BattleMaster Community
BattleMaster => BM General Discussion => Topic started by: Tom on March 04, 2011, 10:38:58 AM
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This is a feedback request. I'd like to know what you like most and least about BattleMaster. List your top three features and your three most disliked things below:
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Top: flexibility and freedom to play as you like
Top: depth and history
Top: quality and passion of players and devs
Flop: interface on android is fiddly
Flop: um..
Flop: nope, can't think of another flop.
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The good
- Continuity of the game. No resets save for Beluaterra.
- New features get added fairly often
- The player base is generally quite nice
The bad
- Increased complexity has made the game more difficult for new players to get into
- The estate system has become a hindrance with the lowered player base
- The continual erosion of the council positions in favor of exceedingly powerful dukes. Leads to all the realms being from essentially the same mold.
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Tops:
1. Depth of the game: No matter the role you pick for your character, there is tons of stuff to do and ways to advance. Military, political, economical, religious, ...
2. Continuity: It's one long game with no end, nations rise and fall, nobles come and go.
3. Variety of realms and islands: If one particular corner of the game doesn't interest you, there's lots of other places to try your luck.
Flops:
1. Lack of player creativity: A lot of realms have no identity, they're pretty much just a bunch of players grouping together for the sake of having a realm. Alternatively, they are just carbon copies of existing game realms, or historical realms.
2. OOC unfairness: A LOT of realms are OOC cliques that are hard to break into unless you conform to the OOC-ness. Unless you're 'part of the group, your chances of advancement decrease dramatically. Other realms are just blatantly led by a bunch of RL friends who take over every position with a handful of people.
3. More OOC unfairness: A lot of the politics in the game are decided by a handful of players outside of the game (on IRC for example). Players who don't go to IRC often have little or nothing to say in their realm councils.
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top - the game is not winnable
top - the game goes on and on and on and on.............. much like the energizer bunny!
top - the players are the best i have come across in any other game with a very few exceptions.
flop - estates making the upkeep of region very difficult to manage
flop - banker position has no power over the food distribution or the taxes like he or she should.
flop - travel time in dwilight but that is more a person issue really with me
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Flops:
2. OOC unfairness: A LOT of realms are OOC cliques that are hard to break into unless you conform to the OOC-ness. Unless you're 'part of the group, your chances of advancement decrease dramatically. Other realms are just blatantly led by a bunch of RL friends who take over every position with a handful of people.
3. More OOC unfairness: A lot of the politics in the game are decided by a handful of players outside of the game (on IRC for example). Players who don't go to IRC often have little or nothing to say in their realm councils.
I agree very much. The problem is that very often success or failure depend heavily on the different activity (and I intend also potential activity on irc or other means) of the two sides, and this in turn pushes nobles who are very active in and out the game up the hierarchy way more easily than they should deserve. But well, I guess there is no solution to this.
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I agree very much. The problem is that very often success or failure depend heavily on the different activity (and I intend also potential activity on irc or other means) of the two sides, and this in turn pushes nobles who are very active in and out the game up the hierarchy way more easily than they should deserve. But well, I guess there is no solution to this.
I believe that Sacha was referring to the fact that in certain realms, even if you are active, in game and out you cannot advance because you're not part of the "OOC clique" that you cannot join unless you're already part of it. ;)
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3. More OOC unfairness: A lot of the politics in the game are decided by a handful of players outside of the game (on IRC for example). Players who don't go to IRC often have little or nothing to say in their realm councils.
Meh - I use it to troll everyone! 8)
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Tops:
The unique characters some players create
The ability to play the game any way you want to
The chance to practice writing and persuasion
Flops:
The silence of some realms
the low retention level of new players (seriously how do we fix this?)
The difficulty I am currently having trying to create a new flag. (I guess this has nothing to do with the game however)
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Tops
- Rebellion - Probably one of my favourite bits of BattleMaster. I love all the wheeling, dealing and skulduggery of a rebellion!
- The Hierarchy system - The move to greater fluidity and power all through the hierarchy is good and makes me really excited for the future.
- Armies - They completely revolutionised the game.
Flops
- Estates - Thought they were punitive even when we did have a larger player base. Now estate management has become a meta game. Trying to manage an insufficient number of nobles into various problem regions and finding that a traditional war is out of the question.
