But I agree that it would be interesting to change it around. Probably need to make it an effect in most cases, rather than a cause. Although happier citizens might be willing to pay more taxes, work for the benefit of the state more, etc...make it into some sort of 'efficiency factor'? Introduce slavery?
This is problematic because the current system is relatively simple, so there's less room for modifiers or bonuses. I could potentially mess with production and research values relatively seamlessly, but I'd still want it to be simple. Perhaps more importantly, I'm concerned that might screw with the pace too much; I don't want the players of unhappy empires to just sit around for five turns building things really slowly. Or at least, I don't think I do.
Speaking of which, that'd also be somewhat problematic regarding population usage. Population is used to man buildings, but there's currently a cap on construction, so if it takes you too long to build something, you end up with a lot of population you don't really have any use for at the moment; conversely, if your empire can build things really quickly, you've got more construction ability than you have people to operate it.
Hm. I guess I could use that as a sort of "this is ideal Happiness, shoot for this" mechanic, if I wanted to somewhat scrap the idea of high/low happiness being a meaningful choice.
As an aside, I mostly scrapped it for being too complex, but at one point I considered the possibility of differentiating between empires that were mostly homogeneously happy, and empires with an ultrahappy upper class and a miserable slave class. Unfortunately that would require more Happiness/Unhappiness micromanagement than I'm comfortable with.
EDIT: Also, every time you misuse the word senpai it gives a baby animal heartburn.
I'm sorry, Seal-kun, but it must be done.
I'm actually a bit pressed for time at the moment so that's all I've got, but I'd be most interested to hear the rest of what you're working on.
Guns or Butter is... somewhat close, but there's a number of complications.
Your people are conveniently divided into discrete population units. Each population unit eats one food, produces one Unhappiness, and can be assigned to a profession.
Professions are mostly what you would expect- tasks like Farmer, Blacksmith, or Miller. You can move citizens from one profession to another, or one city to another, by having them spend a turn doing so instead of their job. Some basic professions, mostly meaning food production, do not require anything to be built for them to do their jobs- it's assumed farmers take care of establishing their own farms, fishermen see to their own boats or wharves, and so on. Moving a citizen to a new job DOES, however, require the requisite technology. This is more complicated than it might initially appear, as detailed below.
Citizens appear at a rate of one per turn whenever there's room. Their profession, and location if you have more than one city with space in it, is random. Citizens that spawn as a profession may begin performing their task without having any requisite techs you'd need to shift them manually, making them handy if you're looking for another farmer but don't want to re-research Farming, for instance. They do, however, require the construction of any buildings they need to operate, so getting a second Ruby Miner is usually not going to be productive.
(I could potentially allow unemployed citizens to qualify as a tech for construction purposes, so getting a second Blacksmith would let you build a Smithy for them without re-researching Smithing.)
Cities may grow up to size 4 on their own. Building a Granary raises this to 8, an Aqueduct to 12, and a Sewers to 16. To rise above size 16, the city begins requiring custom solutions researched explicitly to deal with its particular issues.
Cities are composed of citizens and buildings. However, very few buildings operate without citizens manning them; aside from buildings to raise the city's population cap, most structures are just tools of the citizens inhabiting them, and have no real effect when abandoned. Uninhabited structures may become derelict and decay or collapse if left alone for too long.
Another important concept to remember is that most structures produce sources, not discrete units. Food is a clear example of this- farms produce 2 Food. This does not mean that they produce 2 units of Food that is then added to a stockpile, or that they produce 2 units of Food that could be placed in a stockpile if you had one. It means that they produce a 2-strength source of Food, which can then be exploited or not by other features, such as hungry citizens.
A decent analogy is to imagine that sources are full pipes. The pipes have room for something to attach to them, but do not expel anything on their own- their purpose is simply to be full pipes. Structures and effects that do create discrete units, often out of sources, are referred to as Spigots. They are usually used for rather specific, unusual purposes.
As a happy consequence of this, there is very little math involved in any individual turn. Food is not stockpiled or depleted, but merely sufficient or insufficient. Stockpiling is most often done for Phallic objects and structures, so named because they exist primarily for meaningless dickwaving.
