Messages

1

East Island / Re: Redhaven

« on: January 24, 2018, 12:30:22 AM »

Equally Highmarch is becoming a great example of a truly democratic system of governance in BM where oligarchy is actively prohibited. By all accounts GX was remarkable and unique - but it wasn't exactly unsurpassed either. And it most certainly does seem to be pretty oligarchical nowadays...

2

Roleplaying / Re: Colonies East Coast League 2018

« on: January 13, 2018, 07:58:49 PM »

Report from Grimwald Sussex   (2 hours, 47 minutes ago)
Message sent to everyone in "Colonial Senate" (38 recipients)
Bode Batura Shield Rematch

Scribe Note

Another day, another match.

The away team Outer Tilog United was still a bit worse for the wear from their match earlier this week and fielded a team mostly made up of special forces - which was ably countered by the home team of Halcyon International and their archer-heavy team.

The match started with some ritual attempts at intimidation from OTU with Minister of Offense Vladamire "Vicious" Abjur waving his Brutal Broadsword around, but he was overshadowed by his teammate Duke Garm "Gonads" Tanngrisnir Crownguard and his Grisly Codpiece which was far larger than the aforementioned Brutal Broadsword.

While this might have had the home team feeling a little nervous, especially since the best they could offer in return Baron Ares "Airy" Manor's Sacred Ring, they didn't show it and soon got stuck in, peppering OTU with arrows and even scoring a spectacular foul against "Gonads" with no fewer than five arrows hitting his Grisly Codpiece.

However, Halcyon International didn't have it all their own  way and the away team struck back by fouling Sir Sapiens Dulcis and Emeralda Starfall, Countess of Warmanoras - giving OTU an early lead.

Unfortunately it was all downhill from there for OTU. Team Captain Grimwald charged out in front with his five remaining members of the vicious Elderly Ladies Knitting Club of Outer Tilog, only to get charged by Sir Ardow "Moony" Moonsun and his Black Cavaliers coming the other way, who successfully fouled Grimwald by trampling him and the rest of the OTU forwards repeatedly with their horses.

"Moony" didn't stop there either and kept charging the away team frontline, even managing to foul Rory "Surly" Sarwell before Sarwell's men struck back and fouled "Moony" and his Black Cavaliers so badly that all of them were either killed or taken to the healers tents. The rest of the home team also managed to foul Baron Grant "Pucker Up" Puckett.

With no forwards left for either team, the remainder of the match was made up of the two teams shooting at each other. This was lucky for Halcyon International as even their opponents recognise them as being the undisputed champions of fighting from as far away as possible.

After a few rounds of shooting, all the OTU players were either dead, wounded or fled, allowing Halcyon International to claim victory. Although OTU did manage one last foul against Dame Eliza Vermiculus, Halcyon International are doubtless still celebrating their two fouls against Vladamire "Vicious" Abjur by Sovereign Kohvic "Raving" Raven's The Great Purge, leaving "Vicious" seriously wounded.

The final score saw Halcyon International ahead on 6 fouls to 4.

Stay tuned for the next match. Man of the match goes to Sir Ardow "Moony" Moonsun for the combination of his excellent foul against Grimwald Sussex and his rank stupidity in charging headlong into the OTU midfielders - that's the kind of spirit we need more of in the Colonies!

Grimwald Sussex
Viscount of Nidalery
Marshal of the Band of Ghouls, Fiends and Abominations
Aspirant of Colonial Senate

---

UPDATED SCORES!!!

PRE-SEASON

Maira Merani Warm-Up: Outer Tilog United 1 - 0 Halcyon. Outer Tilog Victory!

EAST COAST LEAGUE

Bode Batura Uncharitable Derby: Outer Tilog United Fouls 4 - 5 Halcyon. Halcyon Victory!
Vir el Mari Heights Skirmish: Outer Tilog United Fouls ? - ? Halcyon. Halcyon Victory!
Naan Forest Grudge Match: Outer Tilog United Fouls ? - ? Halcyon. Halcyon Victory!
Nasty Naan Forest Skirmish One: Outer Tilog United Fouls ? - ? Halcyon International. Outer Tilog United Victory!   
Nasty Naan Forest Skirmish Two: Outer Tilog United Fouls ? - ? Halcyon International. Outer Tilog United Victory! 
Naan Forest Grandslam Round One: Outer Tilog United Fouls 2 - 0 Halcyon International. Outer Tilog United Victory! (5 Bonus Points to OTU)
Naan Forest Grandslam Round Two: Outer Tilog United Fouls 7 - 3 Halcyon International. Outer Tilog United Victory!
Bode Batura Shield Rematch: Outer Tilog United Fouls 4 - 6 Halcyon International. Halcyon International Victory!