- BM hates mobile devices - The severity of the experiences differs from device to device, browser to browser, but generally I've struggled to use BM on anything other than a computer.
- Religion - Too many faiths are just realms by another name and used as a bureaucratic device to keep peasants happy. Too many players either join faiths simply not to upset that status quo (and so don't engage with the faith at all) or aren't joining religions full stop. I suppose it's a player problem as much as anything else, but religions appear much more peripheral and unimportant now, since being firmly established, than they were a few years ago whilst battling for position and dominance across many realms.
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Good
- Deep strategy, combined with multiplayer nature. I've never come across a game that does this.
- Open ended game. Especially noticeable with realms that have years of history (and attending grudges)
- Variety of play styles available.
Bad
- Can devolve into a "numbers game". Whoever has the most income has the most CS and usually the most knights. Unless you have major geographical advantages, this is extraordinarily hard to beat.
- Lack of community. IRC and (so far) the forums are inhabited by the same 20-30 veteran players. When you consider we have about 500 players logging in daily and 900 every three days...
- Problems with recruitment and retention. I'm comfortable with being a niche game, but without new blood, we'll die eventually.
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Tops:
- Wiki: I use it every day. It’s highly informative and well-written. Very encouraging.
- Message system: There is a gossipy feel to it, and it has good options.
- Civil work: It’s simple but has interesting stuff to explore.
Flops:
- Government: It’s too authoritarian and not much participatory.
- Religion: The role of religion and priests seems very vague.
- War: It's repetitive and creates an overly militaristic society.
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Tops:
1. Dwilight- lack of nobles, starvation, monsters, fiendishly long travel times, constant struggle against the wild... this is my ideal Battlemaster experience. I could not ask for more.
2. Strong lords- I really like having strong lords and dukes. It dilutes power to more players, restricting the control of the old elites (like myself)
3. Armies- armies open up lots of leadership potential for newer players, and a valuable dynamism, and extra layer of culture. This was a very, very positive addition.
Flops:
1. Religion- I love the religion feature. But it just isn't versatile enough and doesn't compel dynamism. Some kind of game-mechanics doctrine feature would be interesting, compelling religions to commit to beliefs rather than just declaring other religions evil or not. Overall, religion is underused and generally stagnant.
2. Claims- I love the idea of claims, but there is no rhyme or reason to them. My duke of several years now isn't listed as having a claim on his own city? What? These should be reworked.
3. Rebellions- I would like to see these reworked some, I don't feel like rebellions work well. But that's just a general impression.
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Tops:
1) The game is unbeatable
2) Many options in all aspects of the game minus the Banker and Trader
3) Friendly environment
Flops:
1) Estates limit a realm by far
2) OOC involvement. As mentioned before, but I have been screwed out of lordships due to OOC excuses, it ruins the environment.
3) Empires are all too common, there needs to be more features to counter an overpowerful realm.
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Tops
1.There are some really awesome realms to play in where people are active and actually follow orders!
2.You can play your character as you like.
3.Infiltrators are awesome :) (maybe they should be able to poison someone!)
Flops
1.Many cities are the same. There is no characteristic or distinctiveness. (May be many of medieval cities were the same?)
2.There is nothing you can do while being a rogue. It would be interesting if you can turn into a bandit.
3.Battles always happen on an open plane I think. I know people back in the days fought on an open plan. (and that is why they lost a big time in Poland against Mongols) But maybe they should have some altitude difference? Like if you are defending against enemies, should have your army set camps on a high hill so cavalry charges become more effective + archers being able to shoot farther + exhausting for enemy infantries to run up the hill?
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Tops:
1. The persistent world. Brilliant. The history, the cultures, the grudges and friendships. Wonderful.
2. Completely unique, it does not fall into any true category of game. Never known anything like it. I almost have a difficult time explaining it to people sometimes. "So it's an MMORPG?" "Well, sorta" "So it's a strategy game? "Well, yes, but more" "So, it's text based?" "Well, yes and no."
3. The pace. Not time demanding if you don't want it to be, but can be delved into for hours if you want. I believe this is why so many people have played it for years on end. Your devotion to the game can freely fluctuate with how your free time naturally fluctuates in your life.
Flops:
1. Oaths and Estates. No one takes them seriously. Discussion even devolves to how we should just switch people around the realm at a whim to help region maintenance, etc. It's just not a good system at this point.
