A new start: epic raids, blunder#1

Dear BB,

Today, at long last we got new epic adventures to break the tedium that level capped players have faced for quite a while. Great was my anticipation when I logged in (after several attempts, btw), and, within minutes, equally great was my disappointment.

In order to even get going on the new adventures, we first get a quest that requires you, among other things, to own 1500 recruits and have an army of 3000. For lack of stronger langage that will survive the moderators, that is utter nonsense. I've had a total population cap of 2500 for months, and happily managed with that all that time. An army of 3000 means having to buy accomodation for another 750 or so settlers. And for what? Having 1500 recruits is only sensible if you can use them at once, and the worst you can throw at us is a suicide wave of 250. Why would I need to bring all those troops to an adventure before I need them? This is just plain annoying, and equally pointless as the own 200k goldcoins quest (no need ever for such high storage capacity) - but that one is at least easily ignored. This one however, seems to be the gateway to the entire set of new content.

Don't get me wrong, setting a challenge here and there is all part of a good game, but this challenge is futile. There is no benefit from having such a population and army that remotely outweighs the cost. Or are we going to get 15-way blocks? That does indeed need a 3k army (but not 1500Rs, and oh yes, BB doesn't like blocks anyway, right?)

But perhaps that was the point all along, and building licences / housing was simply not selling enough? Who's to know.....

At any rate, a blunder. let's hope it stays with blunder #1, but I have a bad feeling about this....

lol, everything is relative, I have a population limit of 6020 (and know lots of players with 5k plus pop) and a storage of 250k (which is quite normal to have over 200k at lvl 50). In order to complete the valiant little tailor I should even increase the population limit as I now have to build troops during the adv....

So blunder #1, no not in my opinion :-D

I think BB did it since they believe players MUST have 3000 army to manage the new epic adventures. However I think that should be left up to players to decide. One thing that makes this game fun is that it can be played in several ways. Removing decisions from the game makes it more boring. I don't want to feel like I'm following a tutorial all the way, that's fine for the first part of the game, but then I want to feel freedom, the ability to make my own good or bad decisions. Quests like this remove part of that, and I don't like it.

That said, for me personal this is not a concern, I was planning on going for bigger population cap in a while anyway.

I can't even get on to Newfoundland, is it still under maint?

Also can not get on yet, so Northisle has some luck there ;)

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Originally Posted by Shelob81

In order to complete the valiant little tailor I should even increase the population limit as I now have to build troops during the adv....

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So, what's wrong with that? I always build the needed troops during the adventure. Much more efficient. Heck, of that 2500 I often don't even use the last 300 or so. make an attack, and throw in 200 new settlers into the mayor's house and then the barracks.

Any news of star coins from Northisle?

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Originally Posted by Baggis

Any news of star coins from Northisle?

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I got some 12k of those in storage now. I estimate I'd have had somewhere between 1.5 and 3M xp before, so it's pretty stiff conversion rate. However, there doesn't seem to be a way to spend them yet....

15k here

coin shop will open "soon" no date given yet.

An army of 3000 isn't really that much. I am nowhere near level 50 and have nearly that already. From what I have read the Epic Raids will eat 3000 troops for a starter before the main course.

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Originally Posted by Gytha_Ogg

An army of 3000 isn't really that much. I am nowhere near level 50 and have nearly that already. From what I have read the Epic Raids will eat 3000 troops for a starter before the main course.

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So? I don't mind that. What I do mind is that I'm denied the option to use my building licenses (or gold) for other purposes and happily make the necessary troops while the adventure is ongoing. What grates the most is that you are forced to play how BB wants - building your troops in advance, eating population - instead of finding a solution yourself.

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Originally Posted by Hayek

So? I don't mind that. What I do mind is that I'm denied the option to use my building licenses (or gold) for other purposes and happily make the necessary troops while the adventure is ongoing. What grates the most is that you are forced to play how BB wants - building your troops in advance, eating population - instead of finding a solution yourself.

