cRPG

cRPG => General Discussion => Topic started by: Belmont on November 25, 2011, 04:58:35 pm

Title: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Belmont on November 25, 2011, 04:58:35 pm
This is not an official poll, I am just interested in what the community thinks as more and more clans and players are quitting Strategus partly or completely.

Personally, I do not enjoy Strategus at all. It has grown stale and I think that too much development time is invested into Strategus instead of cRPG.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Christo on November 25, 2011, 04:59:26 pm
Personally, I do not enjoy Strategus at all. It has grown stale and I think that too much development time is invested into Strategus instead of cRPG.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: chadz on November 25, 2011, 05:01:21 pm
And the solution would be.. to put less development time into strategus? Did I miss something very clever here?
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Teeth on November 25, 2011, 05:04:52 pm
I miss an option. 'I do not, but Strategus needs further developing, because it has potential.'

I like the basic idea behind Strategus. It could be very fun. It is just very hard to make Strategus accessible, not grindrewarding, fun for both clans and individuals and balanced. I have sometimes enjoyed Strategus. But as it is now I don't really care about it. I hope it gets further developed, there is just so much potential awesomeness.

Would prefer a cRPG patch first though, although balance is pretty good now. Just new items and hopefully a new gamemode.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Belmont on November 25, 2011, 05:09:35 pm
And the solution would be.. to put less development time into strategus? Did I miss something very clever here?

I have a feeling that lately the patches have been more and more centered around Strategus completely with very few cRPG improvements (but that does not mean they are not good: the slot system and almost all the balance changes have been a great improvement). For example, your latest poll (http://forum.c-rpg.net/index.php/topic,21125.0.html) has only one option regarding cRPG while the remaining eight options are all about Strategus. I am quite sure that there will be several improvements regarding cRPG included in the patch but I personally feel the balance of development has shifted from cRPG (something most people way more than Strategus) to Strategus (which incites a lot of drama, which can be seen as both a good and bad thing. However, the hacking/exploiting that happened during Round 2 were a very negative development of the drama/hate).

This does not mean that I dislike the work the dev team is doing, not at all. The game has been constantly improving since 2.00 but I would love to see the focus of development be cRPG and not Strategus.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Everkistus on November 25, 2011, 05:10:12 pm
I want to see the Stronghold gametype in.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: BlameMeForTheNoise on November 25, 2011, 05:21:44 pm
More cRPG would be awesome. What about a "real" Deathmatch or even Team-Deathmatch-mode? I know this is kinda "conventional" but i thoroughly enjoy it in Native and would love to see it in cRPG.

I feel strategus is not something for me. Its more like an advanced browser game which i never enjoy for some reason. I mean sometimes the fights can be really nice, but all the other stuff is simply not my taste. I like the effort put in it though.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Magikarp on November 25, 2011, 05:47:38 pm
Strategus got boring for me just before the last wipe. I just don't feel any excitement. I was foolish enough to think the c-rpg team was skilled enough to make the singleplayer into a full scale multiplayer. That didn't happen, instead we got a browser game with battles that we fight using the equipment we bought/made ourselves.

I'd like more love for c-rpg, which should be the foundation of this whole mod (I mean the damned site is even called c-rpg.net!).

C-rpg is dying!  :cry:
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: LordBerenger on November 25, 2011, 06:00:56 pm
Strategus got boring for me just before the last wipe. I just don't feel any excitement. I was foolish enough to think the c-rpg team was skilled enough to make the singleplayer into a full scale multiplayer. That didn't happen, instead we got a browser game with battles that we fight using the equipment we bought/made ourselves.

I'd like more love for c-rpg, which should be the foundation of this whole mod (I mean the damned site is even called c-rpg.net!).

C-rpg is dying!  :cry:

Listen to the fish!
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: chadz on November 25, 2011, 06:01:39 pm
I was foolish enough to think the c-rpg team was skilled enough to make the singleplayer into a full scale multiplayer.

You were foolish to think that this was the goal.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: BlameMeForTheNoise on November 25, 2011, 06:43:59 pm
He is foolish in general. But he is right when he says crpg needs some love. :)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Osiris on November 25, 2011, 07:01:59 pm
The main problem with strat is despite the changes it is still just a game for leaders and non clan members.

Last strat clan members just had to sit and earn gold and transfer. Now we just sit and either recruit or craft then transfer. Its hard to make that fun for normal members :P
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: chadz on November 25, 2011, 07:07:03 pm
The main problem with strat is despite the changes it is still just a game for leaders and non clan members.

Last strat clan members just had to sit and earn gold and transfer. Now we just sit and either recruit or craft then transfer. Its hard to make that fun for normal members :P

totally agree. I'm just running out of ideas :P
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Visconti on November 25, 2011, 07:18:21 pm
totally agree. I'm just running out of ideas :P

With your new fief ownership idea, why dont you make it so it adds up all of the factions population and then divide the exp/gold between all members of the faction? That way the normal members also gain something from playing Strat?
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Kastu on November 25, 2011, 07:26:38 pm
I think strategus is ok but Massassin is better.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Kalam on November 25, 2011, 08:11:38 pm
Strategus is the only reason I play this game as regularly as I do. Without it, I would probably duel every now and then and that would be it. I know that some of the people I play with feel the same way. Keep in mind that our faction does things a little differently, and so our people are generally involved regardless of leadership status.

I mean, fuck, what other games allow you to fight for virtual land with the best combat system I've ever encountered? Granted, we haven't had anything awesome (maybe... that Order of the Fury Blades vs. Hate village battle) in awhile, but I remember one or two battles that conjured scenes from epics last Strat, and even more from the Strat before that.

And don't forget, we have fucking catapults and shit now- it's just that no one has the gold to use them properly.

I'm not too fond of the details (I like the broad strokes idea) of the current version of Strategus, but I have faith that it will improve.

Some things that could help improve individual playability:

Shared bonuses on player marriage- divorce incurs a penalty.

Assassination is possible, with 1 attacker involved in the battle only. If successful, it takes the player out of the game for a small number of days.

Champion Warfare option. Non-clannies with giant e-peens could offer to champion some faction or other.

Some sort of infiltration mechanic. 


Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Gnjus on November 25, 2011, 08:33:44 pm
Shared bonuses on player marriage- divorce incurs a penalty.

To hell with you Kalam, you wanna make this old crippled fool even more handicapped then he already is.......Lisa, Rose, Mala, Vicky, Coy....how many more of these bloody penalties you wanna apply on me ???  :rolleyes:

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: a_bear_irl on November 25, 2011, 09:00:20 pm
CRPG's balance issues (read: archers) should be addressed. assuming you play crpg regularly strat might take up about 5% of your time - log on, give your sheep to a guy, log off. have a battle occasionally. i don't think crpg should just be left twisting in the wind for strat. the balance issues fucking up CRPG will also affect strat once people get enough gold to let their archers use the currently broken hornbow-bodkin combo.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Slamz on November 25, 2011, 09:24:21 pm
The only thing they need to address in c-rpg that I can think of is the door bug in Siege.  First round of siege, all doors are half health.  This has never been fixed and I guess never will be if there are no developers interested in Siege.

Siege maps still need work but that could be fixed with mapmakers rather than developers.

"Archer imbalance" is laughable since archers are still very rarely topping the charts.  #1 is almost always a premier cavalry guy.  If there is no premier cavalry guy, it'll be a premier two-hander or polearm guy.  Premier archers top the charts only rarely.  Balance is actually better than ever now.  People just don't like it because they don't want balance -- they want their two-hander/polearm to be unbalanced and they cry when it's not.

They could certainly look at changing/adding to the battle server map lineup but that doesn't take a developer.



So other than the one glaring siege bug, I see no reason not to keep focus on Strategus.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 25, 2011, 09:36:41 pm
totally agree. I'm just running out of ideas :P
Crazy idea. You can't transfer stuff. AT ALL! No gold, troop, equipment or Trade Goods (ok, maybe trade goods) transfer. BUT! You can still reinforce people who are gonna fight (no time slots, all the time you want up until the battle starts), you can also "Follow" (should be improved from what it is now) and maybe some other stuff. Basically everyone is their own Warband, everyone doing their own stuff independently or in a groups where they are actually together.

