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Hello all,

Thought I would send this forum post asking how people feel about the state of the game. What are people enjoying? What are people not enjoying? What do you want to see implemented? What do you think needs changing?

To start things off, here are some of mine:

Jousting academy: While it is not a priority, being able to train jousting I think would be a quick win and would make jousting tournaments more exciting.

Hinterlands: I know that Hinterlands is the next big update for the game and I feel that an update on where that is would be great as well as what we should expect.

Oversized maps: This has come up before but I feel with Obia'Syela and Nova both leaning the southeast of Beluaterra and Arbor/Avernus leaving North East Dwilight, it makes me think about how players will interact with these empty spaces. While we cannot expect map changes, not that they would be very welcome for both Beluaterra and Dwilight, these regions have become rogue infested. I have heard that the Shattered Vales on Beluaterra and Swordfell see significantly large hordes. Is there something we could do with these spaces if maps are not a realistic view?

I personally believe that the bushel system and trading is something that could reward players whom think strategically. While I do not know what this new system would actually look like, there should be an serious impact for lack of bushels. On testing islands, nearly all cities can survive on 1/4 rations.

Hello all,

It has been a while but I am attempting to attribute my fame to the fame box on the Greybrook wiki.

I know that I earnt the Wanted fame but only by checking this page did I realise that was what I earnt it for.

Therefore, there are fames such as the universal skill fame (50% in three skills) that need something for the fame box, anyone whom is good at wiki templates should have a go at this!

Otherwise, I think people would appreciate an update to the wiki page for correctly guessed fame?

Cheers all.

So to summarise the above, here is what I understand:

1) Density needs to be reworked (and/or bring in Hinterlands) to enable greater territory conflict in a meaningful way. I.E. enabling a realm to attack it's neighbor and to take a city for example.

2) To enable the above, redesigning the estate system to accommodate a greater spread of nobles across regions but allowing "tall" to still exist.

3) Overarching alliances and *pile ins* are human instinct and difficult to stop. Therefore, providing incentives to prevent them forming out of choice or allowing them to collapse can be a step in the right direction.

4) With the above, changing how war works will support dynamic politics. One great idea is for terrain to impact battles, such as width, bonuses to cavalry in rurals or even stronger siege equipment.

Two comments as I thought of as I read these comments:

I) Make negative density more harmful rather than an inconvenience, make realm tax decrease for example or increased rogues etc.

II) Pile ins themselves are not a bad thing - agreed.  Arguably it is about the war declarations being correct. I believe on BT, Irondale and Nothoi have the same declaration?

Hello all,

This is an open post I hope can be the beginning of a conversation that can hopefully push the game forward in the right way.

Even before the "great reset" of war declarations, warfare in Battlemaster has been a game of arguably overarching alliance blocs. What I mean by this is that realms whom are friendly, have great history or some other element circumnavigate the alliance bloc limitations to fight in the same war and against the same enemy. What this means for different islands can be observed below:

• For EC, this was the North (overarching alliance bloc) / South (overarching alliance bloc) war which abruptly come to an end with the "great reset". Reasons for war largely forgotten by many players, discussions arising from this reset have shown that no realm is prepared to re-declare war due to the fear of continental warfare once again where everyone will "pile in" or new war breaking trust with old allies.
• For BT, this was seen through the recent Thalmarkin-Irondale war where just before the "great reset", I think four realms were at war with Thalmarkin at one point. While this has calmed down to Thalmarkin vs Irondale/Nothoi, the problem has not gone away and was highlighted.
• For DWI, the most recent continental war of Tol Goldora (supported by Lurian Empire) vs Westgard (supported by the Alliance of Free Nations) drew all the realms into many fronts which were all part of the dispute over one city region. With peace, the Alliance of Free Nations (an overarching alliance bloc of five realms maintained via guild) has created a deadlock in continental diplomacy.
• Unfortunately, I do not play in the Colonies and cannot comment.

