Galmair is op: A Rant on Developer Favouritism
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2015 2:28 pm
After playing for about one year in an administrative position in Cadomyr (and in some parts substituting for gm inactivity over there) there were a couple of issues regarding resource distribution that caught my attention. Most of them have been addressed before with proposals, all denied by the development team. While I surely am biased on the matter, there are some clear indicators that some developers do push and protect the attractiveness of Galmair over other settlements in regards of available resources. In the following I'll go over what I do find to be the most glaring issues.
Leadership Ranks
Gem distribution: ->Link<-
Key Lines:
This does tell us is the following: Gems are basically distributed equally among all characters of a settlement and then multiplied by a factor of their rank. A settlement with higher ranking characters does therefore receive a higher total amount of gems for the same donations. Which should be fine, as one can raise in rank by doing static quests or recieving roleplay-rewards handed out by gms (usually for quest stuff).
The town leadership (that being player characters in some way entitled to do administrative stuff for the town) however receives higher ranks than one can gain by quests, which is fine so far. The problem is, that all settlements have inequally distributed ranks for their leadership, resulting in an simply put unfair advantage over the other settlements. One could argue the matter to be in character, but it really is not. Changes to the political structure of a settlement always have to be given the okay from gm/dev-forums behind the scenes, the whole process from request over corrections to approval is ooc.
Current Leadership ranks:
Galmair:
Proposal: Have 5 additional rank levels to be distributed over all the leadership characters for each settlement. Have the leaderships of each settlement work out the distribution of those 5 additional levels on their own. In character.
I am aware that an idea of gem distribution with the amount calculated beforehand and ranks determining the cut from the total gems is discussed somewhere behind the curtains. But so is the magic system. And I would not mind a quick fix before waiting a couple of years.
Dungeons and Monsters
Naturally every settlement does have one rat dungeon for newbies. The somewhat further proximity offers the following profitable dungeons for the settlements:
Runewick
In recent history there were some few changes made to the dungeons. The Spider Den as well as the Cadomyrian drow farming hole were made Archer Dungeons (making them unsuitable for the majority of players), Letma recieved an ugly face lift, Hammerfell got a fine looking level for 6-8. The Dwarf Fortress in front of Galmair was reopened. Galmair also recieved the nicely compact Rat Alchemists and the far too big and empty Lake of Life. Also, the Bandit Hole was put into the wilderness, coser to the Hemptie than to Runewick.
Interestingly enough a request of mine to place a 6-7 Dungeon in front of Cadomyr was denied with pointing out that nothing higher than level 5 must be close to a town (seems to be fine for the Galmarian Dwarf Fortress). In the meantime all suitable farming spots did pop up in the Neighbourhood of Galmair, or closer to the Hemptie than their respective settlement. There must be a very unbiased developer at work.
Mining and Goldsmithing
Complete mining.lua : ->Link<-
Excerpt of mining yield for settlements:
When taking a close look at the code, one can tell two things: The Galmarian values have been altered by someone why had no idea what he was doing (take a close look at line 208). And that the Galmarian mines have a 30% higher chance of anything of use and yield up to twice the amount of gems and silver. Which might not look too at first glance, but 30-100% more time spent for the same result is quite a lot.
In the past the path to the Dark Hole Mine was way longer, which is why I suppose the values were somewhat suitably altered for. The distance has been reduced twice without debuffing the mine since then. At the current state all settlement mines are roughly the same walking distance from a depot.
There were two Cadomyrian requests I know of to build a tunnel to the Liberty Quarry similar to the one to the Dark Hole Mine, both have been denied. A second gate guard npc required for that tunnel (as Galmair has for a very similar purpose) would be no option, I was told. About one year ago I put forth a request to rebalance the mines at the irl-meeting, but the matter was not deemed important enough due to the upcoming revamp of recipes.
Still have some ugly Germish spreadsheet with the proposed values (can put that into clean code, if requested):
->Link<- (download, Google preview looks like shit)
The idea was to keep the Galmarian mines the best source for blacksmithing (primary craft in Galmair), while making the Cadomyrian mines viable for goldsmithing (primary craft in Cadomyr). I'd have given Galmair a 10% higher chance to find anything of use while giving Cado about 10% more precious metals and more gems.
