Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-26274215-20160628105745/@comment-26274215-20160628194807

AlteOgre wrote: Good thinking and I fully agree with the basic argumentation, objective and mechanism.

- claps and raises big ogre thumb of approval -

It's not original though, but it never got endorsed. This was brought up earlier, with less detail, and main objections brought up against it was the micromanagement it would require for players hiring units, in case the feeding would require active player intervention. If I recall correctly even Mevans himself mentioned that. You come up with a significantly simplifying mechanism that me gusta. The player just needs to secure that the supply chest is filled. This mechanisem meets the objective, "making troops not 'free of any maintenance costs'", while maintaining an acceptable level of required player actions. This will certainly make it worth considering, but I feel it can be, and possibly must be, simpler. You're adding a few complicating factors that are not needed in the first place. I'd restrict the entire featur to this to begin with:


 * If one is to hire troops, on has to place a dedicated food chest somewhere. This will be your personal troops food supply chest. As you mention, this can simply be done with an item frame with wheat in it.


 * As soon as troops are hired, they will consume their food from that chest, but only when you're on-line, at a rate of about 10 hp per MC day ate two predetermined times of day: dawn and dusk, when they'll eat at least 5 hp worth of food (dependent on what they can get their hands on). When they run out fo food, you will get a warning which will grant you one MC day before the troops will desert you. if you're too late, or only supply part of the required food for next feeding, all or part of the troops desert.


 * Any food item will do, except drinks.
 * If your supply chest is broken, same mechanism will be activated as when it has run empty.

Can't make it much simpler than this imo.

If Mevans likes it, he can of course add a lot of additional requirements, like the ones you propose.

Note that in this case, as in any other: 'realism' isn't a goal in itself, but a means to find ways to improve gameplay balance and define the mechanisms to achieve that. nice thinking! thanks, I'll add it!