DuncanMons
Newbie
Reged: 08/28/08
Posts: 15
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A thought: heroic soldiers
#151777 - 08/29/08 02:59 PM (205.174.160.5)
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This is more of a thought experiment, but I thought I toss this one out for people to chew on. In another post, someone mentioned the idea of having objectives in LW, like "kill the general". Thinking on that particular objective led me to thinking about the idea of having "hero soldiers" in your empire.
"Hero soldiers" would be special characters within your empire that would have a greater than normal affect on battles and empire morale than standard soldiers. These soldiers, extremely rare, would also allow for some role-play aspect that Neveron currently lacks.
Neveron soldiers and characters currently exist as a name/number, a set of skill levels, and a reputation score. For the vast majority of soldiers in Neveron this is enough. But it seems to me that there could be a role for special characters within a player's empire that can offer more; allowing for better narratives should some wish to take up role-playing as well as empire growth, as well as special skills and objects to protect in battle.
What qualifies as a hero? Firstly, I think a "hero" should be limited. You can't just load your army with heroes, and truly gifted soldiers, royalty, or infamous characters are rare enough in real life; it would stretch belief to see, say, a level 4 empire with only 3-5 thousand citizens having, say, 50 heroes. A simple formula for setting the maximum number of "heroes" per empire might be:
Number of heroes = (2*empire level)+1.
So a level 0 empire has only one hero - your Emperor. A level 1 can have as many as 3, a level 2 as many as 5, and so on.
Secondly, a hero should be a mechwarrior. Neveron is based off of Battletech in one form or another, and I think we all love those machines. So a soldier assigned to a mech can be elevated to hero status, but only if he/she is skilled enough; nobody would accept a level 8/8 soldier as a hero of anything beyond incompetence, so set a limit to those mechwarriors with piloting and/or gunnery skills of 3 or better.
This means that some empires - especially low-level ones - won't fill their quota, while some high level empires might have soldiers that qualify but cannot be elevated to hero status. Hopefully that will allow heroes to be sufficently rare to offer an edge in wars and politics, but not unhinge it.
What does a hero bring to the table?
I would suggest that a hero can have two attributes that the player can set. Each attribute will have its own benefits and drawbacks. Once set, a hero's attribute cannot be changed (we might allow for, say, a 30 nevday "trial period" in case a player changes his mind about one. Here are the attributes I'd like to suggest and their proposed effects:
Royal Family (this attribute is automatic for your emperor): This soldier is a relative to your emperor, and thus is in line for the throne. Friendly soldiers will fight more fiercely to defend him/her in battle and should the Royal Family member fall in battle, there is a hit to empire morale as well as the fighting capacity of their army in battle.
Benefits: Fellow units in the Royal Family member's lance become "bodyguards" - they recieve an improvement to fighting skills by one point, and have a slight init bonus. All friendly units have reduced chance to be stunned in battle. Royal Family members will be selected first to replace the Emperor if he/she is killed in battle.
Possible benefit/ability: Royal Family members may call ceasefires and field negotiations in battle *if* the enemy force also has a Royal Family, Champion, or Tactician on the battlefield. A die roll based on the Royal Family member's best skill level will determine who gets the contested zone, and the "losing force" returns to friendly territory without further loss of units.
Drawbacks: triple the normal morale loss if the Royal Family member's unit gets destroyed and the hero killed, also all friendly units must have a stun check.
Champion: An officer and a gentleman, Champions not only defend an empire, they try to defend its honour and reputation as well. Champions tend to be charismatic, and merciful on the battlefield. Slow to attack but quick to defend, Champions are good to have for those empires not looking to blaze a bloody trail across Neveron.
Benefits: All friendly units have a reduced chance to be stunned in battle (not cumulative with Royal Family). Victories in wars declared on the Champion's empire will have double morale benefits. Reduced damage to cities captured by a force with a Champion among them. Enemy non-hero soldiers surviving the loss of their units may, if the battle falls to the Champion, have a small chance to defect to the Champion's side.
