (like Paisly) almost exclusively from, say, a townsland and a small rural (Chesland and Maeotis), and that is evidently not how the game is intended to work.

Investing in Maeotis would never produce enough for all our cities, and would cost so much I doubt it'd be a real alternative to imports. We'd do it for sure, though, at least now and then, but it wouldn't cut our requirements for imports.

No, you are being silly and absurd.  Read what the others have written, and you will understand what I mean in the correct light.  100% is the maximum attainable production, this is the last time I will say this.

Others are clearly as ignorant as yourself when suggesting that any patch of land has a theoretical maximum production capacity. There is no theoretical maximum production capacity, *especially* not in agriculture. You can always develop more productive breeds, invent better fertilizers, discover better crop management, etc. That they did not have the technical knowledge we have nowadays does not mean that everyone had access to the latest technology of the days either, some could not afford better tools or did not have access to training for better methods, for whatever reason. Dump enough cash, and people will be able to afford better tools or training, that's just how the world works. And honestly, what the hell are people investing in to manage to make a small rural region's income double, without increasing food production, when everyone there is working on farms? It'd be way more realistic if investments in rural increased production % less considerably, but that this allowed for higher food production levels. If rural lords had more power over their food production, they might be more tempted to make a trade out of it, instead of shipping it all out for free as most do.

If you are arguing that 100% is the maximum food production in-game at this time, though, then you are just pointing out the totally obvious thing that served as the basis of my critic.

7687

BM General Discussion / Re: Too much peace too much for Dwilight

« on: June 06, 2011, 06:16:39 AM »

I know little of D'Hara since the reign of the Dragon Queen, but given how many nobles left at that time, I could well believe that war wasn't really practicable. But then if that is the case, perhaps the realm should pass on?

If D'Hara should pass on, then a great many others should as well. D'Hara isn't shrinking, it's just stagnation that looms for as long as we don't get fresh blood (as all of the next regions to acquire are net food producers that will greatly help out).

7688

Feature Requests / Re: Navies?

« on: June 06, 2011, 05:02:17 AM »

2.   It would add a new dimension to conflicts and to trade.  The ability to transport food right across a continent or to embargo said trade of food would allow for different trade routes to develop and this could affect diplomacy as having a powerful ally provide you with food would mean that your realm no longer has to support the closer realms which provided you with food.

Less spots to cover makes it easier to place embargoes. Current sea routes means D'Hara basically has monopoly on the north/south and southern west/east travels, unless one wants to take the very long and risky land routes. It's the very reason why I picked Shadovar (D'Hara's predecessor) in the first place.

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BM General Discussion / Re: Too much peace too much for Dwilight

« on: June 06, 2011, 04:56:14 AM »

Actually back in the days of the Dragon Queen I asked to go to war, quite a bit. Since for some unfathomable reason we were all scared that SA was going to attack, I suggested and was prepared to strike pre-emptively. Sure we probably would have lost, but better that then to have a bunch of "nobles" living in fear of a possible enemy. There was also a considerable period of time were we pushing for a war against Terran.

I don't really remember that. Who would we have striked? Everyone's way too far away, and our military never was that impressive.

Though I vaguely remember about Terran. Seemed like a threatening SA bastion for a while, but I never considered any of these talks to be all too serious, more like brainstorming than a call to arms.

And that was at a time where the monarchs had to get some talks going to distract the people of how oligarchic and repressive they were. Perhaps time did make me forget a few calls by some people, but from what you say, it wasn't because you were bored out of your mind, but rather as part of a strategy (or rather, because of pride). For some reason, war seemed more feasible back then too. Maybe we had more nobles?

They say one should never say never, and indeed I shouldn't have. Let's replace that with "since the monarchy became inactive", to be on the safe side.

7690

Dwilight / Re: Religions in Dwilight

« on: June 06, 2011, 04:44:22 AM »

Terran? Really?

