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As promised, I'm now starting work in earnest on the Capture the Flag scenario I mentioned two weeks ago(I've been on vacation). Just for a recap or for those who missed the original post, it's a multiplayer fantasy scenario. Ocean is replaced by Open Plains, and land is Rough Terrain such as forests or mountains. Food is nonexistent to eliminate the possibility of victory by siege and to limit the number of soldier-type units. Each player has four role-five(settler) unit types: Knights, which have good fighting abilities and can carry the flag/leader unit(more on that later); Archers, which have the submarine flag and can therefore launch "arrow" missiles from ambush; Wizards, which are slow and weak but can carry powerful Magic units; and Workers, helpless and non-upgradeable domain-threes who occupy the engineer slot and thus have the ability to improve or ruin terrain around bases and transform open plains into "rockpiles" and back again to block the other three soldier types. These four types require no support of any kind because all players are fundamentalist, but they are limited in quantity because it lowers your population to build them. Sorta like Colonization.
The object of the game is to take over all of the enemy's cities or kill his/her "flag/leader" unit(I'm not sure what to call it). The F/L is a unique diplomat-type ground unit, and therefore the ONLY way you have of occupying enemy cities or bribing enemy units. If it dies, you're killed by events, but it's too essential to victory to be disbanded so you're stuck alternately protecting it and using it as a tool of conquest.
You can also build towers, which are movement-zero ground units that defend your cities, aerial magical creatures for the Wizards and arrow missiles for the archers. Towers and magical creatures drain shields in the form of support, but they have no effect on population and neither do arrows. Magic creatures, being airborne, can only be attacked by arrows or other creatures. Magic creatures include dragon types, which can stay in the air for several turns and are all-around great fighters, if expensive; fairies and angels that stay in the air for a LONG time and have high defense to block narrow passes; imps and goblins that move at lightning speed, paradrop, and attack multiple times at high power; and the almighty Djinn nuke.
Barbarians pop up in the form of three D3 units: two different kinds of soldier to rampage over the map killing your workers(being barbarian, they won't cross "water" so it's not unbearable), and Peasants which replace the barbarian leader and are settlers. If you're lucky enough to have barbs pop up near your F/L, you can bribe them easily. The fighter types are relatively weak but can be used to bypass rough terrain and kill enemy workers; being mercenary scum, they can't join your cities and require support. The peasants are still more valuable, because being settlers they can be forced into your cities when bribed and thereby boost your population. Or you can just whack them and take the money instead.
Sorry for the long intro, but it's complicated and very different from vanilla civ, obviously. I have a bunch of questions for scenario veterans regarding the balancing of this beast.
First, the players. I was planning on five civs, each with distinct strengths and weaknesses. The Legions have faster and tougher military in the form of the Lighthouse wonder and start off knowing how to build Knights instead of the weak horseman the others have at first. The blue-collar Rebels have a lot of workers and cities and Sun Tzu to give them tougher towers. Even if Sun Tzu is taken they are the only civ that doesn't have Mobile warfare so it's still practical to build barracks. The Magi have better creatures to start with and a variety of toys available to them early on, like airports and Manufacturing Plants, in addition to starting with a better wizard unit. I think they still need a wonder, I just can't think of an appropriate one. The Guilds have Adam Smith, electronics, mysticism and theology for a steady cash flow(they're fundies, remember), but no other big advantage. The Church has that ever-annoying Great Wall to simulate their moral high ground and the reluctance of commoner barbarians to harass them, and they can build SAMs and SDIs to defend against the forces of supernatural evil. Who needs balancing, and what wonder should the Magi have, if any?
Barbarians: what level of barbarian activity? Is there a flaw in my plan(e.g., is it impossible to bribe barbarian leaders)? How tough should the fighter barbarians be? Should there be other ways to increase your base population?
Terrain: I have two basic types of rough terrain planned, which can be steadily improved into better forms. Wasteland-scrubland-thicket-forest-lumberyard, which give a good balance of trade and shields; and hill-mountain-mineshaft, which have better defense but aren't as good except on special resources, which generally give terrific bonuses to shields or trade, not both. There are also grassland rockpiles which can only be converted to Open Plains and vice versa, and provide poor resources. And then there are rare ancient ruin squares, which are basically the ultimate in production, gold and defense but can't be transformed to or from anything. There is no pollution, but since overuse of the Djinn(nukes) could cause global warming I've replaced swamp with wasteland, the worst terrain in the game. Should it be possible to change between forest and mountain types somehow? How big a map do you guys want? Any other comments?
And finally, units. I'm wondering just how powerful the arrows should be. They're already dirt cheap and require no support, but that won't make up for a lack of quality, because it's tiresome to keep cranking out missile after missile, turn after turn, every time you want to attack for decent damage. I'm planning on five technological levels of arrow, the most expensive of which is twenty shields and is strong enough to take a decent chunk out of, but not kill, the most powerful dragon, or put a Paladin-level Knight in critical condition. I don't want arrows to come even close to rendering the Creatures obsolete, because I want the wizards to play an integral role as heavy artillery. And are the four types of Creature I've mentioned(pricey bomber dragons, guardian angels, blitz-attack imps and slow, mighty doomsday Djinn) enough, or should I tack on a fifth type for variety's sake? I'm going to give the AEGIS ability to wizards, FYI.
