[Suggestion] Choose Stats when leveling. » Forum Post by SilentShout

As long as this will be minor things I would be fine with that. What I do not like is if your sovereign can become some diablo character which should be optimised in order to be powerful.

Allowing him -1 mana cost when casting from a certain school of magic or maybe 5 extra HP would be fine I think...

Successfully updated karma reason!

Actually, I vote the reverse of the OP.

Been there done that in AOW:SM. Once I figured out what combination of stats and equipment made a killer unit, it was too much tempation to build everyone the same way every time. Effective but boring.

MOM was better - diff heroes leveled different ways. That plus a few unique abilities (like cloudwalking) gave it a lot more variety of heroes despite having fewer of them. More replay value.

Of course the modders will still have a choice -- tweak the files for existing heroes or create new ones who level in ways the devs didn't thik of. In MOM terms, a melee fighter wouldn't necessarily have to be born with "first strike" or "armor piercing" -- he could maybe get one at level 3 and one at level 6, in between the normal increases in hit-points, defense, attack, movement, etc.

Successfully updated karma reason!

I would like to choose SOV stats but no others.

Successfully updated karma reason!

And why not the perk system of Fantasy Wars/Elven legacy ? They don't transform a unit in a powerhouse, but they give some bonus on certain occasions (like being able to poison weapons, to get a bonus against armored units, more sight, seeing invisible units and so forth)

And i'd really like somethnig like : some stats grow automaticaly, then you have few points (or 0.1 points) to put where you want (like in sacred 2).

the fact is : if you don't have choices on level up of your sovereign, they'll be the exact same each game you'll play. If I want some Sauron-like, i'll probably want to pump defense, in order to survive battles. If I want a "king" that controls lot of units and all, i'll put points in agility to let him travel fast in his big realms.

We need a way to customize in game our sov (items aren't the best way)

Successfully updated karma reason!

Once I figured out what combination of stats and equipment made a killer unit, it was too much tempation to build everyone the same way every time. Effective but boring.

My solution to that problem is role playing. Decide up front which type of character you want to be and stick to it. Yes one game of over powering stats and items... and rule the world. The other one maybe a weaker character with strong diplomacy and economic bonuses.

I would really like to customize my sov.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Quoting Lord Cobol,

reply 2

MOM was better - diff heroes leveled different ways. That plus a few unique abilities (like cloudwalking) gave it a lot more variety of heroes despite having fewer of them. More replay value.

Indeed. MoM's leveling system was perfect imo.

Successfully updated karma reason!

I don't really know how MoM's system worked but i guess i rather a system where you have some choices when levelling up your sovereign as a melee fighter/ spellcaster/ economic manager. etc... mostly for the fun/role playing apect as AlisterAlis points out. . (maybe also heroes but i guess i rather wait for them to be introduced before having an idea on how they should level up )

Imo a good system might be not have a 100% choice when leveliing up but at least choose some attributes. For example you could immagine a system where the sovereign would gain 1 attack point, 1 defence point etc autaumatically to have "minimal" stats in all domains but have part of the points to choose in which domain you put them (for example 5 points automatically, and 5 points you can choose)

What I do not like is if your sovereign can become some diablo character which should be optimised in order to be powerful.

I would rather in fact that it where possible to overpower your sovereign. Keeping in mind that if you overpower him or say melee combat you would be vulnerable to spellcaster type sovregins (volcano ) and probably vica versa. You also have to keep in mind that if your sovereign dies you die and systematically sending your sovereign to fight might become a dangerous strategy.

+1

Successfully updated karma reason!

I also think that we should be able to customize our Sovereign at the very least, and possibly heroes as well. No customization will detract a lot from roleplaying, I am afraid.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Even if they go with *NO* control over skills gained WHEN LEVELING, you will still have tons of flexibility in customizing your sovereign at the start (at least I hope so -- anyway its a separate question).

Your choices then should largely determine the sovereigns subsequent upgrade path, even if you don't control each skill directly. If you start mostly spellcasting, the upgrades won't try to force you to convert him to a Conan-the-Barbarian type (I hope).

That ought to be enough to satisfy the role-playing urge.

Successfully updated karma reason!

No, I doubt that it will - continuous character customization is a prerequisite to satisfying my RPG instincts (and of many others, I think)

Successfully updated karma reason!

Quoting Lord Cobol,

reply 2

MOM was better - diff heroes leveled different ways. That plus a few unique abilities (like cloudwalking) gave it a lot more variety of heroes despite having fewer of them. More replay value.

I can agree with that. You choose you hero by the type fighter/caster/combo and they leveled their own way. I would suggest to choose in the beginning what type of SOV do you want to play and then they will level on their own.

Successfully updated karma reason!

For the sovereign I recommend something like in Dominions 3, where the 'sovereign' is set up before the game.

Because special hero abilities run in the family tree, I think the heroes should level up automatically.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Wintersong

Join Date 07/2006

+235

Not sure of how units are going to be (stats wise) but I'd not mind if when creating a new unit model, you could stablish which stats should autolevel (if normals units have levels at all). So I could have my Paladins autoleveling Defense more often and my Berserkers autoleveling Attack more often, for example.

Heroes should get sovereign treatment. The differences are the starting essence, not losing the game upon death...

Sovereign? We should be able to choose what we want from him. If I want a Keldon Warlord, surely I want to increase those stats that favors melee. If what I want is a Tolarian Entrancer, surely mana/magic increasing stats are better. If we can pick up a background for our sovereign at the very beginning, we could affect how to autolevel the stats associated to that background. Or if we get some points to spend in each level up, change the costs of each stat according to the background (so a melee sovereign could still increase his magic related stats but they would cost him some extra points).

+1

Successfully updated karma reason!

Quoting Wintersong,

reply 13

Or if we get some points to spend in each level up, change the costs of each stat according to the background (so a melee sovereign could still increase his magic related stats but they would cost him some extra points).

This is an interesting idea!

Successfully updated karma reason!

Does the current faction choice have any bearing on the SOV's? If not, then perhaps a SOV tweaking system based on Faction selected.

Always limit any Tweaks/Stat to minor upgrades at best, or within a week of release, every hardcore, win at all costs, player will be playing the same Faction SOV just to WIN!

Successfully updated karma reason!

Hawawaa

Join Date 09/2006

+33

This is a good idea to make it feel like an rpg!

Successfully updated karma reason!

I had an idea about leveling up :

https://forums.elementalgame.com/365111/get;2390024

What do you think of it ?

Successfully updated karma reason!

I most certainly want to be able to level up the sovereign the way i see fit! He is my Avatar in the game, a surrogate me, if i want to train (put points in) strength or spellcasting or whatever and the game would not let me because of autoleveling, this would irk me very strongly and interfere with my suspension of disbelief - a sure way to become desinterested in a game. The cost could and should be different for casters/warriors/summoners - in this i agree with vieuxchat, but the possibility should be there.

Heroes i could live with autoleveling - they are hired/recruited help after all, although i would like to be able to control some aspects - i actually think spellforce 2 was kinda on the right track about this, there were some heroes who were very set in their (autoleveling) ways, some allowed decisions every second lvl, some were yours to develop just like your main char. There should also certainly be perks to pick up along the (leveling) way, something to develop, with prerequisites and synergies to keep things interesting. I am pretty sure that for a lot of people, myself included, the character development is a very important part of the game, and i would really like to significantly change my avatar from playthrough to playthrough. To be the ultimate summoner once, pyromancer in the next game, master swordsman in another. A lot of people want to have customisable alter egos from sims through neverwinter nights to jagged alliance there are a lot of evidence of it.

Successfully updated karma reason!