View Full Version : Ask Me Anything: Answers
We are pleased to finally introduce...
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - First Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is the first batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 1: CVDBLG, Romania
Do you plan level 100 upgrade any time soon?
BB_Alex: We have a couple of ideas on how such a level cap raise might look like. Those are just simple ideas and there is not even a high level concept. We would like to focus on the existing 75 levels and provide improvements and exciting content updates there.
Question 2: ArchEnemy, UK
Will we be able to get more gem pits in the future?
BB_Alex: While we do have plans on increasing the limits for several different items, there are no plans to increase the limitation for gem pits.
Question 3: Redginger, Germany
Why are so many important contents limited to higher levels?
BB_Alex: There are several reasons to why it is important to provide new, exciting content and mechanics through progress. The first one is to not overwhelm you with all the different mechanics at once and give you time to be prepared for them by building up your economy and knowledge. The other one is to reward your progress and to provide diversified opportunities, which will help you to progress even further and create fun.
Question 4: Giftzwerg_1, Germany
Is it planned to implement more stages of a building (as an example from level 6 an upgrade up to level 10)?
BB_Alex: We do not have any plans to increase the upgrade level for existing buildings from 6 to 7 or above.
Question 5: CaptHolmes, US
I was wondering if the Christmas event at the end of this year and for years to come will be giving out more Vargus, Nusala and Anslem generals?
BB_Alex: For us it is important to keep the high value and uniqueness of Vargus, Nusala and Anslem. Their traits, use and look are making them really special and we would like to keep it this way for now.
Question 6: Gabo31 , Latin America
Will there be skills tree to the buildings?
BB_Alex: No skill trees for buildings, instead we have a couple of ideas for other different skill trees. Those are very rough and the details have to be worked out. I do not know when we will be able to focus on those ideas.
Question 7: palindromo, Germany
Where exactly is Tuxingen located? When I open the game in the morning, it is daytime. If I open the game at night, it is still a nice sunny day in Tuxingen... So where is it located? Even at the polar circle it gets night from time to time.
BB_Orowa: We theorized that we accidentally opened a window portal to another world, which follows different rules. Apparently, there are multiple suns that can keep all areas of the world illuminated, but technological advancements allowed them to develop a way to switch sun on and off at wish.
Question 8: thrus, Germany
Will Blue Byte take part in this year's gamescom?
BB_Pandur: We cannot speak for Blue Byte. TSO will not be represented on the gamescom this year. We will publish details about planned community specials 2017 in June.
Question 9: werichbin, Germany
How many people play TSO?
BB_Pandur: More than you can possibly count with two hands :p.
Question 10: ATXTA, US
I always wonder what will be the punishment for those who violates the game's code of conduct, and what has been done to those reported misbehaviour. Shall there be some public notice of such treatment as a result of report and warning for other players?
BB_Pandur: The rule "do not denunciate other players" regardless of being right or wrong is not only valid for players, but also for us. We always take care of reported problems and talk to involved players only. We do not want a blacklist of some sorts to be a sword of Damocles for players.
Question 11: StaTiC2206, Germany
Are there plans to change the limits of the items in the shop and if so, when? (e.g. for gem pits or demolition crews)
BB_Alex: With the introduction of Nusala, Vargus and Anslem we developed a mechanic allowing us to have better control and tracking for limited items. We will use this mechanic to increase the limits for several items in the near future. While the demolition crews won't be part of the limit increase, we do have some ideas on how we want to proceed with them in the future.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Second Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our second batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 12: Becca1971 , UK
I was just wondering if it would be possible to get shot firer or demolition crew for beans or stalks instead of just gems.
BB_Alex: As mentioned in a previous answer, we have several ideas on how to proceed with the demolition crew buffs in the future. Among those, there are some ideas for increasing limitations, for using demolition crew buffs as unique rewards for challenging tasks and also for providing the opportunity to obtain some of them with high tier resources like magic beans or beanstalks. We haven't evaluated those ideas yet, nor have we decided for an approach yet.
Question 13: Fogghost , Germany
When will we finally get the guild bank? That would enrich the guild life because more guilds would accept and support new members.
BB_Alex: As with all kind of wishes, ideas and suggestions, we did create a very rough vision of a guild bank in the game. The details are still missing and we do not know when we will be able to focus on this feature.
Question 14: jaAndrzej, Poland
When will UFO's land on our islands?
BB_Penelopa: When the Halloween Golem shines in all colours of the rainbow, when the Explorer finds Unicorn shaped gold nuggets and The Black Knights run around yelling “Yipiieh!”, you can expect an UFO to land in the centre of your island.
Question 15: sashadamian, Germany
What exactly do the geologists and explorers say if you send them out?
BB_Kumakun: Geologist: "okai, walladebila" - which has something to do with Malzbier. The Explorer has German ancestors and… Well, have fun Googling it. Explorer: "Du musst Bilder rahmen"
Question 16: gedoens72, Germany
I am taking the train daily, so I would love to see a mobile version for TSO. Would it be possible?
TSO Team: The mobile version of the TSO is not on the development roadmap.
Question 17: level232, Germany
When will TSO switch fom the unsafe, old and resource-unfriendly Flash to HTML5?
TSO Team: Switching from Flash to HTML5 is not on the development roadmap. Going this way would require a a big effort on the development side, and would drastically slow down the implementation of the new content, improvements and bugfixes.
Question 18: JackONeil, Russia
Will there be any chat improvements like adding emoji?
TSO Team: Implementation of the emoji is not part of the current development roadmap. Thank you for the suggestion though!
Question 19: Hoggie , Germany
When will you release TSO 2? (is something like this even planned?)
TSO Team: The aim of the TSO Development Team is to continue developing the existing game, bringing new ideas into it, and implementing new features. TSO v2.0 is not on the development roadmap.
Question 20: Grundhil, France
How many people work for Ubisoft ? How is it organized ?
TSO Team: Thank you for asking this question! Ubisoft has more than 12.000 employees all around the globe. More details about Ubisoft can be found here (https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/company/overview.aspx).
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Third Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our third batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 21: maxtrexas, Greece
Why you decided to make levels beyond 50 so difficult to reach? We need months or even years to obtain so many millions of points and raise levels. In the meanwhile I think many of us will lose the interest for the game.
BB_Alex: The progress calculation follows the same formula used for level 40 - 50, with some small deviations. We decided on this approach in order to have more time and a bigger range to introduce additional content. The requirement of many XP keeps the value of XP as rewards high for a longer period of time. This way we can introduce new exciting content, like the Excelsior, which will give you the opportunity to gather more XP. New content will contribute to a faster progress without getting too fast in the future. Higher levels do provide enough room for additional content.
Question 22: MrM79, the Netherlands
It is possible to give a name to your generals, why the names are not visible to other players in an adventure?
MOD_Tomurckl, Germany: If the Generals' names were visible to other players, we'd almost expect to see violations of our terms and rules. Monitoring this would be an enormous effort. That's why the names are not visible to other players.
Question 23: Napalm, Germany
Will the home island be extended at some point?
BB_Alex: Tough question. Maybe at some point in the far future. Right now we do not have any design or plans for an expansion of the home island.
Question 24: Onejug, UK
We can't move warehouses, we have to pull them down and build new ones. Please make it possible to move warehouses. Will you do this?
BB_Alex: I can't guarantee anything at this point. Making warehouses movable does create critical situations, since it is deeply connected to the ownership of a sector and all buildings placed inside such sector. It requires a deeper evaluation and research. We do not have a solution right now.
Question 25: siedlertestix, Germany
Why doesn't BB offer a combat simulator?
BB_Alex: Developing an accessible combat simulator and maintaining it requires a higher quality level compared to the rough and simple simulator used internally. We decided against this additional effort and use the resources to improve and expand the game instead.
Question 26: Solzar, UK
What's the most major addition to the game which we have never heard of that was considered by the designers, but not currently in the game?
BB_Pandur: It was that thing we never spoke of.
Question 27: ToomR, UK
You thought of creating decorative bridges on the islands?
BB_Alex: Yes, this idea did appear in our minds several times. We do not have any specific plan or design yet.
Question 28: VampireMuffinMan, US
Are there any plans to make the events in the News Tab clickable? It would be awesome to click on say "A well has become depleted." and have it center the map on that well.
BB_Alex: No plans here. I like this idea and will write it down. Maybe we will return to this topic in the future.
Question 29: Xypheron, US
Will the loot for coop adventures ever be dramatically increased to the point that it is worth the extra hassles of coordination, timing, etc. for doing them?
BB_Alex: We do have several ideas for loot improvements of adventures, especially coop adventures. No details and plans defined yet.
Question 30: ferdyduMont, Germany
What do settlers do in their free time?
