Game changes thread

[Sunblade]

From time to time, we'll make changes to Covenant and will need your help in tracking down any errors.

For now, the troop names have changed to the following:

Goblin
Kobolds
Ogres
Trolls
Tunnels
Giants
Changelings

Human
Footmen
Pikemen
Knights
Fortresses
Dragons
Thieves

Elven
Rangers
Archers
Wardens
Towers
Griffins
Drow

I think the names explain themselves, but I'll produce a brief paragraph for each at some point. Troop values will also be changing shortly.

If you see any of the "old" troop names anywhere in the game, please post it here.

Thanks!

[Gili]

There has been some minor tweak's to tithing. I'm sure all is good, but if anyone spots anything odd please give drop me a pm. Thanks.

[Sunblade]

I'll be posted the troop information that is publicly available below - it's all IC, and will be linked properly from a permanent page at some point this week.

[Sunblade]

"You know what they say?" The old man studied the boy sitting across the table.

The boy had picked up one of the pieces off the game board in front of him, and looked down at it while he spoke. "That we've got balance?"

The old man let a ghost of a smile pass across his face. "We're well-balanced, yes." He braced his feet against the floor, stood over the table. "What's that you've got?"

The boy frowned. "He's got a horse, so I guess it's a knight."

"Yes," the old man said, but he was already distracted and moving other pieces toward him. He sat again, his bones creaking in protest. "If you asked your father what he could sent into battle, what would he say?"

"Thousands."

"Mrmm." It was true enough, but it wasn't the answer he'd wanted. "Thousands of what?" He pushed the pieces into order with his fingers.

"Um." The corner of the boy's tongue found its way out of his mouth. "Soldiers?"

"Mrmm." The old man closed his eyes. "Footmen?"

"Yeah," the boy said, his voice hesitant. "An' knights."

"Right. And Pikemen?"

The boy nodded his head. "And Dragons! And ... thieves. But I don't understand those."

"Why?"

"They're ... special. They don't go and fight."

"Right," said the old man, trying to keep his face clear of expression. He was impressed, but he couldn't let the boy know it. "So if your father was going to attack someone, who'd he send?"

"Footmen." The boy picked up the corresponding piece with his free hand and gestured with it. "'Cause he says they're cannon fodder." He paused. "And cheap, 'sides."

The boy was parroting and he knew it, but he still had to fight to keep his face still. It was impressive if only in Saul's ability to listen; other boys his age only heard the bits of conversation they wanted to hear.

Then again – the old man tugged his earlobe – maybe Saul only elected to pay attention during discussions of war. He supposed it could be worse, though. He cleared his throat to speak again. "Would he send anything else?"

"Dragons." The boy knew how where the conversation was going. "But not as many 'cause they're expensive and hard to train." He looked to the pieces lined up in front of the old man. "And I guess you want me to tell you about defences, too." His voice was very matter-of-fact; he sounded much older. "The pikemen and the knights stay here. They're almost the same except that the knights have horses, so that means more money. An' they're a little tougher, too."

The old man looked lost in thought for a moment. Maybe he'd underestimated the boy; maybe sword practise needed to begin sooner rather than later. He had a stack of books concerned with strategy, too, and though Saul didn't read very well yet, he'd be around to help the boy with the more difficult words ...

"Max?" The boy kicked his feet against the table. He clutched the pieces in his hands and waved them in the air.

"Hrm?"

"Can we play now?"

[Sunblade]

"Fnarr! Grolag! NO!" The goblin shouted at the backs of the retreating kobolds and then threw his sword on the ground.

The blade cracked. He sighed, had expected as much. The king had only allowed him wooden blades this time; the last time he'd been in charge of training, he'd been responsible for the deaths of the majority of the trolls. It really wasn't his fault that they couldn't follow simple instructions. He'd told them to stop, but they'd continued to march forward and had impaled themselves on the swords held out by the line of ogres. How was he to know that "halt" in Trollish roughly translated to "keep walking no matter what's in your way"?

