Hey guys,

As you know, Reign needs serious maintenance. I'm beginning with battle, as it is the centerpiece of Reign.

Attached to this thread is a spreadsheet. The numbers have not been crunched, this will give you a general idea of what I'm wanting to do with battle.

I want battle to be simplified, calculable and with minimal variance. I want the 'uncerntainty' to be reduced, so that the biggest variable is what your enemy has and how good he or she utilitizes the resources they have once attacked.

Most importantly, I want battle to be completely free from bugs.

The quality of Reign has gone down since Reign 2 launched. We acknowledge this. The problem is, Reign 2's code is thick and our time is thin.

So let's start here. If you're interested, check out this spreadsheet, and try to visualize a battle system not too incredibly unlike Reign 1's. Understand that this isn't an official announced planned implementation. It's just my rough idea of what I think might be good for the game.

http://www.reigngame.com/dev/r2_newunits.xls

Obviously this unit system would come with various accommodating changes, such as a decrease is money income (because prices are significantly cheaper for all units) and a new battle system to process the battle.

(3:47:13 PM) tykauffman: did you look at the unit system thing?
(3:47:36 PM) htaedfororreteht: yes. I think its cool, but i'd need to know the system before i can critque it effectivly
(4:52:08 PM) tykauffman: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1541&p=4557#p4557
(4:54:13 PM) htaedfororreteht: k
(4:54:59 PM) htaedfororreteht: well one thing reign NEEDS. is expansions. games like reign tend to get old fast. so adding new units, new specs, features or changing the rules a bit every once in awhile will keep the people interested.
(4:58:17 PM) tykauffman: this fix, by its nature of being a fix, is of course a priority over any other form of improvement .. and it should be noted that it will also change the dynamic of the game, giving everyone something fresh to learn and experience
(4:58:31 PM) tykauffman: new units, specs, features would come after these sort of changes
(4:58:50 PM) htaedfororreteht: well im just saying you need to make the system with additional units In mind so its not hard to add.
(4:59:15 PM) tykauffman: oh definitely, it will be scalable
(5:00:59 PM) htaedfororreteht: you also need to make the system with NEW specs in mind. cause the ones from R1 have sucked the whole time.
(5:01:36 PM) tykauffman: a new unit system and new battle system will result in new specs
(5:01:42 PM) tykauffman: and new units
(5:01:46 PM) tykauffman: it's all part of the package really
(5:02:08 PM) htaedfororreteht: yeah, so you cant just ask people for a battle system idea. without incorperating all of the game pretty much
(5:02:21 PM) tykauffman: the spreadsheet's intent is to communicate how the battle system will work more than anything
(5:03:12 PM) tykauffman: it's not so much that i'm fishing for ideas .. i just want to be sure my ideas have some player support
(5:03:19 PM) htaedfororreteht: ah
(5:04:11 PM) tykauffman: i think game design should be a collaboration of dev and player
(5:04:52 PM) tykauffman: i might know the way the system works under the hood but only dedicated players know how the game feels and if certain concepts work out and are
(5:06:10 PM) tykauffman: i'm really not demoralized about the dwindling playerbase .. it's sad to me, but i understand and i do not blame the players at all .. if the game stops being fun, they should leave .. it sends a clear signal to me that something's wrong
(5:06:34 PM) tykauffman: i'm not unaccustomed to the feeling of developing an empty game .. i know that if it's fun enough, the playerbase always will grow
(5:07:38 PM) htaedfororreteht: I think Factions like the old reign classic had, the government types. but enable different units for each faction. which would increase market activity. give em different bonuses. and maybe make one an Air specialist with bonuses to air and nerfs to armor. one a armor bonus. and one a economics one or somethin. it'd be cool to give players different ways to play and more replay-ability as some would say.
(5:08:50 PM) tykauffman: definitely .. i agree with you .. i want to return to that approach .. it's a nod to MMORPGs, really .. you pick a `class` nation, then you spec it according to your specific strat
(5:09:12 PM) htaedfororreteht: well I think its a nod toward the classic rts.
(5:09:13 PM) tykauffman: this is the direction i want to go, and i also want to give consideration to a morale system
(5:09:40 PM) htaedfororreteht: Morale and more buildings to micromanage moods and economics would def give people more to do while waiting for wars.
(5:10:00 PM) tykauffman: well, what i mean is, when i developed classic, i was emulating the class/subclass concept, and applying it to a persistent RTS instead of a persistent RPG
(5:10:17 PM) tykauffman: i have to run .. flying to florida tomorrow, i'm getting married .. i'll be on tonight to reset warbrew and check up on forums
(5:10:26 PM) htaedfororreteht: where in FL?
(5:10:58 PM) tykauffman: i'm going to just post this conversation in forums .. i want the players to be in our these sort of discussions .. gainesville, fl
(5:11:06 PM) htaedfororreteht: ah ok
(5:11:20 PM) htaedfororreteht: good luck

Congrats on the Marriage Ty...

