Dear Devs,
I am Kajia, the guy with the pen tablet, who painted the loadings screens.
And this below is a text. A loooong one. Brutal. And no pics, got no time for that.
tl;dr version would be like a skip to part II, but it doesn't help much, you'll miss some.
But if you take your time and read this, I might even thank you for it, and if you consider I wrote this because I believe in you, you lovely lazy devs, you really should, I'd say.
If I spend my time in writing this when I have my head full of study stuff, then I obviously missed some gaming time! I sacrificed myself! So that's maybe a reason for you to at least read it, or not?
part IStrategus is your baby. So is cRPG.
It is a great idea. I see you try to make a world in which clans do strategic movements and fight their battles in cRPG. Now, where are you going with this? Are you seriously trying to make it more realistic? Like the bow accuracy and ballistic curve thing for strat for example?
In my eyes there is a huge difference between balancing items and game mechanics on the one hand, and the wanting for more realism on the other hand, because in my eyes these cancel each other out in the way you're doing it right now. cRPG is about fighting as any class a player wants, but still not being 'OP' and still being strong enough to have a chance against any opponent, is it? Or is it about teamplay and classes that are forced to work together in order to survive? I'm sure you want both of that, and also I somewhere read 'the devs want more roleplay' or something along those lines.
Then for example, why are arrows still penetrating armor? To me, cRPG appears as supporting to duel-like fighting and 'casual playing' ... weapons get balanced out to prevent people to have real advantages over others. This way the game is more rewarding, less frustrating. I mean fine! But realistic?
Any weapon other than a club should have it's advantages and disadvantages. I know it is like this in most cases, but from time to time someone sees his weapon lose against another and all the complaining leads to balancing changes.
Ok, that's fine for the cRPG players. And I like how it is working out, I definitely enjoy playing. It feels 'balanced'.
Now, maybe I missed some action with the first strat and I didn't play a strat battle by now, but do you even know where you're going with strat? Don't judge by my ignorance, but I just didn't stumble over anything like that.
I'm saying that you should know what you want. cRPG is a game for casual fun and trolls, it needs the even and unrealistic balancing, but how can you make strat be more teamplay-able? I guess a new rebalancing could be it ...
time for a beer,
a walk to the toilet.
...
Now get back to reading, pretty please.
part II - My theory how Strat could work outFirst, what do I mean by realism? Can a game be realistic? M&B even?
Mount and Blade: Warband has the most physical medieval fighting mechanics ever.
. We have speed calculation instead of dice throwing.
. The engine is using special hitboxes.
. Weapons can have special advantages over unarmored/armored/shields/horses.
. Weight can have its influence.
I think it has the potential to be a simulator. Some even refer to it as a war simulation. You can play any game and fight, why play Warband, when it's not as real as it can get?
I guess I need to make it more clear what balancing is to me.
In my thoughts there can be: balancing or no balancing. When a game is balanced it can be badly done with no common sense at all, or it can be done good. And a good balancing can be balanced even, like crpg, or highly radical, like when you absolutely need a can opener to open a tincan, not just a simple sword. In short.
Now, you get the idea:
I think the balancing for Strategus should be more radical and straight.
Imagine following situation:
Two parties on a battlefield, mixed teams: pikemen, twohanders, shielders, ranged, cavalry.
in an every-day public server crpg battle the players would just spread and run as they want; casualties would occur as always: lonerunners teamed or run down by cav, not shielded guys shot by sniping archers, shielders somehow get into duels or 2on1 situations and may survive until some agi-player is fast enough to circle him. All in all just some random but often funny and entertaining fighting. Team sense is optional but in most cases absent.
Now imagine this:
Same battlefield, two parties again, same mixed teams, different balancing ...
Polearms are slow and would break when swung instead of thrusted, therefore only helpful as support in melee and super effective against cavalry.
Cavalry doesn't want to run into tight melee battles for they would get stuck and fall off, die by hitting a pike frontal or get teamed when on ground. Therefore they charge only in groups and from flanks and behind the enemy or only against lone runners again.
They don't have to fear jumping freaks with twohanders, because they would be more needed in the midst of a fight where they hold off against multiple foes, not with speed but because of their reach and because they can knockdown foes fairly easy. If a twohanded sword is swung sideways it will keep foes on distance because they can't just stop a heavy iron bar in full speed with a stick or small sword without hurting themselves or lose control.
Of course there are shielders everywhere, busy with keeping the arrow rain from their fellow teammates and facing the enemies shieldwall, concentrating on their own like getting gaps shut. Archers are spamming like hell, cause that's what they can on long distance, and on shorter distance too, but it would make them cannon fodder. They are not that stupid. Crossbowmen neigher. Throwers throw, but everyone can throw something, even with low hitting chance, but it is only effective when hitting skin or leather.
In the end, When most brave fighters are dead or lie wounded and the last men standing are fighting 1on1 for their lives the fights are ruled by swords. Longswords/bastard swords at most. Finally fast reflexes and skill decides which team wins. Before that point it's team spirit and tactic. It's not just cursing and being cursed but also respect in all ways and logical battle behavior. True player and social skills.
