Alana
I'm surprised there hasn't been any mention of a Navy yet, are you going that direction at all? Alana seems ripe to be our Admiral of the Navy once we build her some ships.
PS
Angilia, being so Pious, maybe extra rewards from her for every temple you build instead of a single "build up my kingdom" quest.. Maybe some major construction to the glory of the gods... a Grand High Temple/Statue or something that goes above and beyond normal places of worship.
Dian, I like the build up the garrison quest it fits with her ethos, but like Angilia, maybe make it a progressive thing, the more garrisons you upgrade the more she likes you... maybe an arena too? or some other venue where warriors can measure themselves against others.
1. Maybe I should stress this more, but the Waikokipia quest bonus, capturing the Dark Harvest fleet, gives your army a nice -1 movement bonus.
2. Having Angilia's bonus increase with each temple is cool and in theme with the character.
For Nahir, limiting the seduction condition to Marbia and linking it to the morale bonus yield could make it fit better. Like earn 30 gold in Marbia from morale rolls.
The 4 temples for Teniya feels a bit random, maybe replace temple with a specific elven building from Tinpingia? Like you could call it a grove or something, it doesn't need to have any function outside the seduction quest.
Maybe if the condition for Sumiya is about forcing yields 5 time outside Hawatia, it would feel more appropriate though it kind of goes against her character arc. The quest reward could be more relevant if Hawatian troops are a lot stronger before the quest or it could be a short small military boost from escaped slaves (+5 troops?) for like 10 turns that can go over the troop limit.
1. Nahir: maybe keep Morale in Marbia higher then 20 for 20 turns.
2. Teniya: I'll reply later re: Wench specific buildings
3. Sumiya: I love the "freed slaves bonus" idea but the quest is about draining/damaging the fiefdoms's High Aracana so I'll need the reward to be tied to this theme.
I gotta say I'm not a fan of "do something you were going to do anyway" as a seduction quest, those quests should put the player in the position of choosing between spending their resources on strengthening their position (like building the kingdom infrastructure), or seducing their Wenchs, it shouldn't happen in the same sweep, there should be some kind of sacrifice/effort on the players part.
Maybe special building that can only be built for them that represent their special skill sets
something expensive & oppulent.
Angilia
Oryeonguk Cathedral
Nahir
Marbia Gardens
Tenlya
Tinpingia Spires
Sumya
Hawatia Training Pens
Dian
Limtina Champions Arena
Alana
Waikokipa Naval Yard
I actually
am a fan of "do something you were going to do anyway" as a seduction quest since some players will otherwise not bother to build temples or use Shadow Institute but we are both in agreement that the current implementation leaves a lot to be desired. I like the idea of "novelty buildings" but they are essentially just big gold sinks (not that there's anything wrong with this). And I still haven't given up on "tutoring them without shoving it down their throats". But gojira667's argument from a few comments down is going to put another nail in this concepts' coffin. Stay tuned!
The subversion style raids, morale & obedience, are new in v0.7.x. I believe the idea was largely to use the Shadow Institute functions to offset them and as a way to bleed off excess gold.
Yes. In earlier versions you'd hoard unneeded gold until it became practically worthless. Additionally, they provide opportunities to give the Wenches some
ass face time, which remains one of my unfulfilled goals: engage the players more with the Wenches before conquering them.
0.7.4 is the first version I've played, and until I conquered everything I didn't have excess gold. Also, I'm certain that there isn't always enough troops. There were multiple times I had 20 troops in most territories with 1 or 2 empty and 10 or 0 troops available for my main army. It wasn't until after I took Limtinia that I had enough for everywhere.
Interesting. I'll need to run some metagame playthroughs to check the balance again.
when you have your territories properly garrisoned (20 in each with 30 in the one you need a boost) you don't have an army. Only transfer troops to your army when you are ready to attack.
Then you have a few days where everywhere is vulnerable unless you have the garrison upgrade that represents a 10 man minimum garrison.
This is by design. It add some tension. Also, now raids are less catastrophic than they were in previous versions so I feel raids are in the sweet spot of generating tension but not frustrate.
This brings up another point.
<Seduction goals work> well enough as a mechanism for returning players, but does nothing for a new player starting this version. Alana's seduction quest is a long time to wait to showcase/find out about the Shadow Institute functions. Even if it's fiefdom number 5 and not 7. For the Shadow Institute case it could probably use a mini-tutorial for the first one built in a new game...
Ouch. This hurts because it's true. For a new player, it makes no sense to be introduced to basic features late in the game. Theoretically, I could tie the seduction quests to the order of the Wenches seduced: first Wench will always get a basic seduction goal (#1), the next will get goal #2 etc. This will be a nightmare to correlate to their character though...
Sumya could be interested in the aspect of repressing the population. Hawatia likely did enough of that before Karder took over. Ironic, because in the real world slave labour works against free labour markets and tends to remove the demand for labour-saving innovation.
...Maybe some bigger fiefdoms could give a few more troops than 20.
I personally don't think the hard cap is a major issue. Yes, it forces you to shuffle armies around a bit but that's the gameplay.
It's crucial that we/I don't lose focus: this is a fapping game, not Crusader Kings or Civilization. Players don't want to lose pussy because they suck at empire management. Gameplay should be simple and not-too-hard. Why is it there in the first place? Because I do believe it adds a healthy tension and sense of achievement to conquests, and more importantly: the the sex afterwards. That doesn't mean I'm not looking to improve the gameplay (look at the size of this response) it's just that I want to be
very careful before making the game more complex/hard.
My interim summary:
1. Consider changing Seduction Quests to Novelty Buildings. At least for those I'm unhappy with their current seduction quest.
2. Consider having Angilia's bonus increase somewhat with number of Temples.
3. Nahir: maybe keep Morale in Marbia higher then 20 for 20 turns.
4. Who is the bitchiest Wench of them all? Perhaps give her a similar seduction goal, only with Obedience (120 for 20 turns?)
5. Not entirely related but give additional, unique images to the Subversion raids. Get the players hot for the Wenches.
6. Meta game balance: I encourage you all to start a new game just to test this, using Skip 'N Win to skip the quests. Or play them again
I'm interested to hear your feedback on the current balance.