I like the ideas Haseo has told me about so far. I think the new approach you 2 are doing will bring back the player base, as W3 this round is bring people back into the game because it will be more intense also..

It should be a game anyone can master. Because of rounds, newbs dont need things to help protect them, they need a system that they can learn and become the best just as anyone else could. Makeing it complex creates a game where the vets are the only ones that are left. I have faith in you because you made the reign we loved but I dont like the special thing, makes it to complex and makes certain units better then others, spades and s47's will be the main units and I dont think thats your goal in it. I dont think you should base it off of r1, because we arnt r1 players, make it as like r2 as possible. You have made a game with a vision we love, it just needs to be altered and bug free, not turned into r1 with minor differences. One of the biggest difference's between r1 and r2 was always the solo aspect vs the massive team work aspect. I know A LOT of people dont want r2 to be turned into a game that is basically required to give other people things on a daily basses to survive and kill, ive seen a steady decrease of people ever since pact market was put in, Im not calling for its removal as a necessity, just not based off of how it is in r1 (like haseo is calling for). I know many people will leave or dis like it, armys should be traded in times of need, resources shouldnt have to be traded in the pact in order for it to work effectively, it creates a boring part of the game... no one wants to be the one stuck supplying others which would be called for in this system, its a war game, everyone should be able to build there own armys and use them without vsing 10 times the force. I know there will still be solo world, but thats not the same, and this system wont be designed for it, it will just be a minor change in the code. The jump in people from the opening of w3 should show the desire for a well made solo reign, and I think that is exactly what r2 should be. This system would fail for the player base you have in my opinion.

I never said I wanted it to be like reign one. I like the HP aspect of reign 2, but after looking at the battle system stuff myself there is nothing HP like about the system.

allow me to explain further. Reign 1 is a simple number Vs number. bigger one wins, always. R2 is a number Vs number, but there isnt one number for each side but multiple (eg, Atk, anti-armor and HP) on top of that the bigg number doesnt always win due to how HP is used in this current system. instead of 1atk taking 1 hp. Instead that 1 atk and 1 hp are put into an 2 equations the 1st is min kills and the 2nd is the max kills. and the actual result is randomly chosen between min and max. I dont know too much about php but i think the best way to intergrate Actual HP into this game would be to increase the cost and power f each unit. making 1 brute in this system = to like 20 in the current system. the only difference would be the number of units. this would bring the total number of units way down and allow for a Database to keep track of unit HP in a proper way. that way there wont be any issues involving complex equations. Also it would need a brand new way of conducting battle. an easy way, that unlike the current system a new player doesnt need to have all these factors explained to them. I havent thought on this that much but I think it should start with taking away the idea that a good attack is one that kills 100% of your enemies force. where this may rub some people the wrong way, killing an entire nations army in one assault isnt normal, rational, or realistically possible, so as this post is already longer than I'd read myself I'll leave it for other people to leave idea's while I refine some of my own.

I think that you should make r2 r2. A long time ago r2 was fun, a game that a lot of people played. Far less complex then it is now, with anyone haveing the ability to win, and a system that worked. There where minor flaws with it I agree, what I dont agree with is how those flaws where handled and feel that with what is known now that if re done properly without loseing the core game it will be far better then basically makeing a r3. People dont love what r2 has become, but they still love what it was it is why they stay. Details would have to be worked out, but I think a version of r2 being here is better then killing it, it makes me sad to think of not haveing the chance to ever play r2 again, at least r1 you can go back and play because it didn't become marks experiment. I know the future will bring many prob better games, but I also know that if properly made id always play r2 and it could never truely be replaced.

I would DEFINITELY come back if these changes were implemented, as I know many people would.

Woot for devs!

I like the new ideas.

Like Haseo said, needs more, newer specs, units.

I will come back to play if Reign 2 is Re-vamped.

I would consider coming back if these changes happen