Non-linear Research

[Yojinbo]

Disclaimer: I have never created ANYTHING artistic or interesting.

If I were really in charge of a magical kingdom (A sentience I never thought I'd type) I would expect research to be a gamble. When I play (Dom I), I research certain areas in a certain order. If I get to my goals before being pressed - you are going to loose to me -period.

What about mixing up the spells? Make 3 or 4 small variants of each spell and let each nation get only one (randomly selected). Or maybe have palette of spells 10 times larger and let research only give you one out of ten chosen at random.

[ October 02, 2003, 14:33: Message edited by: Yojinbo ]

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Randomness in the spells found is not a bad idea per se, but would create serious balance issues, as sometimes you will get crap, some other times a very good "pick", etc .. In MP it'll be a big problem (heck, I have no Seasonal Spirits summons !! )

That was what happened in MoM with the "random" picks, and it was partly balanced with "sure" picks that you made at start.

However I like the idea of uncertainty : for example research could be somewhat randomized and give 50-150% "return rate" per turn. ie if you put a mage with research 10 at work it'll give 5 to 15 points progress, not always 10.

This would be simple, and the global amount of randomness will cancel to average over a game, but will be a small fun plus when you get - or not- your spells 1 or 2 turns earlier or later

[Yojinbo]

I think it might add some immersion - hoping and waiting for the "right" spell as well as force us to try different strategies out.

[Endoperez]

Five points might be too much, but if it was made dependant of the level of research it might work out better... Like +/- 1 at level one, 2 at level 2 and so on...

Hmm.
Maybe it would be better choosing the adjustments with 3d6, and every scale of magic/drain adjusts this by one.
If you got under 3, you get adjustment of -2, any of the numbers 3-5 gets you a -1, over 16-18 gets you +1 and 20/21 gets you +2. In the land of magic+3, you would have(3d6+3), so no minuses! And the reverse, no plusses in the land of drain (3d3-3). Oops. Except for Ulmish smiths. How do the themes affect them? Oh, the open-endedness IW is fond of! Well, there we have a problem...
Damn.
This is getting complicated. No wonder they are not adding our every idea to the game! Although it might also be because our ideas are not good...