Sun Mar 31, 2013 7:48 pm
I know this is a really late post to this discussion, but I actually agree with the aging and reproduction on certain levels. To start off with, I realize that the game is an RPG, Squad Based, Strategy, what other genre types you wish to add to this already long explanation, sort of game. I do however think that there really is no immersion, no connection to my characters. I could just be heartless and other people really do care, but from what I've seen, I just don't get any enjoyment out of the character development. I think that some sort of automated age scales, along with the need to marry off your characters, as well as yourself, could bring a higher level of need to protect a town and your characters.
Think of this scenario in two ways:
1.) You have 10 guys, 9 are at about 10 in their skills for combat expertise and 1 guy with 20. You have formed a humble little town and have held off Hungry Bandit attacks (though not without great wounds sustained) and are more or less prospering in your village. After you were last attacked, two men collapsed from their injuries and have just now gotten up, while the rest of your men are just hanging in there. But your screwed, Dust Bandits just spotted your town and are heading towards it. You quickly rack your mind to decide what should be done. A tactical retreat is necessary. You have no women, no children, and no real connection to the men that may fall behind and die before you run into a patrolling Holy Empire unit or into a town. You leave your village and nothing bad occurs other than one guy in knocked out and is killed while you depart. You come back later to the same old town with not much different other than the loss of one life.
Sounds kind of lame in my opinion. I would know this well enough because it has happened to me countless times. No need to protect the town. No houses to protect for my characters' family, no children to make sure aren't going to get eaten, enslaved, or killed. No women are taken and enslaved to do God knows what for the Bandits. Now this is what I would like to see.
2.) Same circumstances as before, up until you run. While thinking quickly of what should be done, you take a quick look around. Seeing the children and the women who, some married some not, are running for the safety of their homes. They are counting on you, as the "main character/leader," to guide your town against impossible odds with the men that you have left at your disposal. You know some of them aren't going to make it out of this alive. Even the possibility the defense is a complete bust and you lose the game entirely. However, you stand and fight. Your best warrior cuts through a lot of them but eventually falls from his wounds and dies. You think about his children (who with great skills, as his father taught them to have) and his wife, this is enough to keep it going. To cut it short, you lose half or so of your men, but your village stands and the children/women protected.
I want to see that kind of game involvement, when decisions mean something. And the coin could have flipped on the other side as well. You could have lost still, your village looted and razed, with your women and children taken and to never be seen again. Perhaps, I'm stretching here, the game could "fast forward" to a later time when at least one child is "of age" and you will play as him if you so choose. Then, just giving my wishful thinking here, you could successfully escape the Bandit camp with a few of your pals and start a new. This part could be left out or added, it really doesn't matter, just laying out the grand scheme of things.
I normally don't blatantly come out with features for up and coming games because I understand how difficult they can be to implement, but I feel this game has sooooo much potential to be that game which combines many different sects of video game culture/features effectively. I'm not asking for a full of Crusader Kings 2 family dynasty, but maybe something as simple as but a bit more complex than what the Fable franchise does (I don't want virtual sex, this is a game not a porn site). Something that gives meaning to your characters more so than already is implemented. Basically you would have children, well all your characters would if they had a wife/husband, and the chance of a successful birth would be set at maybe 75%. Then the chance each child would grow to adulthood may be set at 50%. This would all have to be balanced out of course to ensure the game doesn't become under or over populated but those are just some numbers for you guys to ponder.
Aging, as in dying of old age, I'm not sure yet about that, perhaps have it so that, as you age, your combat skills get less effective so it becomes easier for the game to kill you. Maybe even make their health, body part health as well, less and less as they age. This will eventually lead to their death through combat or just slowing degrading them over time. At least with a system like this, an algorithm could be made which simulates it fairly easily, and it also deviates that chance of the "holy crap, my guy just died for no reason. Must have been his old age" sort of scenario. With a system like this, as their children grow up and become adults, you could easily make the transition from the old member to work on machinery or something, while the new guys are your new soldiers/caravaneers/gaurds/etc.
