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Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 06 Feb 2013, 07:25
by Krom
ISSUE:
Excess builders used to empty enemy towers.
SOLUTIONS:
1. Disalow to place plans within complete towers range
- players can still place plans deeper into enemy territory (if they scout it) and workers will walk to them through towers
2. Make citizens and workers to avoid enemy towers (as if they are scared to walk around it, cos they get killed)
+ makes the most sense so far, army ppl are prepared to sacrifice their lives for kingdom, but common folks are not suicidals
- there needs to be a visual queue why citizens stopped using roads next to towers and why workers refuse to go near towers

What are your ideas and pros/cons on them?

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 06 Feb 2013, 12:11
by Leeuwgie
Would be nice if it could be fixed somehow. I think it might also be fixed in another way if you don't allow builders to walk/build everywhere. If builders could only expand building a road for example if its a connected road (the markings for a road need to be connected), not just a piece of road on the edge of the line of sight. Same for building outlines. This way towerrush is eleminated/made impossible and also scouting with builders around the map during peacetime and thus builders who block ironimes etc in enemy bases. This way 3 problems are solved in one fix. Allowing builders to only dig fields near a farm (using a certain radius) would also help but will not prevent towerushing when they use markings for roads instead.
On the other hand solving the builderrush on towers will make towers even more worth spamming/powerfull and since the latest changes are in favor of players who prefer to play defensive it would be wise to also address towerspam itself. For me it's not the amount of towers but the way they can be clustered, sealing off a narrow passage completely. If towers can be placed only in a certain radius to each other, players need more time to set up their mass towers. A small radius, lets say 4-6 tiles is enough I think. The root of the builderush is towerspam imo. Most players say they want to get rid off their 40 builders in an easy way but it's more like they don't want to use their militia to empty the towers imo, it's lame but I can't blame them because we allow the possibility to do this.
Anyway, about your solutions. If you go for the first option I forsee problems with players who build deep into enemy territory (during peacetime) only to place a tower there to prevent the enemy to build his own line of defence later on. Option 2 makes more sence, but since laborers have way less line of sight then towers it could be strange to notice you can't continue building (without knowing for sure there is a tower nearby) so it's best to create another icon for builders that shows they have reached the radius of an enemy tower.

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 06 Feb 2013, 14:04
by Lewin
- players can still place plans deeper into enemy territory (if they scout it) and workers will walk to them through towers
That would only really become a problem later in the game, early on it's hard to scout past the range of a tower (tower range = ~7, unit LOS = 9, so you have to get quite close to the tower with a militia or something and even then that only gives you a few tiles to spam fields). But say you make one successful push into the enemy base a small distance before being defeated, then after that you can use builder rush as much as you like. It would certainly make it impossible to use in a lot of cases, but not all.
2. Make citizens and workers to avoid enemy towers (as if they are scared to walk around it, cos they get killed)
+ makes the most sense so far, army ppl are prepared to sacrifice their lives for kingdom, but common folks are not suicidals
- there needs to be a visual queue why citizens stopped using roads next to towers and why workers refuse to go near towers
That sounds like a better solution to me. IMO there doesn't need to be a visual queue as to why the workers won't go there, a tower's range is pretty small and so it should be very obvious to the player as to why his labourers won't go there.
If you go for the first option I forsee problems with players who build deep into enemy territory (during peacetime) only to place a tower there to prevent the enemy to build his own line of defence later on.
That sounds like a huge amount of effort for little gain, since the tower would need to be completely built. I guess some people might do it though, especially on smaller maps... It could be a problem with option 1 or 2.
Option 2 makes more sence, but since laborers have way less line of sight then towers it could be strange to notice you can't continue building (without knowing for sure there is a tower nearby) so it's best to create another icon for builders that shows they have reached the radius of an enemy tower.
I don't think that would happen very often, but yes, I forgot that a builder's LOS is actually smaller than a tower's range (seems kind of silly :P).
Would be nice if it could be fixed somehow. I think it might also be fixed in another way if you don't allow builders to walk/build everywhere. If builders could only expand building a road for example if its a connected road (the markings for a road need to be connected), not just a piece of road on the edge of the line of sight. Same for building outlines. This way towerrush is eleminated/made impossible and also scouting with builders around the map during peacetime and thus builders who block ironimes etc in enemy bases. This way 3 problems are solved in one fix. Allowing builders to only dig fields near a farm (using a certain radius) would also help but will not prevent towerushing when they use markings for roads instead.
That sounds annoying, I often start by building the gold mine then making the road from the gold mine back to my existing road. Under your suggestion I'd have to build the road the other way around, and if I missed a tile (while dragging) it wouldn't let me place until I fixed it.

