Ashery
Prophet
- Joined
- May 24, 2008
- Messages
- 1,337
Picked this up Tuesday night after waiting or the release unsure of what to expect quality wise, but it turned out being well worth the 20$. That's not to say the game is without it's faults, but it's fairly simple, relatively addictive (I finished this game in one playthrough, largest map took six hours factoring in the screenshots and a portion of what's typed below), and short enough not to be repetitive. This is also my first playthrough of the game, so mistakes will likely be made for your amusement ;p Ended up not saving/loading at all, so you could call it an ironman playthrough as well, although it seems to be near impossible to fuck up to the point where you lose.
Anyways, off to the adventures of Kingcomrade...
...or, rather, Kingcomrad. Why the game has such a restrictive ten character limit, I don't know.
There is, however, a wide variety of classes to choose from. I don't recall there being an actual caster class, however. Any class can equip a staff/wand and use it as a ranged weapon, but you can't, for instance, create a healer. Most classes have varying strenghts/weaknesses as you can see from above, but there tends to be a combat/non-combat divide. That is to say, most classes are either good at combat or have some advantage when it comes to your town.
Outlaw seems to be a good choice for Kingcomrad's class. When combining the disadvantages of the class with the medium difficulty, the result should at least be moderately challenging.
! Our assignment!
And they weren't kidding about minimal resources, Kingcomrad only has enough food for only five days. Minimal gold as well, but we should get plenty of that while getting our fame out of the negatives.
There were two character screens after, one asking you what stat to boost (attack, defense, or health, took attack) and another asking what special ability you wanted (bonus health or fame, took health). My guess is that a similar screen will occur during each level up, so there'll be screens of those later.
A note on the economy: Gold is used to hire new followers and upgrade buildings. Acquired primarily through looting dead monsters, especially early on, but supplemented by gold produced from a few buildings in town. Food is used for upkeep, each follower eats one food per day, and one of the conditions to lose is to starve. Typically produced in town by farmers, herders, and trappers/hunters, but later on some creatures do drop a bit of food. Fame is gained through combat, can be lost in some circumstances, is one of the requirements for most recruits, and may have a few other effects that I'm unaware of at the moment. Town quality is gained through access to specific resources (Fresh water gives +1), buildings in town (Musician gives +3), and serves as another requirement for recruitment. The blank space to the right of town quality will eventually be occupied by icons representing access to various resources.
Our empty town and the region map. There's also a wonderful warning up top. So not only will Kingcomrad starve in five days if he doesn't get the gold for the farmer, he'll be removed outright if his fame doesnt get out of the negatives.
Having too little gold to hire even the farmer that's currently visiting, Kingcomrad ventures off to the NW to that level one lair. First objective: Get enough gold to higher the farmer so the town doesn't starve and hopefully get enough fame in the process to get out of the negatives.
Also, while the legend isn't in the picture, it should be noted that certain buildings/followers require access to certain resources. That graveyard on the SW wall, for instance, is required in order to hire a necromancer, the fresh water located due north of the settlement is required for the final farm upgrade and gives +1 to town quality, and various others (Herbs, game, mandrake, iron, stone, and possibly a few others). The towers on the map represent enemy strongholds where raiders originate from.
Our first encounter! A spider! Slain before a screenshot could be taken. Kingcomrad gains one fame and four gold.
We come upon the lair that goes along with the woodlands directly to the NW of the town. Once this is cleared, the region will be ours. Not that that means particularly much, considering that this region doesn't contain any useful resource. Just one of the hoops we need to jump through in order to loot, level, build.
Spider lair cleared, cost two pots though, and considering Kingcomrad only had four to begin with, he may be a bit fucked later on. Characters also gain skills by using them, as you can see from the white bars behind attack, defense, and health. Note that the bar behind health represents the character's progress towards the next level, not a bonus to health.
Kingcomrad returns to town to hire the farmer...but they require at least 4 fame...Shit...Might've helped to take that bonus to fame earlier instead of health.
Back out Kingcomrad goes! This time due N to clear some type of resource.
Son of a bitch. Raiders approaching the town. Complicates an already shitty situation.
Kingcomrad loots some more gold, gains a level, but is still short five fame for recruiting the farmer...so much for that build part...Picked up a new weapon as well. Stats are slightly worse, only +1 attack compared to my current weapon, +1 attack, +1 defense, but the mace has a chance to stun an enemy. Only problem is that Kingcomrade is now down to one health pot.