Total Score: Outer Tilog United 68 - 64 Halcyon International
Battle Victories: Outer Tilog United 2 - 3 Halcyon International

Point Scoring Rules:

10 points for each battle victory, 3 points for each skirmish victory, 1 point for each foul inflicted, 5 bonus points for each opposition player killed.

No points for fouls will be awarded unless a battle report is submitted to Chief Umpire Grimwald Sussex (OTU Team Captain)

3

Roleplaying / Colonies East Coast League 2018

« on: January 13, 2018, 07:56:12 PM »

This is a thread dedicated to the "match reports" for the Outer Tilog versus Halcyon & Allies war in the Colonies.

Things were kicked off by Aoifa Dubhaine. And from there they've kinda spiralled...

Halcyon 1 - Outer Tilog 0

The East Coast season has kicked off with a surprise upset by newcomers Halcyon as they defeat current champions Outer Tilog in the Bode Batura Uncharitable Derby.

Come on OT, putting on a first innings funk is all well and good for getting the suckers to lengthen your odds, but us aficionados want to see your star bowlers in action.

GARM!!! GARM!!! GARM!!! GARM!!!
Aoifa Dubhaine
Margravine of Dark Citadel
Aspirant of Colonial Senate

---

Report from Grimwald Sussex   (4 days, 4 hours ago)
message to all nobles of Outer Tilog
Scribe Note

Well the second Battle of Naan Forest kicked off with a good strong infantry opening from the away side as Alowca, Oritolon and Halcyon put their soldiers out in front. Unfortunately their rear left much to be desired - although rather round and plump it was sadly strung out with the horses to the rear.

The defending Outer Tilogian United kicked off with a strong infantry defence with archers behind. A few plucky local peasants also joined in on the Tilogian side - the locals are always keen for any excuse to loot the bodies of the dying and dead here in Naan Forest!

The OT soldiers charged towards the charging away team and both sides met in the middle. The away side had more men in the scrum, including some on horses, which led to the OT team getting mauled a bit and some of the peasants running off, but in terms of points OT came out ahead.

The away team managed to put down Grant "Pucker up" Puckett, Baron of Volkanita but some excellent fouls by OT saw them take down Eliza Vermiculus, Dame of Alebad, and Ash "Ketchup" Ketchum, Grand Justiciar of Oritolon, was fouled repeatedly by angry peasants.

With most of the OT infantry out the way the away team advanced on the OT archers who proceeded to turn them into porcupines with arrows. Ash Ketchum got shot in the face, fouling him again, Lady Cassandra "Foxy Lady" Foxglove, Warlord of Aren, Dame of Alowca, was fouled by the peasants before they were wiped out, Isidro de Zueww, Knight of Maira Merani, was fouled by some drunk satyrs, and Rolf Cruscavas, Knight of Iglavik,was chewed by some wargs.

With most of the away team infantry dead or fled, OT continued to pepper the visiting team with arrows.  Johannes Von Lunkhofen, Viscount of Rollsovar, was fouled by some maidens, Ash "Ketchup" Ketchum was seriously fouled yet AGAIN by some urchins (letting them collect the bounty on his head) and Lady Cassandra "Foxy Lady" Foxglove, Warlord of Aren, was fouled again by the home team.

OT United didn't get it all their own way though, Vladamire Abjur, Minister of Offense of Outer Tilog also got fouled by some of the away team archers.

The match was almost over now, with OT well ahead on fouls and in terms of men left alive on the field, but they still had time to foul Pippa "Porcupine" Anderbliss, Queen and General of Oritolon, and Javic Essenhorn, Lawgiver of Aren, with arrows before the away team all ran away and the home side claimed victory.

The final score saw OT United ahead on 8 fouls to 2.

