This game is truly _extremely_ difficult without a lot of luck starting a good random seed. Out of about 15 tries, I only proceeded beyond two years once, and that was only to year four. In truth, I would not label it as "challenging", but as "utterly frustrating and hostile towards anyone playing it".
The starting situation is difficult to begin with, and the "exploit some assumptions a player would likely make" only compounds it, creating a game that is, to be blunt, openly player hostile.
Almost every time, I have to sell one land to get grain, leaving me only one land to sow. Rebellious peasants constantly require me to maintain palace guards, which die defending. Then I have to recruit more guards from the peasants, limiting how much I can assign them to sowing land and other tasks. Likewise, I am not able to assign soldiers to capture new lands to grow. In turn, this limits grain production, starving peasants and guards, seemingly making them more rebellious. Rinse, repeat, end of game
I would suggest if the design is ot exploit "assumptions made", a least state what those are. As it is, the game comes off as "I designed this game so you will lose, therefore, you lose, game over!"
“Out of about 15 tries, I only proceeded beyond two years once”
This is definitely not the experience we had during playtests. Either you were struck by extreme bad luck, or you haven’t got the hang of it yet.
In the playthrough video, I survive 10 years with the seed lezchnt3x2a, which is somewhat lucky, so you might want to try it. (And you can compare decisions if you still run into difficulties.)
I haven’t specified the assumptions being exploited because that could act as a spoiler. (They concern the strategy, there is no hidden/misleading rule.)
The goal is to rule as long as you can, and you can’t do it indefinitely, so in this sense, the player is indeed destined to lose. :)
Edit: I’ve managed to survive 6 years without tending the fields at all, which means it is possible to survive 6 years with any random seed.
(Of course, one can achieve better results with farming.)
It depends on the random seed, but it’s usually possible to survive 6-9 years. (Maybe I should post some play-through at some point.)
Edit: What was the bottleneck? If you are short on grain, try selling some land. Also make sure the palace is well-defended if there are any hungry peasants.
very clear and simple interface. i like that the affected options are highlighted when hovering, this really helps to focus and make the “right” choices.
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This game is truly _extremely_ difficult without a lot of luck starting a good random seed. Out of about 15 tries, I only proceeded beyond two years once, and that was only to year four. In truth, I would not label it as "challenging", but as "utterly frustrating and hostile towards anyone playing it".
The starting situation is difficult to begin with, and the "exploit some assumptions a player would likely make" only compounds it, creating a game that is, to be blunt, openly player hostile.
Almost every time, I have to sell one land to get grain, leaving me only one land to sow. Rebellious peasants constantly require me to maintain palace guards, which die defending. Then I have to recruit more guards from the peasants, limiting how much I can assign them to sowing land and other tasks. Likewise, I am not able to assign soldiers to capture new lands to grow. In turn, this limits grain production, starving peasants and guards, seemingly making them more rebellious. Rinse, repeat, end of game
I would suggest if the design is ot exploit "assumptions made", a least state what those are. As it is, the game comes off as "I designed this game so you will lose, therefore, you lose, game over!"
Thank you for the feedback!
“Out of about 15 tries, I only proceeded beyond two years once” This is definitely not the experience we had during playtests. Either you were struck by extreme bad luck, or you haven’t got the hang of it yet. In the playthrough video, I survive 10 years with the seed lezchnt3x2a, which is somewhat lucky, so you might want to try it. (And you can compare decisions if you still run into difficulties.)
I haven’t specified the assumptions being exploited because that could act as a spoiler. (They concern the strategy, there is no hidden/misleading rule.)
The goal is to rule as long as you can, and you can’t do it indefinitely, so in this sense, the player is indeed destined to lose. :)
Edit: I’ve managed to survive 6 years without tending the fields at all, which means it is possible to survive 6 years with any random seed. (Of course, one can achieve better results with farming.)
Great!! What engine did you use to make this?
Thanks! It’s just JavaScript with jQuery.
I don't know if it's me or the game but I always get stuck on year 2 and it seems as I can't progress...
It depends on the random seed, but it’s usually possible to survive 6-9 years. (Maybe I should post some play-through at some point.)
Edit: What was the bottleneck? If you are short on grain, try selling some land. Also make sure the palace is well-defended if there are any hungry peasants.
very clear and simple interface. i like that the affected options are highlighted when hovering, this really helps to focus and make the “right” choices.