Topics

16

Strategus General Discussion / Are you serious guys?

« on: February 19, 2014, 05:05:11 pm »

I'm not even red-lining some obvious alt name or obvious not-clan-members-but-famous-accomplices else I would ran out of red color.


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If there is not enough admin looking for shit like that, I'll personally monitor the most obvious-important upcoming battles/battles archive so people get banned if applying without showing en masse AI side, like in previous rounds, when I wasnt an active player but heard fucked up stories.

And dont even try to apply AND show up BUT play bad on purpose AND give free gear to attackers. This will be a bit harder to monitor and provide screenshot of, but if you try to do this with more than a few inside guys, even your fake in-game nicknames wont protect you from me.



People are watching, you may think you're smart but you aint.

Basically, conquer your stuff the right way or go play lego.

(click to show/hide)

Not particularly pointing fingers at GO & co, you are just the first ones I've seen doing this since yesterday and I wont let this pass. Also, sorry if I have red lined you and you're a honest-to-goodness player who doesnt know whats happening behind the curtains.

17

Strategus General Discussion / Strategus 4 end round snapshot [NA]

« on: December 17, 2013, 05:19:07 pm »

Map split at strat 4 end announcement:
Each faction is labeled once over his headquarter


Small size:
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Normal size:

(click to show/hide)

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Huge size:
Warning: only for neckbeards

(click to show/hide)

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18

Strategus General Discussion / Strategus 4 end round snapshot [EU]

« on: December 17, 2013, 05:41:40 am »

Map split at strat 4 end announcement:
Each faction is labeled once over his headquarter


Small size:
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Normal size:

(click to show/hide)

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Huge size:
Warning: only for big penises

(click to show/hide)

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19

Strategus General Discussion / Strat 4 is over in 6 days

« on: December 17, 2013, 02:05:54 am »

Send armies to attack whoever has a fief next to yours, betray your secrets and friends, roster for the enemy, do random things !!!

This is the...


WEEK OF DOOM !

20

Strategus General Discussion / Wake up EU

« on: December 11, 2013, 03:33:31 pm »

Archived battles EU side:

(click to show/hide)

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Except those 6 battles (some of them agreed on XP battles) we had only mindless rape battles where we wait 5 minutes to play and we flag cap in 1 minute, or very small open field fights.
Now that the 1/3 rule has been tweaked, there is no excuses for not attacking except sheer cowardice and greedy minded plots to "wait for others to move".



Wake up, not only for XP but to keep Strat alive.

21

Strategus General Discussion / Community poll : soft/hard cap for S&D growth?

« on: December 04, 2013, 03:59:20 pm »

This is the top 10 fief's S&D growth for EU :

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Notwithstanding the duration of the strategus round 4, the unlimited and linear process of increasing your prosperity (1 Production Point invested, equal to +2 prosperity) has produced extreme quantity of goods thus silver, to a point where silver does not matter much, except that it is still necessary to round it up and go buy stuff.

Shouldnt prosperity be soft/hard-capped ? Anything that would slow down or even limit the economical power of fiefs would also give more incentive to manage your S&D appropriately.
The first months of strat 4, everyone was guarding their S&D like its their life, it created drama and economical wars. Now that everyone is Cresus, only troops matters: S&D unlimited growth over time has successfully removed a part of the game.



My personal ideas:

(click to show/hide)

Village max S&D growth : X (average, but hard to defend thus hard to depend on)
Castle max S&D growth : Y (low production, incentive to become armouries instead)
City max S&D growth : Z (high, because cities are rare)

Formula for PP cost to Prosperity bonus should become a logarithmic function, like the trade distance bonus (read: PP cost for 1 prosperity increases if you have more prosperity, making it hard to reach very high values).

22

Strategus General Discussion / Community poll : "Provide character stats" always on

« on: November 06, 2013, 06:14:12 pm »

There is a strategus update soon,
(cf: http://forum.melee.org/strategus-general-discussion/the-%271-3-rule%27/msg873608/#msg873608)


I think its a good time to do community polls on relatively small features that could be easily added into the game,
(like with the "commander" poll for cRPG)


So here I propose that when you apply to a strategus battle, you automatically provide your character stats so that the faction managing the roster can have a better control over what kind of soldiers he will be having.

