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[klingon13524]

This looks really really cool. It's been said before, but, nice job!

I have a couple of questions though:

Firstly, will we be able to take trophies from fallen enemies? Say, we just slew a dragon or some other fantastical beast, can I cut off its head, or butcher it and carry its skull with me? Could I take the ear of some sort of Orc Chieftan I just killed as a nostalgic token? It'd be pretty cool to mount slain enemies' heads on pikes, as well.

Second, do you ever plan on implementing any sort of magic in the game? It's already in a sort of fantasy-esque setting, with mystical creatures, but in terms of spells, spellcasters, or anything like that, do you have anything planned? And if you do have something planned, will it be a sort of simple fireball/lightning/pointy-hats kind of system, or more complex, like in terms of the Eragon series, where magic is dictated by the manipulation of real-world forces and energy, and you could abuse certain laws of nature to your own ends? I ask because I've always loved games that feature magical beings, but only sparsely, and those who are able to use magic could destroy entire armies if they had enough preparation.

It'd be horribly complex, but I think you could decently abstract a system that allowed you to do this sort of thing. Plus, it might spice up combat to more than just "whoever has more dudes win".

There's already a blog post about magic. Search the website.

[Frumple]

... or go back a page.

Trophies sound like an interest <eventual mechanic>, though. Especially with a moral system, even moreso with one that has cultural -- or at least racial -- differences. The potential/eventual necromancy spells could have interesting and/or amusing interactions with them.

It'd be a bit of a surprise if your head-on-pike suddenly started trying to gnaw your arm off.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

This looks great! Watching.

Cheers! Thanks for the support

This looks really really cool. It's been said before, but, nice job!

I have a couple of questions though:

Firstly, will we be able to take trophies from fallen enemies? Say, we just slew a dragon or some other fantastical beast, can I cut off its head, or butcher it and carry its skull with me? Could I take the ear of some sort of Orc Chieftan I just killed as a nostalgic token? It'd be pretty cool to mount slain enemies' heads on pikes, as well.

Second, do you ever plan on implementing any sort of magic in the game? It's already in a sort of fantasy-esque setting, with mystical creatures, but in terms of spells, spellcasters, or anything like that, do you have anything planned? And if you do have something planned, will it be a sort of simple fireball/lightning/pointy-hats kind of system, or more complex, like in terms of the Eragon series, where magic is dictated by the manipulation of real-world forces and energy, and you could abuse certain laws of nature to your own ends? I ask because I've always loved games that feature magical beings, but only sparsely, and those who are able to use magic could destroy entire armies if they had enough preparation.

It'd be horribly complex, but I think you could decently abstract a system that allowed you to do this sort of thing. Plus, it might spice up combat to more than just "whoever has more dudes win".

Thanks a ton! Now, to answer your queries:

1) Body parts can come off foes in combat (arms, hands, wings, whatever) and you can certainly pick them up and hold on to them. For different creatures, different parts of their bodies will impress others more, and therefore make better trophies - a Behemoth tusk, a Dragon head, etc. I love the mounting on pikes idea - you could lead them into battle against others of their kind for morale damage. Mind if I steal that idea?

2) Yeah, as said on the last page, there's going to be a kind of freeform magic where you construct spells, and several totally unique schools of magic which require different rituals, equipment, knowledge etc. The latter are more long-term things you do before a battle, or to prepare yourself, or raise an army, or deal with deities, or whatever, while the freeform spells are for the heat of combat, so they're more traditional attack/defense etc!

I think you're right - it should make things more complex, but anyway, the strengths of creatures vary so wildly I hope there'll be variation in most-soldiers-equals-victory

Trophies sound like an interest <eventual mechanic>, though. Especially with a moral system, even moreso with one that has cultural -- or at least racial -- differences. The potential/eventual necromancy spells could have interesting and/or amusing interactions with them.

It'd be a bit of a surprise if your head-on-pike suddenly started trying to gnaw your arm off.

Ha, yes! I hadn't thought of that. The way I plan on necromancy though won't allow anything like that to happen, but again, that's far, far in the future...

[Blaze]

So perhaps in the future you can go solo and bait an enemy army into an area you've set traps on, which kills quite a few of them and cuts off any method of retreat and then resurrect said dead to cause panic; which then allows you cast your super-long spell which utilizes their bodies and a giant ball of gore consisting of countless mutilated reproductive organs of various creatures to turn the entire world/realm/plane into a Womb Level and create an army of unimaginable abominations to conquer the world in an orgy of blood and sex?

