 Brandmeister wrote:
This would make synchronization much easier. But it would also make it much, much easier for sprawling alliances to dominate in tournaments. |
I've been thinking a lot about this - back and forth. Would it? I mean, everyone on the server would have the ability to do this. What advantage would it give sprawling alliances that they don't already have? There is an inherent advantage in having lots of friends supporting you whether this system is in place or not. That advantage is gleaned from controlling a mass of people. If everyone has the same access to this mechanic then the advantage of the sprawling alliance should be no bigger than it is already, no?
Consider that the only advantage it gives is to people that can't be on at every point in a 24 hour period. If anything the "hard-core" alliances probably have less of these casual type of people - given that to-date you needed to be available to send your army at a specific time. This mechanic allows more casual players to be more involved.
So the hard-core players may initially think "oh, that's not fair - it's too easy for casuals to compete!" To which I would respond - really? If the only reason you are able to "win" the game is because you have the RL freedom to set your alarm for 3am maybe the goal should be shoring up your strategic/tactical abilities. Holding on to a mechanic that allows you to gain an ingame advantage from an out of game reality just seems like a hollow way to win.
Brandmeister wrote:
If it were to be implemented, why not go the full way? A set delay still involves player calculation. It would be even easier if they could just select the arrival date and time for an army, and have the system do the dispatch. |
Calculating the arrival time or not caluclating the arrival time is inconsequential to the goal of allowing people more leeway for their RL responsibilities. I don't think it adds anything one way or another. My goal isn't to make it "easier" it is to make it more accessible. Setting an arrival time doesn't further that goal so I wouldn't recommend it as part of this suggestion. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of excel can set up a spreadsheet to do all those calculations anyways... so for the sake of simplicity I say keep it as is - depart time. If we keep it simple it will have a better chance of being implemented.
abstractdream wrote:
I like this idea, especially the 12 hour limit. Without that time limit, I would not like it. |
I'm glad you like it. I have been thinking about it for a while now (probably too much thinking!). And I agree, the 12 hour limit (or some kind of limit) is essential so that it doesn't allow one to put the game on autopilot (which inevitably gets boring). I don't know if 12 hours is the best but I figured that, based on an 8 hour sleep schedule (do people get that still?) with 2 hours on either side 12 hours seemed a good starting point. A healthy gamer is a long term gamer! :)
Besides - the ability to get a regular night sleep leads to better employment opportunities. Which leads to more disposable income. Which leads to more prestige purchases. Fostering a healthy play environment has all kinds of benefits. Requiring your players to halt all aspect of their life to fully engage a game seems like an antiquated way of doing things.
| As with many good ideas like this, they could become great if the advantages come at the right cost. |
I've batted around a lot of ideas about cost. Currently I'm against the idea of it costing much - because that doesn't fit with the spirit of what the mechanic is trying to accomplish. It penalizes people for having well-rounded healthy lifestyles. On the other side - what is gained by having it cost something? If the system is set up properly it doesn't dissuade players from using it - it just makes those players less effective. I think a good end goal is to have players compete on a level playing field with only their wits, skill, strategic ability, and diplomatic prowess to determine outcomes. Currently the game is slanted so that anyone that can be available 24/7 has a distinct advantage. This almost makes their winning less satisfying, no? I would prefer to know I beat an opponent because I executed the war strategy better rather than knowing I beat him because I have no RL responsibilities. Anyways, food for thought. If some kind of penalty was to be put in place I like yours - I just wonder if it is making it unnecessarily complex while losing sight of the end goal.
Albatross wrote:
I would also suggest: |
I really like the idea of preperation times which give bonuses to armies before they move out. I hadn't thought of that. It's more realistic in my opinion. An army should even need a minimum amount of prep time based on the number of units before it can move out. The army can be rushed - but then they should have a penalty. All that said, I think that this would too radically change the way war currently works. There are a lot of players in the game that enjoy the way it works now and making a change as small as delaying an army deployment is usually met with all kinds of rabble rabble rabble. So why take a big step when we can take a small one? In my experience Devs really like simple systems that add significantly to game play and adding bonuses and penalties for preperation times seems like it may be too big of an initial step imho. So I would try to get the base system in of simply delaying armies for the purpose of player availability rather then adding a bunch of features to it.
That said - down the road once the system is in place and tested - I really like the idea of preperation times, bonuses, and the like. That whole system is actually really exciting to think about.
This is fun! I wonder how difficult it would be to implement this system from a programmatic perspective? Afterall it would require a city to update its army counts/statistics with the player offline. I don't think the game does that in any way right now. Sure your resources are updated - but adding a whole other system to check if an army is leaving in between server ticks may just be too much with the way the game is written. If this idea does get buried I'd be interested to know if it is because of a technology limitation, or a "vision for the game" issue.
Edited by WeeAshley - 09 Jul 2013 at 01:00
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