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[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Hi Ultima, in response to your blog update, I'd definitely be interested in reading more entries about how you do things code-wise.

Cool - thanks for the feedback

Yeah, most roguelike players at least dabble in coding anyway. Last time I dabbled in coding, I was writing scripts for TES:Oblivion. So, I don't know much about coding but I know most people would want to know the code-y side of the game.

I've modded quite a few games in the past to a reasonable level (a few C&Cs, OMF:2097, a couple of others) but this was my first experience of an 'actual' programming language, as it were.

I agree, I would love to hear about your coding.
I began working on a project in Python slightly after you began URR, and you are far far far ahead of me, so I would love to learn some sekrets.

Cheers - I will oblige!

URR is written in Python?

Yup. He is using python + libtcod if I remember right.

Indeed so. Found tutorial; bought Python books; went from there.

Can't wait for this.Take your time and good luck.

Thanks, for both the comments - have been simultaneously working on creatures and the UI this week, though this coming week might see things slowing down. I'm giving a lecture and teaching a few classes and I have quite a bit of general thesis work. There *might* not be a blog entry this Monday, but if there isn't, I'll make sure next Monday's is longer. Not sure yet. Regardless, middle of this year is probably still about right for release, since creatures are moving faster than I expected (touch wood). UI is coming to an end, though, so I'll be fully focusing on creatures in the not-too-distant future.

[Nighthawk]

If you get a forum going, I'm sure plenty of people would LOVE to make recommendations on creatures that you should add to the game.
And even if you don't, we here at Bay12 will be more than happy to do so. 

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

If you get a forum going, I'm sure plenty of people would LOVE to make recommendations on creatures that you should add to the game.
And even if you don't, we here at Bay12 will be more than happy to do so. 

Cool! I think IndieDB provides its own forum function, so depending how hard it is to produce my own, I might get one going over there instead. Regardless, it won't happen until the first alpha is released, but I think I'm definitely going to put up some kind of forum feature around then

[ZebioLizard2]

Curious questions

1: Will their be battlefield building: Ergo, constructing catapults from parts on the fly, battering rams and the like, quick fort defenses?

2: Can you be carried around on a palanquin with soldiers of any race carrying you?

3: How far does your influence to generals reach. Can you sit all the way back in a fort and send commands or just within a certain radius

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Curious questions

1: Will their be battlefield building: Ergo, constructing catapults from parts on the fly, battering rams and the like, quick fort defenses?

2: Can you be carried around on a palanquin with soldiers of any race carrying you?

3: How far does your influence to generals reach. Can you sit all the way back in a fort and send commands or just within a certain radius

1) I think catapults/ballistas etc will likely be transported by horses etc, but they'll definitely need some setting up. Quick defenses I'm not sure about; most likely not, and certainly not out in the open, though if you hang around a certain location long enough your camp should hopefully gradually develop into something slightly more defended.

2) Heh. Possibly. For now, if you're commanding the army, you just ride on a horse. Palanquins are a nice idea, though...

3) Entirely depends on how strong the lines of communication are. If your orders will get through (logistics-wise), I intend to let you command at any distance, though you can always delegate second-in-commands or others to do the equivalent from slightly closer to other battles.

[Ivefan]

1) I think catapults/ballistas etc will likely be transported by horses etc, but they'll definitely need some setting up. Quick defenses I'm not sure about; most likely not, and certainly not out in the open, though if you hang around a certain location long enough your camp should hopefully gradually develop into something slightly more defended.

Just a trench to get into or making a pile of dirt to get behind and on top of can make a lot of difference and all you need is shovels.
Sharpened stakes to discourage speedy but non-jumpy creatures.
Large Wicker shields is mostly used in sieges to defend the attackers but can be used defensively too.

there's a lot of small things that can be done fast that can make a large difference but the question is what your engine can support.

[BishopX]

Curious questions

1: Will their be battlefield building: Ergo, constructing catapults from parts on the fly, battering rams and the like, quick fort defenses?

2: Can you be carried around on a palanquin with soldiers of any race carrying you?

3: How far does your influence to generals reach. Can you sit all the way back in a fort and send commands or just within a certain radius

1) I think catapults/ballistas etc will likely be transported by horses etc, but they'll definitely need some setting up. Quick defenses I'm not sure about; most likely not, and certainly not out in the open, though if you hang around a certain location long enough your camp should hopefully gradually develop into something slightly more defended.

2) Heh. Possibly. For now, if you're commanding the army, you just ride on a horse. Palanquins are a nice idea, though...

