A simple change to Strat that will make a big difference

[Gurnisson]

Reward cRPG grind even more? I thought that part was mostly removed because it made strategus less strategical.

[Tomas]

Reward cRPG grind even more? I thought that part was mostly removed because it made strategus less strategical.

You don't have to reward "grind" here.

For instance using Slamz work idea you could have it so that 1 hour of play generates enough "work" to last 24 hours on Strat.  That is hardly grinding and is definitely in the realms of casual play.

Playing more than 1 hour per day would just stockpile "work" for future use but there could be a limit to a players stockpile of say 2 weeks worth of "work". This would cater for binge players and people who go on holiday allowing them to build up "work" and then spend it during their periods of lesser activity.

This is just an example of how it could be done.  There are plenty more methods out there.

[22nd_King_Plazek]

Your argument makes no sense.  You consider playing cRPG to be a "grind"?  I am wondering, why are you here?

There is a very real problem with having 10 active players and 100 fake alts that do nothing but produce goods for you.  Strategus should be an extension of cRPG (at least until this game becomes an MMOG and people can play Strategus exclusively...)

And cRPG already == Strategus.

cRPG ticks = Strat gold
Strat ticks = cRPG XP
cRPG = Strat crafting skills

What we are suggesting is:
cRPG ticks = Strat goods

Your argument is bad and you should feel bad.

Your comprehension betrays lack of basic ability.

I did not say CRPG is a grind, I said I did not want to have to grind strategus goods and equipment by playing crpg.
--> However for the record CRPG is a grind if you play the whole ridiculous generations grind for heirlooms, which I don't.

Fail 1 on comprehension.

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What exactly about my argument is bad? Assuming you actually were able to identify my argument I should imagine you will be able to make some point of some sort to show how these alleged "inactives" really are inactive, you know as opposed to simply playing the game in the limited capacity that you are able to in the current iteration of strategus. However I notice instead you just type bullshit such as "10 active players and 100 fake alts". This is surely not the case, it is well known that having alternate accounts is against the rules and also well known that people have been banned, en-masse for this sort of thing.

Likewise we have other people on your side of this debate saying hyperbolic nonsense like "lol people just log in once every 5 weeks" which also is clearly not the case as if you do not log in weekly then you get teleported to a random location.

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As I previously stated these people who log in at least once a week, make sure they still have gold for crafting, transferring the goods to their superiors and so on are not inactive, they are not drones any more than how the admittedly boring mechanics of strategus might make you into one. They are active, to the extent that is is possible for the majority of clan players to be active. Do you not understand this? Are you trying not to? Or can you truly not read?

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If the problem as you say actually is that these are fake accounts then clearly the solution is to enforce the already established rules that ban this kind of behavior. Not completely change the mechanics of the game into some bullshit grindathon where strategy is irrelevant compared to grinding time.

[Olwen]

the At fifteen, I had the will to  learn ; at thirty, I could stand ; at forty, I had no  doubts ; at fifty, I understood the heavenly Bidding ;  at sixty, my ears were opened ; at seventy, I could  do as my heart lusted without trespassing from the  square., isn't it ?

[RibaldRon]

The only way I could support this is if it only made Strategus FASTER and not slower, for anyone, at all.

You already gain a strat benefit for playing c-RPG (more gold to craft with.. ) but you can be bankrolled by your faction, or make a big trading profit in order to idle.  And that's just fine.  Strat is basically a web-based game with action battles.

So.. not voting.  But, if you could propose a way that gave you a bonus to crafting goods for playing c-RPG (without causing a lot of additional gold loss) I could get behind that.

[Slamz]

I did not say CRPG is a grind, I said I did not want to have to grind strategus goods and equipment by playing crpg.
--> However for the record CRPG is a grind if you play the whole ridiculous generations grind for heirlooms, which I don't.

We must be using different definitions of "grind".

Grind - Doing something time consuming and repetitive which is not fun.  "It was a real grind getting max level in Aion."

Anything that's enjoyable is not a grind.  What you call a "generations grind" just seems like me having fun killing people and I incidentally get heirlooms while doing it, so not a grind by my definition.  (And if you really don't have fun playing and really consider normal gameplay to be a grind, then why play?)

I should imagine you will be able to make some point of some sort to show how these alleged "inactives" really are inactive

My definition of "inactive" is "anyone who isn't playing cRPG".

Strategus is not a stand-alone game and it clearly wasn't meant to be.  You earn gold in Strategus by playing cRPG.  You earn crafting points in Strategus by playing cRPG.  You get cRPG XP by playing in Strategus battles.  Strategus is tethered to cRPG so therefore anyone not playing cRPG is "inactive".

The only reason to "play Strategus" without playing cRPG is to earn gold for someone's clan even though you aren't playing the game.  e.g., "Hey, my closest 100 Steam friends, come sign into this thing and produce goods for me.  You don't even have to play!"

It makes Strategus into a complete joke.  It's no longer a cRPG fight, it's a Facebook battle to see who can bring in the most squatters.

This is surely not the case, it is well known that having alternate accounts is against the rules and also well known that people have been banned, en-masse for this sort of thing.

Nobody is getting banned for simply having squatters come produce goods for them, which is my definition of "fake alts".  They are fake because they are not real cRPG players.  They are your buddy from work who never plays, your cousin who never plays, your neighbor who never plays, etc.  They come from different IPs, so they are considered legitimate under the current rules.  My argument is that they shouldn't be.  Inactive cRPG players should not be able to have as powerful of an influence on Strategus as an active player.

