Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Player Designable Spells

8 (8.6%)

Divination With Depths

3 (3.2%)

Mind Magic

6 (6.5%)

Construction Magic

6 (6.5%)

Enchanting With Variety

7 (7.5%)

Weather Magic

8 (8.6%)

Terraforming

7 (7.5%)

Attribute/Essence Transference

6 (6.5%)

Travel/Movement

3 (3.2%)

Creature Creation/Hybridization

9 (9.7%)

Unique Magical Resources/Materials

4 (4.3%)

Summoning

6 (6.5%)

Chronomancy

7 (7.5%)

Metamagic

1 (1.1%)

Countermagic/Magical Interactions

7 (7.5%)

Interactable Deities

5 (5.4%)

Total Members Voted: 19

[axiomsofdominion]

I think permanent climate change would be doable. Swapping land and sea might be hard, even in the simpler province map games. Screwing with movement or damage numbers seems pretty easy, but it make trash the AI depending on how it is set up.

Can you elaborate on the more interesting FE spells? I used to own it on Impule but that doesn't exist, and even the GameStop App from the buyout is gone. I don't recall FE having anything amazing that you couldn't do in MoM, though.

[axiomsofdominion]

What we need is TERRORforming.

Don't banish you to the hell dimension? My friend, cue scary music, you're already there.

[feelotraveller]

I think permanent climate change would be doable. Swapping land and sea might be hard, even in the simpler province map games. Screwing with movement or damage numbers seems pretty easy, but it make trash the AI depending on how it is set up.

Can you elaborate on the more interesting FE spells? I used to own it on Impule but that doesn't exist, and even the GameStop App from the buyout is gone. I don't recall FE having anything amazing that you couldn't do in MoM, though.

Yeah I can see land/sea swap being difficult but how about redrawing the land biome distribution?  Anyway it was 'basic game parameters' that was important just wanted to give a couple quick examples, some easy, some maybe undoable.  Populaiton growth/leader spawning rate seem like other easy candidates to mess with.  Or changing the maxium population, number of units, maintenance cost, productions costs, etc. basically any of the overarching game parameters.  It sure could be difficult for the AI to deal with (or trivial maybe, say movement rate changes).  Just the general idea of that type of magic rather than any of the particular suggestions.  If it seems too powerful make it hard to access. Could make it fraught with difficulty, say random parameter change, but then expect a bunch of players to save scum.

If you still have some sort of proof of purchase kicking around it should be possible to get FE straight from stardock, or at least a steam key for it,  I initially bought on impulse too but went this route when gamestop disappeared.

Some of the spells that might be interesting

Code: [Select]

Blight - all players lose 50% of population
Blood Curse - city sacrifices half its citizens, caster gets one hp from each citizen sacrficed but can no longer heal naturally
Curgen's Volcano - raise a volcano, destroys units, resources, improvements and cites in its target radius
Grip of Winter - halts training and production in all cities of a player, also halves the rate at which they gather resources
Ineluctable Vision - reveals entire map, contines as long as mana maintenance is paid
Infection - each turn negative spells affecting the targeted unit spread to (all) other allied units
Mana Shield - target unit is immune to damage, lose mana from pool instead
Paragon - sovereign permanently loses 5 hit points, target champion gains a level
Shadow World - continuously spawns shadow creatures (hostile to all) while mana maintenance is paid
Steal Spirit - steal spell trait from allied hero, hero dies
Chaos - does random effect to an enemy unit (Pandemonium does this to all enemy units on battlefield)
Crusade - all of a players trained units gain 1 level
Earthquake - halves population of city, resets production queue and destroy random improvements


[axiomsofdominion]

I think permanent climate change would be doable. Swapping land and sea might be hard, even in the simpler province map games. Screwing with movement or damage numbers seems pretty easy, but it make trash the AI depending on how it is set up.

Can you elaborate on the more interesting FE spells? I used to own it on Impule but that doesn't exist, and even the GameStop App from the buyout is gone. I don't recall FE having anything amazing that you couldn't do in MoM, though.

