Suggestion about random events

from Elemental Forums

From what I've seen, and I've played through the game numerous times, random events aren't so much random (as in random chance of good or bad things happening), and more or less just bad. Almost every single random event is pretty much just bad for your faction, the skeletons appearing, the syndicate uprising, the plague, etc. They have no positive side, except a little XP and maybe an item for defeating something... but it's not worth it at all.
Even the not "terrible" random events have pretty big negative aspects to them, like being at war with everyone in the season of blood (can work out to your benefit if you play it right, but still, it tends to do more harm than good), or Bacco the Beggar, who in the duel, if you aren't using a fighter type sovereign, can kill you, and then half your mana=gone.
These are random events, not horrible events, so I would suggest adding some purely positive one, maybe like a bountiful harvest (bonus to growth for "x" turns), or something similar, and maybe some that are both good and bad. I'm not saying remove the bad ones, just add some good ones as well, because as it stands I almost want to just turn them off, because they've ended up screwing me hard more often than not (particularly the "skeletons everywhere" one at early game).

Other than that, great game. No other major complaints.
 - Thanks

126,057 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I hate random events in any game that are not in some way linked to the players actions.  They are a meaningless waste of time, and a rude interruption to the game play.  Glad they gave us the option to turn them off. :)

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I do actually like them, I thought Endless Space, for instance, brought in random events very well. I don't think random events are necessarily supposed to be interruptions. Some of them could certainly be, but there should also be plenty that don't interrupt the general game by unleashing hordes of skeletons on everything (well only you, really, the AI's don't seem to be affected)... But I see your point, the ones in Legendary Heroes are almost all interruptions. Just about every single one requires you to stop whatever it is your doing and deal with the event, and they shouldn't all be that way.

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

Imo, random events need a bit of a revamp.

  • A random event should be global. Always! No one faction should have a greater chance at being the target of a random event, for good or for ill. That means that all AI players should receive the same potential of targeted random events as the player does.
  • There should also be good random events to be had as well as bad and always variable depending on your faction position and alignment.
  • All random events should be kicked off with a cutscene screen. Always.

Here are are the random events RIGHT out of MoM...since its abandonia:

  1. Bad Moon: A blood red, evil moon appears in the night skies of Arcanus and Myrror, increasing the magic power that flows from evil temples, those owned by practitioners of death magic, by 50%. At the same time, the magic power flowing from good temples, those owned by practitioners of life magic, decreases to half its usual amount. There is a 5% probability of the event ending every game turn.
  2. Conjunction: The skies over Arcanus and Myrror occasionally exhibit an unusual phenomenon: triads of stars of similar color (red, blue or green) appear to rise in the skies. When they do, the dominant color of the stars in the triad mysteriously influences the magic nodes on the worlds, doubling the magic power obtained from nodes of the same color as the stars and halving the magic power emanating from all other nodes. There is a 5% probability every game turn that this phenomenon ends.
  3. Depletion: Occasionally deposits of minerals are depleted. When this happens, the mineral disappears from the land, never again to contribute to the local town’s resources.
  4. Diplomatic Marriage: The ruler of a neutral city appears, bearing an offer for unity through a diplomatic marriage. If you agree, the neutral city becomes yours. (obviously for this one, we would need minor factions to be created, which imo would be AWESOME)
  5. Disjunction: On rare occasions, a massive flux of energy from an asyet-unidentified source tears asunder the fabric of magic itself! Well, it need hardly be said that the consequences of this event are disastrous, as wizards see all their hard-placed global enchantments destroyed along with the woven threads of magic.

  6. Earthquake: While most of the earthquakes on Arcanus and Myrror are due to wizardly feuds, the odd earthquake occasionally happens naturally, with effects transpiring in the same manner as the spell (see earthquake in the Spellbook supplement).

  7.  The Gift: A god offers a powerful ancient relic to a wizard.

  8. Good Moon: A pure silver moon appears in the night skies of Arcanus and Myrror, increasing the magic power that flows from good temples by 50%. At the same time, the magic power flowing from evil temples decreases to half its usual amount. There is a 5% probability every game turn of ending the event.

  9.  Great Meteor: An enormous meteor strikes a city, with consequences like those following the casting of call the void (see the Spellbook supplement).

