by _Gunnar » Mon Feb 17, 2014 4:22 pm
I think that Anon9k is right in that the "stats" in haven do reflect what is in fact intended to be the true skill of the game. However I do think there are problems with this, probably more exemplified by Salem than haven.
I think one important ingredient of a realistic social contract is that the people can withdraw their consent to be governed and have some sort of chance of resistance. If the ascendant class consists of literal supermen, this is no longer the case, which is perhaps why Salem never really progressed beyond a sort of brutal feudal system, despite the fact that it intends to be set in the sort of time period in which these systems were being / had been destroyed.
I think this problem is much less severe in haven than in salem, partly because the combat system is significantly better and partly because defenses are easier to construct. It could also be that the playerbase is less obnoxious. There are other problems in haven, of course, which mean that (violent) conflict is in some ways massively favoured over cooperation - alts, etc, which have all been discussed again and again.
Maybe one way to improve things is to make stats matter less and equipment matter more. This will make any nascent bourgeoisie more important relative to the military class, and perhaps allow this virtual society to progress a little more. Character progression should be more qualitative, as jorb has stated as one of his aims, and all hearthlings should be a little more equal in squishiness and strength, at least, under their armour...