Sorry for the huge post. I tried to limit it to the essentials(I have other little surprises planned and didn't want to give away anything you didn't need to know to help me balance the game). Thanks in advance for all help and advice.
The object of the game is to take over all of the enemy's cities or kill his/her "flag/leader" unit(I'm not sure what to call it). The F/L is a unique diplomat-type ground unit, and therefore the ONLY way you have of occupying enemy cities or bribing enemy units. If it dies, you're killed by events, but it's too essential to victory to be disbanded so you're stuck alternately protecting it and using it as a tool of conquest.
You can also build towers, which are movement-zero ground units that defend your cities, aerial magical creatures for the Wizards and arrow missiles for the archers. Towers and magical creatures drain shields in the form of support, but they have no effect on population and neither do arrows. Magic creatures, being airborne, can only be attacked by arrows or other creatures. Magic creatures include dragon types, which can stay in the air for several turns and are all-around great fighters, if expensive; fairies and angels that stay in the air for a LONG time and have high defense to block narrow passes; imps and goblins that move at lightning speed, paradrop, and attack multiple times at high power; and the almighty Djinn nuke.
Barbarians pop up in the form of three D3 units: two different kinds of soldier to rampage over the map killing your workers(being barbarian, they won't cross "water" so it's not unbearable), and Peasants which replace the barbarian leader and are settlers. If you're lucky enough to have barbs pop up near your F/L, you can bribe them easily. The fighter types are relatively weak but can be used to bypass rough terrain and kill enemy workers; being mercenary scum, they can't join your cities and require support. The peasants are still more valuable, because being settlers they can be forced into your cities when bribed and thereby boost your population. Or you can just whack them and take the money instead.
Sorry for the long intro, but it's complicated and very different from vanilla civ, obviously. I have a bunch of questions for scenario veterans regarding the balancing of this beast.
First, the players. I was planning on five civs, each with distinct strengths and weaknesses. The Legions have faster and tougher military in the form of the Lighthouse wonder and start off knowing how to build Knights instead of the weak horseman the others have at first. The blue-collar Rebels have a lot of workers and cities and Sun Tzu to give them tougher towers. Even if Sun Tzu is taken they are the only civ that doesn't have Mobile warfare so it's still practical to build barracks. The Magi have better creatures to start with and a variety of toys available to them early on, like airports and Manufacturing Plants, in addition to starting with a better wizard unit. I think they still need a wonder, I just can't think of an appropriate one. The Guilds have Adam Smith, electronics, mysticism and theology for a steady cash flow(they're fundies, remember), but no other big advantage. The Church has that ever-annoying Great Wall to simulate their moral high ground and the reluctance of commoner barbarians to harass them, and they can build SAMs and SDIs to defend against the forces of supernatural evil. Who needs balancing, and what wonder should the Magi have, if any?
Barbarians: what level of barbarian activity? Is there a flaw in my plan(e.g., is it impossible to bribe barbarian leaders)? How tough should the fighter barbarians be? Should there be other ways to increase your base population?
Terrain: I have two basic types of rough terrain planned, which can be steadily improved into better forms. Wasteland-scrubland-thicket-forest-lumberyard, which give a good balance of trade and shields; and hill-mountain-mineshaft, which have better defense but aren't as good except on special resources, which generally give terrific bonuses to shields or trade, not both. There are also grassland rockpiles which can only be converted to Open Plains and vice versa, and provide poor resources. And then there are rare ancient ruin squares, which are basically the ultimate in production, gold and defense but can't be transformed to or from anything. There is no pollution, but since overuse of the Djinn(nukes) could cause global warming I've replaced swamp with wasteland, the worst terrain in the game. Should it be possible to change between forest and mountain types somehow? How big a map do you guys want? Any other comments?
And finally, units. I'm wondering just how powerful the arrows should be. They're already dirt cheap and require no support, but that won't make up for a lack of quality, because it's tiresome to keep cranking out missile after missile, turn after turn, every time you want to attack for decent damage. I'm planning on five technological levels of arrow, the most expensive of which is twenty shields and is strong enough to take a decent chunk out of, but not kill, the most powerful dragon, or put a Paladin-level Knight in critical condition. I don't want arrows to come even close to rendering the Creatures obsolete, because I want the wizards to play an integral role as heavy artillery. And are the four types of Creature I've mentioned(pricey bomber dragons, guardian angels, blitz-attack imps and slow, mighty doomsday Djinn) enough, or should I tack on a fifth type for variety's sake? I'm going to give the AEGIS ability to wizards, FYI.
Sorry for the huge post. I tried to limit it to the essentials(I have other little surprises planned and didn't want to give away anything you didn't need to know to help me balance the game). Thanks in advance for all help and advice.
I think you should just start making something. At least to see if everything you've thought of really works as you hope it will.
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