Gold sink

[zagibu]

heh.  like a gold plated hammer.
or something equally flashy.
Something that isnt any better than the cheap one, but people on the field can say "damn, he spent 100k on a gold hammer!"
fun

the way understand it is upkeep is 10% of the sell cost? right?
so make the sell cost of these items maybe only 2/3 the price of the original, so the upkeep is only a little more.  and if they want to sell it back they take a much bigger hit to the pocketbook.
100k buy, 5k sell    that sort of thing

I'm not sure if sell price can be set or whether it's a fixed fraction of real price, but if it can be set, that would be a good suggestion.

[Duke]

For a Gold sink, what if we could summon mercenary Bots with our Gold?   
It could even require a skill like Leadership, or Tactics.  Yes, I know that'd mean adding Cha or Int to the game.

Higher skill = higher level Bot mercs (and more expensive~)

I'd suggest the Bots have just one life each, but they're relatively cheap (unless you constantly use them).
 Personally, I'd just love to have some minstrels backing me up  Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin ! ~ 

[zagibu]

Most custom maps don't support bots, unfortunately.

[Duke]

Another random thought for a Gold Sink (not even sure I support it, but it's interesting enough to share):

Mason's Hammer

Repairs Doors/Barricades/Ladders/etc. x Amount per strike, but it costs Gold with every hit

The higher your multiplier, the more expensive it is to use (to lessen farming/camping)

As a weapon, make it weak and short range, something like 19 swing, 10 thrust, 60 length or something, but fast like 100~speed.

I'd suggest giving it a low Str requirment to use, to encourage Peasants to go to work repairing their Lord's structures

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As far as how much it repairs per hit and how much it costs, I don't know, but the idea would be it's a Gold sink, meaning most the time even if it helps you win, you will lose gold in favor of keeping the Multiplier for exp.

It would not bring doors/etc. back to life once killed, naturally.  (Not that it could)

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Edit:

Extra Thoughts

You could require building supplies 'ammo', so there is a limit per life/round that you can Repair with the Hammer, and make the supplies undroppable (otherwise people would spam drop it).  This would also require a devotion of at least 2 item slots to be able to repair objects & doors.

The supplies would not have the typical random maintenance, but rather the auto-repair option refills the supplies every time by the amount you consumed.  If the supply ammo is 50/50, and you use up 25/50, you will be charged half the cost to refill it every single time. 
This would replace the charge-per-hit idea, as the supplies would be consumed permanently unless refilled with "repair".

Peasants could even be granted special, unbuyable Hammer/supplies that are high-capacity but cannot be refilled.  (So instead of 50/50, peasants could have a special 1000/1000 version that eventually runs out.)  You could even award a pittance of exp for using the Peasant's repairing supplies, so Peasants have something rewarding to do in their early levels.

[Dravic]

I would suggest more like 15k+ of gold per 1 "repair x", i dont know, it can be "repair material" for example, and it would cost upkeep and it would be throwing weapon like building material with that difference that with repair material you can repair anything you want for about 100hp/per material. For example, afaik, some doors has 500hp, so it wouldnt be op, but you are paying upkeep!

[zagibu]

Haha, i see impregnable castles defended by hordes of carpenters .

[Duke]

Haha, i see impregnable castles defended by hordes of carpenters .

If it were defended by an army of peasants with their special newbie materials, then yes! 

In all seriousness, a horde of 2-handers ought to outdamage the horde of carpenters, but the carpenters could definitely stretch it out long enough to make it interesting.  Most siege maps have more than one way in, so I don't think it would lead to impenetrable defenses.

Hell, if we associated the item/repairs with Int/Engineering, we might actually have people choose to be career peasants! 

3rd gen Mason's Hammer pl0x!