City walls

[Zajoman]

This hit me the first time I came across this game, but somehow I forgot to ask. What is the design aim in having the city wall level defining the provided bonus to the garrison instead of simply having the city level as was in DLR? Currently, the player has to calculate each upgrade and often consult Warpedia to see if the upgrade will raise the bonus as well. I see no added value to this mechanic compared to the DLR's.

[KGB]

Zajoman,

By having 9 levels of walls instead of 4 you allow for gradual increases/decreases in wall effectiveness.

This is mostly seen now in the decrease side. For example at L6 walls you get a +2 bonus. At L5-L3 you get a +1 bonus. Each time the city is captured the walls decrease by 1. So this allows a gradual decrease but at the same time still provides a +1 protection for a time until the walls are totally useless at L2-0.

In DLR, each time the city was taken the walls had to go down a full +1 protection (when that option was turned on).

Also at the moment pillaging a city doesn't decrease the walls any further. But I believe it should take those same walls down 1 more. So you'd go from 6 to 5 on capture and 5 to 4 if you pillaged.

This system also offers future possibilities to do other things at various levels since you have 9 wall levels instead of just 4 (0-3) in DLR. For example right now city view radius in FOW is always 4. Maybe it could be based on wall level. Say a base view of 2 plus 1 for every 2 levels of walls. So at L8 walls your city view radius would be 6.

KGB

[Zajoman]

KGB,

Hmm. I never liked the idea of losing a level on a city you conquered. But yes, if this is happening, then it makes a whole lot of sense. And the view range would be nice, too. So then my rant is not gonna be about the feature itself, but its interface presentation, because currently you need to check Warpedia to see what city wall level does, if you haven't memorized the numbers. And I haven't.

[KGB]

Zajoman,

Yes it would definitely be nice if the city wall upgrade screen contained a chart showing entire wall level progression:

Code: Select all

City Walls
------------
Wall Level:        0     1    2     3     4     5     6     7     8 
Upgrade Cost:      0     50    50   100   100  100   200  200   400
Fortify Bonus:     0     0    0     1     1     1     2     2     3
View Radius:       2     2    3     3     4     4     5     5     6


KGB

[Zajoman]

In a game I've been playing a lot lately, they have these little question mark icons everywhere and when you hover it, they show various info. So the interface isn't clumped up and you can easily and quickly find useful info on important things.

BTW, a view radius of 2 seems painfully too little to me.

[KGB]

Zajoman,

BTW, a view radius of 2 seems painfully too little to me.

That's a good reason to upgrade the walls

Also remember any unit *in* the city with a bigger view radius than the city would give a bigger range by itself.

KGB

[Zajoman]

That's a good point. Still, I find the current view ranges on units quite low. I feel like blind walking a dark tunnel.

[KGB]

Weird, I think the view ranges are fine.

But then you are avoiding the units with the big view ranges (Lt Cavalry/Hv Cavalry) so maybe that's the difference.

KGB

[Zajoman]

I mean that's my general feeling, regardless of units used. When I started playing computer games many years ago, most strategy games' units had very limited view ranges and game play suffered from that feeling of blindness. Then Warcraft and eventually Starcraft came out and these games had quite a different approach, with units having large view ranges, the player could easily navigate and understand their surrounding. I guess it's a thing of personal preference. Blizzard simply chose that kind of game play and was successful. Of course, not only because of that. What my rant ultimately leads to is that towers with a large view range would be a nice addition to the game.

[KGB]

Zajoman,

Then Warcraft and eventually Starcraft came out and these games had quite a different approach, with units having large view ranges, the player could easily navigate and understand their surrounding. I guess it's a thing of personal preference. Blizzard simply chose that kind of game play and was successful.

The Blizzard games are of an entirely different genre being RTS games rather than turn based. In an RTS game you need more view range especially since many of those games feature fully hidden maps in addition to FOW.

It's a hard balancing act making the view just right so that it's not too easy or too hard. I expect over the next couple of Beta's everything will be fine tuned.

What my rant ultimately leads to is that towers with a large view range would be a nice addition to the game.

Maybe the Move Temple could also grant a +2 view range to the unit in addition to the +2 moves. That would make visiting that temple more worthwhile. Right now it's hardly worth visiting unless it's on your way to your destination. But with the addition of +2 view all scouting units and heroes would almost certainly visit it.

KGB