Campaign Mode?

[Jeru]

Maybe. As I said, it's a long time off - We need to finish the game first.

[Silver]

Maybe. As I said, it's a long time off - We need to finish the game first.

Will you release the finished game without the tutorial and create the tutorial at some point?

How will that work?

[Jeru]

I meant we need to finish more fundamental areas of the game first. We still have a lot of floors to build in this skyscraper before we can decide about the specifics of the door and lobby.

[plumo]

There are a lot of possibilities for campaigns, because of the 6 factions.

I do hope that the designers try to be original : there are many games where you have a Roman campaign or where you play as Alexander the Great.

More interesting for me:

Iberian Guerrilla wars against romans ( defense of Numantia, etc...)

Punic wars ( 1, 2 or 3)

Imagine a scenario: "siege of Carthage" Imagine the scale of the siege: anyone remembers the scenario for Age of Empires I where you had to attack Syracuse and 'rescue' archimedes. The romans outside the city and inside the docks, where they built a catapult to wreck havoc upon the city. The cartagenians had to watch from Barca Palace, their main stronghold.

Can't wait!

[Sophokles]

This thread got me thinking: if the menu of campaigns was that of food, what would it look like?

Appetizer: Minoan(Greek) A little village building tutorial.

Now something to get you going:

Starter: Siege of Carthage(Roman) Short and quick

Time for heavier stuff:

Entree: Trojan War(Greek) Long, mythic, epic

Entree: Golden Age of Athens(Greek) Short but grand

Entree: Dream of Xerxes(Persian) Medium in length. Of course, defeat is inevitable.

And now we come to our highlight:

Main course: Roman Republic(Rome) Epic, long, decision-based, and grand with a capital Γ

A clincher:

4th course: Gallic Wars(Celt) Kind of short but action-packed.

And finally, a sweet dessert:

Dessert: The Guns of Navarone(Greek) What do you think?

How about a digestif?

Digestif: Defense of Spain(Iberian) Medium in length, light, Roman pwnage(of course)

[plumo]

Typically your main dish is the Roman empire, I find this very frustrating there are dozens of opportunities and games to play as rome.

What about:

The Rise and Fall of the Celts:

Rise

--> Plunder campaign on the Hellenes

--> Into north Italy, ...

Fall

--> Defend Alesia against Caesar

--> Defend the British coast against Caesar

[Sophokles]

I admit it, I am biased.

So what do you all think about the rest?

[plumo]

You shouldn't feel guilty , a lot of people want to play as romans ( check 'who you want to play first" thread")

I like your ideas, but I would not prefer it to be a ""menu"", with the Roman campaign as main course. I'd rather see different campaigns of equal importance, like in Age of Empires II.

Battles of the conquerors can also be interesting to bundle different scenario's

[Sophokles]

Are they all truly equal? Think about it. I'm afraid there isn't enough material for the Iberians. I'm surprised they're even being included. Fate favored Rome and Hellas in terms of epicness. For that reason, it would be a gross distortion of history to make all the campaigns the same size.

BTW, don't include anything about the Guns of Navarone in the game. Just an obscure joke.

Edited September 14, 2009 by Sophokles

[plumo]

I believe there is enough for the Iberians.

They marched with Hannibal to Italy,

Their struggles against Rome, ...

[oshron]

i think a good choice for a learning campaign would be one focusing on Philip of Macedon, Alexander's father, who turned Macedon into a great power and unified the Greek city-states. this would allow for building up an economy, constructing buildings, engaging in combat, and seizing territories.

as for campaigns beyond that, i would recommend one for each civilization focusing on a different point in that faction's history, like a Carthaginian campaign would focus on Hannibal's attempted conquest of Rome, because, while he ultimately lost the war, he won pretty much every battle he was in, and it would allow for a number of different factions to appear as well besides just the romans and carthaginians. the OBVIOUS for the Hellenes would be either the wars with persia up to the Battle of Salamis(with the second-to-last one being the latter half of thermopylae with leonidas and the 300 dying in an end cinematic, and the first or at least one of the earlier ones being the Battle of Marathon) or Alexander's campaigns much like how the last half of the Greek campaign in Empire Earth went, but giving some more detail and more battles, like his campaigns in India as well and ultimately ending with an end cinematic in which Alexander dies.

for a Celtic campaign, you could maybe go for a bit of a stretch and base it on Arthurian legends, or it could maybe be alternative history in which Boudicca successfully repels the Romans and then just bullshit the rest of the way through it

[BadassTester]

talk is cheap, let's create some campaigns already

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

Greetings Humans, it has been quite some time since I last visited this site.

If Wildfire Games still plans on releasing a comprehensive editor with the game then my Lord may just take it upon himself to make his own campaign. Perhaps he will even assemble a team of cohorts to assist him.

[buggy123]

It's going to be hard to make a campaign when there's no AI. I think what you should can do at this stage is to "plan" out ur scenarios on paper and such

[Sophokles]

10. X=PLAYER'S NAME

20. IF X=lolimgonnapwnUall, GAME OVER FOR PLAYER, ELSE GO TO 30

30. SURRENDER

END

BASIC does have a purpose after all: making quick and efficient artificial intelligence.

