BattleMaster Community
BattleMaster => Development => Feature Requests => Topic started by: Igelfeld on August 08, 2011, 01:07:08 AM
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I don't know about you all, but I think one of the reasons we are having trouble with retention is that the game is sometimes overly complex and thereby time consuming. So i think we should start requesting features that make the game easier, not more complicated.
My suggestion is actually quite simple. instead of only allowing two regions to be set for travel, allow for as many as the player would like. If we made it so that a player could travel long distances without continually having to pull up the map to see where to go next it would make the game just a little simpler.
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You can already use the route finder to see each region to you need to go to to get from point A to point B the fastest.
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That's not the point. The main difference would be the ability to set up a week-long trip and then have the travelling go on without logging in between.
I personally would love to see that feature implemented; I understand however that it may lower the activity level, in the same way that a "In case I don't click anything, automatically hold court/train/study at the academy" button would.
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That's not the point. The main difference would be the ability to set up a week-long trip and then have the travelling go on without logging in between.
I personally would love to see that feature implemented; I understand however that it may lower the activity level, in the same way that a "In case I don't click anything, automatically hold court/train/study at the academy" button would.
I'd rather see a "tag along with" button instead, where a knight can choose to follow his Liege's trails automatically. Or his marshal(?), King(?), Duke(?), ...
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hello multi.
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I'd rather see a "tag along with" button instead, where a knight can choose to follow his Liege's trails automatically. Or his marshal(?), King(?), Duke(?), ...
Army (~marshal). It would make so much sense for new players, and reduce the amount of "Whoops" or "What? How? PANIC!".
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Yea nice....then only thing new people have to do is recruit and pay their unit. I'm sure that will interest most....
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It doesn't have to be a forced mechanic, but rather a choice (in the beginning), telling them that it might be easier to do this for a while. If it were enabled for all players... movement rates would go through the roof! Might that not actually make it interesting for some less active players? Not logging in but still moving with the army?
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That's not the point. The main difference would be the ability to set up a week-long trip and then have the travelling go on without logging in between.
This has been described by Tom as specifically undesirable behaviour in the past.
We do not want BattleMaster to have "more players" who aren't even as active as the drones we have now. We don't want the game to be full of people who never actually pay attention to anything but an order once a week.
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This has been described by Tom as specifically undesirable behaviour in the past.
We do not want BattleMaster to have "more players" who aren't even as active as the drones we have now. We don't want the game to be full of people who never actually pay attention to anything but an order once a week.
I understand.
My use of it would be that, in the occasion where I know I can't log for two or three days straight, I can still use this time. But it's hard to balance.
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It doesn't have to be a forced mechanic, but rather a choice (in the beginning), telling them that it might be easier to do this for a while. If it were enabled for all players... movement rates would go through the roof! Might that not actually make it interesting for some less active players? Not logging in but still moving with the army?
I cannot imagine a single marshal would not set his orders to "Automatically follow your army, always. You'll get fined if you don't."
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I can see how it's undesirable to have units follow armies automatically, but what about following your Liege? It would strengthen the bond between Liege and Knight, and give more meaning to offering oaths. And it could be limited to "until next encounter" or something.
And the argument that players will only be able to recruit units if they won't travel is too easy. As if it's that much fun to push the "travel to" button. If I as a new player had had the choice, I'd rather follow someone and learn in their tracks then screwing up after the first movement order.
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...as the drones we have now.
I don't really understand why players like this even play the game. Is it really that enjoyable to just click a few buttons every now and then, but never actually get involved in the realm?
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Sometimes it's a relief to have characters you don't need to spend as much time on. I know a lot of "drone" characters are the third or fourth characters of people who have highly involved people elsewhere. There's a lot of trading going on between close families which is how you end up with some of the same families in power in two or three different realms. You have a powerful character here, and friends and allies suggest that they have cousins over there where they need estates...(shrugs).
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I support this a lot. It would really help for long trips on characters that I don't really care about.
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It would be nice to have for priests, adventurers, and traders. My trader really doesn't need any attention for a week at a time.
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It would be nice to have for priests, adventurers, and traders. My trader really doesn't need any attention for a week at a time.
Priests and adventurers?
Are you serious?
You can travel many regions with them in seconds already. Even if, by some bizarre chance, Tom did a complete 180 on this feature request in general, there's no way we'd implement it for priests and adventurers. That doesn't even make sense.
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Priests and adventurers?
Are you serious?
You can travel many regions with them in seconds already. Even if, by some bizarre chance, Tom did a complete 180 on this feature request in general, there's no way we'd implement it for priests and adventurers. That doesn't even make sense.
