Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Announcements of major changes to Salem.

Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby JohnCarver » Sun Dec 27, 2015 1:29 am

Greetings Salemites,
Not a lot went in with this patch as it was a knee-jerk reaction to pushing things i was working on so I could also get to work on rebooting the server from the last series of crashes. There are several pretty important adjustments tho, which is why I made this its own patch header.

CRIME/Raiding
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First, let me just start by saying that there are several major issues that are broken in the existing crime system and will become more broken as time goes on. They range from integer values being not healthy for the implementation of future buildings, to a poorly defined arson system in terms of damage calculations vs. object hit points. I WILL have to adjust these things sooner or later or we WILL be stagnated in my ability to add new and fun things to this system. This is so that you guys can understand that even if I decided and defined the existing system perfect, I would be ripping it down and rebuilding it if for no other reason than the health of the code and it's ability to accept new changes in the future.

However, the test server is not going as well as I would hope and the scope of the changes on the horizon keep getting larger than smaller. Considering that I largely LIKE the existing system from a risk vs. reward analysis, it does seem a bit silly for me to either A) Rush a crime overhaul or B) prioritize thousands of dev hours on something that is in its current form being enjoyed by a very minor subset of the population. As such, I've made some tweaks to our existing system that 'restore' it to what I consider a healthy balance on raiding. I"m sure carebears will QQ that its easier, and raiders will QQ that it is harder etc. etc. However, despite if it is truly harder or easier, I do think its still in that same realm of 'balanced' that we had before I nerf'd tea in the first place.

*Crimes no longer permakill the raider. Not because I don't want them to, and it is highly likely that this revisits the scene. However, in the current iteration of raiding there were actually a few loop holes that made this exploitable and I quite frankly don't want to deal with or tackle this until I finish a complete overhaul. As such I just took this piece back out.
*Whipping Damage has been adjusted down. Not all the way to where it was, but a healthy inbetween. Base damage is still sub 1 humors again, but I left the justice score bonus to a reasonable amount up.

*Running off Crimes has been re-written to be adequate to a world without raid-tea. It now works generally like this:
If you choose to stand 1 tile away from the enemy claim to prevent him from repairing with stomps or otherwise just standing right at his gates so he cannot leave. Then you will indeed have a FULL HOUR on your crime debuff.
If you choose to back off to approx 10 tiles off. Thus allowing you to talk trash, observe what he is doing, and still generally be 'response ready' to whatever they are doing be it an escape or rushing the wall to repair etc, then your crime debuff will instead drop off closer to 30 Minutes.
If You choose to back off to the edge of render range. SO that you still have visibility on your target, but are now a short sprint away from actually getting there, then you will find that your crime debuff is more like 20 minutes.
If you choose to back off a few screens away (Approximately 60 seconds running away from the crime) then your crime debuff will drop to 10 minutes.


This of course means that raiders (especially high biled ones) can and will be back into the mix quicker, and with a greater ferocity than they could previously. It also means that there are more decisions to be made on just where and how you stand in those periods between waves. A small mile-stone towards more dynamic raiding, but a shift in the general direction we are aiming for.

Long term, I am seriously considering making crimes last hours upon hours, and instead, having a siege tent of sorts or some building that the attacker can invest to dramatically reduce his crime debuffs. But until I get the full scope better under wraps I feel this 'restores' to a balance I am comfortable with.

*Standing around on an enemy claim now drains significantly more black bile.
Previously, a 500 Black Bile Raider could stand on an enemy claim for approx 1.7 Hours before the nominal black bile ticks would take him down. This seemed highly unreasonable and not at all in line with the direction we want to go where there is some level of 'suspense' during your times of raiding. As such, the time spent in and on other players claims has been dramatically nerfed. That same 500 bile character may now only spend 6 minutes on an enemy claim before he would simply KO to the ticks of being there in the first place. Of course keep in mind. Its only about 12 minutes for him to run off and be right back in the mix again.


Hopefully this gives you a bit of an insight to the changes we are considering with raiding. I'm not interested in tipping the 'balance'. I"m not interested in making raiding easier, harder, etc. etc. I'm interested in making the time spent doing said raids more action packed and less tedious. Finding the right ways to do such a thing will be a tricky proposition though.

Other Stuff
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*Honey now boosts biles closer to 25% up from 10%.
*Royal Jelly now spawns in 1-3 down from 2-5. (This is in anticipation for several new "Boss" type creatures to be added like mother bat)
*Royal Jelly is now a fairly good inspirational.
*Draining Honey from a Bee Skep now takes significantly less time.
*Plucking a Turkey has been Buffed to 15 Flora & Fauna
*Cracking an Egg has been buffed to 5 Flora & Fauna
*Players may now put their Amethysts inside their Iron Walls.

Mini Update #1
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*There is now a sound effect when 'locking' onto an object to give an audible queue you have done so. This should work with Grindstones, Whittler Bench, Carpenter's Bench etc.

