Ideas for the Next Scenario?

[Frost Lord]

Ry Vor,

I always love looking to the future.  These are just thoughts built up in my head....so I figured I would mention some of them and see if it sparks your creative brain cells...  :-)

I like the suggestion for the split of Influence & Rulership.  Other ideas could be:

HP has a range for all activities and cannot divine regions from border to border, but instead, divine in a radius from a specific area (up to 8 areas from their current location for example) similar to a group's intercept radius (Devout kingdoms could have a +1 to their radius for example)

Specialized Agents (saboteur, assassin, thief, spy master...etc.)

You mentioned specialized Wizards/spells.  Another thought could be to add levels to the spells.  Say, the DA gets "Create Gold I" at P2 which creates 2000 gold per level....but the GN gets "Create Gold II" at P2 which creates 2500 gold per level.  Same could be true for MANY of the spells (Battle magic, death magic, scrying magic, regional spells...etc.).

Also going along what you were talking about with specialized spells...we could introduce new Wizard Classes (Shaman, Fire Mage, Trickster...etc.) that only certain kingdoms could get.

New buildings like a Tavern (to recruit), defensive structures, towers, training facilities, garrisons, libraries....etc.

Allow garrison of troops to be put behind Town & City walls.

New static (immovable) characters similar to the Fool.  I.E. Magistrate, Sentinel, Town Guards, Librarian, Minister of Agriculture, ...etc.

New "action" characters like Heroes, Knights, Squires, Champions.

Give the King a military rank and allow him to travel with Groups acting as the commander of that army.

Add some new battle tactics (Storm, Trojan horse, hunt, counter attack...etc.)

Allow Agents to travel with Groups

Beefing up the Fleets sounds cool...like maybe the ability to purchase upgrades (rams, sails, cannons).  Other items could include scouting skiffs that send patrols to a string of coastal areas in range to report back (similar to L1 recons), purchasing ship captains that grants bonuses and can increase in rank (like to Admiral for example).

Add roads to the map connecting local cities, where movement points are reduced when using them.


Again, I obviously do not expect all (or any) of these to happen, just throwing stuff out there to give you ideas.

Thanks,
Frost Lord

PS.  Some of this will look very familiar to you since you design some of this already in Fall of Rome...!  :-)

[Drogo]

I would like a group to be able to set an ambush so that if another group travels over their area an attack occurs. Or it doesn't even need to be an ambush, maybe just an entrenchment that interrupts another kingdoms movement for the turn with a battle to follow or not the next turn.

I'm thinking of something akin to Fortification in the Civilization games.

Also, would like to see spell lists more greatly varied and a few more spells for levels 7-9. Create Gold I and Create Gold II is a good idea as above.

And increased kingdoms customization at the start will always be interesting to me.

[Atuan]

yes please have kingdom customization before turn 1. Spending an order and waiting as with the name change of the king suck when adding flavor to your kingdom.

[Ry Vor]

Ry Vor,

I always love looking to the future.  These are just thoughts built up in my head....so I figured I would mention some of them and see if it sparks your creative brain cells...  :-)

I like the suggestion for the split of Influence & Rulership.  Other ideas could be:

HP has a range for all activities and cannot divine regions from border to border, but instead, divine in a radius from a specific area (up to 8 areas from their current location for example) similar to a group's intercept radius (Devout kingdoms could have a +1 to their radius for example)

Specialized Agents (saboteur, assassin, thief, spy master...etc.)

You mentioned specialized Wizards/spells.  Another thought could be to add levels to the spells.  Say, the DA gets "Create Gold I" at P2 which creates 2000 gold per level....but the GN gets "Create Gold II" at P2 which creates 2500 gold per level.  Same could be true for MANY of the spells (Battle magic, death magic, scrying magic, regional spells...etc.).

Also going along what you were talking about with specialized spells...we could introduce new Wizard Classes (Shaman, Fire Mage, Trickster...etc.) that only certain kingdoms could get.

New buildings like a Tavern (to recruit), defensive structures, towers, training facilities, garrisons, libraries....etc.

Allow garrison of troops to be put behind Town & City walls.

New static (immovable) characters similar to the Fool.  I.E. Magistrate, Sentinel, Town Guards, Librarian, Minister of Agriculture, ...etc.

New "action" characters like Heroes, Knights, Squires, Champions.

Give the King a military rank and allow him to travel with Groups acting as the commander of that army.

Add some new battle tactics (Storm, Trojan horse, hunt, counter attack...etc.)

Allow Agents to travel with Groups

Beefing up the Fleets sounds cool...like maybe the ability to purchase upgrades (rams, sails, cannons).  Other items could include scouting skiffs that send patrols to a string of coastal areas in range to report back (similar to L1 recons), purchasing ship captains that grants bonuses and can increase in rank (like to Admiral for example).

Add roads to the map connecting local cities, where movement points are reduced when using them.


Again, I obviously do not expect all (or any) of these to happen, just throwing stuff out there to give you ideas.

