[Gameplay Idea] Linking "features" to provide more interesting choices (eg, Dynasty, Research) Long

from Elemental Forums

Right now the "features" we got in E:WoM are Dynasties, City Building, Units/Heroes/Sovereig, Researching techs and Magic (acquiring knowledge). Not sure if I should add adventuring since that falls under the research tree, but for the examples I'm providing I wont use adventuring.

When I say "features" I'm referring to the "systems" that move the gameplay, if that makes sense to you. Right now these systems are very good in their own right, but its been bothering me lately that most of them don't interact with each other a lot. So I spent a while trying to come up with ideas to make these "systems or features" interact with each other naturally while we play the game.

As they are right now they are good, and I can say I have fun when I'm trying the beta for bugs, even when Im not supposed to be enjoying it :P But the lack of interaction between these features really bothers me at the end of the day. I don't know where I read this, I believe it was in a journal and it said something along like this "games don't need to be really complex to have depth, they can have depth with simple systems that intertwine". I probably butchered that quote but it made sense to me. Take Lego blocks for example, it is possible to do good stuff with just using 1 color block, but when you use them all together then you can really do awesome things!

Sorry for that um, weird analogy, but my points is E:WoM could be so much more awesome if you made the current systems be joined in a way.

So lets start with my examples and ideas:

Arcane knowledge (Learning Spells/Magic):   

At the moment this to me feels like it could use something else. You learn a spell and thats, then you learn another and another. You also most probably gotta wait to use them till combat, but thats not my point. My gripe lies with the Learning system itself and hopefull you will understand what I'm saying with my examples.

Idea 1:

To improve upon the Arcane knowledge system I propose having a hidden counter that adds up all the Arcane Knowledge you've earned up to your current turn. Eg, you are gaining 5 knowledge per turn and you;re in turn 10. This hidden counter would be at 50. What is the purpose of this counter? With this you could add another layer to knowledge system and you could use this counter to do multiple cool things.

Example 1:

When this counter reaches 50 points, and you gain the chance to cast a free enchantment in a city that lasts X turns. Your nation is increasing its knowledge and they found a way to cast a free spell yay!

In this example I connected the Arcane Knowledge to our cities and it's not affecting the magic research, its just a hidden counter that adds a possible cool bonus.

Example 2:

The counter reachs 50 points just like above but instead of a free city enchant, you could get a free unit enchant and effectively add a relation between arcane knowledge and units!

One suggestion I thought of was making the actual number required to obtain this bonus dependant on your total cities. For example, if you have 1 city then you would get your first bonus at say 35 points, but if you have 5 cities then the first bonus would be at say 160 (made up these numbers out of thin air). This would help alleviate a bit the problem small kingdoms suffer against bigger kingdoms.

Dynasty:

Dynasty is a very cool sounding concept but at the moment its rather simplistic. You get married and have children and they are worth diplo points. I thought of a few things to add relations between cities and other systems and heres what I came up with.

Example3:

You could choose which city to raise your kid (making them interactive since they're an useless baby lol) and say that the city they grew up in has an Ice Crystal, then they could develop an affinity towards Ice. This could increase their defense against Ice based or increase their potency with ice spells, or both!

Example4:

With an Arcane Knowledge bonus you could imbue your babies and by the time they join you they become more powerful by appearing with Extra Essence.

These bonuses could be random, could be a choice like when cities level up, or could be both! I'll add more ideas as I fix them up a bit and this post is too long as it stands :s.

These are just 4 examples of meshing all these features together which I think could add more depth to E:WoM, I already posted detailed examples of how champions and cities could work together in a previous thread. I got more ideas between the other systems but if people have any ideas or improvements over these ones please feel free to comment. I'm doing another Power Point file with these ideas and will post em when they are a bit more organized. Thanks for reading~!

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Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I think these are some great ideas.  :thumbsup:   Synergy towards different aspects of a game almost always makes the game a lot more deep and enjoyable.

What do you think about the above ideas Frogboy? :wc:

Best regards,
Steven. 

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Not sure about a hidden counter - players being players they'll learn about it, figure out how to use it best, and the surprise factor will wear off pretty quickly, followed by the annoyance of not having it actually displayed being permanent.  I'm sure the idea could be implemented without it being hidden though.

 

Definitely like the ideas about dynasties.  They're one of the parts I'm most interested in, and right now they feel extremely static.  Not sure what direction they want to take them in, but there's a lot of potential there.

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

You make a good point Bogatz, it being hidden wouldn't really achieve much but be an annoyance now that I think about it. The main idea of having a counter is what matters to me the most, you could see your "total acquired knowledge" in your kingdom report for example. It could be like the experience bar that heroes have currently, mouse over it and see how much you need for next "Bonus/Level/WuteverYouComeUpWith.

I'm sure a counter isn't the only thing that you could do to link these "features" in one way or another, and if someone gets any idea go ahead and post it!

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Im bumping this thread 1 more time since I think these Ideas are still nice and I think could help EWoM a lot. From reading one of those reviews that are out, it was mentioned how these cool features in EWoM dont really mesh together. I made this post during beta with just that in mind, so here it is again. If someone has anythingto add feel free to drop a line in here and tell us what you think. Adding more ideas here would be sweet too :D.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I like your ideas for sure, there is a lot of work to be done making synergy between the systems. This is what I have been thinking of most as a blanket improvement since I started playing.  Defiantly expected more of this out of the box.

Examples....

1) Random quest x might need to have a princess released from an icy prison.  Only suitable tactical fire spells will break the ice barrier.  She rewards you with the water/air protection amulet that her captors gave her to stay alive in the icy cell. (Which means protection from element stats would have to be in the game.  are they?  I haven't seen it yet and I think that would be an automatic)

2) Random quest y village needs 10 swords of a specific type which you need to get from the military tree.

3) Kingdoms have ratings on how much they lean toward a specific element.  Upped by things like using spells, getting nodes, doing element specific quests.  High ratings earn abilities to learn element specific techs in research trees.

   a)Instead of harvesting if you have earth affinity you can get "one with the fields" which gives a slightly higher bonus than harvesting.

   b)An option might unlock in military to develop cold-steel weapons if you have air and water affinity. They might have combat speed improvement and a damage bonus against fire.

   c)High fire affinity and an evil faction unlocks techs in the magic tree like "Lava Moats".  You can build streams of lava on non mountain tiles around your city that make any enemies entering them take 5-10% HP damage.

   d)water affinity could unlock research to give you access to notable locations your water transports can explore.

   e)air affinity in the diplomatic tree unlocks "The Brotherhood of the Winds".  Empires who enter the brotherhood together get increased goodwill, some air    bonuses versus hostile kingdoms,  negative impacts if they attack each other.

I guess it would be great to see synergy and more of the elemental theme in a game called Elemental.  Note it doesn't need to increase the complexity for casual gamers just basically adding a ton of "whoa that is a neat touch" content unlocked as the users naturally do what they are doing already.  Wish I had time to mod because this game seems like a great sandbox to play with.  Game-play content/balance would be a great job to have on this game IMHO.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Ohh those are great ideas, I like them and they efectively create a relation between questing and magic gj. I wish the mod tools were out as well, there are so many good ideas floating around that I can't wait to try to implement a few of my own.