Skyward Collapse Alpha 0.814

[x4000]

New one: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Skyward_Collapse_-_Pre-Beta_Release_Notes#Alpha_0.814

Last of the known god token bugs fixed (well, all were fixed last release, although some weren't really fully fixed or we were waiting for feedback).  Anyhow, all that were reported as of 0.813 are now fixed.

The biggest thing in this version:

Fixed a priority issue where gods preferred to shoot at random targets in their range rather than making a mad dash for their god tokens, once those are placed. Now they make the mad dash and save their sniping for when there's nothing else for them to do.

That's going to change a bunch, and was how it was always supposed to work.

Anyhow, tomorrow I'm hoping to get working on the tutorial and woes.  For now that's all the cleanup/polish unless some more dire stuff comes in prior to my finishing a good first pass on woes!

[Cinth]

Gave the stuff I reported a quick once over and they look to be working as they should.

This evening is looking like a good time to get some quality play time in

[PokerChen]

 Thinking over the woes list while having breakfast.. I remember two issues that may need addressing when implementing each of them:

 - A woe should probably not be completely avoidable by simply stocking up on 9 action points (both faction) and smiting (almost) a whole section off. I'm imagining this problem with the woes where the particular disaster grows over time, such as plague, fire and floods.
 - They should be dangerous enough to player towns to have a possibility of losing.

 Although, I do admit that isolating a plagued town by smiting all the terrain around it is good medical practice. 18 action points will allow you to snip off an entire corner of the island when done on terrain instead of buildings.

 = = =
EDIT: Hera's Diadem ability will swap out a major God for a minor one, assuming that there is no other minor God to choose from  I think? Will provide a save. - but this could also be because I'm using an old save-game in the new version. Can someone reproduce this with a new game?
 EDIT2: Here.  Confirmed in Sandbox. Hera always targets newest enemy God created, thus Tyr saves himself by calling on a new minor god.

[Mick]

Really looking forward to the woes. I think those are going to make the game.

[x4000]

Agreed.

Working on tutorial now, then shifting to those.

[madcow]

By the way, if possible it would be AWESOME if we could freely place Woes while in the sandbox mode. It doesn't need to be pretty, just a list of them all to click on and use.

My favorite part in city building stuff was always purposely putting my civ through the wringer and watching it go down in flames.

[x4000]

Ah, that's a good idea for testing anyhow.  I'll make sure and put that in, because it's something that would help me test in the first place.  Thanks!

[madcow]

Figured it would be better to suggest it before they went in, instead of after

[x4000]

Definitely!

[Teal_Blue]

Quick question because i must have been somewhere else when Woes was discussed. Woes (used to be Cataclysms, yes? Which were re-interpretations of the Edicts, yes? And now the game triggers them, instead of the player triggering them against themselves, yes?

At least that is what i thought it was.

-Teal

[x4000]

Yup.

[Mick]

Quick question because i must have been somewhere else when Woes was discussed. Woes (used to be Cataclysms, yes? Which were re-interpretations of the Edicts, yes? And now the game triggers them, instead of the player triggering them against themselves, yes?

At least that is what i thought it was.

-Teal

My impression is they are a bit different then edicts. Edicts are a goal that you have to perform before the game is over to win. Woes (discussed as Cataclysms) are bad stuff that happens to you.

There has not been a lot of details given on what woes will specifically be, although there is a thread where a lot of people gave ideas for them.

[madcow]

From what I understand, edicts are gone completely and the goal is to survive, with the woes providing the proverbial monkey wrench? Or are edicts still in additionally to Woes, it's hard to keep up with the planned features!

[Teal_Blue]

Am impatiently patiently waiting to try 1.0 when it hits!    With woes and ... whatever else is there! 

[x4000]

Okay, sorry for the lack of clarity.

Edicts: Gone baby gone, along with propositions and challenges.
Victory Points: Also gone.
Crime: Also gone.
Woes: These are indeed the proverbial monkey wrench, and are not goals you have to meet (they are challenges you have to overcome).

But Woes are basically the logical conclusion of all the other thinking, when you put them together.  They serve the same purposes of all those other things together, namely:
1. Making so that there is sufficiently interesting variance per game.
2. Making it so that you can't just fall into a "best path" pattern.
3. Making it so that you can't ignore the military and have to do lots of fighting and thinking on your feet as you adapt to changing circumstances.
4. Letting you demonstrate when you "win well" since score was removed.  IE: what difficulty you are capable of winning on is your proof of how well you play, rather than a score or VPs.