80%+ YES would convince the higher-ups its a good idea.

23

Strategus / Buying troops for anything (Gold, LP, Silver, a village) [EU]

« on: September 20, 2013, 07:14:59 pm »

Title says it all.


If you have troop to sell, PM me your offer of troops and at what rate you wish to trade.

24

Strategus General Discussion / Random crazy idea #47 : troops for S&D

« on: September 04, 2013, 04:14:15 pm »

This strat round has been around for enough time that market growth in every fiefs has reached a point where :


- S&D is piling up everywhere
- everyone has (or can have) millions of gold
- everyone is (or could be) on "cheat mode" and can have top gear for every battles (minus logistic problems)



But troops is still only player-based, so you can have billions upon billions of silver and gear, you need to have players behind you to field a reasonable force.
The alternative to that is the troops market : buying directly to players. At the moment the market is pretty frozen for multiple reasons so it is hard for small factions to have some fun.
Not saying it is bad, thats just the reality, and it prepares for my next argument.

I am in the "billion of gold/gear, no troops" category which is why I though of a way (if not balanced, at least innovative) to result in more possibilities for me, then everyone else too.



What if you could buy mercenary troops in fiefs, using S&D ?



Let's set a random crazy price of 1 mercenary troop = 50 silver
Final price will be 50 x fief S&D price + taxes (minimum of 5 = 250 silver per troop (which is average troop market price), maximum of 25 = 1250 silver per troop, with taxes multiplying from 1 to 2)

Everyone with enough silver in their pocket could go into a fief, and buy mercenaries. Dont expect to get away with a big 10 000 troops unarmed dot on the map though.




Good/Bad effects :


- More available manpower = more stacking (modify the 1/3 rule, remove the old recruitment system completely)

- Controlling fiefs would mean controlling a source of troops = more incentive to conquer and hold territories (over-extension and S&D management will become critical again)

- Economical power would boost Military power = more incentive to have active multi-purpose caravans players (and more power to solo players and opportunities to rebel!)

- Mercenary market and goods market using same ressource = choose between troops and gear (more troops for less gear, or more gear for less troops)

= less silver for faction that would use the mercenary market (indirectly solve the overwhelming silver/gear situation that creates shiny armies for everyone)

- Creates a new way to have troops mid-game = completely changes the manpower generation and geopolitical strenght of factions (Good/Bad depending on viewpoints)

- Easy to steal S&D for mercenaries = armies could be raised anywhere in an instant and would be able to cripple an empire that is not micro-managed a lot (add silver view on dots, add silver stealing on kills, add ways to manage your S&D easily)

- Easy to exploit = go into a fief with lots of weapon crates and silver and 100 men, buy for 5000 mercenary troops and instantly attack the fief you bough it from, and other crazy situations (would be somewhat cool actually...)

- .....

- Other things I could have typed in red or green but did not think of 




Random crazy idea #47, over!

(click to show/hide)

Give troops, I buy very much very costy!

25

Strategus General Discussion / Suggestion : solving AFK dots problem

« on: July 09, 2013, 04:10:29 pm »

There is a lot of players who logged once on strat, and never played again, or that stopped playing.

We cant "erase them" from the map since they have to be logged to play strat battles, even though they dont play on the strategus map itself.


A simple compromise between "erasing" and "doing nothing" would be :

- if a dot doesnt do any action for X amount of time , it becomes inactive and disapear from the map (invisible)
- once the player "comes back", he just respawn randomly, like the first time he logged in


Pros :

- clearer map
- less confusion


Cons :

- need dev team to read the suggestion ! 

