Army's

[Ruindorf]

What is the point? Just curious, is there any benefit to you or your cabal for taking over areas or holding areas? I know you can earn some cabal points when you take over an area, but is that it, or am I missing something?

I know the rooms you had used to need the areas to fund them, but that seems to have been removed, and now it seems like it is just something to kill time and earn a few extra points? Am I missing something larger here? Thanks.

[random_clown]

I'm not sure how much we are allowed to reveal about the workings of cabal. There are some benefits, but they are very slim. Area of influence does help those who use cabal abilities extensively.

Overall the system is rather dull and borderline ineffective. There certainly could, and should, be more ramifications to conquering territory. The system could be a very fun and interesting part of the game, but as it stands, simply isn't.

[Ruindorf]

Well just a comment... it used to be that you had to conquer territories... and quite frankly, I stopped playing those cabals and only played syndicate/justice as I was tired of coming in for my 2 hours of play to see that some kid with 20 hours just took over all the world. I'm not complaining about how it is now, just wanted to know. Thanks.

[Warpnow]

I still say Tribunal powers like e-skill and similar which RPwise require a vast advantage of forces should require you to control the area.

Then...Trib and Trib-enemies/unlawfuls would have a reason to conquer land.

[Designated_Driver]

Taking lands, as I experienced with Taeim, is an excellent way to gain CPs. There are subtleties to army warfare that take some getting used to, however, I'll agree with you, Ruindorf. I spent the better part of two days, conquering the entire eastern half of Aabahran, with Taeim. I held that territory, for some time. I then deleted Taiem, and went away for nine days. By the time I got back, the entire eastern half of Aabahran once again belonged to Savant.

I think it makes for an interesting addition to cabals. However, I think certain cabals should NOT have the capability to take over land - mainly the ones that don't already.

I still say Tribunal powers like e-skill and similar which RPwise require a vast advantage of forces should require you to control the area.

Then...Trib and Trib-enemies/unlawfuls would have a reason to conquer land.

And that's where once again, you allow the obsession with RP that you had while you still played, to impose itself on the PK portion of the game. I've been here six+ years. In that time, I've had a total of three characters who got Trusted or higher in cabal. To suggest that someone who has worked hard enough to get Trusted in a cabal, should have one of their staple abilities changed to make it less powerful... is ignorance. Ignorance of the effort required to achieve ranks past Veteran. Ignorance of the TRUST a cabal IMM places in their TRUSTED members. The people who have access to the ability you're talking about, are not the people who need it. They're the people who have it, because they earned it.

Edit- On rereading my post, I'd like to point out that I cannot think of a SINGLE cabal, in which you gain a skill at Trusted that isn't a LARGE power jump from your skills at member and veteran. EVERY cabal, maybe even Herald (how the heck should I know? ) grant their members a very rewarding skill, for earning a higher rank than Veteran.

[Iusedtobesomebody]

i think one of the main reasons it was switched from 'capture-the-item' to 'armies & territory' was that people complained when they lost thier item they lost all their cabal powers. i, personally, will always like the old system. it actually made people ACTIVELY fight opposing cabals.

[Designated_Driver]

Well, it wasn't "switched". Both systems are now in place. Standard warfare and army warfare are equally part of cabal life, at this point.

[Iusedtobesomebody]

must have been changed or something since i left. oh well.

[Warpnow]

And that's where once again, you allow the obsession with RP that you had while you still played, to impose itself on the PK portion of the game. I've been here six+ years. In that time, I've had a total of three characters who got Trusted or higher in cabal. To suggest that someone who has worked hard enough to get Trusted in a cabal, should have one of their staple abilities changed to make it less powerful... is ignorance. Ignorance of the effort required to achieve ranks past Veteran. Ignorance of the TRUST a cabal IMM places in their TRUSTED members. The people who have access to the ability you're talking about, are not the people who need it. They're the people who have it, because they earned it.

Wow. heh. So...you don't think Rp should affect Pk? I mean, that seems to be what you're suggesting, which is very unlike you as I have known you over the years.

