A
Anvilsmith
Guest
As a veteran of both Starcraft's and Warcraft 3's editor (at least, the version that was active back when Reign of Chaos shipped - I have no clue about TFT's new functionality), I've had the privilege of dabbling with the depths of what this game can offer, in terms of complexity and ingenuity. I've thought about building a turn-based, hex-based game, one where troops move by shooting wards with their slow-acting regular attack (which, incidentally, uses physical damage, to which all units are immune), and fire special abilities at one another; I also worked on a Garithos campaign with / for someone else, but the project leader turned out to be completely bogus, having done absolutely no work while I toiled over two missions (complete with a few thousand words' worth of dialog). Finally, I designed a number of units and skills that relied on completely unique strategies - the Conclave of the Star, for instance, needed each of its spells to be cast (and fuelled) by more than one person; the Conclave of the Shapeless Dust, by contrast, relied on magics that could be deployed throughout the world from a central position, and activated with the proper technique. Often, this involved the presence of a unit - any unit - on the spell's location, but note that this spell had to be activated within a certain timeframe, and would need to "charge up" for a while (sometimes as long as two minutes) before anyone could activate it. The Conclave of the Helix had extremely long-range spells, able to strike their foes pretty much everywhere in the world, and used mercenaries as storehouses of mana, ensuring that while few units overall could cast spells, these spells could be created next to a great number of units - provided these units had the necessary amulets.
Well, there was another project I became involved in, a large single-player map called Mercenaries. In it, three cities at war would call upon the hero to take part in algorhythmically-generated missions, engage in trade, hire soldiers and behave as he saw fit. Couriers delivered news between various outposts, ensuring that crimes were reported and reinforcements called, while a cult of the undead operated in the distant wilderness, constantly out for new recruits (whether they came willingly or not). I had fun making spells and concepts, but in the end, I had to give up on the project for reasons I can't even recall. I've decided to start it over, this time with a larger map, 15 locations (of which 3 can be considered cities, 6 villages, 3 magical communities and 3 barbaric groups, among which the Necropolis is highly featured). It's going to be multiplayer, focused on a slower pace and smaller competitive elements than most games - for starters, you begin with no more than a handful of units, as well as the option to take on various random quests (from escort duties to staging a prison escape), provided that your reputation with the group giving these missions remains adequate. These missions are usually simple (though not always easy) affairs, involving actual targets rather than just random spawns, so that if a valuable hero on one side becomes imprisoned, it becomes an option to rescue that hero; likewise, if one amasses troops to guard a certain region, then a mission to clear out x troops in that region becomes available. Players may also trade goods between cities, bearing in mind the priciple that, when two of the four nations engage in warfare, they both use up more resources for building armies (as their troops become continually lost) and issue trade embargoes / economic sanctions on each other.
I'll be using an extremely simple AI for all nations. They'll be tasked with guarding roadways, regions and locations, as well as deciding which groups to to sponsor and which to proscribe from their cities. They'll sometimes engage in attacks, judging the "threat rating" of various locations before striking, and whether their objectives in the area are truly relevant. For the purposes of macroscopic AI, I'll divide the game's map into 64 sub-regions, each belonging to one of 16 regions, much like a chessboard. Based on the presence of enemy troops nearby, and on the value of certain regions and sub-regions, the AI will deploy its troops accordingly, and only move based on whatever information has successfully reached the palace, via carrier pigeons (owls) and whatnot. Some information may turn out to be outdated, and the AI will react more to recent stimuli than to archaic ones. So if the presence of troops was recorded some time ago, the AI will convert this timespan into a percentile multiplier to an event's overall importance. Basically, if a region has a "threatened" value of 20%, a resource value of 50% (modified by the actual importance of the resources within it), a distance-related modifier (calculating the maximum distance a reinforcement will cross to get to this region) of 35% and an information "freshness" of 44%, the region's leader will have an interest of sending a spy in it equal to (a * 20%) + (b * 50%) + (c * 35%) + (d * 44%), where a, b, c and d represent factors related to both the overall importance of the factors being taken into account, and the king's inherent willingness to rely on the above-mentioned factors. They usually fluctuate between 80% and 120%. Note that all kings are randomized at the game's onset, and are subject to removal, like all other unit types. In fact, whenever your mercenary leader dies, you must "restart" the game by choosing a new leader, rather than losing outright. When considering to move troops between various regions, the AI will compare the sums of their relevant values and determine the optimum troop relocations to be made based on how close each troop from a donor region is to an acceptor region. Ideally, each donor will try to move to the nearest acceptor site. Fortunately, I don't have to sort out any pathfinding issues, as most areas will be wide open or contain a path to every nearby region.