Also, somebody could still builder rush by ordering a continuous road from their village towards the enemy, then erasing the road until where it reaches the enemy towers. I guess we could just delete all the plans as soon as the connection is cut, but that's even more unfriendly. If I have ordered my road to the gold mine then decide I want to change the route slightly (to make way for another house) if I cut the connection to all the other road tiles they will just disappear and I'll have to replace them. It sounds like it would add a lot of frustration.
On the other hand solving the builderrush on towers will make towers even more worth spamming/powerfull and since the latest changes are in favor of players who prefer to play defensive it would be wise to also address towerspam itself. For me it's not the amount of towers but the way they can be clustered, sealing off a narrow passage completely. If towers can be placed only in a certain radius to each other, players need more time to set up their mass towers. A small radius, lets say 4-6 tiles is enough I think. The root of the builderush is towerspam imo. Most players say they want to get rid off their 40 builders in an easy way but it's more like they don't want to use their militia to empty the towers imo, it's lame but I can't blame them because we allow the possibility to do this.
I've never had a game where "towerspam" bothered me, militia are so incredibly cheap and if one tower wall has too many crossbowmen, send your militia to another place. In my opinion breaking through tower defences is big part of KaM. If you would prefer to play without that part of KaM we can have mutators to disable and/or limit towers.
However, builders are cheaper than militia so lame people will always use them to empty towers if it's possible, that's why we need to block it.
If you want to discuss towerspam please start a new topic for it, lets keep this one for fixing the builder rush.

Re: New scripting ideas for KaM Remake

PostPosted: 07 Feb 2013, 11:35
by FeyBart
ISSUE:
Excess builders used to empty enemy towers.
SOLUTIONS:
1. Disalow to place plans within complete towers range
- players can still place plans deeper into enemy territory (if they scout it) and workers will walk to them through towers
2. Make citizens and workers to avoid enemy towers (as if they are scared to walk around it, cos they get killed)
+ makes the most sense so far, army ppl are prepared to sacrifice their lives for kingdom, but common folks are not suicidals
- there needs to be a visual queue why citizens stopped using roads next to towers and why workers refuse to go near towers
I personally think you could scrap the first one completely. It doesn't solve the problem, it only temporarily confuses those who'd use it. They'll figure this out easily. I think the second is a good solution. You could take the thinking balloon and change it to a balloon with an exclamation mark, so whenever the citizens get to the range of the towers, it shows that they "notice" the tower, and start walking around it, avoiding the tower and it's range.

Re: New scripting ideas for KaM Remake

PostPosted: 07 Feb 2013, 12:14
by thunder
Hey!

I dont have problem with 'Builderrush'. Its hard to solve it because better players use it NOT only for the towers! Use them on the frontline, with bows and xbows. Better than use MILITIES or 'dancing horses'. If anybody use builders on these kind of ways i have to say that players are have great units controll... and if the players all builders are lost, then need to train a lot for could build a new buildings...

(Does the milities die easier than builders?)



PS:

- i saw it sometimes, make MASS fields next to your towers. on the pictures. :) And naturally after the fields making send your builder to the enemy towers ;)

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2013, 00:57
by Jeronimo
ISSUE:
Excess builders used to empty enemy towers.
SOLUTIONS:
1. Disalow to place plans within complete towers range
- players can still place plans deeper into enemy territory (if they scout it) and workers will walk to them through towers
2. Make citizens and workers to avoid enemy towers (as if they are scared to walk around it, cos they get killed)
+ makes the most sense so far, army ppl are prepared to sacrifice their lives for kingdom, but common folks are not suicidals
- there needs to be a visual queue why citizens stopped using roads next to towers and why workers refuse to go near towers

What are your ideas and pros/cons on them?
I like solution 1... Placing towers becomes more strategic.
I guess it's 6 tiles range per tower then, tough I think it could be raised to 8 tiles protection, just in case of diagonal walking.