Crazy idea, I know.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Gnjus on November 25, 2011, 09:36:46 pm
"Archer imbalance" is laughable since archers are still very rarely topping the charts.  #1 is almost always a premier cavalry guy.  If there is no premier cavalry guy, it'll be a premier two-hander or polearm guy.  Premier archers top the charts only rarely.  Balance is actually better than ever now.  People just don't like it because they don't want balance -- they want their two-hander/polearm to be unbalanced and they cry when it's not.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Thomek on November 25, 2011, 09:56:47 pm
chadz :)

I love the idea of strategus.. But perhaps it's just too slow?

What if it was greatly sped up, so that there were more, and faster battles? What's wrong with having 6 epic scale battles in one evening?

I'm thinking that it would be cool if you could move really fast around. Of course it would reward the "always there" members more than those who check in once a day, but even so, does it really matter?

If it was sped up, 1 player could gather an army alone in an active week and a attack a village the week after.

I think SPEED vs PLAYERBASE is a keyword. Perhaps one more server should be dedicated to strat.. Dunno :)

Just a solution for something of an easy fix. Resets would also happen more often..

Edit: And speed in a beta-phase wouldn't hurt either I think. Potential exploits and problems etc would be discovered quicker.

Edit2: And thanks for the loompoint!!
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Slamz on November 25, 2011, 10:28:55 pm
(click to show/hide)

My advice is don't make the devs examine balance any further or you'll see cavalry and long reach melee weapons nerfed.  I can support my position by playing c-rpg and screenshotting the scoreboard every round.

You got nothin'.
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Magikarp on November 25, 2011, 11:10:01 pm
You were foolish to think that this was the goal.
Who said anything about goals? It was merely something I expected down the road, or at least hoped for. I was foolish enough to think it was possible, this has nothing to do with goals.

Looking at the past, strategus was more of a spin-off for me than anything. C-rpg was the reason people came to this mod, the reason I came to buy warband even! Yet it's getting ignored big time now.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Teeth on November 25, 2011, 11:57:30 pm
chadz, if you have trouble with coming up with ideas, steal them. Copycat Total War, Europa Universalis and Lords of the Realms. Only thing is you need to adapt features for multiplayer and make them balanced.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Joker86 on November 26, 2011, 12:10:31 am
and make them balanced.

With THIS dev team?  :rolleyes:  :wink:
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Gnjus on November 26, 2011, 09:36:09 am
My advice is don't make the devs examine balance any further or you'll see cavalry and long reach melee weapons nerfed.  I can support my position by playing c-rpg and screenshotting the scoreboard every round.

You got nothin'.
(click to show/hide)

You're either NA or you tell the truth only by accident.

(click to show/hide)

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Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Slamz on November 26, 2011, 11:11:29 am
NA.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Paul on November 26, 2011, 12:01:54 pm
The driving force behind the archer scare is hysteria and probably trolling from some selected individuals who actually know better.

Archers are too effective in Strategus because of the low amount of armour, horses and quality shields arounds. Also it is a lot cheaper to field an archer instead of a halfway decently armed/armored infantry man. That's why clans seek to increase their amount of ranged and especially archer mains. I have seen it in the clan I am. I'm pretty sure that if there is an increase of archers on the servers it is because of Strategus and not because archery suddenly went OP. Archers in Strategus will most likely change in some way to make them less effective. However in normal cRPG I firmly believe they are fine.

I tried it out, I recently respect my old 1 slot archer, taking away his melee abilites to make him a pure archer using 1 slot bow and bodkins only. I'm not a bad shot but this is my least effective class performancewise. With all other set ups I have a greater impact on the round outcome - even with the joke builds. Maybe with looms that would change drastically but I somehow doubt it.

The light armor and reduced awareness compared to a crossbowman(reloading) is a bad combination for me. With no other "class" I am as vulnerable to cav sneak attacks. Armor usually allows me to make at least one mistake in a round, a luxury I don't have as an archer. Also my damage output is rather low even with the expensive(increased break chance) bodkins. I usually end up shooting other lightly armored ranged instead of targeting armored inf.

In Native (where ranged is about twice or trice as effective) it has always been a running gag to tell a 2h or polearm guy to "buy a shield" if they complained about ranged. Different to Native in cRPG going without a shield as inf a viable option - even with skilled players on the other team. In fact, along with (expensive to maintain) melee cav, 2h and polearm guys perform best if one takes k/d ratio as an indicator. The same indicator that suggests that on average archers are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain, sharing the honor with our beloved throwers.

And still it's unacceptable that shieldless inf has more or less a natural counter in archers. Getting shot is unfair. Getting told to buy a shield is racism.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Gnjus on November 26, 2011, 12:07:32 pm
(click to show/hide)

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: HarunYahya on November 26, 2011, 12:12:14 pm
Crazy idea. You can't transfer stuff. AT ALL! No gold, troop, equipment or Trade Goods (ok, maybe trade goods) transfer. BUT! You can still reinforce people who are gonna fight (no time slots, all the time you want up until the battle starts), you can also "Follow" (should be improved from what it is now) and maybe some other stuff. Basically everyone is their own Warband, everyone doing their own stuff independently or in a groups where they are actually together.

Crazy idea, I know.
This is a tremendeous idea !
But its not playable.
Everyone err well most of the people have a social life here if you do that only 5-10 guys will be able to play strat.
That would sound good if it was an interactive game but its too much time spending for a browser based game which has a 2d map and few commands to do.

chadz :)

I love the idea of strategus.. But perhaps it's just too slow?

What if it was greatly sped up, so that there were more, and faster battles? What's wrong with having 6 epic scale battles in one evening?

I'm thinking that it would be cool if you could move really fast around. Of course it would reward the "always there" members more than those who check in once a day, but even so, does it really matter?

If it was sped up, 1 player could gather an army alone in an active week and a attack a village the week after.

I think SPEED vs PLAYERBASE is a keyword. Perhaps one more server should be dedicated to strat.. Dunno :)

Just a solution for something of an easy fix. Resets would also happen more often..

Edit: And speed in a beta-phase wouldn't hurt either I think. Potential exploits and problems etc would be discovered quicker.

Edit2: And thanks for the loompoint!!
This , i totally agree !
Having peasant vs peasant village battles for a month = no fun.
Attacking a city with this production rates will take a year probably...
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Xant on November 26, 2011, 12:20:28 pm
What is this, a serious post from Paul? Could it be he is off the booze for once?!
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Slamz on November 26, 2011, 12:29:47 pm
Archers are too effective in Strategus because of the low amount of armour, horses and quality shields arounds. Also it is a lot cheaper to field an archer instead of a halfway decently armed/armored infantry man.

Oh in Strategus I agree.  Archers are the name of the game there because of cost.

We were discussing archers in c-rpg, specifically in regards to the devs not needing to waste time "balancing" them when they are balanced quite nicely right now -- better than ever, really.  Before this change, I never saw archers top the charts.  Now, sometimes, they do.  But not usually.  So it's better, but 2H/polearm/cav still dominates.

What can be done to balance them better in strategus, I don't know.  Fixing the loot bug so people aren't afraid to bring heavier armor would be a good start!

Quote
And still it's unacceptable that shieldless inf has more or less a natural counter in archers.

I assume you mean the shieldless people find it unacceptable.  I think it's fine.  Really I don't think getting a shield is as good as just getting some basic throwing skill and two stacks of daggers.  Or a crossbow if you don't want to spend wpf.

My 2-hander has PT 4 and enough wpf to use it (also 6 athletics and I don't wear heavy plate).  I beat archers regularly enough.  They can't stand there and shoot at me for free unless they want a high chance of a throwing axe in the brain.  And when they turn and run, it's great -- throwing axe in the back and if I miss, I just pick it back up as I pass by, still chasing them, and throw it again.  With 6 athletics, I'm actually faster than the str-heavy archers and they can't run.  The tradeoff is I'm not as good at melee combat against the 100% 2-h specialists.  They have 0 PT, no throwing wpf, 0 athletics and all those points are in improving their melee and toughness.  And they wear heavy armor.

When archers shoot them full of arrows, that's the price they pay for wanting to be super tank melee specialists.