That had been a mess, but it was no worse than this. "Fnarr! Grolag!" He screeched their names, finally saw their steps hesitate. The kobolds looked back at over their shoulders. He shrugged and bent to pick up his sword. They were still standing motionless when he looked back up. They slowly turned around to face him as he watched.

"Iz dat wrong?" One of them looked at the other in confusion.

He had no idea which one of them was which. "Yes! Wrong!"

"Wez come back?" The other one was speaking now; he was a little shorter.

"Do you see-" He stopped speaking after he had a chance to consider his words. There was not telling what they'd seen. He moved closer, halved the distance. "Yes," he said. "Come back." He motioned them forward, hoping that they'd understand what direction he meant.

He hadn't considered his speech a problem, not before now. He'd gone out and spent a small fortune on lessons from a withered old human woman who'd beat his knuckles blue with a ladle when he mispronounced something, and now everyone else pretended like they couldn't understand him.

They moved back toward him, but slowly.

One of them – Fnarr, he decided – spoke. "Youz tol uz ta defend?"

"Yes," he said, and hit his sword against his palm for emphasis. It hurt.

Grolag looked, as usual, confused. "Dat iz wha' wez waz doin'." He blinked, slowly, and then opened his mouth again. "Defend iz run an' fin' sum trolls ta hide behin'."

"Thatz right," Fnarr nodded. His nose was running, the snot thick and green. He didn't seem to notice.

"'Cuz wez hol' da line firs' but theyz getz thru uz. So wez fall back." Grolag crossed his arms.

"Um." He felt a flare of anger, but he forced it down. "That doesn't mean you pre-emptively do it!"

"Wha'?" Fnarr shook his head. "You givez uz no weapons an' wez supposed to hold da line? Wez need ... um ... pokin' stickz, at leas'."

"It's practise!" He threw his sword in the air and hoped it would land on the top of one of the kobolds' heads. It didn't, of course; it narrowly missed his own. "Go back! Stand in front of the trolls and hold the damn line!"

Fnarr and Grolag both shrugged.

"Whateva youz say." Fnarr shrugged again. "Not uz fault youz hard ta unnastan'."

They walked back to the line; he cursed them as they moved away. "'S how it works," he muttered. "They're weak; they stand in front. It's not difficult." He picked up his sword again; it put a splinter through his palm.

"Fine," he said, now furious. "We'll do the same for the ogres and the giants, then." He stalked off toward another field, still muttering. "Ogres run in first and get cut down; giantz afterward."

He swore, and loudly.

"Giants!" He yelled. "Giants! Giants! GIANTS!"

[Sunblade]

"Mock me, will they?" She stabbed a quill into the inkwell, and then stepped back from the desk. She should've been smoothing a piece of parchment, but her current mood would've left it crumpled and impossible to use.

"Mock me, will they?" She aimed a kick at her chair, but her foot met nothing on its way forward. She already knew the answer; she didn't know why she kept asking the question. She slid her foot back, slowly, against the floor.

"Fine," she said. She took a series of breaths, tried to regain some vestige of calm.

She'd been the Queen's gamekeeper. Everything had been fine for decades, both in the old lands and on the new island. She kept the animals healthy; she'd been visited by any number of dignitaries who'd wanted to make her techniques their own.

She had renown. She may've even had a little prestige.

"And then the fucking flying fiends flew in," she whispered, her knuckles white and fists clenched. The Queen had summoned her, told her she didn't have the experience to handle these new creatures. She'd protested, asked for time to read up on the lore.

Then one of the filthy beasts had reared up on its ridiculous legs and swiped a paw at her. That was all the evidence the Queen needed. "Sorry, Gwenn," she said, her mind obviously on the possibilities these new creatures presented. "I'll bring in someone else to handle them."

She was left alone in the healer's tent for days. They'd bandaged the cuts from the claws, and then they left her there. She'd suspected she'd been drugged, but she kept her suspicions to herself and dragged her way back to her room as soon as she was able.

