oudysseos
01-15-2007, 17:16
I was wondering if the team had any major plans for the campaign map characters (spies/diplomats/assassins) in future builds? I mean both cosmetically and fundamentally.
Cosmetically, I read rumours on other threads that ye were considering changing the gargantuan dudes for more sophisticated anims. Any previews?
Fundamentally, it occurs to me that these three characters are capable of being pretty seriously modded in ways that could add a lot to the game. I don't know what the hardcode is on these, but with the ancillaries, traits, and stars/wreaths that they can pick up, any one of the three could be turned into some kind of minor 'family' member or a more sophisticated kind of ancillary. If for example, you modded the diplomat so they had a bigger area where they lifted the FOW, the spy would be redundant and could be used for something else.
There are many possibilities, but the one that is my fav is to mod the diplomat or the spy so as to combine their abilities, and use the leftover in the following way.
1. Make them unrecruitable
2. Have them represent all the historical characters that now appear as ancillaries.
3. Have them preexist or be spawned (can that be done with scripts?) at the appropriate time or place.
4. You could then try to collect them by bribing them to your faction, or having them killed. It wouldn't affect the outcome of the game but would be more immersive I think. Too bad they don't have a battlefield presence.
Another possibility is to use one of the characters to (finally) represent the women of the world of EB. They could have female portraits, names, traits, everything except the ability to lead an army. That would certainly be a lot more egalitarian.
Lots of other possibilities. Would it be possible, for example, for different factions to have different characters to recruit? That would be sweet. What I mean is not everybody used professional killers- so why can everybody recruit assassins? Maybe each faction could have a diplomat/spy, an assassin, and one character type unique to that faction or culture.
May I also suggest some name changes and increased recruitment costs? The names are anachronisms for the EB period, as 'assassins' dates from the 8th century AD, and while 'diplomat' has a Greek root, it wasn't used in its modern professional sense until the late 18th century. The best would be of course faction specific names for these characters, but that is probably hardcoded.
Change the spies to scouts and increase the cost a lot. If you made watchtowers cost 2000 mnai, it's an obvious dodge to recruit 3 spies for that cost. I'd say 750 - 1000 mnai for a spy. That may seem like a lot but for the player the strategic advantage of a lot of spies is huge and unrealistic. You could even eliminate the spy, forcing the player to use cheap light cav units as scouts, which is of course their primary role in real life.
Change the diplomats to ambassadors or explorers and increase the cost a little.
Change the assassin to hired killer or murderer. Ot maybe just eliminate the assassin. There are relatively few instances (in the Hellenistic period) that I can think of major 'faction members' being deliberately killed by another faction. The best example I can think of is the murder of Parmenion by Alexander's order, and that's within the same faction (and the wrong time period).
A lot of ideas thrown out there I know, I am really more interested in the team's plans.
Ta.
Cosmetically, I read rumours on other threads that ye were considering changing the gargantuan dudes for more sophisticated anims. Any previews?
Fundamentally, it occurs to me that these three characters are capable of being pretty seriously modded in ways that could add a lot to the game. I don't know what the hardcode is on these, but with the ancillaries, traits, and stars/wreaths that they can pick up, any one of the three could be turned into some kind of minor 'family' member or a more sophisticated kind of ancillary. If for example, you modded the diplomat so they had a bigger area where they lifted the FOW, the spy would be redundant and could be used for something else.
There are many possibilities, but the one that is my fav is to mod the diplomat or the spy so as to combine their abilities, and use the leftover in the following way.
1. Make them unrecruitable
2. Have them represent all the historical characters that now appear as ancillaries.
3. Have them preexist or be spawned (can that be done with scripts?) at the appropriate time or place.
4. You could then try to collect them by bribing them to your faction, or having them killed. It wouldn't affect the outcome of the game but would be more immersive I think. Too bad they don't have a battlefield presence.
Another possibility is to use one of the characters to (finally) represent the women of the world of EB. They could have female portraits, names, traits, everything except the ability to lead an army. That would certainly be a lot more egalitarian.
Lots of other possibilities. Would it be possible, for example, for different factions to have different characters to recruit? That would be sweet. What I mean is not everybody used professional killers- so why can everybody recruit assassins? Maybe each faction could have a diplomat/spy, an assassin, and one character type unique to that faction or culture.
May I also suggest some name changes and increased recruitment costs? The names are anachronisms for the EB period, as 'assassins' dates from the 8th century AD, and while 'diplomat' has a Greek root, it wasn't used in its modern professional sense until the late 18th century. The best would be of course faction specific names for these characters, but that is probably hardcoded.
Change the spies to scouts and increase the cost a lot. If you made watchtowers cost 2000 mnai, it's an obvious dodge to recruit 3 spies for that cost. I'd say 750 - 1000 mnai for a spy. That may seem like a lot but for the player the strategic advantage of a lot of spies is huge and unrealistic. You could even eliminate the spy, forcing the player to use cheap light cav units as scouts, which is of course their primary role in real life.
Change the diplomats to ambassadors or explorers and increase the cost a little.
Change the assassin to hired killer or murderer. Ot maybe just eliminate the assassin. There are relatively few instances (in the Hellenistic period) that I can think of major 'faction members' being deliberately killed by another faction. The best example I can think of is the murder of Parmenion by Alexander's order, and that's within the same faction (and the wrong time period).
A lot of ideas thrown out there I know, I am really more interested in the team's plans.
Ta.