JohnCarver wrote:Now is the time to speak up. We have discussed no Stocks, TBF or TBC. Just to go back to a more 'pure' crime/combat system. Thoughts?
I have always liked the idea of cannons, in the last expeditions the values on the walls were not changed and it was rather easy to make plank fences early on. Raiding was therefore not possible early on, the town bells were also granted rather early when you would spend some money in the store.
Mid to late game it evolved around cannons only, they were placed during nightly hours and such to instantly blow up your pclaims/townbells. It ignored all the rules of old raiding, I recall making outer perimeters way out just to prevent getting cannon'd and lose your base in a single blow. Obviously you have already addressed the bugs around cannons by now, but yeah those also played along the frustration.
So in short, yes I very much do like cannons but in the previous expedition it bypassed most of the raiding and interaction usually gained from raiding. It shoudn't be a zerg game, so I agree that there have to be means for individuals to get stuff done but perhaps look into the cannon range and its power versus the difficulty of current raiding. The gap becomes more apparent the stronger walls you have, at what stage would you rather protect (fortify) your little cannon and take the risk of just losing that cannoneer vs multiple raid characters.
There are so many ways to deal with it, I wouldn't even dare to come up with suggestions but I very much would like to see more confrontation and options when it comes down to dealing with bases.
* just an idea about the TBC's by the way, I don't think they would be something bad at all if they were bound to ''public'' towns (so you would know who placed it). On top of that we have mortars now which should give you the means to deal with TBC's rather easy (at a certain point). So those woudn't be a big deal at all. The scent duration could be looked at (probably longer durations), alongside features such as the invulnerability of the TBC and (increased timers on actual summoning). Of course they shoudn't be walled in so easily either. (To prevent suicide in advance a bit, maybe add negative stuff when they do suicide while they commiting suicide while bound to an active TBC)
In short, if you find scents you could almost force a player or group to a confrontation with a passive playstyle, but both sides would have sufficient time to anticipate and plot.
The finalization would be up to you, but for example if you keep the cannons with the current mechanics you could make it harder to make/get, adjust the speed, add in new skills such as for example barriers which slow down a specific entry area etc. With the TBC's for example you could make mortars more accessible and cheaper etc so they'd be used more in combat.
TL;DR I am only mentioning quick examples and such but the point is that even TBC's/TBF's, cannons and the stockades etc could still work very much so granted some minor changes and adjustments for the sake of an expedition which would be slightly faste paste, more confrontated and in general a different experience to play in.