2. Religion. Does not have the weight and sophistication and it could have. Religion could be one of the biggest aspects and drivers of the game, yet it falls short of this and becomes merely a background or demographic detail most of the time.
3. Economic system. The economic system is good, but could be so much more. The New Economy project sounded amazing but I haven't heard of it much lately. We have had the non-effectual in-game messages about for a long time now, though it seems other projects have taken its place on the to-do list.
All of this said, Battlemaster is fantastic!
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Tops:
- It's just so unique. I have never seen such a perfect combination of game mechanics and roleplay. This includes religion. Some of my best BM roleplay experiences have been through very fun religions.
- Great player base. This game seems to attract good people.
- If you don't like someone, you can scheme against them in a realistic political setting! I love the political tension and the different power allotments to different positions. It creates loads of fun.
Flops:
- OOC groups of friends who control realms. I wasn't sure this existed until I came across a certain realm. I really couldn't believe it. Multicheating is a terrible crime but this isn't? That's actually quite funny once you get over how ridiculous it is.
- New players are not joining. We need to find some way to remedy this, new players just find this game too complicated. Though I wouldn't compromise the game's fun to allow this.
- Estates do need some reworking. Perhaps making them full size upon being made would be a start?
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Tops:
- Excellent and diverse history. The grudges, the politics.... You won't find it anywhere else.
- The relatively free-form nature of how you go about playing your character.
- The excellent support from Tom and the devs with all their constant updates
Flops:
- Estates. They don't contribute anything, they just put a choke-hold on realms with small noble populations.
- Paypal locking my account temporarily so I can't donate.
- Nothing else really.
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Tops:
- never seen a game creator/dev team so passionate and open toward the community. No greed, no disrespect for user, lot lot of passion. The continous improvements and new features are great.
- unique player base. Such an elite game attracted very good people
- Dwilight....I really love this island, it has an unique atmosphere
Flops:
- a realistic game but some mechanics are there just because in the orgin was like this and to change them is feared because of unbalancing effects. I refer to mechanincs like the gold/cash handling, no gold exchange between players etc. They're weird and I don't see the reason to not try to change them in an experimental way.
- the world of adventurers is too far from the world of nobles: more interaction would bring much more fun
- more trade, not just food (..and sea trade and sea wars..but ok, it's just a dream of mine)
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Tops:
-I've never seen another game of its genre, where pretty much everything is established by players.
-Different continents with different settings to allow a diversity of experiences and possibilities of experimentation.
-Possibility to play at unregular paces.
-Multiple avenues of gameplay (political, economical, military).
Flops:
-Announced features that end up materializing only years later, if ever.
-Estate system which had an apparent seriously negative impact on player retention.
-Underdeveloped economy system.
-Religions failing to grab the role history gave them.
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Tops: It has a lot of depth that at first glance would not be obvious. The fact that not being part of any realm (rogue) is harder to maintain, and not desired, than joining some realm also makes this pretty easy to get with some other people and start fighting. It's not like those games where guilds/clans/whatevers only go for people who have played 24/7 for 10 years straight and have stuff like damage calculation tables memorized and experience rates optimized.
Flops: Well, being in perpetual beta...there are bugs. Have I mentioned the times when on one character (Ramuh) I somehow ended up in limbo twice? Seriously, one time I was even in no region and couldn't do anything but message people and check on information. That was interesting.
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Tops:
1. Unique Gameplay - The political intrigue, all of the different options available, the way that the hierarchy works and how players fully run the game world is absolutely the best thing ever.
2. Persistent Game World (No resets, long histories which shape the game forever is just awesome.)
3. Players, Devs, Support - All Superb, can't find any better in any other game.
Flops:
1. Estate System - It is a great idea if we had double the current playerbase. However with the current player base this limits the ability for realms to do a lot of things. There is no way for realm's to expand without many more nobles. Without more nobles you won't get war, and without war, there won't be more nobles. Causes cyclic problems which need to be dealt with.
2. Player base dwindling - I'm not sure what can be done here, but there is a need for more players if the game is to continue being as fun as it currently is. Many of my characters are limited without more players joining to fill in characters. It is sad and unfortunate, but we need a way to attract new players that are going to stay around and help the game grow.
