Enchanter, a little of grind (ok... a lot)

Suggestions
1

Hello everyone,

You know, when you put a lot of time in game, you realize that something is missing. You can build bigger town, dig more gold (why not? I love to collect gold bars), and fight with goblins and other easy monsters and do it as far as your PC can handle it. My biggest town have 33 heartlings and something around half of them was soldiers (hard mode), and I just bored with them, how many houses I can build in one city? Perfect solution for that will be some sort of grinding, except useless tones of roasted mutton, and net worth.

First should appear in game infinite lvl for soldiers, really hard to achieve new lvl but to have some rewards for killing stronger enemies. Now when you promote four footman’s in the same time, they will have lvl 6 after two- three combats, and your power increase enough to stop care for that for next 10 new settlers. Just like that, how someone who have 3 fights can be the same badass, like a knight who was one of yours first settler? That is crazy.

For now it’s useless, but for this what is below, there should be a system to customize your heartlings equipment. More randomise in items, stats, and effects, can be achieved differently, by making swords from better materials(like boss loot), enchanting, eating souls or something even more crazy. I decide to count on enchanting for this game, because it’s doesn’t require any random generating of items, and look lore friendly.

Now I will just paste a note created before with my concept of that idea, and some explanations, probably something will duplicate with this text above, really sorry ;).

Stoneheart project 1
#enchanter

-classes:

  1. Enchanter
  2. Scriber

-features:

-General:

  1. Ability to change soldiers equipment by player.
  2. More loot from monsters.

-For Enchanter:
3. Enchanter can utilize monster loot to gain energy*, and element crystal*.
4. Enchanter can use gained energy, and element crystal to boost weapons and armours.
5. It can fail, all components will be destroyed.
6. Can use Will Notes*, energy and element crystals to create magic turrets* and golems*

-For scriber:

  1. Scriber can use energy from monster loot, potions, and powders*, created by high level herbalist, to create amulets* and talismans* for civilians.

  2. Scriber can produce Will Notes.

    -why?
    Reasons why this should be implemented are simple. Firstly, it will imput grind element to the game, to give player more fun from fight and improving soldiers, like in RPG games.
    Second is that how difficult is to keep your heartling alive on hard mode. Using scout gong to stronger enemies is too scary, even if 13 of your 30 heartling are lvl 6 soldiers. Purple and red kobolds are too strong for them if come in bigger party.
    It should be a, end-game and mid-game stuff. Now endgame is the most missing part of the game. This crafting process will need four high level crafters: herbalist, potter, enchanter and scriber in the same time to slow everything down.

*Energy
-It should be an number status assigned to enchanter workbench.
*Element crystal
-They will occasional drop as a reward for mostly every action in game, like farming, fight, dig, construction, cutting trees, crafting. They will determine what kind of enchant you can put.
*Will notes

  • Will closed on paper, magic processor to make not live parts work nicely.
    *Magic turrets
  • Weird groups of mechanical part floating around, deadly for your enemies
    *Golems
    -Pretty statues make out of everything, its just a decoration, and smashing enemies who will come close enough.
    *Powder
    -Powdered herbs show a little of magic activity.
    *Amulet
    -You can place them, affect on nearby heatlings.
    *Talisman
    -Thing to protect civilians from kobolds arrows. Strong enemies can wipe out your miners or porter on log trip just appearing on they way. So they need some help before soldiers can come. Every second is important here. It can also help them in work.

List of items:

-Workbenches-

  1. Energy Crystal
  2. Enchanter Workshop
  3. Scriber Desk

-Monster drops- (With number of energy, what you can gain from them)

  1. Ogre Bone (ogres, exist alredy) (70)
  2. Goblin Ear (goblins all) (10)
  3. Old Skeleton Bone (Skeleton) (20)
  4. Zombie Flesh (Zombie all) (20)
  5. Leaving Stick (Small entling) (_5)
  6. Leaving Branch (Entling) (25)
  7. Slate Rock (Little Stone Golem) (_5)
  8. Stone Heart (Stone Golem) (65)
  9. Necromant cape (Necromant) (30)
  10. Ork Teeth (orks) (40)
  11. Kobold Fur (Kobolds) (50)
  12. Varanus Hide (Varanus, exist alredy) (10)
  13. Wolves tail (All Wolves) (15)
  14. Brown Tail (Kobold Wolves) (25)