German CM Team: This depends on people. In most of the cases, the settlers do not have much free time - but they would have enough places to go to. Sightseeing is possible and they can visit some rabbits or golems that appear from time to time on the islands.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Forth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our forth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 31: Lenagrad, UK
Why didn't you create also African, Asian, or other skin types within the Avatar selection?
TSO Team: Avatars that are currently available in the game are heavily influenced by the characters present in the previous "The Settlers" instalments. Thank you for the suggestion though, in case it is decided to expand the current "avatar base", we will keep your idea in mind.
Question 32: Oliklusive, Germany
Do you have plans for new content for the level range 64-70? Currently this level range is quite bleak.
BB_Alex: Yes, we do have a couple of ideas for new content for the level range 64+. And no, we do not have any detailed plans, yet. This progress status is called "High Level Concept". A High Level Concept contains the vision including goals and preferable actions to reach those. It defines the direction we would like to approach and possible opportunities to support it. This High Level Concept is the very first step and used as foundation to define research tasks, which will help to clarify important questions and to create a clear design. It is too early to talk about it, since so much is shifting and changing right now.
Question 33: Schaefchen_Rdf, Germany
Why isn't it possible to change the game-world?
TSO Team: Currently this is not possible due to certain technical limitations and potential data integrity issues. If anything changes in this regard, we will keep you updated.
Question 34: Schnurpsy, Germany
Will the adventure surprise boxes from the merchant be reworked? We only get adventures which nobody plays anymore.
BB_Alex: We would like to bring the merchant up to date by introducing additional items and rework existing offers. Some of the goals have been defined, while the required changes still have to be listed and evaluated. Because we do not focus on such an update right now, I am not able to provide any additional information, yet. If I have to provide an answer, it would be: no, not yet.
Question 35: Segisjussus, UK
I started Settlers Online 18 months ago by logging in through Steam. How do I log into the browser version? Might I add, I love Settlers Online.
BB_Pandur: It's not possible nor planned to make this possible. The environment used for Steam players is different than the regular one and not compatible.
Question 36: Silkvelvet , Germany
Will there ever be another event that encompasses all game worlds?
BB_Alex: A cross-world event is a huge technical challenge and it requires a lot of balancing effort. Each game world has different amount of players on different levels. A lot of data has to be analysed and evaluated to be able to achieve a balance for such an event. We would rather invest our resources into developing exciting content available in the game all the time. Because of those reasons we do not have any plans to develop cross-world events.
Question 37: tobbydarck , France
Why isn't there a derived Settlers derived product store for mugs and t-shirts, and a bust of my avatar I could display over my fireplace?
TSO Team: While we cannot promise that something will change in this regard, we will forward your suggestion for a further evaluation. In case anything changes, we will definitely let you know! :)
Question 38: Wormel, Germany
What is the ratio between registered and active users?
BB_Pandur: Unfortunately we cannot tell you the exact ratio between of registered and active players due to business reasons.
Question 39: zecke836, Germany
Will there be new Ali Baba adventures at some point?
BB_Alex: The "Arabian Nights" adventures belong to a coherent series of adventures we call "Campaign". We never had the goal to expand the same Campaign with additional adventures. Our goal is to tell different stories. This resulted in the development of "The Evil Queen" Campaign for the Excelsior. All our Campaigns belong to the "Fairy tale" theme. We still want to create content for all types of settings, tell different stories and avoid using the fairy tale theme for all Campaigns. It is unlikely we will return to "Arabian Nights" any time soon.
Question 40: Blade0761, Germany
Hello, there are so many questions by now, so my question is: Is it still worth it to ask something?
BB_Pandur: Yes, it made sense to ask more questions. We are very happy about the huge amount of questions received and will answer to as many questions as possible.
Question 41: Tevtonec, Russia
What appeared first: a chicken or an egg?
BB_Omris, CM Russia: Our scientists consider the egg to be the first thing to appear. You can't actually call a dinosaur "the chicken", right? Although Sonya Graham saw a lot of exciting things during her journeys, time travel is an art the Excelsior has yet to master. It's one of the most mysterious questions and the answer can be somewhere in between...
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Fifth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our fifth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 42: Kassain, Germany
I’d like to offer Lord Dracul a drink. Which is his preferred blood type?
German CM Team: He, of course, does not discriminate against anyone and is currently on a diet, trying different substitutes, such as non-alcoholic versions of Bloody Mary and Bloody Caesar.
Question 43: Alfen, France
Would it be possible to have a French test server ?
BB_Pandur: Game versions and new features on the test server have often not been translated into all available languages yet. The development is done mostly in English. The efforts to provide another language during the development and test server stage may delay the development process. We will investigate if we can do anything about it. Thank you for your question and happy testing!
Question 44: Deano1978, US
Why is PVE/PVP not been redone? It is a waste of resources and still has a ton of issues.
BB_Alex: There are several fixes for the expedition feature which have been deployed over the past months, and we will continue to fix bugs. Besides that, we do not want to rework the whole feature, but to improve and update it at some point in the future. The prio for this part of the game is quite low, so we do not focus on it at the moment.
Question 45: GilligansDad, US
I often see people say that blocking is not supported. What exactly does this mean? The in-game description of the MoD in the shop says "Appropriate for locking and blocking".
If it just means - block at your own risk, that is fine, but I sort of get the impression that blocking is frowned upon by the comments made. Thanks in advance for clearing this up.
BB_Alex: Blocking and Locking are tactics/strategies developed by our community to lower losses in adventures. Those are not official gameplay mechanics supported by us. This means, we do not guarantee the functionality of blocking/locking and we do not compensate losses from a failed block/lock. It is as you already mentioned. "Use at your own risk". Our goal is to create content providing all kind of opportunities and alternatives to create a diverse and fun experience. We want to create a game which has more to offer than just blocking/locking, since not every player uses those strategies. Ventures are a good example for the goal to create fun gameplay.
Question 46: Gilua, Germany
How many hours were spent on developing TSO?
BB_Andreas: Starting from the very first changes done for The Settlers Online and taking only workdays into account, we had around 1.980 workdays until now, subtracted by a couple of days of special non-work situations, multiplied by 8 hours per day we can say:
Approximately 15.680 hours since the start of the project have passed during which there was always at least one person actively working on the game.
Question 47: mr_spook, Germany
Will we get new adventures for Level 60?
BB_Alex: We are already laying out the plans for content above level 60. The process of development is in an early stage ("High Level Concept" as mentioned in one of the previous answers), there are not enough details set into stone to be able to tell much about how it will look like and what challenges to expect. I can only tell you that our goal is to provide a challenge and to create something really unique.
Question 48: Nayeliii, Germany
Will we now get more female NPCs and especially generals?
BB_Alex: Maybe. Our approach for a character is not to meet any quotas. A character has to fit the theme, the setting and role and the vision. During the development, the designer is creating a vision for a character. A vision containing the look, the behaviour and characteristics. Very often such a vision is based on existing persons, which automatically defines the gender. We will continue creating new specialists and NPCs.
Question 49: Klabautermann16, Germany
Are the avatars based on actual people?
Art Department: Avatars people get to choose are not based on actual people. Some of the NPCs used for quests are based on TSO team members.
Question 50: Rainchiller, Germany
How does BB handle suggestions that are posted in the forum? When someone posts a question and it gets a lot of replies, do the MODs/the community manager read it and forward it to the team? Are these suggestions even considered or are they not taken seriously?
BB_Kumakun, Germany: Each entry you posted into the feature request part has been discussed with the team and some wishes are already visible ingame. However, we didn't have enough time to give enough feedback in each thread and this will be taken care of soon.
Question 51: Stallbube, Germany
Since we settle on an island: Why don't we have a harbour?
BB_Alex: One of my personal goals is to provide new, unique mechanics. Creating a harbour would require us to combine it with a mechanic matching the vision and theme of a harbour. Several mechanics matching this theme are already in the game. Trade or transfer of generals for example, leaving less options to create something new and unique at the same time.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Sixth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our sixth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 52: Albatra, US
Where do the topics for the Weekly trivia come from? I'm curious about who decides what the next one should be, and where the pools of questions come from.
BB_Aeyline, US CM: In recent months, a lot of suggestions have geared us toward more game-related questions, but we're always looking for new suggestions of topics from our players. There's also a feedback thread published on the forum for this purpose, so don't be shy and send us your suggestions!
Question 53: Albor83, Italy
Have you considered to add something like the Excelsior in the future?
BB_Alex: We will definitely continue to consider providing new content and mechanics. Those will vary in scope and complexity. It might not reach the scope of the Excelsior with 11 ventures, 9 buff quests and all those new assets, but there is also a chance for such a feature to be implemented in two separate updates. We have a dynamic approach to new content, allowing us to adapt to new goals or challenges.
Question 54: Assassin420, UK
Will we ever going to get crystal mines to dig up some crystals?
