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Underworld: Checking for interest

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  • Underworld: Checking for interest

    My scenario projects rarely pan out due to my tendency to sort of lose steam when I realize how much work is involved, so just as an initial disclaimer, don't get excited or anything. I've actually made exactly two and released them: Broken Crown, which was so corny and nonsensical that I feel bad about claiming authorship, and Escape from Dinosaur Island, which was good-corny IMO but never generated much interest.

    So, I've had Underdark on my PC for a loooong time but I always let the graphics put me off. Just learned my mistake, and found myself thinking, "I'd like to do more with this." Specifically, I'm thinking of a game (FW--I never got MGE, and can't get the converter now due to a confluence of annoying little factors) with five players and a Midgard-type tech tree, wherein each civ has twelve completely unique units:

    The GOBLINS, a barbarian civ with a "front-heavy" mix of units--a lot of relatively good units early on, the later ones decent but not spectacular--but crappy government. Ideal for rush players.

    The SAURIANS (based on Kuo-Tua, don't wanna call them that because I don't know the fantasy work they're derived from), who have heavy naval power but weak land units. Excellent for exploring and rapid expansion, but have problems away from the coastlines due to their relatively poor land unit mix.

    The DARK ELVES so far have no weakness except the lack of a specific strength. I'm still thinking about them, but I believe I'll make them a quality-over-quantity race like the Protoss from StarCraft. Strong, expensive units with low free-support numbers. They also start in the middle of the map, vulnerable to attack from all sides.

    The UNDEAD are like a variant on the Goblins, only in some ways more so. A fundamentalism with no research penalties but NO settler unit--they have to conquer others' cities or contaminate their settlers, since it's not like they have little baby zombies. They also support only fanatic-type units for free (I'm assuming that the cosmic value can be reset to zero), and are divided between weaker fanatics and powerful units needing support. The Undead alone get partisans (resurrected, vengeful ghouls).

    The GNOMES are a bunch of diminutive mud-man pacifists, and probably the most challenging but also most rewarding Civ to play as. A Republic, naturally, with terrible starting units as far as military potential goes. But they start with diplomats, engineers and freight, and if they can bribe or talk their way out of trouble till the late game they get some godly powerful troops (magic golems go smashy smashy, whee!).

    Naturally, this project depends on considerable balancing, and is probably the most ambitious of all of the ones I've tried. I'm also a lot more excited about the possibilities than I recall being for any previous project. My question is: Is this something people would be interested in playing (has everyone moved on to TOT, or is this considered Defiling A Classic)? It'd use almost entirely borrowed graphics since I'm bad at making those, but there's tons of good fantasy art out there for FW/MGE.

    Oh, and can any people with more experience than me point out some obvious dangers with the lineup I've described? E.G. would the Gnomes need more than I'm talking about giving them to be playable, or would they be overpowered and actually wind up being the easiest?

    Or (worst case scenario) has this already been done and redone to death?
    1011 1100
    Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

  • #2
    A D&D-style scenario,played out in the underdark!Count me in,I might just have some RPG unit graphics stashed here and there .
    Are there Dwarfs in the tunnels (or maybe Druegar/Derro)?
    AKA Tanelorn.
    Big, big smile.

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    • #3
      Dwergar, yes. Some in barbarian cities, and also available as Gnome mercenaries.
      1011 1100
      Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

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      • #4
        Then the cartoony goblins are on the house .Took only minutes to make.Dont know if you like them...
        Attached Files
        AKA Tanelorn.
        Big, big smile.

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        • #5
          Whoa, just noticed your sig. So you're the fellow who made all those graphics in the fantasy pack? Cool!

          I can use several of the graphics you just gave me, though I'd planned on giving spiders to the Dark Elves, not the Goblins. No, that's not a request; I was planning on unmounted, trained spiders, and I have tons of graphics for those. I already have one in mind that, IIRC, was made by you.

          Thanks!
          1011 1100
          Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

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          • #6
            Sounds like a fun idea for a scenario! Underdark is a longtime favorite of mine, but it also feels to me like it had a lot of unexploited potential. I recall that warvoid started making a monster vs. monster D&D type scenario years ago, it's cool to see something like that in the works now; there are way too few new fantasy scenarios out there!

            If you use the mind flayers as a civ, you could give them spies and the communist government
            Sea Kings TOT

            Sors salutis/ et virtutis/ michi nunc contraria,/ est affectus/ et defectus/ semper in angaria./
            Hac in hora/ sine mora/ corde pulsem tangite;/ quod per sortem/ sternit fortem,/ mecum omnes plangite!

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            • #7
              Nah, no Mind Flayers, just the five. I don't play D&D, and it seemed to me that there wasn't much to them besides looking like squid and eating brains. I wanted to flesh out the other five as well as possible. The Goblins have spies, partly because sneaking in and smashing stuff is a Goblin thing to do and partly to make up for their lower production potential.

              I have the tech tree planned out, and all sixty units (plus one unique to barbarians so far; not sure about the sixty-second slot, but I'd like to use it). The tech tree is only a little bigger than Underdark's, but since everybody starts out at the beginning and has a fair shot, there won't be any "steal the whole tech tree from the Goblins in ten turns" issues. That bugged me.
              1011 1100
              Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

              Comment


              • #8
                You learn something new about Civ2 with every scenario-making attempt, it seems. Terrain, unit and city graphics are all more or less done (except for roads and railroads), almost all borrowed and slightly modified. Rules.txt is basically finished, the map is made and all the barbarian cities are placed. Of course it's all subject to change when I actually play the scenario and discover that I've made it totally off-balance.

                Anyway, y'know that annoying "obsolescence" algorithm the AI uses to determine what it will build? The thing that tells it a unit with 8/4/2 1/1 stats is superior to one with 8/3/5 4/4, and that it should never build the latter (provided they have the same role)? Well, I hadn't realized that the computer will not check to see if the "superior" unit is buildable itself.

                For Midgard-type setups like this one this gets quite obnoxious; I noticed that, once the Dark Elves got the tech for Tarasques, they stopped building Arachnids, even though they have the tech that makes Tarasques obsolete. I also hadn't known that units with a "nil" prereq are apparently excluded from these calculations. I wonder if a Republic AI that knows the Fundamentalism tech will refuse to build Musketeers, on the grounds that the Fanatics it can't build have superior stats?

                Anyway, I solved all the problems (I think); I just felt like griping.
                1011 1100
                Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

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