[0.914 - SUGGESTION] Thoughts on the current Magic system and moving forward
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So, at this point, I think the game is getting pretty well dialed in, is very stable, moderately well balanced, and pretty close to fun.
Aside from the consistently weak starting points (widely discussed), and the city leveling system (being addressed in Beta 4), the currently implemented Magic system is still very bland and dis-interesting. There are a handful of reasons why.
- The current Magic system lacks information - Even in the Hierge-whatever, the giant list of all spells doesn't say word one about WHICH level of WHICH elements of magic you need to have to be able to cast it. Additionally, when you level up it tells you "Choosing Apprentice level Fire talent gives you Flame Dart and some other stuff". That doesn't even SOUND interesting.
- The current Magic system lacks Choice - Every single time you choose Apprentice level Fire talent, you get exactly the same set of spells. I can't tell you which of these exactly they are, because I have no way of knowing aside from creating a sovereign with only fire and levelling them up to catalog the information. Regardless, the closest thing that the Magic system currently has regarding magic choices is IF you want to level your spell talent, and IF you want to research one of the magic tree's apparently random "Book of [Insert Noun Here]" to gain 3 more spells.
- The current Magic system lacks Exclusivity - When creating your sovereign, your spell choices aren't really all that indicative of what sort of game you are going to play. Your champions have every bit the same capacity to become as good of casters as your sovereign, and because they can just as easily come with Air, Earth, and Fire as anything else, the only reason to put a particular school on your sovereign is because it has spells your playstyle can't live without.
- The current Magic system lacks logical limitations on strategic spells - This is a pretty broad category, but briefly listed; Strategic spells can be cast either in your ZoC or wherever you have previously seen before. Enemy sovereigns appear to be able to cast Strategic spells wherever they like, even if you have never before met them (let alone are currently at war). Strategic spells seem to have no limitation on how many you can cast a turn, except for some spells which you just can't cast more than once. These spells don't appear to have any indication that is the case, it simply is.
- The current Magic system lacks meaningful spells at every level - Depending upon the type of game you are playing, and the type of caster who is learning the talent, there may not be any purpose to even choosing to level up a spell skill, and if you do, you are not always rewarded with anything.
- Your Sovereign is "just another caster" under the current rules - These are the people who are the movers and shakers. The ones who are able to shape destiny to their will. How is it that unless you choose to make them more powerful casters BY DESIGN, they are not one jot different from government-issue-1-H-champion-schmoe that they picked up on the roadside for 100 Gold? Why are those champions not out there pulling together factions and waging a holy war? Really dilutes the impact of having a sovereign per game story.
- The current Elemental Shard system waters down the early game spell skill choices - So your sovereign is a Master fire mage? Doesn't matter if you only find Air shards. The number of spells whose overall impact relies largely upon what kind of shards you find, and the inability to actually do anything to change the shards you do have help to work against playing the "be a badass caster" game.
- There are very few "You can use magic so you can cast these" spells - There should be a good set of general Utility spells available to your caster regardless of what schools they choose. I know that 3/4 of the way up the magic tree there are a small handful, but if you aren't playing the magic game then you will never see them except by accident.
- Levelling up magic is Random - How can you plan to play the "My sovereign is an awesome caster" game if they don't start getting any opportunities to improve their caster rank until Level 5, and then when they do it is for the wrong school?
Proposals: Some of the below will be indicative of the current system, but inform how I feel the system could be improved overall. If the Devs see fit to use any and all of these suggestions they are welcome to without payment or acknowledgement to me.
- There need to be Five general types of spells.
- Tactical Spells - Spells cast while in combat with effects that end when combat does. This includes Tactical Summoning spells where the summoned create vanishes after combat whether it is killed or not.
- Unit Enchantments - Spells cast upon units in Strategic mode to enhance units. These spells come with a maintenance cost and remain active while the cost is paid.
- City Enchantments - Spells cast upon cities to buff or debuff.
- Overland Spells - Powerful Enchantments that effect the entire world, or have a one-time impact on the game world in Strategic mode.
- Overland summoning - These spells bring units into play to be used over the course of many turns with a mana upkeep cost.
- In order to properly distinguish Sovereigns as the significant magical creatures they are, Overland Summoning (except in some specific Champion-Unique-Ability cases), Overland Spells, and City Enchantments should be made Sovereign Only. That way, the spell skills you choose at the beginning of the game have meaning beyond your initial ability to use Flame Dart or Heal. Champions with magic should be limited to Tactical and Unit Enchantments to show that while they can cast spells, they don;t have the World-Bending power of the Sovereigns.
- In order to make the above work properly, Every single level of spell skill needs to have something interesting and useful from a Unit Enchantment or Tactical impact standpoint. Currently, that isn't really the case, and I often find that despite having a level in Earth, my champions can't do anything really useful except "Hit them with their Hammer". Why would I care enough to work on their magic if I have to waste three or more levels hoping to have the consecutive opportunity to improve the school(s) you want to improve?
- Spells need to be CHOSEN, and not given. Because this game focuses on researching Tech and not Spells (Because the Dual Research system of EWoM was cumbersome, and I am glad it is gone), Spells need to be chosen a different way. Why not utilize the tried-and-true skill tree method?
- For instance; Sovereigns get 2 Spell points to spend every level, plus more if they choose the "Research Spells" level improvement. Champions only get spell points if they choose the level up which gives them points (they aren't natural casters, after all).
- You need to have X number of spells chosen in Fire before you gain the ability to choose Apprentice level spells, but you may continue learning Novice level spells to improve your ability if there are no Apprentice spells which interest you.
- This system would enable you to craft the Sovereign and Champions that you WANT to play instead of hoping you get to play a caster and having to choose talents which do not support your choice of play style.
- This system would also clearly indicate to the player EXACTLY what types of spells they will have available to them, and EXACTLY how to get there in terms of Magic Tech research and Spell Point spending.
- There should be a set of basic "Arcane" spells available to all casters, which include basic Dispels, +Resist enchantments, Transmute Shard (at a very high level), and other such.
- Elemental Shards should do something other than just +1 to [insert spell effect here] per shard - Depending upon the spell, they should reduce the casting cost (overland spells), reduce the per-turn maintenance (Overland Summoning spells), Add to the Damage OR reduce the Cost of tactical combat spells, depending upon the type. They could also add 1 Spell Skill of the appropriate type to the Sovereign when they level (or 1 for every 2 shards) to indicate the sovereigns drawing power from their shards. Because Elemental Shards are random, and you are not guaranteed to even SEE they types of shards for the schools you are playing with while they would matter, Spells ought to be plenty good without them, and receive benefits indicative of what type of spell they are (Tactical, Overland, Etc) instead of just making their effects stronger.
- As an aside, this system enables there to be Tactical damage spells which without shards are essentially the same, but become diverse based upon how many shards you have (One gets stronger while the other gets cheaper).
I could go into more detail about specifically what types of new spells need made, but really, it is more important to focus on making the fundamentals of the system strong than it is to highlight which Earth spell does what in particular and for what cost.
Perfectly put, and karma for the eloquence.