Developer Diary - Siege Warfare (Part One)

[Dave Belcher]

It is a good idea to make a kickstarter, but I fear that not enough people know about EoC

Yet

[Morbus]

A simple, yet ingenious, solution that addresses the inherit flaws of siege warfare in gaming while still promoting the idea of freedom and sandbox-y-ness?

Mind = blown.

Question(s) about the siege camps:

• Does there have to be a city nearby to build one (could an army just throw one up if they know they're going to be encountering enemies, thereby giving them a fortress to work from)
• Do they expire after a certain amount of time (to prevent people from just building a lot of heavily fortified camps rather than actual settlements [though I do suppose that forts exist for a reason])?
• Does the enemy have to have their own siege weapons to destroy a camp?

Questions about other siege things:

• Can siege weapons like trebuchets hurt players?
• Rather than capture a city, can you decide to loot it for resources and burn it to the ground?
• Are there going to be other ways to take a city rather than a big siege battle (as in, a traitor - or super sneaky spy guy - opening the gates, or a way to relinquish control formally as part of diplomatic proceedings to prevent war in the first place)?
• Will the lamentations of their women be audible, or do I just have to pretend they can hear my quasi-barbarian/strangely-Austrian war cries?

[Saint]

list

From what I know you will be able to build anywhere you like, I do not know if there is a timer but I don't expect it. I think that all siege weapons can be used for the attacking doesn't matter where you found them.

[Mark Hope]

Cool dev diary Dave. "Ergonomic" works just fine in context . Am also in awe of your wall of monitors - good stuff.

[Eldrath]

A simple, yet ingenious, solution that addresses the inherit flaws of siege warfare in gaming while still promoting the idea of freedom and sandbox-y-ness?

Mind = blown.


Questions about other siege things:

• Can siege weapons like trebuchets hurt players?

I do hope so... The only fun part of MO sieges are the occational player/horse explosions.

In general I like what I heard and hope you will get as much as possible into the release. This is the way how a siege in a sandbox should work!

[Bull]

A simple, yet ingenious, solution that addresses the inherit flaws of siege warfare in gaming while still promoting the idea of freedom and sandbox-y-ness?


Mind = blown.

I think I agree, it seems simple and makes sense. Good job!

I can't add anymore because I've never taken part in seiges before.

[Dave Belcher]

Answering these questions with the same disclaimer, all info is subject to change.

A simple, yet ingenious, solution that addresses the inherit flaws of siege warfare in gaming while still promoting the idea of freedom and sandbox-y-ness?

Mind = blown.

Question(s) about the siege camps:

• Does there have to be a city nearby to build one (could an army just throw one up if they know they're going to be encountering enemies, thereby giving them a fortress to work from)

Currently, you dont have to build your camp near a city. You will need seige camp equipment and supplies to set one up though, so you can't just randomly drop one on a whim. You will need to plan to take one along.

• Do they expire after a certain amount of time (to prevent people from just building a lot of heavily fortified camps rather than actual settlements [though I do suppose that forts exist for a reason])?

There will likely be some form of decay/upkeep to prevent them being dropped everywhere instead of proper fortifications. You will have to maintain the camp to keep it active.

• Does the enemy have to have their own siege weapons to destroy a camp?

Depends on how reinforced the camp is, but seige camps will be weaker than real fortifications. Apart from the best established seige camps (which could take upwards of a real week to build up to), you likely wont need seige equipment to take them down.

Questions about other siege things:

• Can siege weapons like trebuchets hurt players?

There will be collateral damage, but they wont do the same damage they do to walls (I can add an explaination for this if required).

• Rather than capture a city, can you decide to loot it for resources and burn it to the ground?

Certainly, if thats what you want, but you wont gain the territory control from it if you burn it down

• Are there going to be other ways to take a city rather than a big siege battle (as in, a traitor - or super sneaky spy guy - opening the gates, or a way to relinquish control formally as part of diplomatic proceedings to prevent war in the first place)?

Most definitely!!! This is a key aspect of the game, where PvP isn't the only way to gain territory and assets. You will be able to gain land and assets both by force, and by politics.

• Will the lamentations of their women be audible, or do I just have to pretend they can hear my quasi-barbarian/strangely-Austrian war cries?

We are looking at having ambient seige battle sounds, but im not sure about lamentations

[Dario]

I love this. Just the other day i was thinking about sieges and that they should take loads of resources and quite some time to execute and here you are explaining such a system

[Kane]

Awesome video!

[Thradok]

Mmmmmyummmm....

Sorry what? I mean, uh, good stuff, there!