In my opinion, the above indicates many traits the game currently adopts:

• The most common war declaration and victory condition is arguably the takeover of territory. Yet, with the density currently at 2.0, only a few realms would accept the risk to declare war for land of which they can realistically govern. There are also realms which fall short by varying degrees of this density limit which also impacts their capacity or desire to declare war. What is the solution for this? Would reducing the density undermine the reason for it's increase in the first place - encouraging active realms.
• With existing realms with years of history, how do realms choose to govern themselves IC to not pile in or join overarching alliance blocs when their ally or common enemy is struck? Is there a way to govern such?
• With the risk of pile in so high, rulers are very risk averse and are not prepared to create war, which ultimately is a large part of Battlemaster.
• With the above points, diplomacy is very likely to be deadlocked and new creative ways to declare war or create new story is very likely to be met with one of the two above.
• Would introducing new frameworks for war remove a player's agency for choice? Battlemaster is a sandbox to so many to be free with RP - would the line be crossed with an arbitrary game mechanic?
  
• Finally, is peace a bad thing? Or is it only good in small doses?

Therefore, I hope we can start this conversation and think about OOC what we can do as a community, or perhaps even not to do about this. If I have missed anything, please post in the post.

If there are any incorrect statements or you perceive as bias, please check the Greybrook Family for the characters I represent in each continent.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Greybrook Family

Bump - I like this idea, will give more purpose and flexibility to the class/subclass.

Bump - I like this as well, more to make religion more interesting! Would love this in the faiths I engage in.

Number of peasants per estate. While in Luria you'll see a massive city line Giask (100k pop) fall within 5 estates, you can see small rurals in Tol Goldora (6k pop) split between two estates. It's an average. I use it to estimate part of the social stratification - an estate size of 3k might have the noble lord actually know village chiefs and shire reeves personally while 20k they may never interact directly with anyone below the upper level of their scribes, magistrates, and retainers. 20k estates will support a much larger number of minor nobility rather than 3k.

That makes total sense coming to think of it - thank you!

The Tol Godorans live in a sort of apocalyptic wasteland of overgrown ancient Asylonian cities with silent lands surrounded by tales of Daimons, nevermind the other ruins of Itaulond, Kabrinskia and other forgotten kingdoms.

Great write up by the way!

I love how this is described - might incorporate this actually.

"Tol Goldora has the smallest noble houses in all of Dwilight" - what does this mean?

Thanks for everyones input.
Perhaps a map may not be the best idea but what other alternatives could there be to perhaps promote the religion game? Perhaps similar to the realm list without the geographic or specific stats, the religion tab could depict them all and have a description of the main tenants? Similar to the wiki but IC. Or for reasons which I 100% understand, keep religion localised?
I enjoy the concept of religion in the game and would be interested what more could be done to enhance it?

Title: Religious Dynamic Map Overlay

Summary: I was thinking while I was playing last night that it is fairly difficult inside the game to understand the different religions that are on each continent, where their current influence is or what religions are dominant on the continent without searching the wiki. While I have not played the priest game (yet), this is something I would like to know.

Details: Create a map overlay or information tab which nobles can understand the religions that are active or dominant in each continent either by statistical value or see on the map what the dominant religion is in each region. Happy to discuss what the details of this could look like.

Benefits: Make religion more visible to the player base through the use of graphics or other digestible content whom are not priests.

Possible Downsides/Exploits: Could take away the mystery and work that goes into the Priest. I also don't know if this is covered in some way already.

New Grandmistress, new chapter for the Theocracy. Wonder how this will change things up?
I am also loving all the new faces joining the realm!

While I would like that, the idea that travel times linked to production makes more sense arguably. While I do not know how it is calculated now, making a simple calculation between the two regions based on their production could impact it? Therefore, going out into the wild is a difficult endeavour but could be tamed.
Up for the discussion though - I do like the seasonal play but I dislike the winter travel as much IC as the next guy.

I think it does need the Battlemaster name in the ad though not to totally mislead.