I can't wait.

Also, is there "NPC Development" anywhere? Such as unaligned NPC leaders which lead an army of mercenaries/rebels that can be hired by you or fight against you as rivals, a group of far-flung and forgotten villages/towns of random alignments form an alliance and break away from their inept rulers, or a legendary creature that grows powerful and "famous" enough to develop a cult of worshipers; all of which can eventually become kingdoms/countires if given enough time.

[Blaze]

Ultima ration regum:
kill a necromancer, become a necromancer, kill an army, own an army of phalluses!

I'd throw some holes in there though, In case I run into any hetero victims.

[sebcool]

Looks interesting...

But how will the combat be, like: If you skewer an opponent will he die instantly, will he be knocked out and bleed to death, or will the fight continue?

Will skewering or decapacitation happen by luck or by taking advantage of openings?

How common are openings and do they happen when: Getting hit, missing, stumbling, outside involvement (stray arrows, pushes, distractions), getting parried, terrible martial arts, pain, lack of caution, or something else?

Will combat be different depending on class/personality, Will a berserker fight differently and take more chances than a royal guard.?

How much harder will it be to fight an opponent with a shield, will there be different sizes, will different sizes and weights affect ranged and melee protection?

Will fights be (normally) decided by criticals (skewering, decapacitation) or slug fests (hitting each other until one of them falls dead)

How will team work, work: Can soldiers team up to fight one enemy (obvious but still...), how will it effect the opponent, can they attack simultaniously (soldier 1 attacks kobold. Kobold parries. Soldier 2 skewers kobold ), and how will teaming up affect morale for the soldiers and the victims?

Can a general join the battle and shout orders to commanders directly, and can he lead his own regiment of bodyguards?

What happens when commanders get killed: Will the soldiers rout, will the soldiers spread out and fight more disorganized, will there be a vice commander, will they join other regiments, and what happens if all commanders in the battle get killed?

Will there be a morale system?

Will there ever be mouse control?

Is my list of questions long enough 

[Blaze]

Oh, I forgot the obvious questions:
1. What's the expected number of soldiers in a "medium" battle?
2. What kind of CPU load are we looking at here?

If it's going to have to track multiple variables for each individual soldier for both armies - not including environmental effects such as weather, temperature, and magic, among others - we're going to eat up a lot of CPU per turn. I don't want this to turn into a second Academagia.

[woose1]

Thanks a ton! Now, to answer your queries:

1) Body parts can come off foes in combat (arms, hands, wings, whatever) and you can certainly pick them up and hold on to them. For different creatures, different parts of their bodies will impress others more, and therefore make better trophies - a Behemoth tusk, a Dragon head, etc. I love the mounting on pikes idea - you could lead them into battle against others of their kind for morale damage. Mind if I steal that idea?

2) Yeah, as said on the last page, there's going to be a kind of freeform magic where you construct spells, and several totally unique schools of magic which require different rituals, equipment, knowledge etc. The latter are more long-term things you do before a battle, or to prepare yourself, or raise an army, or deal with deities, or whatever, while the freeform spells are for the heat of combat, so they're more traditional attack/defense etc!

I think you're right - it should make things more complex, but anyway, the strengths of creatures vary so wildly I hope there'll be variation in most-soldiers-equals-victory

If you allow me to mount the heads of my enemies on pikes like the cowards they are and charge in to battle like the crazy bastard I am you can have my babies forever.

Didn't mean any offense by the "dude=dude" comment. I know it'll be more complex than that.

Also, what about riding animals? I suppose there will be horses and stuff, but I'm curious as how you plan on handling that. And perhaps, we could tame and ride other creatures, like the aforementioned dragons? It might take a little bit away from their imposing image, though, if you just view them as potential epic mounts.

[Elfeater]

Will there be sandwyrms? I mean like shai halud form dune and the like?

[Aklyon]

Will there be sandwyrms? I mean like shai halud form dune and the like?

Those aren't wyrms, though. They're giant eaters of everything in worm form.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

So perhaps in the future you can go solo and bait an enemy army into an area you've set traps on, which kills quite a few of them and cuts off any method of retreat and then resurrect said dead to cause panic

Up to this point, you're bang on the money! 

