Invasion - Game Pacing
Dusk78
Member
in Suggestions
Ok so ive had castle story for almost 3 years now and its looking good these days. Invasion is my favorite game mode still, but it has some pacing issues ide like to talk about. Of course im just 1 guy i don't think my ideas are the best or the smartest, but i do think this is a good idea and i would like to share it in hopes that something good will come of it.
The premise for invasion is good, seeing how long you can hold out against assault after assault. However, the problem is that the best way to deal with the invasion is rather gimmicky and not very... castley. The best defense is to make a short tower over looking a choke point going to the crystal, you station a warrior in the choke and profit. when the big boys roll in you can use explosive barrels and/or kite them around with another warrior until they are shot.
The major reason for this is due to the build time vs wave timers pacing... and a little bit of the AI. The AI issue is that archers wanna shoot the closest target, if the target is at the wall they are on.. they get confused and just stop shooting anything. however, the AI wouldn't be an issue if the player could build a more robust castle, and that brings us to the pacing issues with the waves. You cant have anything resembling a tower by wave 1 or 2, but maybe by 3. However, this simple tower is just a single tower and archers don't use it very well if the enemy units get to the base of it, thus the need to utilize a more gimmicky defense. This early pacing dictates the foundation of your defense, and from this point on tactics and creativity are GREATLY restricted.(aka the fun stuff)
for invasion mode to be REALLY fun (keyword fun) players need time to build castle looking castles. Invasions waves should be small and at a set number (like scouting raids basically), BUT every 5th or 10th wave a massive invasions force rolls in. after the invasion the raider waves stage up to the next level.
Example
wave 1 - 5 raiders
wave 2 - 5 raiders
wave 3 - 5 raiders
wave 4 - 5 raiders
wave 5 - 40 Invaders
wave 6 - 8 raiders - etc..
Of course i have no idea if those numbers are balanced im just making them up for sake of example.
The general idea is that the raider groups apply a bit of pressure while also allowing the player to test defenses while giving the time needed to make something cool. Maybe even do something interesting like have Raider AI focus trying to kill workers, while the Invader AI is the current AI. A leader board and a scoring system would also go a long ways towards making this a more satisfying game mode
The premise for invasion is good, seeing how long you can hold out against assault after assault. However, the problem is that the best way to deal with the invasion is rather gimmicky and not very... castley. The best defense is to make a short tower over looking a choke point going to the crystal, you station a warrior in the choke and profit. when the big boys roll in you can use explosive barrels and/or kite them around with another warrior until they are shot.
The major reason for this is due to the build time vs wave timers pacing... and a little bit of the AI. The AI issue is that archers wanna shoot the closest target, if the target is at the wall they are on.. they get confused and just stop shooting anything. however, the AI wouldn't be an issue if the player could build a more robust castle, and that brings us to the pacing issues with the waves. You cant have anything resembling a tower by wave 1 or 2, but maybe by 3. However, this simple tower is just a single tower and archers don't use it very well if the enemy units get to the base of it, thus the need to utilize a more gimmicky defense. This early pacing dictates the foundation of your defense, and from this point on tactics and creativity are GREATLY restricted.(aka the fun stuff)
for invasion mode to be REALLY fun (keyword fun) players need time to build castle looking castles. Invasions waves should be small and at a set number (like scouting raids basically), BUT every 5th or 10th wave a massive invasions force rolls in. after the invasion the raider waves stage up to the next level.
Example
wave 1 - 5 raiders
wave 2 - 5 raiders
wave 3 - 5 raiders
wave 4 - 5 raiders
wave 5 - 40 Invaders
wave 6 - 8 raiders - etc..
Of course i have no idea if those numbers are balanced im just making them up for sake of example.
The general idea is that the raider groups apply a bit of pressure while also allowing the player to test defenses while giving the time needed to make something cool. Maybe even do something interesting like have Raider AI focus trying to kill workers, while the Invader AI is the current AI. A leader board and a scoring system would also go a long ways towards making this a more satisfying game mode
Comments
Check this stream archive out, I was trying out your suggestion to see how it plays out, mostly out of curiosity.
https://www.twitch.tv/sauropodstudio/v/68549753
Ok just finished watching that stream,
First off, thank you so much for taking the time to look at my suggestion that was so awesome.
Secondly, that wasn't really what i suggested lol =P
The general Idea was there though, and that is to allow for more castle looking castles to be made.
ill re-paste my wave example here. Look closer at wave 5.
Example
wave 1 - 5 raiders
wave 2 - 5 raiders
wave 3 - 5 raiders
wave 4 - 5 raiders
wave 5 - 40 Invaders <-----(notice this wave)
wave 6 - 8 raiders - etc..
the suggestion was more of a ramp up ramp down pacing. This would allow for castles, big awesome castle damage, and the ability to recover from big awesome castle damage all while still having to keep an eye out for small raiding partys. Ill be following the streams form now on i think and be pretty active on the forums from this point. Castle Story is really shaping up these days, The A.I. is looking pretty snappy
I am still pretty fresh, but the invasion game mode is my favourite so far but either the first wave starts coming to soon, or it ramps up too quick for me to get on top of a decent build.
I would be open to the idea of even having an offset time, maybe an extra 10 minutes to get a better build sorted before the waves start!
I am in the disscord channel now, so will watch some more streams to see how these ideas pan out