Concepts and Ideas

Crithum (the web browser game) can be made huge and complex or, it can be kept very simple. Personally, I'm very fed up with these way too simplified games. Actually, simplification is not the annoying feature here, it's the fact that they are not realistic enough. Let's go through an example: the consept of "sending a fake attack". What is that? A "fake attack" is presumably something that is supposed to raise the blood pressure of your opponent. You send an attack, your opponent sees that there is an attack on it's way (this is usually indicated by a "flashing swords" icon).

Let's assume the role of the attacker: launching my "fake attack". Click-click-click-"hmm.. 5 villagers"-click.. Ha? "Your attack has to consist of at least 49 villagers"? Okay.. but excuse me, this is based on what?!? Anyway, 2nd try: Click-click-click-"hmm.. 50 villagers"-click. Alright, troops on their way! Shiver! Arrival time in 10h. Shiver!!!

Let's assume the role of the defender: I'm the defender, a lord, 50 km away from the attacker's place, the place where the troops where launched from. Why should I immediately see that there is an attack on its way? Do I have spies at the attacker's place? (Do I have spies everywhere?) Can my spies send telepathic messages to me or are they using "the Internet" to send this information to me? Or maybe the attacker phoned me and said: "Shiver you motherf....! I sent my whole army to destroy you!". C'mon - it's the medieval times. Assuming I did have a spy there (and without trained birds) it would take some time for information about the attack to reach me. Let's assume this takes 4h. So I know 6 hours before the attack hits me that there is an attack coming. A "fake attack" of about 50 troops. And I know exactly what troops, since my spy can relay this information to me. What kind of fake attack is this then? I know everything about it, there is nothing "fake" about it.

Alright, let's assume I did not have a spy there. The attacking troops advance towards my place without me knowing about it (no "flashing swords" in reality, no..) At some point (say, half way, after 5h) they cross the borders of the lands I rule and someone, let it be a servant of mine (a villager, a scout, a concerned farmer, ..) decides that he better alert his lord i.e. me. Ok, up he goes on his horsie and rides to my place, relays me the message. I get this message about 3h before the attack hits me. And yet again, it's not a "fake attack" since I know (almost) everything about it. However, if the attackers had orders to turn back say when they actually "see" my place, yes, then it would be a fake attack. For that last about 3h I would be fooled to think that those 50 men are attacking me, which they finally didn't. Sigh. Complicated.

There is a lot of stuff that can be included into a medieval game. I drew up a mindmap about the concepts of the game, which is basically a map of ideas/topics that we can discuss here on this website. Please take a look at it and comment anything about it on the forum!

All comments are welcome, thank you!

Let the discussion continue in the forum!