Player Guide

Synchronized-turns strategy. Calling all teamers.
Ramcat
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Post by Ramcat » Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:13 pm

No invisible pawns. Empty spaces have zero defence.

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Behemoth
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Post by Behemoth » Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:42 pm

Just out of interest where did you read that?

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dustin
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Post by dustin » Fri Dec 24, 2010 7:22 pm

Empty spaces have zero defence.

However, a square with just a castle in it does provide some defence.

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Behemoth
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Post by Behemoth » Mon Dec 27, 2010 12:32 am

Good to know. I suppose I'd assumed empty spaces had a nominal defence because they are owned even when empty of soldiers.

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Post by Ramcat » Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:58 pm

mentor09 just shared with people how to surrender from a game and have it count like you played. Or I might say, "How to surrender like a man".

From what he said:
Type /surrender in the chat textbox.
Then hit "I'll be back" when you leave.

That way the game will count for "Full Human" and not mess up other peoples stats (this is where you be a man). It will also not wait for you to enter any more moves (not delay the game).

Because I did not know this I messed up at least one game. This should be added to the 'Help' HTML file loaded to the client. And a primer for how to join and play network games. Is there anything else to add?

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E-Kat79
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Post by E-Kat79 » Thu Jan 06, 2011 4:26 pm

In regards to what Ramcat just said, I'm glad that I know that now. If I feel like surrender is my only remaining option, I would like to be able to do it gracefully, and not mess around with other people's stats. Thanks.

psi
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Post by psi » Thu Jan 20, 2011 9:15 am

dustin wrote:What are the rules for battles?

Each unit has a X/6 chance of killing an enemy, where X is the attack or defend value of that unit.
What are the attack and defend values for knights and pawns? And what is the defend value for castles? I couldn't find these values in the game.

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drSnuggles
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Post by drSnuggles » Thu Jan 20, 2011 9:45 am

psi wrote:I couldn't find these values in the game.
But you can find them in this thread on the first page.

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Post by psi » Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:07 am

drSnuggles wrote:
psi wrote:I couldn't find these values in the game.
But you can find them in this thread on the first page.
Thanks. But what about the castle defend value? Is it 6?

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drSnuggles
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Post by drSnuggles » Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:52 am

I heard it is 10, so I would say you will definitely lose one unit plus a second at a dice chance of 4/6. To be sure conquering it, I would not use less than 1 pawn and 2 knights.
However, dustin will have to confirm or correct this.

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dustin
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Post by dustin » Fri Jan 21, 2011 3:50 pm

Castles defend at 10.

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blackj3sus
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Post by blackj3sus » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:21 pm

so...
x pawns and x knights vs x pawns and x knights
will always come out with the same outcome?

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dustin
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Post by dustin » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:44 pm

not always. there is a little bit of luck. not as much luck factor as in lux, but still some random luck is involved.

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Post by Ramcat » Sun Feb 06, 2011 3:00 pm

Joining multiplayer games can be a little daunting. There are so many nuances. I just learned another one from mentor09.

How do you see team chat that occured before you joined the game? Now, just to be clear, by 'joining the game', I mean typeing "/play [Player]".

Right after you join the game close the game window (I'll be Back) and re-join the game (this time I mean the "Join Game" button in the UI). You'll then see the team chat that occured before you took control of a player.

This way you don't miss the moves your team mates have declared before you joined and you can co-ordinate better.

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GYPCOUNT
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Post by GYPCOUNT » Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:04 am

hmm, interesting

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drSnuggles
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Post by drSnuggles » Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:30 pm

dustin wrote:not always. there is a little bit of luck. not as much luck factor as in lux, but still some random luck is involved.
That sounds that dice aren't rolled for each unit. If so, how are the dying units selected (besides pawns first) in an attack involving at least 3 players of 2 teams?

Given the following situation:
Player 1 of Team A attacks with 5 knights and 11 pawns.
Player 2 of Team A attacks with 5 knights and 11 pawns.
Player 3 of Team B defends with 10 pawns.
Player 4 of Team B defends with 10 pawns.

For each battle round dying pawns will have to be selected from 4 players, but is there an order in which they are chosen per battle round? I have a recent game when my teammate and me made an attack each with almost the same amout of pawns (~15) and knights, but when the fight was over, he had lost all pawns whereas I had 10 left. So it seems that it is done rather randomly.
The question sounds quite pointless, but it is not if you want to make sure that a specific team player should conquer a castle.

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Behemoth
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Post by Behemoth » Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:40 pm

I noticed something odd about castle building. During an online game I lost my castle and was unable to buy troops (well the bot did, I joined after this) I eventually purchased another castle when I had the funds to also purchase a large force to support it. I made all the buys in those two rounds. In the next round though the recruit tab told me I could not buy troops until i conquered or saved up to buy a castle. I initially thought ownership of the castle must have passed on to my teammate since I had built it on his land (and that i'd just leant a new rule the hard way)... Only when I clicked on the castle itself did the recruit tab open and allow me to buy troops.

Also - Is there room in the Instructions for some additional gameplay information and tips for playing online? The gameplay info section could include a paragraph on how a 'swap' happens for instance (I think a lot of new players will assume the units would fight while in transit and be confused by the result of a swap) Also something on how to undo troop placements would be good + a tip about using undo after pressing 'finished moves' during online play. I'm sure there are other things that could also be included, these are just what came to mind.

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mbauer
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Post by mbauer » Wed Feb 09, 2011 7:33 pm

I'm working on expanding the instructions now and those 2 you mentioned will be included.

