The War for the West [Releasing Nov 14]

In the story that I set up in my head, with the conquest of Sielccia, this one becomes a duchy, my first son, Octavius / Draco becomes king and Duke of Nazaire (my province) and my second son, Marcus / Daestor becomes Duke of Sielccia and his brother’s vassal , it is strange the first being king and duke and the capital also being Nazaire.

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@MahatmaDagon If the MC wins the duel against Ganbert, the MC still has the dialogue option to concede defeat.

The MC has the option to delay looking into the matter of the blacksmith dying trying to forge the star metal sword. Delay would make it rather difficult to perform the forensic investigation properly so perhaps that part should happen immediately and only the other options have the choice to be delayed.

My MC held Ullus hostage and paid the 6000 aurens then chose to meet Sielcner in the field. The numbers when Sielner started its final charge up the hill were 4935 on my MC’s side including the Mothermulchers and 1596 on Sielcner’s side. Even if all 1000 Mothermulchers were still alive, that would still leave the odds as 3935 on my MC’s side versus 2596. The Mothermulchers chose to switch sides anyway and my MC still won. Afterwards, Ullus talks as if his side had remained loyal and leaves with the comment that it had been unpleasant doing business with my MC.

When the MC asks Sir Vradnir for advice about how to deal with the Sielcner invasion, Vradnir mentions that staying in the castle could leave King’s End to fall and Vradnir implies that a way to prevent that could be to meet the enemy in the field. In my playthroughs, King’s End still falls if we meet the enemy in the field (this is without sending reinforcements to King’s End). Maybe instead when we meet the enemy in the field it could combine the armies on both sides so the 2000 Sielcner troops that would attack King’s End instead join the main Sielcner army and most of the King’s End garrison could join the MC’s army.

Here are some typos in the latest version of the game.

#“This better be worth it. I have many important matters to attend, and few time to spend on social gatherings.”

It should be little instead of few.

“Commercial treaties, mostly. We stand for mutual gain if he trade goods between ourselves in more efficient ways.”

I think this should probably be we trade.

Or, if they did, they ahd been for quite some time, and you doing it now wouldn’t change that.

It should be had.

The wound are tended, and Lord Dulsen comes to speak to you, sweating from all the action. He is accompanied by a strong figure who wears a cape of white and gold along with a black surcoat over a darkened steel plate armor.

I think it should be either wounded or wounds.

#I said that I was coming for them, and I would leave none alive is ${spouse} was harmed.

It should be if.

“My cousin’s house got trashed by the guards because they thought she was hiding a criminal! They found nothing, but didn’t even apologies for it!” the last one mentions.

It should be either apologise or apologize depending on whether you are using British or American spelling.

“What about the man hanged for stealing apples?”
“What about house that was trashed?”

I think it should probably be the house if only to be consistent with the option above it.

As it current stands, you are aware that there are no actual laws against the act. The practice is merely frowned upon by most because it does not provides heirs, which is the foundation of any marital union according to the Temple, but the man isn’t marrying anyone, is he?

It should be currently.

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Is here a way to get with the maid on the day you’re sick? I’d like to know… for research purposes

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You must send reinforcements to King’s End if you don’t want it to fall, afterwards you should be noted that Lord Goyler, “the Mad Mayor” as they call him, died fighting half like a madman and half like a pirate, songs have already been made up about him. If the MC doesn’t send reinforcements and has a poor relationship with Goyler, he surrenders the city and is later found dead, an empty goblet beside him, it’s assumed that he drank poison, but an MC with high social can realise someone could’ve made it look that way.

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Sir Vradnir says the following:

“If we move onto open field, we’ll be exposed. If the Sielcner’s army outnumbers us by a large margin, we’ll have a hard battle ahead of us… But if we stay inside the castle’s walls, the rest of ${yourLands} will suffer. King’s End will be the first to fall, and with it the enemy will have a stronghold from which they can maneuver and resupply. I cannot tell you what we should do, but I can tell you that I will stand by you whatever your decision.”

@MahatmaDagon My objection is the implication that meeting Sielcner in the field helps defend King’s End. So far as I know, it does not. Furthermore, I am unaware of any benefit to successfully holding King’s End. Even if King’s End falls, the war is won or lost with the MC’s army. So really the MC is currently better off stripping King’s End of as many defenders as possible to increase the odds of victory for the MC’s force.

It occurs to me that there are possibly some issues with the scaling of prices. Ullus claims the Mothermulchers were initially hired for 3000 aurens. The most currency the MC is willing to offer the Mothermulchers is 7000 aurens. There are 1000 Mothermulchers which means the Mothermulchers sold their services for 3 aurens per person and the MC is only willing to bid up to 7 aurens per person. During the Dullis feast, a beer costs 1 auren and each story told costs 2 aurens. So the Mothermulchers were initially hired for the price of a beer and a story. The Pleasure House bouncer charges 10 aurens for disguised MCs to enter and the “services” offered inside cost between 60 to 100 aurens.

