What should we the fans be doing?

[tniem]

I am eagerly anticipating the first game from BHG and think that RoN has a chance to be an amazing strategy game that sets a new benchmark for RTS games. I have been trying to keep these forums alive with discussion about the game as many of the rest of you has as well. I believe that once the game is released that these forums could very easily be crawling with people that love the game but that is a few months away.

In the meantime, what should we be discussing? This question kind of goes straight to BHG. What do you guys want to hear from us the fans? I am sure you guys are pretty far on developement and are just fine tuning the game. Do you want to just hear us cheerlead for you or do you want some advice on what we think? I really am curious to see what suggestions could be incorporated at this point and what suggestions you still feel you need.

[One_Dead_Villy]

good question...i think also when more information and more of the civs are reviewed by the game sites we will undoubtedly have more to discuss

[Markus The Mighty]

What should we the fans be doing?

Easy. Buy the game. Enjoy it. Buy the sequel.

[tniem]

Originally posted by Markus The Mighty


Easy. Buy the game. Enjoy it. Buy the sequel.

Read the first post in the thread.

In the meantime, what should we be discussing?

You would have known that the question meant until the game is released.

[Rohag]

Re: What should we the fans be doing?

Originally posted by tniem
I am eagerly anticipating the first game from BHG and think that RoN has a chance to be an amazing strategy game that sets a new benchmark for RTS games.

Rarely have I been a fan of an unpublished game. RoN, however, holds exceptional promise, and I’m happy to join others in a community of anticipation.

I wish I had a good idea to contribute here. At least we pre-pub fans can

• keep our interests and concerns before BHG through this and other forums, and
• address misplaced criticism of RoN using information from BHG and previews.

[Graham@BHG]

Although members of the BHG crew don't often post replies, many of them visit fansite forums to read up on your impressions and ideas. We definitely welcome fan input on all parts of the game, even though we are much on our way in the development process.

Don't feel like you guys have to hold back! Let fly with your ideas on types of random maps you'd like to see for example. Or features you want, or don't want, in the scenario editor. Tell us what looks good or bad in a screenshot. etc etc etc

We won't be considering major changes at this point, such as taking out national borders or having two ages instead of eight, that's true. We haven't even reached the Beta stages yet though, so please do keep the suggestions and ideas flowing.

[MarkG]

Please welcome Graham Somers, the latest addition of BHG (and our forums )

[tniem]

Thanks Graham. Welcome!

[Graham@BHG]

Thanks Mark and tniem!

The Apocolypse meter is an interesting little addition to the game that only serves to prevent the later ages from becoming nuke fests. (not that nukes are cheap and plentiful) It really just serves to make players think about where and when they use a nuke. "Do I really need to blast that dangerous looking farm to kingdom come?" It really doesn't get in the way of playing the game, the designers have seen to that.

As for your second question, we run the game here at the office on XP all the time, so don't worry about that. Here are the system requirements that we are shooting for with the game right now:

450 MHz processor
Win98/2000/Me/XP
128MB of memory
300 MB of HD space
16MB video card

Edit: Oh yes! That screenshot is definitely taken while playing zoomed in.

[Sonic]

I would like to ask how exacly apocalypse works: is it "if you drop X nukes everybody looses" or "if X nukes are dropped in the game, everybody looses" way? In my opinion first would be unrealistic, while second would just turn a game into a nuke fest - everyone would try to drop as many as possible nukes as fast as possible (to prevent other players from nuking later). This is also simply unrealistic. Also, the third concern regarding apocalypse meter would be the following - for example, there are 10 players playing multiplayer game. Only one nuke is remaining to apocalypse. Some player is near loose and he launchs that nuke, ruining the game to others.

How about this suggestion regarding nukes and apocalypse meter: make not a constant apocalypse meter, but one decreasing slowly automatically per time and increasing quickly each time a nuke is dropped. This would be quite realistic (world could clean itself over the time) and also it would safe the first part of modern age to a "who-will-drop-nukes-sooner" fest. However, this also wouldn't get rid of a problem about loosing players and also the problem that everyone would like to launch nukes with that meter decreasing, but only one (the fastest) would do that.

Other suggestion would be that each nuke would hit the nature everywhere. That means, farms for some time would give less food (of course, the nearer the place of nuking the bigger damage nature would get, but whole map would be damaged at least a bit), some forests would die (that means either wiping them of the map, either, if you want to keep resources totally indestructable, just making them useless (or giving less wood) for some time, until they will "regrow"). Nature would get back after some time. However, such nukings would seriously damage nuker's relationships with countries near the attacked country (nobody likes damage on economy).

