Questions?

[Shadow]

Does anyone have any questions? We do try to answer the questions that people ask. So far it has been mostly on other forums, but it would be a lot easier here Here's some of the discussions we have had so far:

RPG Codex thread 1

RPG Codex thread 2

RPG Watch thread 1

RPG Watch thread 2

[ross]

"I wish the covenant houses were more impressive. It looks like 4 dudes hanging out in 1 room. I think it would be AWESOME if each covenant spawned a random dungeon/stronghold on a separate map with size proportional to covenant power, and you had to wade through hoards of foot soldiers (and more powerful hired mercs) to reach the lifestone, not just bonk billy and his 3 poker buddies before grabbing their bud light."
-AnalogKid, RPG Codex Forums

I saw this on one of those 4 threads you posted and this sounds like a really, really good idea. However, it would need some more developing. You would have to somehow be more able to control your recruit's movements a little bit better since you would be advancing through a dungeon towards their life stone.

Maybe something like this...
-Each covenants dungeon is about the same size but maybe mix up their looks and stuff a bit, you know like all the other areas in the game.
-The "foot soldiers" that are in your dungeon are based on your covenant's influence or power or a combination of both. Their toughness that is.
-Your "guards" that you buy from the beastmaster are still near your covenant life stone like normal, at the back of the dungeon.
-The enterance to the dungeon should be in your covenant house, maybe guarded by some slightly stronger monster that you have to kill before you can even gain enterance to it.
-You can only gain enterance to another covenant's dungeon if you are allied to them or if you are raiding them and the gatekeeper monster is dead.
-Once you gain enterance to another covenant's dungeon through raiding then you begin to battle your way to the life stone. The "foot soldiers" don't respawn once you kill them, so that you and your recruits can actually advance if you die. The "guards" near your lifestone do respawn like normal however.
-If the raid is completely stopped, then the whole dungeon respawns. However, as long as you keep in raid on the covenant, their dungeon doesn't respawn.
-If another covenant joins in the raid, then the "foot soldiers" get stronger but none respawn.


This is totally open to input from anyone else. I think it would be a really good idea but my little outline is very rough. I just really liked this idea and thought I would expand on it.

[Delilah Rehm]

Interesting ideas.

[Shadow]

These are definitely some interesting ideas. I have actually thought about doing something along these lines for a while. I am planning on at least prototyping a bigger house/dungeon with guards, traps, and fortifications, but I don't think it will happen until an expansion pack.

[Flummoxed]

Simple Q: is there a "highlight" key to light up items that you can pick up or activate? Like treasure or an npc body or a switch.

Particularly in isometric games like Diablo, NWN, Balders Gate, etc it's sometimes hard to see such an item when it's mixed in with other general screen rubble or bushes or whatever. Having to mouse around the screen looking for a tiny selectable object can get maddening after a while.

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by Flummoxed

Simple Q: is there a "highlight" key to light up items that you can pick up or activate? Like treasure or an npc body or a switch.

Particularly in isometric games like Diablo, NWN, Balders Gate, etc it's sometimes hard to see such an item when it's mixed in with other general screen rubble or bushes or whatever. Having to mouse around the screen looking for a tiny selectable object can get maddening after a while.

Welcome to the forums Flummoxed.

Yes, there is a key that you can press down that will show you all of the items that are on the ground. A lot of things like usable objects also show up on the minimap.

[Delilah Rehm]

... and that key is Alt.

[ross]

i love alt

[Delilah Rehm]

Since some monsters kill other monster, I often run around with Alt constantly pressed. Hey! They drop stuff and I want it!!!

[AnalogKid]

Originally Posted by Shadow

I am planning on at least prototyping a bigger house/dungeon with guards, traps, and fortifications, but I don't think it will happen until an expansion pack.

It would be particularly neat if a covenant's dungeon reflected their hero. Rogues would have dungeons with lots of traps, for example.

As for details, to keep it a bit like other dungeons and make it easier to implement, I would suggest that when on a raid, you just get to bring your 1 henchmen as usual. Then, if you get to the "throne room", you can do something (set up your gate home, probably) which will allow all your other hirelings to pour in and assault the lifestone itself. I think it might be too much to ask to bring all 5 hirelings along during the dungeon part.

Defensively, you could add one dungeon level per hireling, with the hireling himself (and any hired monster guards) acting as a mini-boss defending the stairs down to the next level. Make the regen rate of hirelings themselves _MUCH_ slower, so they don't just keep popping up over and over, and make them be able to come to the throne room for defense if a raiding party gets that far.