Re: New scripting ideas for KaM Remake

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2013, 08:45
by The Dark Lord
- i saw it sometimes, make MASS fields next to your towers. on the pictures. :) And naturally after the fields making send your builder to the enemy towers ;)
Well as I said earlier, this won't work because people can make road plans as well (on top of the fields).

Re: New scripting ideas for KaM Remake

PostPosted: 12 Feb 2013, 16:52
by Ben
- i saw it sometimes, make MASS fields next to your towers. on the pictures. :) And naturally after the fields making send your builder to the enemy towers ;)
Well as I said earlier, this won't work because people can make road plans as well (on top of the fields).
Exactly. When I saw the snapshot, I was totally confused. Eventually, I concluded that someone forgot a certain detail about what can and can't be built on fields :)

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 13 Feb 2013, 20:08
by FeyBart
(...)
I like solution 1... Placing towers becomes more strategic.
I guess it's 6 tiles range per tower then, tough I think it could be raised to 8 tiles protection, just in case of diagonal walking.
Wouldn't that over-complicate the game for new players? It would be fun for the people who know how it works, but I can understand that new players would be confused as fuck.

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 14 Feb 2013, 04:56
by Krom
That is what I meant under visual queues, to show players exactly why workers refuse to go near towers. However to think of it, it seems kind of natural this way.

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 14 Feb 2013, 09:09
by Siegfried
#1 does not solve the problem. Players can plant behind the towers, outside the forbidden range. As builders go in straight lines, they will run straight through tower range and still empty them.

#2 solves the problem, it effectively makes towers to walls for civilians, but not for military. Why not try that? It will brake tower wars in TVoD2, though :(

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 14 Feb 2013, 15:18
by sado1
#1 does not solve the problem. Players can plant behind the towers, outside the forbidden range. As builders go in straight lines, they will run straight through tower range and still empty them.
How about instead of forbidding to build in the enemy finished tower's range, we forbid builders to WALK INTO that range? Would that be CPU efficient enough, Krom/Lewin? This way, it would be impossible to enter enemy's city, if there are enough towers, so builders would probably drop the task since there's no route, I think...

edit - ok my post makes no sense... sado, go die.

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 14 Feb 2013, 15:30
by FeyBart
(...)
How about instead of forbidding to build in the enemy finished tower's range, we forbid builders to WALK INTO that range? Would that be CPU efficient enough, Krom/Lewin? This way, it would be impossible to enter enemy's city, if there are enough towers, so builders would probably drop the task since there's no route, I think...
Well, that's more or less solution number two.

All solutions you could think of either:
A) Block building queues in the range, or:
B) Block citizens going in the range.
There is really no other way you could be stopping it. However, you cannot use solution one, since people could still build stuff behind the towers, and it really won't solve anything. I think the second would be the only way of preventing builder rushes.

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 14 Feb 2013, 17:37
by dicsoupcan
#1 does not solve the problem. Players can plant behind the towers, outside the forbidden range. As builders go in straight lines, they will run straight through tower range and still empty them.
How about instead of forbidding to build in the enemy finished tower's range, we forbid builders to WALK INTO that range? Would that be CPU efficient enough, Krom/Lewin? This way, it would be impossible to enter enemy's city, if there are enough towers, so builders would probably drop the task since there's no route, I think...

edit - ok my post makes no sense... sado, go die.
preventing builders from walking towards tower range is a way to stop it indeed, but then a new problem rises.
if you have scouted far enough behind the towers somehow, just put one field behind the tower range and builders will find an unprotected path wich offcourse can also be used by your soldiers.

It will work fine if everything is covered by towers though.

Re: Countering builders emptying towers

PostPosted: 14 Feb 2013, 20:12
by FeyBart
(...)

preventing builders from walking towards tower range is a way to stop it indeed, but then a new problem rises.
if you have scouted far enough behind the towers somehow, just put one field behind the tower range and builders will find an unprotected path wich offcourse can also be used by your soldiers.

It will work fine if everything is covered by towers though.
They could simply make the "scare range" a lot bigger than the actual range, like, 5-10 tiles, or something. The citizens shouldn't even be near enemy towers, so it shouldn't be a problem, and this would also fix the path finding trick. Seriously, if a gap between the towers would be 10-20 squares big, they have a serious eye problem if they can't see it without using citizens.