The level screens that weren't shown earlier. Defense seems like the best choice for the stat increase and there are two options for the ability: The adventuring one allows you to heal anywhere and the town one causes your buildings to generate gold. Considering how scarce pots are at the moment, the heal anywhere ability seems the obvious choice.
After checking the region map, seems as though the raiders are already at the base, so Kingcomrad rushes back to defend his "town"...if one could stretch that word to apply to a single building. I wonder what would happen if I didn't return to defend...
Raiders slain easily, fame is now positive, but the farmer Kingcomrad needed to hire got killed by the raiders.
Fuck.
Advertising in hopes that we get another food producer to come by...Only a couple days left until Kingcomrad starves to death alone.
God damnit...Got a fortune teller and a guard.
Time to waste more of Kingcomrad's minimal gold reserves.
Advertise again...Merchant and bard...
...
Third time's the charm and a farmer arrives. Time to go out and gain the last couple points of fame so Kingcomrad can hire'em.
Huzzah! A farmer at last! Pity he only grows two food as he stands currently...Just enough for himself and Kingcomrad.
The town construction screen. A bit disappointed by the lack of customization, but meh...
Upgrade Kingcomrad's outpost to a manor as that's the requirement for upgrading the farm. Without the upgraded farm, the town'll be stuck at two people unless another food producer happens to wander by.
Kingcomrad heads back north to finish what he started before the raiders showed up.
Surveying the situation this time before blindly rushing in as was done with the first lair. Can't really afford to blindly rush in considering the lack of health pots.
Going well so far, one of the orcs dropped a health pot and Kingcomrad found an item that'll likely prove useful once he can acquire an innkeeper.
Easily cleared and another farmer showed up during the fight. Seems as though this location was a quarry...not quite sure what it'll be used for later, but it's taken.
Two more regions are easily cleared, but no decent loot and word that more raiders are incoming.
Another batch of raiders slain. Seems as though their getting tougher already. Two archers and two shamans. KC took a beating before even getting within range, but the goblins got raped once he closed. Also got some robes with an attack bonus and a few more desparately needed health pots.
Plenty of surplus food and a bit of extra gold means we can hire our first non-farmer townsperson. Considering the inn is required for several other structures and allows more visitors to be in the town at any given moment, the goodman seems to be a good man to choose (ha ha ha).
Initially, this fight seemed like it would be the toughest fight yet considering the undead have significantly higher stats than previous encounters, but the fight ended up being a breeze as you can just pull the mobs individually and kill'em all 1v1. The AI doesn't seem to pair the mobs in any fashion, so you can just walk up, aggro one, kite a bit, and fight without adds. The heal anywhere ability has proved itself to be incredibly useful over the past few fights as well. Another note: The healing ability also heals you *in combat*. With high enough defense, you'd become "immune" to damage.
Also got some new gear and another level. For the stat increase, attack seemed like a good choice to balance KC out a bit and for the two abilities there was a choice between extra defense and extra food production. Extra defense seems the obvious choice considering that food production is not an issue anymore.
The region map after clearing the graveyard. Anything below three dots for difficulty seems to be easily soloable.
Should prove useful...It seems as though teleporters, unlike resources, remain hidden on the world map until explored.
Time for Kingcomrad to hop through and do some town management. Ended up hiring a craftsman and upgrading him to a smithy to get some decent gear as well as hiring a trapper for some more food production and town quality upgrades later.
A request from the king! Doesn't seem like much, but it's still more than the town's current reserves. Time to recruit a few more food producing townspeople. (Image accidently saved over ;p)
I believe I have reached the maximum level of difficulty for a fight that can be done solo, at least at Kingcomrad's current level/gear. This dark elf isn't nearly as bad as a few of the other dark elves that had 12+ attack and still reasonably high defense.
An updated picture of the town view after the earlier recruitments and just now recruiting a guard to follow Kingcomrad around. Here's to hoping they dont suicidally rush in and aggro everything.
...but as expected, they do. They have a smaller aggro radius than mobs, but it's large enough to prevent me from pulling a single mob at a time. I can still pull two or three at a time, so the odds are still even, but the guard can't heal outside of the town as Kingcomrad can.
Another request! Easily taken care of thanks to a massive surplus in food production suplimented by a large amount of food that was dropped by various creatures.
And that ends the first portion...Perhaps next time I'll manage to actually recruit a group to raid with ;p
Also, the next update will likely have fewer pictures, especially compared to early on when there was a screenshot every thirty seconds of game time.