POPHAM
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*P-Claims that are out of silver are now lootable without leaving crimes or scents. This is the first of what will be a series of changes to hopefully entice and/or speed up the existing populations ability to build the ark and end the server. Note that I may make the same change in the future for Town Bells as well.
ceedat wrote:the overwhelming frustration of these forums and the unnecessarily over complicated game mechanics is what i enjoy about this game most.

Nsuidara wrote:it is a strange and difficult game in no positive way
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Re: Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby dinoxx7xx » Sun Dec 27, 2015 1:59 am

:lol:
im retarded idiot that has ebola and i live in african village with old windows xp computer where salem laggs
- Captain Jack Sparrow-
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Re: Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby gorniksam » Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:11 am

JohnCarver wrote:500 bile character may now only spend 6 minutes on an enemy claim before he would simply KO

My fav part <3
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Re: Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby Judaism » Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:14 am

Here´s the real question, which ultimately matters the most at this stage. Is it still intended to remove TBC´s at the longer run with these changes as debated in v1.1.4 or not ?
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Re: Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby JohnCarver » Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:21 am

Judaism wrote:Here´s the real question, which ultimately matters the most at this stage. Is it still intended to remove TBC´s at the longer run with these changes as debated in v1.1.4 or not ?


That depends entirely on if I can get the risks and deaths high enough on the raids themselves to warrant the idea that if you live through that raid you only have to worry about a counter-raid, not a TbC.
ceedat wrote:the overwhelming frustration of these forums and the unnecessarily over complicated game mechanics is what i enjoy about this game most.

Nsuidara wrote:it is a strange and difficult game in no positive way
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Re: Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby riolic » Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:29 am

Initially I'm concerned about the way Higher trespassing Bbile drain and low-count brazier crits will interact with each other. Without getting a chance to test it I won't make any wild claims one way or another, but it feels like it pushes the floor for raiding a good bit higher.
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Re: Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby MaxPlanck » Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:32 am

gorniksam wrote:
JohnCarver wrote:500 bile character may now only spend 6 minutes on an enemy claim before he would simply KO

My fav part <3


Time to expand a PClaim of 500x500 emptiness with no defenses except the most inner area...ha, just kidding that would be a waste of silver per day. ;)
Last edited by MaxPlanck on Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby JohnCarver » Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:32 am

I don't think I tampered with brazier crits at all yet. But yes that has been a major challenge on the test server.

When my 500 has difficulty hitting a base. My 100 guy cannot even scratch it. and when my 100 guy feels balanced on how hard to get in, my 500 guy topples it in a matter of minutes.

Reoccurring issue in balancing something like this. In a perfect world players would be able to do meaningful damage and make a difference on the raid scene in as low as 40 to 80 biles. But by moving it that low it makes the 'status quo' raider in the hundreds far too powerful.
ceedat wrote:the overwhelming frustration of these forums and the unnecessarily over complicated game mechanics is what i enjoy about this game most.

Nsuidara wrote:it is a strange and difficult game in no positive way
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Re: Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby Judaism » Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:37 am

Here is what we do have now:

New defenses for defenders to make you KO, they can do something about it.
New walls to keep more people out and others even much longer.
No way to get off-claim while KO, any serious KO on-claim still should be a death penalty now.
A much harsher drain on claims, therefore much shorter runs.
No tea buff to keep your biles topped, therefore shorter runs, with less efficienty (bash damage mainly).
A more dangerous crime-debuff/combat lock where defenders could ultimately decide for a chase.
Much harsher stockades.

Thing in return:
Large BB characters "might" be a little bit more rewarding.
Torchposts have been nerfed "slightly".
Honey buff.

Overall I see a much more active play style completely in favour for the defender in almost every way so far. The time sink is going to be my largest concern here and it should be completely limited to that if you ask me at this stage.
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Re: Salem V1.1.5 Jingle Bombs Adjusted

Postby JohnCarver » Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:49 am

"Sieging" has always been largely balanced around how long we wanted for somebody to 'breach' which was an amount of time we decided each base and wall-type represented for the player time invested behind it.

We also expected any faction of "Siegers" to have 10 players doing so.

I don't have my original Notes, but it was something like this.

Split Rail = 1 hour
Stone Hedge = 4 hours
Plank = 8 hours
Brick Wall = 24 hours.

That was of course with a few braziers of coverage and assuming they were there actually filling the braziers but unable to repair the spot under attack. If you bring a team of 5 you can double those numbers. If you bring a team of 1 then you can 10x those numbers.

Couple that with the idea that it was going to take APPROX. 8 hours to run out braziers from somebody who is NOT actively defending.

Those were the time constraints we originally balanced for. As people came up with more creative methods, utilized tea far heavier than we expected, and in rare cases brought characters far larger than we expected these numbers have become less and less the foundation of raiding. However, until we dramatically change the 'risk of death' during a siege I don't find it reasonable to change the time investment.

As far as 'alerting' me to a 'balance' we are not aiming for in the short-term while this is all looked over if the numbers above are dramatically out of whack I have no problem coming to visit a raid and evaluating if such a thing is true.
ceedat wrote:the overwhelming frustration of these forums and the unnecessarily over complicated game mechanics is what i enjoy about this game most.

Nsuidara wrote:it is a strange and difficult game in no positive way
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