IronKaiser

Join Date 10/2008

Faction Differentiation

What does it look like to you?

So according to the latest poll, it looks like the community agrees that faction differentiation is the most important thing for team Stardock to work on. But what does faction differentiation actually look like? That's what this thread is about. Here are my ideas:

1. Getting the personality down
Not so much an idea as a general principle, but it's got to be said first. Before we can suggest gameplay changes for the factions, we've got to know what the factions are like. In a nutshell, this is what I'd suggest the factions are/should be like:

Altar: Adventurous idealists. Want to make the world more free, just, egalitarian. Loves heroics, hates empires.
Capitar: Pragmatic merchants. Want to survive in the world as best as possible. Loves trade, hates chaos.
Pariden: Magical elitists. Wants to restore the world back to its former glory. Loves knowledge, hates ignorance.
Gilden: Honorable industrialists. Wants to build a strong kingdom. Loves principle, hates treachery.
Tarth: Isolationist ex-slaves. Wants to get revenge on their former masters. Loves freedom, hates slavery.

Kraxis: Scheming diplomats. Wants power through serpentine politics. Loves master plans, hates chaos.
Resoln: Ghostly nihilists/fatalists. Wants to transform the world into its own ghostly image. Loves death, hates life.
Umber: Conscientious settlers. Wants to build a large, righteous empire. Loves the open land, hates their origin/Curgen.
Magnar: Enslaving imperialists. Wants to rule the world. Loves glory, hates kingdoms.
Yithril: Bloodthirsty warriors. Wants to fight everything. Loves bloodshed, hates weakness.

Each of these personalities ought to be partly sympathetic and partly less so. Altar is idealistic but easily provoked. Pariden is elitist, but genuinely see themselves as the only hope for restoring the world. Tarth is independent but vengeful. Kraxis is scheming, but it was they who were first spurned by the kingdoms, and they're doing what they must to survive. Yithril loves bloody war, and is FE's Drengin, but they also appreciate the honor of the battlefield and a strong opponent. Magnar see themselves as the progenitors of the Titan's wrath and the rightful rulers of the world. And so on.

Oh, and what about the custom factions, you ask? There should be base template personalities based off of the leader's origin story trait. Of course, a custom personality could be modded into the game for a specific faction, if the creator so chooses.

2. Unique Techs/style

What I'm really getting at here isn't so much from the stats as it is the style. Some Altar swordsmen should dual-wield short swords. Tarth archers should drape themselves in the leafy camouflage of the forest. Capitar should have the shiniest silver armor of all. Gilden shouldn't use swords, but battle-axes. Pariden units should be shielded by a magical aura. Wraiths should look like wraiths, and command skeleton soldiers. Umber cavalry should ride naja, and lesser Magnar troops should have a slave master with a whip in their ranks. Kraxis units should use scimitars and flaming arrows. All factions should have some units that display the faction's banner in their own unique way. Ditto the appearance of their buildings. The -look- of the game should be radically different for each of the factions.

Custom factions by default copy the style of one of the main factions, determined by their race.

3. Unique Quests

Each faction should begin the game with a personalized quest, based upon the lore of the leader. For example, if you start the game as the Tarth, you get a mission on your first turn to hunt down Ralen the Merciless, the slavelord who was the former master of Irane and many of her people. You hunt down his last-known location, only to find an abandoned shop, a shiny new bow, and a clue to his whereabouts. Heading there, you run headfirst into Ralen's men, which should easily be dispatched by Irane and her new bow. Then you finally find Ralen, and you're given a choice. Imprison him, and your Tower of Dominion will reduce unrest by 2x the normal amount, or kill him in cold blood and earn the Gauntlets of Tarth. It'd be cool if the quests continued for every few levels the leader gained, but all I'm advocating for here is a single quest at the beginning of the game. That extra flavor should spice things up a lot and give you a feel for the story and personality of the faction and the leader.

Custom leaders should get a quest based upon their origin story trait.

