Unit promotion upgrades idea

[Standhaft]

I had an idea today about a sort of mechanic that I think would be fun inside of a custom campaign (been thinking about getting back into warcraft 3 mapmaking once reforged comes out).

Basically, my idea is that there is some sort of mechanic to upgrade units but which is more like a promotion than it is just like buying an upgrade at the blacksmith.

For example, footmen can become captains (or some kind of elite foot soldier or whatever). Knights can become paladins, etc.

My first thought is that I would want this to be limited somehow. E.g. you can have a maximum of 2 captains or only 1 captain per 5 footman or something so you can't just mass captains. Essentially, I want it to be a fun way to make your army stronger without it breaking the immersion of a campaign.

My second thought is how to make it happen. I thought maybe it could just be a paid upgrade. Meaning that you select your footman, click on the upgrade to captain ability which costs 100g, and there is just a limit to how many captains you can have. So assuming 2 is the limit, if you have 2 captains then you just get an error message saying, "You can only have 2 captains at a time" if you try to use it on a 3rd footman.

Alternatively, I thought maybe it could be an automatic upgrade. Sort of like how in Starcraft the units get "promoted" ranks based on their number of kills, but in this version they actually get slightly stronger. So maybe a footman would become a veteran at 10 kills and a captain at 20 kills or something. Each time getting a small boost to stats.

I really like those story units and I would like to incorporate them in the campaign in a way which feels fun, organic, and doesn't encourage the player to just mass 1 type of unit.

What do you think?

 

[cleavinghammer]

You could have trained (bought directly or upgraded) and field-promoted (veteran) units with different abilities (both have better stats and an aura, but trained ones have better auras and fp have better stats), with the amount limited for each unit type (or per army).

 

[Banelingline]

Unit promotion in a Campaign? Sounds like a great excuse for some multiple-choice plot elements, having each unit "kind" (not necessarily specific type) have a Hero promotion that you get one of and keep inter-mission, with side quests and dialogue differences based on what ones you have.

As for method, you could have some other kill-dependent functions and use the Custom Value to track kills (or damage dealt, or some other promotion-relevant property), then promote the unit when they reach a certain threshold. Possibly varying based on unit type, so that a long-range high-AoE siege unit isn't just clusterbombing hordes to Hero status.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Yeah, siege units should probably be exempted.

 

[Standhaft]

Yeah, I agree that it wouldn't be for all unit types. Probably not siege.

Thinking on it, there could be 2 different mechanics just like cleavinghammer says. Veterancy which is from unit kills and results in something like an overall 5% stat buff. And actual promotion which changes a footman to a captain, changing the model and giving some fixed buffs (possibly including new abilities). I do like the idea of captains having a command aura passive ability.

Unit promotion in a Campaign? Sounds like a great excuse for some multiple-choice plot elements, having each unit "kind" (not necessarily specific type) have a Hero promotion that you get one of and keep inter-mission, with side quests and dialogue differences based on what ones you have.

Thanks. Glad you like the idea.

I am not that good at warcraft mapmaking/editing so I will probably try to keep it a simple as possible to start with, but I would love to achieve something of that level.

 

[doom_sheep]

getting to promote some number of units whenever you accomplish an objective seems like a logical direction

 

[cleavinghammer]

Another possibility would be a unit-wide upgrade (e.g. Headhunter->Berserker) that gives better stats, but the new unit is both more expensive and takes longer to train.

Siege engines: Instead of the engines being promoted themselves, you can train an Artificer, a weak unit with artillery support abilities and auras. Every time a siege unit kills something while the artificer is in range, it counts towards the artificer's kill count, and every X kills his abilities get stronger or he can apply buffs. For example, a melee-channeling spell that targets him and a siege engine, preventing either from moving, but giving the engine increased damage and range, giving an engine a different attack (diseased corpse, burning rock, shrapnel shell, etc.).

 

[Prince Aerrus]

This is a very interesting idea, in theory it will be excellent, however it could be very messy in practice

 

[tough_zai]

how big is your map?? is it large or epic map?

 

[Reon]

getting to promote some number of units whenever you accomplish an objective seems like a logical direction

this

 

[Lon-ami]

I had an idea today about a sort of mechanic that I think would be fun inside of a custom campaign (been thinking about getting back into warcraft 3 mapmaking once reforged comes out).

Basically, my idea is that there is some sort of mechanic to upgrade units but which is more like a promotion than it is just like buying an upgrade at the blacksmith.

For example, footmen can become captains (or some kind of elite foot soldier or whatever). Knights can become paladins, etc.

My first thought is that I would want this to be limited somehow. E.g. you can have a maximum of 2 captains or only 1 captain per 5 footman or something so you can't just mass captains. Essentially, I want it to be a fun way to make your army stronger without it breaking the immersion of a campaign.

My second thought is how to make it happen. I thought maybe it could just be a paid upgrade. Meaning that you select your footman, click on the upgrade to captain ability which costs 100g, and there is just a limit to how many captains you can have. So assuming 2 is the limit, if you have 2 captains then you just get an error message saying, "You can only have 2 captains at a time" if you try to use it on a 3rd footman.

Alternatively, I thought maybe it could be an automatic upgrade. Sort of like how in Starcraft the units get "promoted" ranks based on their number of kills, but in this version they actually get slightly stronger. So maybe a footman would become a veteran at 10 kills and a captain at 20 kills or something. Each time getting a small boost to stats.

I really like those story units and I would like to incorporate them in the campaign in a way which feels fun, organic, and doesn't encourage the player to just mass 1 type of unit.

What do you think?

You could use the Acolyte -> Shade upgrade system. When you move the acolyte next to the Sacrificial Pit and use the Sacrifice skill, the acolyte "enters" the building while the new shade unit is being trained. You can't train two shades at once, and if you cancel the upgrade, the acolyte "exits" the building. Another alternative would be something similar to the Peasant -> Militia temporary upgrade system, where the peasant can interact with a building to become something else instantly. Change it so the transformation is permanent and you would be ready to go.

Personally, I would devise a system where a number of basic units can "cheer" another unit, transforming it into something else. For example, 4 footmen could "cheer" another footman, transforming it into a captain. The idea is that some soldiers recognize one of their peers as a potential leader, and officially endorse him for a promotion. If you don't want to have too many captains around, make the promotion skill be single-use, like the Sentinel owl of the Huntress, or make captains less useful if there are no footmen around, by giving both units some synergy abilities, active or passive, that encourage players to keep a healthy distribution without having to impose any artificial limits by yourself.

 

[Lurker99]

The above are both interesting. Another way to limit them is to have availability be dependant on the size of your army ie you have used 30 food (and therefore created enough units) to warrant a captain. Do you think this could work in an Altered melee without being too micro? (I realize you are probably building a campaign)?