Life is Feudal Official Forum

[Heavysparksgaming]

When I decided to give Life is Feudal a try, I did not know how addictive the game could be. I can't play enough but I think there is room for improvements in some of the mechanics and I want to share my ideas with the developers and the community. These are my ideas of how the game mechanics could be improved in a short period of time.
Currently for an invading army to breach your walls they are supposed to use siege ladders, Trebuchets or explosives. However, there are many exploits being taken advantage of. This is not a post about those exploits. So, I will not go into those problems. You can feel free to debate those in the comments if you wish. At the end of the day it is something for the developers to resolve as they see fit.
As I see it the walls are the last line of defense to keep the enemy a bay. What we need are more defensive obstacles before the enemy can place that ladder to climb the walls. As far as this post is concerned the walls all work as intended.
Let’s start with some basic concepts of mechanics which are not in the game yet as far as I know. These ideas were used in the defense of castles and other structures during the medieval period and before.
*Anti-Infantry spikes- made by cutting small sticks on both sides to a point and then forcing one end into the ground so that a point is sticking out. Spikes would be placed on a tile of dirt or other soft surfaces could be spiked in order to inflict damage on would be attackers. Or anyone not aware of the of the spikes. Spikes could be hidden when covered by grass by watering the soil after placing and/or snow during the correct seasons. I believe per tile that 100 sticks should be required to spike a tile and that the process of spiking a tile or removing the spikes should take at least 100 seconds. This leaves both the attacker or defender vulnerable during the process of placement and removal.
As the trap is triggered by being walked on the durability of the trap should slowly degrade to zero. Perhaps the trap could do 100 total damage while it is being consumed. The reasoning behind needing 100 sticks and the construction taking 100 seconds is so that setting traps becomes a first line defense set up ahead of time before a siege happens. Rather than a quick reflex to being sieged.
*Spike pits-The introduction of Anti-Infantry spikes to the game could allow the for the creation of spike pits. Where on somewhat flat terrain a tunnel could be excavated down ward, tunnel reinforced and then spikes added to the bottom. This would magnify the damage done to a player character falling into the pit filled with spikes.

*Anti-Cavalry spikes- these are large logs cut into a point on one end and buried deep into the ground on the opposite end to point away from the defender’s position. Anti-Cavalry spikes would impede movement of cavalry on a battle field. Forcing the cavalry to need to avoid running into the spike. A cavalry unit hitting a spike while moving at a gallop would do damage to the horse and risk being thrown off the horse completely.
As like I suggested with Infantry spikes the process of building the spikes should take a significant amount of time. I would think as the object is larger and would take more time to install a period of 120 seconds to install or remove would work well.
Spike traps would replace the object signs and wicker fence post that currently surround most castles as a defense against invaders using siege ladders. Since the trap would need to be removed before a ladder could be placed.
The ultimate Castle Defensive Structure should be the moat.
*Castle moat - Building a moat should be a long and tedious process. Much like we digging an ore pit we should be able to dig a moat. By bordering the area with stone walls just above the surface and then digging out the area between the borders to the maximum depth allowed by terraforming. I believe that the moat should then need to be lined before water could be added making it difficult but not possible to cross and then climb out of the moat. To fill a moat with water should also take an extraordinarily large amount of water. The larger the moat the more water it should require. Water in the game can be a precious resource especially if you do not live close to the ocean making this a difficult task. If the moat is wide enough it can be dug to a depth that once filled with water a character would be forced to swim to cross it. Like any deep body of water an overburdened player characters should sink and drown if they do not drop the excess weight they are carrying. An empty moat would not pose the same threat to a player character. It would simply be an obstacle the character would have to traverse.
The opposing force should have an equally difficult time destroying a moat. It should also be a very time-consuming process. Actually, reversing the engineering all the step that it took to build.
However, with every great accomplishment engineered by great minds comes other great minds who are able to overcome the obstacle. An attacking force could build a bridge to cross the moat. This would in most cases leave the builders in harm’s way while building the bridge. Open to attacks from vigilant defenders watching for attackers.
The ability to build a moat would make having a drawbridge more relevant than it currently is in game.
*Bridges- By simply raising the terrain before placing a castle on the ground is a simple form of constructing a defense already in game. Currently ramps are used to give the owner of said castle easy access. Ramps are simply terrain which allow any player characters to climb up the ramp from any angle. As well as allowing characters to flee at any angle from the gate. Adding bridges to the game would cause characters to be forced onto the bridge in order to reach the gate. In essence the character would be forced to be channeled onto the bridge. If a bridge was high enough at any point above the terrain below falling off would cause damage to the falling character in most cases. Bridges would need to be anchored on both sides to terrain in order to prevent bridges from being used as an exploit.
The Bridges would open up many solutions not only in castle defense. It could also be used to bridge gaps in the terrain caused by uneven terrain like in the case of hills separated by a small gap. Bridges would allow easier crossing of two parcels of land separated by small bodies of water.
In addition, bridges would need to be limited to a certain allowable height and length. One could only imagine the ungodly sight a bridge crossing an otherwise impassable mountain.
*Battering Rams- The battering ram is to my knowledge a completely missing component to the game. Who does not want to just gather a large group of players and knock down their opponent’s gates? You can count me in!
Battering rams would need to only be usable during JH and HJH hours. Battering Rams would need to do damage slowly over time to a gate or door module before the module would fail. Using a battering ram should make a lot of noise so it would not be able to be used unnoticed by any player character in the surrounding fiefs. Allowing the defending side to try to defend from their walls and towers. Damaged modules would need to be replaced or repaired depending on the developer’s choice and/or communities’ response to the new mechanics.
A small hand held version could be used to knock in the doors to buildings. This way the invaders could raid the inside of structures. After all any good siege needs looting and plundering.
As I said in the beginning these are just ways, I believe the game could be improved. Feel to add your idea’s and comments below. Who knows maybe some of these ideals are already in the works for future updates?