[Strategy / Risk] Idea for a strategy map! tell me what you think.

[AndreiMolnar]

I am planning on making a map on my free time, I like strategy games and all that, so I'm trying to make my own sort of game, with inspiration from games such as dominions.
This game will be basically a ''control this area for income'' map with each place conquered providing a new kind of troop for your army.

The basics are as follows: you will be given a capital and an army to begin your quest, as well as a god and an affiliation, the civilizations to choose will be each unique in a way and there will probably be as much of them as possible. There are various tipes of civilizations depending on their inclinations: Tech, Magic, Zealot, Nature, Necro, Demon. Theese small traits define a civilization but most of the time they won't be limited to only one aspect, and then there's the special bonuses, ''night'' and ''water'', water means they will be able to breathe underwater, amphibious, while night means having a wider sight durin the night and such other bonuses. Aside of that, each race or civilization will be able to choose from a couple of factions, [undead=> Lich King or Sylvanas??] Theese choices won't actually involve WC3 lore, it is simply an example, depending on which faction they choose the civilizations will unlock certain aspects to them. The faction will provide your general/prophet/national hero depending on the choice.

Lets start with the basic: Civilizations.
>Tech means the amount of technology they will hold, steampunk is a must for theese guys.
>Magic is simply put how good the mages of a civilization are and how much schools of magic they have access to.
>Zealot is religion, this is more of a trait than a base, this will essentially make your god stronger.
>Nature also means a special school of magic or rather access to more powerful mages of this school, nature is the ability of a civilization to mingle with the forest. Usually involves summons.
>Necromancy is a special kind of magic separate from the rest which forces the player for fast tactics, theese civilizations will strike hard soon since they won't care as much for resources having reached a certain point in the game.
>Demon, mostly summons and special units, very tricky to fight against.

All civilizations fall under one or two of the mentiones above, it is merely a classification system to know what you're playing as. Civilizations will be varied, while the humans are a good for everything civilization, others like the undead will be a strike soon civilization.
There are a few constants to civilizations but some won't have archers or fast troops, some will require special circumstances to have flying units... Civilizations are meant to be unique.

CIVILIZATIONS!

HUMAN
Versatile civilization, The first one, it can access basic magic in the form of water and fire magic, the troops are varied since they have access to archers, horsemen, soldiers and also cheap milita. The mages as mentioned above are nothing special, the siege weapons aren't either, their troops are simply versatile and have access initially to more than the rest of civilizations.
The factions chosen will enhance even more the versatility for theese will allow the humans to hire flying troops, faster cavalery, better archers or better magic, to choose between better fire mages or better water mages.

UNDEAD
Basically yet an experiment: Undead have the best necromancers and as such will rely almost exclusively on undead troops, but thoose who are not based on Necromancy will be merely supporters. Necromancy is based on your food, instead of hiring troops, you hire a couple of necromancers, create an army in a couple of minutes and send the minions off alongside the necromancer, the necromancer will rebuild the army and continue fighting. Undad have light and heavy infantry as well as light archers but they lack horses.
If you don't loose your necromancers, the need for new incomes will be low since your army won't need food, sieging an undead is very difficult, but keeping a large territory safe with undead is also difficult so their defensive forces will probably be the local units themselves. The undead start off with a flying citadel, although weaker, it can move and shoot lasers so sieging this fortress will be very difficult. This civilization will be forces to act fast and soon, because it will not hold their defenses well, a good attack is the best defense, and if you're an undead with lacking defensive forces, this is a necessary strategy.

ORC
Orcs are fast and strong, nuff said, they are lacking in ranged attacks but they have strong cavalery, they also lack in light infantry. The orcs have access to a special unit that is basically a moving fortress, the Orc War Car: This vehicle can outrun infantry easly, it can also recruit units and shoot ranged projectiles automatically, orcs are bad with bows, but their most precious battlestations will be defended. Since this unit can move, attacking it with a catapult will be useless excepting if the owner dosen't notice it. Orcs will have a fast gameplay since their way of fighting will be sort of a hit'n'run, sort of guerrilla.