The rematch is scheduled to take place soon and the man of the match goes to Baron Tobias "Murderous" Mersault and his band of urchins for their bone crunching final foul to the pimple nosed Ash "Ketchup" Ketchum, the Grand Juicer of Oritolon (or something like that).
Grimwald Sussex
Viscount of Nidalery
Marshal of the Band of Ghouls, Fiends and Abominations

---

Letter from Grimwald Sussex   (4 days, 1 hour ago)
Message sent to everyone in "Colonial Senate" (39 recipients)
Margravine Aoifa,

In case you're keeping score, these are the results so far:

PRE-SEASON

Maira Merani Warm-Up: Outer Tilog United 1 - 0 Halcyon. Outer Tilog Victory!

EAST COAST LEAGUE

Bode Batura Uncharitable Derby: Outer Tilog United 4 - 5 Halcyon. Halcyon Victory!
Vir el Mari Heights Skirmish: Outer Tilog United ? - ? Halcyon. Halcyon Victory!
Naan Forest Grudge Match: Outer Tilog United ? - ? Halcyon. Halcyon Victory!
Nasty Naan Forest Skirmish One: Outer Tilog United ? - ? Halcyon International. Outer Tilog United Victory!   
Nasty Naan Forest Skirmish Two: Outer Tilog United ? - ? Halcyon International. Outer Tilog United Victory! 
Naan Forest Grandslam Round One: Outer Tilog United 2 - 0 Halcyon International. Outer Tilog United Victory! (5 Bonus Points to OTU)
Naan Forest Grandslam Round Two: Outer Tilog Fouls 7 - 3 Halcyon International. Outer Tilog United Victory!

Total Score: Outer Tilog United 64 - 48 Halcyon International
Battle Victories: Outer Tilog United 2 - 2 Halcyon International

Point Scoring Rules:

10 points for each battle victory, 3 points for each skirmish victory, 1 point for each foul inflicted, 5 bonus points for each opposition player killed.

No points for fouls will be awarded unless a battle report is submitted to Chief Umpire Grimwald Sussex (OTU Team Captain)

Grimwald Sussex
Viscount of Nidalery
Marshal of the Band of Ghouls, Fiends and Abominations
Aspirant of Colonial Senate

4

BM General Discussion / Re: Population of the continents and Battlemasterra

« on: December 22, 2017, 08:56:14 PM »

I think BM's "cities", for the most part, cover very large territories and thus would include the suburbs that might not have been calculated in RL city demographic reports.

That's true I suppose. So really the big issue is that the cities are fine but that the rural populations are incredibly low and that the physical size of the continents is absolutely crazy in some cases.

5

East Island / Re: The New Xavax

« on: December 22, 2017, 05:53:36 PM »

I'll be very interested to see how this plays out. I despise democracies in this game.

And yet they usually make the funnest realms to play in because they make it a lot easier to clean out the dead wood and change things.

6

BM General Discussion / Re: Population of the continents and Battlemasterra

« on: December 22, 2017, 05:46:06 PM »

My assessment would be:

1) City region populations are still too high (even if you assume they include a hinterland outside the core of the city itself)
2) Non-city region populations need to be greatly increased
3) The continent square mileages should be completely redone based on the look of the continents and the populations

So the Colonies feel, to me, as though they're roughly equivalent to medieval Ireland in both size and population. So they just need the population rebalancing some and the size of the continent massively shrunk.

Dwilight, on the other hand, feels vast so its official size is about right. So, for example, Greater Luria  (e.g. Luria Nova plus the Shinnen peninsula) feels to me like an area broadly equivalent to medieval France. It should have literally millions of peasants living in it and Giask should be the equivalent of medieval Paris. The entire continent should have a population of over 30 million peasants based on its size.

The East Continent and Beluaterra, on the other hand, both feel to me as though from north to south they're about the same length as medieval France or Germany (only a lot thinner). So they should also have populations to match.

Alternatively, you could say that the East Continent should have roughly the same population it has now and therefore make it follow a medieval Britain model of population density and land area.

7

BM General Discussion / Population of the continents and Battlemasterra

« on: December 22, 2017, 04:10:28 PM »

So about a month ago I got curious, gathered up the region data from each continent I played on, and did some number crunching so I could work out what the total human population of each continent was. 