I think that's good game design in motion.  You can specialize in 100% melee and you will be a god among men at that one thing, but you will have counters.  Or you can diversify, be much stronger against those counters but weaker against the specialists.


Exactly the way it should be.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Sharky on November 26, 2011, 12:59:24 pm
totally agree. I'm just running out of ideas :P
A good way to promote strat would be giving bonuses to all members, not just to leaders that have fiefs. Leaders don't need bonuses, they have a fief probably because they already enjoy strat and are willing to put effort in it.
Who needs to be persuaded are regular players.
A lot of crpg players are obsessed with grinding, so if you don't give xp and gold for fighting strat battles and doing stuffs on strat they will loose
interest in it soon.

Also more land would help, atm only the older and bigger clans manage to find and keep some land for a while.

Oh and the micromanage increase not only is boring, but is not good at all for the balance. It only makes the most organized clans even more powerful, while others will not be able to catch up.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 26, 2011, 01:23:09 pm
This is a tremendeous idea !
But its not playable.
Everyone err well most of the people have a social life here if you do that only 5-10 guys will be able to play strat.
That would sound good if it was an interactive game but its too much time spending for a browser based game which has a 2d map and few commands to do.
Crazy idea is crazy :P
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Teeth on November 26, 2011, 01:49:24 pm
The driving force behind the archer scare is hysteria and probably trolling from some selected individuals who actually know better.

Archers are too effective in Strategus because of the low amount of armour, horses and quality shields arounds. Also it is a lot cheaper to field an archer instead of a halfway decently armed/armored infantry man. That's why clans seek to increase their amount of ranged and especially archer mains. I have seen it in the clan I am. I'm pretty sure that if there is an increase of archers on the servers it is because of Strategus and not because archery suddenly went OP. Archers in Strategus will most likely change in some way to make them less effective. However in normal cRPG I firmly believe they are fine.

I tried it out, I recently respect my old 1 slot archer, taking away his melee abilites to make him a pure archer using 1 slot bow and bodkins only. I'm not a bad shot but this is my least effective class performancewise. With all other set ups I have a greater impact on the round outcome - even with the joke builds. Maybe with looms that would change drastically but I somehow doubt it.

The light armor and reduced awareness compared to a crossbowman(reloading) is a bad combination for me. With no other "class" I am as vulnerable to cav sneak attacks. Armor usually allows me to make at least one mistake in a round, a luxury I don't have as an archer. Also my damage output is rather low even with the expensive(increased break chance) bodkins. I usually end up shooting other lightly armored ranged instead of targeting armored inf.

In Native (where ranged is about twice or trice as effective) it has always been a running gag to tell a 2h or polearm guy to "buy a shield" if they complained about ranged. Different to Native in cRPG going without a shield as inf a viable option - even with skilled players on the other team. In fact, along with (expensive to maintain) melee cav, 2h and polearm guys perform best if one takes k/d ratio as an indicator. The same indicator that suggests that on average archers are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain, sharing the honor with our beloved throwers.

And still it's unacceptable that shieldless inf has more or less a natural counter in archers. Getting shot is unfair. Getting told to buy a shield is racism.
However in normal cRPG I firmly believe they are fine, if they wouldn't be roofmonkeys
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Lezard on November 26, 2011, 01:51:39 pm
I tried it out, I recently respect my old 1 slot archer, taking away his melee abilites to make him a pure archer using 1 slot bow and bodkins only. I'm not a bad shot but this is my least effective class performancewise. With all other set ups I have a greater impact on the round outcome - even with the joke builds. Maybe with looms that would change drastically but I somehow doubt it.

Archers main purpose isn't (or shouldn't be) to top the kill score board, it's to create tactical advantages. The true strenght of archers shows when they come in numbers. A constant flow of arrows can not only cause a lot of death, but also inspire fear into enemy lines. For example, just knowing enemy archers have you in their sight can cause confusion and a lot of stress, which leads to making mistakes etc. Not to mention archers can shoot down cavalry at range, create lockdowns and deadly crossfires.

But the main problem here isn't vanilla archers without looms, it's the looms that fucks up the balance. The damage boost for MW bow and MW arrows combined with pierce damage gets pretty rediculous. The damage combined with a high rate of fire make them extremely deadly and valuable.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Xant on November 26, 2011, 02:02:54 pm
^ Yep, the looms are what really breaks archery damage apparently. And like Leztard says, they create tactical advantages... team with more archers can force the entire enemy team to hide behind one building, then they get surrounded and die.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Camaris on November 26, 2011, 02:21:18 pm
totally agree. I'm just running out of ideas :P

http://forum.c-rpg.net/index.php/topic,20362.0.html
Look at this thread.
I like some of his ideas.
Especially Fief Loyality.

Another idea is to allow (after you implemented payment) mercs to bring their own equipment to battle.
Single players could use their gold to equip themselve and offer their work to factions.
They so can do useful things in the browsergame and in the battles without being part of big alliances.

If you manage to code that they are able to chose what equip they want to bring it would be even more awesome.
They probably cant fight every battle but they will be able to do some of them.

For factions it would make sense to pay mercs finally.
It would boost trading too cause caravans would be able to hire already equipped mercs if they get attacked.
If you dont want people being able to jump in from everywhere with equipment you could add a radius around battles
where mercs can bring their own stuff.

Those "new" mercs with own equipment would try now to be in the warzones of strategus. => even more dynamic => more action on the map.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: SchokoSchaf on November 26, 2011, 03:07:03 pm
Kill troop recruitment, make every Player in Strategus 1 person/ticket, max 2

Make some powerful positions like kings, clerics and stuff, who are the only ones to get an regular no-action-involved income of sorts and a fairly selective trading system that supports a "trading" class or caravans in which 10 guards are protecting 1 trader
(short: make trading and earning money hard for single people, implement some sort of hirarchy/employment between players)

Speed things up like Thomek said.



Edit: This way, single and not so active players could sign up for jobs and battles and still make a difference; there would be more action in general; people with too much time could try to become a powerful important person and you got a lot of scheming and diplomatics; those powerful people could start epic battles more at least once a week?

Edit2:
that's in no way thought through, just some basic ideas.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Leshma on November 26, 2011, 04:47:27 pm
The driving force behind the archer scare is hysteria and probably trolling from some selected individuals who actually know better.

Archers are too effective in Strategus because of the low amount of armour, horses and quality shields arounds. Also it is a lot cheaper to field an archer instead of a halfway decently armed/armored infantry man. That's why clans seek to increase their amount of ranged and especially archer mains. I have seen it in the clan I am. I'm pretty sure that if there is an increase of archers on the servers it is because of Strategus and not because archery suddenly went OP. Archers in Strategus will most likely change in some way to make them less effective. However in normal cRPG I firmly believe they are fine.

I tried it out, I recently respect my old 1 slot archer, taking away his melee abilites to make him a pure archer using 1 slot bow and bodkins only. I'm not a bad shot but this is my least effective class performancewise. With all other set ups I have a greater impact on the round outcome - even with the joke builds. Maybe with looms that would change drastically but I somehow doubt it.

The light armor and reduced awareness compared to a crossbowman(reloading) is a bad combination for me. With no other "class" I am as vulnerable to cav sneak attacks. Armor usually allows me to make at least one mistake in a round, a luxury I don't have as an archer. Also my damage output is rather low even with the expensive(increased break chance) bodkins. I usually end up shooting other lightly armored ranged instead of targeting armored inf.

In Native (where ranged is about twice or trice as effective) it has always been a running gag to tell a 2h or polearm guy to "buy a shield" if they complained about ranged. Different to Native in cRPG going without a shield as inf a viable option - even with skilled players on the other team. In fact, along with (expensive to maintain) melee cav, 2h and polearm guys perform best if one takes k/d ratio as an indicator. The same indicator that suggests that on average archers are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain, sharing the honor with our beloved throwers.

And still it's unacceptable that shieldless inf has more or less a natural counter in archers. Getting shot is unfair. Getting told to buy a shield is racism.

Native warband has bad balance, c-rpg warband has a little bit better but still crappy balance.

You (and Fasader, Complex...) balance things in this mod based on reports (battle/siege server statistics) and whines from the biggest portion of this community (people who play range classes).