Special resources are an important concept, and all special resources are luxuries. In addition, 25% of all luxuries are elementally infused, which often gives them special uses elsewhere.
Luxuries come from two places. The first and most obvious is exploration- some tiles, when located, will have resources visible in them. Building a city on these resources allows your city to tap into them, labor and technologies willing (I don't actually know if tapping luxury resources will require a technology or not).
The exact effects and likelihoods of luxury resources depend on terrain and class:
| Terrain | Resource |
| Mountain | Metals |
| Hills | Gems |
| Desert | Spices |
| Plains | Foods |
| Forest | Clothing |
| Swamp | Dyes |
Each resource has an increased chance of being of the favored type of the terrain its on, or the favored types of "adjacent" terrains; mountains and swamps count themselves as adjacent for these purposes. The specifics of each material, including dye colors, are random.
The first luxury resource your empire achieves in each category improves Happiness by 4; the second increases Happiness by 2. Further luxuries of the same type do not provide any further benefits on their own, but it is possible to research and construct custom buildings to, for instance, take advantage of having a great deal of gemstones. Exact duplicates of a material (for instance, multiple instances of silver) do not provide any innate benefits, but can likewise be taken advantage of by determined empires.
(Numbers subject to balancing, of course)
The second way to acquire a luxury resource is to research it in a city with fewer luxury resources than its current cap (note: I am not certain allowing multiple resources per city in this way is wise). The disadvantage here is that you can't know what the city will get, and therefore decide not to settle on it, until it's already happened. Still, it does mean that any city settled anywhere can have a special resource, if you decide it's worth exploiting.
Of course, you may also trade luxuries with other civilizations. This can be especially worthwhile if you inhabit different terrain types, since you're both likely to have excesses of your favored luxury class and dearths of whatever the dice decided to shortchange you on. Some civilizations may also be able to work luxuries into new and better products, potentially allowing you to gain more benefit from them.
Production and Research are the two exceptions to most normal rules of citizen usage. First of all, neither Laborers (which construct buildings) nor Sages (which research technologies) require structures of any kind. Secondly, you may never have more than three of each (they need a limiter of some kind, but I'm entirely unsure this is the proper way to do that). Third, unlike normal citizens, they indeed produce discrete units of product- construction or research progress, accordingly. Fourth, their outputs are rolled, and therefore unpredictable.
When a building is constructed or a technology researched, it becomes available and all excess progress on it is lost. Buildings do not require any materials to construct, or more specifically the procurement of such materials is counted as raw labor.
Technology has another set of peculiarities to it. Rather than accumulating techs indefinitely, each civilization has three tech slots (limited playtesting has suggested this may be a pinch too limiting, especially as I have no default research action yet). To research a new technology, you have to abandon an old one. Abandoned techs must be re-researched if you wish to benefit from them again, though any products of these techs, such as buildings, continue to function perfectly fine with or without their raw knowledge.
(Currently and recently, techs are organized into very simple tech trees; you can ditch a tech and start from the bottom of any tree you like at any time, but must otherwise climb the ladder, forcing you to choose a handful of things to focus on. I am uncertain if that's how I want it to work.)
There is one final benefit to research and construction. Every turn in which you research or construct something, there is a 5% chance of each that your current efforts will be overriden by a Monument or Unique Tech.
Monuments are unique works of art that cannot properly be emulated (I could ease this, but I suspect it'd be better as something to make the city unique rather than making the civilization unique). They might or might not fulfill the originally intended purpose (most likely not, so as to avoid, say, attempting to grind for a special Aqueduct or similar), but always provide some special benefit (ideally relatively unique and not just "+1 Food" or similar).
Unique Techs are brilliant insights that other races and cultures simply can't emulate. Like Monuments, their similarity to the original intention varies. Like normal techs, they occupy a slot and may be re-researched if discarded (which is especially important because they just replaced a tech you thought you needed; on a related note, presumably they'll slot next to whatever tech was being attempted, but I'm not sure I want to differentiate between high and low special techs).
Sometimes, your Sages are being lazy and worthless, and you therefore have nothing to build. Other times, you want to show everyone in the world how awesome you are. In either case, Phallic productions and structures have got your back.
