Spells not for everyone

from Elemental Forums

Something I'd like to see very much is that there are spells that are unique to a particular nation. Not because it is pre-programmed, but because spells available for research are determined randomly and different nations end up with different sets of spells (naturally different each game). Trading spell knowledge or/and stealing spell knowledge (when conquering cities) for example would become more meaningful, and knowing what spells are available to a different nation can change my strategy (rather than acting on the assumption that mostly all my spells are also available to all others).

14,368 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I like this idea. Sword of the Stars did a decent job with a random tech tree. Sometimes you would not have access to certain techs. This was annoying at times since technology is driven by need. So in that game sometimes you can't ever research Point Defense, which is silly since people would naturally come up with a counter for things like missiles, fighters, etc.

 

You could get 'hidden' techs from certain things like salvaging an enemy ship, so that was neat.

 

I think it would be cool for an Elemental game to have things like really unique spells that you could only earn from a quest, exploring, etc. It would be lots of fun and add new meaning to the adventure side of the game. Imagine a quest coming up where you hear a rumor of a lost tome of magical knowledge, and you can try to find it through a series of missions, with the reward being a spell that you can't get anywhere else.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I would like to see NPCs gain value by learning feats, spells and getting perks from quests. With the new NPC system, it should be a matter of creativity more than anything else. This has all the trappings of a group mod. 

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Agreed, I too would like to see spells or spell books that are unique to a specific race/fraction.

Example: From game start the Tarthans could have access to a Book of Nature while Wraiths may have access to a Book of Necromancy. Other races could access these spells but they would have to research: Expert Spell Books and then Research the specific Book.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I'll be putting back the Unique Units from ExpandedFactions as national summons in FE. The initial goal would be 2 summons per faction for the 10 original factions, and they'd share summons with one expanded faction as well.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

See the Magic Journal.

1. The Death Worship faction trait already grants you a unique spell book. I hope they add a Life version as well.

2. There are quest given spells.

3.There are random tech given spellbooks, but ya these do seem lackluster to me.

 

Since they are adding more spells I hope when you get those spell unlocking traits they only unlock a random 2/3 of spells for that champion instead of all of them. That way champions are unique.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

It would be nice if questing presented a whole different set of spellbooks at level 5. These books would be one per game and impossible to get through the magic tree.

Spells should be a commodity traded between friends. It would really help justify the diplomacy tree.