9/17/2017
Topic:
Small changes and fixes this week
Vulpex
|
Sell everything is an interesting little improvement - but how are you planning to balance that with the distribution centers which in essence function to sell 10 things at a time (I can easily load 20 types of goods on a ship, though it takes over 3 hours) then I ship stuff over and sell everything at double the effectiveness of a distribution center? |
9/17/2017
Topic:
Take war out of Cities
Vulpex
|
This is actually not a general problem but a very specific problem to Earth.
There are two reasons for this.
First - on Earth you have the Terran Federation Forces protecting every city. This is good to protect new players but it also means that even if all I want to do is blow up a small production facility I have to go in with a large force (to overcome the terran federation forces) and that results in far more population damage than would normally be expected. Outside of earth all I need is a commando unit which will do very little damage to the population, on earth I take no chances and go in with a massive offensive capacity.
Second - outside of earth it is much much easier to intercept and destroy forces and/or facilities before they become entrenched therefore resulting in much smaller fights to the same effect.
Regarding your suggestion about removing logistics from static defenses.... this has two problems.
First - static defenses are already the strongest units in the game by a wide margin if you consider their cost effectiveness. Their only constraint is that they cannot move. Removing their logistics penalties means that in practice there is no limit to how many of those can be in a city which would lead to very silly situations and require counters which you probably would not like.
Second - building up huge defences will have the opposite effect of what you try to achieve - it only means that when someone attacks you they will bring in an even bigger force to overcome your huge defences - that is how populations caught in the cross fire get decimated.
It should also be pointed out that destroying city populations was always meant as a viable military/economic strategy to take down your enemies. |
5/30/2018
Topic:
We are going live on Saturday May 13th!
Vulpex
|
I missed it by a couple of weeks but...
Happy anniversary BOTG!!! |
6/3/2018
Topic:
Spaceport mechanic overhaul
Vulpex
|
I happen to like this idea. In fact I like all kinds of ideas which make trade more interesting... more on this coming. |
6/3/2018
Topic:
Contracts Small Update
Vulpex
|
A bit of a necro but... I know we discussed this in the past - the problem is that title of contracts seems to be potentially very busy already - add more info into it and the contract title will either be truncated or cause chaos with the view of the formatting. Not sure if this could be resolved though. |
6/9/2018
Topic:
Guide: Artifact List
Vulpex
|
Daughters are such an overused kidnapped victim. How about rescuing the family pet instead? A battlecruiser for the return of my pet rock! |
6/26/2018
Topic:
Turns to change production
Vulpex
|
Yup this is one of those things which was discarded in Beta (it was never implemented iirc).
The idea is... interesting and confusing too it would certainly change the way things work though. Currently for instance my economy relies on every facility I own (except my water well) changing production every day.... this would be rather painful and force a different system.
The problem is that currently we do not have enough of a player base to push towards hyperspecialisation but it is interesting. |
6/26/2018
Topic:
Game loop
Vulpex
|
Meh... resets.... meh...
However maybe some of those completely abandoned star systems may end up getting closed off given that they were opened under less-than-ideal situations. I am sure I could arrange for them to be nuked out of existence if that helps. |
7/4/2018
Topic:
Ship with Hanger upgrade that cannot be downgraded
Vulpex
|
It might have been one of the very early ships - iirc initially there was a bit more randomness in the upgrades originally. |
7/4/2018
Topic:
My Liquidated Funds... do not exits
Vulpex
|
But to answer your question.
Yeah we robbed QR inceptions blind. Someone had to do it! |
7/15/2018
Topic:
Upgrade Value Exclusion
Vulpex
|
There is a reason for this. You have made an investment but do not yet have the unit or industry at the new level - it can be sold or destroyed in the interim so accounting practices are such that the net worth only takes into account tangible assets - not projected ones. |
7/15/2018
Topic:
Raider Gunsuits have wrong Artifacts
Vulpex
|
Raiders are AMAZING gotta capture some of those gunsuits and figure out how its done. |
7/15/2018
Topic:
Where do we go now?
