A little like Risk, a little like Transport Tycoon, a little like
Catan, mostly a Turn-Based Strategy Game.
I want to make a game that could be a boardgame, but I'm writing
it in the computer instead because that's easier. So, I want it to be
tile based, the rules / logic to be relatively simple.
The Gist
Game starts, tiles are randomly laid facedown on the playing
surface. (Facedown shows only black)
Next, each player picks, in some sort of order, where they want to
start, and then turn that tile faceup and put their starting unit
there.
There are different types of units:
- Pedestrian
- Car
- Train
- Plane
Then there are different types of tiles:
I want more, but I can't come up with them.
The gist is that each type of tile has different properties for
each unit.
- Pedestrians can move, say, two tiles on grass, one on mountains
and desert.
- Cars can move 4 tiles on grass, 2 on mountains, 1 on desert
- Trains can move 5 tiles with a track on it, but tracks are cheap
on grass, expensive on mountains, and really expensive in desert.
- Planes can only go from airport to airport, they can go over any
tile, but the flight costs some amount per tile. The plane, for all
intents and purposes, is considered to teleport, not truly crossing
any intervening tiles. (Do the cost as the number of tiles in the
minimum path)
That's the gist.
One of the age-old questions regarding different tile-based costs
is "Does it cost to enter or exit?". I'm thinking exit.
That is, if I'm on a grass tile it costs me to move to any adjacent
tile, no matter what it is.
Oh, crap, duh. Yeah, I can't do what I did above with the "2
on grass, one on mountain" thing, because a given path may be
across different tile types. I've got to switch it to a cost based
system.
Also, I'm concerned now, because I wanted to have desserts and
mountain ranges and stuff, but it seems now like if I do it randomly
I'll just get a grass, with a mountain next to it, and some desert
next to that.
I may have to rethink the world-generation.
Anyway, so, then people can put stuff on tiles:
- Airport (Only on grass)
- Train-track (Anywhere, but costs more depending on tile)
- Resource Gathering Building:
- Fence
- Gate
So, the airport is where planes can go to and from. The train
track is what trains move on.
Resource gathering
The idea is that different types of resources, to build these
things, can be gotten from different tiles. A pedestrian can always,
as their turn, extract any valid resource out of a tile they're on. A
resource gathering building, though, does that automatically, and
allows that to build up. So, while a pedestrian can stand on a
mountain tile, and every turn he can add one stone to his load, that
seems like a waste. Instead, he can go there and build a resource
gathering building, then leave. Now, that building can't move, but on
every turn it accumulates a stone. This stone just stockpiles,
though, and must be picked up by another unit before it is useful.
There are no rules that say that another player's units can't take
resources from the stockpile on my building. In general, resource
buildings are not owned.
Fences
Since I may want to protect some resource, or establish a border
for my micronation, I need to erect fences. Units may pass through a
fence, if they could otherwise travel on that space, but it breaks
their progress. Specifically, a pedestrian may not move through a
fence, they must walk to the fence, then walk away from the fence
next turn. A car, I think, can drive to a fence normally, but while
on a fence, can only move 1 tile, then may move normally.
(Essentially, taking an extra turn) Trains can't go there, since you
can't build a track and a fence on the same tile. Planes are
unaffected by fences.
Gates
These allow units of the owner's choosing to pass through them
normally. Any other units treat it as a fence. This allows one player
to put a fence around their area to protect it, but still not disturb
their own transit. The part about the owner's choosing is to allow
for allegiances involving open borders. Or, alternatively, a player
could exact a tax on another player, asking them for some bounty in
exchange for free passage on this turn. If the player refuses, then
they treat it as a fence.
Resources and Building
There are no banks in my system. Resource tiles never enter a
players possession, they all stay on the board and are carried about
by units.
A unit may, for free during their turn, place resources they carry
onto any adjacent tile, or pickup resources from any adjacent tile.
To build either a building or a unit, the player uses their units
to assemble the necessary cost onto a tile and then an adjacent
pedestrian uses its turn to swap those resources for a unit or
building. I would say a unit doesn't get any actions on the turn it's
created.
So, potentially tedious, but the gist is that one must, over some
series of turns, carry the resources from one place to the target
location in order to build there. That seems neat, though.
