Making a new Magic System Part III: Terraforming

[Tarquelne]

Reading Sephi's post, is it correct for me to conclude this way?
/snip/

[*]Rinse and repeat.

That's similar to my impression, but I was assuming much smaller steps/areas influenced. At least for the great majority of rituals. Once it's not all-or-nothing I think the "rise and repeat" problem pretty much goes away. Or at least it's not worse than similar back-and-forth interactions with unit creation and war.

And if not I'm not sure there's really a problem with a terraforming tug-of-war. If I zap your 600 hammer ritual the turn after it was cast I don't think "How tedious." is what either of us would say. IMO one person swearing and another chortling is generally the sign of a good mechanic.

Hmm...
FF had a "resistance" mechanic for rituals. I don't remember such a thing being mentioned for WM, but it might be useful.

How about a Ritual that creates a "Guardian" unit or building? Opponent's rituals first check against the Guardian, and - depending on the quality of the Guardian - the enemy ritual's effects may be canceled... probably destroying the Guardian. That might be easy enough to mod-in later if the system doesn't already have something similar and it seems useful. (Maybe for the Scions - I've been wanting to give them a unique ritual derived from Alcinus.)

 

[Tholal]

I like the idea of some randomness being involved in the process. It would be boring if the spells always picked the exact same tiles because they were deemed the best by the formula. Including some fudge factor to get slightly different results is a preferable option IMO, especially in regards to offensive terraforming.

In regards to offensive terraforming, here are a couple of thoughts.

* Should mostly affect terrain closest to the casting civ, though this can be affected by spell strength/mana/etc.

* Not sure how easy it would be to program, but directed attacks could be a very cool effect. Imagine a line of Hell Terrain snaking from a Sheaim city into enemy territory, slowly making its way towards the Bannor capitol turn by turn until the spell runs out of power. Or a cone-shaped swath of land that was burned and ravaged due to a powerful fire blast that was used as defense against an invading army.


Cool idea overall. Lots of potential, especially in regards to raising and lowering land.

Another random thought:

* Mountain defense spell that changes some border tiles to mountains (cast repeatedly and you could eventually wall your empire off from the rest of the world)

 

[Breez]

I see the best spot not being picked by the spell, but being directed by the intelligent mages sitting in the tower casting the spell. They know why they are doing it.

 

[Sephi]

Well, IMHO, that is too exhausting. First, you lost 300 mana and 10 turns each time. Second, you have to dedicate at least one city to produce ritual.

Terraforming Rituals work a bit different. You open the magic screen, click on a name in a list of Terraforming Rituals, click yes on a popup and the terraforming takes place (and you pay some mana). So no need to dedicate a city to produce it.

I propose that :

1. You finish Blessed Springs ritual, making your land more fertile (all tiles turned into grass). The cost is 300 mana. Upkeep = 10 mana, automatically subtracted from your mana-per-turn income. It's just like city maintenance automatically reduce your gold-per-turn income.
2. The Blessed Springs is now an active enchantment. Your land can not be targeted by hostile curses in contrast with Blessed Springs.
3. The Sheaim build Scorched Earth, targeting you. Since you finish Blessed Springs a turn earlier, they can not finish their ritual and gain 80% mana spent (just like you build a wonder and the Khazad completed it a turn before you. You get some recompensation)
4. You don't need to build Blessed Springs, as long as you are able to pay 10 mana (again, subtracted automatically at each turn).
5. If you are unable to pay, the enchantment wears off. The next turn, you can be the target of hostile Scorched Earth.

That, IMHO, better system. It's involving less micro, makes ritual cheaper and you don't loose mana.

that's indeed better than the first system and the terraforming system won't be that much different. If you cast blessed Springs that often you probably would want to use a climate Enchantment instead in case you have unlocked it with your spell research. The climate Enchantment lasts until you cancel it or until it is dispelled. Another option against hostile terraforming is to create Sealed Land Global Enchantment which reduces the effects of hostile terraforming and reduces the spread of hell terrain in your territory.

 

[tesb]

sometimes i have the feeling we are arguing over things that have already been taken care of by sephi

it would be nice to have a list so we don't have to bore you further

 

[Breez]

but but but... Speculation is the mother of pointless arguing!

 

[esvath]

but but but... Speculation is the mother of pointless arguing!

And pointless arguing is the basic right of us, the fans

But it is nice to know that what I means as Terraforming Ritual is indeed exist in Wildmana as Climate Enchantment.

@Sephi, it would be nice if you post some fix mechanics of spells, rituals, promos, enchantments etc. It would give us more opportunities to...pointlessly arguing about something else

 

[Tarquelne]

sometimes i have the feeling we are arguing over things that have already been taken care of by sephi

Only sometimes? I assume it.

Maybe just because he kept fixing Scion bugs before I even noticed them. (It's like he can read python code, or something. Spooky.)
I say we don't say anything that might give him ideas for - or slow further - the 9.0 release... but then we pounce!

What I want is a curse ritual that causes someone... heck, everyone's... terraforming rituals to have reverse effect.

 

[tesb]

sephi here are the fixes for:

Spoiler :

TXT_KEY_SUMMON_ANGEL
TXT_KEY_SUMMON_CRUSADER
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_BLIGHT
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_CREATE_DESERT
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_CREATE_EROSION
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_CREATE_HELL_TERRAIN
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_CREATE_KELP
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_CREATE_LAND
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_CREATE_MARSH
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_CREATE_RIVER
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_CREATE_SNOW
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_CREATE_VOLCANO
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_DROWN_LAND
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_EARTHQUAKE
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_FIRE_STORM
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_FLOOD
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_LAND_OF_THE_DAMNED
TXT_KEY_PROJECT_MOTHER_EARTH

i also assigned new txt to

Spoiler :

TXT_KEY_UNIT_GUARDIAN_ANGEL
TXT_KEY_UNIT_ETERNAL_CRUSADER

further i assigned button art to all rituals and created three new buttons for rituals i could not find already existing fitting buttons (raise land, drown land and mother earth)


i hope i can finish the global enchantments today (rituals + promotions)