So if the procedural generation manages to get him, are the maps going to have the same aesthetics as the ones you have now or are you planning some other look? Can you also change the actual look of the map in the game, such as covering everything in snow or raising sea levels, rather then have it represented by some POI status effect?
Also, are there any pirate/warlord government types somewhere, that while technically part of the civilized world, are so aggressive in their social norms that they might as well be one of the "red" nations?
We're going to stretch the budget as far as it will go - the Aesthetic will be MUCH darker in tone, and as it will be tiled we will be able to alter the terrain (which brings me GREAT JOY). Not only will this, as you say, clean up the POI status effects it also let's show the "state of the world" at a glance much better. Never really thought we'd hit this goal, we are lining up artists to make sample tiles. Plan is to get them to the Beta Backers by the end of the first month after KS and get some review feedback.
The difficulty is that now we are going "backwards", originally we were designing the units, heroes, and agents to conform to the Map we had - now we will be targeting map enhancements first and foremost then moving back to the actual map assets. This won't push back our release because we will be continuing with development, but it does mean that the Beta release may not yet have the updated assets because we need to fully test the new map itself before commissioning the map assets.
The personality of a leader, or the personality of the culture, can be so extreme that they are terrible warmongers. The Arden Protectorate in the North Burns is ruled with an iron fist by a glory seeking warlord, who holds back only on his rational quality. In the Black Seas their is a human "civilized" nation that is all about raiding, the cultural values of its people ignore almost any other quality except valor in battle and plunder.
So if the procedural generation manages to get him, are the maps going to have the same aesthetics as the ones you have now or are you planning some other look? Can you also change the actual look of the map in the game, such as covering everything in snow or raising sea levels, rather then have it represented by some POI status effect?
Also, are there any pirate/warlord government types somewhere, that while technically part of the civilized world, are so aggressive in their social norms that they might as well be one of the "red" nations?
That could lead to some really amazing Ancient Ones (or even Rival Ancient Ones). I can imagine an old Ice God trying to start the next Ice Age, or some other god who wants to drown the entire world. The Ice Age would first start with lots of failed harvests and starvation, whilst the flooding one would be able to destroy coastal POIs. Even if the map doesn't change you might be able to do something with the particle effects by overlaying a rather large white/blue layer and mark the POI as destroyed.
Pirates (and bandits) would indeed be a nice faction to see. They could easily mess up trade which is a good thing as I understand it.
Yep, WAY backin the day we had this awesome algorithm to make geological effects on a procedural map - unfortunately the map itself was too "abstract" to have units on it without it looking ridiculous. We had an Ice God who was intent on covering the world in a climate more fitting for his children - with this change happening I am going to see if we can squeeze him back in.
Pirates and Bandits exist, but not as factions - they appear as modifiers on a POI and need to be quested against by heroes or hunted down by armies to leave. You (or another nation) can commission them, or they may randomly appear. If they persist they can rise in difficulty, going from being a minor nuisance to actually destroying a village.