Here's what I found:

East Continent

Population: ~1.6 million
Realms: 13
Cities: 24
Largest city population: 95,000 (Ibladesh)
Area: 374,867 sq. miles

Summary: This is roughly equivalent to the population of England and Wales circa 1000 AD. By contrast, however, England and Wales only had two realms at 1000 AD and even back in 700 AD only had about 11 realms. And the largest city in England and Wales at 1000 AD was London which only had a population of 10,000 people (which made it very large) and there were only about 10 cities in the entire country and which, excluding London, had populations ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 people.

However, the total land area of England and Wales is only around 58,000 square miles while the East Continent is only barely smaller than the size of France, Germany and Ireland all combined.

Colonies

Population: ~400,000
Realms: 9
Cities: 8
Largest city population: 30,000 (Oritiolon)
Area:  570,601 sq. miles

Summary: By contrast, the population of Ireland was about 600,000 at around 1000 AD and there were 9 realms on the island. But even by 1300 AD the population of Dublin was only about 11,000 in 1300 AD. But the total land area of the island of Ireland is just 32,595 square miles while the total land area of the colonies is larger than France, Spain, Portugal and Italy all combined!

Dwilight

Population: ~2.6 million
Realms: 12
Cities: 37
Largest city population: 90,000 (Giask)
Area: 596,312 sq. miles

Summary: Many of the cities of Dwilight are depopulated which means its total potential population is probably somewhere between 3 to 4 million people. That would be roughly equivalent to the population of England and Wales at the medieval peak of 1300 AD. However, Dwilight is only slightly larger in square mileage than the Colonies (I know, right???) meaning that Dwilight is larger than France, Spain, Portugal, Italy AND Ireland all combined! By contrast, the combined population of those countries was over 33 million in 1300 AD.

Beluaterra

Population: ~1.4 million
Realms: 11
Cities: 26
Largest city population: 52,500 (Wudenkin)
Area: 449,187 sq. miles

Summary: The population of Beluaterra is about the same as the population of Denmark, Sweden and Norway at around 1300 AD. However, Beluaterra is roughly the same size as France, Germany, Austria, Czechkia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg all combined.

***

Conclusions:

The populations and sizes of the continents bear no relation to each other whatsoever. Also, utterly bizarrely, the Colonies are larger than either Beluaterra or the East Continent. Battlemaster, based on continent size, should have a population of well over 100 million but actually only has a population of about 6 million.

On the other hand, if you ignore continent size then a lot of other things are more reasonable. The East Continent is about the size of England and Wales at the end of the Anglo-Saxon era and is fragmented to about as many political entities as England and Wales were around 700 AD. So by that standard, army sizes and noble numbers make sense for the population - 2,000 soldiers counts as a large army and a decent sized realm will have maybe 20 to 30 nobles in it, corresponding to the number of powerful nobles you'd find in a typical Anglo-Saxon kingdom.

But what doesn't make sense given the population level is the number of cities or how large they are.

At the end of Anglo-Saxon era, Winchester, the capital of Wessex, had a population of about 6,000 people and the largest city in Great Britain (London) had a population of only about 10,000 people - which is about the same as the smallest city on the East Continent.

None of this means that much of course, and shouldn't make any difference to how we play the game, but hopefully you'll all find these facts and figures as interesting as I did when I put them together

8

East Island / Re: Wanted: Secessionist Northern Duke

« on: December 21, 2017, 09:52:48 PM »

Clean living, non-smoking, good sense of humour essential. Wanted for long walks on beaches and quiet suppers.

9

Development / Re: Should Royal of Keplerstan be replaced by Prince of Keplerstan?

« on: December 21, 2017, 03:40:11 PM »

So I'd rather see them as a list of options which realms can choose from regardless of government type with the following options:

Dowager King/Queen of Keplerstan
Prince/Princess of Keplerstan
Statesman/Stateswoman of Keplerstan
Eminence of Keplerstan
Royal of Keplerstan
(something religious sounding) of Keplerstan

If we were going to match them specifically to government types then I'd suggest the following:

Monarchy: Dowager King/Queen
Tyranny: Prince/Princess OR Royal (can't decide which)
Theocracy: Eminence
Democracy/Republic: Statesman/Stateswoman

10

Development / Re: Should Royal of Keplerstan be replaced by Prince of Keplerstan?

