Re: Brave New Olympia

Scott Hauck (hauck@cs.washington.edu)
Tue, 11 Aug 92 17:58:24 -0700

Surprise, surprise, I do like this whole track. I've yet to find
anything in this thread to disagree with. Some details though:
First off, although the hordes of men doing the dirtywork won't
learn skills like primary units, they should have a quality rating (ie.
"Novice", "Green", "Veteran", "Elite") which increases with ability. In this
way, armies and other helper units which have been around for a while will
get better, but in a very abstract way.
Next, the types of worker units allowed could be pretty small -
"Mercenaries" for combat, "Laborers" for construction, Mining, Shipbuilding,
etc. However, I'd also like some variety in combat troops, with corresponding
mix of skills - for example "Vikings" might have ARCHERY and COMBAT, "Elves"
would have ARCHERY, STEALTH, "Hill Giants" might have 3xCOMBAT, etc. As the
unit becomes higher level - advancement by some mix of starting quality,
experience, and training - the skills would advance as well.
Money - Personally, I'd downplay money. The primary units you have are
companions, and don't need monthly pay (ie. no maintenance charges). Thus, for
normal exploration money is unimportant. Laborers would require money, as would
purchase of weapons and armor, but most players won't need these types of units
on a day-to-day basis. For armies, they should cost a lot (ie. control of a
region or two would be one of the only ways to maintain them), but there should
be easy ways to bootstrap them. For example, a well-known player should be able
to go out to the woods and recruit his first army quickly and easily. However,
unless there was a regular stream of cash (such as from city ownership), their
loyalty would drop. Futher armies would be harder to recruit (they want money
from a proven winner, or are less willing to follow a loser).
To avoid the one emperor controlling everything - since players have
very few companions (maybe a total of 4 or 5 for an old player), and since
companions are the only ones he can issue orders to, there's only so many places
the emperor can have direct control over. Yes, the emperor can have nobles
(other players) rule far lands and send taxes, this is a great way to introduce
intrigue.

Scott Hauck

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