Want to play K&B versions before they're released? Sign up here!

Sounds attractive, doesn't it? Well, there's a slight catch... As much as we all enjoy your words of praise (and constructive criticism) of the K&B Prologue as released, we're working away on patches for the Prologue, as well as new content for the Quintessence, and we scarcely have time to playtest it. The many issues with the first release of the Prologue, however, have made us very aware that we really could do with more playtesting. As a result, we'd like one or two dedicated playtesters to work together with us.

The perks
- You get early access to all the new content for K&B, both for Prologue patches and the upcoming Quintessence
- You get unique access to the "Lord's Office" forum, and with it to a good deal of information normally limited to the team forum
- You get your name in the K&B credits from the next patch onward
- You get a fancy "K&B Contributor" rank on the forums
- You get a chance to improve K&B through your feedback

Our expectations
Absolute necessities:
- You have to be willing to play K&B on average at least once a week and write up a detailed report of your findings
- You have to understand AoE3's files and where to put them, so installation of new content doesn't prove troublesome
- You have to be willing to maintain a degree of secrecy, so things don't get spoilered to the public unless we want them to

Desirable qualities:
- We'd be very happy if you have some skill in reading XML and XS files, so you can help identifying any issues you may find
- We'd be very happy if you have decent skill in playing AoE3 competitively, so you can make yourself more useful in balancing

If you'd like to join the K&B team in developing future versions of the mod, and you aren't faced by the above, apply!!!



peugeot407

Well, I play aoe3 someyhing like everyday, and I always like to find bugs ans I have a (small) understanding about were I can put the aoe3 files,, I alslo like to play with different nations with different difficulties, what makes me good at understanding balance. So I think I can help the Team with testing.

You're certainly up for consideration. Thanks!


peugeot407

Sounds tempting... but I fear I'm already kinda busy helping some other mods... 

Heh, good luck with this proyect.  

With the note of approval from both AOE_Fan and myself, Vvv is now officially a K&B playtester...


peugeot407

Thank you so much, I will do my best.

I'd love to do this for the mod.
I am a reasonably skilled player of most RTS games, with some AOE, starcraft and CoH; nothing major but I am good enough to understand what tactics would be competitive in the mod given the costs, interactions and stats of the mod's units - I have thoughts about the Italians as the current dominant civ and the Saracens or Crusaders being next (though for a user made mod I feel this game is pretty good in terms of balance).
I already play the mod at least once a day, getting to know it, so that would not be a problem.
I am a native English speaker, and I live in the UK so that's the time zone you can expect me to respond.
I also understand the file structure of AOE3 but I am afraid I do not know how to edit XML/XS files, though i have a little modding experience.

Hello, and thanks for your application!

We might not necessarily need help with bug tracking anymore, as Vvv has done an awesome work on that, but we're very passionate about the K&B's balance and all help and ideas considering that is always welcome. Helping with the balance on barbarian units and techs would be especially helpful currently.
There's also an open spot for a tester on AI functionality, which means spectating how the AI behaves and giving suggestions how to improve it. Being a top 100 RTS player isn't necessary at all for this and actually the feedback from average/skilled players is more important.

If you are interested on either one, just say so and peugeot407 and I will take a look at adding you as a Contributor.

I'd be very happy to take a look at questions of balance, spectating the AI is not my idea of a great time, but I'd be happy to do it occasionally - maybe once a week, once I get the hang of the mod (assuming you don't find someone else to do it).

Eruck has been officially approved as a K&B Playtester/Contributor, congratulations!

With two people now promoted to playtester, we will not take any further applications, at least for the time being...


peugeot407

Thank you very much for accepting me, I'll try my best to give good feedback.  

Hullo, I'm fairly new to this mod, I just found out about it last week only. I can help test the mod, I play AoE3 every day anyway and surely can use the mod often. I'll be entirely truthful in telling you, I have absolutely no knowledge of "coding" programs, etc. The extent of my knowledge for anything coding wise would be a week in my Game Design class learning Java script in school. I should be able to learn how to do things properly however.

 I enjoy competitively playing AoE3, and would continue to do so for KaB. I'm Scottish and am just learning the ways of sound effects/etc. If you need any voice acting however, I'd love to help out the mod if I can pull off an accent. Will practice while I lay in bed talking to myself in a silly German accent I picked up from "Hogens Heroes".... "I know nusssing!"

