The Strategus Network

[MrShovelFace]

Concept and summary for the reading impaired:

1. Create multiple servers running a PW style game mode

2. Set the server maps to each come together and form the 'World Map' via a grid
(for example a 3x3 grid world would require 9 servers)

3. Design a program that transfers slots between servers based on their needs
(not quite sure if thats possible to do in a practical way)

4. To each map add the basic functions found in strategus
(IE money making, trade, and recruiting)

5. Implement an efficient system to provide realistic battles without exploiting the fundemental flaws in PvP mmo/rts games (I.E. people's work, school, and sleep) - Search the wall of text for my ideas on how to go about this.
Really though chadz the strategus alarm clock has to go

6. Create a fun and immersive enviroment for more than 2% of the cRPG population that will create more than just rage quits and suicides

SKIP IF YOU WANT TO HEAR THE ACTUAL SUGGESTION (second post)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The part of the post for people that are bored and/or like words
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Hello person who clicked a link to my post and suprisingly not to a rickroll.
I am MrShovelFace as you can see by the clever wording by my default avatar. I have been with cRPG for quite awhile (roughly for 1155 hours according to steam  ) and saw it grow and have its downsides and its revivals from the time where there was only one european server with 3 players that killed about 40% of the player base each round and up until now as thrower/huscarl people bum rush just about everything.

But what I also remember was the first time strategus was announced (it took about 20 pages of spam to get chadz to stop trolling us about what it really was) When he revealed his psuedo-multiplayer empire builder thingy I was initially skeptical as to how it would work. My concern however was misplaced and strategus was basically functional but was flawed. The kind of play it offered was neither immersive nore enjoyable but rather ultra competitive and only was fully enjoyed by 1 our of every 20 players. The rest just used it as another way to grind. The strategy in it was also crude. Apart from wisely hiring and picking weapons the only strategy in it was go to X place camp until you have a lot of troops and then team up on some upstart faction that just captured their first village. In battle the only command that were given was regroup, camp spawn, go that way, and my personal favorite, the shield wall. There was no prebattle fuctions like manuevering to find better ground or ambushing the enemy. No sabotage or raids on the country side to pillage and damage their economy, and very little roleplay (not the make believe shit but the action of putting on a mind set, such as I am a guard or I am a humble trader) No civic options were available (IE setting up a form of religion or basic laws)
Lastly is the biggest flaw. The entire strategus system is one great rdm fest as there are no solid diplomatic relations meaning that a man with 10000 troops can randomly attack a city hes been camping for 3 week waiting for the perfect time to attack. I am pretty sure that having 10000 troops camped outside a city that doesnt belong to them would not be acceptable to most medival countries (imagine if the Spanish decided to camp outside of paris and wait for the glorious french army to go attack the brits. But due to the fact that such details can easily be hidden by the hundreds of people running around on the map.

My Rant might continue but the real suggestion will be on another post
(sorry but every time I type the text box scrolls up to the top)

[MrShovelFace]

The Strategus Network is divided into two main levels

I. World Map

A. Composition of the World Map: The world map is composed of a grid of individual maps because obviously calradia (caladria or bleh) cannot fit on a single map

B. Seeing the Details of each map: Each cell has stats that can be displayed from the webpage such as the estimated total player strength, player list, and garrison strengths and weapon stores. The amount that can be seen depends on the ownership of the cell and the location of fellow faction members. For example the all people in a faction share vision of the world map. Additional information can be bought on the market from shady individuals (Spys) or be revealed by rumors from travelers (A random event that happens every time someone enters the region)

a. Spying and Espionage: The unskilled individual can only see basic information on the cell he is currently located in from the webpage
(such as the a unreliable estimation of the number of players there)
but a person with high spy skill can see the player list of both players on the server and those camped there (When you log out of a server it the Strat Net should remember your spot on the world map). Skilled spys can also see the garrison strength and the wealth of a region. A perfect spy can even know more about the area than the governer does. But most importantly spys camped in a region that their faction owns can reduce the ability of rival spys to see their information! As you may expect the spying business is VERY profitable. Spys that find information can sell their findings through a system facilitated by crpg! Meaning that reports on regions can be sold like any other good to the highest bidder!

b. Rumors: Every time a player changes regions there is a chance that he will reveal basic information about the region he came from (The chance is raised by having a more charismatic governer and/or the existance of certain structures)

(yet again its doing the annoying thing with the scrolling)

[MrShovelFace]

[World Map] Continued

C. Traveling the Map: Having a rendered version of the map that relies on the player to walk in game means that to bypass the limits of the map size there must be a mechanism to prevent people from power walking straight across calradia (or caldria or something) in under an hour.

1. Traveler's guide: Entering a new region requires for four things to be true: one, the region on question is adjacent to your own (not diagonal) and two, you have the nessesary supplies to travel to the next region and three, the time between when you enter the region and exit it must be an amount determined by numerous factors (IE traveling with an army of 4000 requires you to have a lot of supplies and you must wait hours) and four, you must meet the standards of the government in the region you are entering
unless they are hostile, allied, or belong to your faction

a. Customs: Different regions have different rules set by the local ruler. tugging 4000 men into a peaceful farming village is not acceptable to most and transferring 300 barrels of liquor through a region owned by prohibitionists is not wise. To break a region's rules will incure varied responses. A trader carring illegal cargo will be painted as an enemy and a large army moving through the region will force the general to choose between turning back and and leaving or staying and declaring war.

b. Move Speed
Your move speed (the time between entering and leaving a region) is determined by a number of things.
-Total weight of your party
-Total weight of your cargo
-The moral of your party
-The terrain
-The number of pack animals
-The number of mounted units

[MrShovelFace]

II. Local Map
1. Overview: The local map is literally defined as the map we play on. It can be accessed at certain times by anyone to perform a multitude of actions. Trading, fighting, and simple sight seeing is what goes on here.