« on: December 21, 2017, 12:10:46 PM »

So here's a list of potential titles - my suggestion would be that a slimmed down version of the list be available to rulers to choose from when it comes to how their realm's "royals" are referred to:

Royal of Keplerstan
Prince of Keplerstan
Dowager King/Queen of Keplerstan
Statesman/Stateswoman of Keplerstan
(Grey?) Eminence of Keplerstan
Senior of Keplerstan
Honoured of Keplerstan

11

Development / Re: Should Royal of Keplerstan be replaced by Prince of Keplerstan?

« on: December 20, 2017, 08:13:28 PM »

I am in no way opposed to it being a govermment setting, though I would note that will take more time and effort to implement than a flat-title change. Not a lot more, but more nonetheless. In terms of government setting, I'm a bit more hesitant to leave it free-form, unlike government member titles. I very much think royal/prince should be easily distinguishable and wouldn't want someone coming up with royal titles like 'Vaxav of Xavax', 'Marvin of Highmarch', 'Agoranomos of Vix Tiramora', or 'Elm of Eponllyn'. Yes, they may sound cool but they're confusing for players outside your realm, or new to the game. Rather, I'd prefer a pre-selected options like lord titles are.

100% agree. You should just have a fixed list of options to choose from.

12

Development / Re: Estate Improvements

« on: December 20, 2017, 08:11:07 PM »

One thing I've noticed is that some buildings result in active bonuses (you must do an action) while others are passive (must merely be present). I don't know how conscious/intentional you were about it originally, but it might be worth being more intentional what works best for each building. For instance, chapels could go either way, in my opinion, either spending large hours for a larger boost, or receiving a smaller boost for just being present.

Good point, that's probably worth having a think about - when I came up with the list I was just basically jotting down ideas as they came into my head.

13

Development / Re: Estate Improvements

« on: December 20, 2017, 08:09:56 PM »

--If you want it to be 5% daily, it has to be automatic. So as long as you have your unit in your region, they should automatically repair equipment. Otherwise it will be better to just pay gold to fix equipment. You are underestimating the value of time in this game. It is a turn based game and when your general orders you to refit, you can't really go back to your region and sit there to save few gold when you can just ask any council to send you gold to get your equipment fixed. This feels like a feature for peace time at most.

You're completely missing the point. If you're at war then you should be heading back to the capital to refit anyway. If estate improvements meant you didn't need to do that then it would destroy game balance.

What should be the case is that, when a war's over, you can go back to your estate and save yourself some gold by repairing equipment gradually for free. Or it should be so that in wartime it's worth making a detour to your region while you're on the way to the capital so that you can get 10% of repairs for free before you have to spend gold on the rest at the capital.

--Wouldn't mind Chapel raising cohesion but the morale part is useless.

If morale is "useless" then so are all the current entertainment options and 'get priests to bless your men' options. But the fact is that a) morale isn't completely useless and b) it might get more useful in future. Either way though, none of these improvements should be essential. They should all, at best, be nice to haves. So if you don't give a flying monkey's about your men's morale then you don't build one, but if you care about your IG religion or if you plan on doing a lot of civil work you can spend the money to build one. Not all of these are meant to be equally useful but there should be a range of broadly realistic improvements and accompanying perks available.

--Hope training ground also slowly trains your men and raise their training. As for 120 gold for 40%, no it is incredibly cheap compare to the amount of gold you need to spend to get both swordfighting and jousting up to 40%. It costs you 16 gold per day for more than 10 days. Hack you probably need to spend at least a month raising your skill to reach 40% for both skills. That is 960 gold if you spend a month training swordfighting + jousting with a normal tutor for a month straight.

Training your unit could be another option then - perhaps this improvement could be used for unit cohesion boosting instead...

But this wouldn't mean you'd automatically improve your skill every time you trained at your estate so it'd still be a very time consuming process - and, unlike an academy, your estate generally won't be in a central location which means you're unlikely to be able to spend even a couple of weeks sitting there and training. I suppose the skill limit could be set to 30% or something though to make it more limited than an academy. And perhaps the build cost could be bumped up slightly - maybe 180 gold.