If two units are adjacent, they may take resources from, or place
resources on, the other unit as part of their turn. This must be
consensual, though. So, if the two units are of the same player, it's
easy. If, though, two units are from different players, then one unit
may not steal from another, or place other items on them unless the
other player allows it.
Trading
Because players never truly own resources, all trading occurs in
the metagame, which seems cool. If some player wants to trade with
another, it involves an entirely non-mechanical agreement that this
player will drop a resource somewhere this other player wants it.
Things like loans, interest, IOUs, etc can all exist just based on
players trusting one another, and agreeing on some terms.
Same is true for gates, tariffs, or tolls. One player could demand
that anyone traveling through their gates must be carrying some
resource to leave at the gate as a toll.
Another may only ask for a tariff: Any unencumbered unit may pass
freely, but any units carrying a load must leave some of it behind.
Another player may "commission" a second to build things
for them. The first player leaves some resources around, and the
second player agrees to use their units to build there.
Either way, anything one can think of, and agree on, goes, since
as far as the game is concerned, it's all just units and resources
sitting around.
Unit Cost
I think I've decided how I want to do things. Each unit starts the
turn with some amount of starting "power", and different
things have a cost. Different types of landscapes hold different
movement costs for one unit type than another.
Also, each unit type has some load rate of holding. So, a
pedestrian may lose 1 power for every two resources it carries. A car
may lose 1 power for every 4 resources.
I'd say that if a unit drops sufficient resources at any point in
their turn, they immediately gain that power back and may continue
their turn with it. Similarly, if a unit takes on sufficient
resources at any point, then they immediately lose power.
I'll also say that we mark as follows: A pedestrian loses 1 power
if it has 1-2 resources, 2 for 3-4, 4 for 5-6, etc. That way there's
no question of "If I lose every 2, but I have 3, have I lost 1
or 2?"
A unit is never allowed to pick up enough resources that they
would have less than 0 power.
Planes, I'd say, start with no power, and gain 1 power for every
"fuel" resource they consume from their hold, losing power
for every 6 resources they carry, or something. Then, the only valid
moves they can make is to immediately be placed on another airport
they would have sufficient power to reach. They may, though, pick up
and consume more fuel at their destination and then continue their
turn.
Planes may land at an airport only if permitted by the airport's
owner.
Groups
Any adjacent chain of units may be considered a group, and may all
take a single turn. They must, for the duration of that turn,
continue to be adjacent at all times, and through each move.
Every move made by any unit in the group must be valid, and stay
within the group.
Because of this, groups that are single file must zig-zag, while
double file groups may travel in a straight line.
-- -- -- -0
0- 0- 00 -0
0- -> 00 -> -0 -> -0
0- -- -- --
vs
-- -0 -0 -0 00 00 00
00 0- 00 00 -0 00 00
00 -> 00 -> 0- -> 00 -> 00 -> -0 -> 00
00 00 00 0- 0- 0- --
Also, because of the above restrictions, a group can not move
through a single gate, since that would force them to become single
file, and move in a straight line.
Each unit costs independently for each move they make, and units
with cost remaining may continue to take actions so long as the group
is maintained.
Since the units in a group take a single turn, and since there is
adjacency by definition, resources may be distributed throughout the
group instantly, so long as no individual move would reduce a unit to
a below-zero power, even temporarily.
Security
While a fence slows units down, they can't truly prevent a unit
from entering a given area.
The only way to truly prevent it is with security units.
If a group of one player's units encounters a group of another
player's units (or a single unit), it may add that unit to its group
so long as it maintains a majority of units. This unit no longer
takes its own turn, it takes a turn with the group, controlled by the
group owner, until the group owner chooses to allow the unit to be
released.
No resources may be stolen from this unit, but if the other player
is willing, they may be given up.
This allows one player to capture another player's units, and
either keep them where they are, or by escorting them back to a
border, etc.
One can, with sufficient units, make a "prison" that can
hold units.
For example:
X-X-X
-0-0-
X-X-X
This structure will always have more X units than 0, and can be
added to easily as the need arises.
If a group consisting of 5 units belonging to player A encounters
another group consisting of 3 members of player B and 2 members of
player A, player A may choose to, on their turn, add the entire other
group to their group. This would switch the balance of power form
3B2A to 7A3B, meaning the group is now A's, and the captors have
become the captives.
