FiresideChat

Fireside Chat Ideas

I am looking to improve some of the aspects of communicating things to the players. Several people have suggested the idea of a weekly fireside chat around when I run test passings. I have created a new Microphone Channel called Fireside for the this purpose. I will accept suggestions here for topics for each week. I would like to keep the discussion on topic as much as possible with as many questions submitted here before the event.

Q: Why do you want the questions up front and not during the event?
A: Because historically the ENN chats have started well but got worse the longer they go on. If I get the questions up front, I can think about the answers and not do quick off the cuff answers that tend to upset someone or another.

Q: Can I have a unicorn?
A: No, stop asking. It was funny the first 200 times, but now you are more likely to get a snarky answer that causes someone to point out that Pluribus is a meany and he shouldn't talk to the players that way.

Q: How do I submit idea for topics and or Questions that I would like answered.
A: Add them to the sections below. (+1 any question that you are interested in that was previously posted)

Q: How long will these chats last and is there any chance of taking questions during the event?
A: I am shooting to make them about 30 minutes long. Questions submitted during the event may be answered at my discretion. Posts that are off topic or meant to just be inflammatory will just be deleted rather than posted. (Yes it is censorship, deal with it)

Q: How do I see the discussion as it is happening?
A: During the event, just /join Fireside and the microphone channel will be added. If you can't be in game, it will be logged with the other microphone channels.

Questions Per Topic

State of the Game

• Would you consider adding vanity titles for passing >7 tests in a discipline ("Pharaoh's Idiot")? It would encourage some of us to keep playing. -Istwan
• If the barrier to doing a kickstarter is the time required on your end, why not source ideas from the community and get community involvement in running the campaign? I've started throwing together some ideas here -Dresdor
• How large of a team is currently working on ATITD? What sort of things are you needing help with that the community might be able to step in and assist? We all love this game and want to see it flourish. -Dresdor
• What is the biggest challenge you are seeing in attracting new players to the game? -Dresdor
• What percentage of active subscriptions are the full-telling subscription purchases? - Dresdor
• (Nerdy Questions)How are you tracking various work items/doing project management for this (and the other) games? What system (if any) are you using as a code repository? -Dresdor

Gameplay

• Why can't fertilizer be used to fertilize soil? - Lisanna

Existing Test Improvements and Changes

• Some test have rewards, while others do not. Is there any chance to add some reward to every test, even just a small one. - Balthazarr
  • Architecture - Since each passed test allows an addition 14 cells to a compound, this discipline is pretty much covered. Plus the various houses that you can build after passing tests, and Monuments Towers, too.
  • Art - Since each passed test gives an improved Artistic Touch for Blacksmithing, this discipline is pretty much covered.
  • Body - All but Banquet give a stat boost, maybe a Perception boost could be the reward for Banquet.
  • Harmony - Gives no rewards for anything, other than the Offering Vault becoming an oversized warehouse. This is probably do to Harmony being a late addition to the game.
  • Leadership - Gives rewards for 3 tests Hegemon, Demipharaoh & Mentorship. What about some reward for the others?
  • Thought - Gives no rewards for anything. I can think of no reason why this original discipline was left out in the cold.
    • Maybe something like Artistic Touch for Glassblowing or some sort of boost of that sort. - Balthazarr
  • Worship - Since each passed test increases the yield by 10 barley, this discipline is pretty much covered. Plus a few tests have an extra benefit given to the passers.
• Bedouin is the only test where the player is ignorant about how near is the goal when it was not reached. In all the others it is known. That could be fixed saying each day in system the 3 (or 4) top scores: the 2 that advanced and one or two more. - Sabuli

Ideas for New Techs

The main issue here here is that we propose techs that do NOT require any new graphic resources. - Balthazarr