Vulpex
|
For those who don't know me I'm Machina - been around since Beta. Came back a few months ago - a health issue left me hospitalized and knocked me out of the game for a while but my mates at ARK finally convinced me to come back and see how things have been moving forward. (You have no idea the shenanigans they got up to get me to come back)
It has been interesting to play with the big city structures and see how the social dynamic of the game has evolved, seeing that the raiders are smarter and now pose a credible threat is also interesting and forces new styles of gameplay to counter this. But having been around for a little while and I am really curious as to where the game is going from here.
We've seen major changes to the economics of the game in the last few weeks - namely:
- Decrease in the funds you get when you salvage products.
- Change in the demand curve making it harder for products to reach higher demand (demand starts to slow down at 100) together with an actual clip in the demand of products in game.
- New requirements for the generation of new cities.
- Enforced hard cap of 100 million population per city (We expect to see this today sometime)
All of these changes have something in common - they are made to bring the game closer to Seren's vision of what the game should be. That is how things should be! But all of this raises two big questions for me:
1) What can we expect as a vision for the game in the future?
2) Endgame play - what will be the possibilities?
Barons has been live now for well over a year (YAY! Party!) and over the course of that time the game has changed and evolved - for the better I would say. It is fair to say that the game has reached a point where it is very stable (you guys remember how Obsidian used to break the game on a regular basis?) and it has a very solid underlying economy and combat system as the foundations of a strong political and alliance system, which players can use very effectively to build on - As we have done multiple times in the past and continue to do so now. (Charters all the way!)
But where is the game going to go from here? There are many interesting possibilities and it all depends mostly on Seren, his vision and availability to work on this project but I am sure others are having similar thoughts as well so here are some of the things that have come out from my informal talks with a few of you as questions on the future vision of the game:
- Economic Development - In a way it's all in the economy. The premise of the game is that the economy is so big and complex that no one corporation should be able to do everything on their own. This means in practice that in order to really be successful there needs to be a cooperation between different corporations. Unfortunately the options for cooperation are simply not great. In particular the transfer of materials and goods from player to player is cumbersome enough that it is used sparingly, usually in one off situations. I have very rarely seen any long term use of the recurring contracts in an effective way. This means in practice that working together means simply all piling up in the same place and kinda sorta divvying up the economy into sectors but it is very hard to have an effective integrated economy - I have never seen anyone who has been able to run in even the moderate term simply agreements like you provide me with water and I will provide you with basic woods. So... where is the economy going?
- Exploration - Space the final frontier!!! Well the exploration mechanic has been sorta uh... well it's there kinda but unfortunately due to a number of hiccups exploration got a bit out of hand at one point which resulted in it becoming much harder to open up new systems. It seems to be one of the questions which all new players have - how do we explore stuff? And it is a valid question! So... where is exploration going?
- Piracy - YARRR!!! - Ok yes surprised? Some people think I have a reputation for coming down hard on wannabe pirates... and to be fair I do. But... that does not mean I do not like pirates! The problem is that the options for piracy are few and far between and all of them are, well hardly worth the risk given that you will always get caught and well... bad things tend to happen then. The raid mechanic is again one of those great ideas which is very rarely used but I really do feel like there is something in there which is genuinely great we just have not been able to hit on it yet.
Of course I have my own thoughts on all of those but I would be really interested in hearing the thoughts from all of you and especially Seren. Notice that I did not include any big new shiny combat stuff in the list, there is a reason for it - The one area where we can really effectively cooperate is now in combat. Escort missions are a bit fiddly but they work and allow us to team up and really be stronger than acting alone (note - everyone I know though is really excited about the big bad doomstar so I guess there is that!)