(This is off topic; I can't help but think the title of your mod would sound much more... "Chivalrous" if it was "Of Knights and Barbarians" instead of "Knights and Barbarians".. Oh well. Just a thought)


This post was sent as a "postmark" for when you are looking for more Playtesters, by the way. So when you need more, please let me know if my application is adequate enough, this seems like a great project to spend my time on  

(This is off topic; I can't help but think the title of your mod would sound much more... "Chivalrous" if it was "Of Knights and Barbarians" instead of "Knights and Barbarians".. Oh well. Just a thought)

Well, we can't help too. The name is so historical that we won't change it anyway.

Besides, I think we have enough playtesters for now, but I don't know Robert's thought.

Hi
It's always a pleasure to know there are people enthusiastic about K&B.
Anyway, Eruck has been recently removed from the playtesting group for literally not appearing online, so the amount of current playtesters isn't a problem. There might not indeed be much of "bug fixing" but the AI testing spot is still open, as well as any general balance testing. And of course, any suggestions regarding the current features are always welcome!
Personally I don't see any problems adding you to the group.

Pepp wrote:

(This is off topic; I can't help but think the title of your mod would sound much more... "Chivalrous" if it was "Of Knights and Barbarians" instead of "Knights and Barbarians".. Oh well. Just a thought)

Well, we can't help too. The name is so historical that we won't change it anyway.

Besides, I think we have enough playtesters for now, but I don't know Robert's thought.

Tis a good thing I wrote at the bottom of my post;
"This post was sent as a "postmark" for when you are looking for more Playtesters, by the way. So when you need more, please let me know if my application is adequate enough, this seems like a great project to spend my time on "

And I mentioned it was just a thought anyway, a mere opinion. The name currently is not at all any "more so" historical than my suggestion anyway.

AOE_Fan wrote:Hi
It's always a pleasure to know there are people enthusiastic about K&B.
Anyway, Eruck has been recently removed from the playtesting group for literally not appearing online, so the amount of current playtesters isn't a problem. There might not indeed be much of "bug fixing" but the AI testing spot is still open, as well as any general balance testing. And of course, any suggestions regarding the current features are always welcome!
Personally I don't see any problems adding you to the group.

Sweet! That is very good news indeed! Well now that you let it open for suggestions...

-An added siege unit called the "Handgonneer", much like the Abus Ottoman unit, except European orientated. The "Handgonne" was the first firearm to fire small projectiles besides an arrow, basically the father (Or mother) of all modern firearms. There are a few  amounts of "Handgonnes"  that date to the Medieval era, so the idea is within the timeline I believe the mod is developed in. I know you guys are trying to stick away from cannon/firearms, but this *might* be a nice unit to add if you're looking for some space to fill in a European civilization, most notably the English. Chinese developed a "Handgonne" of their own you could look into, that fire arrows/rockets.


-Is there a reason Egypt is not a civilization??? Just curious, It's not listed.

-When building a wall, you can click on a segment of it and upgrade that segment only to a "Guard Outpost", like you would create a gate, sort of like how the Great Wall of China was built, with outposts built on the wall every bit of distance. Details are up to you, but I'm just sowing the seeds

Not really ontopic, this, but I'll briefly respond...

We've already got pretty much everything you suggested. The Mongols will have the Fire Rocket, which is exactly the Chinese variation of the weapon you describe, Egypt is featured through the Saracens, and Wall corners have a ranged attack once you fully upgrade your walls.


peugeot407

peugeot407 wrote:Not really ontopic, this, but I'll briefly respond...

We've already got pretty much everything you suggested. :PThe Mongols will have the Fire Rocket, which is exactly the Chinese variation of the weapon you describe, Egypt is featured through the Saracens, and Wall corners have a ranged attack once you fully upgrade your walls.


peugeot407

-Mongols having fire rockets..?? Mongols were raiders/nomads and did not posses the technology at the time, right?

-Ahhh, I figured the Saracens would symbolize Egypt, just wasn't positive. Plan on having Scythe Chariots??