Phallic refers to discrete structures or items whose sole innate purpose is to demonstrate how fancy you are. Each civilization begins with a Phallic structure in their city, and may manufacture Phallic items to place inside it without any requisite techs. For instance, a Library might hold Scrolls, a Mausoleum might hold Skulls, a Brothel might hold Candles, or anything else to demonstrate just how fancy and elaborate a thing it is.
Truly decadent leaders may research or construct additional Phallic buildings, either for their capital or colonies, in order to demonstrate their might more clearly. Even more wasteful despots may begin utilizing luxury sources to create Ruby Codpieces or Cinnamon Candles, though this is usually only as impressive as it is difficult, which in most cases is not any more than usual.
Phallic items do have one possible benefit, however. Cities and civilizations that begin to amass an impressive collection of Phallic objects tend to become known for it; Libraries stuffed with Tomes confer reputations of knowledge, Brothels overflowing with Slaves attract reputations of decadence; Vaults piled with Coins award reputations of wealth and greed, and so on. Should this become severe enough, the structure in question may be declared a Wonder of the World, and grant a unique benefit in accordance with its status as a symbol of your empire or city's unrivaled expertise in that area.
Wonders of the World are a relative accomplishment; the title may wax or wane, or even come and go entirely, as your commitment to it rises or falls relative to the rest of the world. The only Library in existence, containing more Scrolls than its empire does citizens, can generally expect more favorable treatment than the only Observatory in the world, with its stunning tenth as many Charts as its empire has military units. Rivals for the title can also have an impact, though typically two worthy candidates become known as joint holders of a title, rather than impressive but second-place accomplishments going unnoticed.
Military units are not manufactured; rather, they are raised using manned structures intended to support them. This means the limit on your military is your ability to support them, not your ability to build them.
Military units have three major stats: Attack, Defense, and Supply. The former two are reasonably self-explanatory; the latter requires some elaboration.
When a unit is first raised, it begins at 0 Supply. This means it cannot actually function as a military unit; it needs to be properly outfitted to function. This is done with Supply Buildings- things like Barracks, Smithies, Stables, or other structures depending on the unit's equipment, training, and purpose.
(Am currently unsure where maximum Supply comes from. Formerly thought it'd be limited by tier; ie Barracks provide Tier 1 Supply, Blacksmiths Tier 2, Cobblers Tier 3, and so on. Now I'm considering making it an innate unit stat, but that might overlap with Supply Range. I could make it universally high or even unlimited, I suppose.)
Each Supply Building produces a certain amount of Supply, which is used to "fill up" each actual point of Supply on a military unit. The amount of Supply Value a unit needs to fill up is based on its general power, usually linearly.
(As another point of contention, I'm currently unsure if or what the difference between, say, a pair of 2-value Smithies and a lone 4-value Megasmithy would/should be. I'd considered limiting each military unit to one supply building per tier/purpose, but the reasons why don't feel like explaining themselves at the moment.)
Military units use Supply for two purposes. The first is that they lose a point of Supply for every turn they spend outside Supply Range. The second is that, when destroyed in battle, units lose a point of Supply and then return if they have at least one remaining. In either case, units are unformed but not destroyed upon reaching 0 Supply- they simply can't operate as a military unit anymore until they return to a friendly city and resupply themselves.
This does mean, incidentally, that military units are indestructable. While they may certainly be defeated, they cannot be permanently annihilated- which becomes particularly important when one remembers that they can gain experience. Players may be able to disband their own unwanted military units, but even this may be met with grumbling and complications.
Also, military units may change equipment using a similar method to being raised in the first place.
(Side note: Currently, there's nothing particularly stopping someone from amassing large quantities of military units... assuming they never actually use them. This isn't a huge concern for that reason- sure, you can stockpile Spearmen in your capital just in case, but a "real" military power will whittle you down eventually- but it is odd and I'm not sure if I want to specifically do anything to prevent it.)
Speaking of Supply, units and cities both have a Supply Range. For cities, this represents economic power and spheres of influence- the ease of finding exactly what you need, tendency to defend and colonize the surrounding countryside, and so on. For units, it tends to represent their ability to send someone back to town to pick up what they need. Economic buildings therefore tend to increase city Supply Range, while traveling light and fast tends to increase unit Supply Range. This makes it an especially important concept for explorers.