Thanks,
Frost Lord

PS.  Some of this will look very familiar to you since you design some of this already in Fall of Rome...!  :-)

Yes, I like all of them, and as you say, many are in Fall of Rome.  Gosh I have to find some way to make that active again.  A big deal is the king being a military leader and not restricted to the capital.  Its another decision.   The minor characters: another tough choice - get this recon, raise this agent, or hire an Engineer?

[Ry Vor]

I would like a group to be able to set an ambush so that if another group travels over their area an attack occurs. Or it doesn't even need to be an ambush, maybe just an entrenchment that interrupts another kingdoms movement for the turn with a battle to follow or not the next turn.

I'm thinking of something akin to Fortification in the Civilization games.

Also, would like to see spell lists more greatly varied and a few more spells for levels 7-9.  Create Gold I and Create Gold II is a good idea as above.

And increased kingdoms customization at the start will always be interesting to me.

I think we can tweak kingdom customization, so open for suggestions. 

Yeah, not too many spells at level 9 now, because the wizard kingdoms are getting them at 7 or 8.  In general, all spells except maybe Dome of Invulnerability, have been gotten earlier, but we added all those companion brigades, brigade experience, Stir Unrest, new counter-espionage, tactics, so, in my thinking, we kind of made all kinds of kingdoms stronger, so players need to be more in tune with their own strengths, and those of their opponents than in 2nd Cycle.  Sun Tsu.

[Ry Vor]

yes please have kingdom customization before turn 1.  Spending an order and waiting as with the name change of the king suck when adding flavor to your kingdom.

Before Turn 1?  "Let's do the Time Warp again!"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkplPbd2f60  (Recommended viewing).  

We had an idea about allowing complete customization of character names that DuPont among others was enthusiastic about, but in general, I think with the 3rd Cycle name changes, its not as big an issue.  I was sick when before the resurgence I saw the names, like every kingdom had a character named "Pelican".  Embarrasing.  But I think we have come a long way.  I know its bad form to laugh at your own jokes, but I enjoy some of the names of the Tyrant, and in another sense, the Amazons, for example.

[unclemike]

About a new map. Having one with a lot of water areas may be difficult to make interesting for everyone. Successful multi-million dollar games like Age of Empires and others don't focus that much on water-based gameplay due to the fantasy/medieval setting. Modern age games work better in that sense since they have submarines torpedo aircraft carriers, helicopters/planes perform rescue missions, or ships that can launch ballistic missiles from the water. So based on that comparison with successful games, it's probably not worth spending too much time revamping the sea aspect of Alamaze if it takes away from developing other things (though I would like to see experimental game 300's enhancements come back like greek fire or reinforced hulls).

If requesting ideas on enhancing the current game, I would like to see more options for players to choose from during gameplay. Like more building types (wizard towers that lower wiz costs, granaries to prevent spoilage, etc.), equipment for troops (mithril armor, enchanted swords, etc.), more TAC options for offense/defense between groups or pc's, etc. The more options that players have to strategize their kingdom, the greater replayability for each kingdom. So in a particular game, will a player outfit their troops with better gear, or develop a massive horde of expendable troops, or take a more balanced approach along with special buildings/characters to take up the slack in certain deficiencies. The more options that the game offers, the greater range of possibilities exist which will allow every kingdom to be played differently between games.

I would also like to see themes for Alamaze campaigns. So have a series of games strung together with the success/failures of the prior game affecting the start of the next one in the series. We can do something like that today with 2nd/3rd Cycle (with some tweaking) but it would be better if this concept was planned out during the design phase. This enhancement to the game should result in more interesting gameplay much like running a D&D campaign is more interesting than just doing an adventure or so, one after another. So for the next 3rd/4th cycle of Alamaze, I would like to see themes of certain kingdoms being pitted against each other (like Lord of the Rings theme, Warcraft or Game of Thrones) along with the new concept of campaigns so that the games would have greater meaning to the player to succeed/finish than presently.

About making the game less complex to attract more players. That's a great idea but do so where it is important. Like remove the complexity of setting up a sea patrol or merchant trade mission. Specifying sea areas just adds complexity to the game. A designer should reduce complex orders or game mechanics but not at the sacrifice of fun. So add more building types, equipment, and such to enhance the game's fun factor (since it allows for greater strategy) but reduce the complexity regarding special or obscure rules.

[Drogo]

^^^ These are great ideas. Especially fond of the additional building options which will give individual PC's more uniqueness.

You may not need a preponderance of sea on the map just have a strategic prize (or prizes) like Avalon or Quest Sightings located in an only sea accessible way.

[Lord Diamond]

^^^ Unclemike's post.

[unclemike]

^^^ to self

The next generation of games may also allow for a 'Ready' button as well where turns may execute before their deadline if players submit that they are ready to accept the next turn's results. So that may end up being a nice improvement to the game where players may receive more than two turns a week if an experienced crew is playing the game.

I'm currently working on converting the system's XML files to an SQL database (using the same Fall of Rome's database BTW) but it'll take some time to do. The task will take about 2-3 months if I can keep up the pace of working 10-15 hrs a week (Rick is a slave driver) but when I'm done will allow for some of this new stuff for games.

Then the server environment will have the foundation for ready-button capability (solo/tutorial/regular game) and the next generation of Alamaze/Kingdoms of Arcania that works off an interactive map...