Galgus
Emperor
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
- Messages
- 1,705
Beyond simply making the Aliens more aggressive when angered, I think that emphasizing different behavioral quirks would make them more interesting.
Their behaviors would shift in ways that could differ between Aliens when at green, yellow, and red hostility levels.
These changes are based on three goals:
1. Aliens are legitimately dangerous when angered, and can be used as a soft warmonger's proxy when kicking the hornet's nest.
2. Clearing Aliens, while risky and challenging, can provide a strong head start for your colony.
3. Players should be able to notice how different aliens behave differently.
____________________________________________________________________
To those ends I would make these seven changes:
1. Ultrasonic Fence now only keeps Green and Yellow aggression level Aliens away. It also grants a +25% combat bonus against Aliens in your territory and eliminates aggression gain from fighting Aliens in your territory.
2. Clearing Nests grants a large food boost rather than energy in the nearest city for a powerful population advantage.
3. The Survivalism trait extends this to a food boost based on slain Alien combat strength.
4. While Aliens have global aggression, some actions will make them locally more aggressive.
5. Different species of Aliens have different behavior patterns.
6. Attacking Aliens within one's own territory causes half the usual aggression.
7. Resource Pods grant greater rewards, but require an excavation.
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Actions that cause increased local aggression cause the Aliens to gather to a location and attack nearby units, similar to how they act when near a nest.
The following actions would cause this behavior:
1. Cutting down Trees and clearing Hydra Coral.
2. Clearing Miasma. More pronounced under a Miasmic Repulsor.
3. Extended combat with Aliens.
4. Excavations cause a relatively minor pulling effect.
With this, both beating back the wilds and performing field research and recovery could lead to conflict with the Aliens.
____________________________________________________________________
Species Specific Behavioral Patterns
____________________________________________________________________
Each Alien breed would act differently, changing with increased aggression.
At higher aggression levels more Aliens spawn and the Alien cap is increased, particularly that of the more dangerous Aliens.
At Green, they only make provoked attacks and attacks of opportunity against easy targets.
At Yellow, they will not chase units, but will attack what comes in their range.
At Red, they will actively chase units and move to swarm and destroy cities.
Gargantuan aliens - Siege Worms and Kraken, take much longer to anger than others.
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Scarab
Green - Individuals scattered in random locations away from nests.
Yellow - Notably increased spawn rate, same behavior.
Red - Extremely high spawn rate, move to attack cities without any tact or coordination.
__________________________________________________________________
Wolf Beetle
Green - Scattered away from nests. However, fighting Wolf Beetles tends to attract more Wolf Beetles.
Yellow - Moves in packs of 2-3.
Red - Attacks in packs of 3-4.
__________________________________________________________________
Manticore
Green - Stays very close to nests.
Yellow - Roams further from nests.
Red - Will try to accompany groups of Aliens in an attack.
__________________________________________________________________
Raptor Bug
Green - Tends to stay in Miasma and near Nests, but fighting any Aliens attracts them.
Yellow - Roam freely as individuals, highly attracted by fighting other Aliens.
Red - Beelines towards cities and fights with other Aliens.
__________________________________________________________________
Siege Worm
Green - Will attack most units that come within one tile, but makes no effort to chase.
Yellow - Same pattern, but they now move at two tiles a turn.
Red - Will beeline to your cities to live up to their namesake.
__________________________________________________________________
Ripper
Green - Roams anywhere on the seas. Attracted to fights against all sea Aliens, including Hydra Coral.
Yellow - Moves in packs of 3-4.
Red - Attacks in packs of 5-6. I like to think the plural form of Ripper could be "A wave of Rippers."
___________________________________________________________________
Makara
Green - Roams between Alien nests on the water and near the coast.
Yellow - Highly attracted to fights near nests.
Red - Moves to attack the nearest city, be it on water or land.
_________________________________________________________________
Sea Dragon
Green - Nest guardians of the water, tend to swim around them.
Yellow - Ranges further from nests.
Red - Attacks cities without coordination.
____________________________________________________________________
Kraken
Green - Typically only found in the deep sea far from land. Dangerous to approach, but they do not chase.
Yellow - Very likely to attack units that come near.