26

Strategus General Discussion / Decreasing fief's army for attacks - the Battles Conclave (OPEN)

« on: June 02, 2013, 02:59:42 pm »

Dear megalomaniacal nerds Strategus players,


As you all well know, the rule of having >= 1/3 troops to be able to attack a player, or a fief, is having grave repercussion (verily!) in the end game of this strategus round, seeing how we have been able to grind enough troops to "forbid" attacking fiefs we deliberately (or not) put amazing amount of tickets in.

The situation can be summed up in one image :

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Detailed situation:

(click to show/hide)

To attack a fief which has 6000 army, you need to have an army size of 2000 troops on yourself, at the moment of attack (further reinforcements can be done in the reinforcement timeframe).
To attack a fief which has 9000 army, you need to have en army size of 3000 troops on yourself, at the moment of attack.
etc...

The problem is, that the maximum duration of a battle (the battle timer) is not enough to "use" more tickets than 2000 (approximately, depending on the map, tactics and roster). At the end of said battle timer, the attacker automatically retreats, lose all remaining soldiers and give to the defenders all remaining non-used gear, and 50% of the used gear.

Due to this rule, countless of wars arent fought, simply because we cannot attack!

This is what is killing EU strategus at the moment, and has been the cases for many months, and almost all factions have used this cheap game mechanism to win a defensive war.
We can blame developers for not bending that rule to allow more fun, and defensive factions for creating that situation in the first place, but we, the people, can change this, if we cooperate between attacking and defending factions...
Something that I never seen or heard of, before I yesterday attack on Grunwalder Castle, held by the Apostates, which was deliberately decreased in army size to allow the Grey Order to attack.


With renewed hope in mankind, in the hope that this will become the norm in the future, I hereby create the Battles Conclave for strategus :

* only 1 rule :

- Each faction that applies to this Conclave, has the moral duty to decrease its troops size in a about to be attacked fief, as long as the attacking army has a party size of 1500 men awaiting at the door of your fief, to a garrison size of 4500 men for the time of the agreed upon attack (then the lord put all remaining troops back in the fief in the reinforcement timeframe, at no to little cost to themselves).

(you could use this topic to give screenshots of your army, and call out the faction owner of the fief if he's a member of this group)
(time and conditions of such a "rendez-vous" has to be worked between faction leaders, fief owners and generals)


* only 1 reason to do so :

- To do battles !!!





If you are a leader of a strategus faction, and can speak for it, just pledge to follow that simple rule each time you can, you and all your faction, and sign after you post;

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(click to show/hide)

This topic is the best way I found to try to create a shock to the cynical strategus leaders that believes in the "tactically worthy" doctrin of forbidding strategus players to attack them by garrisonning all troops they can to completely cockblock everyone without having to do anything.

Forum renown/infamy is also a good way to shame people in becoming better and changing strategus in a good way at the same time (like Haboe's homemade rules about things that shouldnt happen in a strategus battle).

I hope I can WILL HAVE the support of all the big knightly strategus factions.

Battles Conclave members list :

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27

Diplomacy / [Rice Eaters]: World at War II [RP]

« on: April 14, 2013, 07:34:29 pm »

French version: to be announced

Previous history: http://forum.meleegaming.com/diplomacy/%28rice-eaters%29-world-at-war-%28rp%29/

Play this in background: http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=F8JvuwOEKmo

(these events took place between february and the middle of march 2013)

Rice Eaters : World at War II

The Chinese Empire invasion forces had caused quite a stir.
Taken by surprise, shocked by the sudden breaking of non agression pact, all the great powers allied with the Templars declared war on them one by one.
The Eastern powers had a war of their own ongoing, far from sight in the distant farmlands of the Western part of Swadia, traditionally held by the Grey Order.
They were dominating their foe until this surprise attack began, which threw a spanner in the works.
It stopped short their advances while they re-organised their forces to submit their new opponent in the south.
The Shu Han and the Rice Eaters had become the center of military attention from half the world in a matter of days.

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Summoning armies from the besieged lands of Uxkhal, exhausted but experienced troops began to converge to the new theatre of war...

