The Dominions 3: "Wishlist"

[Saber Cherry]

PvK said:
Change sequence of combat so melee attacks are not at the same time as movement and all one-side before their opponents. When two forces meet, not just one side should get the first attacks, based on where they end their turns, as it presently works.

I've been thinking about this, and come up with a solution. Not only a solution for the problem mentioned, but also for troop and weapon differentiation.

It's like this: There are N phases (for simplicity, we'll use 10 phases). If combat Lasts 40 rounds, then there are 4 rounds of each "phase".

Each unit gets an attack speed (which would be doubled by quickness). At a speed of 5, normal for a human with a sword, the unit attacks 5 phases of each 10 phase cycle (in other words, every other turn). A unit with a dagger might attack more quickly, with a speed of 7. So it would attack 7 times in each 10 phase cycle, with a sort of regular scattering. A speed-7 dagger-user with quickness would get a speed of 14, attacking every round, but attacking twice 4 out of the 10 rounds. And so forth.

How does this solve the original problem? At the beginning of battle, every unit has its phases randomly fixed. So if there were 100 speed-5 units, half of them would get this phase system:
A-A-A-A-A-
And the other half would get
-A-A-A-A-A
where "A" denotes an attacking turn, and "-" denotes a turn where the unit does not attack. Heavy armor and big weapons, of course, would reduce speed except on very strong units. With this system, when two armies collide, only some of the units would get "first strike" due to the inevitable turn-based... um... inconsistancies with reality.

Of course, this might make combat viewing take a bit longer... but giving troops (and weapons) different speeds would be worth it, in my opinion.

[Cainehill]

Saber Cherry : In some ways that's a nice idea, _but_ it winds up leading to some very ... cheesy tactics, where very burly high strength units wind up using tiny high speed weapons, which just doesn't seem right. A Niefel Giant using a dagger, for instance? All too likely, because let's say the Giant gets 3 times as many attacks with the dagger as with a great big battle ax. The battle ax has damage 10, the dagger 1, but the giant gets to add its strength 3 times, via 3 attacks, vice 1 attack with the battle ax.

This happened a lot in a bunch of roguelikes and other games, which led to making it such that heavy weapons had a better chance of delivering a critical hit, etc, but the half-ogre barbarians would still all too often using a steak knife.

[Saber Cherry]

To work correctly, the unit would have to have a base speed, modified by a combination of strength and weapon speed or inertia.

For example:

Human: Base speed 8, strength 10.
Giant: Base speed 8, strength 20.

Fist: Inertia 0.
Dagger: Inertia 10.
Sword: Inertia 30.
Giant Axe: Inertia 70.

Resulting speed = ((base speed) - (inertia / strength)) rounded up

Human + Fist: 8
Giant + Fist: 8

Human + Dagger: 7
Giant + Dagger: 8

Human + Sword: 5
Giant + Sword: 7

Human + Giant Axe: 1
Giant + Giant Axe: 5


So it all works out pretty fairly. I'd rather have a giant attack 5/10 rounds with a long, powerful weapon than 8/10 rounds with a length 0, low damage weapon. Similarly, I'd rather a human NOT use a giant axe and attack only 1/10 rounds, whereas in the current Dominions combat engine it would be an excellent idea to equip infantry with, for example, Jotun Longswords. These are just example numbers; ideally, armor would be worked in as well.

-Cherry

[Zen]

What, no request for cute and/or fuzzy animals! SC, you've gone all soft on us.

[Yossar]

While most of the suggestions are well-meaning, I'd have to oppose a lot of the ones that would add extra micromanagement to an already micro-heavy game. Setting formations, Combat orders past 5 choices, more detailed combat orders, etc. Now, if there were a way to streamline the interface in general, and those changes specifically, then I'd be all for them. As long as lategame turns in large games ended up taking less time than they do now.

[Saber Cherry]

P.S. I want a race of catgirls and another one of bunnyfolk.