3) Entirely depends on how strong the lines of communication are. If your orders will get through (logistics-wise), I intend to let you command at any distance, though you can always delegate second-in-commands or others to do the equivalent from slightly closer to other battles.

The Roman Legions were in the habit of including sharpened logs in their baggage train, allowing them to set up a palisade and ditch for every nights encampment. That's probably on the upper end  of what the game should be looking at right now in terms of organization, professionalism and army size. In general term, having a camp-set up mechanic/mini-game could be a solid addition. Things like horse-lines, defenses, latrines, where the camp followers and baggage trains set up, locations of officers quarters (all together for staff meetings and ease of guarding or with their units) and patrols could all be located and set up as a template, allowing you to apply it every night. Having an overly complicated set up would cut down on the time your troops could rest and march, but would protect against calamity (night ambush, dysentery, fire, horse thieves, generals assassinating each other).

In terms of lines of communications, what's your feeling about horse messenger relays?

[ZebioLizard2]

2) Heh. Possibly. For now, if you're commanding the army, you just ride on a horse. Palanquins are a nice idea, though...

I've had this thought of having imps carry my throne into combat, ala Father nurgle type things (And hopefully with actual nurglings later on should there be modding!)


As for constructing in the open, I guess I was meaning for siege warfare, should you lose your catapults/siege weaponry and need to build things over periods of months

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Just a trench to get into or making a pile of dirt to get behind and on top of can make a lot of difference and all you need is shovels.
Sharpened stakes to discourage speedy but non-jumpy creatures.
Large Wicker shields is mostly used in sieges to defend the attackers but can be used defensively too.

there's a lot of small things that can be done fast that can make a large difference but the question is what your engine can support.

Mm. All true, and should be supportable. Trenches are an interesting idea, as are sharpened stakes. I'll have to think about how I'd implement them, and what roles I'd want them to play...

The Roman Legions were in the habit of including sharpened logs in their baggage train, allowing them to set up a palisade and ditch for every nights encampment. That's probably on the upper end  of what the game should be looking at right now in terms of organization, professionalism and army size. In general term, having a camp-set up mechanic/mini-game could be a solid addition. Things like horse-lines, defenses, latrines, where the camp followers and baggage trains set up, locations of officers quarters (all together for staff meetings and ease of guarding or with their units) and patrols could all be located and set up as a template, allowing you to apply it every night. Having an overly complicated set up would cut down on the time your troops could rest and march, but would protect against calamity (night ambush, dysentery, fire, horse thieves, generals assassinating each other).

In terms of lines of communications, what's your feeling about horse messenger relays?

Yeah; you will be able to gather a very, very basic 'party' for the first alpha, but then setting up camp properly is a near-term goal. Creatures that spawn in certain places have generated patrols laid out already (though it needs perfecting) and I definitely intend to let you let up a patrol route for any creatures you want at night. Protect against calamity - exactly! Horse messengers are my primary intention at the moment - you'll be able to use them in battle to gain information (you have no kind of omniscience to sense the entire battle) and same goes for passing messages between cities, allies, etc. Of course, if you're serving in an army, you might become the horse messenger, which hopefully could give you all kinds of options for passing on false messages, and also surviving through the wilderness on the way back, etc...

I've had this thought of having imps carry my throne into combat, ala Father nurgle type things (And hopefully with actual nurglings later on should there be modding!)
As for constructing in the open, I guess I was meaning for siege warfare, should you lose your catapults/siege weaponry and need to build things over periods of months

That may, hopefully, one day, be doable... as for siege weapons, I think you will have a choice of transporting them built (so you need, say, two horses per catapult, etc) or you construct them loose (in which case just people can transport them) but then you have to set them up. I think developments on that idea could get a good risk/reward thing going...

[alamoes]

For magics it would be neat to have diferent random dimensions that are filled with energies that can be channeled through to the mortal world.  At lower levels of mahgiks trying to use the cursed daedra/fire king/random deity's staff taken would cause a gate for said "energies" of evil, good, or even fire or water coming through and cause that huge mutiple  ork siege to disapear.  It would also be cool for those "energies" to cause another siege.  Obviously late game dev stuff though that should be and probably is already planned

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

For magics it would be neat to have diferent random dimensions that are filled with energies that can be channeled through to the mortal world.  At lower levels of mahgiks trying to use the cursed daedra/fire king/random deity's staff taken would cause a gate for said "energies" of evil, good, or even fire or water coming through and cause that huge mutiple  ork siege to disapear.  It would also be cool for those "energies" to cause another siege.  Obviously late game dev stuff though that should be and probably is already planned

There may be other, smaller, world maps for deities. Not sure about details yet. Stay tuned

And, finally, another blog entry coming tomorrow, as the academic workload has slacked off a bit - which is another way of saving I've been doing nothing the past week except thesis work...

[fred1248]

 I've read your dev blog, and it came to my mind that you'll need a better towns/cities system. Currently, It seems that you're thinking something very similar to DF system, and I can assure you that it won't work. At least it won't fit the theme you are aiming for. It's not detailed enough to hold any deplomatic events other than.. well, slaughtering them. You could try something else, like baronies, counties, duchies, castles, cities, and small villages. This way, territorial disputes and army management gets far more interesting than traditional DF towns. Like, soldiers from castles are very well trained, but upkeep costs a lot, soldiers from villages are hardly combat trained, but they are free, as they are levies. I can go on and on but you get the idea. Think of all the things you can do with that. A Dwarven king orders his dukes to attack the elves, and the dukes raise their army, various counts and barons answer the call to arms, and player gets to fight as a soldier / captain / mercenery whatever you name it. You can be the nobleman himself as you play. Also, from what I understood, this game is not a strategy game focused on the nation, but rather on the character, so conquering the world yourself as a general of an army seems a bit.. stupid. Again, with the help of the feudal system, you can greatly enhance the quality of the game while lengthening the gameplay.

[Shadowscales]

Will this game be moddable and will it support interactions that can change/add/remove body-parts?

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

I've read your dev blog, and it came to my mind that you'll need a better towns/cities system. Currently, It seems that you're thinking something very similar to DF system, and I can assure you that it won't work. At least it won't fit the theme you are aiming for. It's not detailed enough to hold any deplomatic events other than.. well, slaughtering them. You could try something else, like baronies, counties, duchies, castles, cities, and small villages. This way, territorial disputes and army management gets far more interesting than traditional DF towns. Like, soldiers from castles are very well trained, but upkeep costs a lot, soldiers from villages are hardly combat trained, but they are free, as they are levies. I can go on and on but you get the idea. Think of all the things you can do with that. A Dwarven king orders his dukes to attack the elves, and the dukes raise their army, various counts and barons answer the call to arms, and player gets to fight as a soldier / captain / mercenery whatever you name it. You can be the nobleman himself as you play. Also, from what I understood, this game is not a strategy game focused on the nation, but rather on the character, so conquering the world yourself as a general of an army seems a bit.. stupid. Again, with the help of the feudal system, you can greatly enhance the quality of the game while lengthening the gameplay.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. How am I doing it 'like the DF town' system, and why won't this system work? I am having towns and cities, but I'm programming them from scratch, and events beyond "everyone died" are a hugely important factor. Each settlement is part of a wider empire and each will, eventually, have the kinds of connections you mention. I don't see how you can judge the kinds of diplomatic/settlement connections I'm going to have when I haven't even programmed it in yet myself! Do you mean because there are only cities/towns/forts in terms of size? I do like the idea for training differences between different locations you could draw your troops from, but I'm not sure how my intentions so far wouldn't allow for that . It is a strategy game, but the 'focus' is on the character; how does it seem stupid to have a strategy game where you're actually a player character, rather than an omniscient commander? Relatively untested, sure, but I think it will be interesting. I don't specifically want to tie myself into the feudal system; I'm actually thinking through different systems for humans, dwarves and elves (and each of the monster races), each of which should hopefully be quite different and allow for gameplay variations there. Humans might be predominantly feudal, but the others won't be.

Will this game be moddable and will it support interactions that can change/add/remove body-parts?

No and yes, respectively : ). Body parts can currently be chopped off, picked up, wielded, etc. I'm not sure how gaining body parts back will work (if you can) but there will probably be magic/herbal possibilities for that. Alternatively, if you lose a limb, it stays lost no matter what. Not sure.

Also, today I (finally) have a new devblog entry, including a new minimap key (see below) and stuff about where creatures spawn, where they live, and what humanoid civilizations around them have to say about it:

http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2012/02/20/the-secret-lives-of-creatures/

[fred1248]

snip

...English is not my first language, and I might have been kind of obscure. What I meant was that with the town genning system like similar to DF, it will be kind of hard to put all the management stuff inside. I should have said making it more like Mount & Blade style would be sort of better for that. Trading / recruiting / arming soldiers etcetera for your army consisted of one thousand men df style can quite.. you know, break the immersion. Running around from building to building as a commander to get a few hundred breastplates somehow reminds me of Monty Python and the holy grail. Now that I think of it, I might have entirely misjudged your intention... and I have nothing against the character based system, In fact I'm dying to try the alpha release out just because of it.

Anyways, that minimap looks wicked. Keep up the good work