4. Diplomacy
Each of the leaders should have their own painted background on the diplomacy screen. Ceresa's throne room should be adorned with skulls and coursing with raw magic, while Carrodus should be flanked by money-lenders and trade maps. Likewise, leaders should speak in their own style. If Procipinee is going to demand money from me, I want her to couch it in terms of restoring the world and doing our fair share. If Verga does the same, I want him to say "Look, we need money. Cough it up or we're gonna start crackin' skulls."

Custom leaders should get a background based on their portrait background selection, and personality based on origin story trait.

I could keep going, but this list is kinda getting large as it is. So what kind of things would you add to this list?

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Greyclouds40

As far as style goes, it would be nice to have the image of the faction painted on the shield they are using. That is one way a banner could be displayed. In groups and larger an actual banner should be assumed. The chest piece also needs the colors of the kingdom on it. That would give so much character to the units.

We had this on ships in Galciv. I would think it is possible for this game too.

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I particularly like the idea of custom quests for each faction. Here are some ideas for that:

Make a four to five tier quest-line for each faction that carries a victory condition upon completion. If the quest-line has significant bonuses for each tier completed, then it might be useful for any strategy to include the completion of a couple of tiers from that quest-line. Make the final stage of the quest-line incredibly difficult to prevent ease in completing the quest for victory. Perhaps make it so that war is declared on all factions to impede progress in the quest.

Have quest completion change the world in some small, yet noticeable ways. For instance, spread influence to the population of opposing cities or change the tileset surrounding your cities to tundra. These global changes add major distinctions to each faction that makes them immediately recognizable in each game. For example: I can see that some of my cities have the "slaver" debuff, the Magnar faction must be near and they must be siphoning some of my growth rate for their cities.

Here is one thing that I would like to add to the list:

5. Unique magic sphere summon spells at lower tiers. Since the sovereign's magical affinities limit the casting of global spells (or so I believe...) one of the priorities of the devs should be to create a diversity of low-tier summon spells for each sphere of magic. This gives more variety to the early-game, particularly since a more magic-attuned summoner could potentially beef up his/her army with low-tier summoned fodder. Some summons should inflict status-effects, like poison, immolation (a fire dot), blindness, etc. This would make them synergistic with the human-based troops in any army.

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The unique quest idea was a dev idea that has been squashed. It would add some story, but then it would be repetitive. I would rather the character of the Sov be made from general quests and the player's own imagination. The single player campaign is where specific quests and stock Sov characterization belongs. I would rather get a simple trigger to let buildings trigger quest events. Currently the only trigger is a quest location and population levels.

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I like the idea of an actual banner on the sidelines of the battlefield whenever there are trained units in the army.

Also, I wouldn't mind banners displayed on the strategic maps on top of stacks.

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I would like banners with the armies and cities and the factions insignia on there shields or armour.

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I was thinking strictly about gameplay differences (as opposed to cosmetic differences)... Things like:

Meaningful passive abilities / unique spells / unique buildings / unique tech for each faction that makes them play differently (as I posted here: https://forums.elementalgame.com/418741). There's an alternate take on passives / faction tech here that I really like too (https://forums.elementalgame.com/418855).

I like the idea of unique equipment for each of the factions (as was most recently discussed here: https://forums.elementalgame.com/418815).

Basically, the more the game could feel like Fall From Heaven 2 (in respect to faction customization and differentiation) set in an Elemental world using Elemental mechanics (which I like a lot more than their Civ counterparts), the happier I'll be.

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Lord Reliant

Join Date 03/2006

+39

A few other ideas to add to differentiation:

*Unique buildings. This should be an easy thing to add in.

*Unique spells. Should also be an easy addition.

*Better, more varied sound effects. Each faction should have some very memorable sounds to help me hear each one differently.

*Unique game mechanics. This is like what we have no with traits, but many traits simply give bonuses rather than changing the way you play. To me, this is probably one of the biggest ways to make each faction act differently. Examples of unique game mechanics for each faction:

-No upkeep costs for buildings

-Building units could be rushed by using population

-Prestige is gained on each battle won (and maybe lost if you lose a battle?)

-Growth increases based on number of shards owned

etc.

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Quoting seanw3,

reply 1

In groups and larger an actual banner should be assumed.

A commander unit with an accompanying flag bearer could be interesting. The flag bearer having some basic defense ability, while the commander has group buff traits. Requires War College.

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