What does trust have to do, in any way, with the functioning of skills or spells. What does trust have to do with the way a cabal works?

You're making one mistake in your reason, also: That I am suggesting a tone down of Tribunal.

What I am suggesting is altering the pk aspects of the cabal to fit the rp aspects. Tribunal is an empire. Empires, historically, have armies. They conquer lands and in doing so they feed their own power.

How does it make sense that someone can be e-skilled in the middle of an area so far from the Tribunal headquarters? It doesn't.

Would it make sense that it be possible in an area where the Tribunal are in control? Yes.

What I am suggesting would be giving the Tribunal more power, but making it more dependent on their own continual effort and conquest. Give them more skills...and make them more dependent on their armies, like a real empire. Empires don't just spring up out of the ground with an emporer giving orders. Those orders are backed by control. In the middle of the city, those orders mean alot...in a desolated mountain cave, they don't mean ****. That's realistic, historically and logically. If the Tribunal do not hold sway over an area, they would have less power there. If the tribunal does not have anyon in the area, they couldn't really e-skill them.

It just makes more sense that an empire should have to have armies and should have to enforce its power in that way. What happens, both in RL and books/stories, when a criminal flees? They flee the control of their captors...another sense of realism that could be added to the mud. Of course, if the Tribunal owns very little...they would be weaker.

To prove I don't mean a tone down of Tribunal, here's an idea. Any time any criminal entered an area controlled by Tribunal, the Tribunal should know their name and what area they're in. How awesome would that be? If they onwed most areas...their power would be almost absolute. If they owned none...they would be consideribly weaker.

Also, there should be differet levels of control. A tribunal inside a main city maybe should be reinforced. Like if the two people fight for a solid 3 ticks, another, smaller guard appears to join the fight.

[TheNewGuy]

I think warp is right.

for once

[The Forsaken]

Just because the Tribunal doesn't control the area, doesn't mean they couldn't use the e-skill. Ever read the message you get when your affected by it? It makes enough sense to me.

[Warpnow]

It so annoys me to not actually be able to say what I mean because I would, in the process, explain a cabal skill.

[The Forsaken]

Yeah...but then I'd just tell you why your wrong.

[Designated_Driver]

*cackle*

Best witty, biting retort ever.

[Mudder]

I actually agree with Warpnow aswell. Though i'm not a big fan of giving Tribunal that kind of power, I do believe certain abilities need to be changed and this could bring a really cool aspect into play. Like enemy cabals could conquer the main cities, and leave the Tribunal almost powerless. Though maybe not right now, they seem to be kinda weak at the moment.

Though on another topic, cabal warfare. I don't like it and I personally rather the old system of 1.0. Pure capture the flag style. And the gain you would get per tick used to go past what it does these days... I remember being in Chaos and my DK mates would have 4 other cabal standards, lol! Back when cleave would kill you with one hit.

[The Forsaken]

Is it just me or do we always have something to complain about? I'm sure I do my fair share too, but come on people, we BEGGED to have the capture the flag implemented again. And if armies were taken away, we'd complain about that too.

[Calron]

I'd rather keep the current army system than nothing at all, but there's nothing to say it can't be improved upon. The main thing I don't like with it, is there isn't really any correlation between player skill, and success. The current army system is almost entirely a factor of time (meaning whoever has 8 hours a day to log on is on top), once you learn how to operate it.

As for your mention of complaining, this isn't complaining. This is the Ideas/Suggestions thread. The point is to improve upon mechanics already in place, as well as develop new mechanics. When I post here its to offer ideas on how to improve the game, not dump a bunch of work in Behren's lap. Behrens chooses to fly solo coding-wise, which is completely his prerogative, and to my knowledge still welcomes constructive suggestions and ideas.

In short, Its not out of any type of selfishness when I, and I think most people, post here. I've taken college level courses in Computer Science, and I've had plenty MUD coding experience and if I had a copy of the "army code", I would do the work myself.