Yeah I can see land/sea swap being difficult but how about redrawing the land biome distribution?  Anyway it was 'basic game parameters' that was important just wanted to give a couple quick examples, some easy, some maybe undoable.  Populaiton growth/leader spawning rate seem like other easy candidates to mess with.  Or changing the maxium population, number of units, maintenance cost, productions costs, etc. basically any of the overarching game parameters.  It sure could be difficult for the AI to deal with (or trivial maybe, say movement rate changes).  Just the general idea of that type of magic rather than any of the particular suggestions.  If it seems too powerful make it hard to access. Could make it fraught with difficulty, say random parameter change, but then expect a bunch of players to save scum.

If you still have some sort of proof of purchase kicking around it should be possible to get FE straight from stardock, or at least a steam key for it,  I initially bought on impulse too but went this route when gamestop disappeared.

Some of the spells that might be interesting

Code: [Select]

Blight - all players lose 50% of population
Blood Curse - city sacrifices half its citizens, caster gets one hp from each citizen sacrficed but can no longer heal naturally
Curgen's Volcano - raise a volcano, destroys units, resources, improvements and cites in its target radius
Grip of Winter - halts training and production in all cities of a player, also halves the rate at which they gather resources
Ineluctable Vision - reveals entire map, contines as long as mana maintenance is paid
Infection - each turn negative spells affecting the targeted unit spread to (all) other allied units
Mana Shield - target unit is immune to damage, lose mana from pool instead
Paragon - sovereign permanently loses 5 hit points, target champion gains a level
Shadow World - continuously spawns shadow creatures (hostile to all) while mana maintenance is paid
Steal Spirit - steal spell trait from allied hero, hero dies
Chaos - does random effect to an enemy unit (Pandemonium does this to all enemy units on battlefield)
Crusade - all of a players trained units gain 1 level
Earthquake - halves population of city, resets production queue and destroy random improvements


One or two of those may be new compared to MoM. Well, more than I thought at least. Diseases and disease magic would be amazing to see really fleshed out in a game.

[Muz]

I think divination mixed with chronomancy has some potential. I'm reminded of the game Millenia, where you guide some races into the space age, who would normally get themselves killed somehow. Some of it involves, say, taking bow and arrow technology from one race and giving it to another, or some conversation that inspires them to discover communism.

I like the idea of say, some kind of spirit leaving omens. Say, lightning strikes a tree during a king's coronation, so they decide to make his brother king instead. Or a peace treaty is about to be signed, but suddenly a lizard bites off a bird's head, so they continue warring. Societies that ignore these omens go extinct; the king leads them into famine, or they get enslaved.

Eventually the spirits disappear or whatever, but wizards who are able to manipulate omens control society.

Another thing that would be cool is some kind of reroll power where someone has the ability to spawn two versions of reality and pick one. So you might spend Day 1 both exploring a dungeon and reading a book. But you die in the dungeon, so you pick the book reality instead. You might expect to get sieged on Day 80, and choose to both fight and retreat. You die in the retreat, so you pick the reality of fighting. And then have this in multiplayer, where the only way to beat someone is to kill them in both realities.

[Frumple]

One or two of those may be new compared to MoM. Well, more than I thought at least. Diseases and disease magic would be amazing to see really fleshed out in a game.

I want to say both Ruinarch and the latest Total War Warhammer game both did some relatively interesting stuff on that front... pretty sure there's a couple more I'm forgetting, too (and hell, DF plays around with it a bit, even). Then there's the actual disease simulator games out there, which could be an interesting vector to pursue. Basically strapping one of those onto another game could provide some room for neat gameplay interactions.

Fantasy plague stuff is definitely something that hasn't had much play in the gaming world, though. It's extremely rare it gets any more unusual than a fairly standard zombie apocalypse type deal or super basic debuff stuff, and that's not even scratching the surface of what's out there when it comes to diseases and magic (or sci-fi, for that matter) interacting.