Finally a few words on the endgame - for some players who have been around for a while you end up with a big pile of cash and huge battle fleets and wonder... ok so what next. Many of the changes which have been done in the last week have been triggered by players pushing the limits of the game during the endgame and those limits getting pushed beyond the vision Seren had for the game - but the question is what is the endgame supposed to look like? Sorta kinda look like? What options are we to have? This is an important question because without endplay the game will burn through players. I confess that I do wonder whether some of the problems which have been addressed in the last few weeks could not have been simply solved by having more players in the game (I know, easier said than done!).
I leave it here - and look forward to hearing your thoughts on all this. |
7/18/2018
Topic:
Where do we go now?
Vulpex
|
For sales there are a few ideas floating out there - making the one shot trades easier would certainly help!
There are two other ideas which could help though I leave it up to Seren to determine how easily they could be implemented:
Clearing house - literally you set up a market - this may or may not be a physical location with an associated structure but basically you deliver your goods there and set a price for them. Anyone can then just come and buy them. Could be made to work also with buy requests. The Market itself acts as the check to handle the transactions. Market handling fees and cancellation fees apply so that it is not used as a way to just store junk. (To some extent this could be replicated simply by making one shot trades easier and everyone agreeing to a location where the one shot trades can happen.
The other idea is the leasing of production facilities. Say I have a basic mineral mine, which produces 500 units per turn. I could lease part or the totality of that production to another player - for instance if i split the production 50/50 I would get 250 units of basic mineral and the player I had leased part of the mine to would also get 250 basic minerals per turn. There are variations on this but it provides for a checkpoint for the regular exchange as well as being far simpler as it does not require a dedicated unit to make it happen.
All ideas welcome though! |
8/17/2018
Topic:
What should we work on next?
Vulpex
|
*edited post for relevance*
From my perspective the thing that I would find the most important is to work on those aspects of the game which would make it more likely to retain new players.
Note that I say retain, not draw - drawing in new players is something which is done separately from this by and large but it is something which can certainly be done in other ways.
In this sense I was drawn to many of the aspects which are relevant in the field of getting players to work together because it is when you have a community and friends which you are working with that you can actually enjoy the game in the long term. This would be great.
That is why I was rather interested in those aspects of the game which fostered cooperation - specifically the guild bank and the use of trades without contracts (which would make trade between corps much much easier).
I also very much liked the idea of the Unit Order Management because it would be a great UI improvement but not sure if every player would actually use it and benefit from it so I was a bit on the fence with that one.
But I also wonder if that is the right approach to retain players, it might be but I am not sure.
Another way of looking at player retention is to give them great long term goals. In that respect the follow-up to the guild banks is also very valuable - specifically when you look for the longer term huge megastructures projects - but also the new anomalies/quests and the strategic locations.
I do think there is a bit of confusion as to exactly how a guild bank would work - JBD has touched on a few of the key aspects but it boils down to the simple question of whether a unit being paid out of the guild bank still contributed to the logistics penalty of the player who owned the unit. (I have had discussions with a bunch of players, some believe it would not, some believe it would, and it might be part of the reason why that option is so popular, only Seren would be able to clarify).
edited by Vulpex on 8/17/2018 |
8/20/2018
Topic:
How Guild Bank should work
Vulpex
|
Wow nice!
So regarding income - I would strongly support the idea of making it based on profits but then allowing individual members to make additional contributions as they see fit. That essentially covers all cases on how a guild should raise cash. I don't mind the idea of being able to get to 100% tax rate in a single turn but then again I do not particularly mind it not being able to happen either. You need to trust a little the folks you are in a guild with.
The bank paying all or nothing is fine and dandy!
About the flagging of assets as guild assets just to clarify:
You say it covers military (units) and structures - does structures refer only to military structures or also to production and manufacturing structures?
