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Co-op defending mechanic

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Zzzzz
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Joined: 06/20/2008

Ok,

I have a game that involves exploration and building. It also contains an NPC type of enemy, which will/may do bad things to all players. During exploration a player might reveal one of these NPC enemies, which will cause the NPC enemy to start its destructive path. The result of allowing the NPC enemy to run wild will be its ability to destroy the things a player builds during the game. There are multiple NPC enemies of differing power.

I would like to add a mechanic that forces the players to work together to destroy the NPC enemy. And it might be nice to have a way in which each individual player could defend against the NPC enemy.

My current problem, I am blocked in the creative process on this. I was thinking that maybe each player would need to sacrifice/pay some amount of resources (resources are generated each round currently), but this seems a little fiddly to me. Another thought might be during their turn each player has an option to build some type of defense/resistance to NPC enemies. As a result maybe each individual player could protect themselves. The NPC enemy would focus on destroying the weakest player first (doing this would hopefully force players to build up their defense/resistance) and once all players have a defense/resistance that is equal to the NPC power, the NPC enemy is defeated and goes away.

Ah well, as I said I am a little brain dead on this idea. Any ideas?

DSfan
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Co-op defending mechanic

I really don't know your game to well but i'll take a stab at a solution.

Expanding on the defense's idea, I think there should be different types of defenses, some having ranged capabilities (Like an obelisk, protecting all areas adjacant to it) or power capabilities (A wall could protect against an Grunt, but not a Orcish Juggernaut).

Good luck,
-Justin

nickdanger
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Co-op defending mechanic

As much as I tend to dislike blind bidding, maybe something like that would work as a group effort defense.

Say that it takes a certain amount of resources to defeat an enemy. During some kind of "defense round" each player secretly bids a number of resources. If the total is enough resources to defeat the enemy it's gone - otheriwse it keeps going. Might be nice if everyone loses their resources regardless of the outcome. Could put a little more tension in the bidding process.

Now that I wrote that, it seems vaguely familar. Hmmm... is something like that already used in some game? So hard to tell after awhile where ideas come from - you know.

sedjtroll
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Joined: 07/21/2008
Co-op defending mechanic

Sounds somewhat similar to a recent GDW entry- Terra prime, only in that game the enemy doesn't really attack everyone.

In fact, it sounds more similar to a game I'll be putting in the GDW next week, The Three Kingdoms. You can check out my journal entries if you like for more info, basically it's like Lord of the Rings in that there are Humans, Elves, and Dwarves which the players sort of control, and there are Orcs which are the common enemy that everyone can cooperate against. I too am a little stuck as to how to impliment that, as you'll see next week!

- Seth

Rick-Holzgrafe
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Co-op defending mechanic

nickdanger wrote:
is something like that already used in some game?

Yes, it's used in A Game of Thrones where all players defend against a Wildling Attack by blind-bidding. If the sum of all bids is equal to or greater than the Wildling Threat Level, then the players all win; otherwise they all lose, and all suffer damage. In either case, all players lose what they bid. The player who bid the least in a loss takes extra damage; the player who bid most in a win gets a bonus. There's a separate tie-breaking mechanism for awarding the extra damage/bonus.

IMHO this is a great mechanic. The resources you bid with are useful for several other things, and wilding attacks are unpredictable. You must keep some resource in reserve against a sudden attack, and when you bid you must worry about whether your bid will be lowest in the event of a loss.

sedjtroll
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Co-op defending mechanic

Cities and Knights of Catan is sorta similar as well... the barbarians advance, and when they arrive the number of active knights better be more than the number of cities or cities get crushed. If the players defeat the barbarians though, the one with the most knights gets a bonus.

- Seth

zaiga
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Co-op defending mechanic

nickdanger wrote:
Now that I wrote that, it seems vaguely familar. Hmmm... is something like that already used in some game? So hard to tell after awhile where ideas come from - you know.

Amun-Re has a similar blind bidding process, although the total group bid doesn't defeat a common enemy, but is used to determine the temple level, which determines the income from farmers and camels.

Bruno Faidutt's Terra also features a similar process, you all have to play a numbered card which are added up to save the world from something terrible, although that's not a blind bidding process, but a once-around-the-table action.

Zzzzz
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Joined: 06/20/2008
Co-op defending mechanic

Thanks for the ideas.

The blind bidding of resources sounds like an interesting method. I might try that out during a future playtest session.

RookieDesign
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Co-op defending mechanic

Zzzzz,

Cities and Knights of Catan use this kind of cooperation. I'm currently working on a variation of Republic of Rome.

The concept is that Senator in Rome buy army/fleet to send against wars and event. It is a very good historical game, but it is very complex. You can try to backstab other player for your personnal gain, but you have many chance of failiure.
1 - Rome Senate goes bankrupt.
2 - The population revolt due to war desaster and bad management. (To balance this you have Bread and Games)
3 - Rome face more than 3 wars and collapse.

Winning isn't that easy because the losing condition are always present. Mostly wars and civil revolt. Condition are you have a lot of influence. (Gain by occupying prestigious position at the senate or by winning wars)
Or being rebel leader in a highly unstable republic.

So in short the game is based on the cooperative play. I find it fun, but too hard for normal players. That is why I'm trying to get a scale down version without Senate and easier gameplay based on the Napoleonic Wars.

Have a good day.

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