Vote for the new game!

[gdgdgdgd]

Vote, it will be closed in 655.25 days! 

[Null]

none of the above

[gdgdgdgd]

none of the above

well then what?

[gdgdgdgd]

 

[gdgdgdgd]

ok, new vote option:
Do what Mt-Wampus Says

[Null]

dunno.  Not seeing anything up there that I would be interested in.  As of now, the game as I know it seems to be great as is.  If there is another comming out, I really dont see anything I would like to add to the game itself other than maybe more server side gameplay options that can be toggled.  Maybe some lobby options with AFK players in mind.  As the game stands though, it seem to be perfect the way it is.  Having more than 4 players seems to be a bit much for my taste, but hey, could offer more competition.  At the same time, it'll be like having to play against a bot and more potentual to end up playing with bots as it opens up more potentual for someone dropping out.


If anything, I would like to see PING displays for all players without needing to ask everyone for their ping durring really slow games.  This could fix some problems.  IMO, I think M2 should be more about fixes rather than additions.

IF I had to choose something, then all I can think of is this:

Allow servers to serve without having to play.  This could give players better chances for gameplay on slow days where the person serving wouldnt need to activly play.

A few more types of land tiles could be fun.  The deminsions seem fine as they are now.

Fix the ore problem.  Players can take advantage of this from the start if they happen to have the money on hand (others buy land quickly in the 1st round), and if you're careful and quick, and while say, dropping a mule to assure yourself in last place, you can completely lock others from beating you out if you do it right.  This means no mistakes, but still shouldnt be this easy to totaly conquer a game in the first 3 rounds of gameplay.  Placement bonuses should be redone a bit.  Not enough bad events for 1-2 place and not enough good events for 4th place.  4rd seems ok.

Meteor plots does seem unfair.  Could be just the games I've played, but they always seem to happen for players who are either already winning, or already have a leg up.  I know it's supposed to be random, but more times than not, I've watched the game litteraly hand feed a game to a player through out the whole game.  Unknowing players do this alot, but the game itself shouldnt just give up a game to someone so easily.

[cerealbusiness]

I would like for their to be more players and a near simultaneous play so that the game doesn't slow down.

More players require more size, which leads to a reason for travel (roads, ships, etc) and more resources that aren't the clones which requires completely new industries and game mechanics.

I would also suggest technology. What's a business without R&D?

Let's throw in the ability to choose who you sell to, not just forced to highest bidder. We all know this is more realistic and adds strategy.

There has to be a representation of two missing features: labor and government.

A nice feature would be more interesting geographies. I love what is currently there but so much more can be done.

And it needs weapons and ways to defend from them. I don't want to add war per se. But it would add to tactics if their were other ways for players to conflict, it opens up a whole new market and many possibilities. 

[Chuckie Chuck]

Soon this is gonna become Mule Laberynth with these suggestions.

[gdgdgdgd]

Soon this is gonna become Mule Laberynth with these suggestions.

jajajajajaja (hahaha in spanish) 

[gdgdgdgd]

Ok Chuckie Chuck, then what other option i could put?

[Chuckie Chuck]

Base it on a quake engine and make FPP Maps with a big auction house where everyone can go to do bidding, the auction never ends you just go and participate when you want to sell or need something, development is continuous with seasonal pauses for the food, and slow downs in the winter months for energy, mining cave ins in the mine, you actually lead mules around, and there is a blacksmith shop for outfitting them.  It actually shows the mules being built from smithore, and there is only a forced interuption in the flow for the yearly land grant everyone is required to attend.  (Could do the global 3d selection interface here)  Land Auctions would be announced at regular intervals with time allowed for those who are interested to run to the land auction house if they want to bid.)

Yeah, getting way complicated here, but there is the ground work for mule labyrinth edition

[Null]

LOL

M.U.L.E. Colonies!  MMORPG version, endless Masters of Orion type M.U.L.E..  Could be onto something here.

[Hotblack Desiato]

Since I voted "other(comment)", I will comment.

     While many of the optional changes you have listed may be nice additions/alterations for a game sequel, I'd rather not employ any of them in the current PM game format.  As it stands the current game is a fair remake of the original, which is the primary basis of its appeal.