There might be something missing in the source code for whether a siege happened.
 *hide_Reuse *if (siegeHappened) #I showed them how a proper siege was done.
  *goto madeSiege

 *hide_Reuse *if (siegeHappened = false) #I patiently maintained a safe siege around the castle.
  *goto madeSiege

When my MC chooses to defend the MC’s castle rather than meet Sielcner in the field, I assume that is supposed to set siegeHappened = true but I am only given the second of these two options.

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I think you’re right, but they’d probably get their share of loot and pillage(later on in Sielccia and after the battle with Noyedas) so there is that as well.

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I thought that was easy. I wanted wine and got up when she left, then stated I’d only return to bed with her. I am sure there are other ways too.

Here is my answer for your research essay.

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what happens if you send troops to the king

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Yes there definitely is :face_with_raised_eyebrow:
In the name of science right?

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A better relationship to the King, and losing the very important soldiers you will probably need later on. And indirectly fund Lord Noyedas army with the gold you also send

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Thanks, it should be fixed by now. Also, I think I blocked players from being able to give the same name to both their children.

I might eventually add the options to name both the town and the castle, but I would have to edit a few passages in order to make that a viable option. It is on my list of "cool things to do when the priority stuff get done".

Fixed those.

That’s the reason why I added the text saying “Keep in mind that numbers are a hard thing to discern right now, in the middle of a battle.” on the stats screen. There are times when the variables used in the battle don’t exactly reflect the ones that are being presented at the menu.

That happens because when you maneuver your troops they are likely to be arranged or separated depending on your decisions, and new divisions and subgroups can be created for code purposes, such as when mixing militia and men at arms to form “infantry” units.

One of the most compelling reasons I have to finish this game and start working on a sequel is to completely overhaul how battles work. I think I would do a much cohesive and effective job with a new system.

Anyway, my best guess is that what you experienced was a battle in which you eventually had less troops than what the stats menu showed you.(updates given during the battle aren’t always deducted from the numbers shown on the menu).

According to the code, the mercenaries will change sides as long as your numbers aren’t larger than the enemy troops + 1000.

If it isn’t that, then maybe there’s an error somewhere else, but it will be hard to track it from a theoretical point of view. I do plan on manually revising each of the battles eventually, though.

This is really weird, and makes me think there’s something I’m missing on the code. Can you give me some more detail about how it lead to this outcome? I’ll try to make a few questions that might be helpful:

1: Did the Sielcner invasion came as usual or were you surprised by it while returning from Boglan and finding your lands already taken?

2: What exactly was the arrangement you had with Ullus?

3: Do you remember at which point of the battle the announcement about their betrayal came? Was it as soon as the rivermen started charging uphill or was there something else in between?

I’m not even sure if answering those will help in finding the bug, but I’m at a loss at the moment, so anything helps.

I can rearrange what Vradnir says to make it more dubious what might happen to King’s End depending on your actions, but I really want to avoid messing with the numbers on the battle whenever possible, at least until I have a more practical understanding of how they play out. I have too much theory(and sometimes diverging opinions from feedback) and too little hands on knowledge about them. This falls back to my point of needing to test the battles.

Prices do try to follow a rough equilibrium between credibility and balance, and sometimes they might not be entirely believable for the sake of gameplay. I try to provide some justifications for the discrepancies in numbers, though. Let me play Devil’s Advocate for a moment and you might see what I’m talking about:

This passage which exists on the scene you mentioned suggests that one auren is way overpriced for a beer:

“The tavernkeeper doesn’t seem to understand how the sard you don’t have any coins of lesser value. It is a common practice by the peasants to devalue coinage by chipping on it. A half-auren or a quarter-auren would have been enough, it seems.”

On another tavern you can buy Herbeer, which is a special kind of beverage, for a full auren.

Maybe the drink is really expensive, but maybe this savvy tavernkeeper is trying to extort you because he thinks you can pay it, being a foreigner/a noble who might not be accustomed to local pricing. It is a common practice to overprice things to tourists. (I know that very well)

The Storyteller mentions that he picks his stories depending on the person who is hearing it, and he tells you things related to your father/origins/province. Which implies he knows who you are or at least know where you are from. A similar logic follows: he might be overpricing his stories because well, he knows you can pay it.

As mentioned by the first example, they could probably buy more than a few beers by chipping their aurens, and the Storyteller would probably not ask so much from them. But to be fair, most of the mercs would probably think it a waste to spend money on stories, since they might as well just hear those from each other at the campfire for free. :laughing:

Again, the Please House is a place for rich people, and the bouncer might be asking for that amount because he expects that, if you can’t pay it, you shouldn’t be there.

It is presumed that the service providers there are expensive because they are trained, they are clean, they will keep their mouths shut, etc.

I can trace parallels from real life here, in which a street sex worker can charge between R$25~150 and a more selective companion can go anywhere from R$300~2000. Even more expensive, depending on some factors. (Don’t ask me how I know)

The point which @random-dude-78 makes about their share of the loot is also a valid one.

