chadzville - A Strategus Idea Compilation

[BASNAK]

visitors can't see pics , please register or login



chadzville.
chadzville is a compilation of ideas, which purpose is to try and inspire the developers to  give an overhaul and ground-breaking changes  to Strategus. I've spent many hours in the past days making this compilation with intention to help revive a mod and community I hold dear. The compilation is not free from errors nor finished.

I am aware that Developers are full of their own ideas and work already. So I worked really hard on this because I want to help out, either by giving ideas or atleast inspire to do some changes. This might be completely ignored, or be taken to consideration - But in the end,  Atleast I tried

So here we go:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

Why does Strategus need change? Here is why:

Some might claim Strategus is fine and just requires some polishing while others think it's a curse to the community that should be purged. Some of the reasons to why Strategus is disliked are:

• Before Strategus, large tournaments, Clan scrim-battles and other events were held and enjoyed by many. These event slowly died out and became less frequent due to release of Strategus which occupied most clans and left little time for other cRPG activities.

• Strategus only leads to hostility in the community, drama, rage and personal insults.

• Because of Hostility and there being no penalty for large factions, mega-alliances, blocks etc, And the fact that Defenders have a great advantage, and that there is no disadvantage for camping  -  Strategus became  a Mega-block Alliance war - Camping Simulator, where everyone would grind troops and camp their fiefs, and refuse to attack because great disadvantages for attackers. The only real progress in EU Strategus has been when people have went inactive, and being conquered afterwards.

• There is little fun to be gained compared to the amount effort required to be put in Strategus. Clans spend months grinding troops, gold, equipment just to have them wasted in a couple of one hour-long battles. Grunts from many clans are restricted and do nothing but grind troops and maybe run a caravan. The only ones who seem to enjoy Strategus are leaders and high ranked within the faction. Since they handle diplomacy, armies and have drama wars on the forums.

• Strategus battles are not fun. The only ones who care about the battles are those leading and being affected by them. The only reason most people attend Strategus battles is because of the huge experience gain. Whenever I attend a battle, I'm constantly looking at the clock wishing it would reach 0 faster, because the only thing on my mind is the experience and not the battle result it self. Remove the experience gain and the only ones whom would attend the battles would be those few who actually care.

• Small and new clans don't belong to Strategus. I speak from my own experience. My clan was not able to do anything without licking one block's or the others ass. Although we have fought both blocks, we always at one point  "belonged to someone". We don't have the memberbase of the larger factions capable of brainlessly grind us money and troops and it is not something I ever hoped on having.
The game should be able to be played by small groups of people, standing a chance and independently be able to enjoy Strategus, without being "roflstomped". There are also many other examples like single players trying to be traders, or trying to get a village. All to have their dreams crushed

Now there are many reasons to why Strategus sucks, and the community could probably list over a hundred reasons. But one thing is for sure, Strategus 4.0 needs to go.

The following will be a bombardment of ideas of what Strategus could be instead. Reasons and summarizations will be given later on in the thread. Most images are manipulated and are only meant to clarify the ideas proposed.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

New World
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

The new map will consist of one Capital City Praven, one Town Dhirim, three villages Saren, Ismirala, Amere and an abandoned ruins Curin. Each place will play its own important role [which will be explained in another section]. The map has been "minimized", and travelling across the map will take a day or two. Fiefs will no longer exist. Cities, towns and villages have instead become interactive and will feature enterable buildings instead, They have become a part of the map instead of being objects.

An Example of how Praven could look:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Cities, Towns and villages are no longer controlled by players, but are instead a part of the map. As seen on the screenshot above. You would no longer have to press "enter" to enter a fief, but simply just move into it on the map through the gates, and later on move to your destination within the fief. Buildings will play different roles and will be enterable just like fiefs were in Strategus. Travelling through the streets would take little time.

The different buildings will be further explained in an upcoming section.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

World economy will now be affected by players, and fiefs will prosper depending on the actions of players. This is done through players being able to gather  resources and craft goods in one fief which the other fiefs cannot gather or craft. As an example, fruit can be gathered in one fief and sold in another fief which cannot collect its own fruit. The buying fief's stock in fruit will increase, and will consume the fruit by time. The higher stock of a certain item will lead to a lower buying price, and a low stock to a higher price buying price.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Villages can be used to gather resources.
•Saren for Wine, Wood and Meat.
•Amere for Bread, Cloth and Fruit.
•Ismirala for Metals, Stone and Fish.