How about you guys cut that crap and start balancing the game based on logic? You know, things like risk/reward. Archery and ranged in general are low risk roles, why should they be able to kill as my 2H fighter who actively engage in battle. Most of the time I have trouble keeping with cavalry players of same skill because they have speed advantage and damage advantage over me (yet they are low risk class as well).

For the love of god, stop looking at damn kill statistics when you balance this mod. If you must, nerf armour of 2H/polearm fighters but don't punish us for actively engaging in fight and playing the only class that worth something in this silly indie game which has horrible animations and even worse net code.

Everyone else got it easier (and less interesting) than people who choose to manual block. Why punish them for choosing to play the most rewarding class?

Cavalry was cool until you made it boring (cowardly backstabbing is the only way for most cav). Archery was cool when only pierce bow was longbow.

And don't put yourselves above "certain individuals who should know better". You're no better than them, they just play the game and occasionally QQ mainly because ranged (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DzcOCyHDqc) make them rage a lot. You, on the other hand, ruin this mod with every "balance" change you make!
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Gheritarish le Loki on November 26, 2011, 04:51:07 pm
My advice is don't make the devs examine balance any further or you'll see cavalry and long reach melee weapons nerfed.  I can support my position by playing c-rpg and screenshotting the scoreboard every round.

You got nothin'.
(click to show/hide)

Noob trying to explain to Gnjus how to kill archer, fuckin'priceless.

Mate you didn't even know this game exist that Gnjus was slauthering archermy old friend.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Oberyn on November 26, 2011, 05:08:56 pm
Leshma, on your own you probably account for 25% of all whining about cRPG (making up numbers is fun!). The idea that devs listen to the playerbase's opinion as far as balancing goes is kind of right, in the sense that they'll usually do the exact opposite.
 You just do really annoying, preachy self-righteous whining usually devoid of any reason. I'll rage about archers with the best of them, but at least I won't pretend like I'm some godamn genius cause my ideas of balance differ from the dev's. Your opinion is just that, opinion. And my opinion about your opinion is that it's presented not unlike the way a 5 year old unhappy with his toy would.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Christo on November 26, 2011, 05:13:28 pm
Noob trying to explain to Gnjus how to kill archer, fuckin'priceless.

Mate you didn't even know this game exist that Gnjus was slauthering archermy old friend.

Hahaha.

 /popcorn indeed.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Tears of Destiny on November 26, 2011, 05:16:04 pm
The driving force behind the archer scare is hysteria and probably trolling from some selected individuals who actually know better.
(click to show/hide)

This is possibly one of my favorite dev posts of all time. Urist became so much more reasonable right now, shot to the top of the list. A well thought out post. I agree with all of it. Awesome, simply awesome. Faith completely renewed in cRPG.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Christo on November 26, 2011, 05:18:52 pm
Agreed.

Anyone can talk smart, though. Let's hope we see real improvement, very soon.

Keep it up guys.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Teeth on November 26, 2011, 05:36:22 pm
Remove ladders, fix maps and I won't cry about archers. Roofcamping is just lame.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: KaMiKaZe_JoE on November 26, 2011, 05:38:08 pm
Leshma, I question your "low risk" labeling of cavalry, because all I do is play cavalry, and drink (of course). The "average" cavalry player--the one riding a horse of mere flesh, rather than an unaffordable iron skinned behemoth--faces many many risks when playing. Archers drop your horse in three or four hits (unless you're riding a champion something, in which case its five hits). Any competent polearm user can magically bring you to a dead stop, often literally, by waggling his or her weapon in the general vicinity of your horse's face. Competent 2h users can avoid your lance thrusts without too much difficulty, and then, jumping to Mario-esque highs, stab you in the face. Throwers rape your horse without trying. Horse archers and Horse xbowmen troll your horse to death.

I see where your label of "low-risk" comes from, though. What makes cavalry different than those mortals who walk on their feet is the cavalry player's control of when and where he or she will actually face those risks. Awareness on the virtual battlefield allows a cavalry player to easily avoid most of the above risky things--just ride away from them. But if a cavalry player wants to bridge the gap between "average" and "good", and actually contribute to his or her team, he or she will have to put him or her self in risky situations. He or she will have to ride into range of archers, throwers, and xbowmen; will have to risk getting the attention of an HA or HXbow; will have to get within arms reach of polearms and 2handers alike. Yes, cavalry players can and frequently do spend the entire match riding in circles far away from the actual fight, killing enemy afk's and stragglers and playing the "low-risk" role.

Fuck those guys. Cool cavs laugh in the face of pretend-death, lancing enemy V.I.P's from right under their team's nose.

tl;dr: I'm so fucking bored, and such a procrastinator, that instead of doing something productive this morning I sat here and sipped coffee while responding to Leshma's post, the point of which really was not cavalry at all.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Xant on November 26, 2011, 05:43:22 pm

Anyone can talk smart, though.

Really? Would you care to elaborate on this theory?
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: LordBerenger on November 26, 2011, 05:50:04 pm
Really? Would you care to elaborate on this theory?

9x9 = 81
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Christo on November 26, 2011, 07:15:49 pm
Berenger just did it mate.

(In his own way though, but he did.)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Xant on November 26, 2011, 07:17:46 pm
Berenger just did it mate.

(In his own way though, but he did.)

If the premise is that saying 9x9 = 81 is a smart thing to say, then yes, I suppose you've proved your point!
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Christo on November 26, 2011, 07:20:53 pm
If the premise is that saying 9x9 = 81 is a smart thing to say, then yes, I suppose you've proved your point!

Well, my point is that anyone can use some words to look smart, however, if you ask about the meaning of their words, they'll either;

a; Rage at you for not knowing it and not believing his intelligence, masking their own stupidity ofc
b; Will just go to the nearest corner crying
c; Or, they'll tell you the exact meaning. Note that most people who know those words, don't overuse them because that makes them look like egomaniacs.

Point proven, I guess?

(click to show/hide)

Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Xant on November 26, 2011, 07:27:27 pm
Well, my point is that anyone can use some words to look smart, however, if you ask about the meaning of their words, they'll either;

a; Rage at you for not knowing it and not believing his intelligence, masking their own stupidity ofc
b; Will just go to the nearest corner crying
c; Or, they'll tell you the exact meaning. Note that most people who know those words, don't overuse them because that makes them look like egomaniacs.

Point proven, I guess?

How does that relate to Paul's post? Using difficult words isn't smart, it's the message that matters. Did Paul use some kind of strange words to make his post look super intelligent and that have some hidden meaning that needs to be asked about? It's a common thing though, mistaking people using those eloquent words as smart.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Christo on November 26, 2011, 07:37:37 pm
Nah, got nothin' on Paul.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on November 26, 2011, 07:43:44 pm
9x9 = 81
7x6=42 would look even smarter, though.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Christo on November 26, 2011, 07:52:02 pm
2x2=5!
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Oberyn on November 26, 2011, 07:57:56 pm
I agree with Kamikaze Joe, NERF CAV.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Kafein on November 26, 2011, 08:09:00 pm
Leshma, I question your "low risk" labeling of cavalry, because all I do is play cavalry, and drink (of course). The "average" cavalry player--the one riding a horse of mere flesh, rather than an unaffordable iron skinned behemoth--faces many many risks when playing. Archers drop your horse in three or four hits (unless you're riding a champion something, in which case its five hits). Any competent polearm user can magically bring you to a dead stop, often literally, by waggling his or her weapon in the general vicinity of your horse's face. Competent 2h users can avoid your lance thrusts without too much difficulty, and then, jumping to Mario-esque highs, stab you in the face. Throwers rape your horse without trying. Horse archers and Horse xbowmen troll your horse to death.

I see where your label of "low-risk" comes from, though. What makes cavalry different than those mortals who walk on their feet is the cavalry player's control of when and where he or she will actually face those risks. Awareness on the virtual battlefield allows a cavalry player to easily avoid most of the above risky things--just ride away from them. But if a cavalry player wants to bridge the gap between "average" and "good", and actually contribute to his or her team, he or she will have to put him or her self in risky situations. He or she will have to ride into range of archers, throwers, and xbowmen; will have to risk getting the attention of an HA or HXbow; will have to get within arms reach of polearms and 2handers alike. Yes, cavalry players can and frequently do spend the entire match riding in circles far away from the actual fight, killing enemy afk's and stragglers and playing the "low-risk" role.