Typical armies will be composed of no more than 5 types of troops, and will usually be no larger than war parties of 20 soldiers. I expect none of the four nations to own more than 100 different troops each, and the map will probably feature no more than 500 at any point. I'll see if I can tweak these values based on the engine's own limitations, as well as the inherent difficulties of online play. I doubt intense battles will ever take place, and mercenary armies will always need to show prudence, being allowed to station no more than a fixed ammount of troops in every region without being outlawed (and consequently attacked).
Typical goals, such as wiping out all rival mercenaries, won't exist. Instead, all players may strive for in-game goals such as building a wonder, becoming transcendent, taking over a kingdom and bringing it to prominence, or ensuring that he gains and maintains the highest prestige. I might present a "king of the hill" option, whereupon a player may win if he maintains the highest level of prestige (and a certain fixed ammount of pestige, to ensure that this option is never selected during the start of the game) for 15 minutes; if someone gains more prestige than that player, however, the would-be king of the hill loses some prestige.
In a similar vein to the good old days of Elite, this scenario allows people to engage in freeform play, taking part in a host of events that range from authentic mercenary duty to obstacle courses and trade runs. It's typically difficult to go out and kill things without stepping on some great institution's toes, and for this reason, everyone will have to carefully manage their loyalities. Until their leader units croak, that is.
My second project, proving grounds, is a much more simple affair - a small map where classic warcraft units can be spawned, in any measure, using a building-based GUI; they remain perfectly invincible until someone triggers a switch (which activates the battleground, essentially). Alliances may be established between factions to simulate team-play, and upgrades may be both removed and added. Towers may also be instantly spawned by a 0-food-cost peasant unit, and I plan to include one or two maps where choke points exist to simulate defences. It's meant to be easy-to-use, but as detailed as the original game itself, and simulate battles as complex as TFT allows. Is there something like this already in place?
Finally, I'm interested in joining a reputable scenario-makers' clan, where I might both help like-minded individuals achieve their own goals and obtain support for my own maps. I've found it's easier to work within a group, as the odd friendly prod can more than make up for my occassional unwillingness to work on a scenario. If any group would like a new member, I'd be happy to join.
Well, there was another project I became involved in, a large single-player map called Mercenaries. In it, three cities at war would call upon the hero to take part in algorhythmically-generated missions, engage in trade, hire soldiers and behave as he saw fit. Couriers delivered news between various outposts, ensuring that crimes were reported and reinforcements called, while a cult of the undead operated in the distant wilderness, constantly out for new recruits (whether they came willingly or not). I had fun making spells and concepts, but in the end, I had to give up on the project for reasons I can't even recall. I've decided to start it over, this time with a larger map, 15 locations (of which 3 can be considered cities, 6 villages, 3 magical communities and 3 barbaric groups, among which the Necropolis is highly featured). It's going to be multiplayer, focused on a slower pace and smaller competitive elements than most games - for starters, you begin with no more than a handful of units, as well as the option to take on various random quests (from escort duties to staging a prison escape), provided that your reputation with the group giving these missions remains adequate. These missions are usually simple (though not always easy) affairs, involving actual targets rather than just random spawns, so that if a valuable hero on one side becomes imprisoned, it becomes an option to rescue that hero; likewise, if one amasses troops to guard a certain region, then a mission to clear out x troops in that region becomes available. Players may also trade goods between cities, bearing in mind the priciple that, when two of the four nations engage in warfare, they both use up more resources for building armies (as their troops become continually lost) and issue trade embargoes / economic sanctions on each other.