BB_Alex: No. Crystals will remain a rare reward for specific limited actions performed by the player. We will also avoid using sources for Crystals, which are not limited to a certain amount during a timeframe (day, week, month). Daily quests can be done once/twice a day. An adventure can be finished several times a day. This approach will keep Crystals balanced and avoid a huge gap between players. If we decide to increase the payout of Crystals, those additional sources will remain limited. No adventure loot and no production.
Question 55: belgarath38, France
Would it be possible to get the copy/paste functionality from the chat again?
BB_Andreas: Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, we are unable to provide text selection for multiple lines with the current chat. You can still select single chat messages, right click the text and select "copy" from the context menu, or using CTRL+C.
Question 56: Bgurlymn, US
When can we have a recycling event to get rid of unwanted items and get either crystals or gems for them?
TSO Production Team: Thank you for this interesting idea; we will evaluate if it could be part of one of the further game versions. Also, in case you haven't done so already, please submit this suggestion in the official forums.
Question 57: bogini, Germany
Do you have plans for further developments for the Excelsior? If so, can you tell us a few more details?
BB_Alex: Modularity was one of the main goals during the development of the Excelsior. This feature enables us to expand its content at any point. So yes, we do have many different ideas for additional Excelsior content. Those ideas include almost anything one can possibly think of; additional quest chains and ventures for existing compilations (we call all subcategories such as Long Letter or Rough Travel Guide, "Compilations"), new campaigns, similar to "The Evil Queen" for the "Books" category, or even completely new categories. The Excelsior also allows us to create new categories, available only during an Event and many other different ideas. Besides having all those ideas, we haven't finished defining clear details for our next steps with the Excelsior yet. This makes it difficult to provide any details at this point.
Question 58: dino1945 , France
Would it be possible to have more adventures that do not involve combat?
BB_Alex: During the past years we introduced additional content, including non-combat adventures: Scenarios and Buff Quests for example. So yes, it is definitely possible to have more Scenarios or other alternatives to combat. Judging from your question, you would rather know whether there are specific plans for additional Scenarios or Buff Quest. And the question to that is "no, not right now".
Question 59: Dregs, UK
Any chance that there could be an "unload all troops" command when generals land at adventures?
BB_Alex: We haven't assessed such an addition in detail, yet. We will create a feature request for this, so we are able to evaluate it at some point in the future.
Question 60: Drulpi, Germany
Why can't I be active in Trade while I'm on an adventure island? A lot of offers are already gone until I'm back on my home island.
BB_Andreas: Trading while being on an adventure is not possible because the player's resources are stored on their home island and are not accessible from the outside.
Question 61: JohnnyStiletto, UK
Do you ever plan on increasing the amount of bookbinders to more than 1?
BB_Alex: No specific plan, just some feature request referring to this topic. The skill tree for generals definitely had an impact on this situation and we will evaluate this suggestion in the future.
Question 62: LordKingDJ, The Netherlands
Would it be possible for trade offers to last longer, eg. 24 hours?
BB_Alex: And another topic for a feature request. No specific plans yet, but this might change in the future.
Question 63: karan-ruth, Poland
How many cups of coffee do you drink during maintenance?
TSO QA Team: Depends on the kind of maintenance. Normally we drink around 1,5 liter (6-8 cups) in the whole team during the maintenance. I will not tell how many people we are. But sometimes we also need to extend the maintenance to create a tasty cappuccino in our amazing machine after lunch. ;)
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Seventh Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our seventh batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 64: M_Bishop, US
Why were weapons removed from adventure loot?
BB_Alex: The Settlers Online is an economy-based game which allows you to complete content such as adventures. In a way, adventure rewards containing weapons were working against the original goal and challenge of the game, which is to build such an economy. Thus, the decision was made to remove weapons as loot in order to maintain the core gameplay loop of the game. The Excelsior is a great example for loot that supports economy building. Our Ventures do not offer resources or weapons, which can be produced, but instead reward Magic Beans which can be used to purchase various items, refillers to fuel your economy, buffs to boost it, and rare buildings to expand it. A good gameplay loop for The Settlers online is using the economy to produce the required resources and spending those resources to acquire buffs, buildings and resources that can't be produced to boost and expand your economy.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_06_21_ama7/2017_06_21_ama_7a_en.pnghttp://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_06_21_ama7/2017_06_21_ama_7b_en.png
On the right side, you can see how the weapon loots interrupted the intended gameplay loop
Question 65: kefirek300, Poland
What is the opinion of the Polish TSO team about the landing a man on the moon? Hoax or fact?
BB_Penelopa: It is a fact; Sonya Graham, along with the Intrepid Explorer, visited the moon aboard the Excelsior. Their collaboration gave birth to an accurate map of the moon. Maybe some day this intriguing map will be shared with us all...
Question 66: RaHdar, UK
Why does the production stop during the time it takes to upgrade buildings?
BB_Alex: This happens to give an authentic feel and to offer an additional gameplay challenge while building your economy.
Question 67: Rakella, US
will we ever be able to manufacture grout?
BB_Alex: Grout should remain a non-reproducible resource. The game needs such resources to support the gameplay mechanics, as described in a previous answer. Making grout a reproducible item would require the creation of a new non-reproducible building material.
Question 68: cat_flap, UK
Has BB ever calculated what age someone needs to live to to get to level 75 at an average playing frequency.
BB_Alex: Based on our estimations, most of our players will reach level 75 before The Settlers Online celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2020. The Excelsior and all the content we plan on introducing in the future will speed up the level progression even further.
Question 69: Sattva, Germany
Are there already players who reached level 75? If so, from which country are they?
BB_Pandur: The first 2 players who reached level 75 not so long ago are located in Germany.
Question 70: SnowyExWarrio, UK
Has any player played the game for every single day from day one of the worlds? Just wanted to understand who is the most dedicated individual to TSO!!
BB_Alex: Very interesting question. We also wanted to know if there such a player existed, so we checked our data. Yes, there is one player who has logged in to the game every day since the tracking system was put in place (Nov 2010).
Question 71: Tricky-Hagen, Germany
Will we get different rewards for the daily login someday again? Only Crystals and gems is boring if it does not change from time to time.
BB_Alex: No, we do not have any plans to switch the login bonus rewards from crystals and gems to other resources.
Question 72: Trixigirl, Germany
What happens with a reported bug? Is it assigned to a specific person in the team, are there people who specifically work on bugs, or is there a pool where team members grab bug reports from? What happens if it has to be fixed fast? Why does it take so long to fix some bugs, while others are fixed immediately? Are bugs divided by severity, and who decides how severe a bug is? Why do we see so many bugs on the live server which were already reported on the test server?
TSO QA Team: A bug report is forwarded to the TSO Quality Assurance team. The lead of this department assigns the bug to one of our testers. From then on, it depends on the tester's qualification and workload. The tester verifies the existence of bug and the lead sends it to the production team. From the production team, the report will be sent to the right person in the development team. This procedure will usually take between one and three days.
If the bug is critical or blocks the game completely, the team works on a fast fix which translates into the known hotfixes. Other bugs will be collected and deployed with the different game versions. The production manager decides which bug is important and which bug does not significantly impact the game. We are not able to fix all bugs on the fly, because we also have to develop new content for our players. But there are special meetings to review all existing bugs and assign them to specific deployment versions.
The development time between the test server and the live server is sometimes not that long. The developers are working on bug fixes, but sometimes it takes an additional version to verify the fix works as intended and to make sure it doesn't impact other aspects of the game. The same process exists for localization, which takes time to be implemented in all game versions.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Eighth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our eighth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 73: UHU8543, DE
In how many countries is TSO played?
BB_Amta, TSO CM Team: To get a rough estimation of the number of countries where TSO is played, simply access the drop-down menu on the website, found next to "Region" at the top of the page. The listed countries have localized versions in their respective languages, but there's more to it than one might initially assume. There are Austrians active in the German instance; Ukrainian users playing on the Russian instance; Belgian players joining either the Dutch or the French version; Swedish, Danish, Canadians, South Africans, Australians and New Zealanders active in either the US or UK servers - and plenty of similar cases.
If you think that's all, don't forget that there's also a Chinese version of "The Settlers Online". This means that TSO is regularly played in 67 countries worldwide (yes, even in Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Djibouti, Jordan, Iran or Vietnam)! Some of you were rather close yesterday when we asked for your estimation. Pretty impressive, wouldn't you say? :)
Question 74: dgc2012, UK
If i use a nail gun to hold the chat window up that keeps dropping every time I move to or from something, will it break my computer?
BB_Saqui, UK CM: We advise players not to try and modify their game client with third-party tools; this includes DIY tools such as a nail gun. Doing so may cause irreparable damage to your computer!
Question 75: ijake, DE
There is only one important question: How are the ducks in the BB-pond?
BB_Pandur: Our pond ducks are respawning on a regular, yearly basis. They are doing fine and are procreating, very productively I might add.