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Some of the regular adventures lasted even 8 days, I assume they have been shortened to a day or something now then? Drill plan could help also

@Hayek : I Dont think BB is forcing anything on you, you can simply ignore the quest and play the game at your own pace. The adventure "little vailent taylor" you can buy for 650mf from merchant:)

It is a little bit silly since having an army of 3000 units doesn't actually make the adventure any easier than having an army of 2000 units. You're still gonna need to chain up a few days worth of troops in the barracks to replace lost ones.

And that's even if you're doing it as a three player adventure.

So, while not really a blunder, it's just a pointless and useless target and shows, once again, that BB aren't really in touch with how this game is actually played or how many losses people are going to have playing these new adventures.

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Originally Posted by Hayek

So? I don't mind that. What I do mind is that I'm denied the option to use my building licenses (or gold) for other purposes and happily make the necessary troops while the adventure is ongoing. What grates the most is that you are forced to play how BB wants - building your troops in advance, eating population - instead of finding a solution yourself.

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Just a question then, how long does it take for you to complete an adventure? I like to have all troops ready, and when I do for example Dark Brotherhood with my guildies we complete in about 2 hours. Black Knights takes less than an hour.

Different strokes for different folks they say. I have had room for a 3000 strong army since level 40 or so.

your right everything is relative and at least we have something new to challenge us now for some time i have had population cap of 8,000 now i will probably need all those and more besides as valiant little taior isnt even on combat simulator the map is but no troop numbers are avaiable so will have to do it blind ooooer!

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Originally Posted by Dragavon

Just a question then, how long does it take for you to complete an adventure?

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A BK takes a day; sent 500R or so (and the non Rs) in the morning, wrap up with the remainder in the evening. DB would cost 2 days (3 if I'd supply all the cav). That's fine with me; if I wait for my barracks during my adventure or in between doesn't matter to me. I see no need to complete it all in one sitting.

The thing that some here are missing is that some of us want the freedom to chose how to play ourselves. Not get it forced on us by BB. I don't like this new quest, nor do I like the quests to own the different expert buildings. It's not a big deal, especially since I plan on getting it all eventually, but I still don't like it. I like the freedom to figure out my own strategy. Having a smaller population cap means I have more resources for other stuff, same for skipping expert buildings, which are expensive and mostly useless. More freedom = more fun.

this fairy tale thing is another ultra mega expensive ....let's call it in a beautiful way: "thing" from our brilliant developers. As I saw somewhere, you kinda get let's say maximum 800 beans reward with great army loss. So in order to have beanstalk you have to get that castle. 10k beans for one castle let's say a month for that (because the adventure is rare to find or expensive, and it needs lots of units). So u got the castle - another month is ost because: surprise: let's upgrade that castle to the 5TH LEVEL so that IT COULD WORK. OOOH AND THE RATIO IS SO PRFECT: 50 to 5. 50 beams for 5 magic beamstalk or whatever they are. SOO you got the castle and ugraded it: 2months. After ou coninue to complete those hard adventures, and you get 800 beams => 80 beanstalks per adventure. And you want to buy that Major general: 10000 beanstalks divided by 80 per adveture = 125 ADVENTURES you have to COMPLETE lol. 1 adventure in let's say 4-5 days (this is positive thinking, cuz u need to recover after one epic adventure) = 500 DAYS FOR THAT GENERAL!!! LOOOOL. DOES IT WORTH IT? I DON'T THINK SO. And fter that you may want that residence ad bla bla. EXPENSIVE GAME. THE DEVELOPERS USE YEARS AS OVERALL TIME UNIT.
Let me solve another math test: THE GREAT SCIENCE SYSTEM: for a simple codex or whatever at bookbinder level 5 = 12 h. so 2 simple codexes a day. you can use them at 15 upgrades=> 7 days for basic geologist upgrade. next level: 18 upgrades => 9 days for basic codes PLUS 10 days the upgrade for middle codexex. that's a total of 19 days. The final codexes: 27 upgrades: 13 days basic + 15 middle + 19 final = 47 days. So to have one geologist ully upgraded (bookbinder lvl 5 required and NO pauses between codex production) you need: 7+19+47days = 73 days - more that 2 mnths. We have 4-5 geologits...imaagine the time needed. needles to say that we don't always have titanium for example required in bokfiting production.
Returning to the fairy tale thing: I HOPE someone will finish an adventure, so that we know exactly beans we get as a reward, and buy that castle so we can have an overview over its prodction. Every information is important. In my opinion, just like the previos quest chains, i think it's aHUE waste of time and by time i mean YEARS :)). great job for all the developers. Please make a simple calculus before presenting us those "amazing upgrades to the game". Maybe you're stuck at PVP phase, and you tr to keep the players busy for another full year. Maybe!