RUNEMASTERS
this civilization has access to most mages excepting Necromancers, their main forte will be at their capital, since they will be creating troops automatically from their capital, the constructs. The constructs are robots that die off after some time, but while sieging he Runemasters, expect a constant rai of theese guys, they are basically milita to throw at everythg that moves. They have a short lifespan and will weaken over time. Runemasters have no basic military units, just advanced and heavy infantry, the rest of their units are different summons or units built at small buildings created by a special mage. This makes them a good civilization at defending and sieging but slightly weak at sudden attacks and skirmish battles since they require preparation to fight.


WILD CIVILIZATIONS: NATURE INCLINED

WILD ONES
Beasts that have recently just started civilizations, they have strong nature mages and most will survive longer without food. Most of the units in this civilization will be faster than most other civilizations. Some of their units will be able to see in the night, they have excellent scouts. Their troops while not so effective in the weapons department (stell not yet aviable) they have axcellent health. Their siege machinery will be slightly more basic, namely, giants that punch buildings to dust.

NIGHTWALKERS
all their units have shadow meld, which makes them great ambushers but they won't be as resillient as the wild ones. They have access to nature mages, as well as astral mages. Some of their units can change shape to their animal form, making them move faster, fly or become stroger.

SAURIANS
Lizards and such, big ones, they have access to necromancy but it will be much less powerful that the necromancy aviable for the Undead, they have access to some nature magic too but not much. They have access to cavalery but no archers, they do have access to flying units that throw rocks. They also have special big units that basically amount to tanks. They are a religious civilization and don't need a specific faction to be able to empower the god and other troops via blessings, or curse enemy via well... curses.

INSECTIDS
This civilization bases its force in poisions and fast troops, Insectids have a wide array of poisions such as slowing poision or good old fashioned killing potion. The insectids are almost all cavalery since they are fast, not as fast as horses, but faster than infantry, they do have heavy infantry and light infantry, light being of course faster, some have a great defense against piercing attacks because of their natural platemail armors.

UNDERWATER CIVILIZATIONS: WATER INCLINED

ATLANTEANS
This is the proud empire of the many races that united and ascended from tribes and nomads to actually having a government. The atlanteans have heavy cavalery and both heavy and light infantry, they lack archers but their weakest mages are cheaper that average and they have ranged summons.

DEEP ONES
This civilization is based on battlefield control spells, this means they will use units to change the battlefield into something of their convenience. They have access to Necromancy, although basic, they also have moderate knowledge of water magic and are frighteninly good with astral magic. This civilization has ranged units due to having Necromancy but they also have mages with summons though theese are weaker than the Atlantean summons. They have access to different abominations than the undead, their abominations are ranged.

OLD KINGDOM/CURSED KINGDOM
The cursed civilization that fell to the fury of the old god, it did not vanish, for it's existence is cursed. Their cititzens are deformed monsters and they all share the dreams of horrors that make their life a nightmare. This civilization got access to mostly heavy units and cavalery, they too lack archers but their natural hides protect them from harm from other archers, they have access to curses and various poisions as well as permanently invisible units that can take hold of the will of an enemy.

NAGIC
The mages can be summoned from two places. Your own buildings, be it the lab or the capital (mages can build other labs to summon other mages and do stuff related to magic)OR the locations scattered around the map which can be conquered by a commander. The mages recruited here are mostly begginers, there's a rare location that lets you recruit astral mage sor necromancers.
All mages will transform into a small elemental after they die, Necromancers transform into skeletons instead or ghosts. (Any idea how to make Necromancers become randomly either ghosts or skeletons when they die? scripting help is needed).
All mages have special attacks instead of archer-like ranged attacks, fireballs thrown by the fire mage burn, Water lowers the defense, Nature poisions, Arcane hits multiple targets, deals extra daage against mages and summoned units and to top it all off deals extra potential damage.


