2020-09-04 - Battle for Babylon

Battle for Babylon is not the most popular game out there, but it's found a niche among history buffs and those who like to hack and slash through a well-rendered ancient world. The standalone game is more popular with its open world and immersive storyline, but the MMO side has its fans as well. That side of the game is more focused on military strategy as players compete in capture the flag style tournaments to take and hold towns and cities.

The Neo-Assyrian Empire is a group within the game that Alexander has managed to get himself invited to. The group delights in picking through the history of the game and comparing it to known mythology, and using outside sources to try and dig up Easter eggs. Some of them are nice and friendly folks (if a little intense) though there are others who are rude and interrogative and delight in gatekeeping new members with obscure facts.

There are two players in particular that seem to be hardcore. One is a player with an absolutely jacked tank named Asardin, and the other is a quieter and more conspiracy-leaning Naram-Sin whose avatar is a priest and healer type. They seem to be the defacto leaders, such as the group even has leaders.

And Alexander's skill has definitely made him friends within the group whose members are from all over Washington State.

to Naram-Sin, AttacKur: Asardin says, "fuck em if they dont apreciate the game. u dont need 2 do there homework for them."

The poor spelling and typos is pretty par for the course for Asardin.

to AttacKur, Asardin: Naram-Sin says, "Dude this game needs players. There's rumors that they might turn off the MMO servers cuz numbers are dropping. What do you want to know?"

Naram-Sin on the other hand, trips up sometimes but does tend to type in complete sentences.

to Naram-Sin, AttacKur: Asardin says, "oh so you wanna bang this chik i see."

to AttacKur, Asardin: Naram-Sin says, "You hear about the sacrifices? Kill certain NPC and leave them in certain places and you get some sweet bonuses. But you gotta be careful cuz you don't want a swarm. Gotta know a lot abt gods to get the right sacrifice tho."

NPCs are all killable in the game, but if you do it in view of anyone, you will lose reputation points which reduces how cooperative NPCs are and your share of raids on other towns and cities. Do it too much and you lose access to entire towns unless you pay reparations that can be quite hefty with in-game currency. The NPCs also have tendency to swarm and kill you dead if you were to shank the butcher in the middle of the market, for instance.

to AttacKur, Asardin: Naram-Sin says, "yeah maybe. I got 1 with Erra in the tower," The eponymous Tower of Babel which dominates the skyline of Babylon. "hard as shit. burned all my stealth consumables took me two weeks to build em up. but i got lion of babylon form and can fly limited and fire attack. think reward is based on your class."

to Naram-Sin, AttacKur: Asardin says, "oh yeah. Zamama found that hax. She got some sweet warrior abilities."

to AttacKur, Asardin: Naram-Sin says, "Zamama's a dude. Ass. Just has tits avatar cuz it's the only way to get priestess class."

to Naram-Sin, AttacKur: Asardin says, "fuck"

to AttacKur, Asardin: Naram-Sin says, "He should know better than to assume based on avi. You new here Ass?"

to Naram-Sin, AttacKur: Asardin says, "fuck off"

to AttacKur, Asardin: Naram-Sin says, "can do group but only one of you can get the boost. So people sometimes team up and gank the reward."

to AttacKur, Asardin: Naram-Sin says, "yeah maybe if you can find a spot. Zamama is not telling people where spots are, just that theyre a thing. Some people think he's a dev planting crumbs."

to Naram-Sin, AttacKur: Asardin says, "so I've been flirting with a dude DEV?"

to Naram-Sin, AttacKur: Asardin says, "no comment"

to AttacKur, Asardin: Naram-Sin says, "hahaha yeah it does that's how we learned it exists the first time."

to AttacKur, Asardin: Naram-Sin says, "hahaha good luck dude. when you find a spot I will run with you. We can't try tower again tho. Too many people know about it so the server gets laggy as fuck and kicks you"

Asardin has disconnected from server.

to AttacKur, Zamama says, "You seek to appease the gods and earn their favor?"

to AttacKur, Naram-Sin says, "nah his kids probs just got home. He doesn't want them to know he plays"

to AttacKur, Zamama says, "The gods demand blood. Are you willing to shed it?"