[axiomsofdominion]

I think divination mixed with chronomancy has some potential. I'm reminded of the game Millenia, where you guide some races into the space age, who would normally get themselves killed somehow. Some of it involves, say, taking bow and arrow technology from one race and giving it to another, or some conversation that inspires them to discover communism.

I like the idea of say, some kind of spirit leaving omens. Say, lightning strikes a tree during a king's coronation, so they decide to make his brother king instead. Or a peace treaty is about to be signed, but suddenly a lizard bites off a bird's head, so they continue warring. Societies that ignore these omens go extinct; the king leads them into famine, or they get enslaved.

Eventually the spirits disappear or whatever, but wizards who are able to manipulate omens control society.

Another thing that would be cool is some kind of reroll power where someone has the ability to spawn two versions of reality and pick one. So you might spend Day 1 both exploring a dungeon and reading a book. But you die in the dungeon, so you pick the book reality instead. You might expect to get sieged on Day 80, and choose to both fight and retreat. You die in the retreat, so you pick the reality of fighting. And then have this in multiplayer, where the only way to beat someone is to kill them in both realities.

That game is quite interesting. I imagine you could make a vastly more detailed version with modern computers and programming.

Are you aware of Achron? It has fully functional deterministic time travel. 4D RTS.

[axiomsofdominion]

One or two of those may be new compared to MoM. Well, more than I thought at least. Diseases and disease magic would be amazing to see really fleshed out in a game.

I want to say both Ruinarch and the latest Total War Warhammer game both did some relatively interesting stuff on that front... pretty sure there's a couple more I'm forgetting, too (and hell, DF plays around with it a bit, even). Then there's the actual disease simulator games out there, which could be an interesting vector to pursue. Basically strapping one of those onto another game could provide some room for neat gameplay interactions.

Fantasy plague stuff is definitely something that hasn't had much play in the gaming world, though. It's extremely rare it gets any more unusual than a fairly standard zombie apocalypse type deal or super basic debuff stuff, and that's not even scratching the surface of what's out there when it comes to diseases and magic (or sci-fi, for that matter) interacting.

Shadows Of Forbidden Gods has a plague agent with a half decent plague implementation. Not quite strapping Pathologic onto a strategy game but not bad.

[( Tchey )]

I’d love some organic magics, not "effect magics".

Example, if a raise a volcano, it doesn’t do "20% damage to all units", but it... raises a volcano.

It takes matter from the underground, alters the landscape, quakes the earth, starts to smoke, explodes, burns... And all these aspects are not pre-animated, but organic, procedural, and everything impacts all units, lands, winds, waters etc. And later when or if the volcano fades, i could bring a "unit" to build a field with very high fertility and start a village etc.

[Astral]

Necromancy isn't an option but I feel it's largely underutilized in a lot of games, especially the utility aspects or potential for good.

Drawing a bit of inspiration from The Millennial King (an old /tg/ story about a good necromancer), you have effectively unlimited low level repetitive labor (mining, farming, construction) dependent on the size of the population, while citizens are freed to take up loftier pursuits, effectively prompting a magical industrial revolution of sorts as their basic needs can be taken care of freely.

In this universe, it was voluntary but generally accepted by the populace, as the titular King himself served after his own death. In the context given, it seems more akin to magically programming an organic robot. Similar effects could likely be accomplished with less macabre automatons, though I'm sure some handwavey explanation could also be made that the body provides some form of energy hard to replicate in non-organic materials.

A lot of games focus entirely on the warfare aspect of it, though the power behind having an army with no need for supply lines, that grows as it defeats other enemies, and that never tires, hungers, or deserts cannot be understated either.

[axiomsofdominion]

Necromancy isn't an option but I feel it's largely underutilized in a lot of games, especially the utility aspects or potential for good.

Drawing a bit of inspiration from The Millennial King (an old /tg/ story about a good necromancer), you have effectively unlimited low level repetitive labor (mining, farming, construction) dependent on the size of the population, while citizens are freed to take up loftier pursuits, effectively prompting a magical industrial revolution of sorts as their basic needs can be taken care of freely.