• Pollution Abatement and Fertilizer. If we could research techniques that would tie into Ecology. For example, after testing for Soil Acidity, if you had learned this tech, you would know how much Lime would need to be spread to mitigate the Soil Acidity. Thank you Lisanna for the suggestion above. - Balthazarr
• Forge & Casting Box Timers. A tech that would allow us to upgrade Forge & Casting Boxes with a timer showing how much time is left on a project, they would update like a chariot, when you clicked on the building. Maybe a new glaziers bench option Fine Glass Hourglass which along with a handful of other materials would enable the upgrade, once the tech was learned. - Balthazarr
• Greenhouse Technology - Allowing the growing of vegetables, instead of grass. Maybe at 25% of the output of grass. An alternative to offlining or macroing them. - Balthazarr (+1 Silden 10:36, 15 April 2016 (EST))
• Real McCoy Oil-Drip Cup - Allowing the installation of automatic oil dispensers to machines that can be lubricated. Could be Steam Mechanics Level 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_McCoy - Balthazarr
• Increased capacity Flax Hammocks and/or Drying Racks, either as an initial build (like Greenhouses) or as an upgrade (like Gins), which allow drying of larger amounts (Structure Reinforcement 3?) (Silden 10:36, 15 April 2016 (EST))
• A use for Cocoa, maybe a Chocolate Making Tech, allowing use to make the Chocolates we get from the Snowstorms, OR Better yet new Chocolates that use real world ingredients that we have access to in game; Camel Milk & Cocoa as the base; Royal Jelly, Honey & Indo Honey as a sweetener; Watermelon, Dates, Citrus Fruits & Coconut Meat as Fillers; Grilled Coconut Meat, Peppers, Grilled Peppers, Salt & Logical Herbs (Blueberry Tea Tree, Camelmint, Ginger Root, Ginseng Root, Honey Mint, Ice Mint, Lemondrop, Lemon Grass, Liquorice, Nubian Liquorice, Mountain Mint, Peppermint, Strawberry Tea, Vanilla Tea Tree) as flavorings. It could be set as a static table that gets randomized each tale. Each chocolate would have Cocoa as the base, one sweetener, one filler & one flavoring, with the option to add Camel Milk. - Balthazarr

Events

There seem to a number of question showing up about events, I will try and get with nikara (The events team lead) and be better prepared for those questions.

• For Events, instead of one 12-hour marathon, how about 3 or 4 copies of an event, each shorter, and spaced around the clock? This allows people from all different time zones as good of a chance to participate, without people feeling obligated to play for a full 12 hour stretch. Yes, one person could win multiple events. I think most of us are willing to take that chance, though. - Somebob +1 Asnath, +1 Kastou, +1 Balthazarr +1 Spicy
• Would it be possible to create an auto-exclude list that would allow a player to participate in 1 round but not in others? (if event = herbs with 3 rounds and they collect 1+ herb in round 1, they cannot get credit for round 2 or 3) Or to have the player select in which rounds they want to participate(ala Demi-Pharaoh) - Zhukuram
• Many players are frustrated with long events, be them 12 or 24 hours long. Similarly they are frustrated with a shorter event that is held at a time inconvenient to them. In some past tales, the same event was run 3 times, with the start time of the second event 8 hours after the first and the third being 16 hours after the first. Is there any chance that this could become the norm? (yes this is a rephrasing of the initial question, just with more details) - Balthazarr
• There has been lots of confusion during events as to what the rules and guildlines are. Would it be possible to have that information available before the events? Example, if warps are possible, time travel use, etc. - Brucette +1 Spicy, +1 LuluDivine
  • For some events it has even been difficult or impossible to determine what activities would gain points or 'win' the event - can events have a clear set of parameters for what makes a person gain points/advance/win? LuluDivine
• We have megalopolis for player event announcements (eg digs and acro) but how do you feel about player run events with player provided rewards? Do you think these are in conflict with official ATITD events (herbing, smoking etc)? Do you think there might be a way to help players run partially competitive events like T6 Bonfires for SETESH or Great Herb Dump? Running player invented events manually takes at least 3 players who dedicate weeks in preparation and then SETESH shows up and chaos happens. -Zhukuram
  • Increase membership of the events team? (Silden 10:38, 15 April 2016 (EST))
• There have been serial on-going events where the story line seems to just die out. Are there ways to help mitigate collapsed story lines or burned out event teams? -Zhukuram
• Some events have top prizes that are worth very little, even to a relatively casual player - is this an intentional choice? - LuluDivine
• Who is on the Events Team? Is that knowledge secret for some reason? - LuluDivine