>FIRE: Simply destructive, it is very useful for sieges since their spells include a projectile akin to a bomb and at the next level a suicidal walking bomb. The third ability is a magic mine that can deal serious damage.
>WATER: This one focuses itself on combat, much like the fire mage but instead it does so in an indirect way, the first spell is a summon, ranged precisely and the second is a frost attack that slows down all units in it's range. The third level spell is a steal life spell that gives mana, which essentially makes the mage a ranged unit produces.
>ARCANE: This mage is more laid back, the first spell is actually a shield that can be autocast, The second one is a silencing ability, the Arcanist has a very unstable regular attack that can deal a bigger amount of potential damage than other mages. The Arcanist aslo does more damage to other mages or summoned units. This mage at a middle level is effective against other mages. The third level spell is a basic slow that will slow the unit that has ben cast on for a very long time, essentially rendering the target useless for the enemy commander, and if it's the commander it's ben cast on, well, congratulations on using the Arcanist efficiently.
>NATURE: This mage specializes in aiding your army as a whole with it's first spell, it summons a flying critter which has an excellent field of view and since it can fly, it's a perfect scout. The second ability is a buff that makes the unit attack much faster than it normally would, this is especially useful when using it on itself, since this mage uses posionous attacks. The third spell is the ability to turn into a wild animal which is faster, stronger etc. and can also see in the night, which makes of this mage a must if you want to travel efficiently through the night.
>ASTRAL: This mage usually isn't used much in combat since it's abilityes aren't really aimed for that: The first spell is one for uncovering an area of the map, simple but the mage will be drained for some time, the second one is an aura that gives nearby units augmented mana and the third one is Planar banishment, which is the banish ability with another name. This mage has both the second and third abilityes unlocked at the same time at tier 2, the fourth ability of this mage is a massive healing spell much like tranquility.
>ROYAL: Royal mages are aviable to all, they are pretty basic, they can teleport your army and it can also make a unit inmune to spells for a short while, this is effective if you want to protect a unit against an enemy mage, an arcanist with this spell resistance can take on an enemy mage by itself if there is no one helping it.

GODS
Nothing is written in stone for the gods, they can be titans, dragons or small regular looking humans or whatever sentient race you are commanding may be. They accomplish for the most part the same roles as the heroes in WC3 do, helping your army win with any means. The god will be able to do some basic things: Teleporting the army, removing negative buffs and also have an aura. Theese hree basics will be shared by all while other abilityes will be pretty common amongst gods, for example, flying or morphing into other beings.


I need some help with the models since most units don't have a model but taht's for later because most units haven't been created yet.
I also need a definitive version of the map, a small terrain was made already but since it was made in less than a day it is simply lacking.
Suggestions about new races, new kinds of magic and which races it could be applied to nd of course new unique units would make as great suggestions, as well as suggestions for any kind of game mechanic that could spice up the game a little would be appreciated.
The most pressing need I have would be the terrain but then again it's a long while until the triggers are finised and all that which is the most difficult part so there's a lot of time for that.

 

[Awsan]

You forgot to mention the Orcs in the races below.

For firing while moving (undead necropolis), just use lots of modified versions of the Phoenix Fire ability.

A great idea (IMO) would be to add a special kind of food supply. Each race must eat, and without it they will die. this also allows for special tactics against each race, such as disabling food supplies to starve out an unsiegable location. Each race would have a different way of gaining food:
Humans-They build farms around fertile land that provide food automatically. If the farms are destroyed, the ground around the farm is built on/occupied by units/corrupted, the food production is stopped.

Orcs- Orcs have pig farms that breed pigs. Pigs eat of lot of food themselves, but they will provide even more when they are fully grown, then slaughtered for the meat.

Undead- they earn food by sacrificing units and corpses at some sort of altar. Normal undead units just need to be brought to the altar, while corpses must be gathered by units that can carry them, then drop the corpses there for the altar to use. Undead require less food than most other races.

