Topics

76

Development / Developer Roadmap: War Improvements Package

« on: April 10, 2014, 07:53:26 PM »

I've been talking about this here and there for a few months now, but now it's time to actually get back to work on it, and I think it's appropriate to share at least some of the planned changes with everyone here.

War Improvements Package

This is a collection of changes intended to make war easier, less frustrating, and more fun for both sides. This is not a comprehensive list of changes, but it should give a good idea of the things that I've got planned over the next few months.

Economic Warfare

• Regional Buffs/Debuffs:
  
  • Right now, anything that affects region stats pretty much has a line in the region turn script that says, "Is this happening? If so, reduce one or more stats by x%."
  • This leads to situations where a region, when left unattended, can drift steadily down in stats to the point where it begins to spiral out of control. (Particularly when combined with the fact that some of the things that reduce one region stat are based on another stat of the same region being too low!)
  • Change this to a system where each thing that affects region stats adjusts a soft cap up or down. This would mean that when a stat is above its soft cap, it will go down by a percentage of the difference, but once it reaches it, it will remain there unless something actually changes about the region.
  • This should lead to a very different paradigm of region damage: rather than a region being able to spiral out of control if it just gets its stats pushed much under 50%, it should be able to remain steady even at relatively low values for all stats, and not run the risk of going rogue.
• Changes to starvation & food management:
  • Add the ability to double & halve food rations for peasants
  • Region lords will be given warnings if stored food will be insufficient to feed the region within a week
  • Starvation will kick in slower, and recover faster
  • Naturally, starvation will be a region debuff, so it won't simply drop stats like before. However, because of its nature, starvation is cumulative, so the longer it goes on, the worse it will get.
• Looting effects get stronger to start, but decay much faster
• Recruitment Centers will be easier to disable, but harder to destroy
• Rogue regions (especially food producers) should no longer become wastelands unless something makes them so
• Depopulated regions should recover faster

New Takeover System

• Finish implementing the new Love/Fear takeover system
• This means splitting the Loyalty stat into Love and Fear stats for every region
• Every action that once changed loyalty/sympathy will now affect Love and Fear. Some actions that didn't affect loyalty before may also affect love and fear.
• Once this is done, the new takeover system will use these values, so that love takeovers and fear takeovers will be fundamentally different
• Details still TBD, but generally, a love takeover will take longer, but leave you with a friendly populace; a fear takeover will get you the region faster, but you'll have to keep the people in line pretty carefully.
• Trying to switch over from love to fear (or vice versa) will not be trivial, but switching from fear to love will often be better in the long run.

Combat Damage

• Rework damage formulas to emphasize the effects of weapon and arm our quality
• Clarify and emphasize purposes of all combat stats
• Add the possibility for recruitment centers with exceptional stats

Equipment

• Add several types of equipment that armies can purchase to help differentiate them
• No army can have more than one type of equipment
• Paid for out of the war chest
• Some of the equipment has special new Marshal formations that will go with it, and be much less useful without.
• Some examples of equipment we plan to add:
  • Pikes: Infantry in an army with Pikes can use the Set To Receive Charge formation, which will break cavalry charges and deal massive damage to the charging cavalry.
  • Heavy Barding: Provides cavalry with protection from the worst effects of Pikes. Cavalry with Heavy Barding will still take increased damage from the pikemen and their charge will be broken, but they’re not going to get shredded outright.
  • Sapping Equipment: An army with Sapping Equipment will act completely normally in combat unless they are fighting against a fortified enemy and they reach the wall. At that point, they will not deal any damage to enemy units, but start to sap the walls. While sapping, they will be vulnerable, but if they survive long enough to complete the job, the walls will be breached regardless of whether the army has managed to get to the top of them successfully, and the fortification will take a lot of damage.
  • Boiling Oil: Can only be used once per battle per unit in the army, and then only when the unit is on top of a fortification and there is an enemy unit at the foot. In that case, though, it will deal massive damage to the besieging units below.
  • Tower Shields: Gives access to the Turtle formation, which provides strong protection against archers, and can also protect themselves and an equivalent number of units without Tower Shields from Boiling Oil.

Note: I've been mentioning here and there that I will be making an announcement that people will like soon. This is not that announcement, though I hope you like this, too. Stay tuned.

77

BM General Discussion / A Breath of Cold

« on: February 21, 2014, 05:19:02 PM »

A cold breeze blows across the lands.

78

Development / Rebalance Feedback

« on: December 25, 2013, 10:43:01 PM »

Please post your feedback on the just-released rebalance.

