Power of Politics 1914 : A WWI scenario

[Hepps]

@redrum No reason at all. I was just using the infrastructure units to ensure there was enough room for placements. When I placed them I was entertaining the idea of some type of production in the region to make it interesting... while at the same time preventing the existing factories from being in a coastal territory causing the immediate spamming of naval units. But the factories were far from a decided thing.

[Black_Elk]

Can't wait to play this. The map is looking so legit! A truly glorious WW1 game is where tripleA is really going to shine I think. The glimpses are badass! I love where where you're taking the territory divisions. I always hoped someone would run with the domination map, its looking way cleaner with all the enhancements and redrafts and redesigns to the land and sz tiles. Nice work! The attention to detail with the graphics is truly beautiful

[Hepps]

So here is the next phase of the design idea...

[CrazyG]

Tianjin is looking rather large, taking up all of Beijing and some Hubei. Same with Shanghai, hopefully this growth of territory is enough to get some decent action in the area.

Seasons will be cool. Are you planning on having every territory have one of those icons?

[Hepps]

@CrazyG Depending on the territory some will have one or more seasonal effects...

So as an example: Niger, Tenere, El Djouf and the Great Desert will be impassable during Summer and Late Summer seasons.... or in simpler terms... will be impassable on turns 2 & 3 then on turns 8 & 9 again on 14 & 15... and so on until the game is complete.

While at the same time: Ivory coast, Gold Coast, Togo, Dahomey and Kamerun will be impassable during the African Monsoon season on turns 4,10, 16... and so on until the game is resolved.

[Hepps]

@Black_Elk Thanks man. Amazing what a significant Remembrance Day anniversary will do to reignite a project.

With everything pretty much done from the planning side... and a couple of volunteers helping to make it happen... hopefully it will come together quickly(ish) relatively speaking.

[Hepps]

@CrazyG Yes I expanded the Concession territories in scope and wedged some neutrals in there to slow down the pace of things to create some excitement.

Since most of the colonial powers will have less purchasing power it means that while the disposable income for both sides and make the fighting pretty intense.

[redrum]

@Hepps Looking good. I do like either 4 or 6 turn years more than 5. Feels more natural. This will definitely be an interesting experiment with seasons as really only Civil War in a very limited and different capacity has done anything in that area. You may need to make the various season symbols a bit more differentiated (spring vs fall for example) but hard to say without seeing a larger swatch of the map.

[Hepps]

@redrum I am not very worried how much they resemble one another since 2 icons will never be on the map at one time. The image will only appear when the territory in question is affected by seasonal weather.

The previous image with multiple icons per territory is only for planning purposes.

[Schulz]

Roughly with %50 bonus income (USA would need probably more) per rounds would AI be able to play almost as good as human?

[Hepps]

@Schulz The AI would only control the United States while it remained neutral.

[Schulz]

I know I mean also for other countries? Sometimes I like to play with only one country against AI probably there are some more people who sometimes play against AI. Just wondering.

[Hepps]

@Schulz My interest in making 1 player games is 0.00%. Games are inherently designed to be played against another person. That is the way it was... the it has been... and the way it should forever be. Anything else is simply masturbation by another name.

[Schulz]

You are wrong.

[alkexr]

@Hepps So I am a porn producer by another name

Games designed to be played against other people is one sort of art. Games designed to be played against AI is another sort. Both have their purpose. However, using AI as a substitute for real people, as I start to realize, is a mistake. As long as the AI is not a person, that is, which could become a reality at some point.

[CrazyG]

@alkexr
I agree. There is room for player vs AI games, but they should be a totally separate product. Hepps has enough projects on the go that he need not start another one, especially one he isn't passionate about.

On the note of the USA, I really like the idea of making it AI controlled, or doing nothing until it enters the war. Some of the other WW1 games have really fumbled the USA in my opinion.

[Hepps]

So here is a little example of the seasonal mechanics in store for the game...

Next to the PU value for every territory there will be a colour coded system of six dots which are positioned specifically to represent what seasonal effect the territory is subject to.

(In this example a territory with this PU marker would mean it is impassable on every turn) {which will not happen on the map}

Here is a look at how this will practically play out on the map.

Here is a look a Egypt on turn 5

You will see that because the territories with the yellow dot have a Sun Icon in the Territory... thus those would be impassable.

On Turn 6...

You will notice that only the territories with the orange dots for Late summer have the orange sun... and those are now impassable.

Oh sorry I had re-engineered the seasons to reflect the start date of the war.

[Hepps]

@CrazyG said in A WWI scenario design based loosely on NML & TWW:

@alkexr
I agree. There is room for player vs AI games, but they should be a totally separate product. Hepps has enough projects on the go that he need not start another one, especially one he isn't passionate about.

I agree that there is a market for such games... and we have some here that have been done very well. But as you note... it is not my cup of tea... and I would never bother to design a game I have no intention of ever playing.

On the note of the USA, I really like the idea of making it AI controlled, or doing nothing until it enters the war. Some of the other WW1 games have really fumbled the USA in my opinion.

The US will have some purchasing power (as not to leave them vulnerable to a declaration of war and surprise attack) but will not actively move around the map.

[Black_Elk]

Just looking at the screenshots its clear the AI wouldn't know where to begin hehe, I mean its only just begining to handle something simple like 1942.2, let alone something as advanced as AA50. I think there is something to be said for autogameporn that tickles the megalomaniacal desire to watch a world map change into 'your color.' But you only need a couple of those to keep tripleA on the hard drive. I think the main purpose there is for introductions to the UI, or no stress on the newb for a first time out to get a feel for what's on offer. I think you can hook some players that way. But the guts of the thing will always be the pvp, and for that having a hella complex WW1 game is a total winner.

This one is like leaps and bounds beyond my silly attempt of a decade ago with the great war. That one was a looker with the boxes and such lol. The A&A offical for 1914 never quite measured up either. To do WW1 one right you need all this stuff that Hepps is bringing with weather and rail movement and era specific unit types, so it doesn't turn into a WW2 style game playing out with WW1 graphics.

I'm just stoked that all the hours doing the baseline mockup for the Domination world weren't a total waste. At least had some guideposts in there for regional map abstractions/distortions to blow out Europe and Africa and not have it look way wonky relative to everything else. But the screens of what Hepps is doing with all the detail given to each tile is next level. It just looks so good! Hella clean. Even down to the color palette. Badass all around

Only 100 years waiting for the right game for the war to end all wars. I'm excited!

[Hepps]

@Black_Elk I had no idea this was your original work.