I've been catching up on the streams and saw someone ask about random disasters which quickly got shot down for obvious reasons, but I want to make a case for optional randomness as a way to make the pvp more loosened up and less competitive - a problem which I feel plagues RTSes and puts a big entry barrier on multiplayer, especially 1v1. I enjoy RTSes a great deal, but I don't enjoy playing them in 1v1 due to how competitive and demanding they get if you want to stand a chance at winning which is arguably the only point of playing 1v1. A good example was how I played Starcraft1 to death with my friends, but once I tried getting "serious" and playing online I instantly lost interest even though I did okay. The same thing happened with SupCom and Starcraft2, where I stopped playing around the exact moment I started practicing my build orders and refining my macro and mental checklist. In more recent games, I've noticed that I tend to enjoy the hell out of multiplayer if there's no routine and always new situations to adapt to. I feel less compelled to do well if I know there will be wrenches in the gears of all players involved, and I'm more prepared to just do my best, have fun, and accept whatever the outcome may be. The impact of the randomness is of course important and I wouldn't enjoy a sudden meteor hitting my commander causing an instant loss, but having an electrical storm lower my power output for a couple minutes or a meteorite landing between me and my foe leaving a resource deposit that's super fast to harvest I feel are examples of randomness I would think were genuinely fun. Anyway. I understand that this can all be moddable and I understand why it's not a popular idea, so I'm not going to stomp my feet about it but I just wanted to voice my opinion on it.
For random element to appear, they should be: *known once the game start. ( including timing ) *Be even to all player. With player having the possibility to choose their starting point, that phase could be the moment where the game announce the random events.
I am mainly interested if it's possible to move a planet through an asteroid field for the random asteroids or so.
I think you are the one confused For example in supcom you can choose a random faction. Just because it's decided at the beginning of the game doesn't make it less random. In PA, the planet will be randomly created at the beginning, it can randomly add an event like 'Incoming Asteroid on your homeplanet in 20 minutes'. Or it could place, still randomly, a volcano about to erupt. Or a planet with periodic storm every 10 minutes etc... Have you got any other meaning for the term random ?
Random adjective: 1. proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern 2. Statistics. of or characterizing a process of selection in which each item of a set has an equal probability of being chosen. In PA, the planet(s) are procedurally generated from a seed; the seed is random, however the procedural generation is not a random process. You will get the same planet every time from the same seed (unless I am completely misunderstanding the intended planet generation algorithmn for PA). You can choose to have events like the "incoming asteroid" thing, however if it is stated prior to starting the match, it is not a random event per se, it is simply an additional map option. The location of the impact could be random, however if you would prefer that the location selection algorithmn deliberately avoids dropping it onto a commander, then it is not a truly random location; you can game that system by deliberately moving your commander to a high value area (i.e. middle of your base) prior to impact to ensure the area is protected. A periodic storm every 10 minutes is not random (again it would instead be a map option). The location can be random, if it is not a planetwide storm, but again if you want restrictions on the location (i.e. not on top of a commander) where it could normally appear, it is not truly random. For a truly random event, it would have to not be announced prior to map start; you would have to prepare for the worst at the point you get the (for instance) 5 minute warning of asteroid impact, and be aware that there is a miniscule chance that it could hit your commander if you don't have a contingency escape plan in place (air transport etc.). The point here is that these events would have an equal chance of benefit or danger for every player; they could be the event that destroys the weakest player on the map, or one that decimates the dominant player, or even leave all players completely unaffected. Since we are talking about a game that is proposing an entire planetary system as its "map", then a truly random "asteroidal" (cometary?) event should include ones where the body can completely miss all objects and pass on unscathed. The OP was talking about actually random events, you appear to be talking about wanting map option events following predetermined courses. I understand that you don't want something that could ruin your gameplan, but rather something that you will be planning for and attempting to capitalise on. The OP, on the other hand, wants something that could completely ruin someone's day, to add spice into the "I've found my optimal build strategy and will never deviate from it" starcraft style games, since those can get rather formulaic, and somewhat tedious (in my opinion, anyway) The only way to satisfy both of you would be to have a whole buttload of options available to customise these, from a "make it random" tickbox for the match, through to chekboxes and sliders to customise the whole process (event type, start time, location, periodicity etc.). I can see the merit of both approaches, and it would be awesome if you could customise all manner of natural disasters to befall the players, however if I had to choose I'd be perfectly happy with a single "make random stuff happen" checkbox that you can turn off, if it doesn't appeal. That option makes it a lot easier for the dev team to implement, for one
I do not understand your quote as I have stated that these events are randomly decided at the beginning of the game and not before. I never spoke about map option they would ruin the purpose. ( Which is to force players to adapt to different situation/scenario )
My apologies, I suspect we are misunderstanding each other then. I got the impression that you would prefer to know about "random" events prior to them happening so you can plan for them, rather than just seeing them happen at the time. I also probably mistook your "*known once the game start. ( including timing )" quote to mean that you wanted a countdown right from the game start, to any/all "random" events that are now predestined to happen. I believe random events should just happen, except maybe for a 10-30 second asteroid warning or something similar, just enough time to get a panic on and airlift your commander ready to move out of the way once it becomes clear where it will land. Hence my preference for a toggle; if you want random stuff you can turn it on, but I am well aware that it will not be to everyone's taste.
Could be a fun thing to have modded in as an option later...random events and disasters and such. Have played a few RTS games that have them, and it can be fun for shaking things up a bit.