(This actually won't be a very long LP. I could've documented the first few group fights a bit better, but they were largely a pushover with a few exceptions. Next update is alreayd done screenshot wise, but I still need to give descriptions, so it'll likely come later tonight/tomorrow night.)
Anyways, off to the adventures of Kingcomrade...
...or, rather, Kingcomrad. Why the game has such a restrictive ten character limit, I don't know.
There is, however, a wide variety of classes to choose from. I don't recall there being an actual caster class, however. Any class can equip a staff/wand and use it as a ranged weapon, but you can't, for instance, create a healer. Most classes have varying strenghts/weaknesses as you can see from above, but there tends to be a combat/non-combat divide. That is to say, most classes are either good at combat or have some advantage when it comes to your town.
Outlaw seems to be a good choice for Kingcomrad's class. When combining the disadvantages of the class with the medium difficulty, the result should at least be moderately challenging.
! Our assignment!
And they weren't kidding about minimal resources, Kingcomrad only has enough food for only five days. Minimal gold as well, but we should get plenty of that while getting our fame out of the negatives.
There were two character screens after, one asking you what stat to boost (attack, defense, or health, took attack) and another asking what special ability you wanted (bonus health or fame, took health). My guess is that a similar screen will occur during each level up, so there'll be screens of those later.
A note on the economy: Gold is used to hire new followers and upgrade buildings. Acquired primarily through looting dead monsters, especially early on, but supplemented by gold produced from a few buildings in town. Food is used for upkeep, each follower eats one food per day, and one of the conditions to lose is to starve. Typically produced in town by farmers, herders, and trappers/hunters, but later on some creatures do drop a bit of food. Fame is gained through combat, can be lost in some circumstances, is one of the requirements for most recruits, and may have a few other effects that I'm unaware of at the moment. Town quality is gained through access to specific resources (Fresh water gives +1), buildings in town (Musician gives +3), and serves as another requirement for recruitment. The blank space to the right of town quality will eventually be occupied by icons representing access to various resources.
Our empty town and the region map. There's also a wonderful warning up top. So not only will Kingcomrad starve in five days if he doesn't get the gold for the farmer, he'll be removed outright if his fame doesnt get out of the negatives.
Having too little gold to hire even the farmer that's currently visiting, Kingcomrad ventures off to the NW to that level one lair. First objective: Get enough gold to higher the farmer so the town doesn't starve and hopefully get enough fame in the process to get out of the negatives.
Also, while the legend isn't in the picture, it should be noted that certain buildings/followers require access to certain resources. That graveyard on the SW wall, for instance, is required in order to hire a necromancer, the fresh water located due north of the settlement is required for the final farm upgrade and gives +1 to town quality, and various others (Herbs, game, mandrake, iron, stone, and possibly a few others). The towers on the map represent enemy strongholds where raiders originate from.
Our first encounter! A spider! Slain before a screenshot could be taken. Kingcomrad gains one fame and four gold.
We come upon the lair that goes along with the woodlands directly to the NW of the town. Once this is cleared, the region will be ours. Not that that means particularly much, considering that this region doesn't contain any useful resource. Just one of the hoops we need to jump through in order to loot, level, build.
Spider lair cleared, cost two pots though, and considering Kingcomrad only had four to begin with, he may be a bit fucked later on. Characters also gain skills by using them, as you can see from the white bars behind attack, defense, and health. Note that the bar behind health represents the character's progress towards the next level, not a bonus to health.
Kingcomrad returns to town to hire the farmer...but they require at least 4 fame...Shit...Might've helped to take that bonus to fame earlier instead of health.
Back out Kingcomrad goes! This time due N to clear some type of resource.
Son of a bitch. Raiders approaching the town. Complicates an already shitty situation.
Kingcomrad loots some more gold, gains a level, but is still short five fame for recruiting the farmer...so much for that build part...Picked up a new weapon as well. Stats are slightly worse, only +1 attack compared to my current weapon, +1 attack, +1 defense, but the mace has a chance to stun an enemy. Only problem is that Kingcomrade is now down to one health pot.
The level screens that weren't shown earlier. Defense seems like the best choice for the stat increase and there are two options for the ability: The adventuring one allows you to heal anywhere and the town one causes your buildings to generate gold. Considering how scarce pots are at the moment, the heal anywhere ability seems the obvious choice.