Please note that while we are sympathetic to people whose regions or realms ended up losing out, we will not simply be making changes because people complain. The only way to avoid some regions losing out is to simply increase stats across the board, which is not a reasonable way to achieve the goals of the rebalance.

This does not mean that we will not change anything, however. If a situation is brought to our attention where a given area has become both unable to feed itself and unable to purchase the food required, or something similar to that, we will give it serious consideration. We have done a number of spot-checks and reining in of outliers (regions both vastly too rich and devastatingly poor), but we do not know the "normal" nature of all the regions in the game, and we did not have time to investigate all the changes by ourselves, so something may have slipped by us.

Finally, let me make clear that overall, every continent has been adjusted to have approximately a 25% food surplus (island-wide) and approximately a 10% boost in total gold. (And yes, we know that gold is already abundant—we have some other plans that will help with that, but they take more time and care to implement.)

79

Roleplaying / Baranion and Sigrún ~ Arrival in the Stronghold

« on: October 24, 2013, 09:57:12 PM »

Seven Days Ago

As Baranion entered the stronghold through the shattered gates, he felt a shiver run up his spine. He had never set foot within these walls before, but everything was so very familiar to him. He passed the remains of the Emerald Order guildhouse on his way into the fortress. Once inside, he saw the ancient imposing structures making up the monastery that were the first built upon this mountain. And those must be the palaces, he thought, looking up at them, so if I turn left here, then go through that courtyard...yes. He emerged into an open space that had once been a beautiful garden, but which had clearly been neglected since Hoshi's departure in favour of the newer gardens on the east side of the palace. Overgrown bushes dotted the space, and weeds and vines choked the flowerbeds that were once so carefully cultivated.

Hearing a noise from beyond one of the bushes—one taller than he, and as big across as it was tall—Baranion turned, wary of an Aenilian ambush. However, the figure that walked out from behind the bush was one as familiar to him as his own.

“So,” he sighed, looking up at the palace. “The house of our fathers. Or at least, of our parents.”

She smiled a somewhat wry smile. “Not quite what it once was. But that’s what we’re here to change, right?”

Baranion turned back to her, his face showing an intensity that had not been there before. “Indeed. No longer will the lands where Anaris and Bellator first joined together belong to those who betrayed them and their kingdom. The capture of Ipsosez is the first real step toward our parents’ dream.”

They both walked to the edge of the terrace and looked out over the stronghold’s lower levels, and across the damaged walls to the valley floor far below. “Svunnetland may have fallen,” Sigrún murmured, eyes alight, “but Zonasa was always its close kin. Soon, we can raise the banners here, and—”

She paused, looking southward. “Well. That’s for another day, I suppose.”

Baranion smiled. “Indeed. But that day just got a whole lot closer.”

* * *

Today

Baranion stands on the balcony of the Grand Exemplar’s Palace in Ipsosez—the same sturdy structure that once served as his father’s palace so many years ago—and watches as the banner of Zonasa is raised from its topmost tower. Well, it’s not quite the banner he might have wanted, but King Morthwyl Bellator would be proud to see his son this day.

80

Roleplaying / Alanna Anaris ~ Time Has Passed Me By

« on: October 08, 2013, 02:41:05 AM »

Sent 2013-10-06 around 22:00 server time

About a month ago

Alanna eases herself slowly into her chair and pulls the stack of correspondence forward on the desk in front of her. "So, let's see what the esteemed Grandmistress is blithering about..." she mutters, picking up one of the letters. As she does so, however, her elbow accidentally knocks into an inkpot, sending it clattering to the floor. Fortunately, it is empty, but Alanna curses and sighs as she pushes the chair back and painstakingly leans down to pick it up. "Cursed thing, making me scrabble on the floor—ah!" She gasps in sudden pain as her back cramps with the unaccustomed stretching.

Nearly an hour later, she is finally able to fully straighten out on her bed with the help of Isella. As she limps back over to her desk to resume the interrupted attempt to handle diplomatic correspondence, she growls, "By the Gods, I'm getting too old for this..."

* * *

A couple of weeks ago

The knock at her door awakens her from a sound and restful sleep. She is about to call out to ask who it is, when she hears the door open, and Isella and a couple of ladies' maids she doesn't recognize (or, wait, was that one her new one who started last month? It gets so hard to keep them straight...) scramble into the room. "Empress, you're awake!" Isella says somewhat breathlessly. "Are you all right? You've been expected in the audience chamber for the past hour!"