Fuck those guys. Cool cavs laugh in the face of pretend-death, lancing enemy V.I.P's from right under their team's nose.

tl;dr: I'm so fucking bored, and such a procrastinator, that instead of doing something productive this morning I sat here and sipped coffee while responding to Leshma's post, the point of which really was not cavalry at all.

My thoughts exactly.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Slamz on November 26, 2011, 08:19:35 pm
How about you guys cut that crap and start balancing the game based on logic? You know, things like risk/reward. Archery and ranged in general are low risk roles

rofl

What's lower risk?

a) 7 pounds of armor.  No room for a good melee weapon.  Bow that requires numerous hits to kill an armored target and is near useless against shields.  Limited ammo.
b) 70+ body armor.  Long weapon good at killing infantry and cavalry alike.

You've got it backwards.  Low risk is playing a melee with heirloomed plate.  Archers die easy.  Even throwing daggers will kill them because their armor is always so low.  If they don't have a building to stand on, they will invariably get mowed down by cavalry.  A lot of high scoring melees tried switching to archery and then switched back to melee after getting wtfpwned.

Archery creates an illusion of being powerful because one of the last people alive is usually an archer, probably because he stranded himself on a roof somewhere.  He gets one kill while everyone is watching and it's all "ooo, archery is so op" and yet he's probably not even halfway up the kill chart.  Meanwhile the last guy on the other team mulched his way through a dozen enemies that round alone, wearing 30 pounds of heirloomed armor.  Standard melee: kill a dude, kill another dude, kill two more dudes, kill another dude, down a horse, kill the rider, get shot by an arrow, declare archery is op.



If you really want to hurt archers, nerf the "Mace" -- it's a 1-slot two-hander with knockdown and terrific damage for being a one-slotter.  The irony is the highest scoring archers get a number of their kills by being able to finish people off with melee.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Leshma on November 26, 2011, 09:04:13 pm
Edit:

Meh, won't risk getting muted cause of some noob.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: SchokoSchaf on November 26, 2011, 10:27:16 pm
I agree with Kamikaze Joe, NERF CAV.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Kafein on November 27, 2011, 01:26:33 am
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


No room for a good melee weapon.

(...)

the "Mace" -- it's a 1-slot two-hander with knockdown and terrific damage for being a one-slotter.  The irony is the highest scoring archers get a number of their kills by being able to finish people off with melee.

You are contradicting yourself.

b) 70+ body armor.  Long weapon good at killing infantry and cavalry alike.

70+ body armor ? Fat rich turtle ? Furthermore, I wonder what a bow is if you consider melee weapons as "long".

If they don't have a building to stand on, they will invariably get mowed down by cavalry.

Ho you mean those archers. I can point out those inf that can't block and don't get any kills. Or those cavs that charge an archer and die with one arrow in the chest. Guess what, that's not exactly what we are talking about.

Standard melee: kill a dude, kill another dude, kill two more dudes, kill another dude, down a horse, kill the rider, get shot by an arrow, declare archery is op.

Mmh...

I think this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrrIaJCr2X8) might help you. It is very unlikely for a melee to kill anything else than infantry and the occasionnal cav. Therefore how can the "standard melee" kill more than one enemy ? At the end of a battle, the loosing team has 0 survivors, not minus 50.



Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Froto_the_Loc on November 27, 2011, 02:45:57 am
My polls are borked. cRPG needs love, like the last born ginger child. Strategus was the first born favorite it seems. I may be biased though.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Slamz on November 27, 2011, 03:43:41 am
You are contradicting yourself.

Not at all.  Do you consider the "Mace" to be a "good melee weapon"?  Do you see top ranking two-handers running around with that as their primary?

No.

It's good relative to other archer options, though.  They could use a 1-hander but there's no point since they won't have room for a shield.  The only 1-slot polearms are the staffs which do way less damage.  The Mace is good as 1-slot weapons go but I wouldn't compare it to a Nodachi or Greatsword.  It's not that good relative to what full time melees are carrying.  Still, it would hurt them if you nerfed it because it's their best weapon option.

So as I was saying, the irony is that the high KDR archers tend to be experts at melee.  They can shoot you with arrows and then they have enough skill at melee and parrying that they can beat most people with what a sub-standard two-hander.  Or to put it another way, their bow gets them some kills but it's their melee skills that separate them from the average archers.  (Incidentally, this is another reason I like killing archers with throwing weapons.  No matter how pro they are with the Mace, they are still wearing light armor.  A couple throwing axes hurts them a heck of a lot more than a 70 body armor two-handed melee whore.)

There are a few archers who I am sure would have a better KDR if they would just drop the bow, armor up and get a better weapon.  I assume they simply enjoy shooting more than melee even though melee would clearly be getting them more kills.

Quote
70+ body armor ? Fat rich turtle ?

Not that hard if your equipment is triple loomed.  Heck, triple loomed Lamellar and triple loomed Mail Gauntlets = 68 body armor!  That's not even plate.

Quote
I think this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrrIaJCr2X8) might help you. It is very unlikely for a melee to kill anything else than infantry and the occasionnal cav. Therefore how can the "standard melee" kill more than one enemy ? At the end of a battle, the loosing team has 0 survivors, not minus 50.

Not sure what you're getting at here.  If cRPG was perfectly realistic, we would probably meet on a battlefield, have a reasonably decisive fight and then the surviving 90% of the losing team would run away.  (Just as a random selection, the Battle of Harlaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Harlaw) was thousands vs thousands with around 10-15% of the total participants ending up dead and that was considered to be a particularly bloody battle.)

I mean really I think an argument could be made that cRPG weapons are too strong and armor too weak just in general but I'm not clear if that was the point you were trying to make.  What was your point, anyway?

My point was that in cRPG, the game, which bears only a passing resemblance to reality, melee still owns the scene.  I would say I see an archer in the #1 spot maybe 1 round in 10 and that's if there's no good cav or melee ringers online, and usually only on particularly archer-friendly maps.


A better argument for your side might be that it's easier to "triple loom" an archer.  You only need 6 heirloom points, really.  9 if you want an heirloomed mace to go with it.  Hierlooming your archer armor wouldn't add that much.  Whereas I think we'd find the famous melees have 15+ heirloom points invested to do what they do.  But in the end, they are still better than the archers, and get better KDRs on average.

Seems balanced to me.  Better than before, anyway.  Previously, archery was just a joke, as I'm sure you know perfectly well.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 27, 2011, 01:29:31 pm
(click to show/hide)
*Facepalm*
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Paul on November 27, 2011, 01:41:43 pm
What is wrong with Slamz' text, Zapper?

I have recently checked the k/d of end level players who decided to skip retiring (level 31+). Of the main classes those archers have to worst k/d apart from throwers. So unless they manage only to hurt and never to kill their targets, which would kinda contradict the "OMG, archers 2 shot me in plate" statement, they aren't that effective.

Most likely roof laddering will be resolved and Strategus will get a solution too. To be honest I only see self-energising hysteria and no real problem, while the anti-range ringleader are also the most special forum members.

Still don't understand who let Tzar in 22nd. Ok, we got Rokema but there ought to be a lower bound somewhere.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: cmp on November 27, 2011, 01:56:21 pm
Comparing archers and melee using KD ratio, for example. Assuming the same amount of damage dealt, a melee guy will have a higher KD ratio because his damage is concentrated on a few enemies, while the archer's damage is more distributed.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Teeth on November 27, 2011, 02:07:54 pm
What is wrong with Slamz' text, Zapper?

I have recently checked the k/d of end level players who decided to skip retiring (level 31+). Of the main classes those archers have to worst k/d apart from throwers. So unless they manage only to hurt and never to kill their targets, which would kinda contradict the "OMG, archers 2 shot me in plate" statement, they aren't that effective.

Most likely roof laddering will be resolved and Strategus will get a solution too. To be honest I only see self-energising hysteria and no real problem, while the anti-range ringleader are also the most special forum members.

