Repairing sucks

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  • #7133
    Kaios

    Lvl 233 USTexas
    Skeleton
    Posts: 173

    When it comes to video game mechanics I usually rate them based on fun versus necessity. Fun obviously being how much enjoyment comes from performing said mechanic in the game and necessity being the purpose of that mechanic and the reasoning behind why it works the way it does.

    So with regards to repairing I do understand the necessity aspects of this mechanic such as creating an arbitrary limit on the possible structures a person or group of people could reasonably maintain and also perhaps in general a time sink to discourage players from taking up too much land but I’m not sure the solution to these issues lies in enforcing repetition and tedium. Which then brings me to the fun aspect which is unfortunately non-existent, of course I don’t think this mechanic was intended to be fun anyways so that’s not really a pressing issue but I feel the necessity of it certainly does not out-weigh that.

    I have played another sandbox game called Haven & Hearth and in many ways you could relate it with this game but the reason I’m mentioning it now is because there used to be a decay system implemented that required players to either chop blocks of wood and use them to repair palisade walls or create bricks and use those to repair brick walls after decay hits. However, I say used to be implemented because after enough complaints from players about the tedium of this process the mechanic was changed so that walls and other structures built on claimed land would not decay at all until the claim itself was no longer being maintained but for something of this nature to be implemented in this game would involve devising and implementing a deeper claim system itself that goes beyond the scope of owned walls and a gate.

    The end goal I’d like to see achieved doesn’t involve allowing players to easily wall off large areas of nature terrain or other unused space excessively but rather allows tribes to create large castles without the constant tedium of wall and tower maintenance, eases the creation and maintenance of public facilities and bonus points if I actually have some flint leftover to use for something other than repairs.

    Some solutions might range from simply increasing the size of Galebrook and reducing the impact of decay to something more in-depth like the claim system I mentioned above. The new Wellington map and other future maps may have some effect on this as well.

    tl;dr tedium sucks i like fun stuff

    #7134
    Enzymes

    Lvl 109 London
    Goblin
    Posts: 70

    I think a good solution would be that when repairing with flint it would instantly take the wall back to 100% but use the amount of flint it would have taken under the old system. That way it’s still requires resources.

    #7146
    keebo

    Lvl 7 USWest
    Goblin
    Posts: 87

    +1 ^

    #7160


    Skeleton
    Posts: 181

    Only external walls decaying could be an idea. I can rattle off an algorithm to check that that should mostly work and be a relatively simple switch.

    Or I can repost my own system from a suggestion a while ago … 😉

    A base is essentially defined by the amount of walls and gates / counters built. These create the barriers that define public and private and I’ll refer to these as walls for simplicity. Assessing the land inside I deemed overly complicated considering the prevalence of irregular structures, especially with tower defence mechanics playing a large role. My first thought went to dust earned being a factor but for better balance and to allow dying to have greater impact tying it into a skill promises the best return for the least amount of work. Construction stands out as the most applicable.

    I’ll toss out a bit of the math behind my conclusions before getting to them:

    The basic formula is a bit complicated so prepare yourself for it now …

    20 + Construction Level

    Whooooa. Heavy math. Okay. Well-earned breather taken we can get back into it.

    That 120 non-aided cap means that at max level a single player can have a 29×29 tile base ringed by a single thickness wall. As a game screen is 13 tiles wide this seems an adequate amount – without having communal bases come into it which I personally would prefer – although that would make that first equation even more complicated. Perhaps 20+(CL/4). Ooh. Heady stuff.

    As a quick rundown, with x equal to the side of a regular square tile floor plan these equations show us how many walls are required.

    1 tile thick: 4x+4
    Protecting a 3×3 area requires 16 walls
    2 tiles thick: 8x+16
    Protecting a 3×3 area requires 40 walls
    3 tiles thick: 12x+36
    Protecting a 3×3 tile area requires 72 walls
    4 tiles thick: 16x+64
    Protecting a 3×3 tile area requires 112 walls

    You should get the picture and be able to expand from that but if not the formula for [W]alls using [f]ickness and [t]ile space (regular square remember) is w=f(4f+2t)+t(2f). It can be condensed but I think it makes it more accessible this way 🙂

    So 120 was our speculative cap for a single player. 4-tile walls just slip in with a cramped 3×3 area but the more practical 3-tile walls fill up the allotment perfectly and allow over double the space with a 7×7 floor-plan. And even the unskilled have enough for a single tile 4×4 base allowing newbies to have security from the get-go.

    Depending on if this idea appeals it can tie into tribes and be tweaked for perhaps a durability increase rather than a gross expansion of available space. Each player in the tribe adds the base 20 stat and thrice their Construction level in HP to the tribe walls perhaps if the wall is connected to a Tribe Gate which can flag those walls to trigger their own adjacent structures.

    And the crux of the security, and to add more of an impact to death – duels excluded – when a player or tribe’s Construction dips below that required by the walls then a random / the most damaged wall suffers accelerated decay – or my own personal preference of all of the walls take increased damage skewed by the difference in Construction required and currently held. If wished there are a few more factors that could accompany this.

    Alts are an issue, but it can be feasible if they would need to be active: monitor steps taken / experience gained / actions made. I had a few formulae for it in my quarter hour notes.

    As for reincarnation removing the levels … I’d lean towards tribal bases as a way around it, and some improvement of storage to allow items to take less space. Rattling this off in a spare moment but I’ll give it thought when I have a minute. Perhaps a temporary boost that fades away. An increase wouldn’t work. Perhaps its just a risk of reincarnating. There isn’t much of one at present

    Any repairs to walls or structures in general gradually increase or lower the cap to come in line with your current construction level. This helps to keep all of your built walls equal and rewards the stability and maturation of a base whilst not requiring a complete restructure to up their durability once a player’s skills have increased.

    When a player or tribe’s Construction dips below that required by the walls then a random / the most damaged wall suffers accelerated decay – or my own personal preference of all of the walls take increased damage skewed by the difference in Construction required and currently held. If wished there are a few more factors that could accompany this such as destruction v construction level.

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