2. Armys and other player groups: Players that want to make more of an impact in any sense have to travel in groups. Group types, benefits, and disadvantages vary so it's important to know the differences. In a group there is one leader. The leader determines the location of the group and players in the group are only able to spawn in the same region as the leader.

A. Troop Numbers vs Player Numbers: Troop numbers and player numbers differ in that Troop number is the maximum times that members of the group are allowed to respawn. The player number is the amount of players traveling with the group. (btw groups can still travel if only the leader is online)

B. Group Types: The types and benefits of groups vary so its important to know all of them

a. Caravan: A caravan is a group type built around trading. Each member in a caravan gains extra carrying capacity and bartering ability. Caravans cannot raid or initiate region attacks. If they do then the caravan is converted into a Brigand type group and forced to remain as such for X amount of time.

b. Army: An army is the purest form of military. An army suffers less from move speed reductions and needs less supplies. An army can also initiate raids and region attacks. However armys cannot travel into neutral regions without first declaring war. Armys can also only be assembled in regions owned by the general's faction.

c. War Bands: War bands is a type of army with the same benefits but it can be formed anywhere. War bands are able to raid anyone but are unable to start region attacks. Warbands are also allowed to travel where ever they want disguised as a caravan. After a week of existance if a War Band has enough players and troops it can convert to an army. This is an extremely powerful ability, the ability to convert to an army right in enemy territory! However if the troop count of the warband goes over 150 it will be forced to either convert to an army or convert to a basic group. Warbands can be discovered by a skilled spy in which case they are open for attack

d. Brigand Group: A brigand group is a collection of scoundrels who raid for a living. Brigand groups raid faster than any other group type and can attack anyone at will. Travel speed for the brigands is incredibly fast. However the brigand group has a high supply consumption which means that their population must remain low. [Individuals who kill neutral players or are neutral and attack aligned forces are automatically converted to brigands unless the dead neutral/aligned has been a brigand in the last 24 hours] Brigands formed from rdming players are considered spontanious brigands and can form anywhere and cannot grow beyond the original group size but brigand groups formed deliberately can grow anywhere but can only form in areas where garrisons are under manned. Brigand cannot initiate region attacks. Brigands are disguised as either a caravan or basic group unless discovered by a person with high spy skill

e. Basic Group: The basic group is simple a group of travelers with low supply use and reduced movement penalties across the world map. They cannot raid and cannot initiate region attacks

f. Company: A company is a group of mercenaries that has abilitys based on it's alignment status. If a Company is aligned with a faction then they can raid and initiate region attacks. If a Company is independant then they have quicker move speed across the world map but cannot initiate region attacks or raid. A company's supply use is 200% affected by the logistics skill and will use supplies much faster than armies so a company leader with low logistics skill will never become significant

3. Attacks
A. Attack types: Attacks have types. Yes they do.
a. Raid: A raid is a form of warfare that pillages the country side causing economic damage as well as some damage to the garrison if they engage. When a hostile group starts a raid the region is converted into a warzone. The raiding group is set as a universal enemy to all groups in that region unless they are aligned or allied with the raiders. The raid then will continue until the raiders retreat (they cannot retreat until X amount of minutes) or until the raiders are all dead. Whichever it is when the raid ends the region is reverted to a peace status.

b. Region Attack: A region attack causes the region to be converted to a warzone and neutral groups are either hired or forced out of the region for the duration of the battle. The Battle has multiple phases the first being the skirmish the 8-12 hour period before the real battle. The defenders of the region spawn in a safe area with no entrances but only exits and can choose to exit the safe zone to skirmish with the attacker. Stealthy raid on other skirmishers can often be risky because ticket loss will happen if a skirmisher dies. All skirmishes happen at night. Next is the actual attack. The defender's safe spot becomes vulnerable and the attackers can attack in earnest. If the defender's tickets are not depleted after 2 and the attacker's tickets do not run out then the siege goes back into the skirmish phase. Attackers can choose to end the fight at this point

[MrShovelFace]

4. Trading

A. Trading basics: The system of trade in strategus is neglected so I'll suggest a new one based on real life!

a. Overview: Trading is not as simple as building a house here and expecting it to shit 30 swords a day, its more complex than that. The stages involve gathering materials with unskilled labor, refining them with skilled labor, and selling them to transporters who then sell them to markets (or to the army)

b. Stage 1: UnSk Labor and Basic Mats: Unlike most things in strategus labor is primarily run by npc's which somehow gather materials without us seeing them ever because of the limitations of M&B. The amount of UnSk Labor depends upon the population vs wealth. If a region has high population and low wealth then the amount of UnSk Labor is high thus the upkeep for laborers is much lower then the opposite. The materials available are dependant on the region. Obviously you arent going to make a bunch of chairs and beds in the middle of a damn desert. Players that set up a basic material enterprise in a region are dependant on the population remaining high and the wealth staying low

c: Stage 2: Sk Labor and Refined Mats: Sk Labor can be found in abundance in areas with high prosperity and low population. Finishing a product usually depends on multiple resources and often requires multiple skilled labor phases to reach a finished product. For example in order for ale to be made you need the Hops which are sent to the brewery which then needs wooden barrels to store the ale

d. Stage 3: Market: Where the products are made is not so much important as where they are sold. Non-military products are taken to regions that have either a shortage or an increased need for the product. Military products are sold to player factions. Moral increasing products like food and drink can be considered military products.



well im beat. Theres my flippin strategus fantasy. One that means something to more than just clan leaders and grind fanatics