I'll be using an extremely simple AI for all nations. They'll be tasked with guarding roadways, regions and locations, as well as deciding which groups to to sponsor and which to proscribe from their cities. They'll sometimes engage in attacks, judging the "threat rating" of various locations before striking, and whether their objectives in the area are truly relevant. For the purposes of macroscopic AI, I'll divide the game's map into 64 sub-regions, each belonging to one of 16 regions, much like a chessboard. Based on the presence of enemy troops nearby, and on the value of certain regions and sub-regions, the AI will deploy its troops accordingly, and only move based on whatever information has successfully reached the palace, via carrier pigeons (owls) and whatnot. Some information may turn out to be outdated, and the AI will react more to recent stimuli than to archaic ones. So if the presence of troops was recorded some time ago, the AI will convert this timespan into a percentile multiplier to an event's overall importance. Basically, if a region has a "threatened" value of 20%, a resource value of 50% (modified by the actual importance of the resources within it), a distance-related modifier (calculating the maximum distance a reinforcement will cross to get to this region) of 35% and an information "freshness" of 44%, the region's leader will have an interest of sending a spy in it equal to (a * 20%) + (b * 50%) + (c * 35%) + (d * 44%), where a, b, c and d represent factors related to both the overall importance of the factors being taken into account, and the king's inherent willingness to rely on the above-mentioned factors. They usually fluctuate between 80% and 120%. Note that all kings are randomized at the game's onset, and are subject to removal, like all other unit types. In fact, whenever your mercenary leader dies, you must "restart" the game by choosing a new leader, rather than losing outright. When considering to move troops between various regions, the AI will compare the sums of their relevant values and determine the optimum troop relocations to be made based on how close each troop from a donor region is to an acceptor region. Ideally, each donor will try to move to the nearest acceptor site. Fortunately, I don't have to sort out any pathfinding issues, as most areas will be wide open or contain a path to every nearby region.
Typical armies will be composed of no more than 5 types of troops, and will usually be no larger than war parties of 20 soldiers. I expect none of the four nations to own more than 100 different troops each, and the map will probably feature no more than 500 at any point. I'll see if I can tweak these values based on the engine's own limitations, as well as the inherent difficulties of online play. I doubt intense battles will ever take place, and mercenary armies will always need to show prudence, being allowed to station no more than a fixed ammount of troops in every region without being outlawed (and consequently attacked).
Typical goals, such as wiping out all rival mercenaries, won't exist. Instead, all players may strive for in-game goals such as building a wonder, becoming transcendent, taking over a kingdom and bringing it to prominence, or ensuring that he gains and maintains the highest prestige. I might present a "king of the hill" option, whereupon a player may win if he maintains the highest level of prestige (and a certain fixed ammount of pestige, to ensure that this option is never selected during the start of the game) for 15 minutes; if someone gains more prestige than that player, however, the would-be king of the hill loses some prestige.
In a similar vein to the good old days of Elite, this scenario allows people to engage in freeform play, taking part in a host of events that range from authentic mercenary duty to obstacle courses and trade runs. It's typically difficult to go out and kill things without stepping on some great institution's toes, and for this reason, everyone will have to carefully manage their loyalities. Until their leader units croak, that is.
My second project, proving grounds, is a much more simple affair - a small map where classic warcraft units can be spawned, in any measure, using a building-based GUI; they remain perfectly invincible until someone triggers a switch (which activates the battleground, essentially). Alliances may be established between factions to simulate team-play, and upgrades may be both removed and added. Towers may also be instantly spawned by a 0-food-cost peasant unit, and I plan to include one or two maps where choke points exist to simulate defences. It's meant to be easy-to-use, but as detailed as the original game itself, and simulate battles as complex as TFT allows. Is there something like this already in place?
Finally, I'm interested in joining a reputable scenario-makers' clan, where I might both help like-minded individuals achieve their own goals and obtain support for my own maps. I've found it's easier to work within a group, as the odd friendly prod can more than make up for my occassional unwillingness to work on a scenario. If any group would like a new member, I'd be happy to join.