3. Lack of a method by which new players can distinguish between good realms and bad. I know this will be hard to develop a good system for, but I think it would go a long way towards helping retain new players and build a larger playerbase.
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Tops:
- The game is unique in all aspects, being a mmorpg text based so deep and full of history and intrigue, politics, etc. Its AWESOME!
- Diversity in almost every aspect.
- The players, all of them are great no exception. Oh and I love what Allison Kabrinski is doing on Dwilight, that is hell of a player!
Flops:
- The one with the bigger stick always wins. In battles all it resembles to who has the biggest number of men and/or CS.
- New player retention is difficult as the game has a hard learning curve at the beginning.
- Realm inactivity, some realms are dead, no one speaks and no one gives any opinion on anything. Also all the said about the OOC "clans" and difficulty to rise on power or positions is something I agree.
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Flops:
- The one with the bigger stick always wins. In battles all it resembles to who has the biggest number of men and/or CS.
I've seen my share of bad line settings causing disastrous results, and major defeats where one would otherwise have had major victory. Activity also means that a realm with less gold and overall CS can still defeat a realm with more of both, if the latter can't get their act together.
Lastly, battles are hardly everything. When Enweil brought Riombara down to Grehk, it wasn't really after a long series of successive major victories in battles. Battles had rather little to do with it. Most of the war doesn't happen on the battlefield.
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Tops - Line settings
Tops - Generally the game
Flops - lack of nobles
Flops - Game master influence and manipulation over the game
Flops - OOC gaming being prevelant over the game
Flops - The community itself
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Tops:
-A fantastic, unique world with a persistent history
-Enough different classes and realm roles to allow gameplay to be different for everyone if they choose it to be
-Roleplaying adds huge depth to the game and can be a lot of fun
-Devs working hard on fixing problems or implementing new features (I know it comes with its fair share of bugs but its to be expected and I dont mind)
Flops:
-OOC often plays way more of a role in things then it ever should in some places. I witnessed my own personal worst of it not that long ago in the Far East (some of it only suspected, some of it reported) and I know it happens elsewhere even if I havent experienced it directly.
-Someone mentioned earlier that claims often make no sense or arent taken seriously. I wouldnt mind seeing it reworked a bit
I know there are a few other issues I have, but I cant think of them at the moment! So maybe they arent so important after all.
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Split the topic so that the "GM interference" stuff has it's own thread.
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Tops
1. The diversity, jump between realms for a while and you will find a home tailor made for you
2. The interactions between characters both forced and casual as they meet in game
3. More faithful then my ex-wife...
Flops
1. The item wear is way to high, real Vikings traveled from Sweden/Norway down to Constantinople and were still able not only to fight but to return without falling on their own swords. Some of us miss the old raids down south :(
2. The new treaty system ( not in effect yet but tested gave the ambassadors time to grow long white beards during their travels just to get a multi realm treaty going)
3. Estates can be a pain and even if the idea was good on paper it have proven to be a huge ankle-ball for some poor players preventing them from joining the fun as they are forced to do region work every single day.
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1. The item wear is way to high, real Vikings traveled from Sweden/Norway down to Constantinople and were still able not only to fight but to return without falling on their own swords. Some of us miss the old raids down south :(
I hereby add this to my flops list.
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Top:
- developer(s) listen to players
- real teamwork game
- each class is different
Flop:
- not enough dutch players for an own map / total amount of players
- religion misses something
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Top:
- developer(s) listen to players
- real teamwork game
- each class is different
Flop:
- not enough dutch players for an own map / total amount of players
- religion misses something
You want a island solely for Dutch players? No island is designated for a nationality, and hopefully such a thing will NEVER happen.
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That is horrible. An island full of Dutch people? Why would you want to do such a thing :P
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You want a island solely for Dutch players? No island is designated for a nationality, and hopefully such a thing will NEVER happen.
not for a nationality but for a language, dutch instead of english. But when it happens, battlemaster needs to grow very much so I don't expect it will ever happen.
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Tops:
1. The history of the game - in the Fontan-Sirion bickering there have been IC references to grudges formed half a decade ago. That's real IC feeling, and I don't know of another game to match it.
2. The subtle depth to the game - it's deceptive in its apparent simplicity, but the more you play, the more you come to understand how many ways there are to achieve things.
3. The team nature of the game, in decent realms, at least. Every character within a realm can contribute to the realm's success as a whole.