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GYPCOUNT
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Post by GYPCOUNT » Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:38 am

Behemoth wrote:I noticed something odd about castle building. During an online game I lost my castle and was unable to buy troops (well the bot did, I joined after this) I eventually purchased another castle when I had the funds to also purchase a large force to support it. I made all the buys in those two rounds. In the next round though the recruit tab told me I could not buy troops until i conquered or saved up to buy a castle. I initially thought ownership of the castle must have passed on to my teammate since I had built it on his land (and that i'd just leant a new rule the hard way)... Only when I clicked on the castle itself did the recruit tab open and allow me to buy troops.
I did the same thing Behemoth, only I didn't figure out that clicking on the castle would have worked, instead, I just surrendered. Ty for the insight.

Ramcat
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Post by Ramcat » Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:17 pm

mbauer wrote:I'm working on expanding the instructions now and those 2 you mentioned will be included.
Instructions how to type /play [Player] or /play (when random is on) would help as well.

Also instruction on how to surrender (/surrender - I'll be Back), would be nice too.

Tab complete - needs to be added.

Just skimming through this topic and most of what is here I would add to there.

Private game instruction - clicking the "Join Game" button. When I tried it I thought the game would show in the grid, it did not and so I was confused.

What the color codes mean in the Network Game grid (I know Java people call that a Table).

Just a small collection of what I think should be added. Hope this helps :)

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mbauer
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Post by mbauer » Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:31 pm

It does, thank you! If there's any more that you guys' think should be in there please post it.

MB

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Behemoth
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Post by Behemoth » Thu Feb 17, 2011 1:38 am

How about a paragraph on what a team game involves and what is expected of a player who joins a team game - essentially the importance of team chat which players will use to co-ordinate their moves.

I've just played two games where one member of the team refused to engage in any planning. The maps do not support this kind of play. It's painful to watch a weak member of the team get steamrolled because the team's big gun is too busy manicuring his own turf to lend support.

I realise everyone has to start some where and making mistakes goes hand in hand with getting used to a new game. I suppose the team aspect of online Vox might be unfamiliar to some players? Either way a few friendly words of advice to steer new players in the right direction would be ideal. Anything to avoid the deadly vacuum of chat-less team games.

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mbauer
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Post by mbauer » Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:52 am


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mentor09
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Post by mentor09 » Thu Feb 17, 2011 1:35 pm

mbauer wrote:This is what I've got so far:

http://www.markbauerweb.com/Vox/Instruc ... tions.html
Looking good :-)

In short Keys you are talking about Command key and control key ? isn't it the same key ? (Most users are not Mac users i guess :-))

FAQ:
• If player A and player B both attack a country owned by player C, how is the battles figured?

Let's say enemy players A and B for it...

Ramcat
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Post by Ramcat » Thu Feb 17, 2011 5:26 pm

Player Info (PI) Display

The Player Info display is a helpful table found inside all Vox maps. The 1st column shows the player colors, the 2nd column is the team symbol and character name. Characters with the same team symbol are on the same team. The 3rd column is the player type or "Brain," this will be the name of either a computer AI or human player.

The 4th-6th columns show how much land each player occupies, how much their army is worth, and how much gold they are currently making each turn.

TIP: Right click the AI name to change AIs during a game.
The "Tip" does not work in all game modes.

The text section is missing that the PI window is dragable - to move it out of the way when it obscures map features or resolution issues dictate moving it to see it.
WARNING: Newly recruited units will not become active in your Castle space until the beginning of the next turn.
I would add ", after Conflict Resolution".
Type the IP address in the "Private game address:" box to join a private game.
And click "Join Game" - The first time I did this I clicked "Refresh" because I expected the game to show up in the Game Table, and it did not. Also you might want to mention that you have to remove the IPAddress to join any game in the Table because you can't if you have an address in the "Private game address" box.
Playing Online
If you are not currently a player in the game and there is an open position available, you can type /play then the name of the open position you would like to play. This will replace the AI player with yourself.
Perfect place to put instructions on how to tab complete a player name.
If you are playing in the current game and feel as if there's no way you can win, type /surrender to raise the white flag and give the win to your opponent(s).
I know you explain this below but I would also add it here: "Click the "I'll be Back" button even though you don't plan on returning - the game will handle the rest."

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mbauer
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Post by mbauer » Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:56 am

Thanks for the feedback guys! Here's the most recent version (you may have to refresh or clear your cache)

http://www.markbauerweb.com/Vox/Instruc ... tions.html
mentor09 wrote: In short Keys you are talking about Command key and control key ? isn't it the same key ? (Most users are not Mac users i guess :-))
I noticed that also, but that's the way Dustin had it in his Short Cuts link under the help menu so I just left it that way.

I don't think they are the same key so maybe the ones that say "command" only work on a MAC? I dunno all I have is a MAC so I can't test it.

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Behemoth
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Post by Behemoth » Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:02 am

Thorough stuff. :smt023

Ramcat
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Post by Ramcat » Fri Feb 18, 2011 12:48 pm

mbauer wrote:I don't think they are the same key so maybe the ones that say "command" only work on a MAC?
Command-E Mac
Control-E Windows

It does work on both. Also Option (Mac), Alt (Windows). You could write it as so:
Original: Option-click to order 10 units
Suggestion: Option/Alt-click to order 10 units

I think that makes it clearer for both OS users - each can see what they need to do: Option-click or Alt-click.

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mud
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Post by mud » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:49 pm

A replay button that would show the last turn and the fighting for that turn would be nice. It would let me analyze what happened in better detail.

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Pars
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Post by Pars » Sun Feb 27, 2011 11:16 am

Mud wrote:A replay button that would show the last turn and the fighting for that turn would be nice. It would let me analyze what happened in better detail.
I have asked for that 2, and I think Djdee also asked for that.

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