Eager to find allies to crush the Chinese Empire to dust, the leaders of the Crusaders Coalition asked all their vassals to join the war.
Some would join and support eagerly, others would promise help that would come shambling, while the last ones would feign to assist while they kept to themselves.
They also sough support with various smaller factions. Rebels paid to ravage their enemies's lands, to die in their stead...
From trustworthy to dubious ones, men and women with an ounce of influence and leadership were hastily included in the joint military forces.
They were given troops and gear, and a general mission : killing any chinese they come across.
One of those rebels, the Ghuraba Caliphate, recently donned with a thousand troops, was moving toward Chaeza, held by the Shu Han forces...

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Running up the few miles that separated the Veluca area from the Shu Han holdings, Garlic's army come in sight of the apparently deserted village

Apart from a few dozens of disgruntled peasants armed with pitchforks and axes, noone resisted the Ghuraba Caliphate attack.
The village fell with considerable ease. The Ghuraba Caliphate had proved their loyalty to the Crusaders Coalition... Did they?
The day after this minor landgrab, Garlic uttered his true loyalty to the world: they were allied with the Chinese Empire in this war, since the beginning.
Using the army that had been freely given to them, they ran away from Chaeza and the other unprotected Shu Han villages north of Jelkala.
Only a skeleton force remained at Chaeza, and they did their best to buy some time to the newly formed Caliphate army running to the Shu Han side...

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"Let the world tremble as it senses all you are about to accomplish. Make them pay dearly each inch of land!!!" Garlic encouraged them before departing

Meanwhile, the armed forces of the Shu Han pushing for Yalen had arrived to the gates of the city. They began besieging the settlement.
General Shemaforash had the duty to organize the encircling of the fief, and so it was ordered to build a massive circle of siege fortifications around Yalen.
"It is crucial to forbid any reinforcements party to come and help the besieged! Put your back onto it engineers!" the general bellowed to his troops.
Thus issued, hands and shovels began to dig the earth, planting poles here and there to prepare the foundations for the building of proper barricades and ditches.
The work was going swiftly, but they were so intent on finishing the earthwork that they forego any naval blockade of the port city...
The Templars were not blind, nor shocked to the point of remaining rooted in their unattacked fiefs in the northern part of their Rhodok colonies...

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A Templar war council is hastily summoned in Maras Castle to prepare for deeds to come...

Having received news of the invasion a mere day or so ago, the Templars led by general Casimir had gathered all support they could in the short time they had.
Faith can move mountains, and nicely laid-out speech can bring to action the most placid of men.
"There is now no hope of escaping. If you fight you will conquer, but if you flee you will fall. Therefore gird yourselves manfully and take up joyful arms for the name of God!"
From the youngest to the elderly, everyone able-bodied and in reach of the fervent patriotic call to arms lifted themselves up and joined the rescue of Yalen.
It was paramount to protect it from being captured, else all the region would fall quickly in the grasp of the Shu Han.
They got on horses, coursers and war horses for the nobles, rounceys and sumpters for the others, and rushed to the fish port of Glunmar, where boats waited for them.

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"Avast, ye lilly livered land lubbers! Aint time to sip yer damn rum, we got some fine ladies to save up that city! BEND THE GODDAMN OARS!!!"

Circling south, as close to the many-hilled coast as they dared to, to conceil their boats from view, they sailed as fast they could, daring not lose one minute.
Still they were manning the oars, when dusk then dawn colored the horizon brightly: a new day, a new hope. Yalen was in view.
All men went ashore, leaving only a handful of sailors to guard the boats.
Landing inside the area between the city and the siege fortifications, they were able to roam free up to the gates of the city.
Completely taken by surprise, the attackers merely observed, abashed, while the Templars patriots trotted proudly, coat of arms blazing in the sun bathed sky.
Nothing could stop them now, they had reached their home, and were going to defend it until they breath their last!