This brings Alanna fully awake. "The past hour? Why, what time is it, Isella?"

"An hour before noon, Empress!" her aide replies.

"An hour before—why did you not wake me two hours ago?!"

Isella looks away, her face registering embarrassment. "Well, I...I've only had to wake you a few times since I started in your service, Majesty, and I fear that I...I did not think that you would need it. But I suppose with the meetings late last night, you—"

Alanna waves her to silence. "Very well. Get my clothes ready, and quickly; I'll not keep them waiting any longer!"

As the two maids scamper to obey, Alanna sits up and tries to swing her legs over the side of the bed, but finds her muscles protesting lethargically. "Really?" she mutters, so quietly that Isella can barely even hear her. "I stay up till an hour or two past midnight just one night and my body won't get moving without bitter complaints by nearly noon? I really must be getting too old for this..."

* * *

This morning

Isella sets the tea down and turns to leave, but Alanna calls after her, "Isella, can you bring the reports from last night? I'd like to get started on them as soon as I've had my tea."

Isella turns back to her, a hesitant, almost embarrassed expression on her face (though that doesn't seem to mean much, since that's the expression she's almost always wearing). "Majesty...I brought those in ten minutes ago. They're right there, waiting at the back of your desk."

Irritated, Alanna looks where Isella indicates, ready to deny that there's any such thing there, but she sees that her aide is, indeed, correct. Though a flash of anger and exasperation flashes across her face, she keeps her voice calm as she replies, "Of course. My apologies. Please make sure that everything is ready for this afternoon's inspection of the granaries."

After the door shuts behind Isella, Alanna pulls the reports over to her and sighs sadly, shaking her head. "By the Gods...if I can't even remember what my own poor aide has already brought me, maybe I really am getting too old for this..."

She stands and looks out her window, the window with the best view in the whole city. In the foreground rise the lower towers of the Palace, with the spearpoints of the guards on the Palace wall winking in the sun. Beyond them, she can see the mansions and gardens of the nobility who make their homes here in Askileon. There is one garden she always particularly loves to look down on—it is entirely walled off, so the only people who can ever see it are those in the mansion that surrounds it on all four sides, and those high enough in the Palace above it that they can look down over the wall. It has a beautiful floral clock, with different flowers in bloom at each hour of the day, and there are children who play in it that Alanna has watched grow from toddlers from her high vantage point. Beyond the noble section of the city, the window looks down on a district of warehouses and sailors' inns, and then on the harbour, with hundreds of masts rising to the sky in echo of the towers and spires on the hill above. And beyond that...the sea, stretching out from here to Giask, which, on clear days, she fancies she can see the highest towers of.

"My city," she murmurs. "My people. My realm...but are they truly mine anymore? The Lurian Hegemony is a glorious jewel, and a mighty empire, but it is not the Pian en Luries I once ruled, and loved. Though I am once again respected, and even loved by some, rather than being vilified by all at the behest of the usurper Koli and his supporters, I am still a relic of the past. There is none but me remaining here that can remember the reign of Kaennji the Sickly, the dukeship of Proslyn, or the founding of Shadovar, and precious few who can recall the strife within Pian en Luries caused by Katayanna, Zile, or even Gwendolyn Elorie and Loathin."

Alanna closes her eyes, sighing, and touches the memories of those times—the good and the bad both. Then, opening them again, she draws the curtain across the view, and turns back to her desk.

"Perhaps it is time," she says, a tear glistening in one corner of her eye, "to think of passing on for good the burden of holding Luria together, and standing for Luria against the world. Perhaps it is time...to rest."

81

Roleplaying / Roleplaying Board Unlocked

« on: September 29, 2013, 09:18:25 PM »

The Roleplaying board is now also unlocked, but it is still important for everyone to follow the newly-clarified Forum Rules of Conduct, reproduced here for easy access:

• Be respectful of other users. No insulting or derogatory behavior toward other players or forum users.
• The moderators have complete editorial control and may delete or modify posts that violate these rules, or are judged inappropriate for the forum.
• The forum is for discussing things about the game. In-game matters should only be discussed in the game.
• Do not post in-game messages on the forum, other than posting your own Roleplays on the Roleplay board, or when appropriate as part of a Magistrate case. Players may post the roleplayed death of their character on the Roleplay boards without sending it in-game, since they cannot post it in-game.

Please abide by these rules when posting to the newly-reopened subforum, noting particularly the last of these rules in regards to roleplaying.

