Messages

46

Gameplay / Re: Achievement system flaw

« on: May 14, 2013, 12:01:01 pm »

Some of them are oddly specific.  Maps 1 for pilot requires you to ram (Ehh, ok) 20 components (A fair bit, but doable) on Dunes (?Que?) for an entry level achievement in that line.  The requirements are so specific its kinda creepy.

I understand that leveling all at once would defeat the purpose of the achievements a bit, but if I might put forth a suggestion: Activated Achievement Progress.  Or something spiffy sounding.  Basicly, you get to choose which achievements your shenanigans will count towards.  Sod the goldfish, want to pop baloons on the spire?  You can hit that first!  Just getting off a CP binge?  Roll up a DM based achieve.

The offset to this is already in place; many of the achievements become more difficult to pull off/simply take more time than earlier achievements.  If youre a sucker for punishment or you think the current achieve doesnt suit you, just switch it out, itll make the game a bit more interesting while suggesting new shenanigans to try.

And it will still make you fly the damn goldfish if you want to hit pilot lv11

Seriously, ramming 20 parts on dune makes me want to stab eyeballs.

47

World / The Arashi League

« on: May 14, 2013, 12:22:53 am »

What we know

-Desert dwellers
-Government is "Largely independent and heterogeneous city states"
-Scavengers
-Culturally derrived from western Europe
-At war with the Guild
-Colours are rust and white
-Symbol is the vulture


So they’re at war with the Guild.  It makes sense, looking at the map, it has the most direct routes between 2 nations (2), neither of which has a large impassable body of water in between.  In fact, Caldos and Hikagebashi are on opposite sides of a tiny lake (Devs, is there any way we can download a bigger map of the world?)

One of my big questions is “Why?”  Why do the southwestern cities still live in the desert, if it’s so hard?  They have airships, they can move about.  Why are the other independent towns not a part of the league, which is made up of independent towns?  Strength in numbers, right?  They’re a desert scavenger society that doesn’t seem to have an edge technology- or infrastructure-wise.  I can see the eastern settlements near water being lively places.

Culturally based on western Europe, so I’m thinking, where able, they would try to build stone buildings with tiled roofs, things that can last for ages (In North America, 100 years is a long time, in Europe, 100km is a long distance). 

I’m no expert on European geography, but I don’t believe that there are any deserts in western Europe, so how they would adapt would be interesting to see.  Many European countries are by the ocean (Germany, France, Spain, Greece, Italy, etc...) so the cities there could have different buildings based on different cities in different countries, like Nice, Barcelona, even Venice.

Political interactions- the League could have many languages, and for average citizens to speak several languages would be the norm.  For example, 2-3 League languages and 1-2 non league languages, on top of “Common”, if there is a universal language.
-The Guild-Hates the guild for being expansionists.  Member states near the water are at the most risk of being taken by the guild, the others are at less of a risk due to lack of resources.
-The Empire- Don’t really like the Empire, since they want to convert them, and they don’t understand their way of doing things.  They are, however, their best trading partner, buying up a lot of what they scavenge.
-The Republic-Very good, though they’re rather far away, they would need to cross through Empire territory to trade with them.  The Republic doesn’t always want what the League has to sell, since they can plunder locally, but often when an Arashi ship bearing raw materials comes along, they will usually buy it.  They rarely raid the Arashi league due to the distance needed to raid Arashi territory, and almost never take Arashi thralls (Lord Dick, explain the other reason xD).  Anglean craftsmanship is highly valued by the Arashi, due to its quality and durability, though some adjustments are made for dealing with hot, dry or moist, salty environments.  Therefore, it is not uncommon for Angleans to make the trip to the League, knowing that they will be sure to sell out whatever they have
-The Baronies-Good.  I can see them often hiring the Arashi as mercenaries for their desert campaigns; the League is too far away from the Baronies to be worried about an invasion.  They both readily trade by sea, and some lords in the Baronies have winter homes in some of the port cities of the League
-The Order-Good.  Though they rarely have use for the products of Chaladonian science, the Order’s universities and research bodies are keen on picking up any and all ancient technology that the desert hides, as well as buying rare ingredients found only in the desert.

