Deaf dumb and blind boy
I sent the development team an email suggesting a relatively small change to the battle system that I think the game would greatly benefit from. Apparently there's been an ongoing discussion on whether and how the combat should be revamped, and the developer I spoke to thought that my advice was the best they'd yet considered. It'd be cool to see it implemented.Originally Posted by salt_peanuts
Ancient Trader came out today. It is fantastic. Especially if you like Catan and Carcassone. 240 pts in the indie section.
reflex gamer
I hope your not one of those guys on the quartertothree forums arguing about the combat not being satisfactory and too random and blah blah blah. I like it just fine and I hope the developer doesn't change a thing. It's simplicity is it's beauty. Those posters arguing with TomChick and the developer need to make their own games, not try to change a fantastic game and mess it up
Deaf dumb and blind boy
No, I haven't joined the fray at quartertothree, although the developer did point me to it in case I wanted to. And don't worry, I'm right there with you in thinking those guys arguing for hit points and other complicated systems are crazy. And the dude claiming that guessing what your opponent is going to do is "random" is an idiot. That's like saying anticipating what other players are holding in poker is random.I hope your not one of those guys on the quartertothree forums arguing about the combat not being satisfactory and too random and blah blah blah. I like it just fine and I hope the developer doesn't change a thing. It's simplicity is it's beauty. Those posters arguing with TomChick and the developer need to make their own games, not try to change a fantastic game and mess it up
reflex gamer
I agree. I do enjoy trying to guess what the other person will play based on my strongest card and theirs. If the cards were all the same level when you leveled up the fighting skill, then yeah, maybe it'd get dull, but part of the fun is trying to guess if the other person will play their strongest card first and whether to play the counter first, even though it may be one of your weaker cards. As long as you don't get too far behind in leveling your attack power, you shouldn't get bored with the combat, and this game isn't really about combat anyway.
I've found it's really fun to play for most gold or wealth after 30 turns on a randomly generated map, since it becomes a race to find the best trade routes, and it's different every time.
Anyway, sorry to get so defensive so quick. I just really enjoy this game the way it is. The guy did email me after I complimented his game, and mentioned he probably wasn't changing anything this game, but it would probably be interesting to be able to select what type of combat you want. I'm curious as to what your suggestion was, if you don't mind me asking.
reflex gamer
Anyway, this game is still great. Some more of you I hope are getting this so we can play online, shoot me an invite. Best $3 I've spent this year.
Deaf dumb and blind boy
No problem. Like I already mentioned, it's really a pretty small change. I'm going to use the terms rock (R), paper (P) and scissors (S) to make this easier on myself. I really do like the game's version of RPS for the reasons you mention, the staggered strengths add bluffing, prediction and tactics to a still simple system. But as you also say, the game isn't really about combat.
Three things bother me about the combat. (1) I think it's too long for what it is; three rounds of RPS is too much. (2) I hate that ties are decided randomly; if I play R1 and you play R1 one of us loses our R, and is put at a huge disadvantage, and there's no logic or tactics behind it. (3) Losing a card is frustrating because going against an RPS hand with an RP hand puts the RP player at such an obvious detriment.
My suggestions:
(1) Decide the victor by the FIRST card played, assuming there is not a tie.
(2) If there is a tie, remove the card played from BOTH players.
(3) In the case of three ties (both players played evenly matched cards all three times) the victory would always go to the ATTACKER.
(4) For the Ancient Guardian IGNORE (1) and (3) to give this battle its own "epic" feel.
To break this down, assume I play a R2 and you play a P1. The battle is ended and you are victorious. This would keep the same strategic planning of the battle system (i.e. I played that R2 because it would beat both your S3 and R1, but you knew that I'd be more likely to do so, so you played your P1) but lose the monotony of having to play three rounds. Ties would not be randomly decided in order to encourage different tactics and decrease randomness. A tie would result in the cards played both being removed and forcing the players to play another card, similar to the way cards are already removed, but for both players rather than one chosen at random. This keeps the varying hands but loses the unfair roll of the die. But because this could result in a stalemate a victor needs to be decided in some other fashion - I say give it to the attacker, since that person is spending part of their turn for attacking, I think they should get a slight bonus. The "exception" for the final boss keeps that battle almost exactly the same as the game currently works, but hopefully the three rounds of RPS ONCE per game rather than constantly would make that battle feel important in comparison to the others.
reflex gamer
I agree that a tie should take away both players cards. I don't know about giving an advantage to the attacker, though. I think if both players only have one card left that would result in a stalemate, then it should be randomly decided. There's probably a better way to resolve it, but honestly I haven't experienced stalemate situations all that often if ever. He nailed it pretty closely for his first try making combat fast enough yet with some strategy. I think a find the treasure mode would be great, as well as saving, but I think I was told they are just adding a saturation slider for the graphics for now.
Ya Skunt
Radiangames Crossfire came out yesterday. 240 points. Worth it!
Moe Turn is ok, pretty relaxing. As you progress your reward is disrobing the girls...but there is no nudity. I like it well enough for 80 points though.
I think I played this last night as well. I enjoyed the trial.
I also tried out Magical Cube, which kind of played like a mix of Yoshi's Cookie and Columns; a fun puzzler, but I have a hard time spending $5 on an indie game.
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