Did I really used to say stuff like that? Hmmm... real life must be jading me=)

[Leif_-]

Random ideas:

Skills that are "unlockable" by experience. (So, for instance, Vine Ogres might get "Barkskin" at 4 stars of experience, or barbarians might get Fear +5 at 5 stars.) This could be used to give national troops "staying power" into the mid- to late game.

The reward from the arena should be more substantial. Perhaps a boost to dominion, 2000 gold, a new hero, a new skill / special heroic ability given to the winner. Something like that.

The Fire and Flee command should have the unit retreat to _behind the rest of the army_, rather than fleeing off the battlefield entirely. It just takes too much time to have to coordinate the scattered units.

There should be an option for commanders to "attack alongside unit" and "stay at back of unit" - as it is now, if the commander has slightly different movement from the troops he'll end up either alone in the front, or lagging behind. It would also make it easy to use Valiant abilities, spell-songs and other short-range effects on your own troops. While one can theoretically use "Guard commander" and then "attack" on the commander, the result of that is simply that the commander can't move because the guards are in his way.

It would be nice to have pictures or even mpegs in the list of events; with user-defined triggers in the map file ("When this province is conquered, show this image to conqueror" / "When this commander is killed, show this image to all", "On first turn, show this movie to all") - Just to add some atmosphere and ambience to maps.

Siege engines.

Leadership should be a two-part statistics with "total number of troops / number of units." So a Centurion might have Leadership 100/5 while a Barbarian Chieftain might have leadership 250/1.

Perhaps an Unseelie Court theme for Man. (Redcaps and banshees and pooka - oh my!)

Oh, and furthemore I want a spell that causes jaguars to fall from the sky.

[Cohen]

I'd like to see too a minimum unit number per squad, depending on unit type.

This to avoid strange tactics like the most backward archer to prevent the rout of all your mages and SCs, or to scatter troops as decoy for enemy troops or arrows in single man squad.
In a battle troops go in regiments. So on let's say you could take in account something like "size", and a regiment should have size X, or morale, because Militia need to be mobbed, meanwhile Elites could go in battle in smaller number.

[rylen]

Looking forward to it.

Modding is a great touch. Keep it. (I'm certain the design team is using the same directives when building the core factions. Yes?)

For Pretenders / Summoned critters I'd like "REAL" items. i.e. my Virtue starts with a Flambeau. Being clever, I immediately upgrade him to Faithful or Sword of Sharpness or such. Then I give the Flambeau to someone else.

Rending objects back into gems. Rate of return based on construction level perhaps -- Con 5 means 50% return.

Mercenary replenishment. A surviving merc commander, waiting to hire, will automatically "call allies" up to his units starting capacity. The less units present, the faster they are recruited with different rate for different commanders (It's easier to get more zombies then more knights.) Units that desert are also lured back more quickly.

An always rehire specific merc option. Or a contract expires message.

Changes to hall of fame. I'd like options to exclude pretenders and to make all people on the list visible.

Improved terrain effects in combat. A wider battlefield with some locations only placeable for troops with a certain speed. Think a doubles tennis court w/ only "cavalry" able to use the margins. Or some troops able to enter from the wings during battles -- like WH40Ks flanking reserves.

A "dig in" order which gives the defender a tactical advantage but causes unrest. Could also make it LESS likely to detect sneaking units. (Everyone knows where the army is and they aren't moving around much.)

Improved reporting, especially after sucessful seiges. I'd like to hear:

hero (type x) (name y) died
hero .... (name z) wounded

lost (number) of (type a troop)
fled (number)

lost (number) of (type b troop)


Moveable slots for factions. This means there could be a max n player game w/ more then n factions to choose from. Switches would allow faction vs faction and theme vs diff theme. For instance Ulm vs. Ulm or Ulm vs. Black Forest Ulm.

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Ideas I've had I'm not sure I want.

A market. Works like mercenaries, occasionally offering magic items (including some weak uniques) asking staggering amounts as a starting bid. May take several turns to purchase an item.

Experienced commanders may leave "corpse misc items" that are recovered by victor. Spells can revive these into undead or living Versions working for their new owner. Further spells can make them obedient.


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Rylen

[ioticus]

I want to see the capability to mod the AI!!