Question 76: Chelsea2801, DE
Do we get a Level Update from maximum 75 to 100?
BB_Alex: No, not yet. Our goal is to fill in the level range from 64 - 75 with more content. This content should give you the chance to progress faster and support our personal goal to get more of you closer to the level cap and to provide more exciting endgame content. We can start thinking about a new level cap raise after that.
Question 77: Childerico , Brazil
is it possible on future that we can plant apple trees, so when we chop off that trees we could wood for planks and apples for apple pies and cider?
BB_Alex: I can't rule it out for 100%. Right now we do not have any plans to introduce production chains containing apple trees, pie and cider.
Question 78: Forrel, US
How did you discover The Settlers Online? What led you to work here?
BB_Vierauge: I first tried at TSO when the open beta launched in 2010. I was studying game design in Düsseldorf back then and was naturally curious about the big local studio’s first foray into the browser game market. I used to be more into fast-paced games back then though, so I did not play it for more than a handful of days.
Those same studies eventually scored me a position at Blue Byte, although not as a game designer initially. Out of a desire to familiarize myself with our games, I gave Settlers another, longer and fairer look and have not stopped playing since then. I suppose my tastes have changed over the years. ;)
Question 79: Galactus, France
I've been in the game for 4 years. Anything planned for older players?
BB_Alex: We want to develop content for all level ranges and any age in the future. The focus will be on the endgame first and might change or shift over time allowing us to cover more different parts of the game.
Question 80: invoceusse, France
What are the technologies used behind TSO?
BB_Andreas: Magic beans, glowing stones and a bit of sugar coated rainbow slices! Beside that magic, TSO is using Java for the servers and Flash for the browser.
Question 81: Mark_Explorer, Brazil
Are there plans for bigger adventures with more XP?
BB_Alex: Yes, we never stop having plans. Sometimes those involve world domination. Adventures with more XP? Yes, at some point, definitely. Bigger adventures? We are limited in terms of map size, so the only way to make an adventure bigger is to provide more quests and tasks. We like the idea of making adventures more complex, more diverse and filled with additional challenges, like we did for the ventures inside the Excelsior.
Question 82: opabayern, Germany
Is an event planned for moving buildings for free or cheaper costs?
BB_Alex: Move events will only be used in combination with critical changes to the map or blocking in the future. Re-arranging your buildings and optimizing your economy is part of the The Settlers Online as an economy building game. The past move events had a negative impact on the usage of the move mechanic outside of those events and we decided to not trigger any additional move events, only if it is really needed because of a critical change or update.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Ninth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our ninth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 83: Gregaulait, France
Hi, what is your estimation of the future popularity of the game ? Some players are worried islands will be deserted and are ready to do anything to keep new players around by giving out huge amounts of resources, many times excessive. It's good for the new players but it shows how the vets feel. What's your take from the other side?
TSO Team: We are keeping an eye on the amount of active players on all game worlds worldwide. We are actively looking into this topic. As soon as further information will be available on this topic, we will let you know.
Question 84: Abaxa, UK
Why does general attack (in adventures) on side rather than front, where there is entrance drawn (on enemy camps)?
BB_Pandur & BB_Andreas: The general riding into a bandit camp is a symbolic act – or have you ever seen any troops behind it ;) ? Think of it as if the general and its troops sneak in through a side door to attack the camp, rather than through the front :D.
Question 85: achim6666, Germany
Is it planned to offer some kind of "trade" for platinum ore? You get really much of those and can't even properly use it yet.
BB_Alex: Yes, we do plan to implement new content using platinum or platinum ore. This, however, won't solve the issue of too much platinum in-game. To solve it, we would have to lower the inflow of platinum ore, not only increase the drain - and to be able to accomplish that, we would have to introduce alternative rewards to compensate for the reduction of platinum ore inflow. Solving the platinum ore issue is definitely not an easy, simple task.
Question 86: michy1960, Germany
The Footie Field will not come in-game but you mentioned that you might reuse it on another way. Is this building still planned and if so, do you have more info about it?
BB_Alex: The Footie Field will stay in-game and it will always be connected to the Soccer Event. We aim to introduce new recipes to unlock additional buffs. We also want to introduce new cultural buildings in the future. We are still thinking about their design and the types of buffs available with these new buildings.
Question 87: fouskoulithra, UK
Why don't you have a WOMEN army?? Thought about it on International women's day.
BB_Alex: The Settlers Online game characters are designed for specific roles in-game. In doing so, fulfilling gender quotas is not our main concern, and there are no current plans to introduce female soldiers or characters solely based on gender.
Question 88: haunted1, Greece
Is it possible to increase the Bookbinder production rate? Even the resin booster (+20%) is not enough considering the enormous number of scripts/codes/books we need.
You have also to keep in mind that in the near future we will obtain new explorers and the generals and they need books as well.
BB_Alex: The recipes introduced with the Excelsior update is one high level alternative to the bookbinder. The production of books inside the rarity provision house is more expensive, shorter in production time, can be queued and buffed. On top of that, we are also evaluating the idea of introducing a second bookbinder to the game. A final decision has not been made, so there are no details available yet. Last but not least, we are also evaluating alternatives, like an event reducing the production time in the bookbinder for several days or new bookbinder buffs. All those might be possible additions to the game. We would like to use those opportunities instead of lowering the basic production time.
Question 89: Hutzeli, Germany
Is it planned to add new Buildings for gems into the merchant, for example, recurring Iron mines?
BB_Alex: No, there are no plans to add endless or recurring iron mines to the game. This might change in the future though. Regarding other buildings, we do implement new buildings, specialists and buffs during every seasonal event, and some of them are added to the merchant for gems after the event is over. Overall, yes we do have plans to introduce new buildings to the merchant.
Question 90: reyrc2260, UK
Could we get a search function for the friends list?
BB_Pandur, CM Team: We haven’t planned such a functionality for future versions. However, since the wish was expressed in our forums, we already added it to the feature request list.
Question 91: Ronnna, Germany
I would like to know how the number of guild coins for guild quests is calculated. I do my guild quest every day, but the number varies a lot from 8 to 40, and I would like to know how that is calculated.
BB_Alex: The guild quest system is working it two stages. The first stage is the upper (main) guild quest for the whole guild. Each upper guild quest contains at least one sub-guild quest for every level range, which is started for single guild members. The sub-quest contains the first guild quest reward based on the triggers of the quest. The second reward step is based on the basic reward value of the upper (main) guild quest and two modifiers. The first modifier adjusts the value based on the guild size. The progress here is not linear. The second modifier is based on the percentage of guild members finishing their sub-guild quest. The progress here is linear.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Tenth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our tenth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 92: Alexcom31, Germany
To the person who reads (and probably will answer this): What do you see if you open the top drawer at your PC table?
BB_Kumakun, DE CM: Nothing. I do not have a drawer at my PC table. But everything else on my table is full with sticky notes and you can't say what it once was.
BB_Ondgrund, DE GM: If I would tell you the truth, someone might steal my secret stash of chocolate and cookies. So... just some boring pens and paperclips.
BB_Maxhylere, FR CM: Oh. Well, do you guys remember last year when I thought someone stole my sandwich ? I think I found it. Or it found me, I'm not sure.
BB_Saqui, UK CM: My super secret stash of sweets that the rest of the office doesn't know about! Just don't tell them I told you, OK? ;)
BB_Orowa, DE CM: Some reminders about different topics, that I had on my desk, but eventually was annoyed by... so I moved them to the drawer and forgot about them again.. This procedure still has room for improvement :D Other than that, some gadgets to fidget with, while I think about difficult topics.
BB_Acadma, UK GM: About 30 random flash drives that need to be consolidated and wiped.
BB_Belegha, DE GM: My drawer is a secret pathway to the Settlers world. When I open it, I get sucked in and randomly pop out in one of the 14 German game worlds. Apart from this special feature, it looks very ordinary and, to be honest, also kind of messy.
BB_Aeyline, US CM: A toothbrush & toothpaste, pair of mismatched socks, a compass, iPhone charger, chocolate stash, list of Trivia questions & answers, old car keys, broken mouse, used batteries... oh, and SirGoofy's expert guide on Global antics.
BB_Amta, CM Team: There is only one thing in my drawer. The most important thing any TSO player should have handy: A stress ball which I squeeze each time my explorers come back with fish plates.
BB_Pandur, CM Team: Drawer? We can get drawers around here?
Question 93: Jenny1501, Germany
Are there any questions that annoy you?
German CM Team: There are hardly any kind of questions that annoy us - we are pretty happy about the amount of questions we got. They ranged from fun questions to serious game related ones and it was a good way to honestly answer questions that seem to be pointed out by many players. Also, we are pretty sure we'd get more of those questions, if we said which annoyed us, so... no ;p
Question 94: KingLuiKong, Germany
Which team member is part of the team for the longest time?