No, it does.
When my priest travels between Springdale and Giask, he does it in one go. Why stop? Nothing will stop him, except the odd desire to speak to someone in a particular region. So I log, spend my hours, wait for trip length + 16 hours to refill my time pool, and do it again.
There is no way I would ever do that with a unit. I've travelled with a unit before, and I had to scout my way along, occasionally retreating or taking a side route to avoid a monster swarm. Presetting this trip would be suicide.
Even on a settled island, you never know when you will encounter foreign troops.
It would only make sense for priests and adventurers, really. Maybe traders, although my experience is that I prefer to have a guard when trading.
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No, it does.
When my priest travels between Springdale and Giask, he does it in one go. Why stop? Nothing will stop him, except the odd desire to speak to someone in a particular region. So I log, spend my hours, wait for trip length + 16 hours to refill my time pool, and do it again.
There is no way I would ever do that with a unit. I've travelled with a unit before, and I had to scout my way along, occasionally retreating or taking a side route to avoid a monster swarm. Presetting this trip would be suicide.
Even on a settled island, you never know when you will encounter foreign troops.
It would only make sense for priests and adventurers, really. Maybe traders, although my experience is that I prefer to have a guard when trading.
IMHO, this is one of the long standing problems with the game.
Why stop?
To talk to people, pass on gossip, preach, recruit new nobles, learn the gossip, have small adventurers, visit the local lord, etc, etc, etc.
I used to play Jens as a trader, and the whole point was to travel everywhere, stop everywhere, and roleplay. (ok, and get rich)
I don't mind eliminating auto-tasks, but I'm not in favor of anything that helps people be in a hurry.
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Why stop?
To talk to people, pass on gossip, preach, recruit new nobles, learn the gossip, have small adventurers, visit the local lord, etc, etc, etc.
That particular example was about the Dwilight wilderness. There is no one there to roleplay with, in general, only monsters.
Also, it's not that I don't want to roleplay when I play. The point is that if I know I can't log in for three days straight, then this would be an opportunity to go into that long trip that I don't want to usually do because it's too long.
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I believe this is a good idea. With the current two region travel system you can feel the artificiality of the game mechanics interfering with the experience of the game. When the Marshal of an army gives orders to move a certain path, I want to set it right away and not have to worry about it constantly, so I can focus on other things. Like roleplay.
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Don't forget that rogues, peasants, or the like can interrupt your travel. You could set a 2-week travel, but if peasants spawn on the second day, you won't have budged after the rest of the two weeks.
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That would be a risk you take, taking a predetermined path.
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Perhaps I missed someone suggesting this, but perhaps for beginners (first month-or an optional setting for everyone) the location of the marshal could be shown in the travel page. To add to this, the action of the Marshal could also be stated. Such as:
Marshal in Region X. Moving to Region Y.
Marshal in Region X. Dug in.
Marshal in Prison. SiC in Region X. Moving to Region Y.
Another idea (which I would highly suggest for just the first month) is to have the action which would mimic one's Marshal in a different colour. As in:
* Region X (home realm)
good road, 61 miles, ca. 4 hours
* Region Y (home realm)
good road, 85 miles, ca. 6 hours
* Region Z (enemy realm)
good road, 48 miles, ca. 3 hours
This does not simplify anything, but it does make things easier for new players to follow what they need to do. Some may then never read their orders, but I think the goal should be to help those who want to play and deal with those who will be quitting shortly.
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Perhaps I missed someone suggesting this, but perhaps for beginners (first month-or an optional setting for everyone) the location of the marshal could be shown in the travel page. To add to this, the action of the Marshal could also be stated. Such as:
Marshal in Region X. Moving to Region Y.
Marshal in Region X. Dug in.
Marshal in Prison. SiC in Region X. Moving to Region Y.
Another idea (which I would highly suggest for just the first month) is to have the action which would mimic one's Marshal in a different colour. As in:
* Region X (home realm)
good road, 61 miles, ca. 4 hours
* Region Y (home realm)
good road, 85 miles, ca. 6 hours
* Region Z (enemy realm)
good road, 48 miles, ca. 3 hours
This does not simplify anything, but it does make things easier for new players to follow what they need to do. Some may then never read their orders, but I think the goal should be to help those who want to play and deal with those who will be quitting shortly.
They they should usually be in the same region, it could help stragglers. Or otherwise the game could let the newb know where the marshal is traveling to. But he isn't always going where the rest of his army ought to.