[discussion] 15cropper – your feedback is needed

    Sheila


    This would be a massive change on the Travian gameplay and that`s why you are being overwhelmed with players opinions/suggestion and it will never stop.

    I also think this is far from being a suggestion, its much more than a suggestion and that’s why the thread has Discussion and not suggestion on the title.


    There are several problems with crops at the moment:

    The lack of them

    Their low % bonus (How rare is it to find a crop15 with 150% bonus crops nowadays?)

    Among many others obviously


    I think such a big change cannot be implemented or tested in test server, you need to somehow test it slowly to get the proper feedback this subject requires.

    In my view as Travian/Kingdoms player and as member/leader It`s impossible for me to give you a personal feedback because as far as I can see, there is a really big lack of information.


    I can point out a few things or do some kind of suggestions though.


    First, I really believe that the actual low number of crops and bonus it’s a problem and so if your idea and or this discussion would help fixing or improving it, my feedback would be positive certainly.


    Clearly you want to test it, I say do it, every big and good change started being tested and not being discussed with players,

    wasn it how Kingdoms was born?


    But pls test it wisely.

    (Let’s call this NPC crops)

    My suggestion for your Test:



    -Do not change the number of free/grey crops or their normal bonuses instead add them (NPC crops) as EXTRA

    (so that this change or test won’t be felt in a negative way, protecting your actual gameplay and your players gameplay so that the test or result wont ruin players/teams game while receiving a real and proper feedback)

    -NPC crops would have a different Difficulty, difficulty set by bonus and number of fields. Most difficult being c15 150%, easiest being c9 0%

    (or even creating something new like crops 200% but hard as hell and locked at the beggining)

    -NPC crops would need to be different regarding the graphics, colour, influence, Difficulty whatever.

    -Same amount of this NPC crops in each quadrant

    (one of each, adding 12 more crops in each quadrant, why not?)



    Overall I believe that If you give us more crops and bigger bonuses we will all be pleased and happy.

    Doing the opposite……. Ugh… Better not doing anything at all.


    Really nice to see developers working and interacting with players, so Sheila , Thank you.

    I am sure you are pleased with our opinions, there are players so complete that their understanding of the game is from another world.


    My best regards,

    PIREX

    interesting. i think i like this idea. it would lessen the whole rush to 15c- which is only possible for the 2nd settlement IF u are paying gold. that concept makes me mad.

    this would mean you are already set up and have several villages producing infastructure as well as resources to produce enough troops to take them down.

    I can't say this seems like a good idea. Croppers are already difficult to get, this will only compound the issue and give further advantage to the strongest (and richest - herein lies the real motivation for travian games gmbh i feel...) players and leave newer, less well-connected players out of contention. As others have pointed out, the off/def balance on servers will deteriorate further, something that has already suffered with the various developments of the treasury system. I can only see this suggestion taking one direction, specifically less action between kingdoms and stagnation of gameplay.


    Pre-made kingdoms will have a run-away advantage when it comes to netting these croppers, simply due to the levels of coordination and outside-the-box tactics required to obtain them in good time. I'm pretty much typing as i think, so there are no doubt many further exploits to be found, but... Make res pushes for the players rushing chiefs/catas so they can control the croppers as early as possible and redistribute them among the key players at a later date. It would be very easy for a dual to perform this function, therefore these kingdoms could use a few dummy accounts to take control of the croppers, not needing to worry about the detrimental effect that rushing chiefs or catas would take on their economy. Once the key players are well established they can chief the (now partially developed) croppers in their own time, after which the duals delete their accounts and join their partner. These same accounts could be used to early-chief croppers in enemy territory and destroy/defend them against local players. Alternatively they could be properly developed into super farmers, leeching from the enemy kingdom.


    As far as alternatives go, i think more croppers on a server is the obvious way to go myself. When a player with a cropper goes inactive any cropper villages they hold should turn into natar villages, perhaps that would be a suitable half-way house? I like the suggestion of delayed release croppers too, although i would like to see it done in waves rather than at a single set point. Ideally appearing at random times, otherwise the advantage remains with those online at all hours.

    Do not care for the idea.

    How about more 9c and 15c

    How about introducing some luck into the game play. LIke 9c that show up randomly on days 11 to 21 in forest locations.

    How about a Crop Builder Building that can up a 9c to a 15 c.

    How about capitals that go away when a player goes gray or 10 days after the player goes gray.

    Quote from The Dawg_COM

    Do not care for the idea.

    How about more 9c and 15c

    How about introducing some luck into the game play. LIke 9c that show up randomly on days 11 to 21 in forest locations.

    How about a Crop Builder Building that can up a 9c to a 15 c.

    How about capitals that go away when a player goes gray or 10 days after the player goes gray.

    Dawg420#NO I actually made the same proposal. Please check out the vote on this subject here: [Farmer Building] - Vote for 15C game mechanic

    Beginning in the first 10 days, begin with 15c near the coordinates of 0,0.
    So the kingdoms become closer and we can see more wars.
    You can also have natar zones in the far corners of the game.
    In this way farmers can be prepared in remote places for the end of the game.

    Alright, I have a couple of ideas on how to fix this.


    1: When your final village reaches 0 population you get removed from the server. Simple, but it immediately solves this issue. Never understood why this didn't happen, the first input you're asked to give is what you want to have written on your grave, so the game is implying that it is possible to lose, which it isn't.


