View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | Date Submitted | Last Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0001063 | AI War 1 / Classic | Suggestion - Game Mechanics | Nov 4, 2010 12:00 pm | Nov 22, 2010 12:08 pm | |
| Reporter | zebramatt | Assigned To | Chris_McElligottPark | ||
| Status | considering | Resolution | open | ||
| Product Version | 4.024 | ||||
| Summary | 0001063: [New Minor Faction] Spire Cartographers | ||||
| Description | When selected, Spire Archives are randomly seeded throughout the galaxy, in relatively small numbers based on the number of planets. A 60 planet map, for example, might have one or two. They shouldn't be seeded within a couple of hops of the players' home planets. However, their seeding will need a special condition based on their function, as outlined below. [New Minor Faction Ship] Spire Archives [*] Stationary. [*] Ultra-heavy hull. [*] High armour. [*] Moderate health. [*] Force field. [*] Function: When destroyed, these randomly & automatically reveal the location (or perhaps provide full intel) for one individual (or perhaps set of) planet(s) which are strategically important. This might include AI Core systems, MkIV worlds, or planets with Co-Processors, ARSs, Fabricators, Golems, etc. There could also be a small chance of it prompting a counter attack wave to one of humanity's strategic locations - Home, captured Human Colonies or Fabricators, etc. [*] Seeding: Obviously for these to present any real intel opportunity to the player, they would need to always be seeded closer to the human Home world than the strategic target they reveal. Perhaps between one and two thirds of that distance would do it. [*] Flavour Text: Mysterious fortified Spire installations seeded throughout the universe in distant ages past, the Archives meticulously catalogue and store information from across the galaxy by means unknown. By infiltrating and destroying them, humanity hopes to learn some of their secrets: the locations of strategic targets still well outside scouting range. Unfortunately, the use of such brute force tactics in the acquisition of data can occasionally lead to leaks. Leaks which the AIs will be quick to use to their own advantage. [*] Concept: As a companion to normal scouting, I thought it might be fun to have an alternative method of acquiring very specific intel, like the locations of AI Core worlds. Obviously in order for the strategic choice to be fairly split between traditional scouting to locate an AI Core, or otherwise important target world; and 'simply' taking out a Spire Archive, it would need to be a pretty hard nut to crack and/or carry a risk of retaliation. Plus be immensely rare. Personally, playing mostly as I do on 80 planet maps, I've never found it particularly challenging to actually locate an AI Core world and station a scout there for intel; but I have gone down some rabbit holes on certain map types. I'd not want to remove that element, but add to it an interesting choice instead. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Internal Weight | |||||
| related to | 0001786 | considering | Suggestion: Spire Resonation Network |
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Neat, I think this would be really cool! |
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"Function: When destroyed" seems a bit too much to me, kinda of violent ;) How about instead you can capture it? Or maybe an "activation" of it when you get in proximity? Otherwise the idea seems cool. |
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Perhaps make it a capturable -- have it generate "scout points" over time. Every X number of scout points, a new strategic asset (such as an ARS) is revealed. Produces a *Y wave multiplier on that planet, or triggers cross planet waves against the planet. |
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Love the concept, prefer Sizzle's method to destruction though |
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I concur |
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A similar thought occurred to me, actually. I opted for destruction mostly for simplicity's sake - and it's a similar mechanic to Distribution Nodes. (Edit: Plus, thematically it DOES make sense that the data retrieval might require some aggression, given the Spire's general attitude towards humanity!) You're right, though: for it to be a worthwhile capturable structure, it would have to continue to be useful - most likely by revealing more over time. I steered away from that because it means tracking, in an explicit manner, a new pseudo-resource, essentially. Still, I'll leave Chris to judge what level of complexity he wants to go to. I'm cool with whatever! |
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I'm moving this back to considering -- all in all, I couldn't think of a good way to make this balanced. I've instead opted to reuse the Spire Archive name for something completely different, basically Knowledge stores, as that's something else players have wanted and I have an idea for how to make that balanced. On a strict time budget I just couldn't figure out a way to make this work once I thought about it more, but for a future expansion or DLC update maybe we can figure something out later. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 4, 2010 12:00 pm | zebramatt | New Issue | |
| Nov 4, 2010 2:29 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0002695 | |
| Nov 4, 2010 2:29 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Assigned To | => Chris_McElligottPark |
| Nov 4, 2010 2:29 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Status | new => confirmed |
| Nov 4, 2010 4:41 pm | Ozymandiaz | Note Added: 0002700 | |
| Nov 4, 2010 6:36 pm | Sizzle | Note Added: 0002722 | |
| Nov 4, 2010 6:41 pm | leb0fh | Note Added: 0002724 | |
| Nov 4, 2010 7:01 pm | Ozymandiaz | Note Added: 0002726 | |
| Nov 5, 2010 4:29 am | zebramatt | Note Added: 0002750 | |
| Nov 5, 2010 6:21 am | zebramatt | Note Edited: 0002750 | |
| Nov 22, 2010 12:08 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0004209 | |
| Nov 22, 2010 12:08 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Status | confirmed => considering |
| Dec 4, 2010 9:31 am | wyvern83 | Relationship added | related to 0001786 |
