Doofus
Sergeant
Well...played 1.6.2. I think the game has gotten even worse...
1) A regular complaint of mine has been that once you start warring, the wars seem to never end, to the point that you can't do anything but fight battles. Well...I'll admit this has improved. Almost to the point where I want to start wars at times.
2) Recruiting other clans. Its currently Spring 1102 and I think I've been able to recruit a total of 1 caln. There was one, possibly 2 others that might have joined if I had the funds, but only one I could actually get to join. I think this is because the old system allowed a random luck chance to recruit clans. Currently they basically tell you don't even try. So....My kingdom (Vlandian) currently has 4 clans in it, including mine. In fact, two of the 3 other clans have only one member each. So in the next war I could conceivably be down to just one other clan besides mine. I suspect part of this has to do with what I think is no (or very few) children in the game at the start...
3) No children in the game at the start? At one point I looked at the kingdom (I think it had 6-8 clans at the time) considering whether to try for a younger wife for Nathanos. When I looked there were no members between 14 and 31, and only 2 members between 31-35. So this means for a 17 year period there were no children born at all? I think this period was just before game start, so...that is part of why all the clans in my kingdom are dying off.
4) I hadn't done the Neretzes quests in over a year because, as far as I could tell there was no point to them. With almost every game out there that has quests, completing the quest gives you a bonus or item of some type and all the Neretzes quest ever seemed to do was make more people want to attack you when you were always in war anyways. I sort of thought it should make everyone in your kingdom like you more and this e that want to unify the kingdoms (under either empire or non-empire) want to join you. But I never saw any of this. Anyways, I thought I'd try the quest line again to see if it had improved.It has changed, and there's more to it, but it gives you repeating quests of types similar to those given by villages with a fairly short time period. These quests can be anyplace on the map, which means you could have a 10-day travel time just to get to the quest, possibly while you are supposed to be warring someone. And no, you don't get any special items from doing either the 'find the banner' quest or any of the subsequent repeating quests. Azagos says he'll help you, but really all he's doing is giving you more work and eventually the conspiracy will succeed and I'll have a whole bunch of kingdoms out for my blood at once. Meanwhile, while doing these meaningless quests I'm supposed to be destroying the 3 Empire cultures with my 4 clans (8 maximum parties). Nope. Won't be doing the pointless Neretzes quest again for at least another year.
5) The recent change to having town/castle security (& I think 1 or 2 other things) decreased when there are hideouts around is annoying. It wouldn't be too bad if it gave you a quest telling where the hideout is, but having to waste time looking for a hideout, particularly when there may be multiple ones in the area, is a pain in the rump. I don't mind hitting hideouts from time to time as it adds variety, but I don't like wasting time roaming pointlessly across the landscape.
6) Its not a particularly recent change, but I'll reiterate that the -3 loyalty penalty for a different governor culture is horrible. Make it -1 or make it so it slowly decreases as time goes by without the town/castle having any problems. For yourself, it means you pretty much have to find a family member of companion with the same culture as the town just to keep from losing the town to rebels. If you are kingdom ruler, it means that you have to have some sort of idea of the culture of your kingdoms clan members before assigning it or you may lose it to rebels. If the 'voting for ownership' screen told the clan cultures of the clans and all their members (such as obtained via marriage) it might make it easier, but it doesn't.
A few things I would like...
Let me set a rough recruiting limit for castles/towns. If I only want a garrison of 200, its a pain to go around from time-to-time to pull and delete troops when the town/castle wants a garrison of 350.
When suggesting a marriage alliance, tell me the age of the candidate (in parenthesis?) right in the dialogue, so I don't have to close the dialogue, then bring up the encyclopedia to check it. Also, list all possible candidates. If they have 3 unmarried women, list them all, with age next to them. Again, along these lines, if I offer the hand of a female in marriage, provide an alternate dowry for the couple to stay in my kingdom, instead of moving to his. Finally, why am I the one that always has to pay the dowry? I've noticed that when I'm the kingdom ruler, the dowry I pay is either less, or there isn't one, but I've never received a dowry from another clan.
Plenty of other issues.
There are some newer things I like, mostly what I would call cosmetic stuff with the dialogues, but no real improvement to the game itself. I 'think' the ransom I have to pay has decreased somewhat in this version (could be wrong) but I still have to pay more than anyone else (as a bribe).
