Reply To: New Look at the Game

#28857
Avatar photoKoburn
Participant

Hello fellow gamer.

I agree with some part of the suggestions but not all. I think a great part that makes the game fun and challenging is how the game treats the player: It won’t hold your hands and tell you everything. The game presumes you are doing your job as a manager of group of mercenaries, for instance it wants you to take the time to know your geography: Harbor so-and-so is on the south on the peninsula near the mountains. The game gives you the name of the port and the visual design of it. You can for instance clearly understand by the name of the southern town and the architecture of it that it is in the south. It is perfect visual representation of the required information: Not too much, but just enough. If you do not where that port is, then it is you who has not taken in account your bearings and the geography of the world you live in and work in. You are the manager of the company after all and should take responsibility, I think such details makes you take minor details into account and try to make you do really do your part as a manager. It brings another depth to the level of the game which would be diminished by showing the surroundings of the port town. If anything could be added, it could be the cardinal and ordinal directions of the compass rose in their shortened forms. N, E, S, W and NE, SE, SW, NW respectively.

I like the idea of traveling time with the ship though, it would bring a realistic touch to sailing. However, the problem is that the portion of the world which is shown in-game is quite small. It does not take too many days to travel from one end to the other. If you travel by road it will cost you time and time is money: You have to pay the wages and feed your crew. Sailing itself costs money, by adding a time frame to it, it would mean increasing the cost of the sea voyage indirectly. And being a seaman myself, I just have to mention that the option of different speeds to the same location just feels wrong. They are using sailing vessels, the speed is dependent on the skill of the navigator and the seamen and the winds, not on the amount of money you pay for your passage. While instant traveling might feel unrealistic I think it makes sense within the game terms and its inner logic.

In the taxidermist section, it could give you the description of the item you get by hovering over the to-be crafted item (I thought it actually already did this but having an ongoing iron man game I won’t check it at the moment).

On the hiring in non iron man games, I understand your point. However, just because you *can* save and reload to get the “perfect” candidate for your company, does not mean you *have to*. I don’t think all information should be shown by clicking the try out button. You have the option to save and reload, if you want, to avoid getting bad candidates. However, I think a huge part of the game is that you have to work with what you got. It *is* hard to find good men. I would even suggest that the game could go further in the other direction: It could reveal the talents first after a level up instead of directly after hiring. I realize that would make it difficult to implement on candidates who have more than one level at the point of hiring but it would add an interesting depth and a moment of surprise.

As for the layout of the roster of men, I think it works as it is by having them under and not on the side (here a sense of direction is all that is needed), but having them in the hexagonal pattern instead of top of another would definitely be an improvement and reflect a battle plan more properly.

Cheers,
D.