Dev Spotlight: Kingdom Management

[chevalieradam2@gmail.com]

That's a great idea Grifta! That would make it easier to see how you're doing at a glance.

[Deekin]

Fine for you if you are a genius and us peasants are just too dumb to understand, therefore being whiny spoiled brats, I guess.

But please, tell me which tutorial item tells you that negative BP will lower the barony status, or how to re-increase its level (which btw is not fully explained even here). It's not crucial, of course. It's just THE most important and unexplained game-over reason people encounter! But whatever, YOU must be right, and WE must be wrong, because we are just plain dumb or lazy, not like you Mr Superior.



So what? Do you think we are braindead bozos who skip all the deefikultt reeding beecauz it hurtz the insyde of the head? Oh, you're so superior because YOU read the tutorial, when WE just wallow in our ignorance and whine like mere plebeians.
...
Well surprise, I read the tutorial too (yeah, maybe we're not all lazy dumbs after all...)
And after that, I read the whole ingame "encyclopedia" (it hurts to call it that, but hey).
...And you know what? I did not find a single piece of information about the unexplainable increasing unrest in my otherwise flourishing kingdom... Until I found out on forums that debt made you lose a full level... Great, just great! And just the tip of the iceberg, here, Mr Superior.
All the useful information and (sadly) invaluable meta-knowledge I found about this game, I found on the Internet, not in-game.

I don't know what version of the game you have, but obviously yours has much more documentation than everyone else's, it would seem...


Just one advice, Mr Superior: brag and be self satisfied all you want if that pleases you, but try not insulting other people's intelligence while doing so.
Only thing you earned with your post is exactly what you showed: disrespect.

I think you are overreacting and missing the point.

[Karpophorus]

As much as I enjoy reading these kind of posts, way better than reading the daily news, I sometimes ask myself, what if we would have a contructive and civil or rather rational discussion...

Ah, but we all know the answer to that, dont’t we?
How boring would life become.

That being said:

Keep up the good fight, guys and gals. You have every right to be easily offended and only your opinion matters, because you know better. Always!

Generally speaking and only thinking loud. No need for anyone to feel offended, really... well, probably... err, hopefully?

Nevermind me, I’ll not be posting in this thread again. Promised.

[chevalieradam2@gmail.com]

As much as I enjoy reading these kind of posts, way better than reading the daily news, I sometimes ask myself, what if we would have a contructive and civil or rather rational discussion...

Ah, but we all know the answer to that, dont’t we?
How boring would life become.

That being said:

Keep up the good fight, guys and gals. You have every right to be easily offended and only your opinion matters, because you know better. Always!

Generally speaking and only thinking loud. No need for anyone to feel offended, really... well, probably... err, hopefully?

Nevermind me, I’ll not be posting in this thread again. Promised.

You aren't wrong :P

I apologize for my terseness in my earlier post everyone! I was very grumpy that day, but it doesn't excuse rudeness.

[Argantis]

I really only have two issues with the Kingdom management:

1) I cannot see a difference on the overland map in what is in my borders and outside. This makes it difficult to decide what resources are worth traveling to and spending BP to add to the kingdom.

2) There needs to be an in game Calendar so I can look at what the next months and dates are. Kingdom events should show their expiration on that calendar as well as an icon for what reagent is handling it. This would allow you to plan your Kingdom much better. As it is now it feels like I am trying to modify an excel spreadsheet in notepad.... If your going to put events on a calendar in a game there should be a calendar to reference said events and the resource cost to achieve them.

Edit: Having a note on how you can reduce the time it takes to achieve said events can be helpful too. I am not sure if this is in the game or not but it seems to reason that a Magister may solve a puzzle a lot faster than a High Priest or that a High Priest Rank II will solve it faster than a High Priest Rank I. Right now there is no cost / benefit analysis tools and no scheduler tools in the game.

It is cumbersome and annoying and very micro-managy, which totally detracts from the immersion of the RPG game.

I don't want the computer to think for me, I want the tools to allow me to analyze and assess how to best manage things myself.

[Arktor]

I think you are overreacting and missing the point.

Yeah. I probably was. He (or she) who never did overreact on an internet forum throw me digital stones, right... :-p
Still, I find my post somehow funny, when I look at it with distance :)

Have you considered having an Effective Kingdom Level along with Event CR? I think that this would clear up the vast majority of the complaints about later game events.