Still don't understand who let Tzar in 22nd. Ok, we got Rokema but there ought to be a lower bound somewhere.
The point is that archer is a very popular class, so unless you make them shit, a large percentage of the population will be archer, for reasons I just can't understand. One archer is not overpowered, but when 40% of the server is archer it becomes a problem.

Which isn't the case currently, and I have rarely seen one team win because they had more archers. Archers are quite underpowered I dare to say in sheer damage dealing. The thing is, they are just fucking annoying. But as soon as the roofcamping gets fixed, I for one am fine with archers. As long as I can reach them without having to move in a straight line towards them, or even worse, jump over a ledge, I'm fine with them.

Archery has to be underpowered, otherwise their numbers will grow to a gamebreaking amount. Leave archery to the devoted and skilled.

Although this thread isn't supposed to be about archery I would like to bring up another point.

I think the hybrid nerf/slot system was a bad thing in the case of archers. Every archer I encounter now runs away, you close in on an archer with great effort, he starts running. Give them a slot more so they can have a proper melee weapon or make them slow. This running away is tiresome and dull. I rather have a good fight than a minute long chase.

Worst thing is, that as soon as you give up the chase, he will turn around and start shooting you in the arse.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 27, 2011, 02:18:28 pm
What is wrong with Slamz' text, Zapper?
Sigh, I don't have time for this, but nevermind.

Ok, first of all he comes with bullshit arguments. Let's start with the answer to "you are contradicting yourself"

The mace is a good weapon. Fact. You say there are dedicated 2handers who doesn't use it? Actually, there are. Many of them. They don't use it all the time, but I have seen many of them use the mace and the mace only. Besides, just because many people don't use it all the time as their main weapon, doesn't mean it's not a GOOD weapon! Take for example the Heavy Bastard Sword. A pretty good weapon. It's long enough, does decent damage and is faster than most 1handers (LOLWUT, I just saw the speed rating of that thing!). So we can all agree it's a good weapon. So why aren't everyone and their grandma using it? Because there is a slightly better, but more expensive, version of it. The Longswords. Almost exactly the same, but slightly longer. Still, most people use that one instead. Same goes for the Military Scythe and the Glaive. If you can choose between them, choose the Glaive. But the Military Scythe is STILL a good weapon. Saying otherwise just shows you're an idiot.
With the mace, it's almost the same, and the slightly better and more expensive version, is the Long Iron Mace. It's a bit slower, but longer and slightly more damaging.

Regardless. The Mace is a good weapon, even if everyone doesn't use it as their main (which there even are some people who do), and it can more than stand it's own in a melee fight.

In addition: even IF you have a "worse" melee weapon, you also gain the mind blowing advantage of fighting a guy that is already damaged. You can easily put an arrow or two in him, which these days is usually half their health, and then fight him in melee with your "inferior" 2h mace. If I had the choice between fighting a guy with full health and a Greatsword while I had a Greatsword, or fighting a guy with half health and a Greatsword while I had a mace. I'd take option 2 every single time. ESPECIALLY when during any time in that fight, a friendly archer can put an arrow into them while we are fighting. Fuck, I'd gladly fight TWO enemies with greatswords, one at half health and me with a 2h mace, if I had an allied archer standing nearby shooting at them.

"Not that hard if your equipment is triple heirloomed"
Ok, let's just ignore the fact that you should NEVER balance around heirlooms and the fact that everyone doesn't have heirlooms.
NO. People do NOT run around with 70+ armour. And those that do, usually spend a lot of money doing that. Compared that to the "expensive" archers (bitch, even with the increased ammo repairs, archers are still the 2nd cheapest class to play) that still aren't close to most other classes with upkeep while still being just as dangerous.


And last but not least, the reply that made me facepalm. The answer to the video. I am gonna quote what Slamz said in the beginning:
Standard melee: kill a dude, kill another dude, kill two more dudes, kill another dude, down a horse, kill the rider, get shot by an arrow, declare archery is op.
Sigh. What that video was about was the ridiculousness of those imagined "warrior societies" were everyone had killed lots of others to prove themselves! This is ridiculous for all the reasons shown in that video. Go watch it, it's really good.

And here's what Kafein was trying to convey and which shows just how stupid Slamz is:
He says that a "standard" (that means, the average or normal) melee, kills one guy (in melee), then another guy (in melee), then two more guys (still in melee), then one more (you know.... melee), then kills a horse (with his melee weapon), then the rider (with, guess what?, his melee weapon!) and the gets shot by an archer, thinking archery is "OP".

Let's do the counting. That's six (6!) guys, in any normal fight, and that EVERY SINGLE MELEE FIGHTER DOES THAT IN THE SAME FIGHT! If you don't get how that is fucking retarded the you should go and cry yourself to sleep. Every melee guy can't kill 6 enemies, because there aren't enough people on both teams! YES, one guy could do that. But those guys he killed? Did THEY also kill 6 enemies each? I'm sorry, but for this to work there would have to be a 1-6 ratio of melee to other, and EVERY SINGLE MELEE GUY would have to kill those 6 others. This is NOT how it is on the servers and saying this is just retarded. Look, there simply IS NOT enough people for this to happen! Or as Kafein said,
Quote
At the end of a battle, the loosing team has 0 survivors, not minus 50.
And no, Slamz wasn't just "exaggerating" or something. Because then he would have recognised what Kafein said and come up with a proper reply instead of quoting some historical battle and the numbers from it, which are completely irrelevant.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Paul on November 27, 2011, 02:20:09 pm
Well, my approach on unarmed archers is to only allow ammunition in the 3rd and 4th slot, like in Vikingr I believe. That way there is no real reason not to bring a melee weapon for an archer and it keeps ammo count down a bit. It will have a psychological impact wether an archers decides to turn and run or not if he has a weapon to defend with. At least for me it would. Even if I can't really hurt an attacker as archer with my melee weapon, I can at least block him until help arrives.

Anyway, my idea was scolded for reducing build variety, which I think is bullshit. Realismwise any ranged unit had a fall back melee weapon and wouldn't leave it at home so he could carry a bit more ammo.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: MaHuD on November 27, 2011, 02:20:55 pm
I am an archer, and I believe that the top archers (Masterwork Rus Bow + epic arrows), is dealing way too much damage.
 (I think this was done against these annoying Plated Chargers - serfonz -, but why not increase damage to just the plated stuff? Instead of everyone)

Archer is a support class, or should be. Stunning that enemy so that your friend can finish him off, or shoot the guy in his head to kill him.
Not hit someone in his little-toe and (nearly) instant kill him.  :lol:

Also, what might be interesting to try is to increase the slow-down while an arch3r draws his bow
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Paul on November 27, 2011, 02:22:59 pm
Well, bodkins get -1 dam along with a slight price reduce. Maybe ranged looms get it too.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 27, 2011, 02:23:41 pm
The point is that archer is a very popular class, so unless you make them shit, a large percentage of the population will be archer, for reasons I just can't understand. One archer is not overpowered, but when 40% of the server is archer it becomes a problem.

Which isn't the case currently, and I have rarely seen one team win because they had more archers. Archers are quite underpowered I dare to say in sheer damage dealing. The thing is, they are just fucking annoying. But as soon as the roofcamping gets fixed, I for one am fine with archers. As long as I can reach them without having to move in a straight line towards them, or even worse, jump over a ledge, I'm fine with them.

Archery has to be underpowered, otherwise their numbers will grow to a gamebreaking amount. Leave archery to the devoted and skilled.

Although this thread isn't supposed to be about archery I would like to bring up another point.

I think the hybrid nerf/slot system was a bad thing in the case of archers. Every archer I encounter now runs away, you close in on an archer with great effort, he starts running. Give them a slot more so they can have a proper melee weapon or make them slow. This running away is tiresome and dull. I rather have a good fight than a minute long chase.

Worst thing is, that as soon as you give up the chase, he will turn around and start shooting you in the arse.
Fuck it. Double post to separate my discussions!

As I proposed. Make bows really, REALLY heavy so that they CAN run away to get help from their friends (which they claim to be the reason they are kiting), but they have to drop the bow so they can't run-turn-shoot-run-turn-shoot (which is what they ACTUALLY do). Also, shield REALLY need a buff. They are just ridiculously self nerfing to use. Only time they work is when you look directly at an enemy and there's only one of them.