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All but deserting the city, the civilian population of Yalen went out from the fief, ignoring the enemies a quarter of miles away, cheering their saviors rapturously

The chinese soldiers were ordered back at their earthworking. Never let your troops idly considering defeat even when it stares down at them.
An attack was scheduled at the end of morning. Some unsteady officers went to ask the top staff management to reconsider it, in the face of the recent events.
Those few were put to the racks for their insolence, and the first wave of assault was confirmed. Noone will flee his duty today.
Adding to that were the jeers of the now confident defenders, from their city's battlements... It is easy to be brave behind a castle wall, but in the thich of battle?
General Shemaforash had the arduous task to take charge of the first assault. He sounded the reforming horn and put his troops in battle lines.
Withstanding his own impulse to foresake this doomed battleground, he gave the order to begin the attack.

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"Strike up the drum and march courageously! Fight to the last gap! Dont give them time to breath!"

A general confident aura can only do so much... Even with exuberant soldiers, geared with the best armours and weapons the country had to offer.
The ramparts were so high that only the thickest siege ladders could reach them. Even then, most of them were easily pushed back or destroyed.
The soldiers could not set one foot on the walls. The few that did were instantly passed through the sword if not thrown down the battlements like dolls to the wind.
Eager at the rear, raging berserk while charging, scared shitless climbing up... Pushed by those behind. Still they went, persistent in their hubris.
The corpses were piling below the walls, to untold heights. Half the vanguard forces perished without even putting a foothold on the city walls...
The retreat bugle sounded, the army hastily pulled back and rushed to the siege fortifications, out of reach from the defenders.

The tables were beginning to turn, and the Chinese Empire were on the wrong side of it...

To be continued...

28

Diplomacy / [Rice Eaters]: World at War [RP]

« on: April 01, 2013, 05:59:52 pm »

French version: to be announced

Previous history: http://forum.meleegaming.com/diplomacy/%28rice-eaters%29-the-day-of-reckoning-%28rp%29/

Play this in background: http://www.youtuberepeat.com/watch?v=QG7m1L6vSoU

(these events took place in the first days of february 2013)

Rice Eaters : World at War

His throat cleanly slit, the robber baron corpse was growing stiff on the ground. First Templar blood to run over chinese soil, but not last. Justice had been served... What now?
The emperor of Shu Han, Bagge was absent at the time, and so it was the advisors's duty to prepare for any retalation.
In the possibility of a war, the villages north of the bridge of Jelkala would be the first to be attacked by a counter-attacking force.
They were emptied of their population, army and everything that was not fixed to the earth to leave nothing for the future perpetrators.
The inhabitant of the region took refuge in the capital, ignoring why they had to leave their home behind them. Much tears and complaints were heard by the local nobles.
Their duty was to keep the people safe and protected, but they could not tell them why they had to bear such hardship nor share their woe : responsability is a cruel dilemma.

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The road to hell is paved with good intentions. But staying on the right road can be hell itself...

Jelkala bridge was yielding under the combined weight of the chinese civilians passing from the northern region to Jelkala, when the Shu Han emperor returned.
He promptly asserted the situation and called together the Shu Han officers and Rice Eaters top staff management : the Chinese Empire will enter into history!
Shu Han had legions upon legions of seasoned soldiers, stacked together in the epicenter of their country. They would pile on the neighbouring crusader's fiefs and take them by surprise.
The Rice Eaters recent struggles had pushed their war exhaustion high. They would support any actions the Shu Han undertook when they had armies ready to sail out.
Promising help, they still took immediate action in the form of the sending of many combat advisors. Badly veiled mercenaries...
For days, Jelkala's bridge was again the center of many crossed paths. Trodden by thousands of mailed boots, the building all but bucked with the rhythmic pace of the troops.

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Crossing the hilly country-side east of Yalen, the first Shu Han vanguard armies advances toward and beyond their own frontier...

Using no artifice, Shu Han positioned themselves out in the open, in a great line of men, all moving in the same direction : due north-west.
They were still bound with non-agression pact with the Crusader Alliance factions, still they marched to their holdings.
Closing on Epeshe, Dumar and Etrosq, those military moves did not go unnoticed. Diplomats of all kind were sent hastily to reach out to the Shu Han and ask for explanations.
They received no welcome, nor answers. "Let the many envoys wait in my antechambers, while I organize the first strikes in the deep of their Rhodok Highland colonies..." Bagge told its advisors.
As the leading armies laid siege to the villages south of Etrosq and Etrosq itself, still there was chinese armed forces moving en masse out of Jelkala and crossing its river.
They were willing to go all out and only skeleton forces remained to defend the homeland.