82

Locals / The Locals boards have been unlocked

« on: September 26, 2013, 07:07:11 PM »

The Locals boards are now unlocked, but it is important for everyone to follow the newly-clarified Forum Rules of Conduct, reproduced here for easy access:

• Be respectful of other users. No insulting or derogatory behavior toward other players or forum users.
• The moderators have complete editorial control and may delete or modify posts that violate these rules, or are judged inappropriate for the forum.
• The forum is for discussing things about the game. In-game matters should only be discussed in the game.
• Do not post in-game messages on the forum, other than posting your own Roleplays on the Roleplay board, or when appropriate as part of a Magistrate case. Players may post the roleplayed death of their character on the Roleplay boards without sending it in-game, since they cannot post it in-game.

Please abide by these rules when posting to the newly-reopened subforum.

83

This Forum / Forum Rules of Conduct

« on: September 26, 2013, 07:05:08 PM »

Here are the new BattleMaster Forum Rules of Conduct as proposed and revised earlier this month:

• Be respectful of other users. No insulting or derogatory behavior toward other players or forum users.
• The moderators have complete editorial control and may delete or modify posts that violate these rules, or are judged inappropriate for the forum.
• The forum is for discussing things about the game. In-game matters should only be discussed in the game.
• Do not post in-game messages on the forum, other than posting your own Roleplays on the Roleplay board, or when appropriate as part of a Magistrate case. Players may post the roleplayed death of their character on the Roleplay boards without sending it in-game, since they cannot post it in-game.

These are no longer open for discussion, so please do not post asking for this, that, or the other change to be made.

With these new Rules of Conduct now in force, the Locals boards will be reopened forthwith.

84

Development / Rebalance Clarifications

« on: April 16, 2013, 04:24:06 PM »

There has been a certain amount of confusion regarding the rebalance numbers that are now showing up. The dev team would like to officially dispel some of it.

First of all, the primary purpose behind the rebalance has been to give the gold and food values for all the regions a basis in logic and the inherent statistics and other aspects of the regions—things like region type, population density, and such. Before now, every single region had its values assigned manually and arbitrarily—numbers were just made up on the spot. Not only does this make sure that every region on a continent follows the same rules and gets to both the same benefits and the same disadvantages, it makes it vastly easier for the dev team to readjust values overall when and if we detect a systematic problem. We simply need to adjust the algorithms behind the rebalance, and rerun the part of it that actually sets the updated values to the regions. As an example of this, it has allowed us to significantly increase the food produced on Dwilight (which was too low) and decrease it on Beluaterra (which, with the loss of several cities, was much too high) without much trouble.

Second of all, the dev team has been concerned that the rebalances in the past have moved the game much more toward homogeneity. There was becoming too little difference between being Lord of a city and being Lord of any other region—particularly with the separation of Dukeships from Lordships of cities. This may make people feel more equal, but it's not good design for a game of medieval nobles and knights. Inequality is an inherent part of the system, and should not be played down to the extent that it was. We believe, for one thing, that the general homogeneity has led, in part, to the apathy of rural region lords in selling their food. They make plenty of money already, and mostly don't have knights to fun: why shouldn't they just sit on their piles of food forever?

Third, it is important to note that all these changes are being made based on nominal population—the maximum population of a region, not its current population. So any attempts to compare the changes in two particular regions based on their state right now is pointless unless they are both at maximum population.

We understand that these are, in some cases, some pretty drastic changes. We also understand that, in some cases, they are leading to some undesirable situations—such as regions that, even if they sold their entire food production for 50 gold/100 bushels, would never make enough to even support a Lord with any serious income. We are working to find good solutions to these situations that do not involve breaking the system. In some cases, regions of this nature will simply have their populations adjusted so that they can support a real economy. In others, we may have to find other solutions. However, rest assured, we do not intend to leave any region useless.

Furthermore, there are other changes already either in discussion, in development, or otherwise in the pipeline that should help to fix or ameliorate a number of issues related to this. For instance, there is a general consensus among the dev team that we need to lift the food price cap—at least to 100 gold per 100 bushels, and possibly higher, or removed entirely.

85

Background / History Question: Food Production

« on: March 07, 2013, 02:57:44 AM »

As an indifferent student of Medieval history, I would like to tap the collective hive-mind of the BattleMaster community to benefit the development effort.

In examining our assumptions about food production, in order to try and provide a solid foundation for any future changes to the distribution of food and population across the game, I have realized that I do not know how much food, relative to his own needs, any given farmer would have produced during the Medieval period.