TSO Production Team: Ruslan our Artist and Patrick our DevOps Manager have been on the project the longest.
Question 95: Spicy74, Germany
How much coffee do you guys drink per day? Or did you already switch to something with more %?
German CM Team: Depends on the people. We have some people here who only drink cocoa (no idea where the coffeein comes from and how they can survive the day) but overall it would be 1 or 2 big cups a day.
Question 96: Lupus_C, Germany
Which level do the player accounts of the different team members have?
BB_Pandur: Our official accounts are on level 75, of course. I cannot speak for the other colleagues, but my private account is on level 48 and kind of stuck at it. I know for a fact that most of the other team member's accounts are between level 40-60.
Question 97: schiggi2001, Germany
Why did you start this AMA event?
BB_Pandur: In the first place we created the event to provide everyone the opportunity to ask us a question - no matter the topic. We also wanted the whole team to be able to communicate in some way with the community, without being available 24/7.
Question 98: madmanc, UK
Would you like to see any of your structures built in real life?
BB_Ruslan: Yes, the Powderhut. In the highest level the building would look amazing in real life.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_07_20_powderhut.png
Question 99: bbolekkk, Poland
Whose idea was this event?
BB_Pandur, CM Team: Who invented "AMA"? I think its origins are on Reddit or some other forum, I don't really know. We decided as a team to do this, as everybody can benefit from it.
Question 100: Kitikejt, Poland
What are the real names behind BB_Taku, BB_Anash and BB_Penelopa?
BB_Taku, BB_Anash, BB_Penelopa: Robert, Żaneta, Anna.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Eleventh Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our eleventh batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 101: Ar-Aphanuzir, Spain
Years ago it was announced that you were thinking of creating a skill tree for geologists, explorers, generals and for the island, now that are working on the skill tree for the general. Will you make a skill tree for the island? Or has that idea been left?
BB_Alex: Ideas change and evolve, they don't die easily. The skill tree for generals, for example, evolved from the initial idea of years ago to what we have right now. The initial idea did not include unique traits for generals and had completely different skills, because we did not have elite units or the level cap raise yet. The game evolves and we have to adjust those ideas to fit and support this evolution. Back then, there were no such things as island wide buffs, which had quite the impact on the initial idea of an island skill tree. No, the idea is not discarded or dead, it is just not fitting anymore and has to be adjusted or possibly completely reworked. There are so many interesting opportunities and directions in which such a skill tree can evolve. Will a skill tree for the island or a similar skill tree make it into game? I don't know, honestly. We are not focused on such a skill tree right now, so there is no way to tell you if we will make one in the future.
Question 102: jcuzzuol, Brazil
Why not naval battle?l? Offering rewards in missions?
BB_Alex: Ships & Naval combat was always more related and fitting for Anno instead of Settlers. The decision to keep both games different in combat was made to support the unique difference between those games. The Settlers Online has land combat, while Anno Online has naval combat. So, no, we do not plan to introduce naval combat into Settlers Online.
Question 103: lkrocek, Czech Republic
Hello what about upgrading the troops? I loved do upgrades in another games, eg. do an upgrade for some archer units which will be able to attack twice or triple times.
BB_Alex: Such upgrades are benefits of a skill tree for generals and possible unique traits of a general. Those and the island wide buffs allow us to cover many possible challenge or situations. All the tools are already available and we want to put our efforts into the usage of the current system to generate interesting challenges and opportunities. The skill tree for generals and buffs like those in "Lost City" are just the beginning, as we plan to expand the functionality even further in the future.
Question 104: melodie44 , France
What % of trade offers actually end up getting bought?
BB_Alex: It depends on the time frame and day, of course. Around 80% of posted trade offers are accepted in the first 6 hours. This includes friend trades.
Question 105: Pardalot , Latin America
Do you plan to raise the rewards for level up? There is little reward for so much effort and people would be more concentrated to raise the level, thanks
BB_Alex: No, there are no plans to raise the reward for level ups. Our goal is to provide more interesting content and gameplay instead of just a simple resource reward. Your progress should give you more cool and fun things to do and experience in the game. We see a higher benefit and motivation with this approach.
Question 106: philus71, France
Would it be possible to hold a fan meeting in France?
BB_Pandur: Cher philus71, we cannot conduct fan meetings in countries where we do not have a "ground base". The organizational effort would simply be too high. But let me assure you: Je ne demande pas mieux !
Question 107: TTNRoby, Italy
The excelsior rumored to be at level 1, so I'd like to know if you're planning an upgrade for this building
BB_Alex: No, there are no plans to have upgrade levels for the Excelsior. The visualization of the level for the building is a bug and will be fixed during the update next week (this update is already deployed in France).
Question 108: Matz25, Germany
How often are you really annoyed by us?
BB_Pandur: We cannot describe the feelings we sometimes have towards our most precious asset - our community. :D
Let's be honest: When the community is split and both sides are bashing about one topic, it's really hard for us to keep calm and sometimes even not to be annoyed. Imagine half of the players are in favor of solution X, the other half, of solution Y. Both sides demand that we implement "their" solution ASAP. They are bashing the other side as "Blue Byte fanboys" and sometimes even presume that Blue Byte employees are among these players, influencing the discussion. Yeah, that's pretty annoying – not only to us, but to every forum participant really. That's why calm and reasonable discussions are always more helpful for everyone - and our moderators won’t get tired of reminding the community of it, even if it’s about "hot topics".
Question 109: Scared_Bunny, Germany
Do you have an office mascot that you'd like us to meet?
BB_Pandur: Of course we have a mascot. The TSO team office is known throughout Blue Byte and Ubisoft as "Hoffice" - why? Look here ;) http://ubi.li/cm924
Question 110: NikoDrynn, UK
BB_Saqui, do you like pie?
BB_Saqui, UK CM: Pies? Pies! What kind of pie!? Hot pot pies? Creamy chicken pies? Steak and pepper pies? Maybe something a little less traditional, like pizza pie. Oh and for dessert: Apple pie! Rhubarb pie! Banoffee pie! Yeah - I guess you can say I like pies. ;)
Question 111: Vlad, Russia
What meal do BB employees prefer: Fastfood or self made?
BB_Kumakun, DE CM: This depends on the day, time and colleague. If you do not have enough time, of course you will favor fast food. But we also have some colleagues who can cook and bake awesome food. Sometimes we get lovely cakes, or cupcakes in our office - sweet and homemade. Even outside of our work we are influenced by the discussions we had at the office. I remember a discussion about the "very hyped" unicorn-chocolate. Later that day, I prepared unicorn-noodles at home and had to show it to everyone the next day. ;)
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Twelfth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our twelfth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 112: blondehexe, Germany
Will there be an event in the future where guilds will have to compete against each other to show their teamwork?
BB_Alex: We thought about such an idea and we liked it so much, that we even considered introducing it into the game as a core mechanic with seasons instead of an event. However, there are no detailed plans yet. It is a simple idea and requires a lot of attention before we will be able to present it. So will there be such an event in the future? Maybe, I don't know. It does sound cool though.
Question 113: Eldrtich1, Germany
Are there plans to change the chances for a follow-up adventure?
BB_Alex: Our latest evaluation showed that a change of the drop chances for follow-up adventures should be combined with other changes to increase the impact on the economy and on the mood, in general. Such a possible change should also include a change to the drop chances of epic rewards, it should cover the loot boost for co-op adventures and it should tackle the high amount of high tier resources (platinum ore, mahogany wood, magic beans), which are getting into the game through adventure rewards. The reason for combining those changes relies in the positive impact on the game economy and on the community's mood. This would allow us to reduce the amount of high tier resources in adventure loot and maybe even remove some resources which can be already produced at that point in progress (horses), to improve the core gameplay loop explained in one of the previous answers. The reason for this is that we are increasing the chances for other rewards and maybe even provide alternative new rewards in exchange. Such an adjustment is also working better in combination with new sinks and, in the best case, it should be done close to an introduction of a huge sink. This requires us to develop a good plan for such approach, maybe even splitting it into stages with smaller updates. Regardless of what we decide, it will be communicated to you accordingly. We haven't developed a plan yet, and it will take time to do so.
Question 114: Graaflin, UK
I'm really wondering if that Excelsior is staying forever?
BB_Alex: The Excelsior is staying as long as The Settlers Online is up and running. Forever would be awesome.
Question 115: Ivan-Asen-II , UK
Hi, is there any chance for me to win a manuscript recipe?
BB_Saqui, UK CM: There's certainly a chance, and you might be closer than you think! We introduced a new guaranteed loot system (https://forum.thesettlersonline.com/threads/34947-Change-Log-26.06.2017) a couple of months ago: this will give you rare loot, like the manuscript recipe, after so many attempts. So keep it up, and soon you will be rewarded!
Question 116: preindi , Germany
Is a filter or archive function for the in-game messages planned?