She stretched out her fingers and then carefully sat down. She pulled a piece of parchment free from the stack and slowly smoothed her finger against its edges. She pulled the quill free and began to write, her words carefully measured and her script clear.

To Whom It May Concern:

Perhaps you have seen a new creature rise against you in battle. We elves have been ... blessed ... with the ability to attack from the air. The griffons are ugly, but I've seen them die the same as anything else. You'll see them sent in after the rangers; keep your eyes to the sky.

And just in case you decide to come our way instead, you'll probably see the wardens first. As for the archers, well. You won't need to see them to get an arrow in your chest, will you?

Please provide this information to all and sundry who may be interested.

She smiled, signed her name with a flourish. It wasn't subtle, but it would do. She had a list of the human and goblin kingdoms; she would make sure they got the information.

[Gili]

As apart of the steps to phase out forts, i've just removed the option to build them.

They are still named as forts/tunnels/treehouses(or whatever that is!), until we get around to replacing them.

A couple of you did have some forts, i just removed them for you. There has been an ingame hint at the top of the "main" screen suggesting you drop your forts for sometime. And the game was stunting your population growth for ignoring it.

If anyone has any issues, or comments about the whole fort thing by all means get in touch with me ( or your GM )

[Gili]

War functions should be disabled like the rest of the game.

[Hollisandra]

Thank you Gili!

[Gili]

Thank you holli for testing bits of it out. If i forget to turn it back on, someone poke me =)

[Hollisandra]

You're quite welcome!

If nobody else pokes ya... I will

[Gili]

As with the rest of the game, Covenant war functions should now be enabled.

[Gili]

War functions disabled

Back up late on the 2nd, or early 3rd depending on my hangover recovery
Have fun!
~ Gili

[_Nagash_]

You quote yourself often?

[Blacklock]

Thanks Gili:)

Everyone have a good New Year's and enjoy, I know I will be.

[Hollisandra]

The boys and I will be staying home for new years

HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!!!!!

[Dark Horse]

Right-o Happy New Year all.

[Gili]

The war functions are back on folks =)

[Hollisandra]

ohhhh..... goodie! *goes to scout around with my 200 thieves...lol*

[Gili]

Just thought i'd put a public notice here. Once the Metal versus Oafs war finishes i plan to push thru a code change

This should bring about the first of two steps to bring our new building into effect.

The first step being; the building being in place for all purposes, other than the ability to build it ( to make sure the modules all work correctly ).

After a short peroid presuming all is well the ability to build this new building will be activated.

The new building has been discussed and chosen by the leaders of the guilds here, and is going to be a trade building. More specifically called: -

Shuken - Elven
Trading Post - Human
Slave Markets - Goblin

Dark Horse being GM of the Elven guild gave the Elven building its name, had Shayanna been online during the random moment i was getting a name for it...would have been also consulted.

Essentially the more of these you and your allies build the more income you will get from trading from each other ( done each turn spent ). If you or your ally choose not to build this building then no benefits will be seen.

The potential for this building will be to hopefully aid the rebuild of war torned kingdoms by allying them up with stronger built allies for their turn spending peroids. And this will of course encourage folks to spend turns in groups...which has got to be a good thing.

We have other options to dev this further in the future, but lets leave that til we have this working.

Income from your populace will be slightly reduced to try and balance things out, once this change is working correctly.

[Nether]

awesome

[_Nagash_]

Just thought i'd put a public notice here. Once the Metal versus Oafs war finishes i plan to push thru a code change.

I get it, I get it....


*goes off to kill MoP*

[MoP]

Ha! You wish!

[Gili]

I've just uploaded the new set of modules.

Currently you won't be able to build the new building. If you see any error please let me know.

I believe i've removed any of my debug info that was appearing about, too lol.

I'm on ICQ ( 32939464 ) or MSN ( sshagent@gmail.com ) should anyone see anything amiss.

Thanks muchly.

[Nagrud]

Will these buildings be burnable?