Dark Ages of Calradia ( Dead )

[messenger]

So how random is it in generating terrain still?
Are there still large amounts of bumps in what was meant to be flat grassland?

[Scion]

I`m glad to say that my map seems so large that you pretty much avoid the worst terrains, you have to really go up into the mountains to get it. As yoshi said, it is the tiles, and there`s mostly mountaintiles where they deserve to be.

No, there is not large amount of bumps in flat grassland.

[Forral]

Sounds good then. Looks like I was concerened all for nothing.

-Forral-

[Scion]

Ah it could be a disaster though. You got me a little worried, but it seems to be okay.

So I`m planning to use troop trees like this: three upgrades for every troop. Their name will remain the same, but they will increase their skills. Example:

          Lvl1                                                Lvl2                                           Lvl3
Swadian Brother Footknight -> Swadian Brother Footknight -> Swadian Brother Footknight

You talk to them to know their stats, and you don`t always know who you`re up against when attacking an enemy. What d'ya think? 

[Forral]

Could be a little messy, I'd think - At least if I understood it right.

The way I get it, you'd then have several troops called simply "Swadian Brother Footknight". In theory that's no problem, but when you play the game for a while, you'd end up with stacks of parties looking like this:

Swadian Brother Footknight 3
Swadian Swordsman 2
Swadian Marksman 6
Swadian Brother Footknight 1
Swadian Millitiaman 6
Bandit 6
Swadian Swordsman 8
Swadian Brother Footknight 1
Swadian Executioner 1
Swadian Bowman 2
Other Scary Troop 1
Frighting Trooptype 4

While you would indeed make it hard to discern exactly the experience of the troops you're facing, it's also a quite confusing list. I realize while writing this though, that I'm bringing a rather senseless argument. I can see that it wouldn't be less messy at all if you called them Experienced "troop" or Veteran "troop" - you'd still have as many entries lined up.

I guess having many troop types just make things look rather messed up. It's probably a price worth to pay for a little excitement and diversity though. So yeah, seems good. If nothing else, you could always add little pluses after the units name. Might be a horrible idea, but it gives you somekind of overview.

Ex: "Swadian Brother Knight" -> "Swadian Brother Knight +" -> "Swadian Brother Knight ++" -> "Swadian Brother Knight +++"

-Forral-

[Xawery]

Isn't a plus symbol used to indicate that a certain troop is ready for upgrading?

Scion, while I understand the desirability of not being able to discern the experience level of enemy troops, I think retaining the same troop name across experience levels would only add to the tedium already present in managing one's army. Let's say you are preparing for a big battle where you are outnumbered; obviously you would want to have your best troops up front. Having to talk to each troop slot and actually remembering which one was more experienced would be quite annoying, especially in a large, diverse army.

Different names not only make the troop list more transparent, they also add to the immersion. One could argue that death messages are unrealistic, but I think they give you a good indication of how the battle is going. Under your system, if you see a message "Swadian Brother Footknight was killed by (...)", you have no way of saying whether it was a mere recruit or a seasoned veteran.

My second argument is subjective and debatable, but I think the first one would apply to all players.

Regards,
Xawery

[Scion]

Xawery, I think you`re right. Transparency is very important, and I see how it will probably be frustrating for people. I don`t think that unrealistic death messages is the problem, just the annoyance with having for example "Swadian Brother Footknight Lvl 1 knocked out by Swadian Brother Footknight Lvl 2". Can look out of place.

So some alternatives can be

• Swadian Brother Footknight Lvl 1 -> Swadian Brother Footknight Lvl 2 -> Swadian Brother Footknight Lvl 3
• Swadian Brother Footknight -> Swadian Brother Footknight Veteran -> Swadian Brother Footknight Elite
• Swadian Brother Footknight -> Experienced Swadian Brother Footknight -> Elite Swadian Brother Footknight

or something better. It`s not easy, huh?

[Ares]

Heh, Swadian brother footknight -> Swadian uncle footknight -> Swadian grandad footknight
Personally I prefer the Swadian Brother Footknight -> Veteran Swadian Brother Footknight  -> Elite Swadian Brother Footknight 
or possibly Swadian Brother Footknight  -> Swadian Master Footknight  -> Swadian Grandmaster Footknight.

[Scion]

Clue is that the labeling must be generic. With a master/grandmaster system you will have titles like Peasant -> Master Peasant -> Grandmaster Peasant. It`s a labelling I want to avoid. It should be as simple as possible but no simpler. I'll go with Lvl 1/2/3 for now if not somebody gets a brilliant idea.

[Wood]

Why must the labelling be generic? I don't see what's wrong with having Master, Grandmaster for the knights and something else for the peasantry. And different factions could have different ranks. Although pretty much anything would be better than just adding lvl 2, lvl 3 at the end of their name.

[Scion]

Well, a Swadian Brother knight is sort of a grandmaster already. But maybe anything would be better. I`ll go for lvl 1/2/3 until somebody suggest or I get a better idea. Peasants/Trained Peasants/Veteran Peasants could be an alternative as well. Anyway, I think, except for the naming, that the way troop trees is going to be is settled.

[jeansberg]

Disciplined and Hardened are two more suggestions, next to Veteran.

[messenger]

I like the idea of Veteran and Disciplined.

[Forral]

Disciplined and Hardened are two more suggestions, next to Veteran.

Ah, those two brings back memories. Memories back to Alpha Centauri and its Expansion. Out of some reason I always prefered that game next to the Civ' series. Too bad they never followed them up.

Ahem, anyways. I think Disciplined and Hardened are good, since they would probably work well for all types of units, wheras titles such as Elite and Veteran would not.

A Peasant could be hardened and disciplined, just like a High Swadian Knight Brother Officer, A Bandit, and Ranger.

Edit: Eh, on second thought Disciplined isn't too good for everyone. Perhaps simply "Experienced" and "Hardened" could do it?

-Forral-

[jeansberg]

Alpha Centauri is just the game I had in mind.

I guess disciplined wouldn't be the best choice for a berserker-type unit.