Messages

646

Background / Re: Slavery in Medieval Europe

« on: June 06, 2011, 10:52:15 AM »

Slavery was rather uncommon in medieval Europe, and really doesn't need a place in Battlemaster. The slavery as we know it (not to be confused with Roman slavery) originates from the 16th and 17th century, when blacks were imported into the West Indies from Africa.

647

Feature Requests / Peer-judging messages: too involved

« on: June 06, 2011, 10:49:16 AM »

Recently I was given a message to review for vulgarity but I realized that I was actually too involved in a discussion to make a good and neutral decision. Hence came the idea to add a third option:  "too involved". It would in essence mean that you say you cannot judge this message. It would then probably be sent to another player on the continent to judge it, because judgement is required after all.

648

BM General Discussion / Re: Open Mic Thread: How do you manage refugees?

« on: June 06, 2011, 10:40:39 AM »

I believe that dealing with refugees should be done "naturally". Unless there is a clear and obvious OOC-link that smells fishy, there should be no reason to frown upon refugees OOCly. Yes, they might threaten the vested authority in your realm. That's a side effect of refugees. If you don't want to take the risk, you can kick them out... fabricate some reason to kick them out or just make it clear you're the boss. But there are many ways to deal with them. If you can successfully assimilate such a group, it is a great addition to your realm.

649

BM General Discussion / Re: Favorite thing you have accomplished in-game?

« on: April 26, 2011, 12:30:23 PM »

Being ruler of Ibladesh and starting to call myself "Emperor" and Ibladesh "The Empire". Much like the Empire in Star Wars, really. I'm evil.

650

BM General Discussion / Re: Perdan's Capital Change

« on: April 26, 2011, 12:28:13 PM »

But in the past, we used the d-list for this kind of cases.  I think consulting the playing community may be better and healthier to the playing environment than reporting this to the Titans. After all, I think this is in the spirit of what Tom suggested: a player notices something that may or may not be against the rules and brings it forward to other players to ask if it is.

That was exactly my intention. I wish to get in touch with other players about how I should approach this, and maybe make room for a discussion about the rules. I also, briefly, spoke to Tom on IRC and he told me to take it to the forum so others may profit from it as well. Ergo...

651

BM General Discussion / Perdan's Capital Change

« on: April 25, 2011, 03:28:38 PM »

Okay, so after a lot of complaints within Ibladesh, and the apparent consensus that I as ruler should be taking care of this, I have decided to post on this forum something that bothers some people in Ibladesh about Perdan's recent capital change (from Perdan to Partora);

Now, we all know (or at least most of us old timers) that Perdan has had Partora as their capital before. So in that sense, I believe the reason why Perdan changed their capital officially will be of "historical reasons" (albeit having had Partora for over two months already). The question though is, and certainly because the rules about capital change are vague, is what they did okay or not? Personally, I don't see a problem with it. Let me put it out like this, and if the Perdanese are fair they will agree: it's much easier to have your capital way closer to the battlefield, which is the real reason, but it's easy to explain it as "historical". That is how it went, I believe, and the rules are not so strict that it is forbidden to go like that. I would do exactly the same. Heck, if I could make Castle Ubent the capital of Ibladesh I might even do it. Maybe rename the realm to Ubent for the sake of history.

Nevertheless, the question is if their true meaning is legal or not. Again, let's face it, they did it because it is easier, not out of an historical aspect. If they were so focused on making Partora their capital they could have done it when Caligus gave it back to them. But they didn't. All in all this capital change is an unpleasant event for us Ibbies, and they must have been expecting some complaints. My (personal) question though is: are the rules fair? I mean, a realm like Perdan that had capital changes before, clearly has an advantage over other realms, that have kept their realm stationary all the time (and thus cannot call in historical reasons). When reading the rules, I do have the feeling it is very easy to circumvent them, which actually reduces rules about capital change to ashes anyway.

So, please, let me hear your opinions. I'm not going to drag this to the Titans (yet), and I personally believe that the rules are too easily circumvented to make a clear decision.

Edit: to avoid misunderstandings, I have not decided to bring this up to a Titan or not. I'm here to collect opinions.

652

BM General Discussion / Re: Favorite Island

« on: April 03, 2011, 08:30:29 PM »

I don't mind the power in hands of a few - I might even compare that to Ibladesh, though that realm is actually too big to say power is in the hands of a "few". What I do mind is a completely dead realm where the only messages you get are status reports. That's a big no-no. It's amazing that no one has ran over these realms in a week yet. They probably won't even notice that they're at war with someone.

In my opinion, if you are a council member, you need to be able to be at least a little bit active. I know the game says you can play whenever you wish, but when being a character with power, you have some responsibilities, including supplying other players with at least some fun or activity. None of that to be found in both Madina and Corsanctum.

About heavy-religion realms, I can only say that I like them more because it's more medieval. All that nonsense of "free speech" that some realms - in particular republics - have is complete nonsense. Free speech is something of our time, and certainly not medieval.

653

BM General Discussion / Re: Favorite Island

« on: April 02, 2011, 01:49:08 PM »

I do not understand why so many people prefer Dwilight. I've been to three realms on Dwilight now: PeL, Madina and Corsanctum (where I currently have a character). I mean no offense to the people that feel closely related with those realm or even run it as we speak (PeL being a bit different now), but all of those three realms sucked big time. Yes, I wish to say it like that.