...
part III -You KnowWhy do I think, you, the devs, would want this kind of game? A simulation?
The thing is: I do not know if you want this, because all I see is balancing back and forth in cRPG on one side and stating some new changes for strat on the other side, like indirect arrow shooting, which obviously means more realism.
Sorry if I repeat myself somehow:
Right now, cRPG means all players are be equal on the battlefield. Everyone can duel every kind of ROLE on the battlefield always with a small winning chance. I mean for a casual game, this is ... okay. But for a game that idealy supports high level teamplay, like 'Strategus', this is not very helpful. Right now people are encouraged to just pick ANY weapon (preferably matching their skill) and defeat another player on their own, because it might be possible. I think making it more realistic in a radical way, meaning a small hammer can not beat a long axe/twohander/shielder, would be better. Because THAT would encourage more teamplay; and would still not change the levelling logic in general.
part IV - Dream (couldn't find a title more boring than that)
in specific, as I imagine it to be
. spears are fast stabbing weapons. You could defeat a shielder around his shield. Your spear blade can get chopped off. Spears and pikes hurt crucial or instant kill running horses from the front, especially when they're not armored.
. Twohanders in general are key roles on the battlefield much like pikers, they don't survive because of blocking, they survive because people avoid them.
. Axes aren't slow but they can't stop in mid-air. No axe can. They need a delay before and after each single swing though chained swings are possible. Also blocking is quite hard. Same with maces.
. Like sledgehammers now, long weapons with a heavy end or very long and heavy weapons (also some twohand swords) have huge force that throws down everything when swung. They have some huge delays.
. one can not knock down just by using a club, you'll need to hit the head, or use a huge weapon ^
. Polearms can't swing as fast as now, neigher can big twohanders.
. Longwords and bastard-swords are sidearms for cav and also chosen by everyone who needs a duelling weapon, also archers. In general most people should carry a sidearm, be it 1h or one-and-a-half-hander. Wooden bucklers are used often as the best fast parry if one isn't skilled with a sword that much (I guess we need them, they were really common in the middle ages)
. Pickaxes and every kind of hooked polearms or else have the ability to pull down opponents or make them stumble. Especially tincans.
. Plate armor is incredibly expensive and a major target for teaming, it's target to throwdown with hooked items and vulnerable to strong piercing thrusts ... and strong blunt strikes ... and finishing strikes when thrown to the ground ..., but still it's the best defense against most strikes of all kinds. Most things glance. There could be a realistic chance for hooked item to not hook, though.
. Halfswording is a strong pierce thrust, but only in very close range.
. Daggers are effective on very close range, on tincans they are only effective when the he/she is on the ground
. ... like everyone on the ground is extremely vulnerable.
. Falling off a horse hurts. A bit. After that, you are on the ground.
. Arrows can pierce armor only on very very fast speed, and only when shot with a very strong bow (eg. longbow), in middle range onto a fast object, moving in the archers direction. It's a very rare occasion but deadly, and it needs a unique sound I guess ... . Shots into open helmets are happening way more often in simple comparision.
. Archers are no snipers, at least not from afar. But they can shoot up to twelve arrows a minute, when they have enough WPP. On lower WPP they are slow as they are now on lower WPP.
. Shots 'around' shields are possible, so shield size is saving lifes. Shields are heavy and slow. Foot shots hurt and drag down for some while, but don't instantly kill. Shots into unarmored flesh are painful and in most cases deadly.
. Anyone can use a crossbow. The best ones can penetrate armor but they reload even slower. Crossbow skill can't change reload speed. The skill can not get them to be as accurate as bows can get.
. Horse archery is fine as it is, but has to be faster, too.
. one can do overhead stabs with some polearms to get beyond shields or teammates (like in vikingr)
. Throwing things can kill when hitting flesh/leather, otherwise it is more of a blunt force. It can knock down when it is heavy and/or an axe ... horses don't like it neigher. Body armor and helmets help.
. Running speed could get faster in general, not minding the armor, because armor doesn't slow down that much, it only lowers WPP, like it does now already. It is possible for everyone at any time to walk slowly at a fixed pace by key pressed, the same for every character, ignoring armor, agility and athletics. That helps with formations to advance/retreat together.
...
part V and endThis took hell of a time to write, and I could go on and on with it, discussing the pros and cons of having a realistic 'game' or simulation instead of a nice and seemingly working game like a cRPG-ish Strategus (ofc, I don't want cRPG, as 1 of 2, to change, because some of the players won't play something like that mentioned above).
I could go on about how I think games can change behavior and social skills, and what this has to do with cRPG and Strategus - but while all that stuff is worth talking about, this is not the time until you give me an answer to what you think about that bunch of mindless braintwisting twaddle I wrote here.
Yeah, well, think about it, or first leave me a note if there's any sense and if some of you even READ it. And please take it serious. I usually mean what I write when I take the effort to build thick walls of text. I don't expect you to throw over all you planned, but maybe I can help with making it more clear.
Take care, guys!
Kajia, the mad ... guy
well thats a big text, wow. I should get an award, for being mad
