DerekPaxton DerekPaxton

Design a Trait Contest

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Design a Trait Contest

from Elemental Forums

 

I love role playing game’s (RPGs).  At its core Fallen Enchantress is half 4x strategy game and half RPG.  The best mechanics for Fallen Enchantress are applicable at an RPG and 4x level.  In particular we are trying to push the RPG side of the game so that it feels like a 4x game set in an RPG world.

There are a lot of game mechanics and implementation details (flavor) that support this focus.  But one of my favorites in Fallen Enchantress is Traits.

Traits are used in a few ways.  They are assigned to monsters and champions much as abilities are in War of Magic (at an implementation level traits are abilities, the ability system has just received a lot of new functionality to support what we need traits to do).  They are also used when you design units.  So you can design a unit with their equipment, mounts and any special traits you want to assign to them (the amount of traits and the traits you have to choose from depend on your techs).

TraitsBut my favorite use of traits is that you no longer simply add points when your champions level up.  Instead you have a random selection of traits to choose from.  Some traits are common, some are uncommon and some are rare.  They are random so that players can’t simply choose their favorites every time.  It also allows us to make traits unbalanced, rare traits can be pretty cool without making common traits useless.  And it helps make your champions more unique if one of them got some cool ability when he hit 2nd level (instead of having that trait require a min level of 10 or another balancing control).

Fallen Enchantress offers 5 random traits for the unit to pick from when they level up and the player gets to choose one.  The traits offered may depend on the traits the unit already has, for example champions that produce gildar may get traits that allow them to improve that ability.  Champions will have the ability to improve their spell casting proficiency by traits (access to spells isn’t limited to intelligence in Fallen Enchantress), to improve their stats, or to gain new skills.

We have lots of fun traits planned.  But I’m excited to hear from you so tomorrow we will be starting a Design a Trait contest.  What abilities would you like units to gain when they level up?

Watch the https://www.elementalgame.com/contest for the contest to go live tomorrow.

 

Update on 3/17/2011: Conditional Traits

One of the most interesting features of traits is that they can be conditional in Fallen Enchantress (unlike abilities).  So they can only apply in specific situations.  we currently have tags for:

vsDamaged- This trait only takes effect when you are attacking a damaged unit

vsHigher- This trait only takes effect when you are attacking a unit with a higher (whatever UnitStat is specified).

vsLower- This trait only takes effect when you are attacking a unit with a lower (whatever UnitStat is specified).

vsOtherAllegiance- This trait only takes effect when you are attacking a unit of the opposite allegiance (kingdom attacking fallen or vise versa).

vsUnitType- Unit Type is a new attribute in Fallen Enchantress, all units are either Beasts, Elementals, Twisted, Humans, Construct or Dragons.  This allows a trait to only be active when you are attacking the specified unit type.

WhenUnderPercentHitPoints- This trait is only active when the unit with it is under the specified percentage of their hit points.

xActions- This trait is only active for the specified amount of actions in tactical combat.  This is how we give Plaguestalkers a huge movement and attack boost just for their first action.

255,560 views 153 replies
Reply #151 from Elemental Forums Top

Question: Can you have a trait that is limited to a specific race?

Example: Night Attack Trait

An Army commanded by a hero (usually a wraith) with this trait has an option to attack; via a text pop-up box, an enemy army at night. During a night attack the line of sight and attack range for all units is 3 tiles.

  • For wraiths this is a common trait.
  • For other races this is a rare trait, as they prefer to engage in battle during the light of day.
Reply #152 from Elemental Forums Top

Just wanted to post these up here for any modders or if the guys at Stardock liked them.

 

Some ideas (most taken from MoM & tweaked)



Agile I-V - +2 DEX per rank. OR +1 DEX per character level.

Arcanist I-V - +2 INT per rank OR +1 INT per character level.  +1 Arcane Research per rank (or character level?) when stationed in cities.

Archivist I-V - +2 INT per rank OR +1 INT per character level.  +1 Tech Research per rank (or character level?) when stationed in cities.

Armor-Piercing I - Attacker ignores 1/4 of the defender's defense (rounded down) when attacking.

Armor-Piercing II - Attacker ignores 1/2 of the defender's defense (rounded down) when attacking.

Arms Master - Adds 1 experience point per turn (per level of the hero) to all regular units in the same stack as the hero at the end of every turn.

Bastion - +1 defense / two hero levels to all allied regular units on the battlefield.  Only the highest Bastion bonus applies.

Conservant I - Spells only cost 3/4 of their listed mana.  Natural casters only.

Conservant II - Spells only cost 1/2 of their listed mana.  Natural casters only.

Endurance I-V - +2 CON per rank. OR +1 CON per character level.

Weaponmaster - Increases hero's weapon speed by one / 2 levels of the hero.

Toughness I-V - Increases HP by 5 (10?) per rank.

Forester I-V - +1/rank to attack in forests / swamps.  +1/rank movement thru forests / swamps.  +1 movement in forests / swamps for all units in stack.

Leadership - +1 attack / per two hero levels to all allied regular units on the battlefield.  Only the highest Leadership bonus applies.

Legendary - The hero adds 1 point of prestige / season to the city it is stationed in for every 2 levels.  Also decreases hiring costs for other heroes.

Logistics I-III - Adds +1/rank movement to all units in stack, up to the hero's movement rank.

Lucky I-III - +1 Attack, Defense, HP, Speed & Dodge per rank.

Persuasive I-V - +2 CHA per rank. OR +1 CHA per character level.

Prowess - +1 Attack per hero level.

Stalwart - +1 Defense per hero level.

Elusive - +1 Dodge per hero level.

Mighty I-V - +2 STR per rank. OR +1 STR per character level.

Mountaineer I-V - +1/rank to attack in hills & mountains.  +1/rank movement thru hills & mountains. +1 movement in hills & mountains for all units in stack.

Field Healer - Heals 20% of damage sustained in combat, per season, for all units in stack.  Doesn't stack w/ normal healing in area of influence.

Noble - +2 Gildar per season.  No maintenance for units in stack while outside area of influence.

Pathfinding I-III - +1 movement per rank.

Sagacious - Increases Arcane & Tech research by +1 / hero level.  OR Increases Arcane & Tech output of city by 20% when stationed in said city.

Scout I-V - +1 Line of Sight per rank.

Unyielding I - Defender ignores 1/4 of the attacker's attack (rounded down) while defending.

Unyielding II - Defender ignores 1/2 of the attacker's attack (rounded down) while defending.

Curtains - Customize Windows with additional styles
Reply #153 from Elemental Forums Top

I must say I love the new traits system for when your hero levels.  It is reminiscent of HoMM and I love that you can really specialize a hero this way.