[Propaganda]

Hello, everyone!

Good to see that BHG members are reading our posts. Makes it much more exciting!

Now, I'd like to add on to this thread. I've recently found Europa Universalis II, and am enjoying it(more than I thought I would). It has some interesting concepts that I'd like to see implemented in other strategy games, be it real-time or turn-based. One of which is the vassal state/annex system that it employs. IMO, it's perfect, for the timeframe that it covers. But, in a game that covers all of human history, it would need tweaking, and here's what I propose:

During the Midevil/Classical/Dark/Middle Ages, I'd like to be able to research a certain tech(whatever that may be; there are many possibilities) which would allow me to vassalize a certain nation. The success of that would weigh on how big your nation is(borders/culture/military might) and the basic government that you choose(hoping that there are governments to choose from). If you are a nation with much land/resources, and share the same "basic" government as the other nation, you will be able to sign an alliance with it. After a few years have carried over, you will get the chance to ask that nation to become a vassal of yours. If it is a large nation, it will most likely decline, but if it relatively small, it has a higher chance to become a part of your empire. If it agrees, it becomes a republic of yours, paying a certain ammount of gold to you, and giving your military access to march through their lands. You are also given the ability to ask for resources that you are lacking, through diplomacy, without any trade involved. Same goes for the other nation. This goes on for about to ten years, after which you are given the choice to annex them. To annex them, your relations with them should be good(in Civ III terms, either "Gracious" or "Polite"). Once you annex them, that land becomes yours, and you are allowed to do what you desire with it. However, if you abuse it, the citizens/workers have a chance to revolt against you. Your workers will attack the infastructure, and if you decide to attack, you will lose those workers, and face backlash from your other citizens, as well as other nations. If you allow for the workers to attack, without responding, they will establish a new sovereign nation and be "Furious" with you.

Second, I'd like to see a more flexible governing system. Not so much like Europa Universalis, but more Alpha Centauri-like. You choose a primary, basic government, such as Communism, Democracy, Fascism, Fundamentalism, Monarchy and Despotism. However, there are sub-layers to those governments. Communism, for example, can either be in a Centralized or in a partial Free-Market state. It can either be fully Authoratative, or fully Democratic. Democracy, on the other hand, can only be Free-Market, but can be Representative or fully Democratic. Some of these would be better than others in areas, to balance them out, just as in Alpha Centauri.

And I'm done. Hope you enjoyed reading(particularly BHG members ).

Propaganda

[Graham@BHG]

Hey Sonic, thanks for sharing your concerns and ideas on the apoc meter. Those are just some of the questions and concerns we are asking. The feature isn't set in stone right now and may change tomorrow or the day after or the week after, so how exactly it will work is up in the air.

We're doing a ton of in-house playtesting to work on things just like this.

[Graham@BHG]

Ahhh, the "B" word. It's a little early to say, but stay glued to the fansites etc and you won't miss any related announcement I am sure.

[Main_Brain]

Will the 9th City of the Germans be named Kaiserslautern? Pllllllzzz? :=)

// Normally I would add: For you Citizens of the States thats near Ramstein..

[Graham@BHG]

"how many BUILDINGS can you build?"

The number may change, but to give you an idea, there are three building panels that list what buildings you can construct in the game. Economic/Military/Wonders. There's lots to choose from on each screen.

I believe it's been stated already that there are about 18 wonders of the world. They are unique buildings, so when one player builds a wonder, no one else can. There will only ever be one of each wonder in the game at a time.

"Also, how customizable is the map generator?"

It doesn't work quite like Civ's, which I believe is what you're describing. There are various random map types to choose from that resemble regions in the world. (Islands like Japan...or deserts like North Africa etc etc)There are a lot to choose from, and you can also adjust the size of the map that is generated. Anywhere from tiny to insanely huge.

"Hows the cheat mode coming along?"

There are cheats built into the game now to help test things out, and there will certainly be some cheats still in when the game ships.

"Will we have to play with the CD?"

I can't say for sure.

"How intelligent is the AI?"

It puts up a good fight! The best part is that it doesn't get extra resources or cheat all over the place. It's only going to get better too as we get further along in development.

"In its present state, is the game reasonably stable?"

Yep! Mind you, it is buggy, as you would expect software in development to be, but we play it daily.