Affairs of the State - Episode 2 - Discussion Topics

[DavidC]

Episode 2 is coming! Please use this thread to post discussion topics or questions you would like to hear us answer/talk about!

Episode 2 details can be found here


Episode 2 can be viewed by clicking here!

[octobrev]

Why are you torturing us? :(

I will defer to Sheister for details.

[joeblogs]

1.) Is it possible to look at resetting fort cool-down when in war? As a min time WD can often leave kds without the fort stance to head into after EOWCF.

2.) What about having possible "newb friendly" kds that would elect to get first pick of new players in their kingdom so that new joiners would get a positive first experience vs possible RK by the more established kds.

3.) Can we get more nuanced rituals?

4.) Possibly a review of the new gold standard features - but I assume that's the crux of this podcast anyway.

Just a few thoughts.

Cheers.

[DavidC]

1.) Is it possible to look at resetting fort cool-down when in war? As a min time WD can often leave kds without the fort stance to head into after EOWCF.

2.) What about having possible "newb friendly" kds that would elect to get first pick of new players in their kingdom so that new joiners would get a positive first experience vs possible RK by the more established kds.

3.) Can we get more nuanced rituals?

4.) Possibly a review of the new gold standard features - but I assume that's the crux of this podcast anyway.

Just a few thoughts.

Cheers.

Can you elaborate a little on #3?

I like #2, that's going in my notes!

[joeblogs]

Can you elaborate a little on #3?

I like #2, that's going in my notes!

I think for the rituals it might be good to split them into say two parts, like the barrier for OPs and Spell, and then a defense barrier for losses and in built DME upgrade - so this way you can run a specific war type barrier and then one for just oow. With the onslaught too you could do something like this by getting kds to chose OME or gains and damages etc. I haven't thought of the specifics per say, just rather an idea of war focused vs OOW focused rituals.

[Bart of Sparta]

I think for the rituals it might be good to split them into say two parts, like the barrier for OPs and Spell, and then a defense barrier for losses and in built DME upgrade - so this way you can run a specific war type barrier and then one for just oow. With the onslaught too you could do something like this by getting kds to chose OME or gains and damages etc. I haven't thought of the specifics per say, just rather an idea of war focused vs OOW focused rituals.

Thank you for your nice post Joeblogs. I'd like to go even further to analyze the current constraints on the game.

1. Deep-pumping especially with homes is rewarded.
2. For deep-pumping you need a lot of gc.
3. Thus you cannot deep-pump after a war due to no stacking time (EOW CF is short, troop costs are high).
4. Thus everyone CFs each other on top and warring tier KDs waste way too much time prepping for the next war.
5. Defensive play is too strong (dwarf/elf/halfer being the strongest races + barrier + fort).
6. The current gains curve makes top-feeding in war way too strong which leads to pretty much endless conflicts.

In short:

1. Change rituals to slight positive effects.
2. Separate fortified effects and remove aggressive.
3. Significantly reduce troop cost and losses on non-land attacks OOW.
4. REMOVE homes from the game or change its effects.
5. Uncap science and CURVE it again.
6. Revamp honor effects.

So really, please discuss the 6 above points. For those more interested in the exact implementation you can read the piece between quotes.

The entire Ritual / Stance system has to be revamped to more realistically represent the cost and effort it takes to get (into) them. So my proposal:

1. Rituals: Positive damage-dealing bonuses (significant but in no case as big as racial/personality bonuses)

1. +25% offensive wpa/tpa.
2. +10% OME.
3. +10% gains.
4. -25% military casualties
5. -15% attack time

etc etc. You could do like 7-8 different ones. Reduce rune cost by like 50% I'd say, and reduce duration to 3 days.
1a. Interesting idea: For each cast done by a Paladin the effect increased by 0.5% (so if it were fully finished by Paladins you'd get +50% effects) --> would need to seek some balance here!

2. Stances: Defensive bonuses OR significant econ bonuses (never both at the same time)

Normal: No effect.
Fortified: -50% gains hitting in, sliding in over 12 hours. Can only remain in this stance for 48 hours and will be locked out for 48 afterwards. -60% gains hitting out. Science no longer halted in this stance.
Training stance: -50% training time, -30% training costs, +50% draft speed. +25% attack time, +20% military casualties.

3. At the same time and for this to work, troop costs and losses on non-land attacks OOW would have to be reduced. I suggest reducing overall elite costs by 30% across the board, and reduce spec costs to 250/troop.

4. Another idea: REMOVE HOMES FROM THE GAME. Yes, I know this sounds very scary to some of you, but in fact the homes pump is one of the last vestiges of mechanics "abuse". Like 95% of the server doesn't use it and it puts them at a severe disadvantages against KDs such as mine that does use it. It's also the one biggest issue I have when teaching new players. It also leads to (IMO unnecessary) focus on preparation of conflicts over the conflicts themselves.

