Quote Originally Posted by Tsarsies
You obviously thought this system out very well, so if any of my ideas have crossed your mind then ignore them, (unless they spark a different interest ofcourse :)

1. Major battle victory, winning a battle where you were outnumbered. or just base the points on the victory/defeat type. clear victory, draw, crushing defeat etc...

2. Not gaining ANY points for using the 'auto-resolve' button. or losing points for using that button.

3. I presume your faction leader would (should) have an effect on gaining/losing influence points. therefore the death of your faction leader could be a good thing or a bad thing. a faction leader who was poor in gaining such points could be seen as good that he finally died because now his heir can reforge the name of the empire...

4. A trait that could be gained (either through gameplay or inherited) that effects the influence gained from such actions. good or bad.

5. Building certain buildings. im sure this crossed your mind already. i was thinking more along the lines of building the last building in the queue (grand cathedral or what have you), gaining a new technological standard.

6. I presume this system would not be biased towards any single type of strategy. meaning if i wanted to be a tyrant leader i could still gain points via exterminating populace as to looting and such. or by assination. i personally love using my assassins to thin the family tree of my rivals, especially after i marry off my princess into there ranks. So i hope this influece system allows for both evil strategies and chivalrous strategies.


As for the Spending of influence points, although not exactly historically possible, gameplay wise im sure the following would be cool. as for the cost of the following, some would have to be rather high. Ofourse, i realise not all these may be possible due to hard coded limitations.

1. gain a level for a character (assasins/spies subtefurge, priests piety, generals piety/loyalty, merchants trade skill etc)

2. Hurry the building queue/training queue

3. Show an area of map

4. Immobolise a rivals character/army for 1 turn.

5. Refresh the movement points for a character/army.
Some good and some not so good suggestions here, let's see:

1., 3., 5., yeah, I planned to do all of that to some extent. Bovi suggested to indirectly link Influence to Authority via the control levels and I think that might work.

2. Not quite sure about that. It looks nice on paper but too exploitable. It will force the player to play battles he will probably win anyways (because otherwise he won't gain Influence) and be exploited to auto-resolve battles he will lose anyways (because he won't lose influence). I know it's annoying to lose a battle to the bugged auto-resolve mechanisms but I think I'd rather have that than the above two problems.

4. I'm not quite sure what you mean there? A kind of amplifier trait for good/bad actions?

6. Yes definitely. The main aim is to allow a even very chivalrous and defensive players to win the game instead of having to go on a carnage through all of Italy. The points you get for settlements can still be major for large factions though, so conquering the peninsula is probably a way to win.
I'm also thinking about leaving in a number of settlements requirement as an additional victory condition, but it'd be pretty high (about the same as in vanilla M2TW probably). Think of it like in Civ: You can win through diplomacy, conquest, culture or science. Such a system is probably a sure winner for gameplay and suits a lot of different playing styles.

I don't like the idea to level up an agent, but I could see the option to recruit a better agent instead by dishing out some influence. Hurrying the building queue or force-marching an army are nice ideas but would probably be tied to conditions (for example I'd do it for rural settlements and it'd represent forced labor/serfdom and therefore be tied to some unhappiness penalty). For armies I'll probably try to implement some support system like in Byg's Grim Reality and force-marching would then cost more food, etc.

Revealing parts of the map is something I won't do, it just feels too arcade. Immobilizing an army could make sense but would also require some bribery in addition to the Influence cost (and I'm also not sure about a good interface).