--Don't know about you but I never cared about gold to be honest. If you lack gold, you simply need to ask for more. This game doesn't give people enough gold to be self-sufficient. Gold is funneled to the top so you always need to ask for gold. Thought the current system was supposed to solve this problem we had with the old system but it failed miserably. Maybe because the system is incomplete but I also think it was just poorly thought out from the designing phase. Maybe the taxation system isn't the thing that is broken. Maybe it is region stats which were arbitrary decided by Tom.

If you've never cared about gold then don't build one on your estate. But not all realms are active in redistributing gold and if you're a knight of a poorer region you might well decide to build one as an investment in order to get paid back for the investment in the long run and to avoid having to constantly ask for gold. And those are the kind of knights who'd make use of this particular option.

You seem to be missing the point that not EVERY knight will want to build EVERY possible estate improvement. The whole point of the suggestions I've come up with is to offer a broad selection of options so that players have to pick and choose which ones to bother with and whether it's in-keeping with their character to build particular ones.

For instance, if you're a courtier then you won't have a big unit and won't really care about keeping unit costs low so a Guardhouse won't interest you. On the other hand you might be using your unit for civil work a lot and your character might be very religious so you'd decide to build a chapel - and you'd also probably build a mill to improve your estate efficiency. And if you were planning on entering a tournament then you'd probably want to build a training ground/yard for the sake of some free jousting training.

But mainly, the key point is that all of these together would give players some goals in the knight game. Okay, maybe there aren't any lordship vacancies and maybe the realm is at peace so there's not much to do - but at least you can set yourself the goal of saving up gold to improve your estate and, once you've made an improvement, maybe that'd make you decide to start a roleplay where you invite other nobles to come visit your estate.

As I keep saying, none of this should be about massively altering gameplay or balance. All it should be about is giving knights something more to do and giving them a reason to become emotionally invested in their estate.

14

Development / Re: Estate Improvements

« on: December 20, 2017, 06:22:21 PM »

• Smithy - Get your blacksmith to repair 10% of equipment damage for free (can only be used once per week) - using this shouldn't be the equivalent of having a full blown repair workshop, it should only give you a limited benefit

--Now this is a useless feature. 10% a week? That is pathetic. Why bother going back when you can just repair your equipment cheaply. I'd rather take 100% once a week over this.

• Chapel - Hold prayers at the chapel to restore unit morale to 100% for free (takes a large number of hours) - you can already do something similar by visiting a temple of your faith but knights shouldn't be able to build temples

--Honestly, I don't see the merit of this. It is so easy to keep your morale at 100% in this game this feature is pointless.

• Training Ground - Train your sword/jousting skill for free (equivalent to free training sessions with a Normal academy trainer) - this would only be for martial skills rather than anything else as it's not the same as a full blown academy with a wide range of tutors

-This has to be expensive unless we are planning on making all characters start off at 40% which I do not mind actually so people can't just go around bullying others after spending weeks training.

• Hunting Chase (rural/woodland/mountain regions only) - Allows you to recruit one of your huntsmen as a scout (can only be used once per week)
• Craftsman (townsland/city/stronghold regions only) - Allows you to get them to make two free banners for your unit (can only be used once per week)
• Mill/Workshop - Gives your estate +15% efficiency, this means you get an extra income which your liege can tax, but it gets negated by the existing mechanics if the estate is vacated

-Pretty sure efficiency never got implemented. Unless you are going to finish it I don't see any merit of this feature.

• Guardhouse - Daily cost of your unit is halved while you're in the same region as your estate due to being able to quarter your unit in it - if you then choose to spend your hours doing police work or whatever then that's up to you

-Kinda useless unless you have an estate in a city and has a huge unit.

Smithy: 10% per week means you can't use it as a substitute for going to a city but you can use it as a FREE way to repair some equipment damage. Though perhaps instead it could just be restricted to being 5% damage repaired and only able to be used once per day instead.

Chapel: Sure, keeping morale high is easy. But this is basically the equivalent of a free entertainment option and building a chapel should be quite cheap. So if players really want to build one (and a chapel is the kind of building you'd expect to have on an estate) then they'd be able to do so - equally, if they think it's a waste of money then they don't have to build one. That being said though, perhaps it might be better to have the Chapel give a smaller morale boost but also give a cohesion boost, that might be more useful.

