Make Alamaze Great Again Game !

[uncledarkseid]

So, we have 12 and need to make our game fun and different. First, I really like the ideas Brekk laid out on page 1.

Personally, I love customizing my kingdom so that we all start with a basic set of assets but make our own kingdoms sort of. I know you cannot reprogram the Code for this, but would it be possible to raise customization to like 35 points and add things like the P8 wizard for 20 points or take off the cap on how many of your own troops you can bring in, or add the other things like more than 1 prince or higher level agents or the plus 100,000 to defense for more points than the option we have now to add 15,000 to defense? And if your new map is close to done, perhaps we can play the game on that one. 

Sorry, too many thoughts, just excited for a new experience.

Yesssss

I once suggested a blank slate kingdom. 100 customizable points or whatever, pick anything you like. 
Brek can list all available items, you decide. Totally customizable kingdoms.

[Brekk]

Hmm, you’ll need to provide more details. You will have to pick a kingdom, but the point system sounds interesting, and I’m willing to give it a try. Just keep in mind that any modifications will not happen prior to turn 0—they’ll be reflected immediately but will visually show up on turn 1. No way I can poke around in the database before then.

[Olorin]

I am down for whatever. Will be sending money after I work out how your system works. Hopefully tonight.

The point system does sound interesting. The problem will be figuring out a balance cost for everything.

[unclemike]

So, we have 12 and need to make our game fun and different. First, I really like the ideas Brekk laid out on page 1.

Personally, I love customizing my kingdom so that we all start with a basic set of assets but make our own kingdoms sort of. I know you cannot reprogram the Code for this, but would it be possible to raise customization to like 35 points and add things like the P8 wizard for 20 points or take off the cap on how many of your own troops you can bring in, or add the other things like more than 1 prince or higher level agents or the plus 100,000 to defense for more points than the option we have now to add 15,000 to defense? And if your new map is close to done, perhaps we can play the game on that one. 

Sorry, too many thoughts, just excited for a new experience.

Hey everyone! I would like to comment on the kingdom customization idea if I'm allowed :]

Originally, Rick and I discussed having a version of kingdom optimization where the players would spend points on fully detailing their kingdoms. So, instead of having a few add-ons to your kingdom as how customization works today, your kingdom starts off with nothing in your groups: no leaders, wizards, troops, or artifacts. You decide what you want in your groups starting on turn 0. Same goes for emissaries, agents, etc.

So, you would design everything for your kingdom based on how you spend your points. Some kingdoms may have more points to build a kingdom compared to others (based on kingdom balance and such). However, after taking an initial stab at designing all of this, it became a bit hectic of where some kingdoms may start off with very little in one area in favor of over-compensating another area (e.g., no emissaries for very large military groups or very high wizards). When that's done starting from turn 0, it could really imbalance the game depending on the circumstances.

In general, it moved away from the spirit of Alamaze where every player had a blank sheet to work from, so we never went that far with the customization concept. Doing such would also affect Valhalla ratings which back then were very important to the players, some who only played Alamaze to reach some level or plateau with standings/rankings.

So, it is possible to go wild with the kingdom customization idea but it may ruin some other things with the game in return. Just keep that in mind but anything is possible coding-wise so keep those suggestions flowing...

[gkmetty]

Hi All,

Keeping in mind the information that Uncle Mike conveyed. If we enhance our kingdoms for this special game only, I tried to balance some options. What I found is that a Power 8 mage is very over powered and hard to balance. Doing some math, and I may be wrong so any math majors are free to correct me. In the ESO a Adept cost 1 point, a Power 2 cost 2 points and a power 3 costs 3 points. That's 3 points of your total allotment of 5. Assuming that the progression would not be linear as the mages get higher, a power 8 would be worth roughly 19 ESO points. That is the same as 9+ Level 7 agents, 6 Demon Princes or Counsels, or 9+ Giant brigades. What I am suggesting is that if we decide on Power 8 mages then every Kingdom gets a power 8 mage.

Here are a few, somewhat, balanced enhancement options. I don't know if Brekk can make these changes. He will need to advise. I used the ESO point system as much as possible, 10 point basis.

Military - 4 veteran military brigades, or 4 regular RD/GI brigades, with 30k extra food and 20k extra gold to start. The resources help support the troops at the beginning of the game. Alternatively swap the resources for a Marshal.

Diplomatic - 3 Princes and 2 points of influence. For Demon Princes or Ancient ones swap in a Demon Prince or Console for one of the normal Princes. Can there be more than 4 counsels or Demon Princes in a game?

Covert - A Level 10 agent, two Level 7 agents, and a Scry Mirror artifact

Kingdom - start with a temple, Fleet upgrade +2 in all seas, capital defense +50k, plow of the prophet artifact.

Artifacts - Red Elk Mount, Onyx Amulet, Valyrian Steel, Renown Standard, Amulet of Protection

Magic - additional Power 5, and Power 3

This is just a starting point to get ideas flowing.

[Strongwill]

Great points by Mike and Gkmetty. Balance has to still be the top priority for game play.

I like the list gkmetty. But is that in addition to a P8? Or scratch P8 and pick one of the upgrade models you listed. And do we still use the standard custom points for what we regularly do in game additionally or is the list posted used instead?

[gkmetty]

Great points by Mike and Gkmetty. Balance has to still be the top priority for game play.

I like the list gkmetty. But is that in addition to a P8? Or scratch P8 and pick one of the upgrade models you listed. And do we still use the standard custom points for what we regularly do in game additionally or is the list posted used instead?

Keeping the P8 or scraping is up to the game participants. My only point is we should all get the P8 or no-one should. We can also combine the P8 with other options. If Brekk is up for all that customization.

The options I propose would be in addition to all other normal game mechanics. We still customize and we still strive to achieve ESO.

Those are my thoughts but I am only 1 of 12.

[Olorin]

I was talking with Brekk about this last night at the Wednesday Discord Chat, and I thought the Special should be based on either the ESO or the Customization table. Truthfully, using the Customization table would be the better choice, or some variation of the two. Create the table as a Customization Data-base only switched on by Brekk for special games, as this seems the least work for unclemike for starting this game and for future use.

The table would about double, maybe triple some, the ESO point chart cost. As an example, and what I based the comparison on, is a green, regular brigade cost 1 ESO point and 2 Customization points. So a RD/GI would cost 4 points, for an equivalent. It can be argued that the gold and influence can be limited to 1 point for cost. If it costs 7 points for a Prince and 4 points for a Baron, then 5 for a Count and 6 for a Duke seems appropriate, which is about 3 times more than for an ESO award.

The customization has a cost for adding an adept(3) or moving a Power-1 to Power-2 (also 3). You can extrapolate a cost from that of moving a Pow-2 to Pow-3 of 6 (as it costs about twice as much to raise a wizard from 2 to 3 as it does to raise a 1 to 2) , or creating a Pow-1 of 4( the cost of an adept plus additional for the rite). And then going up the scale the same way the cost of increasing a wizard's level does.

My overall point is I think the Customization table is the best basis for the additional high-level items, on a separate data-base that is only allowed on Brekk's choosing would be the easiest to implement and allow all the choices above, posted by everyone.

[uncledarkseid]

Gk has good ideas, except I should be the only one with the P8.

[gkmetty]

If we have a plan for the added customization, should we start the draft?