48

Gameplay / Re: If this is on purpose....

« on: May 13, 2013, 10:34:59 am »

...Miniature sky whales?

49

World / Re: The Yesha Empire

« on: May 13, 2013, 04:38:14 am »

Baller, after we do the nations, we might have to go after independant towns :p

First I'm going to add to what you've already said.

Their colours are blue and black (should we make flags for these nations?), and I believe that the triumvirate is advised by more philosopers than military advisors, which may make them formidible adversaries in global campaigns for their unconventional tactics, or make them weak foes due to their higher ups making novice mistakes.  I'm leaning more towards the former.

I can see them being friendliest with the Guild, while constantly battling with the Republic. 
-The Guild represents structure, everything for the allmighty currency (What is the currency in this world anyway?), making them predictable, as well as alleviating pressure fom the League by constantly warring with it. 
-I agree that the Empire is old foes with the Baronies, but are separated by the desert, and thus rarely see conflict on their borders. 
-I would think that their relationship with the Order would be pleasant, but they might be warry of them; they're a nation with  strong scientific background, and may not be easily converted.  Also, the Order's philanthropic tendancies might make the Empire suspicious, believing that the Order is playing the same game as them. 
-The general populaiton of the Arashi would see the Empire as being exactly the same as the Guild.  The leaders of the Arashi see through this; although they prefer the Empire to the Guild, they don't believe that "The Better Way" would be any better for them, in fact they see it as being worse, as they would probably have to pay tithe to the Empire regularly, while still living in an inhospitiable desert, as well as loosing (guessing) a third of their income from scavenging and raiding.

-The Angleans....the Empire reeeeeeeeally hates.  Barbarians, isolationists, raiders, they spit in the face of everything that the Empire stands for.  It wouldn't be so bad if they wern't right on their doorstep!  The southern Republic towns constntly raid the northern coast by ways other than the usual trade routes, mostly raiding for food and luxury goods, but not adverse to taking thralls.  In response to this, I can see the Empire building "Enlightenment Institutions", or something similarly sinister sounding, just for Anglens.  These are little more than hard labor camps with terrible conditions for raiders and those who will not immediately convert.

China is pretty diverse, but (thanks wikipedia) 92% of the population is of the Han ethnic group, and they pretty much just speak one language, Mandarin (I've yet to meet a mainlander who can speak Cantonese, which is sad since I'm part Cantonese).  Of the other 8%, I've heard there are about 50 minority ethnic groups.  There are local dialects, and some words are noticibly different depending on where you go (In the north, the word for 10 and 4 are distinctly different to my ears, sounding like "Shuh" and "Seu", but on the middle all the way to the coast, 10 and 4 sound the same in spoken language by the locals, "Seu").  In any case, I hope the Yeshan Empire is a bit more diverse, it would be neat and a pain in the butt to have to learn different languages.

I can see the Empire really hating anything that opposes their idea that their way isn't the right way, using very drastic measures, especially if those that oppose their ideals are Yeshan themselves.  They would have to be, to keep a diverse population from splitting into independant nations.

Also: I LOVE that joke!

50

World / Re: The Anglean Republic

« on: May 12, 2013, 11:51:19 am »

Good point too, thralls that are loyal or skilled are able to marry and actually have children, like Roman slaves and servants could (Romans!).  Or not marry, I'm not judgemental.

Reading the wiki on thralls has led me to pretty much ditch the potential Roman influence.  Thralls could become Freedmen, people who were still obligated to do things in favor of their former masters, and would become freemen after a few generations.  Similar to the idea I put forth in my last post.

51

World / Re: The Anglean Republic

« on: May 12, 2013, 10:58:35 am »

I like the cut of your jib.  I dont know what a jib is, or why you would cut it, but I like it!

I like the idea of giving skilled thralls incentive to be happy workers and not sabotage everything, but giving them citizenship, or titles and other accolades??  The ability to move around or escape Anglea?  Not so hot.

