Dev Blog Biomes!

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by mollygos, Jul 27, 2017.

  1. mollygos

    mollygos Former Staff

    Original Post

     
      Bamboozler likes this.
    • Chizuru Minamoto

      Chizuru Minamoto Subatomic Cosmonaut

      Making biomes have an actual effect on gameplay? I like that idea. Plus if you make weather (And perhaps unique weather to some biomes, I would assume it wouldn't snow in the desert, and there couldn't be sandstorms in the snowy area, which could rather have a blizzard or something?), it could bring some disastrous moments for anyone not prepared and reverse the tide of a game. Although don't know what biomes effect would be, if we also count weather in the formula (I mean, if we'd take usual Advance Wars, where snowing would make movement -1 distance, and apply it to the biome, then what would a snowy weather bring?). You'll probably figure something interesting I'm sure, as long as its fun and balanced anyway. And in term of style, this looks pretty nice! I'm excited to know what you'll do of it, as well as the whole "season/weather" thing, keep up the good work.
       
      • MongooseCalledFred

        MongooseCalledFred Starship Captain

        An official response thread? :cato3o: Biomes must be important. Maybe they provide a small, automatic heal for some units?
         
        • NinjaMonkeh

          NinjaMonkeh Poptop Tamer

          Not sure on the possibilities, but how neat would it be if the cosmetic design of individual units (maybe even commanders) changed based on the biomes. Soldiers with weather-proof gear. Fluffier dogs. Heck, give a skeleton a scarf, why not? :)

          Either way, this game is looking beautiful. Is that a multiple-day forecast?
          Anticipating this release!
           
          • AxelB

            AxelB Space Hobo

            I love the Biome idea.
            Another similar idea I have is land type (Mountains, plains, swamps, forests, river, oasis, jungle, etc.) and a static weather system like Crusader Kings 2 who impact fights and movements.

            You can find this idea inside Paradox games like Crusader Kings 2 and that work very well.

            Also, the game have a Ambush and Fap Fog system?
             
            • Chizuru Minamoto

              Chizuru Minamoto Subatomic Cosmonaut

              I actually remember something that was said during the stream I believe, where it was said you were still thinking about what the weather effects could be, and was said "Maybe durring winter, water could freeze and allow you to walk on top of it for a few turns". If so, I would then guess that this would only happen perhaps in the snow area, and probably only on lakes/river tiles, but not ocean tiles. Which would then be that biome's special effect (among other effects maybe). Still thinking about what could be the desert biome's special stuff though... And that is assuming the default prairie biome has no particular effects. But again, I'm sure you'll come up with something balanced, but deviously evil for counter attacks :nuruevil:

              I dunno if a specific healing to some units would be practical, but at least, maybe less effective units in some biomes (or weather conditions, which as I said before, could be, and probably in any logical fashion will be biome specific (Because again, doesn't snow very often in deserts, nor do you get sandstorms in the mountains)).

              I like me some necromancer army, why not add fashion to it! At least it would make the game look even better, not that it doesn't already :nuruawe:

              I think you meant Map fog, or fog of war... you made me laugh quite a bit :nuruhappy:
               
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              • NinjaMonkeh

                NinjaMonkeh Poptop Tamer

                Assuming a penalty for certain (if not all) land units crossing a frozen river, perhaps in desert tiles rivers could 'dry up' occasionally, giving an opposite effect of easy movement.
                Maybe rolling dunes which change tiles every other turn, hindering land movement. If it was a little less random, could add a unique tactical effect.

                If the other biomes are as changeable as we want to believe, I think the stability of the 'basic' tile effect could be powerful enough on its own.
                 
                  Chizuru Minamoto likes this.
                • Chizuru Minamoto

                  Chizuru Minamoto Subatomic Cosmonaut

                  Well, I didn't think of rolling dunes, but it is true that they could also add unique "land types" to the biomes as well. But its good to make theories as long as we don't get hyped over something that doesn't exist.

                  As for the default biome, I assume it will be the standard base biome fit for training and such, and so probably wont have any special effect (But having no special effects is also a special effect in itself, and again, I assume there will be unique weather conditions to each biome just by logic itself, I may also be wrong), but we never know what they'll do.
                   
                  • ppm4587

                    ppm4587 Aquatic Astronaut

                    I think that Chucklefish with the experience of Starbound, they know well about weather.


                    I think that fog of war is cool. Or at least have the optión to select or not select.
                     
                    • Chizuru Minamoto

                      Chizuru Minamoto Subatomic Cosmonaut

                      As long as they make it so the AI isn't completely omniscient of your every moves with it, I'm fine with fog of war, its actually a pretty fun element, else its only useful for PvP. I'm pretty sure they'll make it a feature you can toggle, and MAYBE even, why not, make it so the weather can turn into mist, and create a fog of war for a few days, that could be interesting as well!
                      About that AI's knowledge, Advance Wars : Days of Ruins had that kinda emulated, where the AI sometimes would encounter your units and be stopped, but they also still knew you were around somewhat... Like when you just built a bomber and suddenly, the AI just builds AA units... or when they shot a missile and place it right on you, or to a lesser extent with flares, sometimes pinpointing your position and other times just spamming in the area mindlessly... It at least was an upgrade to the previous games's AI, which litterally just saw your units like that's fair :nurusad:.

                      Although I have the same expectations with their "special attacks" idea, I hope the AI will be able to plan a move like the "full distance charge on the cavalry" and know how to dodge it, else it'd be kinda annoying, I like to play with the AI, but sometimes its really stupid. I know its hard to make a "fair AI", I wouldn't expect it to plan ahead that for exemple, lakes would freeze and they could go through it, but there's also no clear line between stupidity and omniscience (Very well shown by the Xenomorph in Alien Isolation btw, it still feels stupid at times, yet it is also pretty smart in many cases, sometimes too smart), but that's kinda off-topic now. (Again, Advance Wars showed me more than enough to know that their AI, while making smart moves, also more often than not goes haywire and does things no sane individual would have made, like sending a 1HP infantry on an AA Tank, or even a full HP one... It's a waste to retreat such unit, but its better not to play, the infantry having nearly no chance of destroying the AA-Tank, and slow down the enemy's units, forcing him to kill that unit to pass :nurutease:)

                      Anyway, point is, Fog of War is a must in such strategy games, at least for PvP, but to me, the AI needs to be balanced with it to have the full experience. If you'd want to play a 2v2 match, with a player and a bot in each team, and the AI are just cheating, what's the point of FoW anymore.
                       
                      • Bamboozler

                        Bamboozler Space Penguin Leader

                        Loving the terrain so far. I'd love to see an aquatic/marine biome at some stage. Probably not until all of the water-based units have been fleshed out.

                        Something I can imagine for a map is one filled with small islands. This would encourage a water and air focused battle rather than using land units.
                         

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