Too much peace too much for Dwilight

[Indirik]

I'm not sure we should be making code changes like this just to increase the viability of a chosen realm location.

Yeah, I don't think it will ever happen. If you put your realm in a crappy place, you have to deal with the crap. Otherwise, every realm that doesn't want to fight will just intentionally lower their food supply. It would be a big neon sign saying "Go for the cities!"

[Chenier]

Yeah, I don't think it will ever happen. If you put your realm in a crappy place, you have to deal with the crap. Otherwise, every realm that doesn't want to fight will just intentionally lower their food supply. It would be a big neon sign saying "Go for the cities!"

You make it sound like not having a good food supply ratio is not a big deal.

And city-states make for munchy snacks.

[Indirik]

Having been in realms that have had severe food supply problems, I know how bad it can get. I've seen the massive die-offs due to starvation. But the game is centered around armed conflict, not building a trading empire. You don't get a special dispensation or exemption from the rules because your realm happens to have some particular geographic location, or weird territorial layout.

It is still possible, however, that the balance of the TMP feature still needs tweaked. I don't know much about the balance of it myself, never have looked at that portion of the code. Care to post some details? How long have you been getting warnings? Has your realm been involved in many (any?) battles in that time?

[songqu88@gmail.com]

Well, Dwilight is a homunculus map, so balance might not exactly have been too well-documented by the time it went live. I remember the ridiculous travel times in the early days. Not so fun. Even now Dwilight has possibly the longest travel times.

But still, some places just make me wonder what the mapmakers were thinking about, once you find out what the regions' stats are. D'Hara isn't actually too bad. Now the Divides...And has anyone wondered how hard it would be to run a realm located where the Zuma are? Geez, stats are in the basement...

[Indirik]

The ma was made long, long before the region stats were assigned. So don't blame the map makers, blame the region-stat-assigners. I don't remember too much of that phase of the project. I know that some stuff was player-assigned, but I think Tom did most of the assigning of the exact stats.

[Sacha]

I think it's awesome that some of the areas in Dwilight are almost worthless or extremely difficult to hold. Adds to the flavor of the continent.

[songqu88@gmail.com]

And for some (possibly more than some) others, frustration, mainly that Dwilight can't be filled up. Yeah, yeah, it's how the continent is. But still the "ideal" shouldn't ignore how people actually react to it. In other words, you have strange people who want certain worthless regions no matter what, even though there is pretty much no chance of success there.

[Chenier]

The Divide, oh god! That's the worst, despite it looking so cool.

It's meant for priests and courtiers, if you ask me. The kind that don't fight the monsters, but rather just tell their peasants to suck it up as they pass through.

Mind you, that's a bit less true since the travel changes to rogues. Used to be that rogues could cross any one of these mountains in a turn. I can't even imagine how dreadful for normal characters crossing those must be. And the realm would be doomed to being poor.

[Bedwyr]

I want to set up a Crusader state in Balances Retreat so badly.  But, as with all plans, Green Archer Needs Nobles Badly.

>.>

<.<

(Green Archer Is About To Die)

[songqu88@gmail.com]

With mechanics the way they are right now, I'm going to give a bold declaration and state that having any long-lasting settlement of Balance's Retreat and its surrounding mountains is not going to happen in BM's existence. Sure, you might be able to hold on to it as part of a realm that is centered in a more fertile place. But the low income means all three Divides are resource sinks that have single digit food production (I think one of them has double digit food production) and barely 100 listed gold production at 100%. Sure, population is low, but so is BR. That gives about 100 listed gold, and is self-sufficient in terms of food (I think? I recall that it had 23 food production or something).

Add to it the Desert of Silhouettes on its west, and no easy access to any fertile regions, and you have a mountain fortress that could become stuff of legend...if only there were any good legends about it.

[Bedwyr]

Yeah, you'd have to have it supported by other entities, hence my thoughts on a Crusader State supported by a religion (and, frankly, realms bordering it would probably be delighted to pay a tithe to keep the rogues down).

[songqu88@gmail.com]

I was more wondering how much of a strain it would be to have people provide food AND gold. You understand that it's not just one or the other...In the best case you'd need another realm to sell you food at 1 gold per 100 bushels and in addition provide about 500 gold a week to keep 10 nobles in the realm with good units. Not to mention how long it would take to get any good facilities running, and walls.

Although if you have a wealthy family, it could work. Any wealthy family with brains would know to save it for better investments like Darfix, which in fact does have the location and surroundings to be self-sufficient and really powerful. Unfortunately not enough nobles for it or something, and rogues overrun it too quickly.

[Chenier]

Yea, such a huge money pit.

[Bedwyr]

That's what tithes are for!  Food, gold, nobles, etc.  Obviously, you'd have to have a pretty large religion backing it, but what's the point of dreaming if you aren't dreaming big?

[Chenier]

That's what tithes are for!  Food, gold, nobles, etc.  Obviously, you'd have to have a pretty large religion backing it, but what's the point of dreaming if you aren't dreaming big?

You usually expect a return on your investments, though. I don't see what anyone would gain in financing such a ridiculous expedition.