Ask Me Anything Answers - Second Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our second batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 12: Becca1971 , UK
Quote:
I was just wondering if it would be possible to get shot firer or demolition crew for beans or stalks instead of just gems.
BB_Alex: As mentioned in a previous answer, we have several ideas on how to proceed with the demolition crew buffs in the future. Among those, there are some ideas for increasing limitations, for using demolition crew buffs as unique rewards for challenging tasks and also for providing the opportunity to obtain some of them with high tier resources like magic beans or beanstalks. We haven't evaluated those ideas yet, nor have we decided for an approach yet.
Question 13: Fogghost , Germany
Quote:
When will we finally get the guild bank? That would enrich the guild life because more guilds would accept and support new members.
BB_Alex: As with all kind of wishes, ideas and suggestions, we did create a very rough vision of a guild bank in the game. The details are still missing and we do not know when we will be able to focus on this feature.
Question 14: jaAndrzej, Poland
Quote:
When will UFO's land on our islands?
BB_Penelopa: When the Halloween Golem shines in all colours of the rainbow, when the Explorer finds Unicorn shaped gold nuggets and The Black Knights run around yelling “Yipiieh!”, you can expect an UFO to land in the centre of your island.
Question 15: sashadamian, Germany
Quote:
What exactly do the geologists and explorers say if you send them out?
BB_Kumakun: Geologist: "okai, walladebila" - which has something to do with Malzbier. The Explorer has German ancestors and… Well, have fun Googling it. Explorer: "Du musst Bilder rahmen"
Question 16: gedoens72, Germany
Quote:
I am taking the train daily, so I would love to see a mobile version for TSO. Would it be possible?
TSO Team: The mobile version of the TSO is not on the development roadmap.
Question 17: level232, Germany
Quote:
When will TSO switch fom the unsafe, old and resource-unfriendly Flash to HTML5?
TSO Team: Switching from Flash to HTML5 is not on the development roadmap. Going this way would require a a big effort on the development side, and would drastically slow down the implementation of the new content, improvements and bugfixes.
Question 18: JackONeil, Russia
Quote:
Will there be any chat improvements like adding emoji?
TSO Team: Implementation of the emoji is not part of the current development roadmap. Thank you for the suggestion though!
Question 19: Hoggie , Germany
Quote:
When will you release TSO 2? (is something like this even planned?)
TSO Team: The aim of the TSO Development Team is to continue developing the existing game, bringing new ideas into it, and implementing new features. TSO v2.0 is not on the development roadmap.
Question 20: Grundhil, France
Quote:
How many people work for Ubisoft ? How is it organized ?
TSO Team: Thank you for asking this question! Ubisoft has more than 12.000 employees all around the globe. More details about Ubisoft can be found here.
Please click >here< to post your feedback.
Ask Me Anything Answers - Third Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our third batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 21: maxtrexas, Greece
Quote:
Why you decided to make levels beyond 50 so difficult to reach? We need months or even years to obtain so many millions of points and raise levels. In the meanwhile, I think many of us will lose the interest for the game.
BB_Alex: The progress calculation follows the same formula used for level 40 - 50, with some small deviations. We decided on this approach in order to have more time and a bigger range to introduce additional content. The requirement of many XP keeps the value of XP as rewards high for a longer period of time. This way we can introduce new exciting content, like the Excelsior, which will give you the opportunity to gather more XP. New content will contribute to a faster progress without getting too fast in the future. Higher levels do provide enough room for additional content.
Question 22: MrM79, the Netherlands
Quote:
It is possible to give a name to your generals, why the names are not visible to other players in an adventure?
MOD_Tomurckl, Germany: If the Generals' names were visible to other players, we'd almost expect to see violations of our terms and rules. Monitoring this would be an enormous effort. That's why the names are not visible to other players.
Question 23: Napalm, Germany
Quote:
Will the home island be extended at some point?
BB_Alex: Tough question. Maybe at some point in the far future. Right now we do not have any design or plans for an expansion of the home island.
Question 24: Onejug, UK
Quote:
We can't move warehouses, we have to pull them down and build new ones. Please make it possible to move warehouses. Will you do this?
BB_Alex: I can't guarantee anything at this point. Making warehouses movable does create critical situations since it is deeply connected to the ownership of a sector and all buildings placed inside such sector. It requires a deeper evaluation and research. We do not have a solution right now.
Question 25: siedlertestix, Germany
Quote:
Why doesn't BB offer a combat simulator?
BB_Alex: Developing an accessible combat simulator and maintaining it requires a higher quality level compared to the rough and simple simulator used internally. We decided against this additional effort and use the resources to improve and expand the game instead.
