Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-17114085-20150131101228/@comment-29559990-20150206230452

Goldflame33 wrote: Lab Coat Billy wrote: (So how about making expansion a little easier, yeah? Not everyone's a warmonger, and those of us who aren't shouldn't be forced into a situation where we can't do anything just because we prefer diplomacy to slaughter.) (This is the way it has to be. If everyone gobbled up the NPC states, players would be forced to fight each other. That would lead to spiralling arguments and just generally chaos. If that can be delayed or kept to a lesser extent, everything will go smoothly. The point of this isn't to smash all that stand before you. Without making expansion hard, there would be no need for cooperation and diplomacy between players. Also, some of these issues (like rapid expansion, religious unrest) may cause problems. There isn't a cooldown between taking areas, but the more you do the bigger a risk you are running)

(If I can throw in my two cents real quick...

(The point I argue, is that killing people day in and day out is becoming mundane. Maybe it isn't a "walk through the Industrial Park", as I had stated earlier. But there is literally nothing to do with NPC States besides taking their land. We don't know anything about their resources, and anything they do have is probably something you have, so trading is pointless. If you make peace with them, you simply limit your paths for expansion, so that's also pointless. And Vassalizations never, NEVER, work. So that's flat out pointless, as well.

Not to say that they're all useless. The ones marked on the map can be quite helpful. However, a lot of them are big and nasty, ruled by nastier people (Sadrith Mora, for example, is ran by a Telvanni Mage. Most of them are like Neloth, and Neloth is comparable to male genitalia.). Plus, a lot of them are gunning for you, especially in Argonia. The only noticeable exception to all of this, is Daggerfall, but even then, most of those states are ran by HDS...

Basically, the only thing to do with these guys is to conquer them. And I feel like it's becoming mundane, ye know? These guys are here to be obstacles in your road to building an empire. I just wish there was more than 1 way to get around your roadblocks besides wiping them out.

And also, worst of all (for me), these states are so BLAND. They're not dynamic or memorable or unique or even fun to interact with. They're basically copies of a cardboard cut-out. I'd love to interact with them, but speaking with an NPC States leader is like talking with the spawn of a Keanu Reeves Cyborg, Will Smith from After Earth, and the acting of a Pornstar. Basically, they're mind-bendingly stale.)