NaytchSG

Join Date 03/2006

+19

[Suggestion]: Option to set world changing events to occur on a regular basis

I have played many games with epic events cranked way up and haven't had one happen in a long time, I had 2-3 in late beta, but not since...

I would like a frequency option on game setup to have a world changing event happen every fifty turns or so. Make it +\- 5 turns to make it a little unpredictable. Call it Path of the Comet or something to reflect the cyclical nature of it. Just to make things really unpredictable.

Thanks!

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I also think that World events need some work. I wrote here some ideas at https://forums.stardock.com/433683

Anyway, I recently played a 4x space game, and liked the way they implemented the Events (the following classification is on my own).

- Minor events each 5-15 turns. Things like some money bonus or penalty, a planet (city) that looses some of its population, a planet (city) that finds a new resource...things like that. A small surprise in the turn-after-turn, with small repercusion (or none), and no game breaking. I got many of them along the game (I could not say how many: 30? 50?)

- Uncommon events. Around each 30-50 turns maybe. Some affected only my empire, other ones affected all factions. Generally negative (but not always), they usually give 3 options to chose, like: lots of money penalty, a bad penalty (like -20% research) or a mix of both, for XX turns. I got around 4 or 5 along the game.

- Rare events. These are the ones that can be game-breaking when happening in the early game. They also give 3 options to deal with ...

I'll add that I had a Plague in the early game (it was my first game) and as I had no money, I had to choose "experiment with my people": that emptied my planets for 20 turns --> Rage Quitting. Maybe the third option would be better...or not.

I guess it may be like the spider event in the first 50 turns.... A minimum number of turns should be requiered to trigger them.

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The algorthim for determining chance of event needs to be changed imo.

For example (and without using actual figures....and please correct me if I am mistaken), currently we have a %chance of 1 event every 50 turns. That doesn't mean that in 50 turns we'll get 1 event. Nor does it mean that we are guarenteed at least 1 event in 50 turns. It simply means that each turn has a 1/50 chance at receiving an event. The reality is 1000 turns can go by with no event.

I suggest that a reducer be placed such that each turn that passes without an even increases the chances of an event on the subsequent turn by that amount. Example:

You're chance has changed to (1+n)/50 where n<50 and where n resets upon receiving an event.

Turn 1: You have a 1/50 chance at receiveing an event. You do NOT receive an event.

Turn 2: You have a 2/50 chance at receiveing an event. You do NOT receive an event.

Turn 3: You have a 3/50 chance at receiving an event. You GET an event.

Turn 4: You have a 1/50 chance at receive an event.

This method would help re-invigorate the RPG event aspect of the game...the reality being that you will be guarenteed an event at least once every 50 turns.

Naturally, the '50' can be changed to an appropriate figure, also in regards to the startup setting.

EDIT: I also know that this is a VERY overly simplicated view of how the system currently operates. Just wanted to get the point across effectively...

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Heavenfall

Join Date 07/2008

+441

One of the problems with this is that there aren't that many events or random quests that can pop up.

Anyway I seem to recall a post that Derek made about events and how they shouldn't be game-defining because it detracted from the strategy.

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NaytchSG

Join Date 03/2006

+19

I was thinking as another option like the doom track in Rune Bound (a board game). I just recall the GalCiv2 system and how tough/fun a rebellion or an unexpected assassination could be.

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Quoting Heavenfall,

reply 3

One of the problems with this is that there aren't that many events or random quests that can pop up.

Anyway I seem to recall a post that Derek made about events and how they shouldn't be game-defining because it detracted from the strategy.

I think it's sad that the devs don't even recognize how great of a game they made.

FE is a unique game. Random events are more than welcome because they've set up in the game in a way that the player WANTS the unexpected, wants new things to explore and solve.

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I am playing a medium map on challenging with 4 opponents and I have had three random events happen. I am probably 2/3 the way done.

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By definition, random events should remain random (and thus never automatic after X turns). IMHO, at least.

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NaytchSG

Join Date 03/2006

+19

Quoting KingHobbit,

reply 7

I am playing a medium map on challenging with 4 opponents and I have had three random events happen. I am probably 2/3 the way done.

Cool! That sounds epic!

Coyote:

I understand random, I was thinking of a game with a pattern of upheavals and chaos. Like Harmonic42 says, we want new stuff to do as we think an area is pacified. It could help reduce the single stack of doom thing if you have a bunch of brush fires to put out all over your nation.

Think evil moons from MOM, Jagged Knife rebellions from GC2, things that make it better for one faction or another, or a plague hits a city and you must quest for a cure before the city starts churning out hordes of butchermen. It could be an option on startup above the "more often" level currently available.

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I think I attempted to update the coredefs file and increase (actually reduce) the setting for random events at the highest configuration setting. I believe default was 5000 and I made it 2000, so that should be slightly more than half the time - I've seen a few more, this last game I've actually had 2 which was very cool. Gauntlets of power and 'kitty'. Think i'll update it a bit more.

I have always like the "3 choices" approach as well, even if they're all bad - frequently one may be 'less bad'.

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Quoting NaytchSG,

reply 9

Coyote:

I understand random, I was thinking of a game with a pattern of upheavals and chaos. Like Harmonic42 says, we want new stuff to do as we think an area is pacified. It could help reduce the single stack of doom thing if you have a bunch of brush fires to put out all over your nation.

Think evil moons from MOM, Jagged Knife rebellions from GC2, things that make it better for one faction or another, or a plague hits a city and you must quest for a cure before the city starts churning out hordes of butchermen. It could be an option on startup above the "more often" level currently available.

I have no problem with a setting that increases the probability of random events further. In fact, as long as it's an option, I wouldn't care if there was yet another setting that made the events more or less regular--as long as it's a special setting.

For the standard setting, however, I like that the events are random and uncommon.

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Quoting coyote303,

reply 11

Quoting NaytchSG,
reply 9
Coyote:

I understand random, I was thinking of a game with a pattern of upheavals and chaos. Like Harmonic42 says, we want new stuff to do as we think an area is pacified. It could help reduce the single stack of doom thing if you have a bunch of brush fires to put out all over your nation.

Think evil moons from MOM, Jagged Knife rebellions from GC2, things that make it better for one faction or another, or a plague hits a city and you must quest for a cure before the city starts churning out hordes of butchermen. It could be an option on startup above the "more often" level currently available.

I have no problem with a setting that increases the probability of random events further. In fact, as long as it's an option, I wouldn't care if there was yet another setting that made the events more or less regular--as long as it's a special setting.

For the standard setting, however, I like that the events are random and uncommon.

There already is a setting for that.....it just REALLY seems like it does nothing.

Either the current levels need to be tweaked or more levels need to be added. Either way.

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I think the random events are happening more than people think. Those quests that show up out of nowhere--those are random events yo!

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NaytchSG

Join Date 03/2006

+19

Quoting Trojasmic,

reply 13

I think the random events are happening more than people think. Those quests that show up out of nowhere--those are random events yo!

Oh, you mean Mimbly and the kitty and the troublesome adventurers? I didn't know that! I thought those were just quests... oops!

But still, I would like an additional level of frequency (call it Zounds! Sweet Xia on a Pony! or something like that...) and more events:

Life shards fluctuate in power and a new sweet 7/3/4 spot becomes available to settle...

Death shards spawn hordes of butcherman or grave elementals.

etc.. etc...

Or a new faction pops up...

or another civ's hero or bordering city defects to your side...

Stuff like that.

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