Hey,
Has anyone here ever played Oregon Trail?
Its this awesome game about the 19th Century pioneers taking the real life Oregon Trail, a migration trail across north america.
The game was created as an educational tool but eventually made a huge hype as the latest craze in gaming... I suppose similar to what WoW is to many people now. (Thankfully not me)
Well, ah been wonderin' could it be possible to implement like a trading mode?
Basically, you're a trader and you are crossing your generated world to peddle your wares, choosing on what fortress to sell your goods and how to journey there...
The main things this would include are...
Choosing a fortress/town/whatever to sell stuff to.
If you choose to play as a Dwarf merchant then you probs dont want to sell to a Goblin Fortress, IMHO.
Talking with other merchants and reading current events to find out what that fortress/town/whatever requires...
E.G: If a fortress has just been under siege then they would want to stock up on food, building materials or even immigrants.
Hiring guards and mercenaries to protect your caravan... Guards could have certain attributes,
E.G Honesty (Or whatever) to make sure they dont get bribed by bandits; Friendliness to not scare pilgrims, immigrants, etc. away.
Plotting a course: take the short journey through sinister lands, coming close to a known bandit hideout or the safe albeit long winding trek through the mountains? This adds a certain strategical depth, if you want to sell food, you gotta make sure that the journey you plot does not take too long or the food will spoil; make the journey too danegerous and guards will desert you and pilgrims/immigrants won't want to come.
Build up a trade empire: advertise your caravans and trade successfully to start building up a trade empire; convice other Dwarven traders to invest in you. Mcdwarf Trading Company FTW!
Hunt and fish to replenish your stocks of food, chop down trees to make temporary shelters and barricades, also you can lash logs together to create rafts to cross rivers n' streams!
Of course, plotting the journey is only the rough trail; you will occasionally encounter things such as divided paths, detours, high roads and lows. Choose wisely!
Taxdwarfs getting you down? Leeching all your money? BAH! Try some... Tax Evasion! Smuggle Contraband! Of course, this way you would need to hire the more unsavoury characters; vigilantes, outcasts and even mangy old hobos. This brings down the respectability of your company and attracts dodgy people to you like flies to shit. This leads in the attention of the local trade enforcement agencies who will keep an eye on your business... But the boomer money from selling Magic Rocks will be worth it! Unless you get busted...
Overcome diseases! Avoid venturing into swamps and marshes; the wheels of your caravans will bog down and waste valuable time, also, diseases will strike at your dwarf; malaria, dysentery, helljoint, Mcdwarf Syndrome, what have you!
Entering into an unknown territory? See some wierd people you have never encountered before? Venturing into an obscure land? Hire a scout! A local guide! Buy a few maps, or just hope that the locals don't eat 'cha!
Well, thats basically my 2 penneth.
Comments anyone?