This Age vs Previous

[Band of Horses]

Yes cause for some reason they were in a rush to end last age by y10 instead of having playable changes ready..... Cant rly blame that on anyone but themselves

If it were yr 10 or yr 15 they still would have waited until 2 weeks before end to even start testing. But you are correct they are the only ones to blame, but here is hoping they learned from that experience.

[Binar]

Almost like someone was about to break one of zaupers records last age and that he was in a rush to finish it or something. Strange

[Band of Horses]

Almost like someone was about to break one of zaupers records last age and that he was in a rush to finish it or something. Strange

I bet Zauper convinced Mike to back stab his mates and farm out to BC too. Probably hacked to make halfling warhero OP too. Im pretty sure he faked the moon landing too.

[Binar]

yeah thats a sidetrack, I would love more and more different rituals, maybe make EoWCF stronger and remove fort, or make it shorter? Do something about LBG, atleast in war. More than 2 playable races. and hmm... make dragons not suck again

[octobrev]

You guys could really be on to something here.

[MyNameIsMatija]

Only now you tell me there's a 2nd playable race???

[StratOcastle]

To think how much happier the majority of the top would've been playing unplayable races.

You should be using your mechanical knowledge in eloquent ways:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccmava-4KnY

[MyNameIsMatija]

I rerolled Undead/Tactician Strato. I don't know if it's playable or not, I have a niche purpose for it anyway.

[StratOcastle]

When I ran undead sage we'd have enemy kingdoms get themselves into relations; yknow, because we were disorganized.

Cue the fatal music...

Then it was mesmerizing; seems I can abduct twice and be meter friendly. Oh, but then *sigh* began the amnesia...and the plague..oh, the plague. LS the runes, add explosions, and yknow all the faders.

Too bad the ghettos sorta fear and suck up the damage. There's so much to do in this game that doesn't require organization or optimization. A maligned build can become the worst day for an aggressive utopian, bristling with the latest and greatest mechanics.

You're right about niches.

[Zombies are people too]

Wow, neck and neck with the polls. Keep voting ppl!

-DM <3

[elixer]

So just because you(most of the negative posters) didn't have a fun/successful age then it's the devs fault, how about instead you try to enjoy the game. I understand that there is a need to be #1, but why not enjoy the ride to that point(I cannot speak for top play, but I do know it is not hard to get ahead of your opponent in war even with a withdraw). Tbh I vote that we have a strict war based age, to get people back into the spirit. I really hate posting anything serious because I know all you kids are just waiting for it, but seems fun. Do a "tournament" style age, make war mandatory in some way. I'm not sure how to make it work in order to prevent fake wars, but there can't be no possible way. Example- only have explore pool for people under median, they can only get that pool when a war is concluded and will only get that set amount(it is a poor example, but read this while drinking and don't care to elaborate). Can't think of anything else. May edit when I'm only stoned but I doubt it.

[Sheister]

So just because you(most of the negative posters) didn't have a fun/successful age then it's the devs fault, how about instead you try to enjoy the game. I understand that there is a need to be #1, but why not enjoy the ride to that point(I cannot speak for top play, but I do know it is not hard to get ahead of your opponent in war even with a withdraw). Tbh I vote that we have a strict war based age, to get people back into the spirit. I really hate posting anything serious because I know all you kids are just waiting for it, but seems fun. Do a "tournament" style age, make war mandatory in some way. I'm not sure how to make it work in order to prevent fake wars, but there can't be no possible way. Example- only have explore pool for people under median, they can only get that pool when a war is concluded and will only get that set amount(it is a poor example, but read this while drinking and don't care to elaborate). Can't think of anything else. May edit when I'm only stoned but I doubt it.

Elixer, here is the problem as I see it.

If all you want to do is war and you don't care about getting to the top of the ladder and you have lots of opponants in/near range, this age would have been fine. I am sure if this was age 52 and I was still leading my little war KD, I would have had a blast.

Unfortunately, the war rewards system combined with the near in ability to grow outside of war once you get over 4-5K acres means that you are just waiting to get farmed. When you look at the point BB stalled.

Emeriti decided to raze out and quit so that we would not beat them at war. Someone else ran away from us. I think one other KD ran away too (maybe barco with div?). What that made happen was we were then unable to close the acres gap on the top of our KD range. What does that mean? It means mangos, Div, etc all had three or four 8K and larger provinces (at the time) and we had nothing larger than 5K acres (at the time). That meant we had no chance at all to war any kingdom that was anywhere near a prepared footing.

Since that time we have taken land to the extent that we now look kinda competitive (Through various means that many players have frowned on). What had to happen to make us even look competitive? Lots of really shady play from lots of parties, gangbangs, deal breaks, etc. Absent that, BB is not competitive under the current mechanics. The only reason we might "win" is that everyone went nuts this age. It has nothing at all to do with our own merit.

THAT is the problem.

[Tadpole]

I think the changes are generally in the right direction and applaud the effort. Unfortunately some changes were a bit poorly implemented, and these few changes had a great impact on the playability of this age - but as long as the devs live and learn I think we'll be back on track for next age :)

A few unprocessed notes...

- Gains formula: It is fine OOW, could even be exclusively acre based imo. Should revert back to (more) nw based gains in war though. Wars should be destructive and short. Not the dragged out process of today
- Defence meta: OP Barrier+OP fort+def heavy elites (OP Dwarf) makes it difficult to engage, cause wars without hitting and generally produce slow and uneventful wars that are hard to win decisively. Remove fort stance (or make weaker) and split the bonuses from barrier into several different rituals. Scale back on the turtleability of core/hybrid races.
- Individual splore pool: I like the removal of banking meta. Makes it viable for more kingdom to compete, and to catch up at a later stage (early established banks were really hard to overcome in prior ages). There needs to be mechanisms to make bouncing back of T/Ms viable though. Hybrid system of individual and kd pool? Scaling growth where below median grows significantly faster than above? Paradise taking from pool but also creating new acres, making it viable (but less potent) after pool depletion. Also, see below.
- War land bonus: So incredibly overpowered. Turned this age into a waring meta where friends war friends instead of enemies. Scale down!!
- EoWCF: Increase bonuses further. Fort stance is overpowered and really only stagnates the game. People do need it under current mechanics and meta though - remove the need for fort through empowering EoWCF further.
- Revamp wiz production: Winning a particularly devastating war should be awarding, not the nail in the coffin meaning no more crown chance (for the whore kds) or tedious pumping (for the war kds)

I'm sure I forgot all that was important...

[Avenger]

War tiers must go. War land bonuses reduced.
Affluent ritual removed. Maybe barrier split into two rituals - one that deals with t/m ops, one that gives def military eff, reduced gains when attacked and maybe reduced losses.

[Sheister]

War tiers must go. War land bonuses reduced.
Affluent ritual removed. Maybe barrier split into two rituals - one that deals with t/m ops, one that gives def military eff, reduced gains when attacked and maybe reduced losses.

Yes affluent is useless. Barrier split would be good.

Contrary to Tadpole, I thin EoW bonuses need to be nerfed to death at this point given that you can't grow outside of war. Right now, rewards weight the game to whoever baits a ghetto first. Is that what we want?