Suggestion: Change Kingsmarch time sensitive events to resource drain over time automation

Repost from Reddit. I just want to make sure GGG sees this, nothing more.


Good evening GGG. I'll preface by admitting that I have not played 3.27, for I'm waiting for something else, so this post could be out of touch. But I do want to say, that this suggestion of mine is the thought child to few posts I've seen in Reddit regarding Kingsmarch. Not many, but few. It could just be the algorithm feeding them to me, or it could be because someone who previously worked at GGG talked about Dark Patterns that caused a burst of reactions. Regardless, Kingsmarch could be more inviting in a healthy way, and I want to talk about it.

I'm someone who enjoys slaying monsters and playing with different mechanics, but I do feel like since Kingsmarch time locked mechanics are additive to all other loot, it borderlines with Dark Patterns. Dark Patterns meaning mechanics that obligates players either to return daily to the game, or to play with certain mechanics the player might not otherwise want to play with in fear of missing out (FOMO). These in Kingsmarch being Disenchanting, Shipping and Mappers, as perceived by me.

I'll admit this game always has a FOMO around it, and I would like start with Kingsmarch. To help with FOMO, Kingsmarch should require more time investment from players to get the current levels or more of loot from it, and to provide lower, modest levels of loots with minimal player interaction efforts. Dust is a critical factor in this differentiation, so players can specialize milking Kingsmarch if so desired.

# The suggested changes

Dust from disenchanting is now volatile mana filled crack that speeds up workers and ships. Volatile means that it has an explosive half-life timer that ticks down faster the more of it you have, so you should use it soon instead of hoarding it indefinately. Hoarding dust is a risk for a disenchanters life as well. Dust cost is proportional to worker gold consumption. Carrying disenchantables does not remove the need to gather gold or ore.

You can now automate many tasks, including the distribution of dust to workplaces and make bombs out of it to your mappers and miners to speed up things further. Dust and bombs carries a small risk to your workers lives, but OSHA does not exist in Wraeclast and replacements are easy to find. Extended use might have averse effects in the future, for example in 20+ years. Other automations include setting minimum thresholds for automated shipments, and setting maximum storage levels for gathered resources to let workers rest and not waste gold.

Without dust shipments to Kalguur for example takes a variable 1-3 days, and mappers also take a lot longer variable time to complete a map when compared to current times. When combined with automation it is supposed to make players with any patience feel less inclined to return to the game every few hours to check results. Those who want to specialize in Kingsmarch with dust are free to play as often as they wish the same way if they were to specialize in any other task.

Salary is now a task based commission, not a hourly wage. Meaning if you speed up workers, they still get paid the same for the each completed task, compared to if the tasks took longer. The Kingsmarch Worker Union was able to get a good deal for hard workers.

Giving a diverse variety of food reduces risks on mappers and sailors. Now that food is partly a necessity, farmers have also learned to farm luxury items like spices and tulips, that are used strictly for shipment value. Tulips carry a risk of being worth nothing some days, but that's just how market works. Now that farms have more things to farm than what can be used at once, it is a choice as to what to farm.

Bonus: Blacksmiths in addition to making bars and bombs can now use the bars to craft gear for the player. Possibly to randomly change an item base type, quality and sockets, keeping the affixes on the item, with rarer ores resulting in higher level bases. But the crafting could also be something else.

tldr; You should no longer have the need to carry trash items to disenchanters if you want to focus on something else. Kingsmarch is much more laid back without dust with the suggestions.

Post-Reddit edit: I potentially like the idea that there exists a mechanic that is not directly derived from resources that is only available from mapping. Because how many collectibles can GGG add to maps until it is too much? We already have Sulphite, Beasts, Legion Splinters and so on, but the acquisition of gold and dust for Kingsmarch are a different thing, which I do find interesting. But alas, Kingsmarch could benefit from a makeover.