Nightwalkers- Nightwalkers only eat plant food, and trees can be harvested by special workers to gain food.

Runemasters- Runemasters feed on magic and some of their buildings can convert mana into food. This must be used wisely, as mana used for food cannot be used for defensive/offensive spells. (An idea for an air unit would be, two mages can combine their Ascension powers to convert into some sort of flying Archon, kind of like in SC2.)

Saurians/Insectids- These races are very brutal, and they eat the flesh of whatever they kill. Saurians gain food only by killing neutral and enemy biological creatures, while the insectids can also eat those of their own kind. Saurians can store more food than other races, so it is best for them to stock up on food when they can't fight for a long time.

Atlantian-Can't think of anything c:, maybe underwater farms?

Deeplurkers-Deeplurkers consume corpses for food and to heal them. Corpses can also be carried around and stored in their Slaughterhouses, which release the corpses when they are attacked.

I'll add more ideas later on. Good luck on your project.

 

[AndreiMolnar]

Thanks for the suggestion, might add it after the first core version, it will be difficult to make, perhaps a scoreboard can be used for this, maybe allowing spies to gather information about the supplyes you have? It may be a bother to add but this one will add a serious amount of gameplay variability, I still have no idea how the sieging will work out in the end, but there is time.

 

[AlienAtSystem]

If you add food, you should spend some time thinking about logistics as well. Otherwise, the besieging faction gets an advantage. In reality, a considerable amount of sieges was lost because of lack of food - on the attacking side. An army camping in front of a castle needs a lot of food, and the amount of enemy land you can raid for supplies in a reasonable time is not enough to support all.
Short version: Food shouldn't be just one large pool the farms fill up and the armies empty, it should have to be carted around.

 

[AndreiMolnar]

Reimagining the food concept because of the comment above:
Constructs have negative regeneration, and a unit that can heal them, via unholy aura modification, the engineer BUT what if every mortal unit (non-undead or non-construct) would have a small negative regeneration? Their hunger would make them weak, and they would eventually die.
The solution to this is simple, a unit, for example a supply mule, or horse that carries their food, this unit would have negative regeneration too, but it would die nonetheless, this means that it's supplyes are limited. You would need a steady supply of theese supply animals to keep an army alive. A secondary unit that serves this same purpose would be a pig that dies after casting a modified version of tranquility, feeding the army for a short amount of time.
Exceptions would be anything that dosen't eat, but they would still die of ''hunger''
Constructs, being cheap soldiers that are meant to be thrown at the enemy in a mindless fashion simply have a limited life, the engineer would no longer heal them but rather simply give them armor, much like the human commander already does.
The second exception are the undead, who do not regenerate life under any circumstance, they must be healed by necrotic power, arthas' death coild. They do die much faster that the rest of the units if they are not close to a being that can hold their existence, this avoids skeletons being used as constructs and being thrown towards the enemy while necromancers simply stay safely near the base like unit generators. A skeleton without a longdead king or a necromancer nearby will die, if a cultist or lesser unit is nearby they will die slowly, but still much faster than a unit without supplyes.
Gods are the third exception.
Tell me what you think?

EDIT: Forgot about scouts and assassins, theese guys are hired from special locations and can turn invisible, they won't need food or will likely starve much slower than others, wht with being completly independant from armies and all. Assassins are supposed to take care of themselves.

EDIT 2: The difference between a necromancer and a mortal supply would be that regular mortals can hold more without their supplyes, they can even assault a nearby place and get supplyes from there, but the undead leaders must get in the battle with their commanders, and you can essentially kill off an undead army by killing the commander, and once dealt with that, you only have to hold off the rest. Constructs do not abide by any description, they are machines used by the mages and will pour over your fort at a steady rate, you have to hold them back and find the mage nearby that is sending them your way.

 

[Awsan]

That sounds like a better idea. What exactly do you need more ideas on?

