Veldrin's City Builder Reforged

[Veldrin]

Hey everyone, I am announcing my project for a new City Builder. Currently I am at the beginning stages of this project and got some of the basic things in place. I was hoping to get some inspiration, ideas, and share what progress I have currently done. The name is a place holder, but it's based on the old Village Builder and City Builder Games. I enjoyed many hours on those maps back in the day, anyway, below is a list of things I've done and list of ideas that I have or would like to add in.

Race Selection

Each Race will have their own sub-race or just a different variant of the race. Each variant will have their own special bonuses and penalties which could help you or harm you while playing the game, also it adds that diversity in playing. I currently have a dialogue box and button setup for selecting your race, it feels simple and streamlined.

Currently I have not gotten into abilities for the heroes, so any ideas on abilities that would match the role of said hero is welcome.
Each race/variant is lead by a hero (may or may not be allowed to be revived, still deciding).

1. Human
   

   • The King
     

     • The King, ruler of man. An accomplished warrior and stateman, the King knows how to squeeze the gold from his tax policies. The King also replaces the Swordsman with Foot Knight.
       • Abilities: (Open for Ideas).
         1. Men at Arms - Summons Militiamen to his side to help fight the Kings enemies.
       • State Bonus: +15 Gold to your income so long as the king stays alive. Replaces Swordsman with Foot Knight.
       • State Penalty: Knights cost +2 to their wages.

     [*]
   • The Lord
     • The Lord, honorable and a notable battlefield commander. The Lord will charge with his men either on foot or on the back of his horse.
       • Abilities: (Open for Ideas).
         1. Mount and Dismount a horse.
       • State Bonus: Knights cost -2 to their wages.
       • State Penalty: Swordsman cost +2 to their wages.
   • Barbarian King
     • Barbarian King, ugh barbarians. Known to raid and loot, I mean that's pretty much it.
       • Abilities: (Open for Ideas)
         1. Berserk
       • State Bonus: Pillage, gain bonus gold for destroying structures and killing units.
       • State Penalty: Barbarians Greed - Open revolts can occur randomly if you can't pay up.

   [*]
2. Dwarves - Work in Progress
3. Elves - Work in Progress
4. Orcs - Work in Progress
5. Undead
   • Necromancer/Lich King
     • The Necromancer, summoner of the undead. Raising zombies is what he does best. With no need in money, he provides his army with bodies rather then gold. After obtaining the true power of Necromancy, he will transform himself into a lich.
       • Abilities: (Open for Ideas).
         1. Raise the Undead - Raise corpses to fight for him.
       • State Bonus: No gold required
       • State Penalty: The undead are weak and fragile, only numbers will turn the tide.
   • Vampire Count
     • The Vampire Count, ruler of those who die but are still living. The count drains the life of his victims to sustain his eternal youth.
       • Abilities: (Open for Ideas).
         1. Vampiric Aura.
       • State Bonus: (To be determined).
       • State Penalty: (To be determined).

Economy

One of the features I wanted was an actual economic system, something simple, but made sense. Every unit that a player creates will have an effect of some type that will require management through a resource. I have been rolling around the idea of having custom resources as well to stimulate an economy other then just Wood and Gold, this idea is still just an idea. Here is what I have so far.

Humans
Those who play as human will be required to pay a salary for those units. This can be stimulated by constructing buildings that produce tax revenue and (maybe) finding gold mines to harvest from. The possibility of trading manufactured goods with other players is also another idea that may be a thing.

Undead
Undead will have no use for gold and will primarily be focused around Wood for structures, mana for summoning, and corpses for both summoning and feeding their army. Simple but challenging, as it will be difficult to maintain a large army if you cannot produce enough corpses for your army to feed off of.

Other Races
Currently I have not started working on these races, so I have no system really in place to discuss. I am happy to take in ideas that anyone has for these races, I will include your name in the title screen if your idea makes it in the finished map.

Diplomacy

I want to have a simple diplomacy system, I was thinking about just using the default system. Although I feel there can be more made out of diplomacy then just simply allying with another player. So I have decided to add in a Dialog box and buttons system that will give you options to perform diplomacy through, so there goes that simple system plan. I will be implementing a vassalizing system as well, the vassalized player will take up the lords color and pay a tax that can be set by the lord (this of course is focused more on human playing). I am still trying to figure out what sort of benefits a vassal can get from doing this, any ideas are welcomed.

Weather Effects

I have yet to look into this system yet, but I do want to have effects by weather play a part. Such as blizzards can harm units if not near a fire or carrying a torch (would be could to have them equipped a torch). This vision would be worked on most likely near the end of the project unless someone provides a system for me to add into the map, if so you will be mentioned in the credits.

Conclusion

This project is in the works, no where near done. Anyone interested in helping, please let me know. I am open for ideas and have wanted to do something like this for a long time. I've WC3 since 2003 and have always enjoyed the custom games, I wish the best for everyone and hope you enjoyed reading this nonsense of jargon.