Vigilantes > Suggestions & Feedback
Game Pacing
Nomad:
I like the idea of the enemies having better gear in high wealth areas. When you think about it... gangs aren't really known to be caring and sharing types. If a group has a good scam going on, they'll have more money and they'll kick money up to their boss. They aren't going to be giving handouts to other gang members that are on low income blocks.
If you want more money, you'll have to prove yourself and see if you can get a job with the group in the high wealth area. I'm talking groups within the individual gangs.
So, I like the idea of:
Wealth = Gear
Crime = Numbers
Danger Level = Enemy toughness
That way you have a very clear idea of what to expect and what you might be able to take.
It also means that if you fluke finding a low-ish crime, danger level 1 area that has high wealth, it's just a beautiful thing.
Of course, after you hit it once or twice, the wealth level will go down and their gear won't be as good. OR... if it's high wealth... (adding complexity here) then the Danger Level might increase as they react to a good earning area being hit.
Of course... I'm sure that Daithi already knows what the numbers represent. I'm pretty sure he's explained something like this before.
Once better gear has been implemented, we'll see the effects when they shoot us in the face.
ushas:
Is your word filter for sale?:) I like how you can express, taking 10 time less space.
Btw., as far as I know the contribution is wealth*crime.
For example (using arbitrary numbers):
Tile A: high wealth 3000 + low crime 10% -> 0.1*3000 = 300
Tile B: low wealth 1500 + high crime 50% -> 0.5*1500 = 750
Between the two the low wealth one will be contributing more.
Naturally, the most would come from high wealth + high crime. (so the notion was about wealth*crime=gear)
Or... wait a minute... are you saying they will keep all above the base cut (eg. as if on a low wealth tile) in their pockets?!
Aka: High wealth 3000 + low crime 10% ->
(low wealth=1500)*0.1=150 send to boss
(high-low wealth=1500)*0.1=150 will keep ?
Huh, actually, that's somehow fitting. Depends, if wealth is constant, then high wealth tiles are more valuable from the long run. So it's not bad idea to better protect them. One can squeeze only so much from low wealth as the crime grows in time. Would make it also easier to orient, as you pointed out. On the other hand, this can harm the gang in the shorter term and would probably require to keep separate budget on a tile as well as overall gang level.
So yeah, we're musing in a bubble, while Daithi has the whole gang AI to think of.
For a brief moment though, let's just pretend it's somehow viable. In that case the first pitch I would think of [how to vary equipment across time as well as tiles] is that on the top gang level the base value of a gear per troop can be estimated as
base_value_of_gear_per_troop_unit =
gang_equipment_budget / number_of_troops_weighted_by_rank
(like on a plane, whales taking more and expensive seats).
On the level of individual tiles, however, they will add to this an addition modifier being function of wealth (+0 at low wealth), so on various tiles their gear per troop can be slightly different:
final_value_of_gear_per_troop_unit =
base_value_of_gear_per_troop_unit +
tile_equipment_budget [= C * (tile_wealth - low_wealth) * crime_rate] / number_of_tile_troops_weighted_by_rank.
So if you have an equipment table for each gang and each rank to determine gear for ranges of the final_value_of_gear_per_troop_unit variable, the game will just calculate this value, look the gear up and assign at the time we go on a mission...
Not sure how danger level fits. Right now, number of enemies aside, it buffs levels as well as stats (at least there is a hp multiplier?). Buffing is ok, just not sure what means, whether it's a tile effect like wealth or something based on or influencing local gang activities like crime, etc... Is it somehow set first and then kept constant, or changes - based on what?
I'm writing this book called "The art of derailing threads". Good exercise.
Still remotely related to pacing I suppose... What isn't though...
Daithi:
@ Ushas: If the mission requires more enemies, low level ones will be spawned. I think there are effectively infinite enemies for now, but that will change.
@ Nomad: I really like the method you suggested of differentiating the threat level. Don't think it will be possible to boost equipment level every wealth level (there are currently 9 equipment tiers), but +1 at highest would work. Wealth level won't change, crime rate will go down, resulting in less income for the gangs.
@Ushas: Yep, wealth x crime rate is the amount the gang pockets per day. It goes into a single account - I considered separate money for the bosses, and maybe there is some benefit, but the gang AI is going to be a hard one to balance out. Incidentally, progress is slow on enemy rackets (facilities) for the reason you mentioned, so many different factors have to be considered, it makes decisions difficult. Good news, starting to modify the code now, and the system is hopefully flexible enough to change later.
Equipment goes from 0-9, and there are other sources (permanent upgrades, different starting levels, global and local bonuses from rackets). The buffs from danger level are currently additional damage and hp.
Nomad:
Gang equipment tiers go from 0-9?
0 being zero equipment, I assume.
Are you just doing 9 brackets of wealth?
Eg: high crime x high wealth = tier 9.
Work out what value that equates to, then divide it by 9 and then whatever combinations of crime x wealth pay out, will determine the gear they can have.
Or.... high crime x high wealth = tier 5.
Having a particular gang buff gives +1 to gear level.
This upgrade gives a +1. That Starting level gives a minus through to a plus, etc, etc.
ushas:
Heh, Nomad, you took the original notion (wealth*crime->gear) and changed to (wealth->gear), got it approved, and now changed it back... What now?
Well, what about gangs having different priorities when deciding?
Mafia (long time investments): wealth-> gear
Survivalists (effective and fair): wealth*crime-> gear
Church (protecting weak to grow): wealth*(1-crime)-> gear
What I like is that Churchers don't need to rely so much on equipment as Survivalists. So if not mistaken, can be used to gang's advantage as well as player's...
If you two insist on equipment tier jumps between wealth (or any other variable), it's also possible to set the medium score (eg. med. wealth) as the one at which the gang by its current shape resides and then based on this variable go up like +1 rank (eg. high wealth) or down like -1 rank (eg. low wealth), or more.
However, although I was unable to express well, sorry, there is reason why tried abstracted continuous modeling translated to concrete discrete only at the end. By no means wanted to have outside rules forced like this looks. On the contrary, was about what we see in intel to be linked to the gang's AI dealings in the background.
No problem if the game is a bunch of rules to game. it's fun. But I got the impression that you actually want the AI feel like we are dealing with an opponent? So I may be giving a bit more tough feedback. I remember one of the Gollop's talks where he said it doesn't need to be intelligent, just appear to be...
AI may be governed by just simple probability regulations, but players don't see the whole picture of the gang's management, just observe side-effects and correlations. Enough for to have something to grasp, but not enough to uncover all the laws.
Would it be possible to approach the problem hierarchically? For example, settle first robust system for gangs that can work without rackets & side facilities (no need to forget them though), and then add them to decision making process later?
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