In this universe, it was voluntary but generally accepted by the populace, as the titular King himself served after his own death. In the context given, it seems more akin to magically programming an organic robot. Similar effects could likely be accomplished with less macabre automatons, though I'm sure some handwavey explanation could also be made that the body provides some form of energy hard to replicate in non-organic materials.

A lot of games focus entirely on the warfare aspect of it, though the power behind having an army with no need for supply lines, that grows as it defeats other enemies, and that never tires, hungers, or deserts cannot be understated either.

Yeah there's games that went pretty far into undead but as you say almost always for military purposes. Warlords Battlecry 3, though it had laborers, Dominions 3-5, sorta had an economic effect but high abstract.

A true Ermor style nation in a game with a good simulation would be awesome.

[Frumple]

I’d love some organic magics, not "effect magics".

Example, if a raise a volcano, it doesn’t do "20% damage to all units", but it... raises a volcano.

y'know, I thought this was about to get a lot more interesting than it did, but you lost me when you didn't start talking about heretical meat volcanoes and its fleshy terror ejecta

i'd be here for some seriously wild bioshaping, geographical scale shoggoth that shit, no hyperbole when you speak of devouring neighboring nations

[axiomsofdominion]

I’d love some organic magics, not "effect magics".

Example, if a raise a volcano, it doesn’t do "20% damage to all units", but it... raises a volcano.

y'know, I thought this was about to get a lot more interesting than it did, but you lost me when you didn't start talking about heretical meat volcanoes and its fleshy terror ejecta

i'd be here for some seriously wild bioshaping, geographical scale shoggoth that shit, no hyperbole when you speak of devouring neighboring nations

How do you feel about super-organisms? Parasitic or symbiotic stuff like the Oregon mushroom, making deals to spread it in exchange for benefits and other complex stuff?

[Frumple]

the only better fantasy mechanic than a proper deal with the devil is a proper deal with the devil mushroom, shroomcomrade

Or in other words that's primo stuff that would be great to see more(/any) of.

[Nirur Torir]

Jumping in late on the Chronomancy discussion, it would be fun to be able to bring heroes/units/items back in time when loading an old game, spending time mana from the new timeline. For even more fun, let me spend time mana that I don't yet have to do so, getting into debt and causing all sorts of esoteric disasters. Briefly time clone enemies I'm fighting, make half my farmland intersect with the demon realm, or lock my army in stasis for a few turns.

I don't think I've ever seen necromancy done with the idea of "weak units, but no logistics trail." Give me a necromancer simulator where I'm playing cat and mouse with a kingdom that has to stand down its levies for planting and harvest, and whose knights get tired of chasing shadows. The necromancer's skeletons are technically stronger than standard kingdom infantry, but are too stupid and disorganized to win a 50-on-50 battle against fresh humans without clever pre-planning by the necromancer. The necromancer has no super units, but his armies don't have to eat or rely on a logistics train, while the kingdom's farmland is vulnerable.

Age of Wonders II: The Wizards Throne and Shadow Magic had some fun ideas with magical buildings. Late game cities have wizard towers, which expand your domain, and can be upgraded to enchant the units in them during combat, have magic turrets, and have teleport gates letting you move large armies around instantly. Your domain is the range you can cast spells in, and spreads your domain spells, like the Domain of Poison spell poisons all enemies inside.
I want to see that explored further, and with cities choosing what effects they spread, instead of the wizard. Let me build an enchanter's guild in a city to enchant 10 nearby units per turn with flaming swords for 3 turns. Or have its wizards automatically cast a Rain of Fire spell at nearby enemies every turn. Have it turn its magic towards the economy, using fire magic to smelt expensive luxury alloys for money, or terraform a nearby tundra into useful farmland for another city.
It's not esoteric magic, but outside of RPGs, it's rare enough to count: Show what it looks like when every city can have a school training wizards.