Sample Algorithm for Aging: (I = X < 10), (C = 10 < X < 25), (A = 25 < X < 150), (E = X > 150)
(I = Infant Age Scale), (C = Child Age Scale), (A = Adult Age Scale), (E = Elder Age Scale)
(X = Age in days)
By having a different age group for "Baby" and "Child" it could also be said that the children could be controlled by the player to do certain training-like things. Perhaps if the player wishes to see a child become better at manual labor, he/she could have that child go watch the miners work and learn. Or if you are in dire need of extra sword hands, then one could gather up their children (they would be substantially worse at fighting and have far less health) to try and hold back the invaders in a last ditch effort.
Sample Algorithm for Elder Degradation: When X > 150, then H = (P - 1/2X) + (B - 1/4X)
(X = Days over 150, Age in days), (H = Health Overall), (P = Body Parts Health), (B = Blood Count)
(X = 150 - [X > 150] = Days past the "normal lifespan" of an "adult", Character become an "Elder" now, leading to deterioration of overall survivability over time)
Please note these are all just numbers to show you a better interpretation. They are not balanced at all, just here for the ride. Now, this is likely no where near as complex as it should be, but it shouldn't be a complicated math solution to come to. It will probably be harder to find that "sweet spot" to balance the game than it will be to actually make a math equation for it.
Also, perhaps allow the stats of each child's mother and father to pass onto them. Perhaps make it so that 1/4 of the skills from the father and maybe 1/8 the skills of the mother are added and passed onto the child. There would also have to be a cap for this addition though. If your father was a level 80 attack skill and your mother 20, then the child would have 22.5 or so attacks skill. This is obviously too much for a child that will eventually grow to be an adult to have. This process, could also have a simple algorithm that could be perfected as time and patches occur to hit that "sweet spot." Not only would this give you reason to help get your characters married, it would also give you another sense of "hey, this kid was related to my best general who held off an entire Imperial Lord assault on one of my western cities." I believe it would just add an extra essence to the game, an attachment level not prevalent in the current state.
Sample Algorithm for Passing Stats: T = [({S = 1/4M} < 10) + ({S = 1/8F} < 5)] < 15
(T = Traits Overall), (S = Skills), (F = Father's Skills), (M = Mother's Skills)
So as you can see, it would limit the amount of skill transfer that the mother and father would be able to give but only if it were going to go over 10 or 5. Therefore, all together the most any skill could be raised to would be 15. Then in the adult phase, the character would be able to grow from there. Maybe even enhance this a little and allow the child to have some traits to go over that average amount and some less than that amount. Like, say for example your top warrior is having a child, perhaps because he is the best warrior in the group, he could transfer above the average allotment of 10 for his side (say maybe 15) therefore making the max attack skill for his child at birth 20. It is all just theoretical right now, just proving this could be fairly simple if worked on by a modder and passed on to Chris or if Chris ever gained the time to do so.
As for dynasty, I'm not looking for a family tree or a "keep your family alive to keep playing" thing that CK2 does. But just something that you can be proud of. "Yeah, this is my family. It has gone back since his (your "main character") grandfather first started this village and we (the "main characters" dynasty) have formed it into a nation. Even perhaps have successful heir claimants. Maybe if you have 2 children, one overthrows the other or breaks off a portion of your empire. Who knows. This is just one of those games that, I feel, could really benefit from a such immersion. Nothing too extravagant, but something to be happy about. Something to give meaning to the names, faces, skill sets, past and future, and town/nation development. I believe that if these equations were perfected, and the birth/death rates, as well as the rate of survival for child bearing and child aging, were to be enhanced properly, the game would not have an over or under abundance of life forms to interact with. Just thought I would lay it all out here right now and hopefully it will be considered by a modder or by Chris.
Thank you for your time,
Saint Praetor of the RAIN Clan
(P.S. Not physically, just... socially 
)