Question 26: Solzar, UK
Quote:
What's the most major addition to the game which we have never heard of that was considered by the designers, but not currently in the game?
BB_Pandur: It was that thing we never spoke of.
Question 27: ToomR, UK
Quote:
You thought of creating decorative bridges on the islands?
BB_Alex: Yes, this idea did appear in our minds several times. We do not have any specific plan or design yet.
Question 28: VampireMuffinMan, US
Quote:
Are there any plans to make the events in the News Tab clickable? It would be awesome to click on say "A well has become depleted." and have it center the map on that well.
BB_Alex: No plans here. I like this idea and will write it down. Maybe we will return to this topic in the future.
Question 29: Xypheron, US
Quote:
Will the loot for coop adventures ever be dramatically increased to the point that it is worth the extra hassles of coordination, timing, etc. for doing them?
BB_Alex: We do have several ideas for loot improvements of adventures, especially co-op adventures. No details and plans defined yet.
Question 30: ferdyduMont, Germany
Quote:
What do settlers do in their free time?
German CM Team: This depends on people. In most of the cases, the settlers do not have much free time - but they would have enough places to go to. Sightseeing is possible and they can visit some rabbits or golems that appear from time to time on the islands.
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Ask Me Anything Answers - Fourth Batch
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our forth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 31: Lenagrad, UK
Quote:
Why didn't you create also African, Asian, or other skin types within the Avatar selection?
TSO Team: Avatars that are currently available in the game are heavily influenced by the characters present in the previous "The Settlers" instalments. Thank you for the suggestion though, in case it is decided to expand the current "avatar base", we will keep your idea in mind.
Question 32: Oliklusive, Germany
Quote:
Do you have plans for new content for the level range 64-70? Currently this level range is quite bleak.
BB_Alex: Yes, we do have a couple of ideas for new content for the level range 64+. And no, we do not have any detailed plans, yet. This progress status is called "High Level Concept". A High Level Concept contains the vision including goals and preferable actions to reach those. It defines the direction we would like to approach and possible opportunities to support it. This High Level Concept is the very first step and used as foundation to define research tasks, which will help to clarify important questions and to create a clear design. It is too early to talk about it, since so much is shifting and changing right now.
Question 33: Schaefchen_Rdf, Germany
Quote:
Why isn't it possible to change the game-world?
TSO Team: Currently this is not possible due to certain technical limitations and potential data integrity issues. If anything changes in this regard, we will keep you updated.
Question 34: Schnurpsy, Germany
Quote:
Will the adventure surprise boxes from the merchant be reworked? We only get adventures which nobody plays anymore.
BB_Alex: We would like to bring the merchant up to date by introducing additional items and rework existing offers. Some of the goals have been defined, while the required changes still have to be listed and evaluated. Because we do not focus on such an update right now, I am not able to provide any additional information, yet. If I have to provide an answer, it would be: no, not yet.
Question 35: Segisjussus, UK
Quote:
I started Settlers Online 18 months ago by logging in through Steam. How do I log into the browser version? Might I add, I love Settlers Online.
BB_Pandur: It's not possible nor planned to make this possible. The environment used for Steam players is different than the regular one and not compatible.
Question 36: Silkvelvet , Germany
Quote:
Will there ever be another event that encompasses all game worlds?
BB_Alex: A cross-world event is a huge technical challenge and it requires a lot of balancing effort. Each game world has different amount of players on different levels. A lot of data has to be analysed and evaluated to be able to achieve a balance for such an event. We would rather invest our resources into developing exciting content available in the game all the time. Because of those reasons we do not have any plans to develop cross-world events.
Question 37: tobbydarck , France
Quote:
Why isn't there a derived Settlers derived product store for mugs and t-shirts, and a bust of my avatar I could display over my fireplace?
TSO Team: While we cannot promise that something will change in this regard, we will forward your suggestion for a further evaluation. In case anything changes, we will definitely let you know! :)
Question 38: Wormel, Germany
Quote:
What is the ratio between registered and active users?
BB_Pandur: Unfortunately we cannot tell you the exact ratio between of registered and active players due to business reasons.
Question 39: zecke836, Germany
Quote:
Will there be new Ali Baba adventures at some point?
BB_Alex: The "Arabian Nights" adventures belong to a coherent series of adventures we call "Campaign". We never had the goal to expand the same Campaign with additional adventures. Our goal is to tell different stories. This resulted in the development of "The Evil Queen" Campaign for the Excelsior. All our Campaigns belong to the "Fairy tale" theme. We still want to create content for all types of settings, tell different stories and avoid using the fairy tale theme for all Campaigns. It is unlikely we will return to "Arabian Nights" any time soon.