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Originally Posted by nightm4n1965

your right everything is relative and at least we have something new to challenge us now for some time i have had population cap of 8,000 now i will probably need all those and more besides as valiant little taior isnt even on combat simulator the map is but no troop numbers are avaiable so will have to do it blind ooooer!

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The Vailiant Little Tailor is on the combat simulator and there are guides already, so I'm not sure what you mean about 'having' to do it blind. There are not a lot of guides at the moment, but the first thing people asked about fairytale adventures was 'is there a guide?' and then seemed a bit put out that the number of guides isn't that great so far. The guides have been created by some very committed players who have worked hard on test to find strategies for completing The Valiant Little Tailor and they should be congratulated for coming up with something in such a short period of time. The other option that is always available is to sit with a combat simulator and run your own figures through it - if you don't want to risk that on live servers it is still possible on test and then you can play your own strategy once you've tested it there.

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Originally Posted by nightm4n1965

your right everything is relative and at least we have something new to challenge us now for some time i have had population cap of 8,000 now i will probably need all those and more besides as valiant little taior isnt even on combat simulator the map is but no troop numbers are avaiable so will have to do it blind ooooer!

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also it is on simulator just got german name on it i used it to use the guide below and the sim to create my guide for it

http://www.settlersonlinewiki.eu/adv...th-cannoneers/


my guide

http://forum.thesettlersonline.com/t...l=1#post234457

thanks for the posts of the guides, great job and thanks. but for us down in the lower 40s, the options of cannons isn't there. and as for BB forcing you to anything, well, My honest opinion is, it's a game, play it how you wish, complain if you wish, but just enjoy it.

Fact is: anyone who's a high enough level to do these adventures shouldn't need a guide.

They're troop sinks with only one path to follow and no strategy at all. Disappointing...

The new quest serie "The new challange" is a stroke of genius NOT. Final reward is adventure "The Valiant Little Tailor" plus 500 gems. Part two of this questline is do the adventure "The Valiant Little tailor".. Yeah right..

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Originally Posted by Mystic

The new quest serie "The new challange" is a stroke of genius NOT. Final reward is adventure "The Valiant Little Tailor" plus 500 gems. Part two of this questline is do the adventure "The Valiant Little tailor".. Yeah right..

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That adventure can be purchased for map fragments, found via long adventure search or in the Branch Office, so you shouldnt be held up for too long to complete the quest chain.

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Originally Posted by Gytha_Ogg

That adventure can be purchased for map fragments, found via long adventure search or in the Branch Office, so you shouldnt be held up for too long to complete the quest chain.

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is this confirmed? what is a branch office?

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Originally Posted by sk3l370n

is this confirmed? what is a branch office?

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Branch Office = Trade

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Originally Posted by Mystic

The new quest serie "The new challange" is a stroke of genius NOT. Final reward is adventure "The Valiant Little Tailor" plus 500 gems. Part two of this questline is do the adventure "The Valiant Little tailor".. Yeah right..

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By the way everyone who completes the first part of this quest ( own 1500 recs) is given a free "valiant" adventure for the next part. check your star menu!
Not that it matters as im lev 42 and have no choice but to look for help if I want to complete this.

Yeah great, what should I do with these 1500 recruits, now I need 2800 bowmen?...

Im not touching it. Who knows? With time the towers and castles may even turn up in TO, just like the whitecastles have turned up :D. Good thing I didnt spend soo much time playing SFTR wanting a white castle. Pretty much swapped a dark one for a white one :D

These epics are troop sinks.

