Designing an entirely nocturnal race campaign.

[QuillQuickcard]

Hello there. For my next project I am going to be designing a short campaign where you play as an entirely nocturnal race. What does that mean?

1. They have great vision at night, but extremely limited vision during the day (effectively they are blind in daylight).

2. They regenerate health only at night. Some units may even continuously lose health during the day.

3. They have some abilities that only function at night.

In effect, what I hope to do, gameplay-wise, is to force a player to be offensive at night, but then retreat and bunker down during the daytime.


And... well, that's as far as my idea had gone so far. I'm looking for ideas and inspiration. If you have any thoughts, please let me know!

 

[Ardenian]

Maybe units that are only active at night and 'get to sleep' at day, like the Gargoyle stone transformation, what do you think ? It's a huge weakness tho. so maybe limit it to one unit-type which is very strong at night.

 

[WerBackIII]

Is the story set in the Warcraft universe, or is it a thing of its own?

 

[cleavinghammer]

Forcing the player into attack or defense is something that works best as a gimmick for a single level (see SC2's Outbreak level), I doubt you could get an entire campaign out of it even if you greatly shorten the day/night cycle.

Maybe as the very last level, and even then you should leave the posssibility for the player to attack whenever he wants (again, Outbreak level. It's a lot more fun to take out all the bases yourself even at night).

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Good suggestions. It is true that having the player swap roles on short notice would be harder. I was picturing that in the campaign, only one or two levels would involve actively swapping, while others would be a race against the clock to either destroy an enemy before daybreak or survive an attack until nightfall. I always loved defensive levels.

As for setting, I'm honestly not really sure. I could go either way. But it would probably have a warcraft setting, if only because it cuts down on the amount of customization I have to do for non-original characters and abilities.

I was thinking that the nocturnal race would be aggressive, but not exactly evil. I really like the idea of units that transform at night. I also thought that perhaps I could have a few non-whatever-species-this-ends-up-being units that they hire as mercenaries to support their forces during the day. Maybe like a guard or sentry to watch over the base or just keep an eye on things since the species is nearly blind in the daytime. Then, I could have those guards sleep during the day.

Actually, sleep is a good power for my guys to use. I also had inspiration for them to have a Force of Nature ability that summons corrupt treants. The purplish appearance is perfect for my purposes.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Make them satyrs then, perhaps just after the Sundering so they still have to fight the rebels.

 

[kakuzu]

Some units may even lose health during daytime ? They would be too weak , in my opinion .

 

[Ardenian]

Or movement speed, being slow like ancients.

 

[kakuzu]

Or in the daytime its increese the amounts of damage taken .

 

[KILLCIDE]

I love your idea! I will definitely need to follow the development for this when you get started. However, making them lose health is definitely going to put them at a SERIOUS disadvantage. Remember that they are nocturnal... not vampires who are damaged by sunlight. I'm going to second on Ardenian's and kakuzu's suggestion.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Yes, all wonderful points and ideas.

I had thought about satyr's too, and that would provide a consistent theme around which I could build.

I've also been considering a subterranean race, maybe one aware of an in opposition to the eldritch horrors that squirm beneath azeroth.


Whichever way I take it, I did have an idea for what I think is a unique unit.
This would be a flying unit with modest speed. And it is pretty much blind. As in it has a visual range of 100 or 200. It would have a power that, when used, would reveal an area around it with a radius of about 1000 and slow or deliver some other type of debuff to any units struck by it. The idea of it being some kind of super echolocation that deafens or disorients those nearby.

In all honesty, this is about the only truly solid idea I've started to finalize.

Well, that and using a Forgotten One as a building you can make... though I'm not sure how I would ever make use of that.

 

[cleavinghammer]

The blind unit is interesting. Some ideas:
* A targeted Howl of Terror that also grants vision.
* A huge melee artillery unit (splash damage, if it's blind it hits allies and enemies), with its vision ability being a very long range Thunder Clap.