    2: This is a couple of changes that makes the fast settle strategy a lot harder to perform and execute. First make it so that you can't send your settlers to a 15c village so long as you are in beginners protection. This prevents most of the settle in 24 hours strategies as you don't really go over 80 population before you get your second village. Also make it impossible to menhir to a 15c village. Second you make it so that when you menhir your village the resources get reset to 1 instead of 0 if they are level 1 or above when you move it. This shouldn't really make a large impact since you can instantly rebuild resources to 1 anyways, and it makes it so that players would have to get external help to remove the last resource fields to remove the village like they did before to prevent losing the 15c spot even when they get dropped to 0 population.


    I like your idea though, but it would change how the entire early game is played, and some players will obviously not like that.

    You're reading this. Think about it.

    Like 2

    I've been playing Travians for more than ten years and Kingdoms since it started. I've only successfully settled one cropper in all that time. Other players, likely those who spend money on the game, always seem to settle these highly desired villages first. I've gotten my building strategy down and can have settlers ready within about 26 hours of spawning but can never get to a cropper in time.


    While I appreciate the concept of making it harder to get and keep a cropper, repeat players like me - individuals who just play the game for fun - will likely never get a cropper under any of those scenarios.


    I'd rather things stay as they are and I can take my chances zero-popping someone else's cropper to take it for myself.


    Just my opinion, since you asked for it.

    I do not like this idea either, for many of the reasons already listed.
    I think it will just give advantages to the experienced players and leaves the inexperienced players even further behind the real fight


    Also too many times the lowly Deffer loses out to their stronger Off opponent and this will be another instance in that happening.


    we do like being offered features and solutions, although more thought needs to be put into bringing the fight back to Player v Player


    Maybe a limitation on the number of croppers one account may hold could be a solution, if the fields were cheaper to build or gave more crop/res per build or even that Cap fields could be built past the L18/19 & that the expense and timescales were adjusted to allow them to be viable builds.

    Also making sure there were enough on each server so that every account that wanted one could have one close enough to their kingdom (so maybe like others have said a "self grown village" that you could raise the fields in your own desired combination)


    The sooner players get past sorting their Capital, the sooner we can all get into the real art of war. delaying this just delays the game further for the startup period & would result in more bored players deleting because they didn't quite manage the start they wanted.


    looking back over the stats every server seems to attract a similar number of players (4-5k) & usually ends in 80-90% deletion

    Has anyone ever asked the question "Why did you delete?" ....... the answer to this could hold many surprises & solutions ;)

    The objective is to prevent fast settle for experienced players so they are not all taken in 24 hours. Some declare that fast settle is P2W/unfair, but I'm able to fast settle using the 40 free gold in the server. As low gold user, this is fair to me. Some solutions presented above to accomplish this objective (with my comments):

    1. Eliminate fast settle (alter quest bonus, cp needed, etc.) - There will Always be a fast settle guide, even if it's 6 days instead of 13 hours. The players that join servers immediately will usually have advantage. The difference is that P2W will be more important than the 12-24 hr fast settle meta (more time in server = more time to buy instant finish/resource cards/auction items, etc)
    2. Delay cropper spawns by "x" days - cause lots of internal drama when new croppers appear. Timezone determine what cropper you get, location, and oasis bonus (doesn't sound fun).
    3. Make players earn croppers by accomplishing task (clearing Natar/NPC) - This is the current topic and my comments below.
    4. Add more croppers to the map - changes the priority on croppers from getting a cropper to getting cropper with best oasis bonus. Up to game devs if that is desired.
    5. Terraforming - Creative solution, would work but alter map strategy. Game devs already commented their conclusions on it.
    6. Limit player on cropper expansion, just like cp - If player settles cropper for 2nd cp slot, cannot get another cropper until 4th cp slot (9 crop) or 5th cp slot (15 crop). This does not solve fast settle, but prevents each player from monopolizing croppers.


    Comments on implementing the proposed system of clearing NPC:

    • Good Concept for preventing weak players with no troops from getting good croppers, and for adding excitement/action to settling croppers that's usually decided in the first 24 hours of the server, BUT...
    • I agree with others that def players, new players, and small kingdoms are at disadvantage. They won't all have friendly kingdom members to clear for them, and experienced kingdoms will monopolize them for distributing to members later.
    • I agree with Negru that kingdoms will coordinate to cata/chief these croppers from other kingdoms/neighbors after all NPC troops are cleared - devastating to small players/kingdoms that clear them. I believe PVP skirmishes should be focused around other kingdom bonuses, not croppers for single players.
    • Crop would need to be balanced, this method would mean accounts are left too long without a good source of crop.
    • New race/tribe is exciting to players, but I would recommend to just use natar tribe. Already designed ingame NPC, and most players don't know the natar troops/stats because they are never needed (for natar & WW, you just siege with all troops anyways). So this would be good opportunity to use them further.
    • For rewards: extra build slots (so rare to find in card game) and they can be used to turn your new cropper into hammer/anvil village.
    • Idea - Earn cropper by training "X" number of troops, instead of needing to clear NPC. Does not matter how many troops are alive (could have been killed for kingdom off/def). This would allow both off and def players to earn their croppers. Difficult to balance for each tribe with different troop costs/training time.