The aging "system"

[DominionsFan]

Hm this aging system gonna be interesting. I think that its gonna randomize many things in the game. You gonna loose soldiers all year, and in some years you gonna loose your SCs probably. This brings up another question. If a SC dies because of aging, his/her items will be gone as well, or the items will be available for the player to equip another SC with them? Also will there be any spells what the players can use to extend the lifespan of the chosen creatures? Can we disable aging if we want? [Example with a command like dominions3.exe --noaging]

[Gandalf Parker]

Just fantasizing about it but Im thinking its an RPG thing. My guy isnt going to die suddenly of old age. Maybe it increases afflictions or chance of disease.

In any case, I think back on when they made it possible to find all your banged up troops easily. It allowed me to RPG my armies by leaving behing the afflicted units as patrollers. I thought of it as a well-earned retirement for soldiers who had served me well. A plot of land, a bit of seed, and they help keep the peace.

Anyway I figure the age thing will work like that. I will have to move my "old" guys to a safer place to let them live out their lives.

[Arralen]

Their place is 50 feet in front of the main battle line to draw arrows, spells and lances.

That's the way things go in Dominions

Btw., keeping feebleminded 250-gold-mages as patrollers isn't really that cost effective. Or crippled HI with 2AP.

.. thinking about it .. wasn't "reduced micromanagement" advertised somewhere? If I have to check all my units for aging-induced disablities regularly, that does not sound like less MM to me ?!? Ok, they only age once every year, what is .. 12 turns? .. but still ..

[DominionsFan]

I like the idea of aging btw, this is definitely gonna change the gameplay somewhat, especially if some strong units/SCs are dying, not "just" regular troops. Oh btw I have yet another question! How can this be balanced? Lets say unit A will have a much bigger lifespan, then then unit B. however overall the 2 unit's stats are the same. [attack,defense etc] Unit Awill cost more gems/gold/resource to recruit? I dont know what would be good. I mean the lifespan of unit A can be higher, but the stats of the units are the same.
I dont know how could this be balanced. There is a chance that the players will loose their units before they die - regardless of their lifespan, since this is a wargame afterall , but if they keep them to defend some provinces in safe positions, the player -who recruited units with a higher lifespan- will have an advantage for sure.

OR!!! maybe the units won't die just get some afflictions when they are too old? Nah I dont think so, this wouldnt make a sense. If aging is implented, the units should die after a period, no?

[Saber Cherry]

When you consider the lifespan of a typical SC, I don't think aging will hurt them much. Limne? Rhuax? Bane Lords? Ice Devils? They've been around for centuries, and will probably stick around for a few more.

If you use the Master with the Iron Crutch as an SC, you might run into aging problems. But he's immortal, so who cares?

[Endoperez]

I don't think normal soldiers will be suffering from old age. I mean, most humans are recruited as 20-somethings, at most, and can live to at least 40 years old before they would be considered old. 240 turns for a 10 gp investment sounds pretty decent, for me...

Older units, like Crones of Avalon, might start suffering faster. And Triarii of Pythium, and maybe Principes, etc old and experienced soldiers. Even in their case it probably won't be as bad as it currently is with Principes (sometimes they have a random affliction), because aging is supposed to take time.

I'd also like to see the new Burden of Time in action!

[NTJedi]

DominionsFAN said:
Can we disable aging if we want? [Example with a command like dominions3.exe --noaging]

I definitely agree... there should be a way to disable aging.

[Resok]

Disabling aging I'm thinking would be fairly similar to wanting to disable battle Afflictions. They may add in support for it... but I'm guessing it's another element to consider for balance in the game. For example the added aging benefit/drawback from growth/death scales (mentioned that it affects aging rate). Also the different mechanics for how Burden of Time works. In the old system it added afflictions/damage to units randomly. The new system sounds like it'll instead increase their rate of aging.

It's also possible that it's already a setting at game creation but that's really hard for us to tell. Then again... if what people above are saying is correct... 240 turns for a single normal human soldier to get to the old age state and START to get random afflictions is a long time for a single soldier to even survive in the first place.

We'll just have to wait and see how the aging system shapes up. It's really just speculation at the moment.


Resok

[Tyrant]

I believe that there are 8 turns to a year in DomII, so that's just 12.5 years for a 100 turn game if the same scale is used in 3. At that rate it seems like very few units would really get hit by major aging effects, mostly early game lab mages. I'd think field troops have so many other threats to their well being that they'd be happy to last long enough to suffer the slings and arrows of old age.

[Alneyan]

Actually, it's 12 turns per year in Dominions II, with one month per turn (d'oh!). Don't get confused with Space Empires and its ten-month year, though.