After checking the region map, seems as though the raiders are already at the base, so Kingcomrad rushes back to defend his "town"...if one could stretch that word to apply to a single building. I wonder what would happen if I didn't return to defend...
Raiders slain easily, fame is now positive, but the farmer Kingcomrad needed to hire got killed by the raiders.
Fuck.
Advertising in hopes that we get another food producer to come by...Only a couple days left until Kingcomrad starves to death alone.
God damnit...Got a fortune teller and a guard.
Time to waste more of Kingcomrad's minimal gold reserves.
Advertise again...Merchant and bard...
...
Third time's the charm and a farmer arrives. Time to go out and gain the last couple points of fame so Kingcomrad can hire'em.
Huzzah! A farmer at last! Pity he only grows two food as he stands currently...Just enough for himself and Kingcomrad.
The town construction screen. A bit disappointed by the lack of customization, but meh...
Upgrade Kingcomrad's outpost to a manor as that's the requirement for upgrading the farm. Without the upgraded farm, the town'll be stuck at two people unless another food producer happens to wander by.
Kingcomrad heads back north to finish what he started before the raiders showed up.
Surveying the situation this time before blindly rushing in as was done with the first lair. Can't really afford to blindly rush in considering the lack of health pots.
Going well so far, one of the orcs dropped a health pot and Kingcomrad found an item that'll likely prove useful once he can acquire an innkeeper.
Easily cleared and another farmer showed up during the fight. Seems as though this location was a quarry...not quite sure what it'll be used for later, but it's taken.
Two more regions are easily cleared, but no decent loot and word that more raiders are incoming.
Another batch of raiders slain. Seems as though their getting tougher already. Two archers and two shamans. KC took a beating before even getting within range, but the goblins got raped once he closed. Also got some robes with an attack bonus and a few more desparately needed health pots.
Plenty of surplus food and a bit of extra gold means we can hire our first non-farmer townsperson. Considering the inn is required for several other structures and allows more visitors to be in the town at any given moment, the goodman seems to be a good man to choose (ha ha ha).
Initially, this fight seemed like it would be the toughest fight yet considering the undead have significantly higher stats than previous encounters, but the fight ended up being a breeze as you can just pull the mobs individually and kill'em all 1v1. The AI doesn't seem to pair the mobs in any fashion, so you can just walk up, aggro one, kite a bit, and fight without adds. The heal anywhere ability has proved itself to be incredibly useful over the past few fights as well. Another note: The healing ability also heals you *in combat*. With high enough defense, you'd become "immune" to damage.
Also got some new gear and another level. For the stat increase, attack seemed like a good choice to balance KC out a bit and for the two abilities there was a choice between extra defense and extra food production. Extra defense seems the obvious choice considering that food production is not an issue anymore.
The region map after clearing the graveyard. Anything below three dots for difficulty seems to be easily soloable.
Should prove useful...It seems as though teleporters, unlike resources, remain hidden on the world map until explored.
Time for Kingcomrad to hop through and do some town management. Ended up hiring a craftsman and upgrading him to a smithy to get some decent gear as well as hiring a trapper for some more food production and town quality upgrades later.
A request from the king! Doesn't seem like much, but it's still more than the town's current reserves. Time to recruit a few more food producing townspeople. (Image accidently saved over ;p)
I believe I have reached the maximum level of difficulty for a fight that can be done solo, at least at Kingcomrad's current level/gear. This dark elf isn't nearly as bad as a few of the other dark elves that had 12+ attack and still reasonably high defense.
An updated picture of the town view after the earlier recruitments and just now recruiting a guard to follow Kingcomrad around. Here's to hoping they dont suicidally rush in and aggro everything.
...but as expected, they do. They have a smaller aggro radius than mobs, but it's large enough to prevent me from pulling a single mob at a time. I can still pull two or three at a time, so the odds are still even, but the guard can't heal outside of the town as Kingcomrad can.
Another request! Easily taken care of thanks to a massive surplus in food production suplimented by a large amount of food that was dropped by various creatures.
And that ends the first portion...Perhaps next time I'll manage to actually recruit a group to raid with ;p
Also, the next update will likely have fewer pictures, especially compared to early on when there was a screenshot every thirty seconds of game time.
(This actually won't be a very long LP. I could've documented the first few group fights a bit better, but they were largely a pushover with a few exceptions. Next update is alreayd done screenshot wise, but I still need to give descriptions, so it'll likely come later tonight/tomorrow night.)