First off, I joined PeL, only to be disappointed by how the realm was run. However, I must admit that I had the intention to go colonize and that I didn't find cooperation, which might make myself the problem as to why I disliked that realm.

Secondly, I joined Madina. I knew some decent players from other realms there and figured that it wouldn't let me down. But dear god, my character nearly died of boredom. The regions were in terrible shape, the council was completely inactive and ergo everybody was inactive. It was a very sad and disturbing pit of boredom that only predicted the destruction of the own realm, unless someone with some power would make a move and revive matters. I "rage quit" on that realm, leaving them with an OOC message from me saying how utterly boring their realm was, and how I would spread the word to everybody that no one should ever try to join that realm again. Today I'm still happy I did that, and I still do believe that nobody should join Madina.

Thirdly, I joined Corsanctum. Again, I knew some decent players from elsewhere and they reassured me Corsanctum was a fun place to be. It being the "holy realm" of SA or some of the like (I still don't quiet get it), I figured there should be loads of RP and action. Dear god I was mistaken and fooled once more. Corsanctum is as much a boring place as Madina was. They can't win against monsters and EVERYBODY IS INACTIVE. Just now I tried to create some havoc by lashing out ingame against the "apathy" of the council, but I fear that too many nobles have already gone to the dark side of the "let's not read the letters in this realm". Corsanctum disappointed me hard, and it completely destroyed whatever respect I had left for Dwilight.

So now I just ask you to direct me to a realm on Dwilight that has a grain of activity and has some fun wars/battles going on. Don't attempt to point me deeper into SA-land because I foresee more boredom in those realms soon, unless they start fighting eachother. In any case, to summarize, I can say that out of all continents that I have played, I am starting to hate Dwilight big time. For me it's just filled with inactive council members that are absorbing all positions as long as they can, only to do nothing. I do realize people have a life beyond battlemaster, and that such a life is more important. Still, with being a council member or just a regular with a powerposition, like a marshal, it is your duty to supply others with fun and activity. If you want to lay back and do nothing, the least you can do is step down and letter others make an attempt at reviving a dead realm.

Please do redirect me to a more fun realm on Dwilight, or try to convince me why Dwilight is elected here as the most fun continent. Because for all I care, Dwilight can sink into the ocean for me right now.

And oh yeah, I think EC is the continent on which I had and still have the most fun. But I think that looking at my family page might easily explain why that is so.

654

BM General Discussion / Re: Tops and Flops

« on: April 02, 2011, 01:31:44 PM »

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. 

655

BM General Discussion / Re: Character Limits

« on: April 02, 2011, 01:29:51 PM »

Joined: 2003-05-25   
Fame: 33
Your character limits are: 13 characters total, 4 active at the same time, 4 of those can be nobles
Donor: no

Meh, I was stupid enough to go to Dwilight with one of my characters. Demand refund! 

656

Other Games / Re: Shogun 2 Total War

« on: March 24, 2011, 06:09:36 PM »

Good game, interesting AI. Although it sometimes makes dumb moves, like criss-crossing it's army (moving units from the right flank to the left and simultaneously vice versa - this is archer party). The interesting thing is that practically everyone fights with the same units, so you have to win on tactics and strategy.

Although I must say that defending a castle can be pretty easy. Just go for archer mayhem so they're a bit softened when they climb (yup, they climb like little monkeys) your walls. Then massacre them as they enter your castle, and meanwhile prepare your cavalry to hammer their routing units. Don't feel overly confident though. The AI has been based on Sun Tzu's logic and that sometimes leads to surprising things, both in the campaign-map mode and the battlemode.

Another cool part is that at a given point, when you are very renown and accordingly own a lot of provinces, practically /everyone/ declares war on you. It's very hard to actually achieve the goals of the campaign when you near this point, because you will face thousands and thousands of samurai charging towards your fortresses.

657

East Island / Re: Predictions of the EC Wars

« on: March 24, 2011, 06:01:14 PM »

The only certainty is that Westmoor will be handed the "Most Epic Fail" award of 2011. After having cashed the 2010 one, handed out in retrospect.

658

Development / Re: Religion is missing something?

« on: March 24, 2011, 05:57:51 PM »

Why link a priest, or even religion, so hard to a realm? If by anything, the medieval system did not work through a centralized state. The concepts of realms as we have it in Battlemaster, be it intended or not, is not at all accurate.

Link it to the lord. Recreate the feudal system. Get rid of "states", it's completely un-medieval. If the priest RTOs a region, the region should join the duchy of his lord. Next to that, it is not the religion that should be subjected to a state, but the other way around.

To add to Peri's post: yes, I am the ruler of Ibladesh but my character (and that's how I play him too) is first of all the High Priest of the Church. The State is completely subjected to the religion and is but a mere tool of the Church. We have strict rules about religion in Ibladesh. Not a good or interested follower? No promotions in the mundane world whatsoever for you! That, and we are on our epic quest to conquer and possibly convert all of EC! 

659

Other Games / Re: Shogun 2 Total War

« on: March 19, 2011, 03:41:08 PM »

I'll (hopefully) be playing it tomorrow afternoon, so I'll let you know. But from the looks of it they made the game more realistic, and less steamrolling (like the other Total War games). I just hope they didn't invest the largest part of their time in the battles, because I like a complex campaign too.

660

BM General Discussion / Re: Tops and Flops

« on: March 04, 2011, 09:40:53 PM »

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!