Scoutdog

[quote]But proposing that an increase in fortification tech might give either: +25% wall durability or -15% wall cost or the ability to create smooth seamless walls that cannot be scaled by wall-climbers That's random. And it's fun.[/quote]Except for the fact that there will be situations (including the one you mentioned above) where different options are not equal, and some options are not of any value. And that is not fun. Bu

[quote]Chance DOESN'T reward skill, you are correct, however you continue to hinge on the belief that the game is won and lost through tech,[/quote] It's not a belief. It's a fact. One way or another, the player who wins is almost always the player with the most advanced technology. [quote]When my dire bears start getting cancer and I need to build hyper-advanced biology centers to cure them, then yes, I would wan't specified research. Howver, no one in the middle ages had a c

[quote]I am just against paying a certain amount of coin per turn to maintain some nebulous "spy network" and then paying the again for an "anti-spying network".[/quote]That's exactly why I concocted the original system. I hate spendfests alomst as much as I hate no system @ all.

[quote]I've never played SoaSE, so I have no idea what pigeon means by being 'forced' into a quest.[/quote]I have, and regret it: periodically, the AIs would ask you to do some inane thing like give them a certain amount of resources or kill somebody else. If you didn't do it, your relations would take a hit.

[quote]Dragons probably fall under mythical as well though, unless you're considering in some mythos they can cast spells or glamours or some such.[/quote]Well, in my judgement it depends on how or if they can breathe fire: that generally requires magic to do, but I imagine you can do it normally as well.

[quote]You invest enough in a line of tech, you WILL eventually get what you need, however at a price.[/quote]But you might not need it any more, either because the game's balance of power has changed, or just because you are dead. The point is, chance does not reward skill: it's like an anrchery contest in which all of the contestants are blindfolded. [quote]That is reality, you don't invest in a specific technology but rather you invest in solving a problem, whatever tech is born of

Granted: NDE stands for non-disclosure (something), and it's a legal document that prevents you from leaking the details of an alpha, beta, or whatever it applies to. I think they might be used in other "trade secret" areas, but I'm not sure. You could have just wished for Google. I wish my XBox360 worked.

[quote]It wouldn't really make any sense for someone to be punishing you, the Lord of the Land.[/quote] Well, if the quest is something like curing a crop blight or pacifying the Swamp Lord, then I could see not succeeding causing a few problems. Not so much "punishment" as consequence of faliure.

But "need" varies from time to time. Those bows aren't going to be very useful if you haven't researched bows. So you go research bows. Surprise, surprise, the RNG gives you bows that are designed for dragonslaying. Again, usefulness is a situation-oriented trait. A tech doesn't have to do nothing to be useless, it just has to be ill-suited to the situation at hand. I think we enjoy fundamentally different things in these games.... I think it makes no sense to have

Banned for thinking people are worthy of respect.

You think of something to wish for: you wish for some simple thing, and somebody corrupts your wish. I wish minors could sign NDEs.

[quote]Anyone who willingly blinds themselves to opposing sides of an argument doesn't deserve to have an opinion. Half the posts here, so filled with righteous fury they are, do exactly that. Hypocrisy and zealotry... even on the interwebs it's still infuriating. You all just go on thinking you're "fighting the good fight", perhaps one day you'll realize that the world isn't black and white, it's gray.[/quote]That would actually make a great deal of sense if you had

[quote]I know in some states of the US you only have to be 13 to sign your life away, and I'm not sure to what maximum that carries.[/quote] Well, I know the age cut for the forums is 13, and it seems like the two would be related..... wonder how they try to avoid people just lying about their ages........

[quote]I think you might have this wrong, RNG in the case of infinite research here would not unbalance the game over much. Each player should have a roughly equal chance at getting something nice, something they need, or something totally worthless.[/quote]Even if you did attempt to add a balancing mechainc, something nice in one situation is generally quite useless in another, and the coding needed to make the game figure out which is which is expensive and generally does no

[quote]I know a lot of people hate getting screwed over by it,[/quote]And I am one of them. A little randome helps spice things up, but getting knocked off by forces beyond your control just seems deeply..... wrong to me.

Banned for disrespecting the blank.

[quote]Transparent is the one thing I'm not.[/quote]You're right. You're more than transparent, you're invisible! [quote]But, neither I nor Spartan will actually be allowed to let you know if it works well, because its confirmed there is an NDA[/quote]When did this happen? I hope that it isn't one of those legal thingies you can't sign if you're a minor..... In any event, just as long as there are no compatibility issues with Windoes XP, I imagine I'll do fine...

[quote]For example, research could give randomized bonuses.[/quote]Ugh... RNGs make me nausious..... putting too much decision-making power into the Big Roulette Wheel In The Sky is a surefire way to un balance the game.....

[quote]By continuous turns, do you mean real-time with a pause function (like Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights etc.)?[/quote]Well, we still don't really know.... although I think that's how it works. [quote]Guess your definition of unit is different from mine. I consider one unit to be one entity that you issue orders to, whether it be 1 figure or 1000.[/quote]So do I. I think he means that units will move in a one-of-yours-then-one-of-his-then-one-of-yours-then-one-of-his so

[quote]I'd much rather have the option to accept quests - if you do not accept the quest then it just goes away. If you do accept a quest, then I would accept a penalty for failing, if appropriate. I might not mind the occasional quest forcing itself upon you, but in general the ability to choose which quests to attempt is desirable.[/quote] I agree. Of course, quests that penalize you if you fail should be "flagged" as such before you do them, so you know what you're getting into.</p

[quote]So if I want to create a new troll or something I have to take an entire class of Maya or some other **** like that?[/quote]Well, yes and no: from my own experiance with Blender, I can tell you that it's relatively easy to do things like resizingheads and limbs from the start. The more advanced stuff, however, is indeed very difficult.

[quote]So if Elemental combat is turn base. (I've gotten that vibe although I could be wrong, maybe it's real time?)[/quote]It is definately not real-time. I don;t think it's exactly turn-based, but its more that than RT. [quote]Would we be able to turn that combat into something like what we see in Total War?[/quote]That's a definite "Myabe". Depends on how much of the engine they make public, and your own programming skills.

[quote]Actually, from a lifetime of experience, women are not at fault for bringing sexism down upon ourselves.[/quote]I never said they did. [quote]A man posted the question about women.[/quote]Sorry, but BlueJapan is female. [quote]It's men who treat women gamers like some sort of anomaly, not women.[/quote]I've learned that general statements like that are rarely ever true. While anomalization is largely a male "difficulty", there are some women who do it as well. I deliber

I agree with, well, most of the people on this thread, really: as long as the technical issues are resolved, I would love to see this in the game, although the issue of "imporper" or too difficult quests might have alarmed me if I had an unrealistically low opinion if the devs.

[quote]Then I think about this old concept art image of a shaman, and I remain confused. After all, you don't need deities to have a religious system;[/quote] And, for that matter, you don't exactly need a religious syetm to have dieties... Since "shamanism" in the real world is a very mystical, spiritual, and most importantly non-dogmatic religion, I could see shamans in a world of magic being essentially a type of magic-user, with emphasis on nature, life/death, and