Anyway, thanks for the reports. I’ll fix the typos with the next update. Ah, and about the siege, you are right, for some reason the variable was never being set to true. I could’ve swear that I had done it before, but this isn’t the first time that my mind(or the files themselves o_O) play tricks on me.

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@MahatmaDagon

  1. The Sielcner invasion came as usual.

  2. Ullus was held hostage and my MC paid the 6000 aurens to the mercenaries.

  3. The announcement came shortly after my MC was wounded in the duel with Sir Brendell. The numbers this time were 5208 for my MC’s forces including the Mothermulchers vs 1559 at the start of the charge. From what I can tell looking at the source code, getting wounded always leads to the mercenaries changing sides no matter the numbers in the MC’s favor if Ullus was not held hostage and not married. Anyways, Ullus was again automatically released as if his troops had remained loyal.

On a different note, I think the request by Lord Lennis should maybe come after the event to fund archaeological digging in his lands. I suppose the “bandits” could have been a problem before the MC funds that, but for a MC that has agreed to fund a dig it would occur to the MC that gold might not be the most valuable thing in that area after all.

I think there is an error in the event where Jenneth first informs the MC about an alleged bastard brother.

From the source code:

*label anyTruth
*if father = 1
 "It is hard to say. The Royal Law written by the Meinstrel family during their very first years in power declared that Bastards from noble lineages should be publicly acknowledged and given proper upbringing and education. This was done partly because the Meinstrel themselves had plenty of those, most famous of all King Ilswen the Inebriated, who was told to have fathered at least a dozen of illegitimate sons and daughters."

The Spymaster sips from a nearby goblet of wine before continuing.

"Nowadays most of the Lords who sire a child outside marriage just try to put it under the rug. Some pay large sums for the mother of the offspring to keep quiet about it, others use more... violent methods. I do not think your father would have done either. He wasn't the kind of person who would easily let go of coins, but he also would not use violence for such a thing. If this man really is your half-brother, then Lord ${fathername} never knew about him, or never cared to." 
*goto bastardReaction

What is happening is that my MC who had a wrathful father is seeing the second and third paragraph meant for type 1 fathers before the game returns to asking for the MC’s response.

Here is a typo that so far as I know has not already been listed for the latest version.

“The old arena is abandoned. People say Lady Aldran preferred real battles, and he often sought them outside of his walls. I believe we can renovate it and make it usable again, though, given time. Nothing wrong with some fighting that doesn’t necessarily has to end with someone’s death.”

This one was sort of mentioned in an earlier version when the name after the title was initially the MC, so the name has now been fixed to that of the MC’s father but the title should probably always be male instead of match the MC’s gender.

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Ahh, that’s it! I think I overlooked this when changing things related to the mercs. I’ll be able to properly fix it now. Thanks for finding it.

It makes sense that bandits might really become a problem if the event occurs after the mining operations or the expedition. I have changed the text to adequate those possibilities. Good catch.

I fixed the other two errors as well, thanks again for all the help!

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How does that story wise work?
wont the king notice that his funds and reinforcements dont arrive in the capital?
And do your troops turn against you, their rightfull liege? Are they a part of the siege of your castle?

Im realy enjoying your work, you are one of the best writers on here

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While I don’t know what they mean by helping lord Noyedas, I don’t think it helps him but I could be wrong and missed something, all the consequence of it just seems to be that the king likes you more, but you can’t use the men and money, and especially the troops will be very much needed later. Story wise, I assume the men will be fighting that rebellion in the east the game talks about there being, but that we don’t see. There also doesn’t seem to be any real negative consequence of not sending him them things he asks for, but I’m sure it’ll be added later as the game is still under development.

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It has been discussed hundreds post before, but if i was right, is that the message of ‘Requesting Soldiers’ could be indeed ordered by Jeohr (to suppress rebellion in the east), But the ‘giving 1000 Aurens’ part maybe frabicated by EEB (which is possible since they’re really powerful, by paying the scribe), of which the money will be used to support Noyedas (hence the secret treasure caravan at the night). Why? Because when the East finally able to rebel, Sielccia (after conquering the West) will became an ally of EEB, so the Meinstrel will face two fronts war.

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So I’ve been wondering, @MahatmaDagon,will you allow that the heir between Noyedas and the female MC is playable in the next game, I’m mostly interested in this when the female MC dies giving birth and does what is expected of her, not when she rebels and kills Noyedas and then gives birth to their child. This is because in the first case, the child will be King of Sielccia, Dullis(which Noyedas succeeded in conquering this time,and where Dulsen was killed and Daedros became Lord) and MC’s province(it’s mentioned that Noyedas will March on to Farhall next, but the female MC doesn’t know what happened there due to her death).

It’s been a while since I last visited this thread but I’ve had some catching up so here’s a few questions:

Isn’t Kenrir a possible love interest? Where is he in the late game consequences? I don’t see his name anywhere.

So to build the leather armor from the Abyssal Spawn do you give the Spawn to Meybuk or the alchemists guild.

the guild works don’t know about meybuk