Also, is there "NPC Development" anywhere? Such as unaligned NPC leaders which lead an army of mercenaries/rebels that can be hired by you or fight against you as rivals, a group of far-flung and forgotten villages/towns of random alignments form an alliance and break away from their inept rulers, or a legendary creature that grows powerful and "famous" enough to develop a cult of worshipers; all of which can eventually become kingdoms/countires if given enough time.

I definitely want to get NPCs rising/falling in factions and making the same kind of large-scale decisions the player makes. The player won't be the only 'adventurer', as it were. Legendary creatures will definitely have a chance of developing a cult or following, and the longer this is left, the larger it'll probably grow. The further away from any empire villages are, the more likely they will be to end up worshiping/being ruled by strange things...

Looks interesting...

But how will the combat be, like: If you skewer an opponent will he die instantly, will he be knocked out and bleed to death, or will the fight continue?

Will skewering or decapacitation happen by luck or by taking advantage of openings?

Thanks!

Depends on where. Someone skewered in the arm can fight on; someone skewered through the heart can't. Regardless, all creatures (that have blood) bleed, so bleeding to death is a definite possibility.

Almost entirely from taking advantage; if you aim for the head and have a strong enough weapon/arm, you might decapitate; you can only skewer if you have a weapon that can skewer and aim it well; etc. There's a whole bunch of things like that that can happen in combat, but almost all of them are dependent on player (/AI) decisions.

How common are openings and do they happen when: Getting hit, missing, stumbling, outside involvement (stray arrows, pushes, distractions), getting parried, terrible martial arts, pain, lack of caution, or something else?

Will combat be different depending on class/personality, Will a berserker fight differently and take more chances than a royal guard.?

Stumbling is an excellent chance for getting a good hit in; otherwise, it just depends on your skills, your weapons, and where on your foe you choose to target. Pain will also reduce your foes' movement, and therefore increase your chance of landing the kind of hit you want. Interesting you mention pushing - I think I'm going to allow huge creatures to shoulder smaller ones out of the way, but I haven't yet put that in. If I do, though, being pushed out of the way will likely distract other creatures for one turn.

For AI, combat choices depends on things like their rank, how much they like the person they follow, how well-fed/well-paid they are, how injured they/their friends are, what experience they have, what weapon they're wielding, what foe they're facing, etc. To use your example, definitely; a berserker will charge in and be difficult to break the morale of, while royal guards (which, no doubt, you can acquire) will hang back and protect the important people.

How much harder will it be to fight an opponent with a shield, will there be different sizes, will different sizes and weights affect ranged and melee protection?

Will fights be (normally) decided by criticals (skewering, decapacitation) or slug fests (hitting each other until one of them falls dead)

Quite a bit; shields are the only way to parry attacks, and that reduces the damage to almost 0. Of course, having a shield means you can't be wielding a second weapon, so it's an offense/defense thing. But yes, sizes, weights, materials etc all play a role, along with Dexterity and shield-related skills. There are also factors which determine how many attacks a creature can parry per turn; it starts at 1, and goes from there.

Well, slug fests would have to cause death by bleeding, passing out, etc, and those haven't been fully programmed yet! Hopefully, a mix of the two.

How will team work, work: Can soldiers team up to fight one enemy (obvious but still...), how will it effect the opponent, can they attack simultaniously (soldier 1 attacks kobold. Kobold parries. Soldier 2 skewers kobold ), and how will teaming up affect morale for the soldiers and the victims?

Can a general join the battle and shout orders to commanders directly, and can he lead his own regiment of bodyguards?

Being in a team will normally make morale higher simply by default. Every creature gets a turn in sequence of spawning; HOWEVER, since I realise that will give a slight advantage to 'old' armies, I'm working on a way to equalise the turns all monsters get, regardless of their 'order' in the list of creatures. Also, yeah, one creature fighting a lot will already have its morale at a low level.

Yes, and almost certainly yes! If the battle is huge and your commanders distant, send a runner

What happens when commanders get killed: Will the soldiers rout, will the soldiers spread out and fight more disorganized, will there be a vice commander, will they join other regiments, and what happens if all commanders in the battle get killed?

Will there be a morale system?

The death of the commander both causes huge morale loss, and huge confusion in the army. Those next in command will all attempt to rally, but if the battle is going badly anyway (likely, if the commander has been reached & killed) it's unlikely the soldiers are going to stay around that much longer. Die-hard soldiers who believe in the cause might stay; the rest'll likely scatter.

