Best Of
Re: Question about Systems
Good news for warriors is that you can assess wounds to get an idea of their state without needing any kind of internal tracking system. You would definitely want to set up highlights and need to practice, but it's doable without a system. I would suggest that axelord is going to get you the best results if going minimalist - it's strong and only has one weapon to swing each balance, pureblade should be okay too but isn't as powerful as a skill in general.
Some things you absolutely would want though would be a def up package (basically put up and maintain defenses) which is available on mudlet, scent and go - which is also available on mudlet, and some other utility bits and ends like bloom for influencing/bashing.
If you end up playing I strongly recommend joining the official discord which is far more active than the forums and somebody can hook you up with some of the mudlet packages there.
The official discord link is here: https://discord.gg/d8PECxD739
Some things you absolutely would want though would be a def up package (basically put up and maintain defenses) which is available on mudlet, scent and go - which is also available on mudlet, and some other utility bits and ends like bloom for influencing/bashing.
If you end up playing I strongly recommend joining the official discord which is far more active than the forums and somebody can hook you up with some of the mudlet packages there.
The official discord link is here: https://discord.gg/d8PECxD739
Uzriel
2
Re: Alliance System
It might also be nice if some quests like soulforge or tainted broadcasting center, which hit everyone except your org, could be tied to alliances. Many of the quests are basically taboo because they'll hurt allies, but if they were integrated into the alliance system I could see them being done more often.
Llani
2
Re: Alliance System
What do you think about allowing up to four organizations in an alliance so 4v2 alliances are possible?
Exeryte
3
Re: Alliance System
I don't think the above comment is necessary, I think it's great for people to work on passion projects, they're more likely to be finished.
I do agree with some of the others. I don't think we have a need for the proposed benefits. I do like the idea of a combined aether and newsboard for ease of communication and thus removal of the need to ensure everyone is added to clans/given permissions, as well as a toggle for the enemy and ally lists. While I can appreciate in some respects the thought behind allowing allies to influence/bombard for a nation, I still think it is not needed and potentially in the long run might mean less people bother to learn about how to do these things themselves - as in, it's less important to train new people on how to get to an aetherbubble and bombard if we have allies there who just do it half the time when we're lacking. As it is, there have been many, many instances where an org who only had one person awake at the time was still able to claim a village/bubble because there were allies there protecting/fighting off enemies/calling out shuffles etc. Jumping in to influence might speed things up, but I also think that in itself goes against the spirit of competition.
I appreciate the thought and spirit going into this but I don't think we need this sort of complexity at all. And a cost does just become a burden, when all most of us really want is an aether that doesn't take a clan slot or need someone awake to induct.
I do agree with some of the others. I don't think we have a need for the proposed benefits. I do like the idea of a combined aether and newsboard for ease of communication and thus removal of the need to ensure everyone is added to clans/given permissions, as well as a toggle for the enemy and ally lists. While I can appreciate in some respects the thought behind allowing allies to influence/bombard for a nation, I still think it is not needed and potentially in the long run might mean less people bother to learn about how to do these things themselves - as in, it's less important to train new people on how to get to an aetherbubble and bombard if we have allies there who just do it half the time when we're lacking. As it is, there have been many, many instances where an org who only had one person awake at the time was still able to claim a village/bubble because there were allies there protecting/fighting off enemies/calling out shuffles etc. Jumping in to influence might speed things up, but I also think that in itself goes against the spirit of competition.
I appreciate the thought and spirit going into this but I don't think we need this sort of complexity at all. And a cost does just become a burden, when all most of us really want is an aether that doesn't take a clan slot or need someone awake to induct.
Sapphira
9
Re: Alliance System
Another thing here is the consideration that "everything must have a cost" is an extremely dated concept. Nothing should have a cost "just because" - the cost should be designed and built for a reason. Otherwise, just slapping costs on for the sake of it will undermine your entire project because the outcome of said cost was not even a part of your planning.
What's the purpose for a cost for the alliance system? Is it intended to make organizations consider whether to just not form an alliance at all? Is it intended to make organizations not want to break an alliance so they don't lose their investment? Is it intended to make organizations want to change their alliances on a semi-regular basis? Determine the reason for the cost first, and then design the cost around that reason. And if you don't have a reason for it besides "it must cost something," then consider that... well, no. It doesn't actually have to!
Xenthos
4
Re: Alliance System
Thanks for posting all of this and sharing a proposal with us before it is being implemented! Throwing my two cents on this:
* I like the idea of having mechanical enemy/ally lists (keep in mind though, that some people tend to be rather civil outside of conflict, so having the ability to turn off the alliance enemy list when you don't need it may be rather nice). What would happen with skills like gloomtide or dominate to unenemy with such lists? (and I wouldn't mind if force-cleaning enemy/ally lists wasn't a thing anymore, it's a stupid 'do you have a trigger for that' check)
* having alliance aethers / alliance logs is a nice touch, especially as it removes the whole hassle of "find someone who can add to this particular clan so new person can participate in conflict"
* I like the idea of being able to bless a domoth to an entire org, but that is not really something major.
* The idea of having a tangible treaty appeals, especially as it allows for something that is not reliant on accurate copying onto some helpfile/scroll.
* I'm a little torn on the perks listed. While some of them sound rather nice to have, none of them are strictly necessary for an alliance to function and given how unbalanced things can be, sometimes all that secures your win is a specific org not having the players even if their allies do, so allowing the alliance to secure villages/bubbles/etc for orgs that aren't there... I'm not sure that's an idea I'm behind.
* in regards to costs and levels. I think the replenishing power isn't a big deal, the gold might be. There are some rather large gold reserves in some orgs (perhaps all?) but these are things that have been built up over probably decades and both power and gold would be another upkeep to take care of. I'm not sure more upkeeps are something that motivates people, I know I struggle with them when they become tedious. Small upkeeps are not a big deal, but often it falls to a few people per org and as someone who often finds herself at the point of doing it because it has to be done... I'd rather not have more upkeeps.
veara
2
Re: Alliance System
Am I missing something in my quick rereads of the original post? I don't see anywhere that this alliance system says it's trying to solve any of that. It's more about replacing the current awkward use of one or two clans to facilitate orgs working together.Freja said:I can be on my soapbox of this for hours. My opinion is the alliance system isn’t going to fix the issue. The issue is population and no continuation of Lusternia’s story. If there isn’t a next chapter how do you expect people to stay?
Qistrel
1
Re: Alliance System
Magnagora and Serenwilde have fundamentally incompatible worldviews. If we haven't split up based on our drastically different RP yet, it means there is something else keeping us linked (love of winning? fear of change? fear of Mag being our enemy? not knowing people on the other side well?). The admins doing a world event is not going to change people's minds about alliances.
There is a mechanical way to make alliances inherently unstable - and that is to put an increasing cost on maintaining it. So the long you're allied with them, the more it costs the org, and the more they want to break the alliance. But people have already said they don't want even a flat cost to alliances, so a system that mechanically encourages alliances to change is difficult to do, and would likely be rejected by the players.
There is a mechanical way to make alliances inherently unstable - and that is to put an increasing cost on maintaining it. So the long you're allied with them, the more it costs the org, and the more they want to break the alliance. But people have already said they don't want even a flat cost to alliances, so a system that mechanically encourages alliances to change is difficult to do, and would likely be rejected by the players.
Qistrel
5
Re: Alliance System
Alliances should be simple - aether and log to replace the alliance clans that are in place. Efforts can then be focused on story and things that will draw people back into the game. Adding more upkeeps seems antithesis to that.
Alysi
6
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