The biggest Strat battles are versus the interface

[Slamz]

Why don't more people assemble small armies and go out raiding?  There are tons of convoys out there moving goods and not all of them are big or armed.  Why not just go harass them?


Why?  Because the interface sucks all the fun out of the game.


First off, as mentioned in another thread, the transfer interface is a serious pain in the ass for assembling an attack force.

Secondly, and maybe more importantly, the ability to simply get people into your match is a major pain in the ass, especially when you're talking about a battle that may last 15 minutes (say, a 100 ticket army).  You have to get people into your Teamspeak like 30 minutes ahead of time so that you can do rolecalls and try to settle the roster before the battle starts, all for a short fight.  Sure the big matches that last an hour are worth it but what about the 100-ticket fights?  Hardly worth the trouble to setup or join.



I think if Strategus is ever really going to amount to much (or if it's a test run for some other project...) then interfaces can't be overlooked.  What we have has been fine for some casual testing but these interfaces are a serious barrier now.

Transfers should be at least as easy as the buy/sell menus.  I should be able to setup the transfer for all items and then do it in 1 click.

Rosters should be something we can work on during the match, in the game itself, not as a web interface.  I should be able to kick one person out and then let someone else in from the spectators to take his place.  Maybe the web interface is still the best way for players to indicate interest but permission to join needs to be a lot easier to do on the fly, and during the match.


We need to be able to spend more time playing and less time futzing with the interface.

[FRANK_THE_TANK]

With out this http://forum.c-rpg.net/index.php/topic,11210.0.html I wouldn't play it.

I used to love being a raider, it was awesome fun. Every time you have battle though you have to go on a Presidential esq campaign.

One trick I've found is to rush about the battle and siege server 20-30min before the battle yelling at people to sign up. Often you will pick up enough guys to stand and fight. The other trick to it is to have a good read of the political strat land scape. You can pretty much rely on big clans attacking other big clans so you should target big targets to get support.

Back when the Bashibazouks still existed you were guaranteed a good chunk of Kapikulu would show for the battle no matter what time it was with out even asking

I attacked a bashi convoy inside bashi territory and about 20min after the battle went up on the list I had 15 people signed up.

But I totally agree with you about the UI.

I do believe Harald is working on a whole new version of it so I guess we just need to wait an see.

[Dach]

Simple solution that might help against the small fight. Instead of having free upkeep until 49 troops make in 99 or 100.