  10. Mana Short: All sources of magic power dry up completely. No player can draw magic power from any source during a mana short. Note that enchantments and fantastic creatures that require mana for maintenance still require it during a mana short! Take care that you spend the magic power from your reserves carefully during this event. Every turn there is a 5% probability that the event ends.

  11. New Minerals: A new mineral source is discovered near a city. Potential new minerals include coal, gold, gems, mithril, adamantium and quork crystals.

  12. Piracy: Pirates stage a raid and make off with between 30% and 50% of a wizard’s gold reserves! 

  13. Plague: A virulent plague breaks out in a city, causing a loss of lives and increasing local unrest. The effects are the same as the spell pestilence (see the Spellbook supplement), except that a plague cannot be dispelled. There is a 5% probability of the plague ending every game turn.

  14. Population Boom: The population growth rate of a city doubles. There is a 5% probability every game turn that the growth rate returns to normal.

  15. Rebellion: Your local popularity in one of the cities you own plummets. Rebels seize power and the city, along with any military units there, becomes neutral. All fantastic creatures in the city are banished. 

Now, since I have not yet come across all the random events in FE, I may be suggesting some events that have already been added into the game.

Remember....cutscenes....those things bring a WORLD of difference between numbers in a game being generated and a story unfolding before your eyes!

ps...just reading through these events makes me want to spool up MoM again.....XD

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Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Indeed, there should be a big revamp.
Yeah, some of those are already in. Mostly bad ones for your faction. But yes, excellent suggestion, they should hit all players rather than just you. And some good ones to balance out the bad, otherwise I'm just turning them off.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

And yes, the introduction of minor factions/neutral cities would be bloody awesome.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gibbevex, reply 5
And yes, the introduction of minor factions/neutral cities would be bloody awesome.

ah good....in my wall of  text, wasn't sure if people would catch that little insert of mine. XD

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

This past game on Challenging I was nearly defeated by the Spider Queen event.  I had to hunker down in my two cities while I feverishly researched bigger army size and better weapons until I could defeat the Hoarder spider  and swarming (love the new mechanic, btw!) spiderlings that had spawned 4 tiles from my Capital city.  

Definitely made for a mad scramble!  Agree that it would be nice to see some beneficial events as well.

And the ideas posted above are a great start.  

As far as new minor factions, couldn't we have a new faction spring up like the Jagged Knife did in GC2 by slicing off a few dissident cities from existing factions?  Would especially make sense  with the new unrest modifiers put in place for too many cities.

Or instead of a faction watching itself be whittled down to defeat, let a certain number of remaining cities rebel in a coup d'etat  and seek peace with those who are at war with them.  "The new Emperor of Kraxis gifts you with the head of Karavox and 500 gildar to make amends for his predecessor's warlike ways."

 

 

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

I like the bad random events, they sure do ramp up the difficulty of the game tho. Especially Curgen's Revenge or whatever it's called that adds all those new tough wandering monsters.

A potential good random event could be a Golden Age that a faction enters into with added growth and prosperity. Pretty much bonuses to income, growth, and tile yields for a set number of turns.

Another random good random event could be a Independant Hero army that's neutral or friendly to the player that goes around hunting wandering monsters. Devious players can attack them and try to take their unique gear.

Faction oriented influx events- Altar could see a boost in adventurers signing up for service, and they can get a free champion, or a couple Henchmen. Resoln could hit a breakthrough in it's Death Magic research and Ceresa could be granted a random Death Magic spell. Magnar could get an Influx of Slaves event spawning a free slave army outside their capital, ready to do the Magnar's bidding. Gilden could recieve an Abundance of Armor event and Markin is given a free set of their signature Light Plate armor(If you already have better armor just sell it for extra coin, and it's still a win/win for ya). Yithril could recieve Mark of the Warlord, All current units gain the Endurance trait to represent the conditioning it takes to earn the Warlord's Mark upon them.

Anyways just some ideas.

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Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

The skeleton event wiped me out of the game. I think it happened around turn 50 (way too soon). I ended up having my capital surrounded by companies of skeletons. Since I was trying to get an early research edge, my army sucked. 

I brought my best stack to attack the temple or whatever that spawns - wish I had known what I'd be facing. hopelessly outnumbered, lost. Was being invaded by another empire at the same time, so I was rendered defenseless against an invasion. Game over. 