So if anyone has some information—or general ideas about where I could look for information—about production per farmer or production per unit land area, I would greatly appreciate it.

(And naturally, this will be an incomplete picture of actual food consumed by people, as there would be hunting, gathering, and fishing, too—though if anyone has data about that, I would definitely appreciate it, too!)

86

Development / Kill the OOC Ban

« on: February 12, 2013, 07:04:57 PM »

This feature, which was added many years ago, has outlived its usefulness. The functions it was meant to perform are now entirely capably handled by the Magistrates and the Titans. Making rulers judge, jury, and executioner is no longer the appropriate way to handle players who are not, in whatever manner, abiding by the social contract and the game's other rules and policies.

Fundamentally, the problem is that the OOC ban effects an IC solution to OOC problems: it removes the character from the realm. This does not prevent them from causing whatever trouble they've been causing in other realms, nor does it send them a clear message that their conduct is unacceptable to the game's administrators.

There is one situation in which the speed of an OOC ban can be important, and that is when a player is spamming a realm with excessive and/or profane messages. I can count the number of times I have seen this occur in my 9+ years in BattleMaster on one hand. And if anyone were to let me know about such an occurrence, I would be sure to take appropriate steps to ensure that they could not bother anyone while a more official Titan or Magistrate case proceeded.

It is also worth noting that for several years, nearly every use of the OOC ban has been punished by the Titans for being abusive and/or inappropriate.

So, I would like to remove this feature, and Tom has asked that I put this to the community first, to see what your thoughts on it are.

87

This Forum / Leaving in a huff

« on: October 15, 2012, 01:38:22 PM »

There have now been a few incidents of players declaring that they're leaving a thread (or even the forum) because they're disgusted with it for one reason or another, and either deleting all their posts themselves, or demanding that a mod do so.

I would argue that this should not be something mods should do, unless their posts in the thread are pretty obviously inflammatory (and in that case, they shouldn't be waiting until the person asks!). The sole purpose seems to be along the lines of, "I don't want to talk with you guys anymore, and if I can't defend them, I don't want my posts hanging around to be discussed!" This is an immature attitude, and seems to me to be at odds with the spirit of the forums.

However, I'm not a mod of any sort, so I thought I'd open a discussion on the subject.

88

Beluaterra / Quintarianism

« on: August 19, 2012, 11:00:30 PM »

Well, Quintarianism is now fully funded, and will be founded by this time tomorrow in Ajitmon, Riombara. I've got pledges of support from three Lords, and several other vague noises of interest.

If you liked Qyrvaggism because it was in Riombara and began with a Q, you'll love Quintarianism! ....That's about all the two have in common, though.

Though it will be founded in Riombara, it is firmly intended to be a non-realm-centric religion. That does not mean apolitical: Liara has absolutely no intention of either ignoring or trying to be neutral in politics, but her first thought will be for the religion's welfare, not the realm's.

So come, join us, spread Quintarianism far and wide across Beluaterra!

(And if anyone likes the ideas in the religion, but really dislikes the idea of sharing a religion with me and/or Riombara for some reason, ask me about the built-in variant/enemy religion, Quadrenism!)

89

Other Games / Legend: new D&D-variant tabletop game, designed for speed and ease of play

« on: November 24, 2011, 03:51:48 AM »

It's releasing officially this Friday, and there's a bunch of information about it here: http://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/mm6i4/legend_a_new_tabletop_rpg_system_releasing/

I've been peripherally involved in its development, and I'm very pleased with what these people have created.  It looks to be much, much easier for someone like me, who doesn't want to spend hundreds of hours carefully optimizing characters, to play and get lots out of.

It uses a very streamlined class system that is much easier to understand than D&D's, and vastly easier to tinker with if you're of a mind to create your own.

One of the guiding principles in creating Legend was to make sure that any class at level X has an equivalent power level to any other class at level X, within reason.  This means that rather than having spellcasting classes ruling the game by higher levels, many spells have been removed, all those that remain have been reworked, and non-spellcasting classes have been given many more interesting abilities.

Anyway, I don't tell this very well, so go look at that Reddit thread and read about it there. You can also ask questions there, where the official Legend publicity guys can answer them.

90

Helpline / Taxing Religions/Secret Societies

« on: September 12, 2011, 05:43:06 PM »

Well you can already use Secret Societies this way, so it wouldn't exactly plug the hole...

Well, when the new system goes online, SSes will be taxed too, so yes, it would.