Flops:
1. Religion has very little to offer nobles for the most part. Being religious was the default in the middle ages, the vast majority of peasants and nobles alike believing that the intercession of the priesthood was a necessity for the salvation of their immortal souls. That's a pretty potent offering compared to 'a monthly fee you have to pay'.
2. Oaths. The relationship between lords and knights is still too tenuous, when it should be the most important relationship in the game.
3. Too Much Peace. I understand this is being changed though, so I'm happy to wait and see.
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not for a nationality but for a language, dutch instead of english. But when it happens, battlemaster needs to grow very much so I don't expect it will ever happen.
I still seriously doubt this would happen. Segregating the community by language just seems wrong for a game designed to be role-play as well as strategy.
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not for a nationality but for a language, dutch instead of english. But when it happens, battlemaster needs to grow very much so I don't expect it will ever happen.
I still seriously doubt this would happen. Segregating the community by language just seems wrong for a game designed to be role-play as well as strategy.
Let's put it this way:
If BattleMaster ever has as many Dutch players as it now has total players, Tom might be willing to consider something like that.
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As a Dutch speakers, I will say the following about the possibility of a Dutch island:
OH DEAR GOD NO!
That is all.
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If BattleMaster ever has as many Dutch players as it now has total players, Tom might be willing to consider something like that.
I'd give them their own island as long as it was a 1-character island like Dwilight and a requirement that they have characters on other islands. That way they wouldn't be their own fraction of battlemaster.
For example, in order to join the Dutch island the player must have at least 1 active character on another island. It may bring more players into the game - which we all want to have happen 8)
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As a Dutch speakers, I will say the following about the possibility of a Dutch island:
OH DEAR GOD NO!
That is all.
No offence, but agreed :)
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Top: Great Community- (almost) everyone is here to have a good time
Top: Rewards based on Merit- If you try hard and work for it, you can usually advance successfully and that's rewarding, while those who don't care stay right where they are.
Top: Roleplaying is always fun and other people are almost always willing to roleplay with you if you ask.
Flop: Too much peace is ridiculous. It makes people constantly be at war. I understand the purpose, and I agree it's helpful to an extent, it prevents there from being no action and livens things up a bit, but it leads to realms getting wiped out for no reason other than to prevent that annoying little message. It makes you focus more on being active during wartime since you're always fighting and makes it harder to roleplay. There should be a balance between strategy and roleplay, and right now it's almost completely tipped towards strategy.
Flop: One thing that's kind of annoying is that veteran players can basically instantly get whatever positions they want. People just see the family name and basically say "Oh! You're X! You're famous. Here's our whole freaking kingdom! There ya go" Basically the same people are always in charge. For example, some realm will fall and it's nobles will dissipate and the king of the old realm or general or something gets a lordship or other position pretty fast. Or a duke will retire and the player's new character will instantly get some position. It's kind of irritating, but I know there's not really anything that can be done about it. So I've pretty much gotten over it.
Flop: The game I've noticed is starting to have a lot more features and extra fluff. I think this is a problem that a lot of browser games have, is that the devs think they should try to "keep it fresh and new" but I've noticed that the simplest ideas are usually the best. I'm going to use the new treaty system as an example, I personally think it was more fun coming up with your own treaties and drafting your own treaties and you have to go on the other realm's word, but now it's a game mechanic. It's not the biggest issue, and I don't mind the updates and new features at all, but it's just a lot really fast : )
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As a Dutch speakers, I will say the following about the possibility of a Dutch island:
OH DEAR GOD NO!
That is all.
I agree, and mostly because of the Dutch and their crazy version of the language. Getting massive chills when I imagine dutch people RP. :o
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TOP: The ability to RP your character as much or as little as you like.
TOP: Unique items.
TOP: Can skip a turn or two and still be able to catch up on what was missed.
FLOP: Wishing scrolls were a tad more common, so one could actually train their magic skill.
FLOP: Declining player base :(
FLOP: Being paranoid that there is always a set of multies in one or more of the realms I play in.
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TOP: The ability to RP your character as much or as little as you like.
TOP: Unique items.
TOP: Can skip a turn or two and still be able to catch up on what was missed.
FLOP: Wishing scrolls were a tad more common, so one could actually train their magic skill.
FLOP: Declining player base :(
FLOP: Being paranoid that there is always a set of multies in one or more of the realms I play in.