Question 40: Blade0761, Germany
Quote:
Hello, there are so many questions by now, so my question is: Is it still worth it to ask something?
BB_Pandur: Yes, it made sense to ask more questions. We are very happy about the huge amount of questions received and will answer to as many questions as possible.
Question 41: Tevtonec, Russia
Quote:
What appeared first: a chicken or an egg?
BB_Omris, CM Russia: Our scientists consider the egg to be the first thing to appear. You can't actually call a dinosaur "the chicken", right? Although Sonya Graham saw a lot of exciting things during her journeys, time travel is an art the Excelsior has yet to master. It's one of the most mysterious questions and the answer can be somewhere in between...
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Ask Me Anything: More Answers
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our fifth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 42: Kassain, Germany
Quote:
I’d like to offer Lord Dracul a drink. Which is his preferred blood type?
German CM Team: He, of course, does not discriminate against anyone and is currently on a diet, trying different substitutes, such as non-alcoholic versions of Bloody Mary and Bloody Caesar.
Question 43: Alfen, France
Quote:
Would it be possible to have a French test server ?
BB_Pandur: Game versions and new features on the test server have often not been translated into all available languages yet. The development is done mostly in English. The efforts to provide another language during the development and test server stage may delay the development process. We will investigate if we can do anything about it. Thank you for your question and happy testing!
Question 44: Deano1978, US
Quote:
Why is PVE/PVP not been redone? It is a waste of resources and still has a ton of issues.
BB_Alex: There are several fixes for the expedition feature which have been deployed over the past months, and we will continue to fix bugs. Besides that, we do not want to rework the whole feature, but to improve and update it at some point in the future. The prio for this part of the game is quite low, so we do not focus on it at the moment.
Question 45: GilligansDad, US
Quote:
I often see people say that blocking is not supported. What exactly does this mean? The in-game description of the MoD in the shop says "Appropriate for locking and blocking".
If it just means - block at your own risk, that is fine, but I sort of get the impression that blocking is frowned upon by the comments made. Thanks in advance for clearing this up.
BB_Alex: Blocking and Locking are tactics/strategies developed by our community to lower losses in adventures. Those are not official gameplay mechanics supported by us. This means, we do not guarantee the functionality of blocking/locking and we do not compensate losses from a failed block/lock. It is as you already mentioned. "Use at your own risk". Our goal is to create content providing all kind of opportunities and alternatives to create a diverse and fun experience. We want to create a game which has more to offer than just blocking/locking, since not every player uses those strategies. Ventures are a good example for the goal to create fun gameplay.
Question 46: Gilua, Germany
Quote:
How many hours were spent on developing TSO?
BB_Andreas: Starting from the very first changes done for The Settlers Online and taking only workdays into account, we had around 1.980 workdays until now, subtracted by a couple of days of special non-work situations, multiplied by 8 hours per day we can say:
Approximately 15.680 hours since the start of the project have passed during which there was always at least one person actively working on the game.
Question 47: mr_spook, Germany
Quote:
Will we get new adventures for Level 60?
BB_Alex: We are already laying out the plans for content above level 60. The process of development is in an early stage ("High Level Concept" as mentioned in one of the previous answers), there are not enough details set into stone to be able to tell much about how it will look like and what challenges to expect. I can only tell you that our goal is to provide a challenge and to create something really unique.
Question 48: Nayeliii, Germany
Quote:
Will we now get more female NPCs and especially generals?
BB_Alex: Maybe. Our approach for a character is not to meet any quotas. A character has to fit the theme, the setting and role and the vision. During the development, the designer is creating a vision for a character. A vision containing the look, the behaviour and characteristics. Very often such a vision is based on existing persons, which automatically defines the gender. We will continue creating new specialists and NPCs.
Question 49: Klabautermann16, Germany
Quote:
Are the avatars based on actual people?
Art Department: Avatars people get to choose are not based on actual people. Some of the NPCs used for quests are based on TSO team members.
Question 50: Rainchiller, Germany
Quote:
How does BB handle suggestions that are posted in the forum? When someone posts a question and it gets a lot of replies, do the MODs/the community manager read it and forward it to the team? Are these suggestions even considered or are they not taken seriously?
BB_Kumakun, Germany: Each entry you posted into the feature request part has been discussed with the team and some wishes are already visible in-game. However, we didn't have enough time to give enough feedback in each thread and this will be taken care of soon.