5. Uncap sciences once more and simply introduce a strong downward curve. I feel that players should get as much freedom as possible to tune their province in ways they see fit. I feel the current sci caps do not promote this because once you've "maxed" out something you're pretty much done with that until EOA. The current flat rate capped sci bonuses also make having more sci give you way too many advantages over those that don't have it (say, having 15% more ME or 100% more tpa than the prov you're fighting).

6. Change honor effects. Rather than giving a flurry of bonuses across the board, either tie the effects to the personalities people choose, or give them free choice to choose which effect they prefer. You will get a special "honor" tab where you can see the bonuses you receive for each rank. Once you've chosen a bonus the process is irreversible unless you lose the rank and re-obtain it.

Examples:

1. +4% tpa
2. +4% wpa
3. +2% ME
4. +2% population
5. +4% income

etc etc. I'd also aim to increase the amount of possible ranks according to the following system:

0-499: Peasant (no bonuses)
500-999: Esquire (regular bonuses)
1000-1499: Knight (+5% bonuses)
1500-1999: Lord (+10% bonuses)
2000-2499: Baron (+15% bonuses)
2500-2999: Earl (+20% bonuses)
3000-3499: Viscount (+25% bonuses)
3500-3999: Count (+30% bonuses)
4000-4499: Marquis (+35% bonuses)
4500-4999: Duke (+40% bonuses)
5000-5749: Grand-Duke (+45% bonuses)
5750-7499: Prince (+50% bonuses)
7500+: Crown prince (+100% bonuses)

Again, names etc can be tweaked. It's about the general idea.

[DavidC]

Bart, all of that seems like suggestions for next age changes. We will have another broadcast closer to age reset where we can dedicate the entire time to fielding questions from viewers / topics for next age discussion.

[Bart of Sparta]

Bart, all of that seems like suggestions for next age changes. We will have another broadcast closer to age reset where we can dedicate the entire time to fielding questions from viewers / topics for next age discussion.

I see. My bad I thought we were going to discuss this age's mechanics and then ways to improve it. But perhaps youd want to keep it more broadly then. So let me rephrase it:

1. will the devs work on making this game less stack/prep dependent (through things such as removal of homes or reduction of troop costs among others).
2. Will the devs work on decreasing the importance of CF management (decreasing troop costs, increasing/improving eow cf).
3. Are the devs open to further personalization of provinces based on choice, allowing each individual player to steer his or her project (=prov) in their way of choosing.
4. Will the devs aim to have a balanced set of races and psrsonalities next age instead of only 6-7 viable race/pers picks (if you play competitively).
5. I hope by now you realize that a SIGNIFICANT part of this community is not US or EU. In fact for me personally the large majority of players I play with are from Asia or Australia. I see you've overlooked them once again by both scheduling the podcast during their night time and not even bothering to include their timezones in the starting time. I do not think its with bad intentions but I cannot but conclude that this very aftive and loyal part of your playerbase is overlooked. My question is whether youd be open to starting the next age on a time that is favorable for Asians unlike the last 72 ages whereby theyd mostly start around 1-2 AM for them.


Edit:if you want Id happily join in on the podcast tomorrow to explain my ideas. At the same time it would be a chance for the community to finally see their true hero in flesh and blood

Edit2: Would also increase your views!

[umajon911]

Can the devs perma ban bart from the uto forums for 1 age to see what effect it has on the game :-)

[Palem]

Probably lower page requests and less ad revenue

[DavidC]

There are no ads in the Forums. Please let's stay on topic!

[Persain]

heres a question i'd think everyone benefits from.

Given u guys said u thought that t/ms should should have enough def that they can get hit once almost twice by pure attackers are u satisfied where the dwarf/feary/elf meta shifted to this age. I.e. where hybrids cant break hybrids and pure attackers are so easy to down that the only way pure attackers can bring down a kd of hybrids is a insanely long hostile...yet the introduction of instant war makes that concept even harder to execute?

[Panthira]

Probably lower page requests and less ad revenue

Yes, please! This is especially annoying on Mobile!!!

There are no ads in the Forums. Please let's stay on topic!

Huh?

Can the devs perma ban bart from the uto forums for 1 age to see what effect it has on the game :-)

LOL Hey now this is off-topic, but can we? JK!

I would like to discuss how ops are going alongside with the rituals mechanics.

[Korp]

Can the devs perma ban bart from the uto forums for 1 age to see what effect it has on the game :-)

He was permabanned for a year didn't have much impact.

[Bart of Sparta]

He was permabanned for a year didn't have much impact.

Actually during that year the playerbase declined. After my ban ended it stablized/went slightly up.