0017377: Let the player one in three races to land near at game start - DEV Arcen

ID	Project	Category		Date Submitted	Last Update

0017377	Stars Beyond Reach	Suggestion		Jun 30, 2015 11:27 am	Sep 21, 2015 4:51 pm

Reporter	nas1m	Assigned To	keith.lamothe
Status	resolved	Resolution	fixed
Product Version	0.900 (Social Polish)
Fixed in Version	0.909 (Super Ultra Mega New Version)

Summary	0017377: Let the player one in three races to land near at game start
Description	This was mentioned in some thread on the forums (I think by kasnavada). Especially given the upcoming diplomacy it might be interesting to let the player pick a starting location based on who is nearby (to an extend) instead of the current "land somewhere" approach. This could even be done without revealing anything of the surrounding area first, i.e. you would have the choice to either pick your ground and not knowing who is nearby or picking your neighbor. The game could even start you up with some amount of ability to converse with them. Being able to select one out of three should provide enough choice. The thread also mentioned the possible improvement of the player being too weak early game to protect himself and thus be forced to rely on his neighbors for that. later int eh game the player could be faced with the choice to go against his early game ally or go some other way to victory. This idea also plays into the direction to provide an early game experience of entering a fully populated world that's harsh to find/carve a place in. EDIT: Found it: kasnavada: https://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,17848.msg191908.html#msg191908 About SBR, the interesting point is that the factions are already there and in place. I think there is an opportunity here to "force" diplomacy (otherwise you're dead) to pass the first 200 turns. Basically forcing you to have allies soon in the game or die. Maybe your lander should have the "choice" of landing near 3 races, and let the player choose one. That race would be your "by default" ally for the game (you can still backstab them later). But, piss them off and you're alone, and that means that others make you a pile of smoking rubble. So your first tasks ? As defending would be designed to be difficult at best against rogues, and established faction being so much stronger... so first take is keeping your first friend ever happy, and make others. Fast. At that stage you can defend yourself with allies, not attack. Then, by mid-game, you've become "known" enough to be able to coerce a few other AIs to help you (and get hated) without being the one that actually does most of the fighting (but you're becoming more and more significant). You can start to eliminate some of the opposition, but only with allies. At end game of course... you're at end-game. Either someone is your ally or you're exterminating them. Me: https://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,17848.msg191909.html#msg191909 I really dig kasnavada's idea with regard to being able to pick a race to land near and the player being weak enough to have to rely on said race early game in terms of protection/defense. Would be a great source of replayability if the AIs behave differently enough in terms of diplomacy/personality. Good stuff!
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kasnavada Jun 30, 2015 12:33 pm reporter ~0042569	Thanks =) This idea is good "only" if diplomacy is to be made mandatory though - dunno what Chris wants for that. Maybe it'll spawn other ideas =).

keith.lamothe Sep 21, 2015 4:51 pm administrator ~0042930	For 0.909: * The tooltip on most tiles during lander placement is now different, showing info about that territory and the Act 1 objective associated with it. * Attempting to place the lander now shows a special confirmation window with info on the territory you're about to choose, the other territories you could choose, and the ability to name your starting territory (this replaces the separate prompt to name the lander territory, since that conflicts with other stuff now). Thanks :)

Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
Jun 30, 2015 11:27 am	nas1m	New Issue
Jun 30, 2015 11:30 am	nas1m	Description Updated
Jun 30, 2015 11:37 am	nas1m	Description Updated
Jun 30, 2015 11:37 am	nas1m	Description Updated
Jun 30, 2015 12:33 pm	kasnavada	Note Added: 0042569
Sep 20, 2015 5:46 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Assigned To	=> keith.lamothe
Sep 20, 2015 5:46 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Status	new => assigned
Sep 21, 2015 4:51 pm	keith.lamothe	Note Added: 0042930
Sep 21, 2015 4:51 pm	keith.lamothe	Status	assigned => resolved
Sep 21, 2015 4:51 pm	keith.lamothe	Fixed in Version	=> 0.909 (Super Ultra Mega New Version)
Sep 21, 2015 4:51 pm	keith.lamothe	Resolution	open => fixed