My stab at game suggestions and pipe dreams

[Marsdreamer]

First off, bought the game on Steam Sale after being intrigued by it several months back — Can’t stop playing. I’ve already got 3 different campaigns and over 25 hours played. Fantastic game, so much to enjoy, so much to do, and as far as EA titles go; A really solid performance all round.

In that regard I’m pretty new to the community in general. I did some reading around the forums and what not and will try not to repeat anything that’s already been suggested or discussed about in length, but I’m sure there will be some overlap.

Retreat rework: Right now retreating from battle is incredibly punishing, often killing half or more than half your mercenaries seemingly at random and regardless of how many enemies remain. While a retreat function is nice, in the state it is in currently it is essentially a long winded “reload” button. If it’s actually going to be used in any way other than just exiting the battle early and then loading back to a previous save, it should be less devastating. Also a “Restart Battle” button would be a nice touch to kind of speed up the process for people who save scum (which is always going to be a significant portion of the playerbase).

World Map interaction: One of the little things I love about the game is seeing various peasants, supply carts, and troop columns all traveling along the same roads you are. It gives you a wonderful sense that world feels lived in and that things are going on beyond the scope of just what the player is doing. As of right now (I think) these are mostly cosmetic and don’t immediately affect anything in the game, but it would be really nice to be able to interact (or attack) these NPCs. Being able to raid caravan carts and supply trains belonging to factions you don’t like would be a nice touch.

Horses / Stable Specialist Building: Horses were already suggested somewhere before, but I didn’t see much about them nor talk about a Stables building where they would be purchasable (much like how Kennels currently works). Horses would be separated into three tiers and function something along the lines of this:

Horse: Cost: 2,200 gold, HP: 110
A workhorse designed more for hard labor than riding.
-10 maximum Fatigue, -10 maximum Initiative.
AP cost for moving through normal terrain is reduced to 1. AP costs for moving through difficult terrain unaffected (Pathfinder trait can apply)
Confers Height Advantage only when attacking and only in melee.

Warhorse: Cost: 5,400 gold, HP: 200
A slightly more armored and sturdy horse, these steeds where bred for war (same effects as above apply).

Barded Warhorse: 8,600 gold, HP: 350
A knight’s steed fully clad in the finest armor. You could not ask for a better mount.
-15 Maximum Fatigue, -15 Maximum Initiative, -10% Hit chance with Ranged Attacks.
Unlocks special ability: Charge! (Functions identically to Orc charge attack).
(Note; This mount does not receive AP terrain cost bonuses)

Camp Upgrades: Other than leveling your soldiers and acquiring gold, there is very much that marks your progress as a stalwart band of mercenaries. It would be nice to have a more fully fleshed out Camp system where you could purchase and upgrade parts of your camp that give your world map bonuses or other small perks. Your camp would have 3 main “Structures” (tents) that could be upgraded as time and money allow. In addition to that, your camp would have “Utility Slots” that would allow for you to purchase particular upgrades at various towns and specialist buildings, slotting them in for specific bonuses.

Infirmary Tent: Tier I: No change from current game
Tier II: Reduces medicine use by 10% and speeds up recovery time by 10%
Tier III: Reduces medicine use by 25% and speeds up recovery time by 20%

Blacksmith’s Tent: Tier I: No change from current game
Tier II: Reduces tool use by 10% and speeds up repair time by 10%
Tier III: Reduces tool use by 25% and speeds up repair time by 20%

Captain’s Tent: Tier I: No change from current game
Tier II: Adds an additional 2 Camp Utility slots and increases Exp gain of Mercenaries by 5%
Tier III: Adds an additional 4 Camp Utility slots and increases Exp Gain by Mercenaries by 10%

Camp Utilities: Camp Utilities would be anything from Anvils to baggage trains to followers, all providing unique benefits.

Herb Gatherer: Has a 10% chance to find 5 medicine when travelling through forests, swamps, and hills. This effect can only occur once per day.

Healer: Reduces the time spent injured by an additional 10%

Hunter: Has a 10% chance to find 10 (venison) provisions when traveling through forests and hills. This effect can only occur once per day.

Old Veteran: Increases Exp gain of Mercenaries by 5%

Smithy: Increases repair speed by 10%

Blacksmith’s Tools Decreases tool usage by 10%

Horse: Slightly increases map movement speed

Sturdy Carts: Slightly increases map movement speed, decreases penalties from rough terrain.

Negotiator: Slightly increases contract payouts, slightly increases favorable outcome when negotiating contracts.

Tracker: Extends world map vision, extends footprint trails.

Scavenger: Slightly increases chance at finding items / gold after battles.

Priest: Slightly increases bravery (for religious characters).

Standard Bearer: Slightly increases morale at the start of battle.

The list for followers and various utility items could go on and on, but I feel that including a more robust camp system that allows for upgrades and customization would give a greater sense of progression beyond simply leveling your soldiers. It gives you something tangible and on top of that it would give the game a massive gold sink and something to push forward to as the game progresses. Right now it seems that around the ~2 – 3 month mark you start to lose things that you can effectively spend your hard earned money on. Opening up a system like this gives a whole other layer to building up your band.

Lastly my biggest and wildest dream would be to gain control of unaffiliated settlements via pledging to protect them (perhaps at max loyalty) OR, beyond the fog of unexplored regions, be able to find “plots” of land or ruined settlements that could be rebuilt and resettled under your banner. This would be “end game and require massive amounts of resources and gold, but open up an entire new level of gameplay that would probably keep me hooked on this game for hundreds of hours. The great part is that the devs already have included pretty many of the foundations for something like this to happen. Each settlement already has various “tiers” associated with it, from small hamlets to enormous keeps and each settlement has various visual representations for the buildings and resources that are available in any given town. On top of that, there are already tons of trade goods such as Lumber, Ore, Tools, etc that could easily be used as requirements for building and upgrading your structures. Settlements near forests would allow the player to build their own lumber mills, hunting lodges, and bowyers. You could have the option to building pig farms and wheat farms or your own mines on the edges of hills and mountains. Adding Watchtowers and hiring militiamen to patrol your territory, protecting trade and travel. Obviously this is not something I would wish for before launch as it would be a major, major overhaul for the game and require a ton of balance and a ton of extra programming, BUT (fingers crossed) this is exactly the type of expansion this game needs as it really cements a direction for the player and something grand to aspire to.

Anyways, holy crap I’m sorry this ended up so long. If you made it this far down, kudos and thanks for reading. Feel free to comment, critique and give your own thoughts on what you want to see most in the game!

Cheers,
–Mars

[Author]

Posts