Kinda quirky game idea
 

I had an idea for a game that i thought i might just throw out there to see if it generates any interest. It involves using a mod to create a sort of 'overwatch' nation who's purpose is to sit in 4-5 provinces and chronicle the conflicts of the other empires. Basically what you would do is mod one of the blood nations (for blood sacrifice so your dominion wouldnt be overrun...hopefully) then give them superpowerful wizards that also generate astral gems so they have access to all the money/gems/research they will need, and also mod them a super stealthy unit that has massive overland movement so they can get to all the hotspots. This neutral nation would then cast eyes of god and write an AAR style writeup on the turns as they progress and the major battles their spies witness. I think it would be alot of fun, but there are a few sticking points.

1. You need to find someone who is willing to do all the writeups and stick with it. Since it would be a pretty heavy commitment, and probably take a decent amount of time. I guess you could share this around by having multiple people switch off turns or something though.

2. All players would have to be ok with the extra information that would be available. Someone writing a AAR about a ongoing game might give away what could be considered vital information on empire size, army placement, and current wars and tactics. Especially if screenshots are posted of the overall 'eyes of god' view.

3. All players would have to agree not to wish for modded units. The overwatch empire would have to be given some heavily modded units that others could absolutely not be allowed access to. Somewhat easier to enforce because you would have the overwatch empire watching everything... but still.

There might be some others that i havn't thought of as well, but i think its a pretty nifty idea and i wanted to throw it out there to see what others thought of it. I could probably whip up the necessary mod in a couple hours if anyone ends up being interested, i already made myself a mod where i did something similar and just watched the AI's fight each other (dispensing cash and gems where i felt like it).

It can be kinda fun to give a losing nation 25 soul contracts and see how they do http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ June 30, 2004, 23:22: Message edited by: Cheezeninja ]

Re: Kinda quirky game idea
 

Interesting. You could always have them hold the info until the game is over, then web-site the whole games progress.

But it might be easier to add --scoredump to the game run, and give them that each turn. And give them access to all the player files (pickup only). They could go in as each player in order to document the battles, create a Version of the games map showing each nations ownership, maybe capture of few of the more interesting battles to movie files. Hmmm still sounds like alot of work but it might be easier than the other way.

Re: Kinda quirky game idea
 

It would certainly make scouting and information gathering have a vastly different priority; this could be seen as problematic for some people / nations.

What I like about it very much, and what I think could give it a stronger plausibility, is this: That nation could be seen as a kind of optimized CNN -- they report what they see, they won't see everything, but everyone has access to it.

They should get Eyes of God as a starting spell and start with 20-50 scouts with the glamour ability but with no attack (in case the scouts are found, they should not demolish an army), so that battle replays can be watched, logged, and commented upon.

I think the mod should also mod the number of globals castable to at least 6, since one slot will be taken with EoG.

Sounds neat!

Re: Kinda quirky game idea
 

Thats basically what i had in mind for the scouts. And make the generic mages level 5 priests so they can hold back much more massive dominions with blood sacrifices and priestly power.

I didnt know you could mod the number of allowable globals... i've never really been interested in it enough to look for it though so thats probably why.

I definetly like the idea of billing it as a sort of CNN thing... and i like the idea of doing it all as it happens (more or less) because that and the response on the board would (i think) help to keep the chroniclers focused on their task and interested in it.

Well if there's actually enough interest in the idea to get a game going i'll work on it after the 4th... have big weekend plans for this weekend http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

The way i figure, eyes of god allows you to see where borders are fluctuating or sieges are occuring, which allows you to dispatch your reporters to the scene to see whats going on.

Re: Kinda quirky game idea
 

Assuming that dom2 doesn’t check for something like this it should be possible to make a province with no neighbor connections and start the observer nation there.

Dominion cant spread without neighbors, can it? That way the observer would not be dominion killed and his dominion would not interfere with the other players either.

The scout units would need to be capable of teleporting if you want to be able to replace anyone who was captured.

Re: Kinda quirky game idea
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That is a great idea.
The scouts would need innate teleportation ability, since once they teleport out they cant move (since no access to a lab); or you would just need to start that nation with LOTS of scouts.

Re: Kinda quirky game idea
 

Starting to sound a bit more plausible now. If the neutral nation is going to have no neighbors that means theres going to have to be some map editing done too. I've never done any map editing but im pretty sure i can puzzle out how to change a province to zero neighbors. Which map should we use for this?

I'm going to start working on the mod, if there's anyone out there that is a decent writer and willing to take on part of the workload during the game you would be very welcome.

Re: Kinda quirky game idea
 

Hmmm... and while we have 1 neutral nation, do you think it would be a good idea to significantly bump the purse for deathmatch's? Say 100 astral gems, or certain magic items, or something equivalent but different each time?

Re: Kinda quirky game idea
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">They also won't be able to gather any information, as a province with no neighbours can't see anything.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Stealthy units that teleport into an enemy province will attack it, not hide in it, so this won't work.

Re: Kinda quirky game idea
 

The spies will be gathering the information, so neighbors shouldnt be necessary. And while the teleporation thing isnt so cool, the easy way to fix it is for the neutral nation to own 2 provinces, 1 with no neighbors, and 1 normal province. The dominion of the normal province will be swamped, but thats ok because you will still have normal dominion in your other province (that has no neighbors)