If I had just sat in my capital, probably would've been game over, just later. I HAD to expand or die, but that random event killed me. 

I love random events (as I saw them in FE), but when they insta-kill me it curbs my enthusiasm a bit.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Foxd1e, reply 8
Faction oriented influx events- Altar could see a boost in adventurers signing up for service, and they can get a free champion, or a couple Henchmen. Resoln could hit a breakthrough in it's Death Magic research and Ceresa could be granted a random Death Magic spell. Magnar could get an Influx of Slaves event spawning a free slave army outside their capital, ready to do the Magnar's bidding. Gilden could recieve an Abundance of Armor event and Markin is given a free set of their signature Light Plate armor(If you already have better armor just sell it for extra coin, and it's still a win/win for ya). Yithril could recieve Mark of the Warlord, All current units gain the Endurance trait to represent the conditioning it takes to earn the Warlord's Mark upon them.


Yes, this is an excellent idea. I like these quite a bit. I'd like to see several faction specific events for each base race... although I wonder how they'd work that in with custom factions... perhaps having some random events tied with certain faction traits, or your sovereign's profession...?

 

Quoting NaytchSG, reply 7
As far as new minor factions, couldn't we have a new faction spring up like the Jagged Knife did in GC2 by slicing off a few dissident cities from existing factions? Would especially make sense with the new unrest modifiers put in place for too many cities.

Or instead of a faction watching itself be whittled down to defeat, let a certain number of remaining cities rebel in a coup d'etat and seek peace with those who are at war with them. "The new Emperor of Kraxis gifts you with the head of Karavox and 500 gildar to make amends for his predecessor's warlike ways."


Heh, that would also be awesome. Would certainly make the unrest mechanic even more of something to worry about. Since as it stands its more of an inconvenience than anything else, but if you look at history, unrest like that ruined Empires. Look at Rome... A city going over say 60 or 70 percent unrest could spawn a rebel force in the city, attacking your defenders. That force could be sized depending on the general unrest of your empire... it would certainly be fun.

 


And good, I'm glad to see that in general I'm not the only one irritated at the random events = bad events.

As far as new minor factions, couldn't we have a new faction spring up like the Jagged Knife did in GC2 by slicing off a few dissident cities from existing factions?  Would especially make sense  with the new unrest modifiers put in place for too many cities.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Foxd1e, reply 8

I like the bad random events, they sure do ramp up the difficulty of the game tho. Especially Curgen's Revenge or whatever it's called that adds all those new tough wandering monsters.

A potential good random event could be a Golden Age that a faction enters into with added growth and prosperity. Pretty much bonuses to income, growth, and tile yields for a set number of turns.

Faction oriented influx events- Altar could see a boost in adventurers signing up for service, and they can get a free champion, or a couple Henchmen. Resoln could hit a breakthrough in it's Death Magic research and Ceresa could be granted a random Death Magic spell. Magnar could get an Influx of Slaves event spawning a free slave army outside their capital, ready to do the Magnar's bidding. Gilden could recieve an Abundance of Armor event and Markin is given a free set of their signature Light Plate armor(If you already have better armor just sell it for extra coin, and it's still a win/win for ya). Yithril could recieve Mark of the Warlord, All current units gain the Endurance trait to represent the conditioning it takes to earn the Warlord's Mark upon them.

Anyways just some ideas.

 

Holy cow this is awesome! Although it could be repetitive if only one faction oriented event could happen. Having 2-3 mixed up with random events (good or bad) would really be insanely good.

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

In Civ2, if you had a large empire and your capital was taken, there was a chance half your empire would rebel and break off. 

Something that spirit, random events meant to punish a vastly dominant player, would be fun both ways: as the dominant player (the game isn't boringly easy anymore!) or against them (now it's not completely hopeless). 

If there was a way to 'scale' events more, so that bad ones are skewed towards stronger player or larger empires, that would help.

Know what I want to see? A neatral faction with 2-3 cities spring up in the middle of an ocean/lake. Like Atlantis returning.

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting GFireflyE, reply 3

 Remember....cutscenes....those things bring a WORLD of difference between numbers in a game being generated and a story unfolding before your eyes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! cutscenes are the way to go.

Great list of events. They certainly could be adapted or at least used as inspiration.