Game Development: Welcome, Have a Seat

[JeffGV]

Realistically speaking, people won't be online all the time. Or most the time, for that regard. Unless we're talking of large communities (but as we said before, having one makes also prone to traitors and spies) there will be hours when no one is playing, assuming there aren't people who schedule their life based on this game. Why should a raider attack someone that is online, rather than a camp where no one is present, at least when he started attacking? If they are interested just in pillaging, they have no reason to search for combat, after all.

That is why we have waste-claims and time based raids? I should help to organise defences and be online for at least 1-2 defenders.

Except they are restricted to villages, and as i already said, it doesn't make sense for one or two people to be able to afford one. Whileas, as things stands now, everyone should have a personal village to be protected.

[tweenprinc3ss]

What would be interesting was to just cut out the gluttony/humour system and set everyone to equal physical strength. It would be more realistic, because I dont think there were many supermen in colonial America that could tear through walls with a showel. Make the game more geared towards know how (technology/development) and shear numbers. In cave men days you might be considered a leader/alpha male if you were stronger than your fellows, but not in colonial times. Maybe you could be revered as a boxer or circus freak, but not much more. I say nerf the humours and make technology and tactics count most.

So hidebehinds, squonks, and witchcraft are realistic, but humours and the gluttony system are not? I think you are forgetting one important factor, this is a game. While it may, at times, feel like a walking simulator, you must remember that it is not a colonial experience simulator, and as such, gtfo with your realism.

This is rediculous, and also delivered in a rude way. What should gtfo, are all the rude, short, snappy relies to people weighing in thier two cents. These discussions are frequently derailed by veteran players yapping on abou the dev's always doing things the same, and how this and that from HnH, so it will be like blah in Salem, and frequently said in a way that demeans their fellow players. Have some respect and common curtousy. Please realize, this is not HnH2 for a reason. Obviously the devs wanted to step away from that game onto somethin new. If you want rams so badly, go play HnH. Personally, I hope the devs challenge themselves and us by adding a lot of unique systems to help Salem stand alone.
Furthermore, I like this guys idea. The curren humour system is at the core of all of the imbalance in this game. If people were capped at a certain level, balancing out the defensive and pvp areas would be a snap.

--also, the humour system imo is quite out of context in this game world. Colonial times were rough, you could easily die from an infected scratch you got from a thorn walking thru the woods, or lose your leg for that matter. Lovecraftian mythos always contain vast horrors and evil, but at the heart of almost every tale is a normal human being with no special powers or insane amount of health. Allowing players to get 300 humours, thereby granting them almost godlike powers does not fit the theme at all. Now, with the darkness, i can see they hey intend for these high humOur players to encounter formidable foes, but there is little incentive for that at this time, and no way to keep them out of the newer areas making life hell for MUCH weaker players. This disparity is the core of the problem wih the balancing of this game imo

[Glennfinnan]

You can get 300 humours feeding yourself just the cabbage leaves and that's not any close to the cap nor godlike powers. Refering to such numbers is kinda pointless. Defences should be balanced according to the highest possible humours.

[colesie]

Removed derail

[Mushibag]

QQ moar. The fact remains that this isn't real life, nor a simulation of real life. When people are making suggestions that are just ridiculous and based on attempts at realism, you can't expect everyone to keep their mouths shut about how dumb it is. Humours and the gluttony system are core features of the game, and suggesting that they just be removed so that newbs can feel safe is just absurd. And for the record, I never mentioned HnH or rams.

[Myrdred]

You can get 300 humours feeding yourself just the cabbage leaves and that's not any close to the cap nor godlike powers. Refering to such numbers is kinda pointless. Defences should be balanced according to the highest possible humours.

Witch will result in about 1-3% of Salem population (the most hardcore of no-lifes) being able to break in to even a rudimentary defended base.

The way I see it a perfect system has never been proposed, but maybe one day....

[staxjax]

You don't have to be a hardcore nolifer to grow cabbage, lol.

[Glennfinnan]

Currently, probably yes. I meant more in a long-term run, when the playerbase will be actually bigger, with more dedicated players. And there is a room for such balancing seeing as we don't have all the walls in the game yet.

[Pilgrimager]

I think part of the problem is the expectations players bring to the game based on its window-dressing.
For instance, which of the 2 following descriptions better describes gameplay in this game:
1)Salem: The Crafting MMO
Travel to the New World and forage for basic needs and learning new skills. Explore and find what you need and craft the rest. Increase the quality of your materials for better abilities, and learning new skills. Find a good site and build a homestead defended by walls. Farm, fish and hunt for food, cut wood, and mine for iron. Build villages together with other players for mutual help and support. Resort to a minimal combat system when your options are restricted by others' actions.

2)Post Apocalyptic Feudalism
Are you hardcore enough to thrive in a dystopic wilderness dominated by rampaging tribes led by mutant supermen looting and pillaging, salting the fields of their enemies and hiding their key resources in pocket dimensions inviolate from the normal world? Build a base of power and reap its rewards before its discovered and destroyed. Find others' bases to loot to make yourself stronger, or keep them weaker.
Learn to hide and run alone or throw your lot in with strangers. Either ally with or become the truly powerful: those who control the vat-born MurderClones. Flee when you must, but run too far and have your life force sucked out of you by the all-surrounding Darkness. (And there's crafting, lots of crafting).

The first description is about the early-game that most players will encounter. The second description is the endgame, which sometimes or frequently sweeps across the map yanking players from the first game into the second will-he-nil-he. I think a lot more people will like the first game than the second. If you could let people keep playing the first game while keeping the second game/endgame fun, I think that would be more commercially viable than just the second game, or the first game constantly upset by the second game.

Also, Puzzle Pirates had an interesting model of how to moderate battles between guilds. I could elaborate if anyone is interested.

[Dallane]

no thx lol