Could you explain a little bit more about the "CR" concept ? It seems interresting, but I don't understand the concept very well.
I'm not that familiar with tabletop Pathfinder, and I have never read the rulebook (and also I'm not a native english speaker)

I don't understand how you could consider a bankrupt kingdom as "flourishing".
The tutorials state, in plain English, how BP is generated. Tooltips (mouse over your kingdom stats, your income in this specific case) will also explain it.

The problem really isn't a lack of information, it's that the kingdom building process is punishing in an un-fun way. The rank-up and claim projects take way too damn long and prevent you from actually ruling your kingdom while they happen. Buildings are a terrible investment, especially compared to Kingdom Resources (the blue sites you can claim for some bonus).

I said "otherwise" flourishing. What I mean is: how come the citizens revolt when all the stats are at 50+ or even 70+ scores, especially loyalty and stability?? Heck, if they are revolting, then they are neither loyal nor stable!!

The tooltips explain how BP are generated, but I find it misleading, call me thick but I have a hard time mastering this part of the game.

Yeah, the problem is that KM is neither fun nor rewarding, I agree with you. Your point is totally valid imho, and I somehow feel a bit similar.

Still,lack of really comprehensive documentation is a fact, and it impairs our ability to rule a kingdom correctly (just like IRL, in fact).
I'd love to at least like the kingdom management part of this game, but so much work and meta-knowledge is required from the player that it becomes stressful instead of fun.
I won't re-explain it here, look at my original reply. There are simply too much design flaws in it, I think it should be tossed and remade from scratch.


Oh, and by the way (SPOILERS), I understand that hard choices are a thing (and I like it), but when asked to help Tristian or Amiri, I had to take into account that Tristian was the best possible councellor for my kingdom, and that (having explored the 2 possibilities) I knew Amiri wouldn't die, and would therefore stay my general whatever I'd choose.
I could have been able to make the other choice if there had been a larger variety of possible - and competent - councellors in the castle...
TL;DR : give us more advisors!!! And competent ones!!! So we have the choice to toss Tristian when doing a "Loyal or Neutral Good" playthrough.
Yeah, this one was a rant. I hate Tristian, but He is so good at his job that I can't fire him. Arrh. < OK, ranting again...


Oh, and also, I'm now swimming in money and BP, and my people are happy, and my stats are up the ceiling... But I'm still not able to build bridges over those damn rivers!!!

[chevalieradam2@gmail.com]

I forgot about the bridges! I don't understand why my thriving kingdom can't fix Nettle's Crossing :(

[bluefrenzy@gmail.com]

There are two types of events: Opportunities and Problems. Failing an Opportunity won't lead to severe consequences, but ignoring the Problem might. When possible, you should assign an advisor with the highest bonus for resolving Problems.

Doesn't your designers find it odd that they had to tell the players how to make decisions?
According to the balance documents and according to the explanation about how missions succeed or fail, how many players are expected to be affected by randomly bad numbers? Because the explanation about the events is a positive feedback loop, which means the more you fail the more likely you will continue to fail. I didn't make my calculations but my instinct tells me that the percentage of users doomed to game over is very likely to be a very large number, which leads into the perception of being frustrating and difficult.

[kanisatha]

Doesn't your designers find it odd that they had to tell the players how to make decisions?
According to the balance documents and according to the explanation about how missions succeed or fail, how many players are expected to be affected by randomly bad numbers? Because the explanation about the events is a positive feedback loop, which means the more you fail the more likely you will continue to fail. I didn't make my calculations but my instinct tells me that the percentage of users doomed to game over is very likely to be a very large number, which leads into the perception of being frustrating and difficult.

This concerns me as well. For players who are not that interested in the kingdom management side-game and so don't pay too much attention to their kingdom management decisions, it is sure to be super frustrating if they're doing ok with the main game and then seemingly out of the blue their kingdom collapses and it's game over.

[No One of Consequence]

If you're not interested in kingdom management, there is an "automatic" setting (not sure of the name) that does everything in your stead, and cannot destroy your kingdom, unless you don't do each chapter's quest and thus let your kingdom destroy itself due to utter negligence on your part.

Bluefrenzy, I don't understand your post. Could you explain what you mean, please ?