I can understand that a pure 2hander/polearmer should have it easier in melee combat, but PLEASE buff shields against ranged so that we can actually DO shit against them! Let the non-shielders be bothered by ranged and the shielders laugh them off. As it should be! Drop the shield weight so we can catch archers, increase the forcefield so we don't get random weird-ass shots (and hits) that goes around the shield, and PLEASE make it so people can't warp through a shield/shieldwall!
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Paul on November 27, 2011, 02:28:33 pm
Let me guess, you got a shielder main?
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 27, 2011, 02:32:09 pm
Let me guess, you got a shielder main?
Yes I do. And while it's reasonable that I'm not as good in melee as the no-shield 2handers and polearms, it's ridiculous how powerless I can be against archers. The shield slowing the movement speed so much, attacks and projectiles going "around" the shield, extremely limited control over where the shield is pointing and lately, people being able to warp through shields and shieldwalls. You remember that video Diggles (I think it was Digglez) made? Showing how people could just run through him while he was holding his shield up?
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Teeth on November 27, 2011, 02:41:55 pm
Although this makes no realistic sense, what about having a bow in your hand slows you down considerably, so that archers when they run have to switch to melee, they also won't be able to runturnshoot.

If we would just get proper teamplay and battle mechanics archery wouldn't be that hard to balance. One big archer square that volley fires on the enemy lines, as their position gets compromised they switch to their sword and fight as well as they can. Like they did back in the day.

I strongly suggest implementing deployable stakes. I understood that making them hurt horses is really bad for performance, that is not necesarry at all. Just make them stop horses and slow down infantry when moving through. As this is a good place for ranged stopped horses will get arrowraped. That could lead to some more tactical placement of archers and maybe make open field maps more enjoyable.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Tot. on November 27, 2011, 02:55:37 pm
Thing I don't get about archery is why are archers allowed to pull strings while moving. That's the main reason why run&gun is so effective, why kiting works so amazing and why cavalry is in peril vs. an archer far more than archer is - that's just retarded, archer caught in open space by a horseman without infantry support should die, same as shieldless infantry dies when caught in open space by an archer. And thats why archers are so self-sufficient while neither of other classes is. Archers should act as support and require infantry protection to be effective.

Not to mention that it's unrealistic.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 27, 2011, 03:02:11 pm
Although this makes no realistic sense, what about having a bow in your hand slows you down considerably, so that archers when they run have to switch to melee, they also won't be able to runturnshoot.

If we would just get proper teamplay and battle mechanics archery wouldn't be that hard to balance. One big archer square that volley fires on the enemy lines, as their position gets compromised they switch to their sword and fight as well as they can. Like they did back in the day.

I strongly suggest implementing deployable stakes. I understood that making them hurt horses is really bad for performance, that is not necesarry at all. Just make them stop horses and slow down infantry when moving through. As this is a good place for ranged stopped horses will get arrowraped. That could lead to some more tactical placement of archers and maybe make open field maps more enjoyable.
+1

I agree that my suggestion isn't realistic. It's meant purely for gameplay reason. Although if you want a "realism" argument for it:
While a bow doesn't really weight that much, a bow is in reality a pretty cumbersome weapon to move with. Especially if you got it strapped on your back. Moving with a bow like that is both awekward and annoying and would most of the time be more in the way than a properly fit plate or mail armour. This is about the big bows, not the small ones.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: v/onMega on November 27, 2011, 03:08:11 pm
Tradesimulator 3.5 still not finished?

Crpg archers are fine btw. . .

Strategus on the other hand....

Good reasons were given by the dev´s why archery has no right to be the same way in strat.


So whats the drama about again? Archery is being worked on! (at the same usual speed as everything else in crpg... :-) )


Did I mention that most ppl complaining here just overplayed the whole mod?

Play something different and u ll quickly know if u really still like the game / mod...or try to compensate boredom with forum e-drama.


Did I also mention that rfactor F1 1979 and 1991 are great mods?



Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Teeth on November 27, 2011, 04:25:03 pm
Tradesimulator 3.5 still not finished?

Crpg archers are fine btw. . .

Strategus on the other hand....

Good reasons were given by the dev´s why archery has no right to be the same way in strat.


So whats the drama about again? Archery is being worked on! (at the same usual speed as everything else in crpg... :-) )


Did I mention that most ppl complaining here just overplayed the whole mod?

Play something different and u ll quickly know if u really still like the game / mod...or try to compensate boredom with forum e-drama.


Did I also mention that rfactor F1 1979 and 1991 are great mods?
Don't see what could ever be fun about that rfactor game.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Leshma on November 27, 2011, 04:50:11 pm
What is wrong with Slamz' text, Zapper?

I have recently checked the k/d of end level players who decided to skip retiring (level 31+). Of the main classes those archers have to worst k/d apart from throwers. So unless they manage only to hurt and never to kill their targets, which would kinda contradict the "OMG, archers 2 shot me in plate" statement, they aren't that effective.

Most likely roof laddering will be resolved and Strategus will get a solution too. To be honest I only see self-energising hysteria and no real problem, while the anti-range ringleader are also the most special forum members.

Still don't understand who let Tzar in 22nd. Ok, we got Rokema but there ought to be a lower bound somewhere.

I saw Tzar without 22nd tag so he probably left your clan, just like many before him.

And good job insulting fellow forum members :)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Akhooey on November 27, 2011, 11:42:13 pm
cRPG needs more love. The developers also need to add a ball and chain.(Hint Hint) 8-)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Slamz on November 28, 2011, 12:23:42 am
The mace is a good weapon. Fact.

So make it 2 slot.  Problem solved.  If you weren't raging so hard you'd realize I brought up the Mace precisely because it's a good way to nerf archers without actually impacting archery itself.  Should archers be able to run around with a 30 blunt, 98 speed, 1-slot sidearm?  You tell me.

Quote
In addition: even IF you have a "worse" melee weapon, you also gain the mind blowing advantage of fighting a guy that is already damaged.

You are playing up the archer's advantages while ignoring all of the tradeoffs made to get it.

Archers can't carry a 2-slot melee weapon -- not if they want enough ammo to do any good.
Archers can't carry a shield -- again with the ammo problem.
Archers are forced to wear light armor -- if they want their archery skills to actually count.
Archers tend to have less IF and/or PS due to extra points in PD.

Your argument assumes archers are completely identical to the best melee attackers in the game, plus they get a bow.  It doesn't work like that.  Yes, you reach the archer and you are halfway dead.  But you have heavy armor and a high damage weapon versus the archer in light armor, often with no head armor, and a substandard weapon and with less PS and less IF than you.

Quote
Let's do the counting. That's six (6!) guys, in any normal fight, and that EVERY SINGLE MELEE FIGHTER DOES THAT IN THE SAME FIGHT!

Oh I see where you're going with that -- that was just an example of a high ranking melee, not an average melee.  The guys getting 6 kills in a round and then dying to an archer who got 1 kill are still coming to the forums to complain about archery.  Regardless, kill stats support my side of the story.  There are more melees going on melee kill streaks than there are archers going on archery killstreaks.  This is not my opinion.  It's in all the data.

It would be interesting to compare top ranking bow damage done during a match to top ranking melee damage done, but I think melee would come out ahead even there.


For the record, my current gen main is a 2-hander.  Previously I was a shielder.  I just don't seem to have the problem with archers you have.  I look for them, I don't run in straight lines if I think there's an archer looking at me.  If I'm chasing one I zoom in on him and time my dodge with his release.  I picked up 4 PT, 6 athletics and 94 throwing wpf (136 two-hand wpf) and about half of the archers I kill die to heavy throwing axes (although throwing daggers work well too and you get more ammo -- it's debatable which is better).  I have 1 shield skill but very rarely carry one.