-Just corners having a ranged attack? Will it look any different than a wall or will it look as I described, the outposts as found on the Great Wall of China? (Aka, tower built on the wall)

-What about fire? Having buildings actually go up in flames and have to be quenched of fire to stop being destroyed? Settlers can put out fires and eventually you can build some sort of "Fire Brigade" that sends a team of minute-men like units to put out fires? Fires spread, and do small damage over time (Or moderate damage)

-Cavalry able to dismount and turn into units most similar to them, such as;
Cavalry Archer = Archer
Knight = Foot Knight
Mounted Spearman = Spearman

So on, so forth.

-Tar Gates, ability to upgrade gates to pour boiling pitch on enemies nearby.

-Defensive Stakes, large poles of sharpened wood sticking up from the ground that does massive damage to cavalry when touched. Can only be placed next to a wall segment. This prevents melee cavalry from directly attacking the wall, instead has to destroy the stakes to expose the wall (Takes a long time for cavalry to destroy stakes) or dismount and destroy the stakes (Infantry/Artillery do massive damage to stakes)

You've got some... very weird notions of history.
Anyways, War Chariots are much more ancient than the timeline set for this mod (wich seems to be 12th-15th century roughly...) and of course Mongols had that tech, don't you believe they'd have troubles conquering all that territory just firing arrows from their horses?

Hoop Thrower wrote:You've got some... very weird notions of history.
Anyways, War Chariots are much more ancient than the timeline set for this mod (wich seems to be 12th-15th century roughly...) and of course Mongols had that tech,  don't you believe they'd have troubles conquering all that territory just firing arrows from their horses?

Sorry, my history mainly comes from mythology which isn't all too accurate as you may know. As for the Scythe Chariot thing, I said it just as a quirk of sorts. Whenever I think of "Egyptians" I think "Scythe Chariot"

I've never looked into the Mongols, as far as I know they are still running around flinging arrows from horseback (joke). You have a better idea than me, was just a question as I honestly had no idea.

Just keep in the mind that the Mongols actually were the Yuan Dynasty of China...

spangopola wrote:Just keep in the mind that the Mongols actually were the Yuan Dynasty of China...

Which was around the 1300's or so, right? And Southern China still resisted. So isn't that time period a little out of place? Just guessing.

Mongol in our mod resemble all the descendant of the Great Mongol Empire, yet it is somehow can also be interpreted as Khazar empire or any empire existed in the steppe (if you want to play them, eh...).

and of course Mongols had that tech, don't you believe they'd have troubles conquering all that territory just firing arrows from their horses?

I am not using history there, but a basic logic of a conqueror which has less technology compared to its conquered territory. Mongol is an example. To help them advanced easily onto other territory, they might use Chinese techs, including sulfur powder.

-Ahhh, I figured the Saracens would symbolize Egypt, just wasn't positive.

Saracens symbolize Egypt, Levant under Muslim states, and somehow Arabs.

Cavalry Archer = Archer
Knight = Foot Knight
Mounted Spearman = Spearman

Too complicated yet make the infantries useless.

-What about fire? Having buildings actually go up in flames and have to be quenched of fire to stop being destroyed? Settlers can put out fires and eventually you can build some sort of "Fire Brigade" that sends a team of minute-men like units to put out fires? Fires spread, and do small damage over time (Or moderate damage)

Sounds like WotTA to me, doesn't it?

-Tar Gates, ability to upgrade gates to pour boiling pitch on enemies nearby.

Do you mean cauldrons? Actually it is good, but just impossible to do.

First of all, although I'm replying to the posts here, I wish this discussion is moved out of this topic because it's not related to Contributor applications at all. Thanks.

Timeline: The official timeline of K&B is 476-1559. This explains why chariots are too ancient and Mongols have elements of Yuan Dynasty.
Wall corners: You can check the visuals ingame. They gain a ranged ability automatically after researching the "Battlements" tech at School. I don't think it's unbalanced at the moment due to the attack being quite low and each piece of Wall costing 15 wood.
Fires and extinguishing them: While fires would be highly realistic to Middle Ages, it'd be too much microing and a general nuisance for players, similar how some people felt about replanting Farms in AoE2.
Dismounting units: Mounted and foot units generally have very different functions strategically and implementing this type of system would pretty much ruin it, unfortunately.
Tar Gates: An effect that looks reasonable would be possible but for now, I think Walls with ranged attack (see above) is enough damage. This is the best of your ideas though.
Defensive Stakes: Only siege units can attack Walls anyway so this idea would be useless. I suggest you to check how the features work more in-depth...