Era III and a call for New Leadership!

[Fraunces]

I really like the discussions in this thread and feel like @Jeff of Clubs,  @Kwatchi and @Khorne all have some good ideas. I really agree on the map-issue, bc it is already so big and expanded, it feels empty in some places now. ERA III should be more like something they do in Fortnite all the time: changing the MAP a little bit and some new characters/options but not expanding it too much. Some cataclystic event like an earthquake, flood, vulcano's or meteor-rain after which some smaller nations dissapparead in the chaos, or reunite under Mardiers old banner or something. We should finetune what we have established indeed and maybe expand in quality, make it also a little easier for new players to join and not expand the rules from 100 to 150%. Let's keep the conversation going here so we can all add and contribute for some time. 

Before I forget, a BIG shoutout to current leadership!  I would like to help for ERA III but frankly really do not have any more time on my hands. Already struggling to make some MOCs and small stories sometimes to keep active.

[Khorne]

Excellent synopsis, @Fraunces. I concur!

12 hours ago, Fraunces said:

Before I forget, a BIG shoutout to current leadership!  I would like to help for ERA III but frankly really do not have any more time on my hands. Already struggling to make some MOCs and small stories sometimes to keep active.

This. I can't imagine the time needed to make everything go smooth, plus build MOCs on top of the leadership duties. 

[Ross Fisher]

Can I reiterate my request for more mainland availabililty? I feel like it would really help drive new ideas. That said, I rarely have time to build these days, so maybe don't do things just to make me happy. 

[Darnok]

I have been in some kind of mini Dark Ages lately, but things should be a bit more back to normal now. So this prospect of a new Era for BOBS sounds great to me! I think my life is a bit too volatile to be reliable enough for leadership here, but I am looking forward to what a change in the team will look like.

 

On 10/30/2023 at 3:59 PM, Kwatchi said:

May I suggest a massive tsunami caused by an exploding Bruhaha brewery?

Been there, done that.

Condensing the world map a bit would be a good idea in my opinion, including maybe removing some locations that were not settled so far. It has been years with literally no activities on some islands - maybe those can just disappear in whatever catastrophe might be about to happen?

I would also really appreciate the return of some meaningful economic system. The one we had and still have was great overall, but over the years it has made money almost pointless for long-time players, while still putting some serious barriers in front of new players. I have no brilliant solution here, but something that works for both new and old players alike and does not suffer with "inflation" too much over time would be great.

 

Edited November 15 by Darnok

[Kai NRG]

Thanks everybody for your input here, this is really all lining up with the direction leadership is hoping to take us--a more condensed map and a more exciting and fluctuating economic system.  I think you'll love what we're putting together! 

[Keymonus]

Hi guys!

On 11/15/2023 at 8:47 PM, Kai NRG said:

Thanks everybody for your input here, this is really all lining up with the direction leadership is hoping to take us--a more condensed map and a more exciting and fluctuating economic system.  I think you'll love what we're putting together! 

I totally agree about fixing some aspects of the EGS, even if I wouldn’t know in particular it could be nice finding a way to make sea trade necessary and promote activity in otherwise irrelevant areas… possibly a system of resources, in which e.g. building a factory or an artisan requires to state where you get the resources from? This should be relatively easy with mines, but in principle doable also with plantations and other things.

An idea could be having “trade routes” based on that (e.g. with 5 silver-related builds in Astrapi, you can create an Astrapi-Breshaun silver route) and giving bonuses only if ships run them in the MRCAs, or if you manage to get them connected to the motherland.

(edit: probably too complicated to implement. Could be a suggestion for Era IV, in case)

 

I also agree about not further expanding the world for a while, but making empty islands “disappear” would feel very wrong to me… having some empty islands nobody cares about, or uncharacterized NPCs nations to involve in future stories is IMHO useful for our game mechanics

Edited November 16 by Keymonus

[NOD]

On 11/16/2023 at 9:35 PM, Keymonus said:

Hi guys!

I totally agree about fixing some aspects of the EGS, even if I wouldn’t know in particular it could be nice finding a way to make sea trade necessary and promote activity in otherwise irrelevant areas… possibly a system of resources, in which e.g. building a factory or an artisan requires to state where you get the resources from? This should be relatively easy with mines, but in principle doable also with plantations and other things.

An idea could be having “trade routes” based on that (e.g. with 5 silver-related builds in Astrapi, you can create an Astrapi-Breshaun silver route) and giving bonuses only if ships run them in the MRCAs, or if you manage to get them connected to the motherland.

(edit: probably too complicated to implement. Could be a suggestion for Era IV, in case)

 

I also agree about not further expanding the world for a while, but making empty islands “disappear” would feel very wrong to me… having some empty islands nobody cares about, or uncharacterized NPCs nations to involve in future stories is IMHO useful for our game mechanics

I like your view and ideas. Under no circumstances should the empty islands disappear! The maps should remain as they are now. The economic system should definitely be improved.

For long-term gaming fun, the account summary should be maintained and continued! Starting over at 0 gives new members (this is only a short-term success) but existing members may no longer be there.

This was one of the best and funniest competitions in which many participants took part:

 

 

At Era III, the goal should be to retain existing members and attract new members.

Edited November 18 by NOD

[Khorne]

On 11/15/2023 at 8:47 PM, Kai NRG said:

Thanks everybody for your input here, this is really all lining up with the direction leadership is hoping to take us--a more condensed map and a more exciting and fluctuating economic system.  I think you'll love what we're putting together! 

Looking forward to see the new system changes and what the Court has come up with! Any estimate on launch date? Q1 2024?

[Yperio_Bricks]

One thing that could spice up the game would be different climate zones in conjunction with different architecture styles. For example:

• northern climate zone with New England/French architecture
• desert climate zone with North African/Arabic architecture (Barbary Coast pirates)
• tropical/Caribbean climate zone with Spanish/Portuguese architecture
• tropical/South East Asia or humid/subtropical (Southeast China) climate zones with East Asian and Southeast Asian architecture

[Ross Fisher]

45 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

One thing that could spice up the game would be different climate zones in conjunction with different architecture styles

Love this

[Kai NRG]

4 hours ago, Khorne said:

Looking forward to see the new system changes and what the Court has come up with! Any estimate on launch date? Q1 2024?

Goal is mid-2024.  We want to be completely automated at launch so there will be no more waiting for MRCA results or account summaries.

In the meantime we'll have some fun challenges and stuff to wrap up the Era!

[Khorne]

On 11/25/2023 at 9:58 PM, Kai NRG said:

Goal is mid-2024.  We want to be completely automated at launch so there will be no more waiting for MRCA results or account summaries.

In the meantime we'll have some fun challenges and stuff to wrap up the Era!

Cool! Looking forward to seeing everything unwrap.