     But, if alterations were desired, I do agree with Null in improving the peripheral features of the  game, such as showing pings and automated hosting options, etcetera.  I also agree that the events could be a little more balanced.  In the 80 some games that I played so far, too many positive events seem to fall into 2nd's hand, and not enough events occur for 4th.  A higher chance for a positive event (free plot, food & energy package, and most especially money; save the 2 bars of smithore for 3rd) should be given to 4th place players, for two reasons, it helps the player that played a risky 1st round only to get burned by a 1st round store fire to get back on their feet, and it would make it more difficult for a player to purposefully ride out the initial rounds in last only to reap the benefit of the placement in the land grant phase.
    In regard to round, or post production events, I believe they should remain completely random, however I would like to see 2nd place get hit with the pest attack from time to time, this one is geared too much onto 1st (maybe a 60-40 chance between 1st and 2nd would be good).  As for meteor strikes, I have mixed emotions when it comes to making any changes.  While it's painful to watch a meteor fall upon a 1st or 2nd place stite lord in the later rounds of a game, even when randomized, the odds will and should favor the greater land holders in the game (shouldn't be surprised to see the player with magic 12 get a meteor plot in round 11).  The side by side strikes do bother me; I've seen this occurring more often than I would like in tournaments.  I think I'd rather see it strike the same plot again before striking the plot adjacent to it (at least that way it would force another mule loss, but without providing the additional stite bonus onto the more than likely same player that received the 1st strike.

     Apart from tweaking the events, the only thing I feel that I might (stress might) be comfortable with adding to the existing game would be upgrade bots.  Enter an outfitter without a mule and pay 1 or 2 times the outfit cost to receive an upgrade bot for that commodity production type to take out to enhance the production output of that type of plot (excluding stite, with maybe one exception).  In terms of plot production it will turn a 1 into 2, or a 2 into a 3, but never a 3 into a 4, etcetera.  Maybe allow a 0 to 1 upgrade for stite, but no more.  An upgrade bot will also relocate with the mule that it was installed on, so for example you can move a food mule with an upgrade bot from a mountain plot, 1(+1 from bot) to a plains plot and now get 2(+1).  Should you move a mule with an upgrade bot onto a high production plot for the same type of commodity you will gain no bonus from the bot, such as moving the previous example to a river plot 3(+0), but the bot will stay with the mule until the mule is outfitted for a different product, in which the bot is then scrapped for no costs or refunds. The downfalls to upgrading plots is that it consumes time to perform the upgrade process, and if you change the outfitting of the mule, you lose the upgrade bot.

Thanks,

[Keybounce]

Speaking of helping 4th place, and early game issues:

I want to see land valuation for ranking changed. If you spend $972 on turn one, don't value the land at $500, giving you a $472 loss and an extra plot.

How about this: Value land at the second best price offered in the auction.
If there was no second price, value it at what you paid.
===

Land auctions: If I join in an auction late, start my bid climb at the current bottom. Do not start me from the original bottom.

This means that it is, in effect, completely impossible to catch up unless you are going up from the start. If someone has gone way, way, up, and is now pulling back down, I want to be able to snipe.
===

Something I'd like to see: Larger land area.

The hills, crystite deposits, etc, are all still clustered around the store -- this is why the colony ship picked this place to set up the colony. However, the river continues for a long, long distance, and there's bare, flat land with no crystite or anything else for a large distance around.

In other words, there's always plots available for food and energy, but they are farther away -- they are time sink issues.

Note that this helps if crystite is on the border of the "playfield" -- normally you wind up with unusable 2's and 1's outside the board, with this you can actually mine them.

===

Mule 2 specific? Sadly, I have yet to play it with other people. I got the web start version to play, and have played two solo games.

[Hotblack Desiato]

Posted by: Keybounce
Speaking of helping 4th place, and early game issues:

I want to see land valuation for ranking changed. If you spend $972 on turn one, don't value the land at $500, giving you a $472 loss and an extra plot.

How about this: Value land at the second best price offered in the auction.
If there was no second price, value it at what you paid.

The big problem with that would be in regard to auctions later in the game when players can afford to spend $3000 or more for a plot.  If your a player that only had $2900 at the time of the auction and could not outbid your opponent for the plot, you most certainly don't want guy's plot valued at $3000.

It would be better to counter the initial perceived $472 loss in your example with a bonus event for 4th on that following round.  A $100 or $150 award bonus would go far into quickly eliminating that small early loss.  It would most likely provide the player with enough money to outfit a mule, which leads to production gains.  Before you know it the player will have made up for that $472, and moved up out of 4th place.

Thanks,