1) A regular complaint of mine has been that once you start warring, the wars seem to never end, to the point that you can't do anything but fight battles. Well...I'll admit this has improved. Almost to the point where I want to start wars at times.
2) Recruiting other clans. Its currently Spring 1102 and I think I've been able to recruit a total of 1 caln. There was one, possibly 2 others that might have joined if I had the funds, but only one I could actually get to join. I think this is because the old system allowed a random luck chance to recruit clans. Currently they basically tell you don't even try. So....My kingdom (Vlandian) currently has 4 clans in it, including mine. In fact, two of the 3 other clans have only one member each. So in the next war I could conceivably be down to just one other clan besides mine. I suspect part of this has to do with what I think is no (or very few) children in the game at the start...
3) No children in the game at the start? At one point I looked at the kingdom (I think it had 6-8 clans at the time) considering whether to try for a younger wife for Nathanos. When I looked there were no members between 14 and 31, and only 2 members between 31-35. So this means for a 17 year period there were no children born at all? I think this period was just before game start, so...that is part of why all the clans in my kingdom are dying off.
4) I hadn't done the Neretzes quests in over a year because, as far as I could tell there was no point to them. With almost every game out there that has quests, completing the quest gives you a bonus or item of some type and all the Neretzes quest ever seemed to do was make more people want to attack you when you were always in war anyways. I sort of thought it should make everyone in your kingdom like you more and this e that want to unify the kingdoms (under either empire or non-empire) want to join you. But I never saw any of this. Anyways, I thought I'd try the quest line again to see if it had improved.It has changed, and there's more to it, but it gives you repeating quests of types similar to those given by villages with a fairly short time period. These quests can be anyplace on the map, which means you could have a 10-day travel time just to get to the quest, possibly while you are supposed to be warring someone. And no, you don't get any special items from doing either the 'find the banner' quest or any of the subsequent repeating quests. Azagos says he'll help you, but really all he's doing is giving you more work and eventually the conspiracy will succeed and I'll have a whole bunch of kingdoms out for my blood at once. Meanwhile, while doing these meaningless quests I'm supposed to be destroying the 3 Empire cultures with my 4 clans (8 maximum parties). Nope. Won't be doing the pointless Neretzes quest again for at least another year.
5) The recent change to having town/castle security (& I think 1 or 2 other things) decreased when there are hideouts around is annoying. It wouldn't be too bad if it gave you a quest telling where the hideout is, but having to waste time looking for a hideout, particularly when there may be multiple ones in the area, is a pain in the rump. I don't mind hitting hideouts from time to time as it adds variety, but I don't like wasting time roaming pointlessly across the landscape.
6) Its not a particularly recent change, but I'll reiterate that the -3 loyalty penalty for a different governor culture is horrible. Make it -1 or make it so it slowly decreases as time goes by without the town/castle having any problems. For yourself, it means you pretty much have to find a family member of companion with the same culture as the town just to keep from losing the town to rebels. If you are kingdom ruler, it means that you have to have some sort of idea of the culture of your kingdoms clan members before assigning it or you may lose it to rebels. If the 'voting for ownership' screen told the clan cultures of the clans and all their members (such as obtained via marriage) it might make it easier, but it doesn't.
A few things I would like...
Let me set a rough recruiting limit for castles/towns. If I only want a garrison of 200, its a pain to go around from time-to-time to pull and delete troops when the town/castle wants a garrison of 350.
When suggesting a marriage alliance, tell me the age of the candidate (in parenthesis?) right in the dialogue, so I don't have to close the dialogue, then bring up the encyclopedia to check it. Also, list all possible candidates. If they have 3 unmarried women, list them all, with age next to them. Again, along these lines, if I offer the hand of a female in marriage, provide an alternate dowry for the couple to stay in my kingdom, instead of moving to his. Finally, why am I the one that always has to pay the dowry? I've noticed that when I'm the kingdom ruler, the dowry I pay is either less, or there isn't one, but I've never received a dowry from another clan.
Plenty of other issues.
There are some newer things I like, mostly what I would call cosmetic stuff with the dialogues, but no real improvement to the game itself. I 'think' the ransom I have to pay has decreased somewhat in this version (could be wrong) but I still have to pay more than anyone else (as a bribe).