Now that the Templar's fiefs were under attack, Shu Han motives were made quite clear. Around six thousands of men were already in place, and six thousands more were on their way.
It was only a sense of decorum that pushed the Shu Han to officially declare war on the Crusader Alliance now that the surprise invasion was already ongoing.
Still it was written and displayed atop every embassies in the known world, and many were the outraging bursts of the factions friendly to the crusaders.
All pacts tieing the Shu Han to the Eastern factions were severed in rapid succession. No amount of words would undo what was done.  If all roads leads to war, then the travelling was at its end.
Swords will clash, armours will break, blooded guts will drench the earth: "rip and tear!" will bellow the berserkers, while the less war-like soldiers will lay down their lives with only duty in mind.
Epeshe and Dumar fell in mere hours, while up in Etrosq Castle, the best of the best of the vanguard armies of Shu Han were preparing to rush to the walls...

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"The whole world is putting together armies against us as I speak. And I say, let the three corners of the world come in arms, and we shall shock them! To arms brothers!" general Corsair roared.

Etrosq castle was surrounded by as many soldiers that were inside. From a statistical point of view, it looked like the attackers would need further waves of attacks to take control of this mighty fief.
Still, taken by surprise, the garrison was occupied with unprepared levies and the armoury was filled to the brim with rusty plates and half-broken swords.
Messengers were sent hastily past secret poterns to ask for reinforcements before the castle would be overrun completely.
Unfortunately, the corridor of earth between Etrosq and Culmarr had been invested by multiple ambushing parties. Most of the messengers were shot on sight or arrested and tortured.
Those that were lucky enough to go past never went back with reinforcements...
There was nothing left to reinforce.

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Bagge strides atop Etrosq castle battlements, challenging Culmarr to come for help...

The castle siege went very poorly for the heart-struck defenders of Etrosq. Aye, very poorly indeed.
The walls were quickly destroyed by Shu Han engines of siege, at a weak point in the structure that commanded both the left and the right wing.
Unable to man every part of the walls equally, the besieging army focused its attack on one part of the castle wing with dozens of siege ladders. The effect was brutal beyond measure.
Without the mean to access to the side of the castle under attack, the defenders quickly lost its control.
More ladders were sent from this bridgehead to the other parts of the castle where the remaining Templar soldiers were awaiting their doom.
They were pushed to the corners of the castle and struck down without mercy, to the last man...



Few accounts of besieged castles tells tales of a quick as lightning capture such as this one. Bolstered by this crushing victory, Shu Han eyes were already setting on Yalen, the capital of the region itself.
If it was to fall as this one did, this invasion campaign would become the most succesfull of all Calradia wars! Does this dream will come true?
It was decided that Etrosq would stay defended by those who took it, and will forbid any enemies to pass forth the newly conquered fief.
The Crusader Alliance will have to retake control of the fortress or avoid it and push directly in the Shu Han Lowlands in the south, and risk being cut off and destroyed.
Thus handing out missions, accordingly to ranks and leadership prowess, the bulk of the Shu Han horde marched out to Yalen, that was at the time manned with a mere militia of two thousands men.
Certainly, total victory was at hand?

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Meanwhile, in a clearing near the city of Veluca, men clad in black armours atop great horses negotiate the fate of the world...

A helmeted figure speaks : "The Shu Han has no respect for honor, nor any knowledge of how the world should be ruled. We have to act, and we have to act fast. All in favor of a military coalition?"
"AYE!"
"AYE!"
"AYE!"
"AYE!"

To be continued...

