Future DLC

[zdsdead]

In the recent interview on KTAM radio, the subject of ideas for future DLC came up, so I thought Id get the ball rolling:-

Morale effects, (optional).
1 extra unit per race/faction.
New factions + sorcerer lords to complement these factions + heroes/champions.
Terrain effects on tactical map, (optional).
New resources, world features, monsters, and Titans.
New buildings for each faction, including an extra tier to walls/defenses, etc.
New spells.
New planes. (underground)
Dungeon exploring
Extra unit leveling, once the level limit is reached.(Nothing overpowering, just a few extra hp per level, like in battle of wesnoth) This has the side effect, of keeping you really invested, and interested in units, if theres no level cap, or very high level cap.

[Happerry]

I'm still voting for the mentioned underwater/under the seas expansion.

Because it sounds fun, and the sooner it gets made, the sooner later expansions can take it into account instead of us having to add extra functionality into a half dozen added races each with their own special thing...

Either that or a Hero, Champion, and Sorcerer Lord pack.

Though the '1 extra unit per race/faction.' idea is fun, but I think an expansion would need more then just that. Maybe a unit pack that also adds a dozen new random roaming monsters and another race?

Though as I noted, I'd prefer the under the seas expansion before we start adding new races.

[mastroego]

I'm still voting for the mentioned underwater/under the seas expansion.

LoL, I have you seen The Guild?
That'd be cool.

Well, I'd just be happy with MOAR OF EVERYTHING
Consider me a backer for the DLC campaign!

[jamoecw]

themed mechanics, like siege mechanics to add some depth to that area, or unit upgrade mechanics. siege has been talked about before, but unit upgrade could be complemented with a faction that builds a few units, and upgrades them into other units, for most factions it could be a simple upgrading weapons/armor to be magical/mithril/adamant, which might even extend to your heroes as well. underwater DLC could have mobile special resources that migrate in a pattern every turn, and have more complex water trade route stuff to give more strategy to naval blockades and warfare, there is also the possibility that all deep ocean tiles are considered a potential gateway to the undersea area/realm. though i'd probably break up the above water DLC with the undersea DLC due to how much content there would be and such.

[Aaron]

Interesting ideas. Keep em coming.

[Lintking]

Don't fall in love with the Mermaid bartender, though.

For DLCs, I like the idea of themed packs. Not everything would fit this way, of course, but doing a set that adds a new Faction.. and comes with new Spells, a new Titan, at least one new Hero or Champion, etc., that *relate*. Like if we add a steampunk/automaton Faction, bring in Spells and Disciplines that fit that concept, an automaton Titan, Heroes and Champions of (or opposed to) that race. The possibility of not just new buildings that apply to that faction, but that other Races might also pick up -- things that fit in the sense of, "If this were in the world, other people would know about this also". I especially love the idea of DLCs that don't just add in a handful of new features, but that can be turned on or off (in the spirit of the "sliders" we talk about in so many other places), and significantly reshape the game.

An underwater expansion would be very cool, and should probably include at least two new Factions, as well as ways to bring the current ones `in' -- spells that allow Units and even Cities to exist in the underwater realm, especially.

[Endless Rain]

Would having a tech tree be feasible for an expansion, or would it have to wait for a sequel?
More map types.
A map editor if it's not in already.
More options.
More hero customization.
A mode where you play as a single army, kind of like a procedurally generated Kings Bounty if you've played that game.
More factions. Add as many factions as you can. In particular, I'd like to see High Elves, Wood Elves, Goblins, Golems, Vampires, Halflings, and possibly a demonic faction.

EDIT: I think the first expansion should be focused on adding new factions, the second should be focused on heroes and more RPG mechanics, and the third should focus on the world map stuff, such as the underground and underwater.

[Happerry]

When/if we do the underwater one, I think we should have at least two underwater factions, but also at least one above water faction that interacts with the underwater in some way. Like an Islander faction or something.

[Troy_Costisick]

Generally speaking, I regard anything with new factions and/or new planes as an expansion- along with anything introducing major new mechanics or major overhauls of old ones (such as a procedural battleboard). Anything with just new resources, features, heroes, lords, or spells is just a DLC. In this thread should we discuss both or just DLC's?

[Battledawn]

Underwater/Underground could very well be rolled into one expansion. Use of specific world features, spells, or abilities could allow a unit or army to move from the top-side of the world map to the bottom-side. Specific planes might have different rules regarding how those features/spells/abilities work, as well as what sort of bottom-side the world has.