BB_Alex: The are no plans to introduce a filter or archive function in the near future. However, we still want to improve the handling of mails at some point.
Question 117: jochenf , Germany
I'm stuck in the TSO world! How can I get back to the real world?
BB_Ondgrund, DE CM: First you have to use "Bottled Innocence" and catch a unicorn. Then you have to wait for a rainbow, find the end of the rainbow which is not guarded by a leprechaun, and then ride over the rainbow with your unicorn. Or you could just close your browser, but that would be boring.
Question 118: Yuuriko, UK
I suck at romance. Can I also ask you tips on how to improve my love life?
BB_Saqui, UK CM: I'd make yourself a trusty TSO Love Potion - it's said that 60% of the time, it works every time! ;)
Question 119: Jafool, US
Is BB hiring and if so, would they be willing to pay me in gems and grout?
TSO Production Team: Yes, BB is hiring! You can find all our vacancies here: http://www.bluebyte.com/en/career/vacancies We only pay real money though ;).
Question 120: Woookie, Germany
Do you actually read all of these questions?
BB_Pandur: Yes, but we are not able to answer every single question. We decided to pick out questions that appeared more often.
Question 121: Lotte_2009, Germany
Do the MODs and BB employees belong to guilds?
BB_Pandur: With our hidden ninja accounts we all do enjoy the game at its best. I do, but of course we won't say anything more about this. Just know the fact that we do indeed play the game in private, with friends and most of us since a very long time. :)
Question 122: PanicMan, Germany
Who decides if a player's suggestion makes it into the game and why doesn't the community get involved in those decisions?
BB_Alex: It depends on the level of decision. High-level decisions, like what will be developed next, is done by Project Managment based on feedback and suggestions from the whole team. Decisions on a lower and more detailed level are done by the different departments or even by a single person. Game Design decides how to structure mechanics, systems and balancing, while Programming decides on the use of the database, structure of code and certain other approaches. Art decides on the art style and asset development structures, while Community Managment decides how to excite and approach the community. While the decision about the art style is done by the Art department, it is heavily influenced and enriched by feedback from other departments, since everyone is looking for feedback constantly. The community itself is always involved when providing feedback to features on the test servers or giving suggestions inside the forums. Involving the community directly demands additional effort. The decisions have to be communicated clearly and openly with all the benefits and downsides. The results and feedback have to be collected and summarized. This process will put the whole development of a feature on hold if the decision is related to a critical gameplay mechanic. An additional important reason is the number of people making a decision. Cooking a meal with too many cooks will harm the taste instead of improving it. The best scenario so far is to let one cook do it and allow others to provide feedback or suggestions. The final decision should always be done by one single person or an agreement between just a few of them.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Thirteenth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our thirteenth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 123: Alienearth92, Germany
Are there features in game that you implemented with a scope, but players are "misusing" them? If yes, what is the biggest thing that players changed (example: Blocks / leech for fish etc.)?
BB_Alex: You can say that (b)locking was one of them in the past. We learned to work with (b)locking as a strategy. It made us more thoughtful when creating new content or even mechanics, such as the skill tree for generals. (B)locking is not that much of an issue right now. It's still not supported by us, since we can't ensure its functionality, and is not a core mechanic of the game. There is one benefit of keeping (b)locking as a strategy: it enhances the game by adding more complexity to it, and for many of you fun does emerge out of this complexity. In this case, (b)locking manages to enrich the gameplay from the mechanical point of view.
However, things are not the same when it comes to leeching. Leeching doesn't contribute to the complexity of the game and does not enrich the combat gameplay itself. We do accept that it is happening in the game, but we won't support it.
There is a third issue, and this is the biggest one, for me, personally. The ability to move resources from your storage to the star menu. It's basically limitless storage and works directly against the core gameplay pillar and challenge of an economy building game. The challenge of such a game lies in handling limitations, such as building space or storage. This almost nullifies some of the challenges. In my opinion, even huge sinks won't be as challenging as they should be, because this limitless storage will always work against any sink, regardless of how big it is.
Question 124: annotom60, UK
Hi, why do we have a cost for moving buildings? If it was free, rearranging island would be much better.
BB_Alex: Managing your resources and limitations is the most crucial pillar in an economy building game. It's basically the reason for such a game. We wanted to apply this resource managment factor to moving buildings too. It increases the challenge to move as many buildings as possible in as few steps only. You have to think ahead and plan accordingly to succeed in this task. And it's a resource sink.
Question 125: B-Drewery, UK
The ghost camp on expeditions is very useful to plan your attack. Are there plans for this to be added to all adventures, so we can test and find new routes?
BB_Alex: This is still on the list of things we would like to see in the game at some point. We do not have any plans right now, but it might come up in the future. We will keep an eye on it.
Question 126: Chaquelin, Germany
Is it possible to change one day the avatar name or the avatar picture?
BB_Alex: This is something I would love to see in the game at some point. The priority for such an update is very low, since it's more of a "nice to have". Maybe someday.
Question 127: flaskodavid, UK
Will there be in the future an improved recycling manufactory?
BB_Alex: We do not have plans to introduce an improved recycling manufactory at the moment. Those plans might appear in the future.
Question 128: Maulwolf, Germany
Are there ideas to counter the devaluation of map fragments? In the past they were useful, but now they are useless.
BB_Alex: Yes, we have some ideas to increase the sink for map parts. Those include the introduction of new adventures available for map parts, but also a general re-balancing of the pricing. Right now, those are just ideas, and require additional work to define all the details.
Question 129: shitti, Germany
Which feature from the original Settler games would you personally add to the game if you could?
BB_Ondgrund, DE CM: I would add some form of "divine intervention" mechanic into the game. It would allow you to sacrifice resources in a new (and expensive) religious building and gain manna for it. With the manna you can call for help from the gods. This would come in the form of temporary buffs for your home island or an adventure. It would be a nice resource sink and could be expanded over time with new buffs.
Question 130: kulfon76, Poland
What is Penelopa's shoe size?
BB_Penelopa, PL CM: 39 ;) And yours?
Question 131: tutnichtgut19, Germany
If you could make one TSO character come to life which one would you choose and why?
TSO Project Manager: I'd make the Intrepid Explorer come to life because I'm a project manager and love how fast and efficient she is. Always getting things done. :)
Question 132: Bommel1234, Germany
Will roads ever be more than just decorations?
BB_Alex: We definitely thought about creating a mechanic for roads and make them relevant for the economy. After a short evaluation of the effort, we realised it's not a small task. A lot of the code related to roads has to be rewritten to make this happen. Because of this reason we decided against the implementation of such a mechanic.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Fourteenth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our fourteenth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 133: Dark-Dirk, Germany
I am visually impaired and I think I am not the only one. Is it possible or planned to change the graphics so that even visually impaired people can still enjoy the game? At the moment I play on a 100 cm desktop and I still have to zoom in for 175%, and it all becomes so unclear.
BB_Pandur: The game and the graphic engine were not designed for use in connection with assistance for the visually impaired. It would be a very huge effort to implement such adjustments. We wish for everyone to be able to play "The Settlers Online". Unfortunately, the game's age and underlying technical aspects don't provide much flexibility.
Question 134: dr-g-house-md, Germany
Hello, I've been play Settlers for 10 years and I can't help but wondering, why do we get experience points only from fights? When will you get to the point where we can get XP from other achievements? The game is called the Settlers, not the Conquerors! Other platforms have changed this, only you hold on to this war like existence.
BB_Alex: Combat has always been a crucial part of the Settlers formula. The goal in the game is building an economy and using it to dominate the map. The Settlers Online was initially developed with the goal to provide the Settlers experience in a browser. However, we are interested in additional ways of progressing through the game and opportunities to gain experience not only from combat. Scenarios and quest buffs like "Invitation to a Royal Wedding" or all the content inside the letter category of the Excelsior aim to provide more of these opportunities. Even if combat remains an important part of the game, there are additional ways to earn experience points and progress through the game.
Question 135: fausti21, Germany
Since there are buildings from the desert region from the 1001 Nights Adventures: Are you planning island extensions with a different landscape design which fits these buildings and decorations?
BB_Alex: We do not have any plans to introduce an additional island expansion at the moment.
Question 136: JMREC, UK
Why isn't it possible to be in 2 loot spots at the same time?
BB_Alex: There are three reasons for this one:
The first is related to adventure slots being limitations, and as mentioned before, we see limitations as challenges which have to be managed. These involve decisions such as "Which adventure to start?" and "Which invitation to accept?"
The second reason is related to progress. More adventure slots means a faster progress through the game. This increases the chances of you getting bored for reaching the goal too fast, while we have less time to create new interesting content with new goals, which again will be reached faster.
The third reason is mentioned in the previous batch of answers. Leeching is not contributing to the complexity of the game nor is it enriching the gameplay directly. We accept that it is happening in the game, but we won't support it.