Either he means Barca, or he means follower bleed, in which case Triunism is active in D'Hara (stupid code makes the religion without a temple naturally replace the religion with a big friggin temple in Paisland).

7691

BM General Discussion / Re: Favorite Island

« on: June 05, 2011, 08:56:56 PM »

 

7692

Development / Re: Treaty friction is boring

« on: June 05, 2011, 08:46:31 PM »

That might have more to do with a respect for the fact that no matter what, we are still modern humans. Diplomacy is something we all more or less understand and take as granted in the game. Religion? Not so much. For evidence you only need to find how many people still insist that they are atheists in the game.

Now that I think about it, it makes sense. A lot of the incongruities in the game that differ from a true Medieval recreation comes from the fact that we are modern humans. In many of our countries, religion simply does not play a major role in the government. The United States has the separation of church and state, China does not endorse any state religion, and I'm sure those more familiar with different countries' systems would know more examples.

In-game, this means that you can see how many realms say they have no state religion either. PoZ, last I heard, said they would allow freedom of religion, and furthermore that it would mean no religion could get a foothold on the realm. Nothoi also practices freedom of religion. To name realms that actually "matter", even Sirion, surprisingly enough, does not have a state religion, in that lords are still free to choose their faith and their regions' faith. It just so happens that one religion is more prevalent, but does not appear to interfere with the political side.

Besides, I've noticed that Chenier seems to like more realism in religion. But above all else, this is a game, and we could make the diplomat class less time intensive. Making the religions more realistic might not actually work in this game, since the majority of interactions should be roleplayed, and it doesn't sound like that many people are really into it except maybe for the rare exceptions. Ok? So? We have only a handful of major religions in this world, and the top three all happen to be monotheistic and originate from the Middle East.

Now, we do have a system to make priests more important. They are called theocracies, but beyond that, it's up to you to get support to have your power. That's what real power is, no matter where you go or what you are.

You persist on misunderstanding my point. This thread isn't "give more power to religions!", but rather titled "Treaty friction is boring", with my point being that it doesn't make sense to have this one particular specialist class required for smooth realm running. Especially since the player base is declining. And since ambassadors and the new treaty system don't actually bring anything new to the game, other than restrictions.

And though you will likely interpret this last statement as being my main point, when it's really just a side comment, theocracies do not add any power to priests. They work just the same as democracies or any other government system, as far as priests are concerned. Players give the power they want to priests, regardless of their realm's government system. It's just easier to defend giving more power to priests when your government calls itself a theocracy, but nothing would prevent you from having a theocracy without any state religions or a democracy with a single authorized religion.

7693

Helpline / Re: Investment

« on: June 05, 2011, 08:38:54 PM »

Because food is a resource.  You can't just put more money in and get back more apples than exist in the world, maximum food production is just that, maximum food production.

That's just silly, absurd. More gold, = better irrigation to prevent drought, better silos to prevent rot, better tools to plow or to harvest, etc, etc. If you invest in agriculture in real life, you definitely WILL increase production. We aren't talking about wild blueberry picking here (and even then).

7694

BM General Discussion / Re: Favorite Island

« on: June 05, 2011, 08:35:46 PM »

As well it shouldn't. At least Melhed seems to be in one of the better positions. Fronen too, assuming that the Blight does anything more significant that be an inconvenient travel barrier.

It shouldn't feel fun anymore, you mean?

Too many characters died, too few came back, ventures of action are now so limited because of an estate system more adapted to EC's context than BT's.

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Dwilight / Re: Madina needs YOU!

« on: June 05, 2011, 08:33:46 PM »

news spreads fast, yes where refiting, there still doomed thou.

future of Madina all depends on amount of nobles, there are things that could happen, but they would happen only with the right amount of nobles.

Refitting is likely to be Madina's last action in this war, if they want to survive, as its neighbours are imposing mediation and threatening to attack if Madina doesn't accept a cease-fire between itself and Aurvandil.