Speaking of arcane methods...
Whats your take on magic?
Player wielded magic always seem to be rather underpowered due to game balancing. But why not let the player have the possibility of near godlike magicks if they actually want to put the effort for it.
I plan for it to be very, very powerful, but very, very rare. Individuals creatures can do magic of the fireballs etc sort (though even then, not many), but any kind of big magic is a very different affair.
So if you learn resurrection you can just kill and ressurect people to get what you want? It should be depending on your skill. From a mindless zombie to a full functioning, able-to-talk undead.
Interrigation and torture could be an option too. You could attack them with a whip or something and they wouldn't fight back because of some kind of a physical restaint. A risk of killing the prisoner is involved if you go for vital organs.
But why not let the player have the possibility of near godlike magicks if they actually want to put the effort for it.
I can think of things like twisting bones, creating the ilusion of an allied dragon to crush the morale of enemy, causing inner bleeding, using telekinesis to stick everything sharp to your enemy, tripling your size, summoning demonic creatures and stuff like that. It should be very difficult though. Casting a demonic spell should require some demonic language skill first.
How much will we be able to cast per day? Will it depend on a mana system where it regenerates itself or will you have to rest like in Dungeons & Dragons?
Will there be magical potions? I think magical potions and being able to craft them would add some spice to the game but I think healing potions wouldn't work well in this game. Maybe if they are difficult to craft and very rare to come by...
By the way, what about a language for dragons?
Fus Ro Dah!
Yeah; I think getting people back from the dead will make them mindless first, then more and more the better at it you get.
I'm afraid I don't know the answer to those questions yet, but I'm open to suggestions! I think mana for normal spells will regenerate, but there might be specific rituals for the more complex magic. Say, there's no limit to the amount of daily necromancy, but each resurrection requires physical supplies. Something like that. There are potions for now, but I'm not sure many there are going to be, and how big a role they will play. Probably not many, and not much! However, some obscure liquids (say, Blood of Monster X) might be needed for rituals. And dragons, in URR at least, aren't intelligent, so I'm afraid no dragon language here! : )
I think mixtures in general would be nice, but at the same time I'm worried about how it would add up. If we're going to be using potions how are we going to obtain the reagents in reasonable amounts? Making enough healing potions to equip even a decent sized army may require stripping the land bare; not to mention crushing monotony if we're doing it by hand.
Also, how would resources as a whole work out? Are we going with a huge list of individual resources like in DF or a generalized group of ingredients like in Age of Empires and similar games?
Oh, while we're on the topic of potions and mixtures, I want to suggest those that can be used for attack; Such as Greek Fire, Poison Gas, Acid Rain, for the simpler ones at least.
There will be plants you can harvest to make potions from. The list of resources will probably be of the scale in TES games, but I'm not sure yet. I might try and get a basic plants system in for the first alpha, just so you can go around and start making stuff! There are a couple of attacking potions in already, and I've tried to make them slightly more interesting than the usual fare (so more like your suggestions!)...
Healing wands, my friends, or something rechargeable. Amulet that gives an aura of health regen, etc. If you're spreading healing apparatus among your troops, probably better to go for dedicated healers among the soldiers, equipped with methods to heal many over a period of time instead of just one, once. Healing potions for everyone would be horribly inefficient when you could train 1/10 or 1/20th of your army as dedicated medics and give them the tools to do their job well.
... which leads to the question of item enchantment and creation. Any words on this? Will we be able to make battle standards that offer regeneration and flaming weapons to nearby troops? Will kamikaze (explode-on-death) items be makable? Will we be able to combine that with a slave collar to send our enslaved foes screaming toward their former allies as living artillery (possibly catapult delivered)? Slap a band of regeneration on a captured dragon and repeatedly skin it for armor material? Teleporting arrows? Teleporting kamikaze slave goblins?