Red - Attack cities as individuals or pair up around nests.
Their behaviors would shift in ways that could differ between Aliens when at green, yellow, and red hostility levels.
These changes are based on three goals:
1. Aliens are legitimately dangerous when angered, and can be used as a soft warmonger's proxy when kicking the hornet's nest.
2. Clearing Aliens, while risky and challenging, can provide a strong head start for your colony.
3. Players should be able to notice how different aliens behave differently.
____________________________________________________________________
To those ends I would make these seven changes:
1. Ultrasonic Fence now only keeps Green and Yellow aggression level Aliens away. It also grants a +25% combat bonus against Aliens in your territory and eliminates aggression gain from fighting Aliens in your territory.
2. Clearing Nests grants a large food boost rather than energy in the nearest city for a powerful population advantage.
3. The Survivalism trait extends this to a food boost based on slain Alien combat strength.
4. While Aliens have global aggression, some actions will make them locally more aggressive.
5. Different species of Aliens have different behavior patterns.
6. Attacking Aliens within one's own territory causes half the usual aggression.
7. Resource Pods grant greater rewards, but require an excavation.
___________________________________________________________________
Actions that cause increased local aggression cause the Aliens to gather to a location and attack nearby units, similar to how they act when near a nest.
The following actions would cause this behavior:
1. Cutting down Trees and clearing Hydra Coral.
2. Clearing Miasma. More pronounced under a Miasmic Repulsor.
3. Extended combat with Aliens.
4. Excavations cause a relatively minor pulling effect.
With this, both beating back the wilds and performing field research and recovery could lead to conflict with the Aliens.
____________________________________________________________________
Species Specific Behavioral Patterns
____________________________________________________________________
Each Alien breed would act differently, changing with increased aggression.
At higher aggression levels more Aliens spawn and the Alien cap is increased, particularly that of the more dangerous Aliens.
At Green, they only make provoked attacks and attacks of opportunity against easy targets.
At Yellow, they will not chase units, but will attack what comes in their range.
At Red, they will actively chase units and move to swarm and destroy cities.
Gargantuan aliens - Siege Worms and Kraken, take much longer to anger than others.
_____________________________________________________________________
Scarab
Green - Individuals scattered in random locations away from nests.
Yellow - Notably increased spawn rate, same behavior.
Red - Extremely high spawn rate, move to attack cities without any tact or coordination.
__________________________________________________________________
Wolf Beetle
Green - Scattered away from nests. However, fighting Wolf Beetles tends to attract more Wolf Beetles.
Yellow - Moves in packs of 2-3.
Red - Attacks in packs of 3-4.
__________________________________________________________________
Manticore
Green - Stays very close to nests.
Yellow - Roams further from nests.
Red - Will try to accompany groups of Aliens in an attack.
__________________________________________________________________
Raptor Bug
Green - Tends to stay in Miasma and near Nests, but fighting any Aliens attracts them.
Yellow - Roam freely as individuals, highly attracted by fighting other Aliens.
Red - Beelines towards cities and fights with other Aliens.
__________________________________________________________________
Siege Worm
Green - Will attack most units that come within one tile, but makes no effort to chase.
Yellow - Same pattern, but they now move at two tiles a turn.
Red - Will beeline to your cities to live up to their namesake.
__________________________________________________________________
Ripper
Green - Roams anywhere on the seas. Attracted to fights against all sea Aliens, including Hydra Coral.
Yellow - Moves in packs of 3-4.
Red - Attacks in packs of 5-6. I like to think the plural form of Ripper could be "A wave of Rippers."
___________________________________________________________________
Makara
Green - Roams between Alien nests on the water and near the coast.
Yellow - Highly attracted to fights near nests.
Red - Moves to attack the nearest city, be it on water or land.
_________________________________________________________________
Sea Dragon
Green - Nest guardians of the water, tend to swim around them.
Yellow - Ranges further from nests.
Red - Attacks cities without coordination.
____________________________________________________________________
Kraken
Green - Typically only found in the deep sea far from land. Dangerous to approach, but they do not chase.
Yellow - Very likely to attack units that come near.
Red - Attack cities as individuals or pair up around nests.