You know, I've probably asked Tom several times in the past in multiple ways to have more magic, and each time it was rejected. Apparently scrolls are supposed to be really rare, and magic is not a skill humans should have.
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Yeah, low fantasy world, so the intent is to keep magic rare, almost on the level of a myth.
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Yeah, low fantasy world, so the intent is to keep magic rare, almost on the level of a myth.
The way it is right now, most chars won't see a single scroll. And when they DO get one, odds are it wont work on account of a low magic stat. As it stands, there is almost no point in even having them.
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The way it is right now, most chars won't see a single scroll. And when they DO get one, odds are it wont work on account of a low magic stat. As it stands, there is almost no point in even having them.
Then it will be a REAL achievement when someone does successfully use on, don't you think?
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BT chars were able to use a few, I know I did. But aside from that instance, that char will likely never get a decent chance at using them effectively.
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Well too bad, I guess. What's the big deal about that anyway? We could just erase scrolls from the game completely, since they don't actually contribute much...Of course, that would just bring on complaints about how scrolls were taken out.
But now the complaint is that scrolls are too rare so casting them is often unsuccessful. Then if we make it more common, inevitably some people will start complaining that they are overpowered and throw accusations of people making slave advies just for getting scrolls, or some other complaints.
In the end, there's just no making everyone happy, so the question becomes, would altering the current system make significantly more people happy than they are now?
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Well too bad, I guess. What's the big deal about that anyway? We could just erase scrolls from the game completely, since they don't actually contribute much...Of course, that would just bring on complaints about how scrolls were taken out. But now the complaint is that scrolls are too rare so casting them is often unsuccessful. Then if we make it more common, inevitably some people will start complaining that they are overpowered and throw accusations of people making slave advies just for getting scrolls, or some other complaints. In the end, there's just no making people happy, so the question becomes, would altering the current system make significantly more people happy than they are now?
Nail on the head Artemesia. The other option is to make scroll effects so insignificant that nobody bothers with them. There is a reason unique items don't grant extra CS, or allow you to throw fireballs at your enemy or something.
The other thing is that magic isn't supposed to be common place, especially among nobility. I have always thought this was one of the reasons nobles can't directly interact with Sages and Wizards. A noble that has practised magic enough to be proficient, should in my opinion be considered suspect in most cases by his peers.
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Tops:
* I can play when I want and as much as I want.
* Complex negotiation and compromise.
* Continuous development.
Flops:
* Cliques that bar new players (to the game or realm) from having characters advance much.
* It is too difficult for an army to travel far (equipment/morale/gold).
* The election system should use score or approval voting. The current elections result in too many cases of vote splitting.
And Bankers got totally nerfed!
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I am pretty sure the game is designed so your army cannot travel too far. If it was possible, we wouldn't need colonies and a super power can conquer entire continent :)
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I am pretty sure the game is designed so your army cannot travel too far. If it was possible, we wouldn't need colonies and a super power can conquer entire continent :)
Yes, it is designed so that wars over great distances are not easy. It is a bit odd to see so many flops be listed that aren't really game design problems, but are rather problems with the community itself.
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Well no matter what you do there'll be people complaining. Some people might not like how things are now, but change it to satisfy them, and others complain about other things, or those same people might find out that the changes turned out actually worse than the originals. End all is you can't make everyone happy, but at least you can find out what makes people very unhappy and make less people very unhappy.
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Well no matter what you do there'll be people complaining. Some people might not like how things are now, but change it to satisfy them, and others complain about other things, or those same people might find out that the changes turned out actually worse than the originals. End all is you can't make everyone happy, but at least you can find out what makes people very unhappy and make less people very unhappy.
The point of the thread was to provide feedback to be used to enhance the game. In most cases attempting to regulate community behavior via game mechanics is destined to fail, unless we massive restrict the scope of activities available to players.
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I have no set opinion either way on this, so I hope no one here thinks I take any position in regards to this thread. However, the observation stands true for a lot of things, in that indeed not everyone can be made happy, and this thread is just a small reminder that this game has varying aspects that affect different players differently. This is a very safe observation, possibly even "obvious". But since we did open up the questions about the community with the "It is a bit odd to see so many flops be listed that aren't really game design problems, but are rather problems with the community itself.", a summary wouldn't hurt.