And consider using reskinned murlocs for some units, they go pretty well with the underground theme.

 

[Duke]

I love the idea.

You could make a slow and vulnerable support unit, with the ability to channel a huge cloud of ash or somerhing that would block the sunrays around it, making it basically night time in the area. It could be an important strategic point, since enemies would try to get rid of it to stop the channeling and player would have to defent it fiercely

 

[cleavinghammer]

That'd work better as a campaign objective, possibly a side quest, unless there is some way to convince the game to have different times of day at the same time.

 

[Duke]

the units under it could just get same bonuses as they do in night time

 

[cleavinghammer]

And the Starfall beacon on it.

How many levels will there be?

 

[LordDz]

Make the race an underground race, say kobols or ratmen.
Create an underground area in each maps, this will be where your base will be.

Here your units behave normally, have normal vision and normal health regen.

In the underground, make some openings to the outside world, from here your armies can attack. During the night they can go outside and attack enemy units and have normal vision, reg, movement speed, etc.

But if they are outside and not inside their caves / underground during the day, you give them negative vision (check the Item Goblin Night scope), negative health regen (the sun burns their flesh away) and reduced attack and movement speed.

This way, the player can still be active during the day as long as they are in the underground. For the day/night cycle is quite long, so you have to keep the player occupied during the day as well or it's going to be a very dull campaign.

It's an interesting idea, so I wish ya good luck!

 

[QuillQuickcard]

These are all excellent ideas!
Yes, it is true that if I go the subterranean race, as I'm leaning, then I would need to have them behave in night mode any time they are underground. That would be easy enough to modify it on a level by level basis.

I've started to coalesce a sense of this species' flavor.

My idea is that this species is the one from which the Faceless originated. It did seem odd, in retrospect, that a single humanoid species, nevertheless one with no apparent elemental attributes, would fall under sway of the Old Gods. So my idea is that they were simply an underground race, and, being close to the buried gods, were more susceptible to their dark whispers.

The survivors of this race continued to move upward and upward over thousands of years, retreating from their fallen kin and the ever-spreading power of the Old Gods. Now they are clashing with other races, and even making forays onto the surface, a plane nearly entirely alien to them.

How this reflects in the mechanics:
I'm going to use faceless and unbroken models, as well as modified versions of the same, for the bulk of the forces of this species. They also make regular use of golems, something their race has developed by necessity because golems, being mindless and resistant to magic, are immune to the effects of the old gods' dark whispers. Also as their numbers dwindled, they required servants to carry out the manual labor. As such, a simple, weak golem will be the laborer unit for this species. Bigger, more robust golems will take the roll of a heavy melee and seige unit.

The spellcasters are of the species itself, and have lots of mental and earth-related powers.

Being weaker physically, this race likes to make use of poisons and damage over time effects. They tend to play support in combat to their own powerful golems and native air units, such as the Blind Flyer I've described previously.

So this is where I'm at right now. My first goal is to get a better grasp on mechanics, then I'll start to develop the campaign scenarios and story.

Keep throwing out ideas, the more the better!

 

[cleavinghammer]

Since they live underground, you're going to have to justify the flyer.

Also, consider their using kobolds and murlocs as mercenaries/slaves.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

I envision huge underground chambers the size of cities where there is an entire subterranean biome. Having flying creatures in such an environment is hardly surprising. Kobolds and Murlocs... at first I was hesitant to use them, but I'm realizing now that since this would a campaign that tells a story over time, it would make sense for this species to ally itself with or dominate other races it encounters through the story. They need not be part of the initial force to be part of the race as a whole. Kobolds work well. Troggs would too, though I'd need to find a good model for them.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Hey there. I’ve done some more brainstorming for my concept. I’ve concluded that Nerubians make a good species I can ally my creatures with. For one, they are an already established subterranean race, there a number of resources on this site for new Nerubian models, and they neatly fill all the empty slots of units that I had left. As to how and why they become aligned, I have ideas that should fit neatly into my campaign. So far my breakdown of things looks like this:

Units:
Worker: Haphazard (a small rock golem): Morphs into buildings it creates, can self-destruct, spawns a lesser earth elemental on death
Light Melee: (A basic attack unit of the faceless species)
Heavy Melee: (A big golem) spawns a greater earth elemental on death
Ranged: Stinger (A lithe nerubian): Possibly uses either a web or ensnare ability modified to do damage over time
Siege: Tunneler (a golem): flings either stone or fire over distance, spawns an earth elemental on death
Air 1: Blindhunter (most likely some kind of bat-like creature): medium-low speed, 100-200 visual range, melee attacks on air and ground. Poison, Screech (reveals surrounding area and slows nearby units).
Air 2: (a winged nerubian): heavy air unit, serves primarily as a bomber
Air 3: I may have a 3rd air unit added to my race.
Unknown: (golem): I really want to have a third golem unit, but I have no solid plans for it.
Spellcaster 1: Queller (faceless species): Slow, Devour Magic, Psychic Scream (modified Howl of Terror that does some damage)
Spellcaster 2: Earthweaver (faceless species): Earth Force (modified Inner Fire), Corrosion (Soul Burn), some as of yet undecided 3rd power
Spellcaster 3: (nerubian): Some undetermined types of supportive spellcaster
Hero 1: Melee Strength (faceless species): Stoneblast (storm bolt), Acid Breath (modified Breath of Frost with no initial damage and larger damage over time), Stoneskin Aura (devotion aura), Avatar
Hero 2: Ranged Agility (faceless species): Feedback, Hex (ground creatures only), some third power, Charm
Hero 3: Ranged Intelligence (nerubian): Still mostly undecided, but will have Brilliance Aura)



Buildings (most of these don’t have names or models chosen yet, but I have a very clear picture of what they do):
Base Center Tier 1, Base Center Tier 2, Base Center Tier 3: Builds Haphazards.
Terra Nexus (farm): Provides 10 food, Touch-Up (auto-heals nearby units like a Moonwell, but only heals the mechanical (golems))
(Barracks): Builds Light Melee, Ranged, and Air 1 and has ability research for them.
Foundry (think slaughterhouse): Builds the Heavy Melee, Siege, and 3rd golem unit and has ability research for them.
(Sanctum): Builds spellcaster 1, spellcaster 2, spellcaster 3, and has ability research for them.
(Altar): Builds and revives heroes.
(Blacksmith): Provides upgrades and serves as a lumber drop-off point.
(Guard Tower): Some type of defensive building.
(Some Building): Builds Air 2 (and Air 3 if I develop one) and has ability research for them.
(Arcane Vault): Sells items for heroes.



I’m hoping I can get some actionable feedback on what I’ve outlined here, as well as suggestions of where I can fill in the gaps. I’m already starting to find the models I want to use and outline the campaign scenarios, but I want to keep that as more of a surprise for now.

 

[cleavinghammer]

One or more units should have abilities relating to moving underground.

For example, the tunneler unit could have a normal ranged attack, or bury, become invisible, and cause damage to buildings just by moving near them. Alternatively, burying removes its attack, but lets it cast a lesser version of Earthquake.

Also, considering having them be able to move around via tunnels. I found this, it could be useful.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Fantastic idea. I hadn't thought about burrowing... for some reason.

I think the way I'd do it is to essentially have a unit shapeshift into burrowed form. That way I can easily have two modes on these things.

And while the tunneler having burrow powers definitely makes great sense...
Hm. A siege unit with the power to move invisibly...
I'd have to give that kind of power some other limitation. A longer cooldown or being targetable when burrowed but just very evasive and armored...

 

[Arrr]

maybe a building that "simulates" night in a certain area could open up some possibilities