Demanding Pretender.

[K]

Certain pretenders already have events happen that relate to their demands.

Fpr example, a Dragon Pretender sometime eats cblood slaves.

There is also a Hinnon pretender that sometimes eats your units and gains Blood magic.

[Agema]

But...

...surely Dom3 is a God Game, where you are your pretender. Yes, your avatar might occasionally die, but his incorporeal spirit would still be you, passing instructions to the faithful from wherever gods hang out when their body is destroyed.

This would be in contrast to a God Game like Dwarf Fortress or The Sims, where all the characters in it are individuals you are kicking around for the fun of it, without an actual "you" in game representation form.

Hence a pretender sending out demands doesn't really make sense, except in terms of you picking a pretender chassis that has certain needs.

[HoneyBadger]

I prefer the old "pull this lever to release the untamed dragon into their fancy-schmancy living quarters" method. It requires one more dragon than your plan, but the results are much the same.

[Wrana]

Good idea, generally. At the very least it can be implemented with some more work for a game admin.

[thejeff]

But even the God isn't really a game representation of you. You have no more control of him than of other units. He still only gets 5 orders in combat and may ignore them anyway.

It's just like a God game. Although the pretender is called a god, he's just another unit.

[Poopsi]

It´s a god game in which you are an ubergod. There´s the answer about where the Dominions Pantokrator went: it´s you.


On a lighter, unrelated, and more suited to mods forum note: I really like the Tartarians which mimick existing pretenders in an undead form. I suppose there´s no way to add more? (IE: make a Moloch copy and make him summonable as a tartarian, add an undead version of other monsters, etc...

[HoneyBadger]

I would absolutely love more Tartarians-I suggested to Kristoffer the idea of underwater Tartarians-and he seemed to like it-but I've never heard anything more about it.

I love spells, etc. that give you somewhat randomized units. That's one of the most fascinating aspects of the game, to me. I hope at some point that we'll get to add to those types of spells.

[Poopsi]

"I always keep some Tartarians around to remind me the price of failure"- Kephrenotep, Ermorian lich&amateur pretender to godhood

[Wrana]

Excellent quote, Poopsi! ))
And yes, more Tartarians themed on "living" pretenders would be better. Though, of course, unique beings (such as Allfather) and mortals/liches shouldn't be included. But Dragons probably should...

[sector24]

Another idea on how this could work, perhaps each pretender would have a permanent sub-goal that would grant them a bonus. For instance the pretender titan based on Athena. Her sub-goal would be for the player to forge her The Aegis, seeing as it is her shield in Greek mythology. The bonus for owning that shield would be up to the discretion of the game host or based on the game. Something like +1 to all magic paths would be sufficiently powerful to warrant the player attempting to complete their sub-goal.

The bad part would be that every pretender choice would have to have a sub-goal and a bonus associated with them. But it might affect the player's nation design as some sub-goals would be obviously easier than others. Therefore you'd occasionally see less than optimal nations because when you factor the sub-goal in they become optimal. Just another layer of strategy to consider.

You would also have the benefit of knowing what a player's sub-goal is as soon as you see their pretender in the game. So if you're fighting Athena you will want to make The Aegis for yourself to deny them their sub-goal.

Probably too much work to implement, but fun to think about.