Next history: http://forum.meleegaming.com/diplomacy/%28rice-eaters%29-world-at-war-ii-%28rp%29/

29

Strategus General Discussion / I had a dream..... themed battle

« on: March 28, 2013, 02:28:34 pm »

Im a big proponent of "PROVIDE STATS PER DEFAULT" + STF enabled for strategus, would make what I'm going to say completely doable without having to "announce" it on the forum.

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(SO HARD TO DO???)



What I find boring, to some point, in strat battles, is the fact that the average of "builds" participating in them is (half of the time) quite static:

About 10% cav, 10% dedicated ranged, the 80% left approx divided in 3 by pole/1H/2H (a thing to learn for those who form the gear for armies)



Sometimes you get your occasionnal : OMFG they have superior number of cavalry, or OMFG they have superior number of ranged or whatever, but this isnt the norm (and when that happens, you're quite mad because you know there wont be enough horses/bow/special weapons n°4 for them...).




When real life armies were formed, they werent formed so that they would outfit any randomers that would come and say : hey, I like that weapon and the look of that helmet is astounding, I will take those, great thanks milord!


In reality, it would have been like this:

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Men would be recruited and trained in one (or multiple) way of war, and they would be sent with such and such forces to form an army that would have strength and weakness, not all the time good all-around cavalry/archery/infantry/siege weaponry.


So.... with that in mind, how about we "organize" such battles and force it down the throat of the players, in a non-committal way ?


Official Organisation!


Someone launch an invitation with the following form:

Size : XXX versus XXX
Type of units : X% of Y, X% of Z (or 100% of this or that)
Battle rules : roster limit for attackers/defenders (dont recruit past X players, to balance the battle more artificially), or no roster limit, make attacks per wave (when you respawn wait for next wave and dont attack), or classic capture the flag battle, only chars with "provide stats" ticked could be accepted (no trolls 1 WPF or pubber that would RQ), or everyone can be accepted; other battle rules that could be planned beforehand...
Special rules : no such weapons; battle in such locations (plains, forest, hills, mountains); I offer X if you win, and you give me Y if I win (bet system?); at the beginning of the fight, both sides send their "best man" to duel; any ideas that you want and that the other have to agree on, really anything worth the investment and the fun!

Comments : anything worthwhile to say?


To ease the maddening skull-throbbing of the people, the actual commanders going for the fight would QUIT THEIR REAL FACTION and create a FAKE ONE that would describe what this army is COMPOSED OF.

Example:
 
commander Imperiale_Lu_Butan, quitted faction and created his own named ONLY CAVALRY
commander Merc_Haboe, quitted faction and created his own named ONLY PIKEMEN

They go at each other and people would see this:
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Planning the day of the fight, and doing a proper "publicity" around the small event + this "created faction for the event" small tool would suffice to eliminate 90% of the problem of not having the gameplay tools to create such an event.
Then the only thing that will possible undo those themed battle, is the:

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mentality that has befallen half of EU Strategus.



But I wouldnt have posted that thread if I had no hope someone, somewhere, will take my invitation and find joy into the spilling of blood and stop the "good battles and xp for all, yah?" hypocrisy because most of the time, battles are done when you're 99% sure you will win and gain uber benefit from it (from the strategus leaders POV).



If noone finds any fault in my reasoning, or have a good idea about how to improve it, the organization will stay as it is, so how about we pass directly to the "proposition" part ?

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Strategus General Discussion / Zlisch's suggested strat tweaks

« on: March 20, 2013, 01:14:38 am »

Been playing strategus somewhat actively since the start of round 4, there are huge issues with strat, but from what I’ve seen, most of the issues that aren’t gear duplication bugs don’t require any major overhauls. I’m writing this to go over the issues and propose solutions that I think would solve them.

First off, and this may sound like somewhat of a joke, people liking each other. The fact that half the map loves half the map and hates the other half of the map is a gigantic issue, this is an issue of player mentality, and I see only one solution, trying to get players to hate more factions than just half of the map. Now, a lot of people would say that you can’t force people to go to conflicts with each other, I disagree. Removing the voting system is my proposed solution, and instead of replacing it with AI fiefs again, replace it with randomized fief distribution. This solves two issues at once, first off, people liking each other to much, secondly, factions always claiming the exact same land. It’ll not be 100% fair, everyone who spawns have a chance of getting a fief and being teleported to it (only one fief per player), this will split empires up, make people feel screwed over, and create a huge chaos at start, which I believe would be the best chance of a nonelinear nonebloc war.