Drawbacks: Reduced plunder from cities captured by a Champion. Double morale loss if the Champion is killed in battle. Half morale benefits to ALL battles won by the Champion if it was the Champion's empire that declared the war. Enemy soldiers have double the chance to survive the destruction of their units.
Ruthless: The opposite of the Champion, Ruthless heroes are bloodthirsty and unmerciful. Willing to burn cities to the ground, cut down fleeing troops, even kill his own fellow soldiers if he feels they are weak or cowardly. Ruthless heroes are ideal for the warmonger.
Benefits: Double morale benefits from victories and double plunder from cities captured by a Ruthless hero. Enemy soldiers have half the chance of surviving destruction of their units. Enemy units have an increased chance of being stunned in battle against a Ruthless hero (inversely proportional to the enemy force size).
Drawbacks: Friendly soldiers have half the chance of surviving destruction of their units. Increased damage to cities captured by a Ruthless hero.
Tacticians: These heroes have a good to excellent grasp of the art of war. Possessing a greater awareness of the battlefield than their fellow soldiers, these geniuses can devise plans to bring victory - or at least a fighting chance - against an enemy.
Benefits: Tactician's unit gains an init bonus, as well as a one-point increase in the power of his/her sensor suite. If the Tactician is in commmand of a lance, company, or battalion, all units within said grouping will gain an init bonus. All units under the Tacitican's command will get a skill check after the battle, two skill checks if the battle ends in victory.
Drawbacks: TBD - I'd appreciate thoughts on what drawbacks a Tacitican might have, if any.
Logistics Marvel: While an average fighter, Logistics Marvels are masters at keeping their forces in fighting trim. Some may be by-the-book, while others will bribe, beg, and steal, but Logistics Marvels will always get their force repaired, resupplied, and to the front lines in record time.
Benefits: Reduced repair times and increased chance of success for all units in the lance, company, or battalion that the Logistics Marvel is part of. Travel times for move orders between zones is reduced by 20%.
Drawbacks: Mobilization costs for said lance, company, or battalion are increased by 10%, as are LC costs.
Berserker: While not tactical geniuses, Berserkers possess an uncanny fighting ability and a never-say-die attitude. Berserkers will often brute-force their way through an enemy, and will often be the last mech standing.
Benefits: Reduced chances of critical hits, and no chance of a Berserker being stunned. Enemy units taking physical attacks from a Berserker have an increased chance of being stunned or critted. (Possible): one-point benefit to Berserker's gunnery skill.
Drawbacks: Increased chance of critical failures when repairing a Berserker's mech.
So: any thoughts?
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mattbuck
Eeyore
Reged: 02/13/04
Posts: 2853
Loc: UK
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Re: A thought: heroic soldiers
[Re: DuncanMons]
#151780 - 08/30/08 05:34 AM (84.67.179.94)
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Sorry, but please don't add another layer of meaningless complexity to neveron. We need to make it simpler for new people, not more difficult.
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cbtgod
Major
Reged: 12/14/05
Posts: 1395
Loc: IN A BOX UNDER A HOUSE
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Re: A thought: heroic soldiers
[Re: mattbuck]
#151783 - 08/30/08 06:50 AM (97.97.246.88)
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to be honest we kind of had these untill the deedeedee skill ups? any thing -1 now a days is a nev god lol
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yes its a toad, if you didnt know that you dont know anything about cbt
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DuncanMons
Newbie
Reged: 08/28/08
Posts: 15
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Re: A thought: heroic soldiers
[Re: cbtgod]
#151785 - 08/30/08 07:17 AM (205.174.160.5)
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Fair enough. Like I said, it was just a thought.
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buc
Sergeant
Reged: 08/12/05
Posts: 156
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Re: A thought: heroic soldiers
[Re: DuncanMons]
#153367 - 01/21/09 11:59 PM (122.57.195.158)
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nice thought, just the wrong game to try and implement it - where most units are player pilotted
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