There isn't the sense that Zamama is a NPC. It's definitely coming from a player bit. Zamama's avatar is a warrior-priestess with four arms and a winged helmet. The gear is quite rare and the character's level is very high - maxed out. It also lists the player as having 100 per cented the main game on master mode.

to AttacKur, Naram-Sin says, "yeah man hmu. I'll work on Ass too. He needs the boost cause he keeps getting fucken shanked in the Maze," one of the instances that people run regularly to keep them in good gear and consumables for the city raids.

to AttacKur, Zamama says, "Which of the god's favor do you curry?"

to AttacKur, Naram-Sin says, "sounds good. Gotta jet for now. Good luck!"

Naram-Sin has disconnected.

to AttacKur, Zamama says, "Send one back to the land who tends the land along with one of its flock."

There are in fact, multiple farmer's fields between towns and city-states with sheep and goats running free, along with small farmsteads.

to AttacKur, Zamama says, "Prove your worthiness by appeasing one, and another may see fit to grant you favors."

The challenge is far harder than it first appears. It's easy to see why Naram-Sin said he burned a lot of his stealth consumables. It's exceedingly hard to kill a farmer NPC without someone noticing. The fields are wide and open and apparently villagers have really good eyesight. Add to that, you need to kill one of the sheep within the same general area, over cuneiform patterns burned into the grass. Everything can get lined up perfectly skill-wise, but then something random in the game (like a weather event, players running through to get to another challenge, the pattern of an NPC) will completely botch the whole attempt.

Eventually, Alexander is successful and is granted the ability to summon a swarm of shadow-sheep that can trample enemies. The ability granted shifts based on class. For instance, the thank is granted a massive wooly pelt that summons itself in colder environments and counteracts the effect the cold usually has on the character's speed.

Once the quest is complete, Zamama grants another clue. This one leads to Abzu and the seashore. The similarities with the actual murder for this one seem quite surface. The beach kill involves drowning a fisherman on a small skiff. But one of the other players mention that they think that one's new. It's one that is able to be done solo, but it involves several annoying fetch quests to gain the trust of the fisherman so he'll take you fishing. But when successfully completed, Alexander's character gains the ability to swim underwater without drowning, which makes it easier to farm for sea-resources and discover a sunken temple.

The ability to swim underwater is a new update to the game. It's only been out a few weeks.

Zamama sends a reply. "Gibil craves tribute but the time is not right."

It takes a little digging, but people are convinced that Zamama is a dev, feeding the Easter egg of boosts to dedicated players, and perhaps playtesting a new mechanic to add to the game. People think it's cool to be able to interact with a live person (or an extremely sophisticated AI) to get quests, though some people do point out that human sacrifice doesn't seem themely for Babylonian myth and kind of counter to the game itself as it turns players into serial killers.

One player on the forum with the name 'DevotedofSamizdat' leaves a cryptic note that says, "All gods seek sacrifice. It's just realistic."

The handle is not directly connected to an in-game bit. The forum history shows evidence that he might be taking it all too seriously, though some people just take it for roleplaying. There is a distinct sense that he might follow some kind of pagan belief system in the real world, because he also comments on some threads when gods act un-godly in the game, that the portrayal is disrespectful.

Some of the forums start to report there are other bits like Zamama showing up - high level players people don't remember encountering before who give out in-character clues. People also point out that no matter when you message those bits, they respond within a few minutes no matter which time of day, which suggests it's not always the same dev at the keyboard unless they just don't sleep.

It's going to take some careful waiting and watching to see more on the forums. Devoted doesn't post often.

There's more than a few suspicious characters on this game and it's hard to know who is just a weird gamer and who might be in to something far more sinister.