Question 137: kevinessi, Germany
Will the maximum limit of manuscripts for the geologists and explorers stay the same or do we get a higher limit soon?
BB_Alex: This limitation is an important part of the design. Not having the possibility to unlock everything drives decision making - and this is one of the main challenges in the game. You have to manage building space, you have to manage resources and you have to manage skills. An increase in this limit will work directly against this. No, it is very unlikely this limit will ever be increased.
Question 138: KingCannon, UK
Hi BB. My question is this: Why do some players have a lot more luck than others? What I mean is that some will drop "rare" goods regularly, whereas others, hardly ever.
BB_Alex: The drop chances inside the game are the same for every player and the data we have been analyzing fully supports this. However, we understand the disappointment of not getting a cool building after investing so much time and effort into it, so we thought of a drop guarantee after a certain amount of unsuccessful rolls. This mechanic is used for the manuscript, tome and codex recipes, but we do plan to introduce it for more rewards in the future.
Question 139: Krask, Germany
When creating a new adventure and map creators find shortcuts which make the adventure much shorter and easier, do you generally find these shortcuts already in your own play tests, and if not, how annoying is that for you?
BB_Alex: Honestly, not all of them. And yes, it is disappointing sometimes. Instead of being discouraged by it, we try to mobilize it and use it to create decisions for new content. Let's take "El Chupacabra" as an example. In this venture, you can decide if you want to fight against the raging Mayas or cure them from the disease. Our goal is to give you more interesting and fun content and make shortcuts valuable decisions you have to make. You are free to use shortcuts, but you might miss out on experience points, other rewards, or even gameplay.
Question 140: Leatherface, Germany
Some players have become inactive for quite some time. Why can't you delete those accounts or move them to a graveyard server?
BB_Pandur: Every player returning from a time of inactivity shall find the island and friend list untouched. Since the friend list and connections on the original gameworld would be impacted by moving a player from one server to another, this is not in our list of things to implement. On the technical side, there is no reason for us to delete inactive player accounts.
Question 141: Universalbe, US
Will there ever be an endless iron mine available for purchase?
BB_Alex: There are no plans to introduce an endless iron mine at the moment.
Question 142: m-o-p, Germany
What colour are your socks?
BB_Kumakun, DE CM: What does the sock color say about the person? White/light-pink striped socks with a silverline at the top. :)
Question 143: petra1246, Poland
What kind of books does BB_Anash like?
BB_Anash, PL GM: I mostly read fantasy books written by Polish authors.
Question 144: Brifi, France
To BB_Maxhylere, what is the usual day like for a CM ? Do you work from home or an office? Do you have time for coffee breaks? Do you go have a drink after work with the GameOne team? Etc
BB_Maxhylere, FR CM: There isn't much of a typical day, but here it goes! I start my days by greeting my colleagues and our mod team. Then I get an idea of what is currently happening in the game from chat, forum, mods and GM, and prepare appropriate responses. I gather the community's feedback and package them into something digestible for the developers. I repeat that as often as necessary throughout the day. As for coffee break, I'm more of a soda person. Most CMs in the office prefer coffee though.
Question 145: GilligansDad, US
And someone has to ask - otherwise no one will be able to sleep at night... What is your favourite fridge magnet, Aeyline? ;-)
BB_Aeyline, US CM: I would never want to keep my lovely players from their much desired sleep! :p So, to put your mind at ease I've grabbed a picture showing some of my favorite magnets. Most of them have a special meaning to me, either because I've visited a particular place or because I received it as a gift from a loved one. In any case, my all time favorite would have to be the pink house magnet, which was given as a maternity gift on the occasion of my daughter's birth, some 15 years ago. :)
https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_09_21_aeylines_magnets.png
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Fifteenth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our fifteenth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 146: Aromadose, Germany
Why does it take so long to fix issues (unless they actually have a negative impact on BB)?
The Development Team: All game issues are being fixed depending on their impact on the game, players and the economy.
Imagine a bug that would allow to "cheat" an endless amount of Gems - this would hurt us, no question, and it could easily lead to the game being shut down. We would have to fix something like that as soon as possible. "Normal" game related bugs are first being evaluated and weighted based on their impact. Being able to recreate the bug on our end (which already might take some time), finding and developing a fix for it would be the next steps on the list. Once we find a solution, implementing the improvement in the test - and final game version (and already being worked on future versions with their own tests again) wraps things up. This process may take 2 months and more.
QA Team: There are several reasons as to why it take so long to fix a bug. Fixing bugs is part of our development process. We try to fix as much as possible, but we also try to deliver new content for the players. Creating content will also take a lot of time until it's ready to go live. Therefore, sometimes it's needed to move some bugs to a later version.
In addition, some bugs are not that easy to fix, as they have an impact on other parts of the game or are not on our side and we are not able to fix them. We avoid creating downtime as much as possible within events (such as the bridge bug in the latest Crisis quest).
If there are bugs which are a recurring topic, contact the GMs/Mods and they will push the bugs for you. We will try to plan annoying bugs to earlier versions, so you can enjoy the game as much as possible.
Question 147: JP2429, Germany
Do the Developers, Game Designers, Support people etc. really play the game like every other normal player?
BB_Pandur: Yes, we all play the game with private accounts. Some of us are members of Guilds and participating as normal players. We do not cheat with these accounts (as in we don't get free stuff).
Question 148: anna2011, Germany
Which is the highest level in the BB team?
TSO Team: Becoming a parent is the highest level to be achieved in life - and we are proud that some team members reached that goal already ;). In reference to the game, it is level 75 ;).
Question 149: Emmahermine, Germany
How did you come up with the idea for the Excelsior?
BB_Alex: We wanted to create something special and exciting. Something that would contribute to the evolution of the game and "excel" the gameplay experience. Every feature starts with such a simple vision and grows over time. At its core, there is a gameplay loop and everything should evolve and grow around this loop. Every single idea supporting the vision and the loop has a very high value and such ideas start to appear in every single mind, once the vision has been established and shown. There is more information about the Excelsior development inside the DevBlog (https://forum.thesettlersonline.com/threads/34018-Dev-Blog-Excelsior).
Question 150: xmauriusx, Germany
2 years ago you had the cross server "Red nose day " event with the balloons. I really liked that. Will something like this come again?
BB_Alex: A server/world/realm wide event does sound tempting. Everyone working together towards a goal and competing against others. The age and the size of our worlds/realms do vary quite a lot, which makes it difficult to get a nice balance. A balance where people won't feel at disadvantage compared to other realms. In addition, there are technical challenges, too. We don't have any plans to run such a cross server event at the moment.
Question 151: antted, UK
Why don't generals get promotions for winning battles?
BB_Alex: To keep the science system consistent, we decided to have the same approach to skills as we did with other specialists such as Explorers and Geologists.
Question 152: ikimiaca, UK
Is there a limit on the number of reapers you can have in total like Santa Claus for example, or just limit per event?
BB_Alex: The limitation of available specialists during events is only bind to the event. It's not a comprehensive limitation, which is used for other specialists such as Master of Martial Arts. A comprehensive limitation will only be applied if we decide to make them available outside of an event. There are no plans to make those specialist available outside of events. We see the importance of having event unique specialists.
Question 153: MadamRamsay, US
1-Why can't we rotate our buildings and decorations so they can face a different direction?
2-Why can't we move the Mayor's House?
3-When will we get more different decorations for our Island?
4- We can blow up rocks and mountains; why not groups of trees?
BB_Alex: 1. TSO is not a 3D game. Our buildings and assets are 2D pictures, and each additional perspective of an asset automatically doubles the amount of pictures which have to be loaded. This value increases even further for buildings with animations leading to a heavy impact on the performance of the game.
2. The Mayor house is also a storehouse. Storehouses can't be moved because they define the owner of a sector. Moving it out of the sector will remove the ownership and delete all buildings inside this sector.
3. We are introducing new decorations from time to time. During events, such as the last Easter event, or with new content such as "Of Songs and Curses". Thank you for mentioning it, we will keep an eye on it during our design.
4. Rocks affected by demolition crew are unique objects, which react to an item. Such an object has to be replaced by us on the map manually. Trees are also wood deposits tied directly to the economy of the game. Making them removable is far more complex and a lot of questions have to be answered. What happens if all trees are gone? What happens, if you suddenly decide you want the trees back and use them as deposits again? Can you plant trees? Can our game handle the mechanic of planting trees? Such a change requires several additional new mechanics to be in place.
Question 154: ChinBad, US
What is the craziest, funniest support ticket you've ever got?
CS Team: There are always tickets that bring a smile to our faces. We selected a few for you, including a recent one related to the ongoing Halloween event: "Hey, so I killed the first gollum with water", oh, poor Gollum, why would anyone want to kill him?
Here are some other examples:
We: - Dear player, please clear your browser cache. [added step-by-step guide]. This is an issue which is solely created by your cache.
