City destruction changes

ANNOUNCE NEWS #3994                                     (11/22/2013 at 03:28)  
From   : Tecton, the Terraformer
To     : Everyone
Subject: City Destruction changes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're pleased to announce the release of a major revision of the City 
Destruction system! The highlights of the changes are as follows:

* City military forces are now formalised into city armies, allowing 
adventurers to rise in rank based on their offensive and defensive efforts! 
Many war and city destruction-related powers are now assignable to military 
ranks.

* War ministry aides are now empowered to conscript soldiers, replacing the 
dated ENLIST system.

* CITY SOLDIERS is no more! Ranking members of the military now have additional
tools to list and recruit soldiers.

* Sanctioned raids will now automatically begin following a number of defender 
deaths within a specified timeframe.

* Experience loss has been restored for deaths inside an adventurer's home 
city. Experience loss and gain is suspended at the commencement of a sanctioned
raid

* The process of obtaining and cultivating elemental sparks has had numerous 
tweaks.

* Using the explosive power of these elementals has changed significantly, 
including the potential outcomes!

* Repairing destroyed locations is now a delayed, automated process. The price 
for this has been reduced.

Defenders can now foil a sanctioned raid, using the raider's elemental sparks
for their own gain!

* New font empowerments are now available to the defending city's military.

There are far too many changes to list here, so take a read through the 
following updated help files:

HELP CITY DESTRUCTION
HELP ARMIES
HELP FONTS
HELP WAR (*)

(*) Yes, you can finally say goodbye to the old help file for the war ministry!
No longer will you hear a new minister say "What does TROOPTYPES FIELDED do?!"

«13456710

Comments

  • Empowering a font
    -----------------
    Those with the necessary rank in the city's military may EMPOWER FONT <power>,
    using one of the following options:
       - WEAKEN : A compounding affliction that increases the amount of damage an
    enemy takes.
       - QUAKE  : Send powerful tremors through the earth, disrupting the propping
    of totems.
       - DECAY  : Influence the very fabric of time, reducing the life of any
    persistent room effects such as devotional rites, crystalline vibrations,
    necromantic hands of the grave, and a bard's harmonics.
  • JonathinJonathin Retired in a hole.
    I like what I've read. We'll see how it is in practice.
    I am retired and log into the forums maybe once every 2 months. It was a good 20 years, live your best lives, friends.
  • RuthRuth Singapore
    edited November 2013
    I cannot conscript myself yet! :C
    @Tecton, fixxxx it. Also, trust you to implement it at the start of my holiday!
    "Mummy, I'm hungry, but there's no one to eat! :C"

     

  • JonathinJonathin Retired in a hole.
    Hey man, every time they finish something, they're one step closer to fixing seafaring.
    I am retired and log into the forums maybe once every 2 months. It was a good 20 years, live your best lives, friends.
  • TectonTecton The Garden of the Gods
    Ruth said:
    I cannot conscript myself yet! :C @Tecton, fixxxx it. Also, trust you to implement it at the start of my holiday!
    There's Hasar right there! Quick, get him!
  • Sanctioned Raids
    ----------------
    A sanctioned raid will commence automatically after a certain number of in-city
    citizen deaths within a specified timeframe. Once underway, all experience loss
    (defenders) and gain (attackers and defenders) will be suspended within the
    limits of the city being raided.

    During a sanctioned raid, attackers will have the ability to bring forth their
    tools of war and potentially lay waste to large areas of the city, filling the
    rooms with rubble and rendering shops, banks, post offices, and barracks
    inoperable until they are repaired.

    By default, a raid will be active for one Achaean day (one RL hour), but many
    factors can cause this duration to lengthen or shorten:
       - If less than five soldiers from the attacking city are within the enemy
         city, the timer will decrement twice as fast.
       - For every soldier death that takes place inside the city, the duration
         will be extended, allowing for lengthy back and forth battles between
         defenders and attackers.

    City Destruction
    ----------------
    (Related commands: ACTIVATE TANK, DETONATE TANK)

    Once a sanctioned raid is underway, the attacking city can activate their tanks
    in any location within the enemy city. This will place the tank on the ground,
    where it cannot be picked up. Once placed, it will draw upon the hostile energy
    in the area, gaining power from the death of each soldier in the defending
    city. The amount of energy gained by the activated tank depends on some
    factors:
       - The soldier's rank in the city army compared to his or her killer (more
         energy is gained if you slay someone of higher rank than you).
       - How frequently the soldier has been slain during this sanctioned raid
         (killing someone many times has a diminishing energy gain).
       - If the soldier is the leader of the city army (the Minister of War is a
         VERY lucrative target).
       - The hostile energy given off by the raiding soldiers results is absorbed
         as a very small gain over time.

    When the tank has reached sufficient power, the aggressors may DETONATE the
    TANK. The elemental creature contained within will burst forth and release its
    accumulated energy. Depending on the power level of the tank, one or more rooms
    will be obliterated.

    Below is a reference as to the destructive potential of the tanks:
       - a glowing tank:   The current room is destroyed.
       - a red-hot tank:   The current room and all adjacent rooms are destroyed.
       - a white-hot tank: The current room and all rooms in line-of-sight are
                           destroyed.