As of right now goldsmithing (let me remind you: primary craft in Cadomyr with the most craftable items) remains to be more efficiently done in Galmair. All requests for rebalance have been denied. Well, thank you.
*as in only reliably beatable as archer
PS: I was about to write some more on production chains and trade (Galmair was given by far the best production chain in regards of independence from other settlements, while its players keep on pointing out trade to be oh-so important and nothing should be changed in regards of crafts and resources to preserve trading), but I figured the first three points to be enough for creating controversy for now.
Leadership Ranks
Gem distribution: ->Link<-
Key Lines:
Code: Select all
local baseWageUnit=totalTaxes/(totalPayers*10000) -- 10000: "base unit" change accordingly if necessary.
local RecipientRk=factions.getRankAsNumber(Recipient)
local RankedWage=math.ceil(RecipientRk*baseWageUnit*0.5)
The town leadership (that being player characters in some way entitled to do administrative stuff for the town) however receives higher ranks than one can gain by quests, which is fine so far. The problem is, that all settlements have inequally distributed ranks for their leadership, resulting in an simply put unfair advantage over the other settlements. One could argue the matter to be in character, but it really is not. Changes to the political structure of a settlement always have to be given the okay from gm/dev-forums behind the scenes, the whole process from request over corrections to approval is ooc.
Current Leadership ranks:
Galmair:
- 1x Lvl 10
3x Lvl 9
- 1x Lvl 9
2x Lvl 8
- 1x Lvl 9
1x Lvl 8
(1x Lvl 8 upcoming)
Proposal: Have 5 additional rank levels to be distributed over all the leadership characters for each settlement. Have the leaderships of each settlement work out the distribution of those 5 additional levels on their own. In character.
I am aware that an idea of gem distribution with the amount calculated beforehand and ranks determining the cut from the total gems is discussed somewhere behind the curtains. But so is the magic system. And I would not mind a quick fix before waiting a couple of years.
Dungeons and Monsters
Naturally every settlement does have one rat dungeon for newbies. The somewhat further proximity offers the following profitable dungeons for the settlements:
Runewick
- Way Out (closer to Hemptie): Bandit Hole (5-6)
Way Out (closer to Hemptie): Spider Den (Archer Dungeon*)
- Inside: Underground Dungeon (1-3?)
In front of Gate: Dwarf Fortress (5-6)
Close: Rat Alchemists (3-4)
Far: Lake of Life (4-5/6)
- In front of Gate: Crypt (1-3?)
Far: Letma (4-7)
Far: Hammerfell (5-8)
Very Far: Alkatut (Archer Dungeon)
In recent history there were some few changes made to the dungeons. The Spider Den as well as the Cadomyrian drow farming hole were made Archer Dungeons (making them unsuitable for the majority of players), Letma recieved an ugly face lift, Hammerfell got a fine looking level for 6-8. The Dwarf Fortress in front of Galmair was reopened. Galmair also recieved the nicely compact Rat Alchemists and the far too big and empty Lake of Life. Also, the Bandit Hole was put into the wilderness, coser to the Hemptie than to Runewick.
Interestingly enough a request of mine to place a 6-7 Dungeon in front of Cadomyr was denied with pointing out that nothing higher than level 5 must be close to a town (seems to be fine for the Galmarian Dwarf Fortress). In the meantime all suitable farming spots did pop up in the Neighbourhood of Galmair, or closer to the Hemptie than their respective settlement. There must be a very unbiased developer at work.