However, give their children the chance of citizenship, to start life with substantial prestige, now that looks nice.  What parent doesn't want the best for their kid.  Also, if the parent ever thinks to take a stab at the republic, well, it could be bad news for the kid, loss of honor, loss of citizenship (if it occurs before they come of age, if it happens after I dont really see them revoking it), or worse...

52

World / Re: The Order of Chaladon

« on: May 12, 2013, 03:07:50 am »

Solid facts, now for some speculation!

As we know, India is a hot place, and not an island nation.  Given that it is close to the "Feudal Europen" Baronies, just a little south of the tundra line that is prevalent in the Anglean Republic and Firnfield, I would suspect it would be too cold and deprived of sunlight to have the population develop "Indian" sensabilities, thus make it unlikely that cultural influences that developed in hot, Indian environments arise naturally in a place that might require heating part of the  year (im speaking about the buildings here).  Changes in the global environment from a warm era to a cooler era, noted in my posts about the Anglean Republic, would fit here; buildings designed for a warmer time, by a culture adapted and risen from a warmer environment, would make sence.  Furthermore, that it is an island nation, and has a noticible "English" influence, I would hypothesize that Chaladon is located in this world's version of England.  Perhaps the "English" heavily recrutied or replenished thir armies from "India", lead to a decrease in the "English" influece and an increase in the "Indian" influence in "England", which lead to what we know of as the Order today. 

What about trade?  The island is great source of food itself, with a strong agricultural base.  Its also has some scientific development, at least enough worth mentioning.  It could export either of these, but who is to say that they aren't trading with other nations, places that are not on the map, that aren't  players in the Airship war?

 Any island nation that wants to stay independant will have a strong navy (see England and Japan), it wouldnt be unreasonable to see some of their boss ships being huge floating fortresses refitted or purposely built for taking down airships, to force pilots to hug the ground when taking them down.

I could also see, with their combination of mad science and being an island nation, that they could apply mad genetics to local wildlife, to help them increase fish yield, domesticate gigantic turtles to make submarines, or even breed flying whales.

Skywhales, if you will.

53

World / Re: The Anglean Republic

« on: May 11, 2013, 08:14:21 pm »

Thralls, mootmoot.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gvRYHUxrhQ

Anyhoo, the reason I was so gung ho about the Roman infrastructure is that it would help them build and develop large airships in their frozen territories.  Consider that there are almost no great, functional Inuit structures today (Inuit is the proper word, I should know better.  Another story.), I dont know of any great, functional viking structures that still stand, but the Romans, on the cutting edge of their time, built the colloseum, temples, and the aqueducts, which we still see today.  It would also show the adaptability of the people to show that they have adapted from a warmer peroid.  Also it would be wicked sweet to see.

54

World / Re: Adventure mode- home city?

« on: May 11, 2013, 01:39:06 pm »

I'm not suggesting that we increase the size of the combat maps substantially, just make the world map larger, and make the combat maps just the part of the trip that we see in game.  It just seems a bit odd that the combat map is cannonically wedged right between 2 settlements.  Your galleon would spend the same amount of real time completing the combat map and getting to the next stop, but it would be longer in "in game time"

55

World / Re: The Anglean Republic

« on: May 11, 2013, 06:55:56 am »

I get the idea that republic is a word thrown around a lot.  Like the PRC or the DPRK   :B  I focused on the Roman republic because of their heavy use of indentured (sp?) workforce, and that I know  bit about it.  And it had pretty good technology for its time, a good deal of wich still stands today. 

Your point on the Sami people is really neat, it sounded familiar to me because it looks similar to Suomi, the Finnish word for Finland.  How I know that is a story for another time.

Id figure with all the checks and balances and redtape and general bloat, day to day things could be run in the capital city by the underlings during a moot.

Moot.

Mootmootmoot.

56

World / Re: The Anglean Republic

« on: May 11, 2013, 05:46:41 am »

When someone says "Republic", I can't help but think of Rome, and the TV show of the same name.  I'd think that Anglea was a much warmer place, but environmental events turned it into the permafrosted island that we know it happened maybe two to three hundred years ago.  Long enough for them to have adapted and know no other way of life.  This would explain why they're a power player in an industrial steampunk world when they're located in a permanently frozen wasteland; good infrastructure.