[plumo]

Scenario: Delenda est Carthago

Third Punic war: Siege of Carthage 146 AD

The Carthaginians fiercely defend their capital against the Romans under command of Scipio and his Numidian allies. The struggle between Rome and Carthage had defined much of the history of the Western Mediterranean Sea for hundreds of years.

Roman Starting position: ( check map)

The Romans have built extensive fortifications on the Western side, where the city is defended by a triple layer of walls. Numidian cavalry roam the western countryside and plunder the fields and pastures. The Roman fleet controlled the Sea and were able to invade and hold the docks, where they erected a catapult on the roof of the arsenal, thus firing continuously on the massive city.

40.000 troops +/-

TRIGGERS:

- Receive every X minutes reinforcements from Rome.

Carthaginian Positions: ( check map)

The carthaginians defend their city from Byrsa palace, on a hill. The population helps them defend the city. Temples continuously sacrifice children to Bhaal- Moloch. They still have elephants in their stables; close to the docks. If they can reconquer the docks, the Romans will have to attack the landside, which is practically impossible.

+/- 300.000 inhabitants

- Perhaps a system of sacrifice? A Temple that 'spawns' armed populace, ... or a new unit: Priest of Baal-Moloch ( special unit - only accessible through editor) giving units an attack speed bonus ( rage).

Edited October 24, 2009 by plumo

[buggy123]

Interesting. Though I'm sure that it will have to be scaled down somewhat. I assume there will be 3 factions in this one? (Numidian being a minor faction)

[plumo]

Well. I think it would be more interesting ( triggerwise) for example to add more:

ATTACKERS:

Numidians: AI

- Commander: Massinissa

- Regiments of light cavalry, fast and agile.

Romans ( divided into 2 groups)

Roman navy brings reinforcements, not much else because Carthaginian navy is almost destroyed.

Rome at that time had +/- 400.000 inhabitants and allies: high population so many reinforcements were sent.

Roman Army - you

commander: Scipio Aemilianus

The romans had besieged the city for 2 unsuccesful years due to poor commanders. Scipio were to change all of this.

Roman Navy - AI

Reinforcements and occasionally ''bombard'' the city...

DEFENDERS:

Carthage ( AI - the non-military buildings and walls f.e.)

Carthaginian Militia ( AI)

Perhaps a trigger, whenever a house or building ( not a wall) is destroyed it spawns additional militia ( cfr. age of mythology , hades I think)

Cartgaginian Army (AI)

- commander: Hasdrubal the Boeotarch

- some elephants, Sacred Band infantery, Baal Priests, infantry, ...

Edited October 25, 2009 by plumo

[buggy123]

I think there should be a way to eliminate the Numidian Harassment for the Carthaginians. Maybe destroy the Numidian Camp?

EDIT: Ooops

Edited October 27, 2009 by buggy123

[plumo]

Numidians fought along with the ROmans against Carthage

[Random_Freak]

Perhaps a trigger, whenever a house or building ( not a wall) is destroyed it spawns additional militia ( cfr. age of mythology , hades I think)

Poseidon actually not hades

[buggy123]

Oops, typo. I meant to say Carthaginians, not Romans

[plumo]

Perhaps adding a trigger where the Numidians withdraw their troops if you lose the docks ( playing as romans) because they think that the power of Rome isn't that strong anymore.

[buggy123]

IF the Romans lose the Dock shouldn't it be game over? Without continuous reinforcements it will impossible to take down the city

[Teddy]

The top goal of a tutorial campaign is to let complete novices learn how to play the game as easily as possible. That means eliminating unnecessary complexity, like Sophokles mentioned, and starting from the absolute very basics, which might entail having a narrator hold the user's hand and order them around, at least at the beginning. (I am in college and unfortunately I see bad teaching every day )

So although we want the game to be fun for experienced RTS players, the tutorial campaign is not the place to accomplish that. This goal is better served in other campaigns that might be bundled with the game, in user-generated scenarios and campaigns, and in multiplayer gameplay.

Why dawn of civilization and not the fall of Rome? Teaching the game should start with teaching how to manage the simplest units, like civilians, in the earliest phase of settlements, which is a village. From there the user will learn about towns, cities, building armies and such. The dawn of a civilization is a good historical background for this.

There's no word yet on the number of scenarios in the campaign. Maybe we'll manage to bundle it all into one scenario, but that's a long time off.

I know this is very late of a reply..but I quite honestly would love to start at the fall of room where you are about to die..maybe do the whole your friends are about to backstab you and everything..just right there it will act as a placement test..depending on how long you live and what actions you do will set your goal..once it all falls you and your advisor manage to escape or they are exiled anyways they go to some unknown area where you find a wife..then you establish a city and what not. After that you build up your empire. After the skill analyses and you get married and start up a town or whatever you get the option to learn everything or just what you don't know.