User:Balewind/Sandbox of Possible Game Regressions

I've started this page basically as an idea sketchpad for those who are, like me, dissatisfied with the recent trends in game changes that narrow the scope of the game. This is not intended as a place to just vent dissatisfaction of those changes or to shoot down the ideas of those contributing to this but just to come up with some ideas and talk about ways of moving back away from these restrictive changes while at the same time addressing Tom's problems with 'micro-managing' and small groups of players monopolising every aspect of a realm.

Hierarchy

I've found the recent hierarchy to be a good addition to the game but a little too much of it seems to be taken over by game mechanics when it could easily be done by the players themselves. This could possibly be a tax concern but I'll stick it here. Back when my Vapor character was a lord in Caligus he would occasionally give his knights a portion of his gold from his region if they did good that tax period (and he wasn't planning on building anything). Usually just 25 gold but it was basically this new 'region share' thing in a nutshell, done by hand. A possible method of encouraging this down below in 'Taxes'.

Taxes

A great big bone of contention for one of my characters who dreams of his little communist tyranny someday where he can yell out "Equall shares for all!" and actually mean it. The current tax system forces nobles to swear to a region lord for X percentage of gold from that region in exchange to diddle with their estate (This is also a hierarchy issue I suppose). Serves a purpose in game mechanics but doesn't really mean much unless the players take Role Playing into account. Basically it turns the banker into a glorified food shuffler (as if he wasn't already one before) and forces the tax systems of all realms to work the same no matter what they are. I'd like to see that reverted a bit and at the same time estates could be gotten rid of altogether. They just seem like a cop-out for real work. An idea to remmedy the situation would be to go back to the old knight/lord method (without estates or region shares) but to increase vastly the effect of doing police/civil and beuro. work inside/outside a person's dutchy or region. This would in effect make lords have to find knight willing to actually help them with their regions and dutchys and knights to find lords who remember to pay them for said work. No longer such a game mechanic but does still allow for the hierarchy system to affect gold distribution and knights and lords to have a relationship.

Higher up it would be nice to see the banker of a realm actually have a say in where gold goes. That was the fun part about being a banker. A good banker would get all the gold right where it needed to be. A corrupt banker (which was fun) can funnel all sorts of gold into his pocket come tax time and if the nobles weren't paying attention, actually get away with it. It would also allow the banker of a realm to play a part in how a realm works. From the "Equal shares for all!" revolutionary nutbar to the Royal Treasurer in a monarchy distributing gold according to a more feudal 'lords to knights' style system.

Military

First of all, that new enforced chain of command thing that seemed to get me thinking about all this: It's not such a bad change, I was trying to do it before being forced to by the change but it's a little hard when sometimes the marshals are innactive and it would just be soooo much easier to give the order as the general to the whole realm yourself. Easier and kinder to other players who don't have allot of time to wait around for an order to filter down the chain of command! But yeah, the responsibility needs to be spread out some. On a map like the collonies this particilar change could go off without a hitch because there being only one turn a day mean that even slow marshals can generally get their orders to their armys long before the end of the turn. My problem with this change it that it enforces one particular chain of command and does not allow you to deviate. Perhaps there needs to be some other sort of chain of command thingy that is flexible yet does keep more than one person in the loop of giving orders. I'm not sure what, I'll get back to this.

Command staff settings are a great idea but I feel they could be implimented better. Right now the settings that everyone gets aren't very clever or are ambiguous in what they do. And everyone gets the same ones! I'm sorry but any general worth their salt has at least a couple of their own formations that the other side hasn't thought of yet. Perhaps Command Staff formation could actually come from command! Yeah... generals themselves would set up their formations ahead of time and all the marshals of a realm would be able to pick from those (and possible keep a couple of the basic formations just for some added choice just incase you get some general who just uses the one formation and doesn't give their marshals anything but the one to choose from).

This leads nicely right into 'Organisation'. The organisation code that was implimmented briefly forced us to use these cookie cutter formations or go into battle completley disorganised no matter how organised your army was. Hardened, battle tested troops literally went to battle all over the map! I do not feel this was a propper showing of army organisation. getting in line and following orders should be a matter of direct communication rather than game mechanics. Generals and marshals shoudl actually have to open their mouths and explain where they want people rather than just click a button and everyone lines up right. Before a battle started marshals and generals would ride up and down the front ranks of theri armys makig sure everyone was in their right position. If someone was in the wrong row it would be sorted out in a hurry by the noble and captain leading the unit before the battle even began. Where the organisation code could be put to better use could be in what those troops do when the whistle (or whatever your army happens to use) blows to start the action. A disorganised army or unit might forget that they are supposed to stand their ground and go running off like a bunch of idiots at the first clash of steel. Or a disorganised rabble or archers may take a single casualty in their ranks and decide to seek vengance... with their daggers and go running at the enemy (or off the field if they happen to also have low cohesion or moral).

Traders

An aspect of Battlemaster that never was very big to begin with but appears to be on it's way out. I think this is a great shame because in history noble lead caravans weren't simply a means of shipping food around but brought something much greater to the rotten boroughs they passed through and traded in: Culture! The trader career in Battlemaster was a painfully slow slog through dangerous territory for little or no gains. It did not represent the great trade caravans that traveled all over Europe and Asia for thousands of years bringing spices, silks, black powder and all sorts of other rarities and stories to the sheltered people of every village they passed through. The nobles who lead such great caravans were representatives and spokes persons of their realms. The ‘Trader’ career in Battlemaster COULD be a viable and prestigious career if it were made a little more important in areas other than food transportation. Perhaps by making the ‘extra gold’ gained from making trades more reliable and in greater quantity it will be worth while to the trader. Another addition would be from foreign traders (or local traders returning home after a long journey across the continent) greatly increasing moral in the regions they trade in and possibly even increasing peasant consideration for the realm they represent (the info found out in an undercover report or temple visit) to show the culture and stories they and their entorage bring with them from afar.