idea: city, thieves guild map/mod

[paradoxharbinger]

so, i've had this idea floating around in my head for a while

i'd like to have a map/mod package that would be like warring thieves guild factions. it would be played on a city map, possibly like this where the sectors of the city are the 'provinces'. low resource and gold multipliers would mean that you would have to be very careful with your money, a single financial blunder could spell your ruin. that big bruiser you saved 3 months income to hire may not be worth giving up the 20 common thugs that you could have hired with the money.

most units are just average crossbowmen, archers, and malitia types. the different factions could specialize, one in stealth, another in brute force, etc.

stealth and assassination would also figure highly in gameplay.

also low magic, perhaps only the first 2 or 3 levels of research available, and mages commanding a high premium, possibly only available as heroes or mercenaries, and perhaps the elimination of all holy magics.

dominion would represent your autority in the city, and there would be only skeptic like preachers available.

special sites might include "the bar" which provides a moral boost to units in the district, or "the market" providing a gold bonus or "the smith" giving a resource or forging bonus. there is always "the palace" as well, which might be worth a victory point, the only one on the map, and gaining it would signal the rise of the new head of the theives guild.

a few foreseable problems off the top of my head:

pd would become overpowering, considering the low income, especially the starting district

lots of work, almost a total conversion

starting 'boss' builds could prove problematic

i'm sure there are others but my brain is sorta fried right now

lemme now what you think

[Endoperez]

If you mod the nations, you can change province defense units and how often they appear. 1 unit for every 10 points of PD is possible, at least, perhaps 0 too.

You can't mod a site to give a morale bonus. You can make a site that allows the recruitment of an immobile "barkeeper" that has encumberance 10, reinvigoration -5 and casts Fanaticism renamed into Alcoholism (99 points of fatigue).


I'm not sure if you can get rid of dominion like that. You certainly can get rid of scales, though! The scales, starting pretender and even a starting prophet can be set in the .map file. Prophets can be dealth with so that they exist in a vacuum where all dominion dies and where there is no gold tobe had (pop 0, neighbourless province with a castle in it; set defenders to few skeptics with cauldrons of broth and some militia; set the owner to the nation of the prophet housed inside).

Are you going to allow buildings? Labs, temples, forts? They can't be modded yet.

This would be lots of work, and yes, it would be a total conversion. A very total conversion! However, I like it. It already sounds very good as-is. It would be interesting if the city this was set in was called Ankh-Morpork, and if one of the playable thug cartels was named City Watch.

[HoneyBadger]

Hmmm...possible Pretenders: King of Spades (the local ghoul, produces soul-less from the corpses he steals from the local graveyard, Seduction power: undead only), King of Clubs (the toughest mug in town, favorite hobbies: breaking your right knee, breaking your left knee. Calls his lead pipe "Sheila"), King of Diamonds (Retired diamond-smuggler, fled to the city after avoiding a near capture, rumored to have swallowed entire stash, "produces" 1 earth gem per month) King of Hearts (Complete Psychopath, Called "King of Hearts" because...well...you are what you eat.)

[paradoxharbinger]

@endoperez

don't think i meant to get rid of dominion, as you said i can't be, just repurpose it. i'm thinking that it would represent the citizens disposition towards you, much like it already does, and buying dominion would represent, say, your boss's charisma. ideally i would like to see the dominion go away, so that you aren't out till your boss is dead (and he stays dead, no dominion for resurection), but that is probably just wishfull thinking.

as far as buildings go, i think each province would have to be modded for the units it has in it to say just militia or shortbowmen, possibly a thug commander - which gets rid of priests. the low gold would hopefully deter fort building, though i think it might be cool to have a new lair fort type. labs wouldnt be altogether useless, i'd still like magic to be in there a bit.

i think we would need a map a good deal larger than anything i've seen for an ankh-morpork, but supposing i had one, i would whole heartedly support it

@honeybadger

those, i like quite alot

[paradoxharbinger]

made a start, no sprites, just a few units and the skeleton of a guild faction

i don't even know if that will run, mostly just brain storming

[HoneyBadger]

thanks Paradoxharbinger.