Build rate change?

[Darnivan]

Did you make a sudden change to the build rates for larger kingdoms Kaz? It is changed but I can't find any notice of the change so I was wondering if it was changed on purpose or by accident.

[Kaz]

I fixed a bug where 'some' larger kingdoms were unfairly getting a better BRT than smaller kingdoms.

BRT should have been fixed at :

0%(4), 5%(6), 10%(8), 15%(10), 20%(12), 25%(14), 30%(16), 35%(18), 40%(19)....

'some' kingdoms were inheriting an old 'should be removed' Massacre tweak getting a +2 boost every 25k acres.

some 25,000 acre kingdoms
0%(6), 5%(8), 10%(10), 15%(12), 20%(14), 25%(16), 30%(18), 35%(20), 40%(21)....

some 50,000 acre kingdoms
0%(8), 5%(10), 10%(12), 15%(14), 20%(16), 25%(18), 30%(20), 35%(22), 40%(23)....

This is a massively unfair and unintended advantage, which make the big get bigger at a rate smaller kingdoms cannot compete with. I'm surprised wasn't reported ages ago, I noticed it when my BRT suddenly jumped by +2 when it should not have done, and investigated.

[Reylan Talonspyre]

I believe that is called a Hotfix.

[Darnivan]

Ah, I'm guessing those that noticed it figured it was another of quite a few changes that happened since the old days, like downhit protection etc. Not really any indication that it wasn't supposed to be there in the first place the way it changed at exactly 25k, 50k and 100k acres. It wasn't so much a bug as another feature that wasn't supposed to be on anymore.

[Jokingjoe]

Is this change crossing all games or just guilds?

[Kaz]

It was originally implemented for `Massacre : Conquest` because in order to progress up through the large NPC's large amounts of land needed to be taken, and building was less of a priority. Hence why it jumped at specific intervals. There were several tweaks added that made massacre style play easier, but would have led to unbalance in classic style play.

It should have been removed from the code entirely (or at least marked as massacre only) when we created `Domination` and the other classic games, because it's obviously an unfair advantage to larger kingdoms. Combine the BRT increase with the fact that hitting 1mil income makes tithe efficient again, means that kingdoms can just get larger and larger.

If you think that some players have to maintain 15% of their land in quarries for a BRT of 10, if they get lotted they drop to 4. Others (100k+) get that 10 BRT for free when lotted, and 15% gives them a BRT of 16.

I obviously left some of the code behind and didn't realise it wasn't fully removed. The fact it was only partial meant that not 'all' large kingdoms will have received the boost. Making it even more unfair.

I appreciate that it might not have seemed like a bug, and I get that it will have effected some kingdoms in guilds (and the other games), but that was an advantage that wasn't really fair, that I thought had been long-removed years ago.

[Jokingjoe]

I remember when you implemented it--I thought the bonus at 25k and 50k was really nice. My build strategy will be altered a bit by this change.

[Kaz]

Well .. after a few tweaks .. it's now set as a configuration setting.

I'm more than happy to discuss turning it back on in high turn-rate games, but as it currently stands it's off for everything except massacre.

I think it's a little too unfair an option for guilds.

[Nagash]

For Guilds it ameliorates the position of the guilds/realms in the lead. So cheers for getting rid of it

[Reylan Talonspyre]

Cheers for using the word "ameliorates"!