Dogs of War Online

In an earlier post I told you about the major changes coming in june (see here if you don't know what I'm talking about: http://forums.dogsofwar-online.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2946).

Now that you have the broad picture I'd like to give you more details about the new game mode that will become the main mode. Please, keep in mind that this is a work in progress, things are still being developed and tested. Be aware that it is possible that some of the things I will mention in this post won't make it to the final version.

Now, about the game mode.
Requirement to enter a game :
A company of troops under the AP limit
One Hero compatible with the faction of the company (Note that Heroes are not bound to a company.)
We're still working on the AP points of the company and Heroes, just know that both will have an impact on the game.

Overview :
At the beginning of every turn, 1 Elixir sphere pops up at a random location on the battlefield, moving one unit to this spot rewards 1 Elixir point (the sphere disappears).
Killing a unit that picked up a sphere during the game makes a sphere pop up where that unit died.
There is a small (2-4 Hex) control zone at the center of each map. Controlling this zone gives one Elixir point at the end of each turn. Controlling a zone works like in KOTH.
Both player have a score similar to the one you have in DM (based on the remaining AP of your company)
There will be a turn limit, around 10.

Heroes can give orders to the troops, it's the only way for troops to receive orders.
Heroes cannot receive order.
Each Hero has an ultimate order with an activation constraint, most likely it will consume a small quantity of Elixir, but we also have other ideas, don't be surprised if it ends up working differently.
Each Hero has unique skills that requires Elixir.

Note that : Heroes also have “classic” skills and traits that don't require Elixir, of course.

Victory/defeat conditions :
The first player to collect a specific amount of Elixir (set at 7 as of now but still subject to change) will win the game. Killing the Opponent's Hero will also be a way of achieving victory, either as a victory condition by itself or because it will give you a lot of Elixir point (still being tested).

In case of draws (both Heroes are dead, both players have reached 7 Elixir or more, etc.) we'll first look at how many Elixir both players have, the winner will be the one with the most, and then if everything is still tied, we'll look at the Army AP% score. And if it's still a tie, then it's a tie.

So, that's about it. Obviously we still have a lot of balancing and tweaking to do, but meanwhile, we'd love to hear what you think about it.

Looks very similar to Confrontation 4 (CaotR) mechanics - the main difference is current Elixir limit and dying hero behavior...

i assume that you Devs knew how it worked in C4 but i'll write for ones that don't knew...

So in Confrontation:AotR - game was also played for Elixir points that could be get from objectives (i dont have rulebook in work but i give 70% that up to 20 epixir points) and each Hero had his own Elixir point Value
This stat worked in two ways - Hero could be ressurected for that many elixirs and if killed BY A HERO - provided his value to the opponent elixir pool.

For the Dogs of War i would Vote for something similar - different Elixir Value for each hero
if killed by another hero it should provide full Elixir Value to opponent
if killed by regular units should provide full or half (depending on devs decision and tests)
but this value should be between 30 and 60% of tootal needed for Victory condition.

So In game up to 7 points heros should have Value 2-4 in case game up to 10: 3-6 and it should be ok.

Edit:

1 Elixir sphere pops up at a random location on the battlefield,

but im afraid of that feature - how much random? totally random? like 5 times in a row in enemy deployment?
KotH + Vip + Deatmatch looks nice all in one but this point makes me nervous

I got to be honest, this really doesn't excite me very much at all. Things popping up around the level determining who wins and what my hero can do - it just sounds as far away from what drew me to this game as it can get. I hope this helps keep the game alive and isn't the equivalent of pre-painted plastics in the original Confrontation.

I assume your research showed that DM was what made the game so unbalanced for new players vs old players, but it's really what I loved about this game. I'm fine with the hero's and them giving orders, but taking away DM in my humble opinion is just a bad idea (it is what I enjoyed about the game and without it, I'm just not sure how interested I will be in playing).

I just don't see why you couldn't have done something where the game is about killing everyone's units and if at the end of turn 10 or whatever, if someone hasn't killed everyone's units, you use all of this stuff to determine the winner. It's only a slight change, but it makes the world of difference, in so far as someone can't snipe your hero in turn 2 and end the game or collect all the elixirs by turn 5 and it's over (this just bores me - I thought this was war, not: snipe or collect the Macguffins).

These are all just one persons opinions. I don't know how many people share them with me, but having lived through Rackham's pre-painted plastic folly, I'm feeling some similarities here.

If this is what you feel you need to do to stay alive, I guess you know best, but my feeling was the lack of 'stickiness' was more a result of polish and minimal content (3 armies gets boring quick), then the game dynamic.

Dragon_Warrior wrote: how much random? totally random? like 5 times in a row in enemy deployment?

It will be random but with a set of rules to keep it balanced, AND there will be the central zone AND don't forget that if you kill an ennemy unit that picked up an Elixir during the game, it will drop an Elixir. So even if you cannot reach the spot where the elixir popped first, you can still hold the center and/or kill the enemy "Elixir" units to get Elixir.

Hod - IMO this new concept can be really close to DM as long random pop-ups will dissapear or wont't be random (for example elixir will appear as red marker at the middle game line, after one turn will become blue, and after another turn will turn green that could be aquired). The problem is to draw the tootal number of elixirs high enough to block winning before turn 3 or 4.

So to follow your DM like conception - game up to 20 elixirs, 1 elixir per turn per KotH, 1 elixir per turn per pop-ups (but i would prefere more interesting map objectives) and lets say 5-10 elixirs for killing enemy hero (10 for strongest ones, 6 for cheapest)... So You still have at least 5 turns before someone can win

But for me optimal would be game up to (7)/10 and only 1 elixir per KotH and (2-4)/3-6 for eliminating enemy hero. So still at least 4 turns of gameplay even when one player will maximise his result by killing strongest hero and holding map centre each turn.

edit

AND don't forget that if you kill an ennemy unit that picked up an Elixir during the game, it will drop an Elixir. So even if you cannot reach the spot where the elixir popped first, you can still hold the center and/or kill the enemy "Elixir" units to get Elixir.

ok i forgot about this point indeed - but this leads to another question - a unit can keep more than one Elixir at the time?

edit2

that DM was what made the game so unbalanced for new players vs old players, but it's really what I loved about this game.

+10 It is great feature that skill (not apm not conection speed or army build) is most important now.

What about if every hero cost the same (and so their free) and you just buy unit composition?
This would help devs to made every hero the same strenght.

This would help devs to made every hero the same strenght.

Imo this would be hard as hell to make all heroes even

Dragon_Warrior wrote:another question - a unit can keep more than one Elixir at the time?

Units won't actually "keep" the Elixir. Once a unit pick an Elixir, the owner of this unit receives an Elixir point and the units is marked with an Elixir symbol. Killing this unit will make an Elixir pop where it died.
If the same unit picks up several Elixir during the game, if it dies, only one Elixir will pop.

Is there going to be a whole new tutorial system? Because this just got complicated - how to win - and throwing new players into this without a thorough explanation and then play-testing on their own against AI; they are going to be lost and quit much quicker than it was just DM, KoTH, VIP (games modes everyone is familiar with, even though new players still complained about not understanding KoTH and VIP).

Hod wrote:Is there going to be a whole new tutorial system?

Yes, there will be. As we'll have just one main mode, it will be easier to explain it in the tutorial.