As completely random and spur of the moment examples:
Prime: Underwater and Underground, world features allow access from one to another, similar ratio of water:land, border or 'shoreline' between Underwater/Underground areas very clearly defined and impassable
Positive: Underwater and Underground, similar to Prime
Negative: Underwater and Underground, similar to Prime
Water: Underwater teeming with fish resources and extremely rapid water-based movement by following strong currents, no Underground due to the nature of the islands of the plane, specific parts of the Underwater could be made impassable due to impossible to predict or highly dangerous currents or coldness in order to break up the map a bit
Fire: Underground with expanded areas of the above-world magma ocean to alter the landmass lines of the map a bit, no Underwater because the oceans are made of lava, possibly some fractal tunnels that connect continents
Earth: Underground with substantial special mineral bonuses, but no Underwater due to how the mudfloes operate, with substantially expanded landmass below-ground due to the way the continents of the plane form--potentially allowing for travel from one continent to another via the Underground
Air: Underwater "tempest region" being a massive rolling storm that can only be traversed by fliers and only at half speed but with clouds thick enough and under enough pressure to become dense enough to actually have a larger landmass than the regions above

While adding extra flavour to each plane is probably always a good idea, it's also worth noting that adding underground/underwater maps for each and every plane would mean twice as much work for the map generator to build the world. As long as it's up to the task, that probably isn't an issue, but I think it's clear that it'll need more love and attention before it's ready to handle that.

Combat in the different environments is a consideration, as well. For Underwater battles, would normally land-based units suffer movement or combat penalties without the use of supporting magic, and vice versa for normally subsurface dwellers fighting above ground? Ranged attacks Underwater would work considerably differently without some unit-specific or battle-field specific magic. (Example, a battlefield-wide enchantment that makes the battlefield behave as if it is above-ground, as well as one to make it behave as if it is below-water; such a spell would dramatically alter the tide of battles, and dispelling it would be just as dramatic. Even a plane-wide spell that causes all such battles to be under such an effect would be a good addition for an upper tier and give the cunning Sorcerer Lord an incredible advantage in every battle--until a Disjunction swings things hard back against him!)

Another consideration for the approach would be how spells would be handled in the different environments. A Fireball cast Underwater, for example, is traditionally thought of to be less than useful, while Lightning thrown in the Tempest Region could have all sorts of additional effects as it slices its way through the storm. There's also the question of what additional spells should be added in so as to really get the full extent of the potential out of the use of different environments, such as the mention of a spell to permit an Underwater city to be able to grow beyond a certain size (a better solution than simply permitting one to be founded at all, I feel, as it would mean that a Sorcerer without that spell wouldn't be able to get much out of the environment at all, and what's the point if we don't get to do as much with it?), spells to permit travel between the environments, possibly different combat spells that make better use of the environments in question to do their damage, and so forth. Current spells, particularly the terraforming spells, could function differently between the environments, as well.

However,

New spells in any DLC would have to be approached exceedingly carefully. The addition of new spells would require the re-evaluation of available spells in the potential spell lists per tier for differently ranked Circles. While Circle Mastery granting all available spells of a Circle would likely remain unchanged, the spread of available spells on the potential list could be altered--possibly substantially--with every new round of added spells.

For example, as it currently stands, the difference between Rank XI and Mastery of a Circle is the difference between getting 88% of all available spells in a Circle and getting 100% of all available spells in a Circle. Adding one spell per tier without changing the potential spell list numbers, but still permitting Mastery to get 100% of all spells, means that a rank IX would be looking at 77% of the available spells of that Circle. The more additional spells added, the bigger this gap becomes. The solution would need to be to tinker with the potential spells list, which may very well not be difficult to do, at least. I'm no expert, but I imagine most of the alterations would take place in the lower and mid tiers for the rank IV to VIII range.

I'm totally on-board the idea of an Underwater/Underground, provided it's done right, and I agree that it's better done sooner than later. I'm also a fan of having additional factions that are more specialized for the environments, in addition to taking a look at how already-existing factions will be able to interact with them. Extra factions and units are (comparatively) simpler to implement, though too many additional units could start to alter how factions play and too many factions will eventually run into some not feeling significantly different enough to make them as Fun to play compared to something else.

Of everything, new Heroes, Champions, and Sorcerer Lords are probably the simplest things to implement. Additional Sorcerer Lords alone can add a lot of extra replayability, though, as well as increased variety in opponents per game, so such a (comparatively) simple addition as three or four new Sorcerer Lords has a high spiciness factor. This could also be used as a chance to pull up some of the suggested Sorcerer Lords that didn't make the final cut, create all-new Sorcerer Lords to fill in additional roles that the team and/or community would like to see, or there could be a community contest to create new Sorcerer Lords and the most popular ideas are incorporated for possible addition.

Er. Sorry, I'm not one for brevity.