3 months ago I’ve caught an opportunity to participate in a test of a new strategy game named Mithraeum as a member of 0Y Guild. It was fun and I will share some thoughts about it. Important note — there is no offence here even if I don’t like some points, approaches or mechanics. I hope this article could help players to find a new game and also help founders to make the game better.
The start
Once @HyperDoge came to our community and suggested to play a new game. “Create a guild, be active and be a part of the alliance with Degens!” — he said — “Use this test to learn the game, we’ll cover you at the start.”
Ok, I wanna try. I am not a gamer — too slow for Dota, too busy for HMM. But whatever, I am with my trusted friends, even anonymous.
I am really far from games, and the first thing that amazed me — Mithraeum got me hooked. Several hours we were trying to learn the mechanics together with my guild. I forgot to sleep several times. The feeling that we are a real team and every of us creates an important part of our result is very usual for 0Y community and Mithraeum highlighted this.
I was inspired and even spent some DAI to move faster.
At the beginning we were noobs. It seemed to me that we are small and useless. Listening and cooperating with Degens, being responsible and active we’ve built the reputation of reliable and friendly ally.
All as I like — to trust and be trustworthy.
Mechanics
This article is not about mechanics. Short recap:
The World consists of several Zones. You build your city, farm and craft resources, upgrade the fort and hire settlers and the army. Obviously you want to live in one Zone with your team (Guild) to make coordination and defence easier. Every 2 weeks an army of Cultists come and you should clear them out. The most important thing in the game is politics — most of war intentions had been stopped in Discord. Farming and other settlement things could be managed with the bot (thanks 1hermn | +_- ).
Looks pretty simple? Hah! Try it.
Performance
My brand new MacBook Pro, not of the worst configuration, is heated like a teppan in a restaurant overlooking Mt. Fuji. IMHO, UI with such a load on the client’s computer is completely irrelevant to the dynamics of the game. I like the design a lot, however Mithraeum is not an action game, and a very simple (technically) UI is enough. This would reduce the load and would not affect the course of the game. I understand that everything is already done (and very beautiful!), but …
… May I have a button to switch to energy-saving 2D mode? Please 🙏?
Minor inconvenience
I never got to see the entire map of the world. To be honest, I don’t understand the meaning of this restriction. Is it possible to look at the whole map without dancing with tambourines?
What’s the point?
Identity
The creators of the game have made a great progress in the direction of creating the identity of individual settlements and guilds in general. Still, I would like a clearer identity for our Guild. It seems to me that when the game becomes popular, Guilds will want to be very different from others and, most importantly, keep imposters away from their identity. Our entire guild added 0Y to our settlements names, and at some point, someone used this technique in an attempt to pretend to be a member of our guild.
I would not like to allow such pranks))
Trading
All farmed and crafted resources could be traded without leaving the game. This is a fantastic thing — in different stages of the game different resources are needed and all of them have real clear utility. Player doesn’t need to dive too deep to the DeFi — trading is simple. Great!
Interesting thing — for a long period of time my attempts to trade 7 times out of 10 failed for the first time (second attempts were good). Sandwich bot? It could scare away new players.
Cultists
Cultists as a source of uncoordinated military force that can end the game is a great idea. Cultists stimulate the Zone to develop, not only by accumulating resources, but also by strengthening military power. But even for a 90-day game, their occurrence has ceased to strain. At the beginning of the game, we attacked the cultists with the combined forces of the two zones, and now I clear them out with my two armies. What will become of this idea when the game becomes infinite in time?
What to do? I would consider such possibilities:
A: The size of the Cultist army could depend on more factors, and especially on the military development of the zone. This would create ongoing tension and add new war strategies at a time when the Zone needs to be cleared of Cultists.
B: Developers could consider such mechanics as the appearance of cultists not by one army, but by several. If they haven’t been attacked for a while, they themselves could move forward to attack random settlements in the zone. Yes, these armies will not be that big, but there will be many of them and they will be active, causing inconvenience to the entire zone, tying up armies and attacking settlements. In addition, this approach can diversify the military strategies and tactics of the players.
Conclusion
The game is very interesting. The game is beautiful and quite easy to understand. It unites cool guys. You can build reputation and trust. It is possible, as in life, to prepare for war, thus protecting peace. I got my 17 year old son into the game, he knows nothing about web3.
Sometimes I spend hours thinking about what important challenges Mithraeum will face when it will go to production.
How to make sure that new players have an interest and an opportunity to play?
(For example, to make new zones untouchable, even closed for a certain period of time).
How to find such a balance so that “eternal peace” does not occur, because then the game may cease to be interesting?
(Maybe suggested Cultist mechanics might work)
How to attract disparate players into the game, given that the game requires trust, coordination, negotiations and activity, or at least the absence of agents from other guilds?
(Might be a “training-adoption” program — several training guilds with leaders from the creators of the game)
After all, I want to say BIG THANK YOU to the game creators! That was an amazing experience! Me and 0Y Guild wish you good luck and prosperity!