Question 51: Stallbube, Germany
Quote:
Since we settle on an island: Why don't we have a harbour?
BB_Alex: One of my personal goals is to provide new, unique mechanics. Creating a harbour would require us to combine it with a mechanic matching the vision and theme of a harbour. Several mechanics matching this theme are already in the game. Trade or transfer of generals for example, leaving less options to create something new and unique at the same time.
Please click >here< to post your feedback.
Ask Me Anything: More Answers
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our sixth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 52: Albatra, US
Quote:
Where do the topics for the Weekly trivia come from? I'm curious about who decides what the next one should be, and where the pools of questions come from.
BB_Aeyline, US CM: In recent months, a lot of suggestions have geared us toward more game-related questions, but we're always looking for new suggestions of topics from our players. There's also a feedback thread published on the forum for this purpose, so don't be shy and send us your suggestions!
Question 53: Albor83, Italy
Quote:
Have you considered to add something like the Excelsior in the future?
BB_Alex: We will definitely continue to consider providing new content and mechanics. Those will vary in scope and complexity. It might not reach the scope of the Excelsior with 11 ventures, 9 buff quests, and all those new assets, but there is also a chance for such a feature to be implemented in two separate updates. We have a dynamic approach to new content, allowing us to adapt to new goals or challenges.
Question 54: Assassin420, UK
Quote:
Will we ever going to get crystal mines to dig up some crystals?
BB_Alex: No. Crystals will remain a rare reward for specific limited actions performed by the player. We will also avoid using sources for Crystals, which are not limited to a certain amount during a timeframe (day, week, month). Daily quests can be done once/twice a day. An adventure can be finished several times a day. This approach will keep Crystals balanced and avoid a huge gap between players. If we decide to increase the payout of Crystals, those additional sources will remain limited. No adventure loot and no production.
Question 55: belgarath38, France
Quote:
Would it be possible to get the copy/paste functionality from the chat again?
BB_Andreas: Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, we are unable to provide text selection for multiple lines with the current chat. You can still select single chat messages, right click the text and select "copy" from the context menu, or using CTRL+C.
Question 56: Bgurlymn, US
Quote:
When can we have a recycling event to get rid of unwanted items and get either crystals or gems for them?
TSO Production Team: Thank you for this interesting idea; we will evaluate if it could be part of one of the further game versions. Also, in case you haven't done so already, please submit this suggestion in the official forums.
Question 57: bogini, Germany
Quote:
Do you have plans for further developments for the Excelsior? If so, can you tell us a few more details?
BB_Alex: Modularity was one of the main goals during the development of the Excelsior. This feature enables us to expand its content at any point. So yes, we do have many different ideas for additional Excelsior content. Those ideas include almost anything one can possibly think of; additional quest chains and ventures for existing compilations (we call all subcategories such as Long Letter or Rough Travel Guide, "Compilations"), new campaigns, similar to "The Evil Queen" for the "Books" category, or even completely new categories. The Excelsior also allows us to create new categories, available only during an Event and many other different ideas. Besides having all those ideas, we haven't finished defining clear details for our next steps with the Excelsior yet. This makes it difficult to provide any details at this point.
Question 58: dino1945 , France
Quote:
Would it be possible to have more adventures that do not involve combat?
BB_Alex: During the past years we introduced additional content, including non-combat adventures: Scenarios and Buff Quests for example. So yes, it is definitely possible to have more Scenarios or other alternatives to combat. Judging from your question, you would rather know whether there are specific plans for additional Scenarios or Buff Quest. And the question to that is "no, not right now".
Question 59: Dregs, UK
Quote:
Any chance that there could be an "unload all troops" command when generals land at adventures?
BB_Alex: We haven't assessed such an addition in detail, yet. We will create a feature request for this, so we are able to evaluate it at some point in the future.
Question 60: Drulpi, Germany
Quote:
Why can't I be active in Trade while I'm on an adventure island? A lot of offers are already gone until I'm back on my home island.
BB_Andreas: Trading while being on an adventure is not possible because the player's resources are stored on their home island and are not accessible from the outside.
Question 61: JohnnyStiletto, UK
Quote:
Do you ever plan on increasing the amount of bookbinders to more than 1?
BB_Alex: No specific plan, just some feature request referring to this topic. The skill tree for generals definitely had an impact on this situation and we will evaluate this suggestion in the future.
Question 62: LordKingDJ, The Netherlands
Quote:
Would it be possible for trade offers to last longer, eg. 24 hours?
