Tasunke

Hello, and finally one of my NPCs killed in the switch to Z4 has been revived for your pleasure. Warning though, the backstory of the original was better, my writing isn't as good today as it was a week (or so) ago. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6924366/Deng%20Xiapi.xml by Tasunke Immortalis Alexander vi Britannia

Well, there goes 7 hours and 20 characters from my life ... Still, it was fun making them, so I guess it was not a total loss. Also, I am starting to remember the back-stories ... so I may get a few done tonight if I stay focused.

Attack/Damage and Defense/Armor .... Attack and Defense are skill based, while Damage and Armor are equipment based.

Okay, so upgraded to 1z4 before uploading my NPCs ... and ofc with upgrade they dissapear (I wasn't thinking). So then, is there a way I can still access their files? or would I need to make new ones?

.... Updating to Z4 destroyed all customs ... le sigh

On an unrelated note (although some-what similar to having no hotseat) ... I find it very odd that a game with Online Campaign COOP will NOT allow for split-screen COOP. Its ... quite frustrating for one, such as I, that rarely likes to combine gaming consoles and the internet.

Well, in total war diplomats weren't allowed to be attacked by normal units. Only assasins. I think the same could apply here.

Hells yea!! Make it cost "Diplomacy" points to do any diplomatic maneuver. Give Capitar more diplomacy points, and better costs. Have diplo Techs give more Diplomacy Points (per turn?) and have things cost less diplo points. Have the use of well-trained diplomats allow for missions to cost even less, as well as having a much higher chance of being successful (vs AI).

Eh ... my NPCs are simply tailored towards their interests and strengths. The weak ones are weak, and the strong ones are strong ... however no one is truly "Maximized." ... This was so fun because I was able to simply "roleplay" the character into existence, especially since the weaker I made them the better NPC they become. So certainly I have a few strong ones, but most are average or weak.

Cool, thanks. Maybe I can start uploading NPCs over the next couple days. I'll probably reduce chances of appearance to avoid clutter. Maybe eventually I will make a "Map Scenario" that includes all the characters present and interacting with quests and such.

I like the current system.

Yep, shorter than most votes or polls. Definitely shorter than a recount of Ballots [e digicons]:D[/e]

Mymental ... [e digicons]:rolleyes:[/e] I would rather have an actual game first ... and then the possibility to build upon it. I'd rather have a base game that can compete with the mods that are birthed from it, instead of having the mods being the only thing with a fun value.

So I take it their will be no living minor factions like a tribe of trolls or somesuch?

I would say that the Singlemost Improvement that could be made to the AI is a tendency to ally against a giant Steamrolling Behemoth. Basically, in Civ or FFH, it was always weird how the stragling survivors didn't either form a super Alliance against me or vassalize. (A few neutral nations is okay, but I would like to see a tendency for alliances vs a Monolithic Superpower)

Well, I want to be able to paint my Crummy Armor Red, or my Iron Armors Red. I want Blue legions, Green Legions, Red Legions, and Yellow Legions :)

Functional Lore is lore tied into gameplay, like well written quests/ campaigns that make sense, ect. It also means that all the characters in the world have some sort of connection to each other (even if its a 6 degrees of separation), now there will be isolated characters of course, but the main implication is that all characters are relevant and from the same world. Subjective Lore would be extras, background information that is not related to any quests, events, items, or characte

Meanwhile (1-Diversity, 2-AI, and 3-Modding) are all part of gameplay. Modding, however, also includes art. To talk about the rest of Art and Lore, is below the first two of these three things. I would say that, among Art and lore, functional Art is 1st priority, fucntional Lore is 2nd priority, subjective Art is 3rd priority, and subjective Lore is 4th priority.

Does this mean that Beta 2 isn't actually a build, but simply a testing of the servers? (theoretically with 1z4 build)

So, is it normal for a webpage to display the code as I open it, and for editing to only be accessible via Microsoft Word? My XP computer was the only one I ever coded in prior, and for that I think I used an independent program called Notepad + or something. Will I need that here as well? (probably) In other news, I've managed to pump out about 10 NPCs, with 3-6 main characters and the rest as primarily supporting cast. As well as a stand alone rare. To put it into pe

Well ... I'm not sure how making a Sovereign is going to translate to NPC attributes, unless an Engineer NPC just has the Mason trait. Also, there is no small-arm (daggers) dual wielding yet, no ranged weaponry, no mounts ... all we have is armor that doesn't yet have all the proper values and a few Melee Weapons. Oh, I'll still try to send in an NPC at this time, but I'm saving my more inventive ones for, say, beta 2 or 3.

well, definitely assigning hot-key groups would be cool. Both in reference to over-world armies, and also to indiv units or "Wings" of units during a tactical battle for a particular army. Preferably there is some level of default assignment, and then you can custom assign. (like Melee Left Wing, and Melee Right Wing, Forward Cavalry, Rear Cavalry, et al)

I hope cloth-map games will still support fully animated tactical battles and Movies/cinematic. I mean, if I end up playing on huge maps, I might get stuck on cloth as well, but I would still wish for pretty battles and what not :)

Well, I am glad that you have a persistent world separate from both the book and game. I have my own persistent world as well ... hopefully I can one day mod it into elemental :)

I guess what I am trying to say is, while Civ III had (arguably) better gameplay, it lacked the jazz. And Alpha Centauri likely excelled in both. Obviously game play is the *most* important, but emphasis on the Jazz certainly couldn't hurt. Civ IV is an example of a game that excels in basic game play to an extent that, even though it is one of the most boring things on the planet, its game play is still fun. Civ IV makes no daring leaps, no politically risky moves ... its one