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Tops
- Heirarchy system
- Most people are actually fun and good natured
- Variety in play - You can be however you want - Cunning, Evil, Tyrannic
Downs
-Estate system - Its just very aggravating and getting new players to set them is also hard just adds unneeded complexity to the game.
-Hard to break into some realms - I've been in alot of realms. Some tolerate new people in posts some dont. I've held ruler a long time but pretty much everyone on the council changed within the past couple of years.
-Combat system - Needs a serious upgrade. I would suggest allowing marshals to select where infantry/archers/cav/SF are deployed specifically instead of archer opening, infantry wall and that stuff. Also special forces need serious tweaking.
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... Also special forces need serious tweaking.
In what way?
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In what way?
In simple terms they arent worth their cost at best (consider same equipment on infantry and SF) SF make up to 75-80% of what a infantry unit can do with same gold spent on them. Those results are actually from the better half of SF the worse have are more like 55-60%
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...(maybe the dev team should add a tiny comment on their special abilities? hehe) :)
Maybe instead of columns we should have 8x3 squares?
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In simple terms they arent worth their cost at best (consider same equipment on infantry and SF) SF make up to 75-80% of what a infantry unit can do with same gold spent on them. Those results are actually from the better half of SF the worse have are more like 55-60%
Show me an infantry unit that has 95/95 equipment like my SF do, and I'll concede that point. Until that can be done, I beg to differ.
Smaller units are vastly more efficient than larger units. Thus, a medium size SF force of 40 men can easily rival a 100+ man infantry force. SF also cost less to sustain them over time than an infantry unit. They are very valuable indeed.
Now, if only I had some range 5 SF....that would be sick. (yes I know they exist)
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Show me an infantry unit that has 95/95 equipment like my SF do, and I'll concede that point. Until that can be done, I beg to differ.
Smaller units are vastly more efficient than larger units. Thus, a medium size SF force of 40 men can easily rival a 100+ man infantry force. SF also cost less to sustain them over time than an infantry unit. They are very valuable indeed.
Now, if only I had some range 5 SF....that would be sick. (yes I know they exist)
They do exist, but they can be rather hit and miss, since they seem to rely on the MI code. Arcaea has a 90/90 infantry RC, it would be interesting to put them up against that SF.
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They do exist, but they can be rather hit and miss, since they seem to rely on the MI code. Arcaea has a 90/90 infantry RC, it would be interesting to put them up against that SF.
That is a very fine infantry unit. Unfortunately they will never face each other, as this one is on Atamara. A lot would depend on the training but I think infantry of that caliber are certainly to be valued highly. They would certainly be easier to recruit as well i imagine as they don't have the drawback of being an SF center and thus a lower recruitment rate.
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TOPS:
+How the game let's human behavior have the center stage, thus mirrors the real world in a really exciting way.
+ Never ends and therefore creates these elaborate long histories entirely created by players.
+ The easy to learn but lifetime to master aspect which keep the players hooked for years and years.
FLOPS
- Too little backstabbing, betrayal, chaos, rebellion, secession etc on most continents.
- Characters lose their positions way too rarely (which leads to too little turnover among everything from lordships to council positions.)
- The code is too hostile to really small realms (and secessions almost always die quickly unless it was done with the support of the mother realm)
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This thread is probably dead, but figured I'd add to it anyway. I'm a rebel!
Tops:
- Game is open ended, unbeatable and still has plenty of goals and fun
- Constant support by the Dev team, who are actually pretty damn good at what they do. They're not just volunteers, but actual honest to god experts who know what they're doing
- Following along with #2, Tom being willing to trust the Dev team/older players and step back more into the developing realm
Flops:
- After the War Islands didn't develop into the "expected outcome", war, overall, went down in quantity and quality.
- The Economy system is very important... but also full of numbers and other non-easy things to learn/play. The rewards for figuring out the system aren't in line with the effort required to learn the system. The small(er) number of players who do learn or try to learn the system eventually get fed up and abandon it, to the determent of the whole realm.
- The squeaky wheel gets the grease... except the whole Estates thing. It honestly is a good idea, but the pace of the game started to fall apart when there were more features then players to support them. Yeah, it's a cool project, but once it became clear that the player base was contracting someone should have rewound the clock by 6 months to see what BattleMaster had gone away from