Despite being a writer (after a fashion), I rely to heavily on spell check. Oh well. Please excuse any bad punctuation, spelling and grammar... because, well, I'm writing in haste. I know what I've been thinking for a few weeks, its the articulation.
But first, I have read some small debate about time period, placement and what not. Well, I think Mr. Jordan did provide a way out. The portal stones. Remember the two (possibly three) constants? If the dark one is released in one, he's out in all, and what ever happens to the one power happens in all. and Balefire. The thread is gone. The wheel weaves for all. Problem solved fellas. Its not the Randland we all grew to love (or to hate in some cases).
A world similar to the one in which THIS battle is happening, but with a few differences. ONE: Effect of Dumai's Wells. Easy back door. If Galina had not be sent to capture Rand, the taint would still be cleaned, and the tower rebellion would have taken longer. So, how does one get the tower united after and around Dumai's Wells? Cause and effect of sorts. You'll still have your Asha'man, you still have your legion of the Dragon. Sure Mat would gallivant around a while (mercenary army?). But imagine if some one had found the Keeper to be... well, if proper suspicion and power were leveraged right and the right time. Well, Egwene as Amyrilin IN the tower? All you need to is have a famous battle marker at the site of the Wells.
So on to my next stream of thought.
Characters: If the engine flexibility will allow, and game source is flexible enough, I think you have a great opportunity with some aspects of character attribute. Notably characters with the one power. I thought some about passive powers, and realized that the RTW has the answer. Make Talents a Virtue of Personality. non transferable. Healing talent, obviously gives some power there, keep the general and portions of the army alive after battle. Travelling? I read some team thoughts on movement and realized just HOW powerful this ability is. I'm assuming over 8 phases a year atm, (why? Life spans. That’s why. You essentially have 5 years to get everything done before Tarmon Gaidon. And I know from reading our beloved series it takes les than a year for the Borderlanders to reach andor. Hell, with travelling, what is Movement?). With Travelling characters, all they need do is have been there. Instant move. Two Travels a turn if they have been there. Skimming is the other issue. What if you haven’t been to the location? You must skim. So we have another easy out. if you haven’t been there, one "Jump". However, we know from reading that the Talents are rather random. And I have an idea to compensate.
Kinds of Character: Passive and Active. I imagine characters, especially Asha'man and Aes Sedai as passive or Active. Passive and they are Greys and Whites. They negotiate, they spy. They think. Active are Greens and Asha'man. They fight, they die. What of the rest? Random.
Power among Aes Sedai is a hell of an issue, and so, their recruitment options vary by your influence. at level 9 you could recruit Cadsuane herself. The higher your influence when they were recruited, the more options they will have. Every level will bring one talent, Eye and Ear, Warder or other option. Stilling and Warding are "screw all" abilities. Warding is a battle field Talent that makes it more difficult for ranged weapons to work. Stilling allows for the attempt to "assassinate" a channeler by taking out their powers.
There are a lot of Aes Sedai, and most have their own agenda. By recruiting an Aes Sedai, your bending her to your influence, or attracting her agenda by yours. I feel that all factions except Seanchan and Altarans should have the opportunity to recruit Aes Sedai by influence. The cost goes down by level of (a) influence and (b) Acumen, while options increase by level of influence. Number of recruitable Aes Sedai will be (AB)/5 to a minimum of one (rounds up if the Acumen is higher than half of influence, and rounds down if ess.). So, if your influence is high, at a 7, and your acumen low, at 3, you would have 4 Aes Sedai advisers at your potential disposal (because of the lower acumen. 4 Ac would have granted 6!).
Now, the Influence of your Aes Sedai would also be impacted with this idea. You may have a chance to recruit more than your attributes would normally allow. For Every 4 influence, an Aes Sedai may allow you to recruit one more of her Ajah only. to get more Aes Sedai, follow the above rule. Lets follow an example below. The Assumption is you have enough currency to buy al said "AS". Noting any of this is unimportant. The Recruitment screen could allow the player to know what his options are.
So, say your Faction Leader is Mattin Stepanos. Your influence will be moderate (let us say 6), but your acumen low (he’s a great commander, its the nobles who keep the estates in check, so lets say 3). So you will attract Aes Sedai. This is where the random comes in. Will the Aes Sedai be Green? Will she be Red? What about Yellow? You have enough influence to attract "level" 6 Sisters. Your options are 5 Sisters (distance from capitol and tar valon assumingly).
Level 2 Green, her Talent is Travelling and a Talent for Weather (I'll assume since she’s a green she has to have one combat Talent, so its lighting). [i]Active[i]
Level 6 Green, with a Talent for Warding, a Talent for Fireballs, A Talent for Foretelling, 2 Warders. Active.
