A different kind of scenario

[edgecrusher]

instead of having a bunch of civs duke it out on a planet, is there some kind of scenario where it's more like gangs fighting over turf in a city? if there isn't i'd like to make one. i'd just need to enlist some help, that's all.

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And the women once proud Clutched the heart of the crowd
As the boulders smashed down from the mountain's hand
And the Magic in the stare Of the Wild Eyed Boy said
"Stop, Freecloud They won't think to cut me down"

[WarVoid]

You can get Mafia or Gangster scenarios. I started one based on New York City but never finished it. Got the map and unit designs done and everything, just never placed the roads, units and other stuff.

[edgecrusher]

[i] i was thinking something more along the lines of a more futuristic, like GW's Necromunda, or a buck rogers type thing.

[WarVoid]

You need my all units file.
It's got a crap-load of superman and batman and super hero type units in it. Plus all the star wars and doom units. Do you want it?

[ZhugeLiang]

A while back I began work on a scenerio that was unique, from what i've seen anyways. It had corporations fighitng for control of a city, i had some really neat ideas, does anyone think this scenerio is worth making?
[This message has been edited by ZhugeLiang (edited April 25, 2000).]

[Sten Sture]

hmmm, I thought I typed this post already but I don't see it... most strange.
http://sleague.apolyton.net/Reviews/ch_gngwrs.shtml

The above link is to Cam Hills review of DarthVeda's Gang Wars scenario. Cam authored Gangsters so he know a thing or two about gangs. Gang Wars is in an urban setting like Mafia. The review includes some screen shots, and though I haven't played the scenario, it looks pretty cool.


Zhuge - I have been working on a similar Merger & Acquisition scenario set in San Fran with corp office towers battling it out with each other and the enviro-hippies. I think it is a super concept and potentially very different from the shoot'em up type of global domination themes.

[Cam]

Sten - Thanks again for the plug! As set out in the review, it was an excellent scenario in many ways but needed a few changes to push it up over 25. Nonetheless, even though 22/30 doesn't sound like a glowing endorsement, I think it's the third or fourth highest score I've given to a scenario. I'd wouldn't hesitate in downloading it and giving it a run.

Sten & Zhuge - More specific to the 'commerce' proposition at hand, I think the theme is good. I am assuming that the gist of it involves changing military units to commercial units, and explosions into 'whirling cash' - or is there something different in mind? Even though the setting is distinctly different, the 'commerce' theme was touched upon in 'Darken' - a scenario put up for the Creators' Guild some time back, where I did a critique; members.xoom.com/_XMCM/Dracon_UGA/darkencam.html . While much of the critique is not relevant to this proposition, there are some points of possible crossover nonetheless.

'General' - As for most scenarios based in 'cities', it is terribly important that efforts are made to stop the AI from founding tons of cities up against each other. This was a problem with Gang Wars as it was with my own first scenario - use terrain other than grasslands and plains a lot to push the AI to expand outwards from their respective capitals. Alternatively, limit the number of settler/engineer units so new settlements rarely or don't occur.

Edgecrusher - The superheros theme also is a good one, and very well set up for a quest-like game (and really really well suited to Test of Time). For instance, take the excellent F.W. The World of Jules Verne scenario - instead of seeking out the Journey to the Centre of the Earth, you might instead take a similar structure but the player may need to stop Ming the Merciless' darstedly plan to destroy or capture the City Treasury! (I dunno - whatever) - just one possible approach. Look for good ideas where you can enrich your scenario with a cohesive plot.

[Sten Sture]

Thanks for the link Cam...

My thoughts on an Urban M&A scenario were based on trying to figure out a way to make dip/spy units the primary units in the game and having "city" bribing be the primary method of acquiring objectives. Inplace of city graphics, I have planned to use office towers as civ cities. I had thought to use a 30x30ish small map with about 100 overlapping objective 'city' sites already established, but almost all of them underdeveloped barbarian locations. Of course the AI is absolutely inept at bribery, so a lot of the competition would have to be events driven.

For tribes I am planning to have three or four playable commercial tribes, as well as an environmentalist tribe representing parks & open space that would be demo/unbribable, an organized crime tribe that has limited military strength, and a passive political tribe that had higher point objectives.

My initial concept of the game was to have the player start with a bunch of money, some bankers(dips) and one office building and be forced to go out an buy a base collection of properties.

Construction crews (settlers) would build out big bonus terrain infrastructure with apartment buildings(irrigation), commercial centers(mining), and communications lines(roads).

In order to encourage specialization, and force decisions on cash flow allocation, very high maintenance costs would be tagged to improvements.

In order to prevent military conquest, but require garrisons, I have been planning on using unswitchable Monarchy, and zero move units like lawyers, MBAs, and security guards to keep the peace.

In order to promote science and the discovery of the tech tree, I had thought to make (caravans), (freight), and capitalization near the end of the tree.

etc...

[Cam]

Sten,

Plenty of good ideas there.

Spies as the primary unit - refer. After the Apocalypse scenario for a good example of this. Aren't spies always the #1 method of acquiring objectives?

You're right though on the AI's poor use of diplomats and spies - they always seem to be more keen on establishing embassies than inciting revolts.

(One tribe) that would be demo/unbribable - you'll almost certainly need to lock out the opportunity to incite government revolutions in order to keep an AI tribe settled in one government form throughout the game. Otherwise, as an alternative and more vulnerable measure, try to use a 'Democracy friendly' tribe (e.g. the Americans' slot) rather than one which will overthrow Democracy at the first opportunity (e.g. the Mongols' slot). I believe that tribe slots will impact on a tribe's behaviour, regardless of what you switch in the rational/aggressive, perfectionist/expansionist, and civilized/militaristic stakes.

Terrain improvements - Also consider the terraforming 'trick' used in Blackclove's Dungeon scenario.

General - I think the project is ambitious but very workable. I suspect it will need quite a bit of playtesting given that the set up is quite distinct from Civ2's traditional approaches, and thus the AI could be particularly poor at putting up a challenge. Best of luck with it!

[Krusty]

This would be interesting in MP