The second issue, Narra, take a look at it, 30k troops. The amount of troops people have quickly spiral out of control quickly, Narra is a great example of this, but really, so is grey order being alive.  Strategus desperately needs a food system, functioning as a second upkeep, and a cap on how many troops can exist at once. Every fief should generate some food. Castles only covering the standard population therefore while the peasants don’t starve any garrison would need food to keep going on.  Villages should be the big producers of food, they should be the ones allowing for thousands of men each, this would stop retreating to castles and holding off for half a year being an option, it’ll make capturing and defending villages actually matter, and it’ll actually allow for a real siege, starving the garrison out. Towns should probably produce food for about 3k men, most of which would be automatically taken by the population anyhow. If food was a factor people would also feel like being more offensive, at least once they’re at their “limit” in troops. It is probably the biggest and the second most essential feature I’m asking for, as it’d even need decay to ensure that people don’t horde insane amounts of food and then create gigantic armies, and it’d need to weight a lot to force people to not travel through larger areas without raiding a bit or enforcing whoever owns the land to give them food to cover the journey. Food should preferably also be free, and only be distributable by the fief owner or rank 10 faction members.


Thirdly, battles, I feel strategus battles need heavy alterations; I feel they’re the only part of strategus that actually need to be redone from scratch. This entire TDM+flags system just isn’t all that great, it doesn’t encourage life preservation and winning the clashes doesn’t really matter that much.
My proposed system:  Have both sides spawn at the start of a battle, have one big unsheathable unusable by cav flag spawn with each team, have the flag weight some insane amount (like 20-40), and allow high ranking faction members to set settings for who is able to pick up the flag (if there are no high ranking faction members on everyone should be allowed). From here on no regular respawning, a timer based on the amount of players is kicked off, and whatever team manages to capture the other teams’ flag and bring it in contact with their own flag wins the round, if the timer runs out the attackers of course lose the round.
Any side can also call for reinforcements, once per round, this causes the other teams dead to respawn at their flag instantly, and it causes their own dead to respawn behind flag in 30 seconds. Along with this the team that didn’t call for reinforcements get 25% of their dead turned into “severely wounded” troops, these are troops who can’t fight for the entire battle but will join the army if they win the battle, and if they lose a minor percentage of them (10%?) spawns with the player somewhere on the map.
Once a round is done 10% of the losing team deserts, 50% of the potential survivors of the round desert, the rest become prisoners (prisoners are tradegoods that always have 1000% or 500% (or something else like it) distance bonus and can only be acquired through battles) the winning team gets 10% of their dead turned into “lightly wounded” troops, meaning that they are resurrected and can fight again in the next round, along with that 15% of their dead troops turn into “severely wounded” troops.
Then the next round starts, rounds continue until one team is completely dead, or until X amount of time, after which the battle is halted and can continue the next day.
And please allow for people to sign up for certain timeslots of the battle (like from 14:00 to 14:30), so that the larger armies wouldn’t need to find people willing to spend several hours playing.


Fourth issue, the 1/3rd attacking cap, it needs to be removed, I propose replacing it with allowing armies that are under attack by armies smaller than themselves to keep moving.

Final minor other suggestions:
Replacing troops being grinded from players to troops being grinded and bought out of population, maybe allow players to still grind troops, but at a much slower pace than they do now, currently in order for smaller factions to function they need to convince random people to log onto strategus and grind troops for them, the system is a huge buff to people capable of gathering several hundred halfinactive uninterested users, and is not something I find likeable.
There seriously needs to be a limit to the amount of goods it is possible for an amount of troops to carry, currently people just walk around with ten thousand goods on 1k troops.

discuss