So they're kind of a Roman/Eskimo  fusion culture, surviving off game and fish mostly, as well as a few hearty plant types and quite possibly mushroomsand other low temperature/low light agriculture.  I chose the Eskimo culture based off the look of the Anglean engineer outfit, how it seems to fit them a bit more than what I think what vikings wore, but whos to say it isnt a roman/Eskimo/Viking hybrid, which would rock. 

The Romans also kept slaves, and what I have gleamed from the Rome TV show and my latin language books, being a slave wasn't torture (As opposed to waterboading, the rack, iron maden, etc...), more like a crappy to okay job, depending on who your master was. 

Touching on the hospitality aspect, northern Canada is dotted with Inuksuks (Took me a sec to type that one out :p)  wich serve as roadsigns and even food caches, I'd hope to see them in Anglea if the Eskimo aspect is taken up.

Being extremely innovative, I'd think that a different kind of profession would arise, the Fixers.  Fixers are a mishmash of engineers and doctors; they have a knack for knowing how things work, whats wrong, and how to fix it quickly and with materials available.  Veritable Angus MacGuyver meets Gregory House.  Fixers are looked down on in the capital, where there are actual doctors (world class kind) and engineers (Also world class), but are keystones to the fringe settlements; no raiding party would dare leave port without their Fixer.

Despite these prejudices, Fixers and Engineers would travel between the interior and the fringe frequently, to expose them to the variety needs people in different areas have, and to build new inventions for the job.  Hearty, multifunctional inventions.  Fixers and Engineers would come up with an idea, and present it to a body of their peers in the interior, like Kinforth.  They would then be given a grant and residency in the interior to prototype and produce their invention.  Depending on the magnitude of change their invention brings, and their personality, they would either head back out to come up with a new invention, go back to living their lives, or just live gluttonously off their invention, maybe even start a small dynasty.

I also see that the Republic Allthing (Where the hell did you get this idea :s), like the Roman governing body, appears to elect any Anglean citizen, but is heavily influenced by nepotism.  If your family is rich and a relative is in the Allthing, you've got a very good chance at being an Allcaller (People that make up the Allthing, maybe its called the Allsong?).

Id think that the people themselves seem simplistic, but are rather very pragmatic, and not stupid.  Simple in a Captain Carrot sort of way.  Why have thousands of people on both sides of the battle die, and maybe loose, when we can simply kill a handful of commanders, win, and most people live (to be thralls!)?

Hows that for input.

57

World / Re: Adventure mode- home city?

« on: May 10, 2013, 09:55:32 pm »

Is it me, or is the map a little bit small?  I mean, on the legend, the bar indicates 10 km of space; most towns have about 5-10 km between them, and most maps in game have like 5 km^2 on them.  Basicly, these towns are smushed right between battlefields, where you can see half way across the map.  Boggles me mind

The stability of the region makes little sence with the smallness of the map as well, whats stopping a blitzkreig kind of suprise attack when it takes so little time for ships to mobilise? 

Map size:
Each quadrant is about 60 km long and 50 km wide.  Using the pithagrean theorm, the longest straight line on the map from Fairgar in the Anglean Republic to Bedcomb east of the Guild is about 230km.

A squid moves at ~47m/s at top speed, which equates to  169km/h.  It would take about an hour and 20 minutes to go across the whole map. 

For a galleon, who's top speed is 27 m/s (97km/h), 2 hours and 20 minutes is the time it would take to traverse the whole map.

I guess what I'm saying is that, although the distances between settlements makes sence for ground based habitation in peace time/part of a single nation, based on the current technologies developed since the Icarus, I would expect to see fewer factions, more no-mans-land, or larger distances on the legend.  In my mind, I multiply the distance give on the map by at least 5, to make the Abyssial Gulf almost as big as Lake Erie.

Pardon my meandering rant, I realize that the devs probably will make /have already made the map bigger :p
EDIT, little derps