Level 4 Red Sister: One Hidden Ability (we'll assume a warder, she is red after all, not something she'll openly brag about!), a Talent for Stilling, and a Talent for Warding, an Eye-and-ear in Tar Valon. [i]Both Active and Passive[i]
Level 5 Yellow Sister: Talent for Healing, Greater Talent for Healing, Warder, Influence among Blues (allows her to attract a Blue as well as a yellow to you), Eyes-and-Ears in Tear [i]Passive[i].
level 6 Blue: Talent for Stilling, Talent for Healing, Warder, Eyes and Ears in Baerlon, Eyes and ears in Fal Dara, Eyes and Ears in Mayene.[i]Passive[i]
So you get to chose 3 Sisters. Travelling is a great ability, but she has few other useful skills. Being a Sister the enemy needs to close first, or so I assume from the Oaths. So, to make her useful, she'll need to be protected. The Blue has the best options, but she is only useful as a spy or a healer... and her use as a spy is limited by Illians distance from her affected sights. The yellow is a steal. She can spy on the main city of Illians most frequent foe, and she can heal a greater portion of her leaders army. With a warder, she is much harder to assassinate. The level 6 Green is also a good buy, with her foretelling, she can "increase" the general's acumen (by a key warning or a goal, plus more Sisters), and she has two warders, making her a bigger menace in combat.
Asha’man: Asha'man would work on similar grounds as Aes Sedai, but recruiting them, that’s the hard part. Asha'man don’t have mixed agenda's. Asha'man follow two men: Taim and the Dragon Reborn. So, how does one acquire Asha'man? Influence with either or both. An open Declaration for the Dragon Reborn is essentially surrendering all claim to conquest... So you have a complication.
Easy fix... add a simple game mechanic. Declaring for the Dragon Reborn. Send an emissary (even an Aes Sedai, as some, such as Greys, would come with the skill). Once allied to the dragon you have the resources of what you started with, as well as access to the Asha'man and the Legion of the Dragon, but all conquests made by you go to the original holders hands if they are (or were allied when wiped out). If the last holder was an enemy, the nearest neighbour... so if they are enemy and your neighbour, your turf. You would of course get "Tribute" from the Dragon's allies in such situations. You did take the turf after all.
So, Small sacrifice for the kind of power Asha'man bring. What will they do? Depending on level, they may have Aes Sedai Warders, thus increasing their powers, and depending on level and title, gain "underlings". So, from the same menu as Aes Sedai you can choose Asha'man units. Asha'man are weapons, and as such, their skills and attributes should reflect this. I imagine a few kinds of asha'man units. The capabilities and talents of the squad should be interchangeable. So, if the leader of the unit is an asha'man with a mount, the whole squad will be mounted. If one member is a healer, the squad heals. So a high level Asha'man will have more men under him. Dedicated can be merged into Asha'man Squads, but otherwise, Dedicated and soldiers act like artillery... alone. some of course have extra abilities. 2 combat, and as much as 4 extra.
Mounted Asha'man: Mounted Asha'man would have a narrower range of effect, and be more mobile and dangerous.
Foot Asha'man: Foot Asha'man squads would have a longer range and sacrifice staying power with hitting power.
Dedicated
Soldier
Example Unit: Mounted Asha'man to start with. He has 4 members in the squadron. One Healer in the squad. Remember, random. You recruit 4 Dedicated. One has the bonus ability of Travelling, one has the bonus of Healing, and one has the bonus Foretelling. all of them are shuffled into the Asha’man unit and so they become an 8 man unit that travels onto the battlefield and wields enormous power.
[b]"Mundane" Characters[b]: One thing I desperately want to see... Rank! Real, bonified rank, and the effect of rank! But how on earth does one achieve this? Well lets look at Rank in regular Rome: Total War. 0 to 9 stars. Buts that’s kind of frivolous isn’t it? I have another idea. Banners. No, not the symbol, the formation.
For Every 200 men you get a Lieutenant (max of 2 stars); every 500 men you get a Captain(max of 4); every 1000 you get a Banner General(max of 6), for every 2000 a Lieutenant General (max of 7), and every 5,000 a Captain-General (max of 9), one must start at the rank Marshal General (max of 9). so, instead of having stars change only by experience, make promotion an option.
Say Amadicia has 4 armies of over 1000 each, and 2 at 500. that 5000 men. By default one commander should be titled Lord Captain-Commander. Then instead of the title being Lieutenant, you get 25 Under Lieutenants, then follows 10 Lieutenants, Then 5 Lord Captains, and 1 Lord Commander (Fictitious) plus the Captain Commander Pedron Niall (we assume). So, by granting Title, we would be raising the ranks of the leader. More men, more need for officers. To further this idea, only generals who are family may become sovereign if the faction leader dies, though I think it would be cool to include some advisor family in the factions. Thus, have one member as Aes Sedai, a few as diplomats, one as Governor (stuck in the town), and 3 as generals. A tad bit more realistic and [b]WoT[b]ish than the RTW system.
Hope ya'll like my ideas.
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