Edit: fixed an improperly coded list
Pretender Design
Would it be possible to make the following change to pretender design: Selecting first nation, then special theme, and only then pretender chassis? This way it could be possible to perhaps assign different pretender lists for each nation according to theme if desired, though the current system works quite well.
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Terrain Types
Currently we have:
- Plains
- Farmlands
- Fresh Water (not visible in-game, please change this?)
- Forest
- Mountain
- Swamp
- Waste
- Sea
- Nostart (switch, but acts like a terrain type)
- Manysites (switch, but acts like a terrain type)
I think the following would make great additions, especially if a couple of the existing ones are modified a bit:
- Tundra
- Glacier
- Jungle
- Hills
- Road (switch, but acts like a terrain type)
Right now, Waste terrain type covers everything from real hot sand and rock deserts to tundra and glaciers. This can lead to such bizarre things as having Plains of Perpetual Drought in and so forth in glacier regions, Cold Lands in the middle of Sahara and so forth. That's why I at least feel that Tundra and/or Glacier (less necessary, but would be nice) would be good additions.
Right now all provinces that should be hills have to be listed as mountains, but it would be great to be able to throw a hill terrain type in conjunction with e.g. forests or farmlands instead of having a whole Himalaya in there, and jungles and temperate forests are also rather different from each other.
The addition of new terrain types would allow for a greater variety of population type assignment by terrain (especially if there will be more units and more population types), more specific correlation of certain types of magic sites with certain types of terrain (Cold Lands and Blizzard Vale more likely in Tundra, not possible in Waste, for example, and the reverse for e.g. Plain of Perpetual Drought).
The new terrain type system would also work very well if the strategic move system is slightly modified, perhaps by increasing the range and assigning different terrain types different strat move costs (without relevant survival, moving through that terrain will cost X start moves, or if not enough strat move, than the units will move just one province).
Example strat move cost suggestions (off the top of my head)
- 0.75 Plains/farmlands
- 1 Tundra/waste
- 2 Forest/hills
- 2.5 Swamp/jungle/glacier
- 3 Mountains
- Roads would subtract 1 from base strat move cost for terrains with move cost greater than one, works like the manysites and nostart switches.
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Combat System
I'm pretty happy with the current combat system, but there is one order I would really like to see added: Hold and Fire. This would allow for a better use of javelin and throwing axe troops, instead of having them charge immediately to combat if you want them to use their missile weapons, they would wait for three turns before they start firing. This is my single biggest source of frustration for regular unit orders.
Wouldn't mind having a commander script that was one or two orders longer than the current five either.
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Scripts
There was a suggestion in here about enabling scripts to be stored system wide, instead of specific to a game, but how about this: Having a script file for each nation, where scripts stored when playing that nation are recorded, and every time you play any game where you are that nation, Dom3 references that script record file automatically? Problem solved and you can specify the necessary scripts just the first time you play a nation without needing the micro every time you start a new game. If scripts contain orders that are not available (such as casting spells that are not yet researched), the unit does something else that round.
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Random Map Generator
If possible, would you please make the random map generator in a fashion that allows people to enter the default map colors they desire as hex codes? Have some default values, but allow them to be altered from RMG settings?
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These are my humble wishes/suggestions, and I would be definitely overjoyed if IW will see fit to implement any parts of them. The mapmaking related stuff (terrain and the RMG request) are the ones I would most like to see, because they would allow me to produce better maps. However, I can't judge whether or not any of that is feasible to implement, so I will no be devastated if they don't appear.
Edi