BB_Alex: And another topic for a feature request. No specific plans yet, but this might change in the future.
Question 63: karan-ruth, Poland
Quote:
How many cups of coffee do you drink during maintenance?
TSO QA Team: Depends on the kind of maintenance. Normally we drink around 1.5 liters (6-8 cups) in the whole team during the maintenance. I will not tell how many people we are. But sometimes we also need to extend the maintenance to create a tasty cappuccino in our amazing machine after lunch. ;)
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AMA: 100 questions answered!
Note:
Please keep in mind that this is our tenth batch of published answers. Our team continues to process the questions submitted by our worldwide community; additional answers will be provided for selected questions in the future.
Question 92: Alexcom31, Germany
Quote:
To the person who reads (and probably will answer this): What do you see if you open the top drawer at your PC table?
BB_Kumakun, DE CM: Nothing. I do not have a drawer at my PC table. But everything else on my table is full with sticky notes and you can't say what it once was.
BB_Ondgrund, DE GM: If I would tell you the truth, someone might steal my secret stash of chocolate and cookies. So... just some boring pens and paperclips.
BB_Maxhylere, FR CM: Oh. Well, do you guys remember last year when I thought someone stole my sandwich ? I think I found it. Or it found me, I'm not sure.
BB_Saqui, UK CM: My super secret stash of sweets that the rest of the office doesn't know about! Just don't tell them I told you, OK? ;)
BB_Orowa, DE CM: Some reminders about different topics, that I had on my desk, but eventually was annoyed by... so I moved them to the drawer and forgot about them again.. This procedure still has room for improvement :D Other than that, some gadgets to fidget with, while I think about difficult topics.
BB_Acadma, UK GM: About 30 random flash drives that need to be consolidated and wiped.
BB_Belegha, DE GM: My drawer is a secret pathway to the Settlers world. When I open it, I get sucked in and randomly pop out in one of the 14 German game worlds. Apart from this special feature, it looks very ordinary and, to be honest, also kind of messy.
BB_Aeyline, US CM: A toothbrush & toothpaste, pair of mismatched socks, a compass, iPhone charger, chocolate stash, list of Trivia questions & answers, old car keys, broken mouse, used batteries... oh, and SirGoofy's expert guide on Global antics.
BB_Amta, CM Team: There is only one thing in my drawer. The most important thing any TSO player should have handy: A stress ball which I squeeze each time my explorers come back with fish plates.
BB_Pandur, CM Team: Drawer? We can get drawers around here?
Question 93: Jenny1501, Germany
Quote:
Are there any questions that annoy you?
German CM Team: There are hardly any kind of questions that annoy us - we are pretty happy about the amount of questions we got. They ranged from fun questions to serious game related ones and it was a good way to honestly answer questions that seem to be pointed out by many players. Also, we are pretty sure we'd get more of those questions, if we said which annoyed us, so... no ;p
Question 94: KingLuiKong, Germany
Quote:
Which team member is part of the team for the longest time?
TSO Production Team: Ruslan our Artist and Patrick our DevOps Manager have been on the project the longest.
Question 95: Spicy74, Germany
Quote:
How much coffee do you guys drink per day? Or did you already switch to something with more %?
German CM Team: Depends on the people. We have some people here who only drink cocoa (no idea where the coffeein comes from and how they can survive the day) but overall it would be 1 or 2 big cups a day.
Question 96: Lupus_C, Germany
Quote:
Which level do the player accounts of the different team members have?
BB_Pandur: Our official accounts are on level 75, of course. I cannot speak for the other colleagues, but my private account is on level 48 and kind of stuck at it. I know for a fact that most of the other team member's accounts are between level 40-60.
Question 97: schiggi2001, Germany
Quote:
Why did you start this AMA event?
BB_Pandur: In the first place we created the event to provide everyone the opportunity to ask us a question - no matter the topic. We also wanted the whole team to be able to communicate in some way with the community, without being available 24/7.
Question 98: madmanc, UK
Quote:
Would you like to see any of your structures built in real life?
BB_Ruslan: Yes, the Powderhut. In the highest level the building would look amazing in real life.
Question 99: bbolekkk, Poland
Quote:
Whose idea was this event?
BB_Pandur, CM Team: Who invented "AMA"? I think its origins are on Reddit or some other forum, I don't really know. We decided as a team to do this, as everybody can benefit from it.
Question 100: Kitikejt, Poland
Quote:
What are the real names behind BB_Taku, BB_Anash and BB_Penelopa?
BB_Taku, BB_Anash, BB_Penelopa: Robert, Żaneta, Anna.
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