And the City and Town can be used to, craft equipment and goods with resources from the villages.
•Praven for crafting heavier equipment and weapons, and metalware.
•Dhirim for crafting lighter equipment and weapons, and furniture.
[Crafting and Curin will be explained in upcoming sections]

Fiefs will no longer craft goods or sell resources, They will only buy and consume. Gathering and Crafting will be done by players and will be one of many sources for income.

Here is an example of how selling/buying would work. [Has not been Balanced]
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

In chadzville,  players will no longer buy their weapons and equipment from fiefs like in old Strategus, but be crafted by players. By using resources gathered from the crafters own faction or bought from other players, - equipment, weapons, goods and horses can be crafted and sold to players or AI to gain a profit.

This adds some depth to the Economy system, making players dependent on eachother to gain equipment and goods. It also allows those who specialise on blacksmithing as an example to create their own sets of armors, set which price would be set by the blacksmith him self when selling to other players - Which of course is directly affected by the amount of resources there is available on the market and at what price resources are sold by other players.

This gives some possibilities like:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Blacksmiths can advertise their equipment and goods for sales on the forum if they choose to sell it themselves or have a merchant doing the job for them!

And now to the crafting it self. It would work like this:
You unlock and upgrade the items you would like to be able to craft with Crafting Points (Which are to be explained in the Character section), and loom items as you progress in level.
To craft an item you need to be in an appropiate location, like a blacksmith for forging weapons, or a Stable to breed horses.
Then you need to have the required resources to be able to craft the item.

Here is a graphic example:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Gathering, will also require one to be in a suitable location to gather the wanted resource. To gather faster and more items at once, the player must specialize in Gathering skill.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

Just as in cRPG, players will be able to assign skill points to develop their character to fit their gamestyle which also gives characters a role in society and chosen faction, rather than being mere grinding slaves. Strategus experience will be gained from attending Strategus battles, tournaments, attacking/defending on the map, gathering/crafting, raiding caravans, attending church and hunting bandits with bounties on their heads! Inactive players will be useless!

A player can decide what kind of character he wants to play. A character can be everything from a bandit to a merchant to a crafter.
There are no "bound classes", only skillpoints. Some examples of professions:

• visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Gatherer (Farmer, Woodcutter, Miner, Hunter, Sheepherd etc.)
• visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Crafter (Blacksmith, Tailor, Carpenter, Horse Breeder etc.)
• visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Merchant Trader (Buy Resources/Good/Equipment cheap, sell expensive)
• visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Mercenary (Protect Merchants and Gatherers&Crafters/Bounty Hunter)
• visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Bandit (Raid anything you can lay your hands on and sell it)

Or just a Hybrid Merchant Crafter bandit. There are no limitations on what you can be!

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


As seen in the screenshot above, the info tab includes more information such as Reliability, and performance, K/D and W/L all based on Strategus battles. Dueling is based on participated Tournaments [Will be further explained in an upcoming section]

As characters level up and gain more experience, they are able to have attribute points assigned. The different attributes are:

• Leadership: Allows player to control 10 more party members per attribute point.
• Movement: Increases the maximum movement speed per attribute point.
• Stealth: Increases the duration the stealth ability makes you hidden while enabled on the map.
• Strength: Decreases movement speed penalty from carrying alot of things per attribute point.
• Crafting: Increases the amount of goods and equipment that can be crafted simultaneously, also gives Crafting one point.
• Gathering: Increases amount of resources gathered simultaneously.
• First Aid: Increases chance of party members being revived after a battle.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

All fiefs' purposes were explained before, and Curin was left unexplained. The idea for bandits is that stolen or raided goods/resources/equipment can not be sold in markets in Cities/Towns/Villages. It can only be sold in the black market of Curin which could be called a bandit outpost. Dangerous Place - But a lot of money to be made from buying or selling stuff here.