This feature is not only interesting for hostile purposes. If two
players are allied, they can choose to form an allied group that acts
on one of their turns, but is otherwise the same as a single-player
group.
While restricted, this is one way that one player can provide
units to another player.
Strategies
Depots
Because one must move resources from one place to build anything,
setting up a depot where one stockpiles resources can be effective.
This way, when a series of disparate resources are required, a unit
can pick them all up from the depot and take them to where they are
needed. Similarly, everyone transporting from the resource buildings
can centralize at the depot.
As the airplane can, with sufficient fuel, cross any distance
instantly, having different depots next to airports tends to be a
good idea. Also, since planes can, with sufficient fuel at each
depot, have a very long turn, it allows one to, with a single plane
in a single turn, move a bunch of stuff all over.
Unit Pipelines
While airplanes are very effective at moving resources from one
place to another, they cost resources every time you move. When one
wants to move a resource over a distance quickly, one can also
consider a unit pipeline.
The gist is that if one has a remote resource they want to bring
in to the depot every turn, they can have a series of cars or
pedestrians in a trail from the resource to the depot. At the
beginning of their turn, the first unit collects the resource from
the source, drives to the next unit, gives the resource to them, then
drives back. That next unit then does the same, and on and on it goes
until, in one round the resource has moved instantly far for free.
The issue with this, though, is that while it is free to move
resources over any distance once the pipeline exists, it's very
expensive to setup. Each unit must be built.
Then there are tradeoffs, cars are more expensive, but you may
need fewer of them because they can travel further on the given
terrain. One can build a pipeline with far fewer items if it operates
every few rounds rather than every round. For example, if the car
didn't have to worry about getting itself back home, it could go
almost twice as far, meaning about half as many units in the pipe.
But, the second turn for the pipe would then be resetting.
Etc.
Guards
A tile can hold infinite resources, so the easiest way to make a
depot is to simply pile resources on the ground. Any player's units
that can make it to the pile can take from it, though. A more secure
strategy is to have a unit who stands near the depot and is full of
resources. They can't move, and can only hold a limited number of
resources, but resources can't be stolen from them either.
An airplane, at an airport, can hold any number of resources,
given sufficient fuel. This means, though, that if one can afford
both the cost of constructing an airport and plane, and the per-turn
cost to feed the plane, then it can hold many many resources safely
with a single unit. As soon as the airplane ceases to be fed, though,
it is forced to unload all resources it can no longer hold.
World Generation
So, I think hidden random world isn't really going to give me the
kind of game I want. So, I'm thinking that either one player builds
the map, and everyone agrees to play it, or one can play a world
generation game before hand.
We start with an empty grid.
Every player's turn works as follows:
- Pick up a random tile
- The player places the random tile on the grid
- If the player places the tile, they get 1 point for every tile of
the same type adjacent to the tile they placed, and lose 1 point for
every different tile.
- The points accumulate, so the player can add to a mountain range
on this turn, which allows them to end it next turn.
- A player cannot make a move that would reduce their points to
under 0.
- Since it costs 0 points, a player can always place a tile that
isn't adjacent to anything, if there are such places left in the
grid.
- If a player can make a move, they must, and if they cannot then
they must take tiles until they can make a move.
I think this would result in the kind of world I want, large areas
of one type of tile, but still with borders and stuff. A mountain
range between these grassy areas, and a desert on the other side,
etc.
Play Order
I'm thinking that there's some order players go in, but each unit
takes a turn (with groups counting as a single unit), and that goes
around. The round is over when each player's units have gone.
So, we have 3 players, A, B, and C.
A picks one of their units and does its turn, then B picks a unit
to take its turn, then C does, then back to A if A has units left.
Game End
I honestly don't know when I want the game to end.
I'm thinking one could, like with RTS games, have different kind
of games.
I feel like even just sitting around and playing until one is done
playing could be fun, but one could also try some of these:
- First to some target value works
- First to 13 units
- First to 100 oil
- One could do capture the flag style, stuff
- Maybe capturing the king, and bringing him back to your base.
Dunno, not really my interest actually. I just wanted to make the
system.