Dev Diary: Adventure Type Rework

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Dear Settlers,

As we all know, there are many types of adventures in the game: resource and experience adventures, mini-adventures, single player and multiple player adventures as well as co-op adventures, follow-ups, epic raids and fairy tales, special, myths or scenarios. And if you think that's a long list, don't forget that with the introduction of the Excelsior in September 2016, we've also become more familiar with ventures.

All these different types of adventures vary in rewards, difficulty, play style and method of obtaining. So much has changed since we first started to develop The Settlers Online and its adventures, that the current classification is of little relevance today. All these inconsistencies urged us to rework this feature and provide you with a better classification of adventures.

Each adventure will have three different properties displayed in the adventure info screen:

1. Type
2. Theme
3. Campaign (if applicable)

Let's take a deeper look into what each of these properties mean.

https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...pes_header.png

One of the most notable changes refers to redefining the types of adventures as a major mechanical distinction. The type can be seen as a challenge a particular adventure represents to you: Military adventures or "Missions", Scenarios, Ventures or Expeditions.

<center><table style="border: 1px dashed black; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; background-color: rgb(235, 222, 193); width:700px;"><tbody><th >Icon</th><th >Adventure Type</th><th >Description</th></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">
https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...dd/mission.png</td><td style="background-color: white;">Mission</td><td style="background-color: white;">Combat Adventure</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...rk_dd/mini.png</td><td style="background-color: white;">Mini Mission</td><td style="background-color: white;">Small combat adventures</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">
https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...k_dd/coop2.png</td><td style="background-color: white;">Co-op Mission</td><td style="background-color: white;">Combat adventures that require additional players</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">
https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...d/scenario.png</td><td style="background-color: white;">Scenario</td><td style="background-color: white;">Buff adventures; require collectibles and resource expenditures</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003.../ventures2.png</td><td style="background-color: white;">Venture</td><td style="background-color: white;">Mixed adventures; combination of mission and scenario mechanics</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">Expedition</td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">PvP Expedition</td></tr></tbody></table></center>

The Epic, Experience, Resource, Follow-up types of adventure will be removed. As a result of this rework, sorting by type (or default) in the Star Menu will display the adventures in the following order: Mission, Mini, Coop, Venture and Scenario.

https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...mes_header.png

The theme represents the underlying idea of an adventure. Most adventures fall under the classical theme of the game, as they speak of cunning bandits and vicious pirates that ought to be challenged and defeated to restore harmony and bring peace in the world. Some adventures are inspired by the European or Oriental folklore, while others invite you to get into the holiday season mood and - for example - become a better person by delivering gifts to a child in need.

In most cases, the theme does not carry a mechanical implication, with the exception of fairy tales and their unique feature: the magic beans drop.


<center><table style="border: 1px dashed black; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; background-color: rgb(235, 222, 193); width:700px;"><tbody><th >Theme</th><th >Description</th></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">Classical</td><td style="background-color: white;">The theme of all generic adventures. Bandits, knights and pirates</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">Fairy tale</td><td style="background-color: white;">Adventures based on fairy tales, both western and oriental; these drop magic beans</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">
Myth</td><td style="background-color: white;">Adventures with magical or mythological elements that are not based on classical fairy tales and do not drop magic beans</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">
Easter</td><td style="background-color: white;">Easter event adventures; the vast majority are scenarios about collecting eggs</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">Soccer</td><td style="background-color: white;">Soccer event adventures; All current ones are scenarios that resemble soccer matches in a tournament</td></tr><tr ><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">Christmas</td><td style="background-color: white;">Christmas event adventures; the vast majority are scenarios about delivering presents to households</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">Apocalypse</td><td style="background-color: white;">The "end of the world" adventures</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">Retro</td><td style="background-color: white;">This theme was used for adventures during the Settlers Anniversary event. All those unique adventures were designed in a Retro look of The Settlers 2</td></tr></tbody></table></center>

https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...gns_header.png

Another addition is classifying an adventure by campaign, if it belongs to one. There are three campaigns in the game right now: The Little Tailor, Arabian Nights and the Evil Queen. The Soccer Championship would be a fourth one, whenever a summer event is running in the game.


<center><table style="border: 1px dashed black; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; background-color: rgb(235, 222, 193); width:700px;"><tbody><th >Campaign</th><th >Description</th></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">The Little Tailor</td><td style="background-color: white;">A campaign about the Little Tailor containing 5 adventures on 2 paths</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">Arabian Nights</td><td style="background-color: white;">A campaign about the Arabian nights containing 10 adventures on multiple paths</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">The Evil Queen</td><td style="background-color: white;">A campaign about the Evil Queen containing 5 ventures on a single path</td></tr><tr ><td style="background-color: white;">Soccer Championship</td><td style="background-color: white;"> A series of soccer matches</td></tr><tr ></tbody></table></center>

The archive entries, quests, adventure descriptions and tooltips will be changed and updated accordingly to match the new classification.

https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...ges_header.png

The constant development of The Settlers Online throughout the years has led to more difficult adventures, that exceeded the current 1-10 difficulty scale. For this reason, the difficulty range will be extended to 1-15 as old adventures will be re-evaluated.
For better understanding, this adjustment brings along UI changes, as follows:

• The difficulty value is now shown as a written number instead of a number of icons.
  
  Tired of counting skulls to find out what difficulty level a certain adventure has? This user friendly interface displays the difficulty level for you, as a value between 1 (very easy) and 15 (very difficult).
  
  
• The colors and respective difficulty ranges are: Grey for levels 1-3, green for levels 4-6, blue for levels 7-9, purple for levels 10-12 and red for levels 13-15.
  
  This color can be seen in the adventure info screen, in the circle surrounding the difficulty level.
  
  
• For expeditions, all references to the word "difficulty" will be replaced with "tier"

So, in case of El Chupacabra venture, the current adventure info screen looks like this:

https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...acabra_old.png

As a result of our rework, this screen has been changed to the following:

https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/003...acabra_new.png

Notice the icon on the left displaying the difficulty: 8, and the blue circle surrounding it, corresponding to the adventure's difficulty range.

With so many different adventures, a redesign was essential to the game. The new adventure type rework aims to bring more consistency into the game and make your experience a better one.

We hope you enjoy it and don't hesitate to share your > feedback < with us.

Happy settling!
BB_Sious