The idea of giving guild members a bonus to logistics is a good idea in that it gives an incentive for folks to collaborate in guilds which is good for everyone involved. |
8/26/2018
Topic:
Announcement: Gulyaev Protectorate Award
Vulpex
|
It is with great pleasure that on behalf of the Gulyaev Protectorate I am announcing the Gulyaev Protectorate Awards.
It has come to the notice of the Gulyaev Protectorate that there has been an extraordinary effort in the development of the Metropolis of Silva on Gulyaev VII
Given how extensive is the experience of the protectorate in the development of cities, it is no easy feat to impress us!
Yet without any doubts we are unanimous in our bestowal of this Award to the most meritorious Corporation in the development of Gulyaev.
Without further ado:
To celebrate this exceptional award celebrations will be carried out in the entire Gulyeav system.
Full week of heavenly bounties ahead!
And we will also be hosting an intergalactic trade show in Gulyeav VII - an excellent opportunity to showcase your best and most impressive products, designs and ideas.
Our thanks again to Lady Aura, CEO of Sweet Fruit Supply for her outstanding work in bringing Silva back from the brink and turning it into a bustling metropolis! |
8/29/2018
Topic:
How Guild Bank should work
Vulpex
|
Harkon wrote:
Well if the guild taxation is to high it can hurt your income and you can go in minus and go bankrupt if your offline during that period, you would need to constantly login to check on the guild taxation.
edited by Harkon on 8/29/2018
The moment you stop making profits guild tax stops. So guild tax can never force you to go into the red if implemented like this - it would (slightly) reduce your overall income but that should not be a problem.
In addition a good guild structure can actually remove some of you maintenance costs by assigning units and structures to the guild.
The more I read this thread the more I like the idea - it makes it such that guilds are given some additional advantages but not entirely without risks to the players. |
8/29/2018
Topic:
Rough Idea About Competition And Challanges
Vulpex
|
Test server - sure! Resetting main server... not so much. |
9/3/2018
Topic:
How a Capture mechanic should work
Vulpex
|
A few thoughts.
1) While I agree that boots on the ground style of units should be especially valuable when capturing assets I am not sure that I agree that they should be the only consideration. Right now a single lvl 1 infantry could come in, waltz right past my 20 lvl 10 gunsuits, my tanks, my space fleet, my pretty mobile fortress, and other static defences and rob me blind under that system. Seems a bit skewed no?
2) I am ambivalent about the stealing of factories though I find that it would be too disruptive in some ways I love the idea of just stealing everyone's artifact sites... oh wait did I just say that? In practice though it is far more disruptive than simply destroying the sites. There may be a case to be able to use a flag - similar to the flag used to decide if a unit or group of units can be escorted to highlight if a facility would surrender or fight to the death. I do believe though that if factories can be stolen like this there needs to be a mechanism implemented that allows them to be simply sold as well - which opens the road to having factories being held for ransom or simply given back as part of a peace accord.
With regards to the way in which capturing could work I suggest the following:
Five types of units to consider:
1) Boots on the ground - units based on infantry, commandos and mech infantry
2) Ground support - Tanks, artillery and Mechs
3) Airforce - bombers, fighters and variteks
4) Space fleet - all ships
5) Static defenses - fortresses, shields, missile silos, rail guns, ion guns, mobile fortresses and maybe shipyards and military bases.
So how I would see this:
Capture is possible when you have more capture power than the defender, where capture power is based on unit power with the following modifiers:
Boots on the ground - big bonus 5x or maybe even 10x
Ground support - 1x
Airforce - 0.5 x (only counts for half)
Space fleet - 0 x (not considered at all)
Static defenses - 2x
Not entirely sure about the static defenses - I do find it hard to carry away truckloads of loot while the mobile fortress is pounding your raiders though. I would also love for static defenses to reduce the incoming damage to infantry type of units to make them more viable in this kind of conflict.
Oh and maybe we need a stronger kind of infantry units. Like Space Marines .... yeah... space marines..... Gulyaev Chapter...
edited by Vulpex on 9/3/2018 |