-Half products-

  1. Powders (Different for all herbs) (Herbalist)
  2. Strips of Cloth (Scriber)
  3. Copper Talisman (Blacksmith)
  4. Bronze Talisman (Blacksmith)
  5. Iron Talisman (Blacksmith)
  6. Silver Talisman (Blacksmith)
  7. Gold Talisman (Blacksmith)
  8. Bone Talisman (Blacksmith)
  9. Wood Golem (Carpenter)
  10. Stone Golem (Mason)
  11. Clay Golem (Potter)
  12. Iron Golem (Blacksmith)
  13. Steal Golem (Blacksmith)
  14. Bone Golem (Enchanter)
  • Element Crystal-
  1. Wild Crystal (Farming, Cutting Trees, Harvesting Plants)
  2. Earth Crystal (Diging)
  3. Life Crystal (Combat, Harvesting animals, Dead heatlings)
  4. Energy Crystal (Crafting, Building)
  5. Metal Crystal (Smelting Metals)

All of that is one of many ways to make this game more addictive. Now it’s just a powerful world with no content for long games. Hope it will give you some ideas. If someone have another vision of similar update I will be glad to read about it :wink:

2

While it is a interesting concept and somewhat of a logical one, i don’t think it fits the heart of the game

For now, sure, we have only 4combat classes and they have some but little diversity, eventually i suspect that we’ll have some more advanced combal classes(say, warrior, that can weild great-swords that derive from lvl6 footmen, or a juggernaut that wields a massive shield deriving from a lvl6 knight, ect)

While true that the current system of leveling up is somewhat problematic due to the fact that it takes less and less time to level up as you go, i doubt it will stay the same, or will at-least get some balancing to make it more interesting and rewarding, and adding more advanced combat classes will also be a way of making more room for the sondliers to level up and cost more, so that could be seen as a balancing act

What i mean by ‘not true to the games heart’ is that SH isn’t a grind game as it is, it’s a game of exploration and discovery, and though some grind is always there, i don’t think it should be a core element or chore that you have to do so much in order to progress, sure, it will make the game more addictive for some and add a ton of hours to the steam log, i don’t think people play/will play the game for the grind, most seem more interested in statergy, building and exploration, little bits of story and lore, and the story you as the player builds

The solution you present definitely adds some diversity to the game, i think it may be too much of a grind and too much of micro-management, i feel like the game is a game of ‘managing’ a town, and watching it grow, rather than a game of ‘controlling’ a town

Many people will enjoy the grinde just as you might, but many won’t, and i actually like some grind in a game, but i can live without it, but some people can’t stand grind, especially if it’s a big element of the game and is strongly emphasized or required to progress, and SH as a game, isn’t a game of grind in it’s core, and changing that may alienate many fans of the game as it will become less enjoyable to them, while most people that do enjoy grind, will stick along regardless on weather it changes or not, so it’s better strategy to keep it as it is, and have a balance of grind and the other elements that build the game, after-all the game does have grind as it is, you need to wait for a bulding to complete, you have to mine a bunch to get resources you need , ect , and i for one feel
Like it’s appropriately balanced, it’s necessary to progress, but not enough to be a burden, and not so little that there’s no need for it, and we get a clear reward and progression by doing it

Grind and Progression is a similar but different thing, and we do clearly lack in some progression, i do not think grind is something we need,

Though, your ideas are pretty interesting and is a enjoyable feature for many players, but perhaps, it’s something more suited for a Mod, not a core game feature

2 Likes
3

I really can’t agree that SH is a exploration and discovery game, maybe everything but not that, for now. Maps are small and more than half of it will be never visited by you, because there is nothing to look for. If there will be, why not? But not for now.

I know that grinding is not something that enjoy everyone, but as long as is needed only on lvl hard and only for fighting is ok I think, now we have rally bad system of grinding food what will never be consumed by heartlings. So I think people who can’t stand grind don’t play this game at all. How you can tell your own story, when everything what you have is collecting food? Sometimes you have to build something. I think that my idea should be a little part of game, I don’t want a game where everything what you can do is upgrade weapons :wink: