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[axiomsofdominion]

Been doing a ton of work on the NPC AI over the last week or so. A few major refactors as well, which sucks cause it takes a day or two but doesn't immediately add anything. Usually pays off in a few weeks, though. The AI can do a few more core actions. Also Cowardly NPCs and some others will request to be a vassal which is fun. On the 102404 character map you get about 8000 immediate Pacts between characters which at least lets the Unity map mode heat up a bit.

[axiomsofdominion]

https://axiomsofdominion.substack.com/p/how-to-win-friends-and-influence?r=i2fsj&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

I've linked the post mostly because the formatting of the intra-substack links to relevant posts detailing specific things I talked about doesn't work on reddit for obvious reasons. I'm going to excerpt some sections here though as well as include some new thoughts.

Axioms Of Dominion is a strategy game I've been working on for a while. Maybe 3 years if you elide long breaks. One of the, many, unique things about Axioms is the in-depth character/social simulation. I looked at strategy adjacent games like Academagia, King Of Dragon Pass, and Kudos, and I tried to figure out how I could aggregate their systems while adding unique and more elegant stuff on top.

My goal for Axioms is to more faithfully recreate the experience of being a protagonist, antagonist, or major supporting character on either side, of a speculative fiction story. Fantasy, science fantasy, historical fiction, etc. On top of a strategy layer that allows for more precise simulation of plausible alt-history or a fantasy equivalent. What is the difference betwee feudal vassals and the Roman Socii and can they be represented as meaningfully different in the same game?

Of course much like medieval aristocracy some of the most important and iconic parts of Roman society and history are the interpersonal dramas.

In Axioms you have to manage your "Attention", with the Attention Point system, such that you can cultivate a few key relationships, many more casual relationships, or even focus primarily on your family. Creating and intergenerational lattice of connections between you and key retainers or allies is both possible and meaningful in a way it isn't in games like Crusader Kings, much less more abstract 4x style games. Attention Points are also used for actual management type decisions and military ones, not just interpersonal stuff. You can't just micromanage every single thing every turn, and neither can the NPCs. Unlike GalCiv or Stellaris delegation is both necessary and typically effective with larger sized domains. Of course you can play a non-landholding character as well. Get a little Patrician 3 or Theory Of Magic in your strategy game shell.

As noted in more detail in the linked post maintaining regular relationships, real friendships, and also romantic connections is both important and nuanced. Characters have Interests that you want to be in sync to get the maximum relationship bang for your Attention buck. They have Personalities that make them studious and introverted or extraverted and prone to carousing. They have often specific desires. A father may want his daughter to marry a supportive spouse or a princess may want to be allowed to engage in meaningful non-domestic activity.

An important section of the post is about how if a Character already has four friends he does weapons training with becoming the fifth is hard but if he also has zero friends who study philosophy or magic you can find an opening there if you have the talent and inclination.

You can also do stuff liek break up a friendship by hosting a key political event the night of a party that two characters would otherwise attend and hang out at, making one character feel unimportant and creating a gap in the social circle of the other you can wiggle into.

Also unlike many games with "characters" if you murdered some guy's son he won't be willing to be a loyal general, giving you the power of his 44 martial stat, just because you gave him 40 gold. Or maybe he will? His son could have been a disappointment and he could be avaricious.

[axiomsofdominion]

https://axiomsofdominion.substack.com/p/social-simulation-stuff-friendly?sd=pf

Yet another post for today. Mostly about "rivalries" which are relatively organic and sandboxy. Also talks about the goal of really melding the social simulation, warfare, economics, magic, and political stuff in a way that they support each other rather than compete.

[axiomsofdominion]

https://twitter.com/axiomofdominion/status/1539247090760556552

Woo maps! I am rewriting the map code this week, phase 1 was done 7 years ago, this is phase 2. In phase 3 I'll do some basic noise/relaxation stuff for coastlines and some dynamic map stuff so you can make canals and use magic. Right now I'm enabling cool river generation.

[axiomsofdominion]

https://axiomsofdominion.substack.com/p/playing-as-an-adventurernon-landed?sd=pf

I haven't written a blog post for a while, mostly because I've focused on programming. I picked this topic because I'm coding up the magic and combat stuff right now, wanted to take a break from rivers, provinces, and map related stuff, was in a rut.

My grandfather passed away the last week of July as well so I've not got much done since then. He was 95 and went pretty easy, lucky guy. Finally all the funeral and hospital stuff is done, just family drama and the estate left, which luckily is mostly being handled by my parent and their siblings and not impacting the grandkids.

Been thinking about getting more time on design posts because I enjoy writing them even if people are always like: "Show me the visual media!"

This one is a bit expansive so feel free to post here or in the comments for clarification or expansion on specific topics.


I spent a month on the map and made some large improvements but decided to take a break before going back and finishing river and province generation. If you are on the discord you can read through all my posts and messages and see the pictures, there of the maps and stuff. Forgot I didn't post here much about that.

https://discord.gg/7dKfk8tJCS

[E. Albright]

Hmm. I'd've gone with mendicant rather than madcap, but that's a matter of taste. It's also a nod to Groo the Wanderer, so I suppose it's very much a matter of taste...

[teoleo]

how i can download it?

[axiomsofdominion]

So I've been writing the code for the testing/prototype version of the Adventurer combat system. It is turn based with a TAP, Talent/Aspect/Path, system as opposed to a class or skill system. So small highly focused groups of skills and you can pick 8 or so, in the prototype anyway, in the main game there's no cap and you can improve them also.

So I went really hard with allowing you to play ADD, Affliction/Debuff/DoT, builds. There's a ton of combos and synergies and stacking and stuff. Some of these systems can also have impacts with more straight forward magic like fire or earth. The prototype only has combat Talents and not social/crafting/utility ones.

I'd expect fights with a full 8 person party to last 10-40 rounds depending on the enemy.

An example Talent would be Miasma:

Miasma

|Acid Splash|20 damage|+5 DoT/5s|+1mark|AOE 8m|Range 20m|Cast 2s|40 mana|

|Infect|+2 DoT/10s|+1mark|+1dmg/mark|3 Targets|Range 20m|Cast 2s|25 mana|

|Fester|+4 DoT/10s|+1mark|+1dmg/mark|2 Targets|Range 20m|Cast 2s|25 mana|Mark+|

|Envenom|+5 DoT/10s| +3dmg/mark|1 Target|Range 20m|Cast 2s|25 mana|

DoTs often have low costs and longer casting times. A Mark is a special status effect marker that allows for various synergies and combos. You need 0-1 or more marks, sometimes of specific types, to be able to cast some spells. So Fester for instance requires an "Acidburn" or "Infection" Mark to cast. As you can see some of these spells deal more damage on targets with more Marks. It doesn't matter what character put a Mark on a target.

Lutomancy

|Slime Pool|2x move cost|AOE 20ft|Range 20m|Cast 2s|40 mana|

|Grime Ball|20 dmg|+1 mark|1 Target|Range 20m|Cast 2s|40 mana|

|Mana Leech|40 mana dmg|1 Target|Range 20m|Cast 2s|20 mana|

|Filth Spray|1s distract|+1mark|1 Target|Range 20m|Cast 1s|20 mana|

Lutomancy, or filth magic, is an ADD adjacent Talent. Filth Spray adds a Mark but is technically a control spell. Grim Ball adds a Mark as well but is not a DoT or Affliction. Slime Pool is an environmental control spell. Mana Leech is also not a typical ADD spell. Lutomancy and some other Talents are basically nexuses between ADD, Control, and Drain Talents.

This particular Magic System in Axioms, as there are many, allows for a tradeoff between generialists and specialists and lots of hybridization. A character could be a full DoT/Affliction specialist, they could hybrid with control, they could hybrid with Domain or Support type casting, etc.

Chronomancy

|Time Stop|Stasis 2s|1 Target|Range 20m|Cast 1s|40 mana|

|Stagnation|Slow 4s|1 Target|Range 20m|Cast 2s|40 mana|

|Quicken|Haste 3s|Self|Cast 1s|40 mana|

|Accelerate|Haste 3s|1 Target|Range 20m|Cast 2s|40 mana|

Chronomancy is a support/debuff/control focused Aspect. You can Haste yourself, which cuts cuts 2 seconds off of actions per tick/turn instead of one, or someone else, or you could slow an enemy or you could apply a unique control effect. The second tier of Chronomancy, each Aspect/Talent has 2 tiers, allows for fancier time effects including a Slow Field, a sort of anti-Stasis that causes effect durations to clear 2x as fast and to apply the effect 2x as fast, and so forth.

Manasophy

|Mana Boost|Permanent|Passive|+50 mana|

|Mana Efficiency|Permanent|Passive|-5% mana cost|

|Mana Strike(Staff)|+20 magic dmg|Boost|+1s strike time|10 mana|

|Mana Bolt|25 magic dmg|Single Target|Range 20m|Cast 1s|40 mana|

Manasophy is a core caster Talent. More mana, cheaper spells, and some attack stuff at the first Tier. Pretty self explanatory.


Disease               
|Fever|1 DoT/10s|+1mark|+2dmg/mark|Reduce REC 5%/mark|DUR 10|AoE 8|Range 20|Cast 2|35 mana|Mark++|

|Delirium|2 DoT/10s|+1mark|+1dmg/mark|+2s Distract on 5/10/15/20 marks|DUR 15|Double Target|Range 20m|Cast 2s|40 mana|Mark+++|

|Malaise|2 DoT/10s|+1mark || +1dmg/mark -1 control RES on 5/10/15/20 marks|DUR 15|Single Target|Range 20m|Cast 2s|50 mana|Mark++++|

|Debility|-5%HP/s|-1%HP/s per mark|DUR 20|Single Target|Range 20m|Cast 2s|70 mana|Mark+++++|


Disease is a Talent that focuses almost exclusively on DoTs and Afflictions and has very high Mark requirements. You can only land these spells successfully if the target is very Afflicted.

This Magic System doesn't use any RNG at all. No dodge, no resist, no instakill stuff. There is some meta/counter magic but that isn't random either. If you meet the requirements for an ability it just applies the effect minus mitigation.

The numbers here aren't final. In the game system, rather than the theoretical system this is based on, you may need more marks to cast some of these spells and some spells might apply more marks than the numbers here. And as noted sometimes you will need specific marks.

Some more high level Talents are below:

Fluctumancy

|Riptide|Push 10m <lvl 2 5m <lvl 5|Linear 4m|Ranged 10m|Cast 2s|50 mana|

|River Mouth|-5% mana cost TYP GRP (Force) -5% mana cost TYP GRP (Water) +2 mana/s|AoE 8m   Self|Cast 3s|80 mana|

|Breakwater|30 dmg ENV/3s|AoE 8m|Ranged 15m|Cast 2s|70 mana|

|Capsize|3s Root|Single Target|Ranged 10m|Cast 1s|50 mana|

This is "wave magic". It contains a Domain spell. This one happens to be mana focused. All spells cast by allies in the range of the Domain have a discount. Wave Magic is composed of Water and Force so Wave spells get 5% off the cost for both elements. A pure Water or Pure Force spell would only get 5% off. Steam spells, fire/water, also get only 5% off. Additionally all affected allies get +2 mana a turn.
Riptide is a control spell, specifically movement based. Breakwater is an AoE environmental damage spell. All enemies in the effect area take 30 damage every second for 3 seconds. If they leave it they don't take further damage. Capsize is a 3s Root. They can't move but they can use abilities, hence the low mana cost and short casting time. Also it has a short range. I think I had all Force type spells have a shorter range.

Pontumancy         
      
|Ocean Currents|-5% mana cost TYP GRP (Force) -5% mana cost TYP GRP (Gravity) +3 mana/s|AoE 10m Self|Cast 3s|70 mana|
|High Tide|+4 mana/s|DUR 10s|AoE 10m Self|Cast 2s|50 mana|
|Heavy Seas|Snare 3s|AoE 15m Self|Cast 2s|70 mana|
|Pull Under|7 DoT/2s +1mark +2dmg/mark Root 2s|AoE 8m|Ranged 15m|Cast 2s|50 mana|

Sea/Ocean magic is a complex composite of 5 basic elements and Gravity, iirc. So it is quite strong. Ocean Currents is a Domain spell. Heavy Seas is an AoE Snare/Root. Abilities work but no moving. Impacts you for the remaining duration if you walk into it. Can be deployed defensively. High Tide is a support spell, and a pretty good one. It can provide a max of 320 mana across a full 8 person party. Long drawn out battles of attrition mean support casters are super strong. Pull Under is a rare DoT/Affliction that applies control effects and does damage over a shorter time. But it does quite a bit. Since it applies a mark from itself it deals (7+2)*2 base damage. With 5 other marks it would deal 19*2=30 damage plus a 2s control effect which is pretty strong.


Profundumancy

|Abyssal Plain|-5% mana cost TYP GRP (Darkness) -5% mana cost TYP GRP (Gravity)|+1dmg/mark/malady|AoE 20m Self|Cast 3s|70 mana|

|Crushing Depths|Double base DoT damage on enemies under control effects|AoE 15m Self|Cast 3s|50 mana|

|Compression|+4 DoT/5s +1 mark|Double damage from marks|AoE 8m|Ranged 15m|Cast 2s|50 mana|

|Thassalaphobia|+2 DoT/8s +1 mark per second when under control effects|AoE 8m|Ranged 15m|Cast 2s|70 mana|

Profundumancy, better known as Abyssal(as in the oceanic abyss) Magic is a capstone Talent for water oriented affliction magics who synegize with control. It has a useful Domain effect and then several strong unique effects that focus on greatly improving Affliction damage. Heavy Seas can trigger Crushing Depths and Thassalaphobia on multiple enemies for a pretty long time. Pull Under and Compression are a lethal combination.


I've got like 40 of these basically done and 40 to go, against with slight modifications from the versions posted here since maybe of them weren't designed specifically for the Axioms Adventure Combat system.

[axiomsofdominion]

https://axiomsofdominion.substack.com/p/into-the-wilderness?sd=pf

Rambly post on exploration, expansion, societies with a feeling of frontier or wilderness and a bit on scaling up as the player becomes more powerful and minimizing micromanagement.

[delphonso]

PTW, been reading occasionally, but miss posts frequently. This is a cool project.

[axiomsofdominion]

PTW, been reading occasionally, but miss posts frequently. This is a cool project.

Don't miss my comments on HP in the games you wish existed thread. I think the muddling and misinformation about what "HP" represents has really harmed it and the games it was intended to be used in. FPS commits many crimes against gaming and the bullet sponge is one of the worst as regards poisoning the well for the concept of HP.

[axiomsofdominion]

A somewhat high level post on "skill checks" and adjacent systems/mechanics in Axioms, particularly the roleplaying side and the social simulation.

https://axiomsofdominion.substack.com/p/social-simulation-and-spelunking?sd=pf

I'm not sure how well I explained "passive" modifiers vs active actions you can take when doing things like arguing for specific military actions or political reforms. There will be a not quite minigame type situation vaguely similar to Thea or AotSS that you can, if you choose, engage with at the moment of taking an action.

[axiomsofdominion]

I've been working on the adventure combat system lately, and it is going pretty well.

However today Paradox did their announcement for the new CK3 event pack, Friends And Foes. I'm pretty hyped about this because the comparison between this and the Axioms equivalent system parallels the same divide as my 2014 "Secrets" system compared to their extremely mediocre version that was in the release version of CK3.

Basically in both cases the system is shallow, inflexible, and poorly integrated into other games systems. They both have snazzy graphics though! Which obviously Axioms does not. That stuff costs lots of money.

Basically I'm always worried that Star Dynasties or Alliance of the Sacred Suns or CK3 or a similar game with strong financial backing will do something from my original 2011 Axioms design document in a superior way but it always ends up that Axioms is mechanically superior while those games are sometimes but not always graphically superior. I mean art assets when I say that. The Axioms UI will be immensely advanced compared to the named games and other similar games I didn't namecheck.

[EuchreJack]

how i can download it?

I don't think this game is at that point yet.

[axiomsofdominion]

Finished the code to let you target empty tiles with aoe spells, including multi-target spells. Now gotta figure out the optimal way to handle environmental effects. Whether that is raw damage, applying a debuff/buff while you are in an environmental effect zone, or apply afflictions or buffs/debuffs that remain when you leave the zone. This should also enable environmental effect combos as well, as those are popular in many rpgs and tactical turn based games lately.

Lighting pools of grease on fire or taking bonus electrical damage in water and so forth. I'm not super focused on that stuff but it appears relatively easy to implement.

An absolute shitton of the time and effort for tactical rpg combat these days is just making fancy graphics for different stuff. The raw code seems relatively simple as I'm writing it from scratch.