My 5 cents

[wagenricht]

Hi everyone. I played the demo onky for a couple of hours and i could see me buying the game. However there are a couple of things i dislike a lot, but i may have an idea or an inspiration for a solution.
Iam sorry for my lack to express exactly what i mean sometimes, but iam obviously not a native english speaker.

1. The fixed events.
I understand that the campaign must be the same. But i find it kinda boring that you always have the exact same checks with the same numbers. Quite boring for replayability.
Also, it happened several times to me that i had several checks i all failed by 1 point.

Randomizing the checks wouldn't be a good solution, i understand that.

It would be possible to add different sets for each or at least a couple of events. Let me explain:
When you legions get attacked f.e., instead of giving a choice between 1 and 2 like it is now, there are different SETS.
Lets say there is set A and set B.
Set A has the option 1 and 2.
Set B has the option 3 and 4.
Which set is chosen is random (maybe even at the begining of a new game, then the player couldn't save spam to get a different Set).
The checks in each set are for different skills/attributes. Therefore a player couldn't plan ahead because he will know what checks he will get.

To make it more concrete:
The legion is attacked in camp. When the player gets Set A, he has to defend the flank, when he gets Set B, he has to fight in the center.
Set A could require a check for Charisma and/or Discipline, while Set B could require a check for Pila and/or Awareness.

When this is done in a clever way, the written story wouldn't have to be changed either.
But the game would be more unpredictable and each run had a different set of checks.

A slimiliar idea would be, that the player can decide between two things (like it is now). But instead that it is always the same 2 choices, 2 choices are randomly picked out of a list of choices (even 2 out of 3 would give some variety).

Finally, you could add something like fate points, or action points or something like that.
Those can be used to manipulate the check.
F.e., the player could have a fixed amount over a campaign that he can use to reduce the check to retrospectively change it to a success. Like if he had 3 fate points and the check requirement was 18, but he had only 16, he could spend 2 points to change it into a success. Then he would have 1 fate point left to manipulate another check by 1.
Those could be fixed to an attribute or handled like favor and the like.

2. Training
I hate that i always have to get back to the mainscreen to check the actual stats for ther player/cohort and the training screen. It's a lot of clicking, especially when you are not good at memorizing things, like myself.
It would be better if it could be done in the same menue. Therefore i only had to click once to switch between f.e. company training and company stats.

What also would be nice: An indicator if a specific stat will be maintained or risen or decreased in the training menue. Then you would immediately see if you have the "right" amount appointed.


3. Single battle and of the legionaires
It takes a lot of time and breaks the battle flow. I think it also makes no sense that the player has direct control. I also think the mechanics to get those guys are too complicated.
I think it would be better to automate those combats.
I also wonder if those specialists have any influence on the cohort during the main battle.

I think it would be easier if they were auto generated and have the same stats as the legionaires, maybe a little bit better in some areas if numbers are needed to run code in the background.
Instead, give the player simple choices. For example the signum (standard bearer) could just give a flat +1 courage to the whole cohort. When he dies, the whole cohort gets a malus of 1 for the rest of the battle.
This could of course be more fanned out. F.e. when the player recruits a signum, he can chose between 3 signums. Everyone gives different boni. F.e. one guy gives +1 sword attack when you have the advantage, another guy +1 shield when in disadvantage and so on. This could give a lot of options, since it could also give advantages for the different stances of the cohort depending on your specialists.