Yep. It has nearly a dozen factors, and it's being worked on now.

Will there ever be mouse control?

Is my list of questions long enough 

Unlikely!

And I think so , but do shoot with any more.

Oh, I forgot the obvious questions:
1. What's the expected number of soldiers in a "medium" battle?
2. What kind of CPU load are we looking at here?

If it's going to have to track multiple variables for each individual soldier for both armies - not including environmental effects such as weather, temperature, and magic, among others - we're going to eat up a lot of CPU per turn. I don't want this to turn into a second Academagia.

1) If you're serving in a detachment of an army, and trying to work your way up to leading, you'll probably be alongside maybe 30/40 others, and (unless mad) you'll probably fight around the same number.
2) Currently, at the most, around 4-500 MB of RAM. As you say, it's tracking a lot; however, I've found that in turns where a lot happens, i.e. there is a lot to be calculated, it's going to be in the heat of the battle where you need to make a lot of decisions, so the load becomes less noticeable, if you get what I mean. Now that the map is chunked, that helps too; only your current location and surrounding areas are loaded at any one point.

If you allow me to mount the heads of my enemies on pikes like the cowards they are and charge in to battle like the crazy bastard I am you can have my babies forever.

Didn't mean any offense by the "dude=dude" comment. I know it'll be more complex than that.

Also, what about riding animals? I suppose there will be horses and stuff, but I'm curious as how you plan on handling that. And perhaps, we could tame and ride other creatures, like the aforementioned dragons? It might take a little bit away from their imposing image, though, if you just view them as potential epic mounts.

It's a deal! None taken whatsoever

Yes, intelligent creatures will be able to ride. Not sure what yet, not sure how it'll work, and not sure how it'll go in. Will probably be limited to horses for starters, anyway.

Will there be sandwyrms? I mean like shai halud form dune and the like?

There are large, unique creatures. There is also a worm class of non-intelligent monsters. So... it's possible. Only time will tell!

[Untouchable]

As long as you can encounter stuff like Bear Cavalry then I'm good.


However, be sure to include some exotic units. For example, the Dwarves could have a gigantic Wombat that they essentially get really mad and then turn loose on the enemy ranks where it acts like the animal equivalent of an armed tank. Since in real life, they are built like tanks to begin with and are fairly dangerous despite their size then they could be a cool and unique unit.
Then have the overhanging danger that they could turn against your forces and cause as much damage and you have something that wouldn't even be thought about.

[Leatra]

I see a lot of questions which were answered in the blog. Still, our helpful developer who answered all these questions without pointing that out. Now I feel bad about saying that.

Erm... "helpful developer" sounds nice but your nick may be confused with your game title and I don't know what to call you Would you prefer Mark Johnson, Mark, Mr. Johnson (not the movie), Mark the Genius, The Overlord or Terminator? Just making silly jokes but seriously, you are a genius or very brave for starting a huge game like this

By the way, how are you going to implement riding?

[Clownmite]

Still can't wait for the alpha to be released, and your worldgen looks awesome (despite being a little too locked to longitude).

How did you deal with AI objects blocking another AI's pathfinding? I'm using libtcod's built-in A*, and although it works wonderfully, the AI doesn't realize that other AI objects block its path (both the map coordinates and objects have a "blocked" property). I tried setting it up so that every turn, an object will temporarily cause the map coords to become blocked, but the program freaked out when I had it update on every AI turn - which is necessary for the AI to take into account how the other AIs moved.

[Levi]

Still can't wait for the alpha to be released, and your worldgen looks awesome (despite being a little too locked to longitude).

How did you deal with AI objects blocking another AI's pathfinding? I'm using libtcod's built-in A*, and although it works wonderfully, the AI doesn't realize that other AI objects block its path (both the map coordinates and objects have a "blocked" property). I tried setting it up so that every turn, an object will temporarily cause the map coords to become blocked, but the program freaked out when I had it update on every AI turn - which is necessary for the AI to take into account how the other AIs moved.

I vaguely remember that you could use your own callback function instead of using the tcod map class to do the pathfinding, if that helps. 

http://doryen.eptalys.net/data/libtcod/doc/1.5.1/html2/path_init.html?c=false&cpp=false&cs=false&py=true&lua=false

I think you just return a 0.0 the tile is blocked (by a wall or monster) and a 1.0 otherwise.