    A tank fuelled solely by the hostile energy of the raiding city will never be
    higher than level one (e.g. if all your soldiers do is enter a city, activate
    the tank, and wait, only one room can be destroyed by that tank).

    Should any defending city soldiers be present in the room, they will prevent
    the detonation of the tank.


    Defending against raiders
    -------------------------
    (Related commands: DISARM TANK, CAPTURE TANK)

    Defenders who successfully overcome the attacking force may remove an enemy
    tank in one of two ways:

    DISARM TANK - this will destroy the tank, granting experience to all defending
    soldiers in the room.

    CAPTURE TANK - this will capture the fully prepared tank and return it to the
    city stores. From here it can be used by the defenders. This option will only
    be available if the city has room for the new tank.

    Additionally, defenders can use the powers of their city's font to assist in
    repelling the raiders. See HELP FONTS for more information on these.


    Repairing the damage
    --------------------
    (Related commands: CITY SET AUTOREPAIR ON|OFF)

    Locations destroyed by this system will have repairs commenced at the next
    Orphean Serenade, and will continue for three Achaean months (three RL days).

    The Minister of Development has the ability to disable the automatic repair of
    destroyed locations with the CITY SET AUTOREPAIR OFF command.

  • Great, city experience farming is back.

    Pass.
    image
    When Canada rules the world,
    things will be... nii~ice.
  • Great reading comprehension.

    Once underway, all experience loss(defenders) and gain (attackers and defenders) will be suspended within the
    limits of the city being raided.


  • I've already mentioned this in the issue/messages I sent, but I -really- dislike the xp loss being default.  It encourages ganking over actual raids and is pretty biased to the attacker.  I'm withholding judgment till I've seen it in practice, but I'm predicting there being xp farming - which Makarios said isn't practical, but the same can be said of a lot of things that we do.  So, short skirmishes to kill some people who slighted the attacker before withdrawing to wait out the timer is threatening to be the norm.
    image
  • JonathinJonathin Retired in a hole.
    I expect Ashtan and Mhaldor to raid when I get home from work tomorrow.
    Any other time is unacceptable.
    I am retired and log into the forums maybe once every 2 months. It was a good 20 years, live your best lives, friends.
  • RuthRuth Singapore
    I thought aides are immediately conscripted!
    "Mummy, I'm hungry, but there's no one to eat! :C"

     

  • Please please please give me some way to Demote people in Rank. Kicking Voc out did wonders for my morale in my Army of two!.

    Yes I realize that this can be abused but let me demote like once a month or something just for the mistakes I make!

    Other than that, this looks interesting and I hope to give some feedback once I see more of it.
  • edited November 2013
    Created from a strange amalgamation of metals, this pitch-black tank casts a
    cold, looming shadow upon its surroundings. A sturdy door with a small window
    allows a glimpse into the peculiar vessel, protected by a thick layer of
    darkened glass
    . Upon the door is a circular handle for sealing the tank and
    controlling the amount of air inside. The layers of metal making up the body of
    the container ensure the protection of any contents, while the sheer weight
    makes the tank nigh unmovable.

    4730h, 4840m, 19214e, 18900w cedb-outr 25 steel
    You remove 25 steel, bringing the total in the Rift to XXXX.

    4730h, 4840m, 19229e, 18900w cexdb-forge for tank
    You lay the commodities out before you on the forge, and stoke the fire in the
    forge. With a resolute air about you, you begin the long process in constructing
    a quality piece of workmanship.


    Seems legit!
  • Still not sure about LoS room destruction. Will see how it goes, though, I guess.

  • Ruth said:
    Shirszae 1 a Maggot Kaevan 1 a Maggot Zii 1 a Maggot Vicious 1 a Maggot Hasar 6 The Lord Marshal ******************************************************************************* Maggots!
    Did anyone else seriously have a mental image from the movie Major Paine when they read this?
    image



  • What purpose does reintroducing the initial XP loss serve anyway? The prior no-exp loss system seemed fine in regards to addressing the balance between the convenience of aggression(choice of time, numbers, city) versus the inconvenience of defending(time commitment, dropping other activities).

    [ SnB PvP Guide | Link ]

    [ Runewarden Sparring Videos | Link ]
  • Weeds out the weak.

  • SkyeSkye The Duchess Bellatere
    Yeah I'm a little leery about the initial sanction time.

    I'd like to think that the whole point to the changes was to discourage raiders from setting up shop and staying for as long as they like. By bringing back the xp loss you know most defenders are just going to shy out of there. As it is some of them already just qq/journal even in the face of no exp loss.

    In the same vein, you really can't think of most Achaean players like normal people when they're playing the game. I'm sure they're wonderful IRL and sometimes even on forums and ooc clans but christ, we're all obsessive compulsive mofos here on a text game. If you give them a goal like 'kill 5 people in 5 minutes', they're going to sit there until they do it just to say they did.


  • DaslinDaslin The place with the oxygen
    Good lord. Just getting that tank to lv1 took forever.
  • NimNim
    edited November 2013

    I kind of like this crazy consequence thing that raiding might have now.

    I'm just not fond of the EXP thing because I'm Cyrenian, and the chance of Cyrenians using it are incredibly slim compared to the chance of it being used on us.

  • If they aren't, they will be. We're only close to perfect, its possible we have the numbers wrong in which case they'll be tweaked.
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