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Intermediate WoK: Ready for a first test.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:29 pm
by korexus
This is a recovered post, originally by korexus at Wed Aug 26, 2015 09:08 pm

All the obvious bugs have been dealt with. My todo list only has items about how to do things, not what to do. It's probably time for other people to help me find problems!

Currently on the dev system only, skirmishes in intermediate WoK can be played. The code probably still has errors, and even where it's doing what is intended that is probably not properly balanced, but feedback is the best way to deal with that.

Tomorrow I will try to write a manual for the game to record what is the expected behaviour. Is anyone willing to go through a few test games to decide what's right and what's wrong?


Chris.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:35 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Thu Aug 27, 2015 07:08 am

I may be busy the next 2-3 weeks. But after then I should have time to run through the odd game.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:36 pm
by korexus
This is a recovered post, originally by korexus at Fri Aug 28, 2015 07:08 pm

That took longer than expected. A draft of the phase descriptions is available at http://www2.kaomaris.com/manuals/intermediate/ Next I'll try to put a description of game setup, at the start, then I'll bring the standard manual in line, then I'll put it all live.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:36 pm
by korexus
This is a recovered post, originally by korexus at Sat Aug 29, 2015 01:08 pm

Ok, manuals all updated. You can read about the intermediate game at http://www.kaomaris.com/manuals/intermediate/ .
I also updated the standard manual, and hopefully made that section easier to navigate. If anyone wants to proof read it or give feedback, it wouldn't hurt!

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:37 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Tue Sep 1, 2015 02:09 pm

Do the terms "missiles" and "bombing" seem out of place with the general other technogolies in use ("archers" , "catapults", "pikists"? My mempory og WOK6 was that we used "giant crossbows"? IO can't remember what the term was for actually "missiling" a neighbour? Maybe bombarding or something similar would fit?

Also, should Pikists be Pikemen?

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:37 pm
by korexus
This is a recovered post, originally by korexus at Tue Sep 1, 2015 07:09 pm

"Giant Crossbow Arrows" or GCAs. I used GCA as a verb too. :)

Personally I'd be happy to update that everywhere. WoK's always had more of a fantasy feel to me.

Pikemen sounds better. Pikists came straight from the existing advanced WoK manual, but that was written by Al, who is Austrian, so what does he know? :wink:

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:38 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Tue Sep 22, 2015 11:09 am

When will it be available for play testing?

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:38 pm
by korexus
This is a recovered post, originally by korexus at Tue Sep 22, 2015 08:09 pm

Whenever people are ready to test!

http://www2.kaomaris.com/games/1100/

Note that turns don't run automatically on the dev system, so that I have plenty of chance to fix any bugs that come up. Your usual login should still work, but as it's a separate subdomain you can be logged in to the live site but not the dev (or vice versa).

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:39 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Wed Sep 23, 2015 12:09 pm

OK I'm In :-)

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:39 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Wed Sep 23, 2015 12:09 pm

Might be a bug - our active 5 player game with Stubbs has now vanished?

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:39 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Wed Sep 23, 2015 01:09 pm

Now its back :-) But the Test Game has vanished

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:40 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Wed Sep 23, 2015 01:09 pm

D'oh - Looks like I failed to notice that they are different sites.

My mistake.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:40 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Mon Jun 6, 2016 09:06 am

Hi, firstly apologies it's been a while since I last logged in.
I think I should concede this game as I took a real beating.
I can't see an option to do this.
I'll check again.
If you want to close the game and hand the victory to Koreuxus, that's is fine by me.
Cheers
Stephen

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:41 pm
by korexus
This is a recovered post, originally by korexus at Thu Jun 9, 2016 06:06 pm

It's on the dev system so don't worry too much about it.

If you're interested, there is an option to vote for a winner or quit beneath the map. (You will need to be logged in to see it.)

More importantly than updating the game status if finding out if you have any feedback on the game? I know it was a long time ago and quite short, but it would be good to know!


Chris.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:41 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Fri Jun 10, 2016 09:06 am

On second thoughts, I can play on and give you the cance to RIP me.
I'll enter orders just in case.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:41 pm
by korexus
This is a recovered post, originally by korexus at Sat Jun 11, 2016 08:06 pm

Very kind. It seems I had already entered orders, I don't remember what they were, but it looks like they worked. 8)

Trying to cast my mind back to how this game went, I think troop upgrades were very important, along with using the terrain to get the best benefit from them - I only lost one troop taking two mountains with catapults on turn 2. I enjoyed that as it allowed a much more aggressive style of play. It did make the forests (which I took early on) very useful as they produce more wood, but then I had to fight through swamps anyway, where upgrades don't help. This feels like it should be a nice counter measure, but maybe isn't strong enough yet.

Spying felt better too. I forgot on turn one that there are no starting spies, so couldn't do anything. On turn 2 though I was able to convert them from POP and send them on their way, which is much more responsive than having to dedicate some workers to producing them next turn. I managed to send false orders to three of Revenant's provinces, but in a fourth my spies were intercepted, showcasing a nice spy option, but also the ability to defend against it. I also made use of the spy player option, which gave a useful insight into Revenant's empire without giving away all the detail that you used to get.

Turn 3 showed me the power of the new missilng, from the wrong end. I had a bunch of troops in a province with not much DEF, and the missiles hit them much more than they used to. Of course each missile only killed one army, and I wasn't taking hits on Tec, so overall I was better off than I used to be, but psychologically it was a shock to see so many hits on armies. I think this should flatten the curve on missiles to make them more reliable without down powering them to the point of not being useful. On this turn I used the propaganda and spy province options, along with spy empire again, which does make me feel like the operations are more balanced now.

On turn 4 I used the purchase upgrades phase to get more missiles. I'd seen what they could do and now I wanted some. Again the faster turn around here was really nice, as well as the knowledge there was nothing Revenant could do about it. Purchase missiles in phase I, fire them in phase II. Lovely! Again the upgraded troops helped a lot, and I fell foul of defensive spies again so I didn't know what was in one of Revenant's provinces. - Not a situation I'm used to in the end game!

Turn 5 has just run, it went with a similar idea. I bought missiles and fired them at the unknown province (by there way, there seems to be a bug such that missiles which hit pikists didn't kill anything...) then Revenant was kind enough to attack into me rather than run away. Quite an epic battle considering it was only turn 5.

Your province 6 is under attack!! The attack comes from province 4
The enemy has 44 armies at a level of 1.131.
The enemy's troop upgrades give a bonus level of 0.8.
The attack is commanded by Revenant
You have 82 troops at a level of 1.
Your troop upgrades give a bonus level of 2.05.



With weight of numbers and level on my side, it wasn't a fight I was going to lose, but with troop recovery as well I still had 76 troops at the end of the fight. - If this had been a game with more players, I wouldn't be out of the running just for fighting early.


The game was over pretty quickly, but seeing what Revenant had, if he'd attacked through 3 and 11 into my empire, things could have got messy. I definitely enjoyed playing this variant and would like to give it another go. The only change I'd suggest at this time is reducing the bonus production in provinces from 50% to about 25%.


Revenant, do you have any thoughts?


korexus.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:42 pm
by Revenant
This is a recovered post, originally by Revenant at Mon Jun 13, 2016 01:06 pm

Yes, it was an enjoyable game.
My main memory is of my defenders being devastated by incoming MISS.
I think I probably spread my forces a bit too thinly.
But, in general your aggressive actions steamrolled through my defenses and won you a deserved victory.
Good game.