As I previously stated these people who log in at least once a week, make sure they still have gold for crafting, transferring the goods to their superiors and so on are not inactive, they are not drones

I disagree.  These people are indistinguishable from squatters that have never played a day of cRPG in their lives.



I'll sum up:

Strategus should be for cRPG players.  Not your league of Facebook friends that you convinced to log in once a week to transfer goods to you.

[engurrand]

This is a really good idea.

It basically makes people who suck but play a lot have more of a role in strat..

The details are important though, because you can deviate from the principle rather quickly. The real question is how much do you want to increase the rate of production.

[dynamike]

Can't say I support it: I play frequently whenever I can. This can be several hours a day. But then there are lots of times when I am away on a business trip for a whole week and cannot play at all. Should my faction suffer from that? No.

Unless we take a weighted average over several weeks into consideration, a no from me.

[Count_Curtis]

How can you craft things on strategus if you are on holliday?
makes perfect sense, +1

[engurrand]

well i think its time to start to consider the scenarios of different details.

here is one set of details...

crafting rate / whatever rate is very slow when you are not active yet very high when you are. This would give a lot more power to individuals who played a lot, yes.... and if would mean that if you played a lot you would be vital member of your faction.

[Slamz]

The only way I could support this is if it only made Strategus FASTER and not slower, for anyone, at all.

You already gain a strat benefit for playing c-RPG (more gold to craft with.. )

My idea of increasing gold generation from playing cRPG would have that result (for real, active players, anyway).

As I mentioned earlier, 3 hours of playing cRPG will get you around 180 Strategus gold -- if you have a 50% discount, that will afford you *1* Sword of War (and you'd better have a 0 upkeep army).


Basically my problem is this:

Player A:
Plays cRPG for 3 hours a day.  Scouts the map rather than making goods.

Player B:
Does not play cRPG.  He's your friend from Facebook and he logs in once a week and transfers goods to you because you asked him to.


Player B's financial input into Strategus is easily 5x greater than Player A's financial input even though player B has never held a sword in his life.

"Who can bring in the most Facebook friends" should not be the dominate factor in Strategus economies.  In my opinion.

But then there are lots of times when I am away on a business trip for a whole week and cannot play at all. Should my faction suffer from that?

Should they "suffer"?  No.  Should they continue to benefit from you while you are gone and not playing?  No.

It's no different than any other game.  Gotta play to win.  People who go inactive shouldn't still be weighing in as major financial contributors to their factions.

However, if we make the formula such that 1 hour of play generally gets you 24 hours of goods production then anyone who averages 90 minutes a day will be building up a backlog of work hours that they can burn while on vacation.  They'd also be building up a backlog anytime they move in Strategus or anytime they spend crafting arms rather than goods.  I would cap the work storage at 2 weeks worth.


If you haven't played cRPG at all in 2 weeks, there is no reason you should still be able to crank goods in Strategus.

[RibaldRon]

Basically my problem is this:

Player A:
Plays cRPG for 3 hours a day.  Scouts the map rather than making goods.

Player B:
Does not play cRPG.  He's your friend from Facebook and he logs in once a week and transfers goods to you because you asked him to.


Player B's financial input into Strategus is easily 5x greater than Player A's financial input even though player B has never held a sword in his life.

You're comparing two different roles, though - they're both providing a valuable service to their group.  Player B likely also has troop upkeep to consider, and perhaps Player B is assisting him on that front, by providing Player C with some goods to deliver to a faraway land so that gold may trickle down to the border patrol.

If Player A and Player B were both crafting the same goods, Player B would have to be bankrolled while Player A could cover the costs in cRPG.

When you're talking about a Sword of War, you already can get chadztext in-game to reduce the crafting cost.  Plus, people like Player B combined with Player C in my above example can crank out a LOT of gold when the time is right.  Player A from another faction can intercept Player C and take the loot.  Not really that bad of a system...


Edit: I am not entirely opposed to making  people play a little bit of cRPG in order to continue playing Strategus, but I like that Strategus has a pretty casual feel to it.  Maybe if you just added some sort of "Personal Gold" which will be refilled by playing cRPG that would take care of it.  An average of 30 mins of gameplay/day stored up to a week or two would probably be manageable for anyone.

[Tomas]

The only way I could support this is if it only made Strategus FASTER and not slower, for anyone, at all.

You already gain a strat benefit for playing c-RPG (more gold to craft with.. ) but you can be bankrolled by your faction, or make a big trading profit in order to idle.  And that's just fine.  Strat is basically a web-based game with action battles.

So.. not voting.  But, if you could propose a way that gave you a bonus to crafting goods for playing c-RPG (without causing a lot of additional gold loss) I could get behind that.

The pace of Strat is completely seperate and can be changed at any time by merely increasing the base prices of goods.  These are details however which can be calculated/decided if the proposal is accepted by the Devs

[Tomas]

Edit: I am not entirely opposed to making  people play a little bit of cRPG in order to continue playing Strategus, but I like that Strategus has a pretty casual feel to it.  Maybe if you just added some sort of "Personal Gold" which will be refilled by playing cRPG that would take care of it.  An average of 30 mins of gameplay/day stored up to a week or two would probably be manageable for anyone.

That is exactly Slamz idea - you call it "Personal Gold", whereas he calls it "Work Hours".

[22nd_King_Plazek]

Why should I have to play more crpg to play strat? Strat is the only reason I am here.

Just because you can say facebook a hundred times does not mean you have an argument. Anyway I made my point.

What you need though is some reasoning as to the why of this statement:

If you haven't played cRPG at all in 2 weeks, there is no reason you should still be able to crank goods in Strategus.

While refraining from use of the word "Facebook".