Well i must say, i am completely dissapointed in the new epic failure adventure....Could not wait to start the Valiant Little Tailor. It is tedious, boring, and repetative. What happened to making an interesting adventure to challenge us, so we can at least enjoy losing so many troops. We do the hard yard to get to level 50, and if this is the best BB can do, i think its time i left the game.
If there were more varity in the camps, and varied losses to camps, i would enjoy it better, instead it is continual 200B, 200B, 200LB....then its back to make more B and LB, mmmm so interesting.

I must say that i was excited about the fairytale adventures until I started and finished the first sector of Valiant little tailor, what a total waste of time, weapons and resources. I had the army of over 3k troops thanks to the first quest in that chain, now im lucky to have an army of 500 and havent even started sector 2. How BB got the idea that being repetitive and making this adventure ridiculously boring is beyond me. I love this game but my patience is fast running out with the garbage that is being initiated into the game. Being level 46, i to got that ridiculous quest chain, and even if i was level 50 with cannoneers i still cannot see that any army under around 6 - 7k mark could finish it with a decent amount of troops and resources left. I am seriously considering leaving settlers once i have hit level 50 unless of course BB grow some brains and actually start listening to the players and implementing adventures and events that are alot more interesting and less taxing on resources....but thats my rant and you may disagree if you wish. However, I will remain in my stance as I do feel that things are slipping severely with the game, with every maintenance there are yet more bugs instead of less... I would really hate to see the dev's list of bugs....it would by now be longer than a roll of toilet paper and yet it never shortens...well done BB for the epic fail once again definitely a -100 for effort on this one..

I have not experienced Valiant Little Tailor yet, however from what I have read it seems to be designed as a true multiplayer adventure for those at a high level, and not really to be done Han style. If you think it really is too difficult how about asking friends or guild mates for assistance?

I know I will be on my first attempt.

Completed VLT today after partnering up with a friend. It's funny that most of us are so used to completing multiplayer adventures by ourselves and selling lootspots that it seems unnatural to have to do it with others. I don't see anything wrong with these adventures actually needing us to work with others to complete.

That said, I lost a lot of troops and got 100 beans, 700 gr, 1 choc rabbit, 1 exotic basket. The linearity is annoying though you can skip a few camps - I didn't try any blocks but now I know what is in each camp I can start working some out. At this rate though it's going to take a long time to save up the beans for anything meaningful. Maybe the other adventures will drop more beans but the 270 general seems like a long way off...

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I always build the needed troops during the adventure. Much more efficient.

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No it isn't. It's far more efficient to have a large standing army and replace them as you lose them with 1 eye on adv's that you plan to do in the future. A large army costs nothing to keep, only to build. Starting an adventure and then building the troops when it is running is a very odd way to do it. I have a pop of just under 5k and a standing army of between 3k and 4k most of the time. Sometimes dropping below after a particularly large adventure.

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Originally Posted by Joe1983

A large army costs nothing to keep, only to build. Starting an adventure and then building the troops when it is running is a very odd way to do it.

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A large standing army costs space on your island for residences.

Reading the feedback, island space is probably the second or third biggest complaint about the game after there being a cap at level 50 and there being no PvP. Certainly it was the biggest complaint by a long way when the science system and its 7 buildings were announced.

So having a large standing army costs one of the most valuable resources of all!

Cost nothing?... pah!

Standing army v No standing army, come on peeps this is a total non issue. Each to their own to suit their own play style, I say.

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Originally Posted by Dorotheus

Standing army v No standing army, come on peeps this is a total non issue. Each to their own to suit their own play style, I say.

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Agreed, but I'm not going to stay silent when people try to justify their opinion by saying things which are simply wrong!

My only problem is that the requirements of the quest bear no obvious relationship to the difficulty of the adventures!

After playing the first adventure, I must say, I am impressed. BlueByte really means it when they say this game is PEGI7.. I bet an 7yo would have no problems playing this adventure and he would probably use just as much troops as adults will. :(

No planning, strategy involved NOTHING. I started the adventure with my default troops plus 300 extra recruits and managed to play it while I kept building the next batch of troops.. UGH