Monster SCENARIO Project

[Gandalf Parker]

Another remembering of old ideas I could incorporate in this.

Adding mid-game messages. Give each nation a "town crier" unit, or maybe an Oracle, or a Standing Stones with Runes. As the game progresses, the unit can provide information from the scenario, or the person running the game.

OK as cool as this sounds, I cant seem to come up with a reason for it. I dont know what info from outside of the game should be transported to inside the game. Some info on the game which cant be gotten from the score graphs inside the game? What info would that be?

Maybe "gossip" on who is in the lead if you wanted to run a game without scoreboards or any nation info. Instead of getting comparison info on everyone all game, or no info on anyone, maybe just a gossip list of who is at the top in each category?

I guess it could be done up to do game hints. Like the ones you see at each hosting, but this one could read randomly from a file that the players can create. That might be a cool thing to package and make available for a download seperately but not as part of this project.

[Gandalf Parker]

OK. How about this idea. What nations can be given a decent "change of tactics" in midgame?

The first that comes to mind would be Ermor. But I dont think I can get Ermor to switch tactics by changing the mod of the units in mid-game. It would be sweet though. When the game log file shows Ermor losing many battles then that means a nation has their number. Attacking with many priests against undead. So shift Ermor to a units base instead of undead? Im not sure that would work for Ermor. But maybe some other nations?

Make it more cost-reasonable for Arcos to make armies until they hit other nations, then shift to a more mage-oriented research mode?

Make it cost reasonable for Oceania to make fully-aquatic more-efficient water fighting units until it starts hitting land, then shift it to making amphibious units?

Make castles cheaper for all of the AI until they start meeting with each other then make castles for AI expensive to keep them from using funds filling their area with overlapping castles?

[LDiCesare]

Gandalf Parker said:So shift Ermor to a units base instead of undead?

Why not do it the other way around?
Start MA Ermor without reanimation ability on their priests and give it to them later. Give them a summons spell that mid game becomes able to either generate undeads automatically or 'summon allies'.

You'd start with a Roman nation using little or no death magic and then increase the death skill of its mages mid-game (not sure if it works on existing commanders), give the priests reanimate, provide summons that spam undead chaff automatically.

You might even mod a spell for 2 or 3 turns only so Ermor would have the ability to suddenly summon hordes of undead for cheap, but this ability wouldn't last long and afterwards you'd just reanimate.

[Gandalf Parker]

Im not sure if an added spell is used by the AI. One of the more experienced modders might let us know.

But changes would definetly be a good answer. I hadnt thought of the reverse. That would make a good game and be logical. As the armored nation of Ermor starts getting its *** kicked, the mages come up with a solution and start cranking out undead.

Im not sure how much of Ermors undead comes from its units though. I got the impression it was kindof a built-in thing just from being the nation Ermor. I dont know if thats touchable by mod.

[LDiCesare]

I don't think you can mod the dominion free spawning units, but you could add freespawn to some units like a cheap 0 move priest who previously was useless and expensive. By becoming cheap, the priest would be hired, not move, just reanimate and freespawn some unit.
IT's definitely not the dom-killing Ermor dominion, but you could use MA Ermor and make it look like LA that way, except it wouldn't destroy its population.

[Gandalf Parker]

Hmmmm that might work. Good thinking.

Not sure if its enough to build a big project around by itself but if we can come up with others then we might have an interesting scenario game.

What other middle age (era 2) nations can someone come up with a mid-game change of tactic that would make sense.

Ulm shifting from nationals to independents?

Pangaea shifting from nationals to carrion?

Oceania shifting from aqua units to amphib units?

Arcos shifting from expansion to research?

Bandar discover cave men and start using them?

Mictlan shifting to or from a blood-base?

If we did them all then we could put watches for indicators on all of them to switch in the change file for each as they reach the indicator. And it would be a different game when you played it again because in one game Ermor might never hit its indicator and in another game Arcos might not. They could even be different for a winning indictor or a losing indicator.

[Gandalf Parker]

How about this...
In case Ermor gets too powerful, the mid-game mod will change Ermors pretender into an Eater of the Dead? Seems to match the theme.