Training Ground: Let's say it costs 120 gold to build a training ground on your estate. That's a lot compared to the cost of a few training sessions at the academy. So the only way you'd be able to both build this and get the benefit of it is if you've got plenty of time to sit around on your estate training. And, let's be honest, how often exactly do nobles have the free time to just go back to their estates and spend weeks there? Not very often at all and never in wartime. So it's nonsense to say this would basically mean that every char started off with 40% ability. Besides, how could chars bully others just because they've got a higher skill level? It's not like you're OBLIGED to accept duel challenges or anything...

Mill/Workshop: If efficiency never got implemented then I'd aim to implement it as part of this feature. The alternative is to go back to the idea of this improvement giving a tax income boost of X gold per week.

Guardhouse: How is it useless exactly? It'd mean a big saving in unit costs (even 25 gold per week is a significant difference for the average knight) and I'm not sure why you seem to think that people would only want to hang around in cities if they've got time to spare...

15

Development / Re: Estate Improvements

« on: December 20, 2017, 05:33:02 PM »

Since you are looking for feedback here they are

Smithy - Get the blacksmith to repair 5% of equipment damage for free (can only be used once per week)

-Feels kinda unnecessary to be honest unless you are getting your own personal smithy in your estate. Wouldn't mind having one that is as good as ones in townsland. Would give you a reason to visit your region sometimes on your way back to a city or something. But maybe for free.

Chapel - Hold prayers at the chapel to restore unit morale to 100% for free (takes a large number of hours)

-Not sure you want this. I'd rather have priests get a new ability to do this to be honest. Or be able to get this from a temple building in the region you are in.

Training Ground - Train your sword/jousting skill for free (equivalent to free training sessions with an advanced academy trainer)

-Not all the way to advanced. At most they should only get a normal tutor (<40%). Also why just for sword/joust. Make it available for all.

Hunting Chase (rural/woodland/mountain regions only) - Allows you to recruit one of your huntsmen as a scout (can only be used once per week)
Craftsman (townsland/city/stronghold regions only) - Allows you to get them to make two free banners for your unit (can only be used once per week)

-Free paraphernalia isnt' a bad idea.

Mill/Workshop - Gives your estate a randomly generated extra income of 10 to 20 gold per week

-Wouldn't mind having production buildings like this. But instead of getting food directly, I'd like to see some variety. Like Mill maybe increase the food production of the region by 10%.

Guardhouse - Daily cost of your unit is halved while you're in the same region as your estate due to being able to quarter your unit in it

-Automatic policing would be nice while you are in the region to capture any suspicious character in your region.

**production buildings(maybe all of them) obviously need to become obsolete the moment estate becomes vacant

**need to think how long these buildings can stay up while the estate they are located in stays vacant. Maybe after being vacant for 3 months, all buildings should shut down.

**estate size should determine how many buildings you can have.

**building prices must become more expensive I feel. Especially for free academy. That thing needs to be expensive. At least 300 gold or more.

The point is that all of these improvements should be AFFORDABLE on a knight's income and that the perks they give shouldn't be enough to make region infrastructure obsolete. They need to be specific to the estate, rather than to the region, so that the estate holder is the only one who receives a direct benefit. Otherwise there's literally no point in having them.

But based on the feedback, here's an updated list of suggestions:

• Smithy - Get your blacksmith to repair 10% of equipment damage for free (can only be used once per week) - using this shouldn't be the equivalent of having a full blown repair workshop, it should only give you a limited benefit
• Chapel - Hold prayers at the chapel to restore unit morale to 100% for free (takes a large number of hours) - you can already do something similar by visiting a temple of your faith but knights shouldn't be able to build temples
• Training Ground - Train your sword/jousting skill for free (equivalent to free training sessions with a Normal academy trainer) - this would only be for martial skills rather than anything else as it's not the same as a full blown academy with a wide range of tutors
• Hunting Chase (rural/woodland/mountain regions only) - Allows you to recruit one of your huntsmen as a scout (can only be used once per week)
• Craftsman (townsland/city/stronghold regions only) - Allows you to get them to make two free banners for your unit (can only be used once per week)
• Mill/Workshop - Gives your estate +15% efficiency, this means you get an extra income which your liege can tax, but it gets negated by the existing mechanics if the estate is vacated
• Guardhouse - Daily cost of your unit is halved while you're in the same region as your estate due to being able to quarter your unit in it - if you then choose to spend your hours doing police work or whatever then that's up to you