Note that Supply Range is measured in flat range for cities, but turns for units. Being fast or making it to a road can increase a unit's supply range, whereas rough terrain can blunt it.
Combat takes place when two enemy military units enter the same space.
(Units move simultaneously, so I'm not sure what I want to do regarding one unit trying to catch a unit that's trying to dodge. Do I allow "follow" and "avoid" actions, or what?
Somewhat related, city Supply Range may allow garrisoned units to intercept anything entering your "territory.")
In combat, each unit has two statistics: Attack and Defense. Attack is the amount of damage a unit deals on a successful attack; Defense is the amount it can take before being destroyed. Remember that being destroyed in combat costs a unit a point of supply and knocks it out for that round, but does not otherwise harm it.
When combat begins, each player PMs what each of their units are attacking, and what throw that unit is using. Throws are Rock, Paper, and Scissors, naturally. Beating an enemy's throw causes your unit to deal damage to the enemy without taking any themselves. Losing a throw obviously causes your unit to take damage without dealing any. Ties cause each unit to damage each other simultaneously.
(Oh my gods is combat rough right now. Originally each throw was going to have a fancy name and specific effect, but I couldn't balance them properly because they made some strategies or whatever useless. Like, if you've got a fat unit and one throw causes you to block the enemy unit if successful, then it's obvious what you're going to do and easy to counter. But you can't very well use a meatwall as a berserker or whatever because the effect would be useless, so it was sort of a "use this unit properly and get countered or use it horribly and enjoy doing nothing" type deal.
I
believe each round of combat is going to require another turn, but this does have some interesting consequences to it. Notably, it might be too slow.
Oh, and then there's initiative and crap. I don't think I want to roll initiative for each unit in the army, but I'm not sure I have a choice. Supposing Unit A attacks Unit B attacks Unit C attacks Unit D attacks Unit A. Cool, so, uh, what happens? I could just let it all happen and nobody dies til the end of the round, but that makes it a really good strategy for some units to hold perfectly still because you know some of their units are going to suicide against some of your units, and the only way you mathematically "lose" is by doubling up on already dead people, which you can't do if everyone they're not blitzing holds still.)
A unit's stats are dependent on its equipment and training. A rough guideline to relative power levels is located below.
| Power | Description |
| 1 | Very Simple. Mook Spearmean might be 1/1. |
| 2 | Basic but serviceable. "Standard" infantry might be 2/2. |
| 3 | Advanced. Elite infantry might be 3/3. |
| 4 | Elite or special. Heavy knights might be 4/4. |
| 5 | Heroic or hand-selected. Champions might be 5/5. |
| 6 | Monstrous or chosen. Werewolves might be 6/6. |
Naturally, many units will mix and match categories. Elite berserkers might be 4/2, Knights of the Iron Veil might be 3/6, and so on. 6 is not a hard cap by any means, but it is increasingly difficult to boost military units the higher you go.
Additionally, units may increase their Defense by leveling up. Leveling is a random process that has a chance of occurring every time a unit is involved in a battle, and which is more difficult the stronger and higher level the unit in question is. Each levelup increases the unit's Defense by 1, representing their increased tenacity and skill. More experienced units can be significantly harder to shatter or rout than their greener counterparts.
(I do not entirely know how leveling will work yet, other than that I don't want to track anything, I do want army powers to increase its odds, and I do want stronger and higher-level units to have a tougher time of it. In both cases that'll somewhat balance out because being stronger lets you take on stronger foes, of course. I might also add something to make sure you don't rush dragon nests with 1/1 spearmen hoping to level them four times in one turn.
Units will also have special abilities; I don't
think I want special abilities to increase with level, tempting as that sounds.
Otherwise, I have no idea. I'm leaning towards special abilities being really, really common, but that might depend on how combat works and I still want to avoid players being too predictable with each other. I'd like this to be mindgames/tactical RPS and not just literal RPS.)
Well. As you can see, I've got quite a bit half-done and am not entirely sure how to organize it, though I'd intended to draw pretty pretty pictures for the official OP.
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Topic: Gaming Block (Game Discussion Thread) (Totally Not Roller's Block) (Read 415976 times)