You say you're a shielder.  What's your athletics?  What's your power throw?  Do you hold up your shield full time when chasing archers or do you watch them and only raise your shield when they are pointing at you and about to shoot?  Let's examine why you, in particular, are so bad at fighting archers.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 28, 2011, 01:05:49 am
You say you're a shielder.  What's your athletics?  What's your power throw?  Do you hold up your shield full time when chasing archers or do you watch them and only raise your shield when they are pointing at you and about to shoot?  Let's examine why you, in particular, are so bad at fighting archers.
I never said I'm bad at fighting archers, usually they are what I go for and I catch them. The annoying thing is that it takes so little for them to get away from me. There is no way for me to bring a shield and catch up to an archer unless he's stupid. For me to catch an archer I have to do almost everything right, while he can do a lot of mistakes and still manage to get away. Only holding the shield up when they are shooting is basic stuff, but it's still not enough to catch up with them.
   Usually the 50 throwing wpf I got and throwing rocks/daggers/whatever i bring me helps to stop many of them long enough for me to catch up, but it's still easy for them to run away if they know what they are doing. And the throwing trick works only once, afterwards they just start running before I'm in effective range. I can't count the number of times I've spend 1-2 minutes of a round just chasing one or two archers. Any more than that and they can easily shoot me while I go for any of them, and fighting chasing two at the same time still requires me to move my shield around a lot.
   I take satisfaction that I keep them out of the fight (most) of the time and pray that my allies manage to use that advantage, even though a smart archer would just fire at my allies instead of me chasing them. But it's still silly that I have to sneak around to manage to catch archers and the moment they spot me they can just run away unless I hit them with my throwing weapon.
  But you want to hear the MOST annoying thing? That when I DO get hit, they do shitloads of damage to me. Why bows do more damage than almost all melee hits I take is just plain stupid.

You are playing up the archer's advantages while ignoring all of the tradeoffs made to get it.

Archers can't carry a 2-slot melee weapon -- not if they want enough ammo to do any good.
Archers can't carry a shield -- again with the ammo problem.
Archers are forced to wear light armor -- if they want their archery skills to actually count.
Archers tend to have less IF and/or PS due to extra points in PD.

Your argument assumes archers are completely identical to the best melee attackers in the game, plus they get a bow.  It doesn't work like that.  Yes, you reach the archer and you are halfway dead.  But you have heavy armor and a high damage weapon versus the archer in light armor, often with no head armor, and a substandard weapon and with less PS and less IF than you.
You really haven't kept up with my thoughts on archers have you? Because this is the main problem with archery in cRPG. There's no reason for them to take any PS/IF or melee wpf. Taking everything is archery is so much more effective than taking some basic melee capability. THIS is something I want to change right now, but nobody gives a damn about. Why the HELL should a full PD/WM, everything in archery be more effective than an actual Archer? What we have in cRPG isn't archers. It's people with bows who don't do ANYTHING but shoot arrows. And why not? Getting 5-15 more archery wpf is so much more better for them than taking 50 melee wpf. Getting 1 more WM or PD or ATHL is so much more important than getting 3-5 PS. This is retarded and has to change. Archery wpf and PD needs to stop give you such huge bonuses after some time.

Also: Considering you would normally have shot the melee down to nothing, you would usually only need 1 melee hit (with the 0 slot hammer) to kill them. That's what I have to do on my archer. Few are the times when a guy can get in melee range of me and still take more than 2 hits.

Oh I see where you're going with that -- that was just an example of a high ranking melee, not an average melee.  The guys getting 6 kills in a round and then dying to an archer who got 1 kill are still coming to the forums to complain about archery.  Regardless, kill stats support my side of the story.  There are more melees going on melee kill streaks than there are archers going on archery killstreaks.  This is not my opinion.  It's in all the data.
Row row row your boat, lier. Just gonna quote you to prove that this is something you came up with AFTER you were shown how stupid your comment was.

Standard melee: kill a dude, kill another dude, kill two more dudes, kill another dude, down a horse, kill the rider, get shot by an arrow, declare archery is op.
Bolded the important part. If "that was just an example of a high ranking melee, not an average melee" then why did you say that this is what a "Standard melee" does in a round? Consistency helps. Stop trying to explain what you really meant when it's obvious you're just making an excuse after someone called your bullshit.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Leshma on November 28, 2011, 01:15:19 am
So make it 2 slot.  Problem solved.  If you weren't raging so hard you'd realize I brought up the Mace precisely because it's a good way to nerf archers without actually impacting archery itself.  Should archers be able to run around with a 30 blunt, 98 speed, 1-slot sidearm?  You tell me.

Archers using mace are fine, xbowmen are not because they have a lot of agi and enough ps to hurt you. I agree with mace being 2 slot.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Slamz on November 28, 2011, 01:28:18 am
I never said I'm bad at fighting archers, usually they are what I go for and I catch them.

Problem solved!

Usually they are what you go for and you catch them.

I'm glad we sorted this out.  Archery is not a problem.  Usually you go for them and you catch them.

Next up:
Archer poll -- are shielders too fast?  Is it fair that Zapper usually goes for you and catches you?   8-)
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 28, 2011, 01:38:58 am
Problem solved!

Usually they are what you go for and you catch them.

I'm glad we sorted this out.  Archery is not a problem.  Usually you go for them and you catch them.

Next up:
Archer poll -- are shielders too fast?  Is it fair that Zapper usually goes for you and catches you?   8-)
Whoopdee fucking doo, mr. smartypants! So much for being serious.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: 22nd_King_Plazek on November 28, 2011, 01:53:52 am
Ignoring all the crying about archers and general balance that appears to be quite irrelevant to the topic of this thread, Zapper does, IMO have the basis of a good idea in one of his earlier posts.

If the amount of troops was highly limited per person, and there was some means by which people could "join battle" like in SP M&B whilst retaining control of the remaining forces after the battle there would be a lot more for your average strategus player to do.

Say for example a basic player could carry Y men, you could then level up some "strategus skills", crafting, leadership, first aid blahblah whatever that could potentially increase this limit. Maybe there could also be an increase in the amount of troops you can carry at level 5 and level 10 within a faction (this risk vs benefit is obvious). Further increases could be permitted with the ownership of fiefs.

---

If each person had to then be present on the map in the correct location and move onto the initiator of the battle and enter it much like entering a village or attacking someone, within a specific amount of time, things could get interesting. Factions would require their players to actually be active and involved, it would not just be about mass production and there would be a very important space for independant armies and mercenary armies to support the larger factions as every active player would be a great asset.

---

It would be even better if the roster for a battle could be split in ratio to the number of contributed troops so each warlord managed his own roster and brought his own equipment for his own troops. Of course if this is next to impossible to code then putting all tickets and equipment into a shared pool could do the job.
Title: Re: Strategus, the poll
Post by: Jarlek on November 28, 2011, 06:31:44 pm
Ignoring all the crying about archers and general balance that appears to be quite irrelevant to the topic of this thread, Zapper does, IMO have the basis of a good idea in one of his earlier posts.

If the amount of troops was highly limited per person, and there was some means by which people could "join battle" like in SP M&B whilst retaining control of the remaining forces after the battle there would be a lot more for your average strategus player to do.

Say for example a basic player could carry Y men, you could then level up some "strategus skills", crafting, leadership, first aid blahblah whatever that could potentially increase this limit. Maybe there could also be an increase in the amount of troops you can carry at level 5 and level 10 within a faction (this risk vs benefit is obvious). Further increases could be permitted with the ownership of fiefs.

---

If each person had to then be present on the map in the correct location and move onto the initiator of the battle and enter it much like entering a village or attacking someone, within a specific amount of time, things could get interesting. Factions would require their players to actually be active and involved, it would not just be about mass production and there would be a very important space for independant armies and mercenary armies to support the larger factions as every active player would be a great asset.

---

It would be even better if the roster for a battle could be split in ratio to the number of contributed troops so each warlord managed his own roster and brought his own equipment for his own troops. Of course if this is next to impossible to code then putting all tickets and equipment into a shared pool could do the job.
My crazy ideas gives good offsrpings :D Put this in the Suggestions board, will ya :D

About number of troops: Maybe introduce a vassalage system that someone was talking about before? Like, you don't join a faction, you swear vassalage to another player. The more vassals you have, the more troops YOU personally can have. You could also spread the vassals around and have lots of medium sized lords, or you could have a King with lots of vassals. Although what would happen if a guy with vassals entered a vassalship of another...