The list could go on, and on, and on, but being that it's an army-leading game, the existence (or lack thereof) of force multipliers would be particularly interesting. I want that battle standard. I want everfilling pots of troll blood to dip my terribly injured warriors in. I want dragon heads on sticks, breathing unending gouts of flame on my foes. I want enemy-targeting kill-switch enchantments on my commanders, to spew arcs of lightning on their murderers, and then consume the commander's corpse and resurrect it as a lightning elemental to further wreck havoc upon my opponents. Stuff like that 
+1 keen is fine for solo buggers and small parties, but epic armies need epic kit!
Lots of questions! Healer will probably be a specific role, but anyone can grab a healing potion if they want. Battle standards will be totally enchantable, and you'll also be able to take in icons, relics, and things of that sort. Not sure how slaves/mercenaries and similar are going to work yet, but I'll probably end up giving each their own mechanic. The idea of teleporting kamikaze slave goblins appeals, so we'll see!
Force multipliers are exactly the name of the game, especially when you have a force against a single megabeast (to use the DF term). They'll hopefully do a variety of things from raising stats, raising morale, assisting commanders, letting you do unique things (resurrect, teleport, whatever) and the like. Obviously items of this sort won't be easy to come by, but they'll be out there/craftable. Also... something I'm planning with items will have a similar effect, but I want to keep this particular idea under wraps for now, but it's a variation on the theme, and a particularly neat one, I think!
On the subject of magic and balance, why does everything have to be in perfect balance? If magic is stronger then normal, then that should be okay.
In my opinion, single player games, especially sandbox, should not have to be perfectly balanced, as long as the player can have fun.
And as for using magic, having the player grow fatigued would be a good way to balance spellcasting out. Want to raise a volcano in the middle of the battlefield? Sure, but don't expect to be able to stand on your feet after that, let alone fighting or casting another spell. This is the system Dominions 3 used and I really loved it 
Perhaps even ripping the earth in two, swallowing all soldiers unfortunate enough to be standing in the center! Massive post-battle resurrection in order to continue your neverending conquests. Those are the kind of spells which would make magic really interesting imo.
Of course, these kind of spells should be really hard to learn and control. Perhaps ancient tombs have to be raided for certain spells, or from a book stolen from a historical figure.
This also brings up a question, how detailed will town development be? Lets say you could protect a town or a couple of towns for 2000 years and compare them to a town that's seen combat every few months, would you see a difference? The wartown for example having great walls and cheap fortifications everywhere while the towns that have developed in a peaceful environment are filled with marketplaces and stuff?
I was picturing an insanely powerful mage raising mountains and lakes around his country to protect it from hostilities
If you are directly casting, you'll grow fatigued; rituals, however, might just depend on time, resources, and other factors. As I said above in this long reply, magic will be very strong, but very rare. I do like the volcano-raising idea! Possibly none will be of quite THAT power... but, then, maybe they will. We'll just have to see! Chances are, big battles are going to be especially big, so magic is going to have to scale.
When towns spawn, they will spawn along a variety of factors - who lives there, who rules them, how old they are, where they are, what territory they're in, how close they are to nasty creatures, and similar factors. They will change in game depending on what happens, but they'll be spawned in that kind of way. Towns on frontiers with warring neighbours will have fortifications, while those safely in peaceful territory (and far from dragon lairs) won't : )
Magic in a similar way to how Tolkien implemented it in his work could be a very good idea.
- magic users are (very) rare, and not easily replaced when destroyed, avoiding then magic usage to become too common and just having the battles getting down to wizard-only armies.
- magic users are powerfull and even have battle abilities beyond regular folks thanks to their magic nature.
- magic feats can be very impressive but can then take lot of preparation and time leading into the next point.
- magic can't do much in the heat and urgency of a battle with armies of canon fodders clashing all around.
This is a good summary of what my reply would have been to the several messages above it
. Pretty much this, especially the last one. Magic on any kind of useful scale is something to prepare, not suddenly use in the heat of battle.
Lastly, for the first time, the devblog entry might not make it into today. It's been a long week and a long day, so there's a chance it won't appear until tomorrow...
Author
Topic: Dwarf Fortress meets The Outer Wilds? "Ultima Ratio Regum", v0.10.1 out Feb 2023 (Read 633373 times)