Happy Robbing!
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

Now to my favourite idea. The lack of tournaments and events has made the game boring. So to spice it all up here's the idea:

• Depending on the Mayor [Chosen Developer]. Different types of tournaments and events will be held every-now-and-then in different fiefs. To attend the tournament one travels to the chosen location for the tournament and signs up, and shows up for the tournament when the time comes. Strategus battles are also paused during tournaments to more people to attend.

• Some examples of events: 1v1 Melee, 3v3 Melee, 1v1 Ranged, 3v3 Ranged, Jousting tournament, 8v8 Faction tournament, Survive the longest against bots (DTV?) Etc.

• Winning a tournament would grant a place in the Hall of Fame as a champion duelist or clan, and grant rewards and titles in cRPG. Become a renowned warrior known to the community, making everyone want to hire you for their battles for money!


Example of how it could look!
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

• Every month, an election will be held where each player will be able to vote for a Mayor, which would trusted faction-independent players [Like Developers]. Electing a Mayor will spring changes in the world, like Tax changes, frequency of tournaments, and what day to go to church!

• There is a lot of potentional in Politics, but is not the most important aspect that needs to be implemented.

Here is an example of changable things, and how voting would work!
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

Now here comes one of the largest changes to Strategus:

• Factions are locked to 10-20 members max, forcing factions to recruit their active and best players, and making each victory, a victory based on skill and tactics rather than numbers and spam.

• Since characters have a  class-system, it also allows Factions to choose their way of trying to dominate in Strategus. Either by all sharing the same classes like merchants and outcompete all other merchants, or become the most sucessful and trusted band of mercenaries. Or simply just being a mix from all classes. The choice is yours.

• Factions will now be able to list a couple of allies, and endless enemies in their faction pages. Benefits from being listed as ally is being able to transfer goods and equipment for free, which is not possible to those non-allied or outside the faction. And to stop constant ally changing, Timers could be implemented to prevent ally-changes or faction changes.

• Faction pages also display collected K/D, W/L and amount of battles!

Here's an example of how it could look.
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

Battles now get a huge overhaul. No more 70 minute long battles of constant spam and no fun involved.

• Battles will become more frequent and scaled down to a size where 100v100 would be considered a grand battle. Since battles have become scaled down, battles would be played by almost only the factions actually involved in the battle (There's still always the possibility of hiring randoms of course). Instead of 50 players per side in a battle, it would be more like 10-30 per side (depending on battle size).

• Factions are able to buy equipment fitting their gamestyle, and use tactics practiced in cRPG. Making battles more tactical and battles feel more like Clan Scrim battles. Attending Strategus battles would of course be buffed and be more beneficial for experience  compared to staying in normal cRPG servers. It would also make it useless being in large block alliances since there would not be room for everyone in the roster!

• Because of Map change, battles will be fought on streets, city markets, highways and smaller battlefields compared old Strategus' random plains! If a person is to be attacked in a city street, it would be a battle in a street, if attacked at the Tavern, a battle in the tavern! There are alot of good maps made for cRPG that cover these new battlegrounds.
Smaller battle sizes, smaller maps.

Do sadly not have screenshots of the awesome maps from cRPG, like Tavern, random city streets, highways, ruins, villages, hideouts These will have to do:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


• Since the economy system has been reworked making Higher end expensive and become rarer, and low-medium end armors have become more common. This makes battles no longer a battle of Tincans.

• No more boring sieges, with bugged equipment and OP castles.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

As explained before, fiefs have been divided into buildings, where each building serves its own purpose. Here's a list of some of the buildings:


visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Market Place
A place to sell Resources, Goods and Equipment to AI which will become available to buy for all other players (Or consumed if it is goods). This is place is for those that do not want to sell their wares themselves, and want to make some quick money.


visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Tavern
To stop players from becoming mindless grinding Zombies, players must send their characters to a nearby Tavern to rest every one or two days. If that is not done the character will no longer be able to do any more actions! Pro tip: Fighting around this area causes a battle in the tavern!


visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Church
Religion played a very big role during the Medieval Ages and should also in Strategus. Every chosen Church Day by the Mayor, players have the ability to enter the Church and attend which will generate some Strategus experience for the character.
Praise thy lord!


visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Tournament Area
The place where players have to send their characters to signup and attend different types of Tournaments or events.


visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Blacksmith
A working place for crafters to craft items from resources, or repair equipment that they can also craft.


visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Town Hall
Where players send their characters to cast their votes on what Mayor should be chosen, or view information such as Tax, Day of Church etc.



visitors can't see pics , please register or login
visitors can't see pics , please register or login
visitors can't see pics , please register or login
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Gathering Work Places
Lumber Jack's hut, Fisher's Hut, , Metal Mines, Farms, Hunter's nest, Bakery, Garden, Wineyard, Stone Quarry.
All working places for gathering resources. Existing in their respective fiefs.


visitors can't see pics , please register or login
visitors can't see pics , please register or login
visitors can't see pics , please register or login
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Crafting Work Places
Blacksmith Workshops, Weavers mill, Carpenter's workshop, Fletchers workshop.


visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Curin Black Market
The only place that will buy looted or stolen resources, goods and equipment. A slightly dodgy place.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

So what would reworking Strategus to chadzville give us?

• A fast paced Strategus.
• Frequent battles, where factions can put tactics and skill to use.
• Friendlier towards Newbies and Smaller Clans.
• Many different ways to play Strategus, everyone being able to choose a gamestyle that fits them.
• No more camping and cold wars.
• No more oversized factions or block alliances. The most prominent and dominating clans are the most skillful and clever, not with those most in numbers.
• Brainless zombie grinders equal to useless
• Bringing back tournaments and events making both Strategus and cRPG a more interesting game to play.
• Larger variety of equipment. Bringing back Low-Mid tier equipment back to Strategus.
• World Economy based on true S&D, where players are forced to talk and work together.
• Professions lead to competition, creating a basis for conflict amongst workers too.
• Giving a larger say for Grunts in factions and getting them more involved in Strategus.

These are just some of the positive things I can come up with. There are probably some bad ones but not as bad as current Strategus.


All my respect and thanks goes to the dev team for making Strategus and cRPG. I hope my ideas and suggestions will get some attention and hopefully lead changes similar to chadzville. Strategus is a great idea but I believe it is drifting towards the wrong direction.

Thanks for reading!

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

(click to show/hide)

Garlic - Idea and image manipulations

Source for all the artwork + Graphics:
Stronghold Kingdoms
Anno 1404
cRPG Dev team
Mount and Blade
http://levodoom.deviantart.com/art/High-Marches-Regional-321248696
http://luned.deviantart.com/art/Sorravas-338642763

And some others I might have forgot to mention

[Crob28]

looks.... sexy

[Matey]

I was skeptical at first, but that actually sounds like a lot of fun. It might be interesting to allow anyone to run for mayor though as opposed to devs only, especially since we should have a NA map and a EU map and there arent exactly a lot of NA devs to run for mayor of NA towns!

[Torben]

nice effort,  great ideas,  however quite a new game,  eh? : )

[Latvian]

something that long can not be bad.

Signed i can only approved!

[Kitten_Mittonz]

Sounds cool hope they take it on kudos to u sir 

[agweber]

Feels like such an entirely new game. Does look very interesting, but it also discourages players that don't have the time to play as fast-paced of a game. All in all, a very well put together post, and I wish you the best of luck!

[donib]

Some one played too much the guild 2...

something that long can not be bad.

Signed i can only approved!

[SirCymro_Crusader]

.

[XyNox]

One of THE most deserved +1's I ever gave.

[Haboe]

You use pretty pictures in your suggestion, it must be balanced and cool, +1

Ah, thats what i recognized them from, pictures from other games

[Sultan Eren]

nice artwork

[Wolfsblood]

this sounds more like a guild game than an army vs army game, which is what people mostly play this for. I love the idea of strat being scaled down a bit like this, but maybe it was a bit much? I just feel that this game world should have a grander scale than what you are providing atm. however i doing feel like this is a vast improvement compared to what e have now

[Casimir]

Interesting ideas, seems more in line with what they're going for with epic.

[chadz]

Very nice - we obviously won't do it, as it's an entirely separate game , but the thought behind it is very good - I'd like to see it realised eventually.