 

[AndreiMolnar]

I haven't even thought about the lore yet, and I am no writer, I might get an idea but it will be on the lines of: after some years of peace, something happened and then boom, everyone went ballistic and everything was chaos, a reason for new empires to rise.
I have a small map almost done, it's negligible but it will have a couple of biomes and the basic gameplay, this will be used as a test map. I have no map for this but before asking for a map I would rather you saw what I made, just to have a reference since the units are mostly 0.80 in scale, and the trees use the barrel pathing so everything will be smallish.
The third thing is items: There won't be a plethora at the disposal of every army, items will be used by the gods and they will each be unique and special, or will be essentially spells that will be used on units or commanders to give them a permanent ''something''... I want ideas for theese items and epic names to go with them. Items won't be unique artifacts but they will be dropped on death and they should be somethig the enemy god bothers to pick off the ground, even if he or she is a god. I'll make them worthy of a god. Perhaps you can help with that? I am no writer.
I want a lot of races, there is little directive over this, the main being don't make them too silly or alien, loiteral aliens ''might'' be added, i'm really dubious about this, probably not but don't make them too un-medieval/fantasylike because that is the focus, no other directive really, I want to get a bunch of melee races, like the humans or atlanteans with noticeable changes in gameplay, but not too far from eachother and then some others that disrupt the gameplay comepletely like the undead which are persistent or the orcs, which are basically hit'n'run raiders. I would very much like having more races each with their peculiarityes and so on, unique in some way. Compare it to the humans, say if their melee is stronger/weaker than the humaans etc. Thats would especially help to spice things up in the game since I am planning for each race being unique in some way. It would help a lot.
The gods: they are very few and I haven't started with them yet, since the civilizations should be completed first, but that won't stop any for of god discussing and planning. god should be an option you have to spice even more your civilization, making each game different since you won't know what to expect each time, maybe humans will surprise you with an air attack?
The thing about gods is that there should be some options for each. Some gods could be simple supporters of the army while others could be used mainly for unlocking a special side of that civilization somehow.

 

[Awsan]

I think there are enough races as of now,the only thing we need to do is create them.

Gods could be used with Altars of some kind, which gain mana from follower units standing at them and praying? Then, the altar can use mana for special spells as gifts from the gods.

 

[AndreiMolnar]

Haven't really thought about how gods would work really, maybe they would gain mana like you gain gold from income? that would make a lot of sense, it would be slightly complicated to make but it is completely possible. Here's a fast idea, tell me if you like it:
A god comes with a starter item that lets it summon a single temple, from the temple you could hire followers, OR the followers would be created automatically, much like constructs but much much slower. The followers would use an ability (which would do nothing) that would autocast itself, the objective would be the temple, this would give a steady amount of mana for the god, the god would not regenerate mana without this.
Darker civilization like undead would have Cultists, which can sacrifice a unit and this would give a bigger amount of mana, the unit would have to be alive, so other cultists or mercenary is needed. Civilizations that are more inclined to living in the forest and such would get shamans, which will be less helpless than the cultists and priests. Other civilizations would have priests. priests are helpless in combatwhile cultists can attack like the necromancers do, shamans will be useful in combat but should not be really used.
Maybe priests could use some kind of anti-magic?
Magic inclined civilizations would probably be able to recharge their god's mana with special buildings called mana batteryes.

OH, and this is my idea of a phisycal god, a god that will mostly fight and have a wide array of destructive spells, maybe equaling an army.
[ http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/anY21b5_700b.jpg ] The image is large, not postig it here.
Oh and I want civilizations for the lore, I will be slowly adding them into the game, but for the start of the map, first comes three civilizations, human and undead will be the first ones, mainly because undead are the most different from the rest and humans are the base of the rest of the civilizations. The rest of the races wo't see the light of day in wuite some time, but brainstorming a general idea is an activity that I enjoy, but I won't be creating units for it in a long time.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

sounds good so i am willing to help you test it.