Player: - I already did that several times... you do not help at all! You always say the problem is at my end!
We: - This is strange, it is really an issue created by the cache alone. Could you please explain to me how you cleared your browser cache, I might be able to help you out.
Player: - Don't think I am that stupid. I know how to clear the browser cache. On your Desktop, you click on the little trashcan. Right-click and then you click on 'clear trash'.
We: -...okay, this explains many things. Please follow the steps we provided again.
Player: - Now it worked
We: - Please send a screenshot of the error
Player sends a selfie
We: - Ehm... nice picture but I would need the screenshot of the error
Player: It's fine.. the error was me
Question 155: kofa1996 , UK
What are block attacks and what are pros and cons?
BB_Alex: Blocking is a strategy where some of your generals are used to block a camp, allowing others to pass the aggro zone and attack the next camp. The benefits are lower losses. The downside is the risk. We can't guarantee a block will work since it is heavily depending on the situation and its parameters. More information can be found in the archive inside the game.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Sixteenth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our sixteenth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 156: TIPEX, The Netherlands
We got always a Dutch CM who was born and raised in the Netherlands, with the change of the language of the CM I'm curious what nationality you have.
BB_Sious: If life is a role-playing game and you get to choose one at character creation, I might pick German for more visa-free travel, perhaps Jamaican, learn to play reggae and become Rastafarian, or maybe Mongolian and experience the great wide open on horseback, have an eagle for a pet and roast dinner using a handheld flamethrower. :p
Back to your question, I have Filipino nationality. At least I have this vivid drawing of a monkey-eating eagle on my passport.
Question 157: hanta, UK
I want to know the secret ingredient! You give our settlers 1 fish platter, and then from the same amount of gold, they do 2 coins instead of one
BB_Alex: One single Fish Plate triggers a unique effect for our Settlers. It allows them to smelt gold so effective they get far more out of one chunk of ore. It's not a secret ingredient, it's the settlers, which are special.
Question 158: Kitek, The Czech Republic
Are you planning to introduce some kind of general which would be useful only for Arabic adventures? It would be great to have such general which would have for example bigger capacity of troops.
BB_Alex: There are generals with a high capacity of troops which also can be expanded even further through skills. On top we also introduced several other unique generals. This combination does reduce losses on Arabian Nights adventures a lot. Besides that, there is almost no way to introduce a general who is great for Arabian nights adventures only, because those generals are automatically better for all adventures, especially with a high amount of troops. Our personal goal for now is to create interesting generals instead of just going more and more powerful. Nusala, Anslem, Vargus and now Mary are generals which have specific benefits and have to be combined to achieve the best outcome for your personal playstyle. And we see this as very important for the game. This approach creates space for optimization and planning, which is a key challenge in an economy builder such as TSO.
Question 159: Siedler-Junkie, Germany
Is it possible to create some kind of trash bin for the Star menu for items that I will never use anyway?
BB_Alex: We do have some gags related to this topic. We even thought of making the new mountain a volcano, where you can burn items. It would be nice to have a mechanic which allows you to get rid of items. Right now it's not our priority and we haven't though of a proper approach for this yet. Maybe someday we might implement such a mechanic into the game. No plans for now.
Question 160: Epilarxos, Greece
Hello, I would like to ask if it is possible to reduce the time of explorer searches.
BB_Alex: Everything is possible. You can reduce the time for explorer tasks through the skill tree. Besides that, we don't have plans to reduce those times. I would rather prefer a valuable loop instead of just a simple decrease.
Question 161: TAG1984, Italy
Why can't we conquer other players' islands?
BB_Alex: Some players don't want their islands conquered. This is one of the things a lot of our players love about the game. Building up their town and their economy peacefully without the fear of losing something due to another player raiding your island. If you want to conquer other islands, try to conquer colonies owned by other players through expeditions.
Question 162: Wirusisko, Poland
I would like to ask if there will be a new Polish server?
BB_Alex: No, no plans for a new Polish server.
Question 163: kke2100, UK
Are there any plans of raising the batch sizes in Barracks from the current 25?
BB_Alex: The same here, no plans for now.
Question 164: Arendyll, US
Why can't we cancel the explorer or geologist if we send them on wrong searches?
BB_Alex: I guess because there is no function supporting it in the game yet. We did not put any detailed thought into such a function yet, so there are no plans to add it. This might change in the future, of course.
Question 165: LioneeR, US
When I first started, I felt like I was taken advantage of in the trade office. People purposely offer insanely lopsided trades in hopes of taking advantage of others. Is there anything in the works for some kind of price guide? I understand we want market economics to do their work, but I think a wide ranging price guide from BB would keep players from getting taken advantage of.
BB_Alex: Prices for goods and items change based on the current status of the economy and content. Having a price guide requires the need to keep it up to date. This includes collecting the data from all servers, since those do differ already and define a price taking all this data into account. All this on a weekly maybe monthly basis. A purchase in the trade office is your personal decision, and we don't want to take it away from you or to influence your decision by releasing a price guide. Checking the market, analysing it, optimizing your economy based on the learnings and benefit from your strategy should be rewards for the time invested into this. You could say it's one side of the game and part of the TSO experience. Besides that, we would like to invest our resources into creating interesting content and bring some small nice additions to the game.
http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/int/forum/pictures/2017_03_14_ama_forum.png
Ask Me Anything Answers - Last Batch
Question 166: Deleted account
Which setting will the next big adventure have? Will there be any forgotten cultures, maybe the Mayan's from the "Doomsday event" 2012 come back?
BB_Alex: Next we are going to the northern continent, the land of the Nords. The Mountain Clan Campaign is designed as late game content with additional challenges and rewards. I personally love the idea of exploring other cultures in the game. We haven't decided yet what kind of content we want to bring after the new campaign.
Question 167: Drachentier 75, Germany
Coins are always a big issue for small players, so why is there no bank in-game that can offer coins with % payback ratio?
BB_Alex: I find myself asking how often you would be able to loan gold from this bank? We would create an exploit if the amount of offers would be infinite, not to mention the database usage for such an infinite offer. Having a limitation on the amount of offers will just shift the issue you mentioned to a later point in time. There also has to be some kind of a malus. A simple addition during payback won't work because you still can avoid paying it back, so there is a need for a constant malus, but how would it look like? There are more questions to answer and a lot more to tackle. I don't see the benefit of such a bank competing with all the other parts which have to be taken care of.
Question 168: Hakkeborn, Germany
The tavern is useless and I am playing since the Beta. Wouldn't it be possible to create a new function for it?
BB_Alex: Yes, you're right, the tavern loses its value as soon as all specialist have been purchased for coins. We are looking into ways to expand the functionality of the tavern.
Question 169: Mr_Update, Germany
Do you plan to make changes to the yields of colonies so that we can trade/change the overproductions of specific yields for something worthy?
BB_Alex: We are focusing on the new campaign right now, so no defined plans to adjust colony resources. Maybe someday in the future, we might be able to go back to the expeditions system.
Question 170: RosaliexD, Spain
Why are there no items to speed up the construction process?
BB_Alex: There are other ways to speed up the construction process.
Question 171: Invictvm, Italy
When will we be able to disband marshals and generals that we don't need anymore?
BB_Alex: No plans for such a feature.
Question 172: Vanto, Italy
I'm a player with one year of TSO (I feel like a newbie) and I've noticed that from level 50, the progression of XP from one level to another is very impressive. Have you studied some other quest (primary or secondary quests, or guild/daily quest with XP as a reward) in order to quicken the level-up? I think it would be nice for all.
BB_Alex: We are always looking for content providing experience points and we have to keep a balance in this case. Leveling up is already faster compared to how it was one year ago and I assume it will be getting faster with the new content we will introduce in the future.
Question 173: CoyoteNZ, UK
Would it be possible to list all the enemy troops attack and defence orders?
BB_Alex: The target order can be viewed by hovering with the mouse of an enemy camp. The order, in which the units are lined up, is also the target order. The attack order is based on the initiative of units plus the fact that the player always starts first. First strike units of the player followed by first strike of the enemy. Normal strike of the player followed by the enemy, and so on. More information can be found inside the archive in the game. We will think about additional improvements.
Question 174: KnurBojowy, Poland
Does the grain from farms fulfill the EU requirements?
TSO Team: According to all regulations, our grain grows in the direction specified in the European Union Guidelines in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas 2014 to 2020. ;)
Question 175: Viraxen, Poland
When you are planning a film adaptation of TSO?
TSO Team: Seeing our Settlers coming to live on the big screen would be pretty cool! But currently, there is no adaptation planned so they will stay on our PC screens.
Note:
With 175 answered questions, we would like to conclude our very first Ask Me Anything session. We hope we were able to answer the most pressing questions and that this experience was as meaningful to you as it was to us.
Powered by vBulletin™ Version 4.0.4 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.