Skill Trees, Backgrounds, Cavalry, Beasts, and more!

[Oggiemango]

Hi there,
I would just like to thank the developers on what an awesome game this is and I am really excited for future updates!

One thing which I think could definitely increase immersion is if there were some specialist skill trees alongside the generic trees we have at the moment. For example, there could be a swordmaster tree, marksman tree, two-hander tree, polarm tree, armor tree, shield tree, and much more. These trees would unlock skills and increase brothers’ competency with the weapons, armor, shields etc. An example of this could be a brother unlocking the shield bash skill, or an area of effect attack with a greatsword. How the exp for these trees could work is that exp is gained in a tree through dealing damage with that weapon, absorbing damage with armor and shields, and so on. These trees could also mean that I could not equip my raw recruits with the best equipment available, as they would have to progress though the specialised tree to unlock the next tier of weapon. For example, a tier 1 weapon could be the woodcutter’s axe, tier 2 the greataxe, and tier 3 a more powerful axe. There could even be more than 3 tiers if desired (therefore more lategame weapons to look forward too!). I feel that this could play into the character backgrounds somewhat. For example, a lumberjack would already have some skill in the axe tree, whereas a swordmaster would have some skills in the sword tree and so on, perhaps giving backgrounds such as farmhands and millers some utility skills? This would also make the price difference in all the recruits available more apparent and make people search for certain types of background.

A quick note about backgrounds: I love this aspect of the game and would love it even more if it played a bigger role (one such role suggested above), for example adding more inherent traits such as what witchhunters get.

Another aspect this game could explore very well (apart from adding more variety in weapons, armor, and shields – which we are bound to see in future updates) is the implementation of cavalry and other mounts. I think this could work and be balanced by making the mounts (could be warhorses, wolfs, spiders, etc) quite expensive, not only in monetary terms but also with provisions, medication, and supplies. These mounts could have high initiative and stamina values which could decrease depending on the amount of armor they have on, the heaviness of the brother riding them, as well as their level, that is, if they could level up! :O
The idea behind the mounts is not to have 12 horseman charging around the battlefield but to have a small number of cavalry which could increase the mobility of the army and close distance quickly, and so they would have to be expensive as stated above. After seeing the orcs charge ability, I couldn’t help but imagine one of my brothers on horseback charging from two or three tiles away and delivering a crushing attack, perhaps even knocking back or stunning the target. This would pave the way for more diversity in tactics to win the battle, as well as introducing more weapons to play with, such as lances. Some of the mounts could be designed for different tasks, for example a warhorse would be optimal for charging the enemy but then it would have to pull out the engagement (it could have an evade bonus when pulling out of zones of control), whereas, a spider or wolf mount would want to stay in combat and be the ‘tanks’ of the battlefield! Moreover, this could play into my idea over more specialised skill trees because a ‘rider tree’ could be created to allow the brother to be more ‘tanky’ or deliver a more devastating charge, maybe even grant them some area of effect attacks too!

Another thing to possibly include, as I have already seen a background for it and it would make an awesome skill tree, is if we were to have beastmasters, adding yet another tactical angle the battle can take. The inclusion of wardogs has been fantastic but it still seems more of an add-on to a brother rather than his role. If we had a specialised beastmaster skill tree which gave buffs to the beasts and handler, maybe even reaching the maximum skill of being able to bring two into battle or being able to control the animals once released, then one would be more inclined to bring and use dogs in battle. This could pave the way for bigger and better beasts! For example, a handler could release a bear or an elephant (both animals that have been used in combat in real life). However, questions are already raised over how to balance such things! Firstly, just like the mounts, make them cost money, provisions, medicine and supplies, as this could justify making beasts powerful, therefore wanted. Secondly, if there was an inclusion of the beastmaster skill tree, make them have to progress up that tree a certain distance before being able to use the better beasts, meaning that I wouldn’t be able to hire a cheap beggar and equip him with an elephant as he clearly would not have the skill to handle it. This also justifies making the beasts powerful, as only veteran brothers could use them and so you would want to specialise a brother as a beastmaster. This same balancing mechanic could apply to mounts too, in that I would have to have a brother be a veteran rider before he could ride the better beasts and use some of there awesome skills!

Yet another type of brother to broaden the tactical scope of the battlefield could be mages, healers, and non-combat characters, along with their own specialised trees. I believe I read somewhere that non-combat characters are being developed, and I couldn’t be happier! Also, when referring to non-combat characters, I mean brothers who are vulnerable and aren’t specialists in any weapon area, therefore they wouldn’t be dealing much damage and so you would want them to stay out of the fray. This would make non-combat backgrounds play a tactical role: monks and cultists can rally and scare, doctors (if added) could heal, and mages could perform all sorts of destructive or buffing spells. Once again, there would be specialised trees. For example, for a mage to cast the most destructive spells, he would have to be the highest tier in the mage tree (exp gained through dealing damage to enemies or successfully buffing allies). Non-combat characters could also have an ‘out-of battle’ effect. For example, tailors use less supplies to patch up armor, blacksmiths repair weapons with less supplies, doctors heal the party faster, bakers or millers reduce provisions consumed. There could be a tree for this too, meaning I wouldn’t have to have a brother with a certain background in order for him to be a useful non-combat character, just brothers with those backgrounds already have some skill in this tree.

Finally for now, as I know there is a progressive world being developed and I don’t want to comment on the game world before we see that, I will comment on my only annoyance with this game so far. If I have one or more of my brothers injured, I usually have to wait a few game hours which is fine, but when I feel I can’t move my party anywhere outside of the outskirts of a city for 36 game hours for example, all the while I’m losing money and provisions, it gets really frustrating, even to the point of boredom! If there was a healer in cities where you could stay at a relatively high price (the higher the price for the greater the injury) for a few game hours then this would be cured. Another way is to implement the non-combat characters with the out-of-battle effect of speeding up healing and for less supplies. This would be balanced of course by meaning that you lose space for one or more brothers who would specialise in combat (depending on how many ‘doctor’ specialised non-combat brothers you had), meaning that indirectly battle difficulty would increase.

Sorry for making this so long, but I have just fallen in love with this game! It’s awesome and has so much potential!
Thanks,
Brother Oggiemango

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