Mining and Goldsmithing
Complete mining.lua : ->Link<-
Excerpt of mining yield for settlements:
Code: Select all
--Galmair "Dark Hole Mine"
AddArea( 1, position(406,159,-3), 20 );
AddStone( 1, 1245 );
SetResource( 1, 1245, 21, 70); -- coal
SetResource( 1, 1245, 1062, 10); -- silver
SetResource( 1, 1245, 252, 6); -- obsidian
SetResource( 1, 1245, 255, 2); -- rubys
AddStone( 1, 1246 );
SetResource( 1, 1246, 21, 50); -- coal
SetResource( 1, 1246, 1062, 10); -- silver
SetResource( 1, 1246, 251, 6); -- amethysts
SetResource( 1, 1246, 256, 2); -- emerald
--Galmair "Malachite Mine"
AddArea( 2, position(420,371,0), 30 );
AddStone( 2, 232 );
SetResource( 2, 232, 2536, 40); -- copper
SetResource( 2, 232, 234, 3); -- gold nuggets
SetResource( 2, 232, 254, 3); -- diamonds
SetResource( 2, 232, 251, 1); -- amethysts
AddStone( 2, 914 );
SetResource( 2, 914, 22, 70); -- iron ore
SetResource( 2, 914, 255, 3); -- rubys
SetResource( 2, 914, 257, 1); -- topas
AddStone( 2, 1273 );
SetResource( 2, 1273, 22, 50); -- iron ore
SetResource( 2, 1273, 253, 3); -- sapphire
SetResource( 2, 1273, 252, 1); -- obsidian
AddStone( 2, 1276 );
SetResource( 2, 1276, 2536, 40); -- copper ore
SetResource( 2, 1276, 256, 3); -- emerald
SetResource( 2, 1276, 253, 1); -- sapphire
--Cadomyr "Cornerstone of Candour"
AddArea( 3, position(142,686,0), 15 );
AddStone( 3, 1245 );
SetResource( 3, 1245, 21, 40); -- coal
SetResource( 3, 1245, 1062, 5); -- silver
SetResource( 3, 1245, 252, 3); -- obsidian
SetResource( 3, 1245, 255, 1); -- rubys
AddStone( 3, 1246 );
SetResource( 3, 1246, 21, 25); -- coal
SetResource( 3, 1246, 1062, 5); -- silver
SetResource( 3, 1246, 251, 3); -- amethysts
SetResource( 3, 1246, 256, 1); -- emerald
--Cadomyr "Liberty Quarry"
AddArea( 4, position(165,603,0), 15 );
AddStone( 4, 232 );
SetResource( 4, 232, 2536, 40); -- copper
SetResource( 4, 232, 234, 5); -- gold nuggets
SetResource( 4, 232, 254, 3); -- diamonds
SetResource( 4, 232, 251, 1); -- amethysts
AddStone( 4, 914 );
SetResource( 4, 914, 22, 40); -- iron ore
SetResource( 4, 914, 255, 3); -- rubys
SetResource( 4, 914, 257, 1); -- topas
AddStone( 4, 1273 );
SetResource( 4, 1273, 22, 25); -- iron ore
SetResource( 4, 1273, 253, 3); -- sapphire
SetResource( 4, 1273, 252, 1); -- obsidian
AddStone( 4, 1276 );
SetResource( 4, 1276, 2536, 40); -- copper ore
SetResource( 4, 1276, 256, 3); -- emerald
SetResource( 4, 1276, 253, 1); -- sapphire
In the past the path to the Dark Hole Mine was way longer, which is why I suppose the values were somewhat suitably altered for. The distance has been reduced twice without debuffing the mine since then. At the current state all settlement mines are roughly the same walking distance from a depot.
There were two Cadomyrian requests I know of to build a tunnel to the Liberty Quarry similar to the one to the Dark Hole Mine, both have been denied. A second gate guard npc required for that tunnel (as Galmair has for a very similar purpose) would be no option, I was told. About one year ago I put forth a request to rebalance the mines at the irl-meeting, but the matter was not deemed important enough due to the upcoming revamp of recipes.
Still have some ugly Germish spreadsheet with the proposed values (can put that into clean code, if requested):
->Link<- (download, Google preview looks like shit)
The idea was to keep the Galmarian mines the best source for blacksmithing (primary craft in Galmair), while making the Cadomyrian mines viable for goldsmithing (primary craft in Cadomyr). I'd have given Galmair a 10% higher chance to find anything of use while giving Cado about 10% more precious metals and more gems.
As of right now goldsmithing (let me remind you: primary craft in Cadomyr with the most craftable items) remains to be more efficiently done in Galmair. All requests for rebalance have been denied. Well, thank you.
*as in only reliably beatable as archer
PS: I was about to write some more on production chains and trade (Galmair was given by far the best production chain in regards of independence from other settlements, while its players keep on pointing out trade to be oh-so important and nothing should be changed in regards of crafts and resources to preserve trading), but I figured the first three points to be enough for creating controversy for now.