continued faction ideas discussion

[new paradigm leader]

what with the warschool thread locked and all i felt it would be a good idea to open a new thread to discuss new ideas for the scavengers and other game factions in warzone. an idea i thought would be a bit of fun to mod in although i probably lack the talent to implement it im just about adequate at txt editing and even then...

anyway i thought we could make a mod where you choose a faction at the start of campaign and play from that... and so everyone doesnt just choose nexus there will be balances in the form of abilities. for instance the project will be the all rounders their oil derricks work faster and their base structures are stronger with a bonus to machinegun weapons. the new paradigm a defensive-aggressive faction their bonuses include higher building armours slightly better starting technology and of course stronger walls and other hardcrete structures with better rockets research speed is increased base structure health decrease.

the collective being a viciously aggressive faction they have faster factories stronger cannon and but their units and build speed are reduced. The scavengers are a odd one they are immune to nexus based on the fact they arent using synaptic link at all. they build and produce units extremely quickly but their overall health and armour is lower than normal their derricks are slower and their units and structure costs are reduced. Nexus how to make it not be ownage? well it takes a
long time to bring full nexus systems online. its useless against non synaptic link units. its production times are drastically slower and its research time for non intruder program items is very fast sound good?

[better Zarel? ]

[Loscaldazar]

Like it but it would require some drastic changing of the game to make all the factions equal. And it would probably be better to make it's own set of missions.

LOSCALDAZAR

[Zarel]

ACK I CAN'T READ. Haven't you heard of paragraphs? D:

[Avestron]

I do think that before discussion of actual factions it would be fruitful to discuss how to make warzone 'faction compattible'.

In simple terms the following adjustments would need to be made:

a.) Introduce support for faction-specific tech trees, as well as campaign specific tech trees.

This would allow lateral development of factions and technologies to tack place without taking anything away from the game.

b.) Introduce support within 'Campaign Mode' to select a campaign to begin rather than just starting the stock campaign automatically. Such would consist of (1.) A scrollable list of campaigns (where available); (2.) A title reflecting the one selected, (3.) The description of the campaign below the title, and (4.) A campaign specific image or icon

This would allow lateral development for story lines in War Zone. Combined with faction or campaign-specific tech trees (and balancing) it could mean that a determined player could, if he or she had the patience to extensively model, create Warzone 2000, Warzone 1942, Warzone 3000, or other such era campaigns. Likewise the Warzone 2100 storyline would likely see a lot of beefing.

Players may be thinking - ok and what about the cool moview in between? The stock campaign would keep these but players would have the option of a storyline alternative between campaign missions.

All it would take is a screen not too dissimilar from the campaign selection screen mentioned above except that more space is dedicated to text, multiple text pages can be flipped between and images can be loaded in per page of text. It won't be a movie experience but it maximizes accessibility to the player with good story telling skills and some image editing capability.

- - -

Once these are done then faction discussions could begin in earnest :cP Since campaigns and factions would have their own tech trees, there would be little issue produced. Even before the complaints start rolling in about over powered factions, WZ versions could simply include a key including the power scale of different graded factions and campaign tech lists.

If a player turns off fight balancing from his end he would permit uneven fights permitting WWII vs Warzone tech for instance) but if the fight balancing is turned on (as default), factions that fall into a different power scale would not be able to fight each other. Factions' power are judged by members of the community and based on these assessments, and the verification of devs, subsequent versions are coded with the official grading of a faction - meaning ungraded factions can only be played with 'fight balancing' option turned off.

[Per]

What, changing the faction then playing the original campaign? That makes absolutely no sense from a story line perspective. I rather suggest leaving the original campaign alone, and make a new campaign where someone other than the Project can be the heroes, if that is what you want.

[Avestron]

What, changing the faction then playing the original campaign? That makes absolutely no sense from a story line perspective.

Um no - I mean allowing tech trees to exist for factions, or campaigns.

Faction tech trees would be ideal for multiplayer, as well as for any campaign where the story can tend to a number of factions, such as a resident-evil-esque odessey from home base to some other safe point.

I am not suggesting a default campaign with New Paradigm as player. I am suggesting the broadening of the game to accomodate different tech trees.

For an example of this you could take a look at Wesnoth. It accomodates for non-default factions and some even come with their own stories. Hence it becomes possible, for instance, to play as a NEXUS commander to eradicate all forces in Mexico and it also becomes possible to play as a british forces base surviving the great collapse, duking out a personal war against an invasion force coming from across the English channel... or perhaps you just want to recreate the battle for Normandy.

With faction tech trees and campaign tech trees it becomes possible to expand WZ far beyond the 2100 story - while also providing plenty of potential for enriching the WZ 2100 story with side exploits of the existing factions and others in the same time period.

I rather suggest leaving the original campaign alone, and make a new campaign where someone other than the Project can be the heroes, if that is what you want.

I am not suggesting altering the original campaign. I am suggesting laying the groundwork for more campaigns and richer MP battles.

[new paradigm leader]

erm not exactly what j meant i meant it to be that all the factions could compete. as lets face it the factions are extremely undbalanced... each has a advantages and disadvantages over the other factions ideas for which i already outlined therefore all are able to compete with one another.

[Avestron]

erm not exactly what j meant i meant it to be that all the factions could compete.

If you mean campaign mode, I think that providing balance ratings to factions, and the enforcement of faction limitations (such as making 'a' campaign only open to New Paradigm) would provide the best hope for balance and flexibility.

Much also applies if you meant MP.

as lets face it the factions are extremely undbalanced... each has a advantages and disadvantages over the other factions ideas for which i already outlined therefore all are able to compete with one another.

The factions are only 'unbalanced' because they share the same tech tree and their respective bodies simply don't really reflect the virtues and let-downs of seperate paths of development. That is why the present tech tree I choose to look upon as the 'WZ2100 stock tech tree' not the Project, New Paradigm, Collective or Nexus tech tree. Each of these should have a seperate tech tree with a lot of overlap but plenty unique to each faction, not just the bodies.

[Loscaldazar]

I rather suggest leaving the original campaign alone, and make a new campaign where someone other than the Project can be the heroes, if that is what you want.

That's what i'm saying...

[new paradigm leader]

fair do's

[milo christiansen]

Factions sound good, but think of the balence issues, there bad as it is and now you want MORE. O_O

[Avestron]

Ok let me take a few steps back.

Lets go back to Warzone 2100 - the game that we know - the campaign minus multiplayer.

Now what I am suggesting is that the game structure be modified so that the Warzone 2100 game becomes a default PART of the game, rather than the core itself.

-

Every campaign would consist of several components:

- 1 - A campaign sub folder (for order)
- 2 - Story line files - a campaign control file refering to multiple mission files

- - - - - 2a - a campaign file coordinates progression between missions >
begin > goto mission 1 debriefing > goto mission 1 > return values from mission 1 > if X then Y > end
- - - - - 2b - a mission file coordinates progression in a mission >
after X time do 'Time is ticking' > If x1:y1-x2:y2 includes Player A then trigger event A > If success then return value 'success', Else return value 'failure'

- 3 - Tech tree (can include references to one or more faction files (campaign files without story, only tech trees)
- 4 - Campaign balance file - specific campaigns can rebalance weapons and propulsions without issue - it will not affect any other campaign.

- - - - - - - - -

Creating the tools for high-level user contribution - or at least paving the way for this - would make WZ2100 a platform riper for not just improvement but expansion, than it already is. It would open a field of development - story development - without threatening the consistency of Warzone proper.