Hello dear development team,
I would like to suggest introducing recognizable tribal territories as "spheres of influence" so that the tribes become more important in the game and the game gains a new dynamic.
Why introduce tribal territories?
- The game remains interesting in the long term, even for strong players. Currently, I perceive that the game becomes more boring as the skill level increases. By the time you're strong enough to build enough Anubis and Scorpions and plunder level 9 Nomads, there are no real challenges left. However, since you've invested a lot of time up until that point, there should be more ambitious goals that motivate you to continue. This is also financially relevant for the provider Lionmoon, because stronger players are more likely to invest money to maintain their level.
- Tribes are gaining in importance. Currently, it's largely irrelevant which tribe you're a member of. This is clearly evident in players who are high in the rankings but still run their one-person tribe as lone warriors. However, it should make a difference whether I'm playing in a top-3 tribe or not. Then the tribes will be more encouraged to play more actively – which in turn will lead some players to make higher in-game purchases.
- The game gains a whole new dynamic because the tribes compete for a limited resource. This adds depth to the game – for example, it becomes more important to use diplomacy and form alliances. Last but not least, this is also in Lionmoon's financial interest, because the battles and the need to defend tribal territory increase the likelihood that players will invest money.
How could tribal territories be implemented and what benefits do they bring to the tribe?
- Introduce "sanctuaries" that are loosely distributed across the map. This should only be implemented on worlds that have existed for half a year to ensure there are enough strong players. Start with only about 10 at the beginning, and later, more could be added (up to 100 is conceivable). Whenever, for example, 10 new sanctuaries appear, this is announced as an event at least one day in advance.
- Each conquered sanctuary grants a tribe a tribal territory/sphere of influence of 100 x 100 tiles (with the sanctuary at its center).
- The extent of the tribal territory is specified as a percentage of the world map for each tribe in the profile. This then also influences the tribe rankings, for example, with 50% of the rank depending on the tribal territory and the other half on the combined strength of the individual players.
- Furthermore, the sanctuaries should provide the players in the tribes with a small but noticeable advantage. I suggest that each player in the tribe receive a 1% resistance bonus for all their units for each conquered sanctuary. It sounds like a small amount, but if a tribe has conquered, for example, 20 of a possible 100 sanctuaries, it has a noticeable effect. At the same time, the effect remains small enough that new tribes still have a chance to conquer territory.
What would be important when implementing tribal territories?
- Each new "forgotten sanctuary" can be conquered by a tribe, either by a single player or in a joint attack. New sanctuaries appearing on the map are defended by nomads with a strength roughly equivalent to a Nomad Camp 9 (but not too strong, more at the lower limit of level 9).
- Conquered sanctuaries are defended by tribe members against attacking tribes by stationing units there. Unlike Horus Fort, stationing should also work when you're in vacation mode or attack protection mode—but of course, the units in the sanctuary aren't protected then either, but instead participate in battles.
- The tribal territory is highlighted in color on the world map when you zoom out. This is important to make achievements visible and encourage competition. For this purpose, one or more zoom levels should be enabled on the world map, which are approximately six times smaller than the current largest (so that approximately 300 x 150 fields can be seen at a glance on a standard monitor). At this largest zoom level, no representation of the nomad camps and the terrain is needed anymore, only the sanctuaries, the tribal territories, and the player locations. It would be even better to implement this as a completely new map, so that one has three different views (city, world map, and a "political" map).
- To make the search for the "New Discovery of Sanctuaries" event more difficult and thus more exciting, I recommend that sanctuaries only appear on the "political map" once they have been conquered by a tribe. Before that, you have to search for them as "forgotten sanctuaries" on the regular map, which promises an exciting search and hunt for new sanctuaries among the tribes.
- For each unit sent to a sanctuary, it brings back the amount of grain required for the one-way route (i.e., double the total amount of grain, as with spying). This grain is stored in the sanctuary and can be used by any player who withdraws units from the sanctuary. This is important because a player might move their city, and then the route is longer than before. Since units are also lost through battles, there should always be enough grain available to retrieve units.
- You can spy on sanctuaries. However, the spy level of the sanctuary is always equal to the highest spy level of any individual player who has stationed units in the sanctuary. For brand-new "forgotten" sanctuaries, the spy level should always be 40.
One advantage of this approach is that a tribe can actively decide whether or not to secure sanctuaries. Peace-loving tribes who don't like fighting can simply ignore it and observe as "spectators." So, no one is forced into a combative game and doesn't suffer any disadvantages, but there are advantages if a tribe chooses to do so.
What do you think about this? (other players as well as the development team) And if something like this were to be introduced: What should one consider, or what adjustments would still need to be made?
Best regards,
ISIS
Note: This text was translated from German to English using Google to gather the opinion of the international Anocris community.
