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OrionSol
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Joined: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 26
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 Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:48 pm Post subject: Random Events and End Game Presents... |
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In consideration of what makes a game fun to me I am always drawn back to the unexpected and headlines.
For instance, I would love to see a star go supernova and wipe out 10 parsecs of space by causing massive radiation on anything withing 30 lightyears.
Random Wormhole moves fleet to unexplored section of galaxy. 100 turns from home.
Massive Rock hits planet (bad in early game, not so in later)
Virus hits planet and cant be cured. All life is dead and any ships from there are infected...so be careful.
Political or Relegious uproar splits your empire (or AIs Empire) in 2.
Invasion from outside the galaxy by Xenophobic, Kill everything race that takes happens right after you "won" the game. IE. Congrats video, you win... surprise = game not over...deal with this fleet 2x the size of yours.
Game Ends with diplomatic victory... then the "Founders of life" decend from another plane of existance to reclaim "thier" galaxy. you must unite all the galaxy to fend of this instant galaxy wide invasion.
Giant Black hole is eating the galaxy... starting in center working out the galaxy is being destroyed... you now have x number of turns to build fleet and flee galaxy to survive. if you make it...
You invade another galaxy already completely filled with races...that all hate you = enjoy.
Cival War... your home world and 1rst colony are loyal..everyone else in "your" empire attacks you for 20 turns.
just thinking outloud |
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RobHuntingdon
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Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 146
Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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As long as these are not covering up for a shoddy AI that can't compete with you fairly... or better yet these are things that the AI can ALSO have happen to them... then I rather like several of your ideas.
But it always got annoying for me in LOTR2 when you would start out with very little going wrong but as you started to make some progress in conquering your enemies suddenly every few turns half a dozen fields got destroyed to floods or drought... Mainly because they were just annoying little pinpricks that seemed to have no realistic reason for occuring EXCEPT as pinpricks.
Stuff like this should show up *randomly*, including possibly even too early in the game for you to survive them. If so, oh well, start a new game. That's why you save your carefully crafted custom race to a file! 
RH
_________________
Robert, the Earl of Huntingdon
Tarry here, my merry men, whilst I seek what adventure await in yonder greenwood; but look thou listen for my call, for I will blow my horn if I become hard-pressed.
Adapted from Sterling, pg. 45 |
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OrionSol
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Joined: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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That is exactly what I would like...
Imagine turn 10 and that rock is heading for you, or 3 stars away a star goes super nova... and wipes you out!
I would place all the events minus some storyline ones on a random generator. So every turn AI rolls a dice and determins if event happens, what event happens, and where event happens... with the chance it happens to you the player, or any of the AI races.
It could work just the other way around too... you are in a loosing war against XYZ race and then... BAM!!! They go into cival war and you crush them 20 turns later. |
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RobHuntingdon
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Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 146
Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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| OrionSol wrote: |
| It could work just the other way around too... you are in a loosing war against XYZ race and then... BAM!!! They go into cival war and you crush them 20 turns later. |
Yup good idea. Especially if you are winning or at least holding your own. And if you can mix in a little espionage to help it along...
However I wouldn't say it should be *completely* random. Some ability must exist for you to try to withstand it as well. It can't be a total game-killer with no recovery possible, either for you OR the AI. So in the situation above I would say that the society with the weaker casus belli would have an increased chance of this, and there should be some warning as well. Say for example the roll of "it will happen" is rolled about 5 turns in advance and if so then there's a further chance that your advisors (the sitrep) will "put two and two together" and warn you that it's coming. Then at least you have a chance to see the danger and take steps to ameliorate it (or prevent it outright). What should be truly random is not the occurance itself but how much warning and how many planets that are truly a "risk factor" are sucessfully identified by your advisors.
Put into real game terms, lets say you had a 30 planet empire in 13 systems, and your opponent had a 55 planet empire in 17 systems. All other things being equal, if they declare war on you without proper "justification for the masses" they will have a greatly increased chance of such a civil war. Or if you win a few critical battles and their previously "guaranteed" victory suddenly begins to look like imminent defeat, ditto.
But what will actually happen now is not "instant civil war" but instead "uprisings" of revolutionary miliitia that will seek to capture their planet(s), which can neither start nor fully play out overnight. So the roll says only that the revolutionary leaders in the opponent's empire have decided to act, not that they actually have done so *yet*. Then further rolls (perhaps partially based on his internal security factor) determine just how much of the danger his advisors forsee. Perhaps an average roll would enable him to forsee three of the 15 planets as "critical" and "potential danger" on another 5 or 6. He still risks losing 5 or 6 other planets by default unless there was already enough "covering forces" in place. And he might not realize the true threat on another 5 or 6 and have insufficient forces in place by the time the penny drops in another few turns... so that even if he defeats the revolutionaries he might still take grevious losses... which does at least help you win your war more easily at any rate...
Playing it out a bit further lets say his 15 revolutionary planets were concentrated in four of his best systems, and he only saw the danger at all (and insufficiently to boot) in one of the systems. Because you were fairly well matched to begin with he had a fair bit of his forces were "at the front" and his new-build units back home were not quite complete (much less crewed and with security forces onboard). In the three systems where he didn't see the danger the revolutionaries prepped for three turns (to let the new-build units finish construction) and then seized the planets and shipyards just as they were completed. In the one where he did see it the revolutionaries still struck on the third turn but he'd moved enough forces in that the attacks were blunted, and although he was still hurt badly by damaged shipyards and destroyed ships he was counting on to help win his war with you, the system remained in his control (but VERY unhappy). The revolutionaries should instantly become a new "empire" on the diplomacy screen who could seek to have relations with you. And since the "disasterous" war with you was their excuse for revolution, they might well end up even allying with you against their former masters!
There'd be a lot of complicated stuff to figure out to make something like this work, but if they could and the rest of the game was similarly well thought out and designed... wouldn't that be a really SWEET game?
RH
_________________
Robert, the Earl of Huntingdon
Tarry here, my merry men, whilst I seek what adventure await in yonder greenwood; but look thou listen for my call, for I will blow my horn if I become hard-pressed.
Adapted from Sterling, pg. 45 |
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OrionSol
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Joined: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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"Some ability must exist for you to try to withstand it as well"
For Sure !
I want a warning like "Ceti Alpha Star to Super Nova in 10 years" unless I can develop tech to fix that in the time frame.
or "Planet size asteroid heading for Sol in 5 turns" Hope I can get a fleet there in time or boom.
"Unrest will cause cival war if the war with XYZ race does not end within 10 years"
Etc...
You get the idea though.
Man I can't wait for this game to come out though... nothing out in a long time for space civilation / conquest in a long time that was any good. |
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RobHuntingdon
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Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 146
Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| OrionSol wrote: |
| Man I can't wait for this game to come out though... nothing out in a long time for space civilation / conquest in a long time that was any good. |
No kidding. Although some were "any good" they just weren't great. SE 5 comes to mind as an obvious member of the list. It's not *that* bad especially after all the bug fixes in the latest patches. But with an unusably overcomplicated diplomacy model and a few other flaws it's just not "great" and no amount of patching to fix the AI will fix that. Pity, because it did have a lot of promise.
RH
_________________
Robert, the Earl of Huntingdon
Tarry here, my merry men, whilst I seek what adventure await in yonder greenwood; but look thou listen for my call, for I will blow my horn if I become hard-pressed.
Adapted from Sterling, pg. 45 |
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