On Wednesday, October 17, 2018 1:56 AM, Reuben Staley <reuben.sta...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Okay so overall, this is a decent idea, but I don't really want to play
> this version of it. Why? It suffers from Boilerplate Syndrome. This is a
> feature of proposed new minigames where the core mechanics are too
> lightweight for their own good. Many hypothesize that the proposer
> assumes that people will just add on with new proposals and create a
> well-balanced game after the fact. Contrarily, minigames infected with
> Boilerplate Syndrome tend to be forgotten quickly due to a lack of
> interesting mechanics in the already existing game.
>
> The best way to combat Boilerplate Syndrome is to add interesting
> gameplay. I don't know where you want to go with this so I'm just going
> to throw some of my ideas here and leave you to be insprired.
>
> (1) How about instead of a destroyed switch, ships have hit points and
> you have to repair the ship using coins or some other asset. If a ship
> has 0 hit points, it becomes immobile until you buy another ship, which
> resets all of your switches
>
> (2) Crewmen can be hired for money. The more you have, the faster you
> can repair your ship. When you are defeated in a space battle, the enemy
> can capture some crewmen to aid them.
>
> (3) Ships are upgradable. "Modules" can be added to a ship to increase
> the maximum value of your different switches. When you're defeated in a
> space battle, the enemy can steal some of your modules. When your ship's
> hit points are 0 and you have to replace your ship, you can attempt to
> salvage some modules before resetting.
>
> (4) The number of sectors is two times the number of active players.
> Each sector has two wormholes open at a time. You can travel back and
> forth between any two sectors connected by a wormhole. When a player
> deregisters or becomes inactive, two random sectors are deleted and all
> wormholes move to sectors that exist. Each month, the wormholes all
> change. (this takes lots of effort to keep track of but it's cool)
>
> (5) If you're famous, you can decrease your fame by 1 to gain either
> coins or voting power or modules or something.
Ooh, I like these ideas. I don't necessarily agree that they all need to be put
in the same proposal - your plan for avoiding Boilerplate Syndrome works just
as well if people _know_ that more mechanics are in the works even if they
haven't been adopted yet. So it's fun to think about but I agree with G. that
we should get the core mechanics running and being playtested first.
A bit of riffing off your idea though:
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Title: [proto] Spaceship Modules
Adoption index: 1.0
Author: twg
Co-authors: Trigon
If the proposal titled "spaaace?" authored by ATMunn has not been
adopted, this proposal has no effect.
Enact a new rule "Spaceship Modules" with power 1.0:
Spaceship Modules (syn. "modules") are assets tracked by
[somebody]. Modules can be owned by players and spaceships.
To equip a module to a spaceship is to transfer it to that
spaceship. To de-equip a module from a spaceship is to transfer it
from that spaceship to oneself. Any player CAN, by announcement,
de-equip a module if e is the spaceship's owner or has the
express or reasonably implied consent of the spaceship's owner.
A spaceship CANNOT own more than 3 Utility Modules or more than
1 Auxiliary Module. Any attempt to transfer a Module to a
spaceship such that it would violate this constraint fails.
A player CAN create a Module in eir possession by paying the
Module's Cost, as defined in this rule.
While a Module is owned by a spaceship, its Effect, as defined
in this rule, applies to that spaceship.
The following types of Module are defined:
Armor
- Type: Utility Module
- Cost: 10 coins
- Effect: The spaceship's maximum hit points are increased by
50. [Assumes your hit points idea is adopted]
Shields
- Type: Utility Module
- Cost: 5 coins
- Effect: The spaceship's maximum hit points are increased by
50. The spaceship's maximum Power is decreased by 4. [Does
not currently work as intended with the way "Power" is
defined in ATMunn's proposal but that could be changed]
Reactor Booster
- Type: Auxiliary Module
- Cost: 5 coins
- Effect: The spaceship's maximum Power is increased by 5.
Nanobot Repair System
- Type: Auxiliary Module
- Cost: 20 coins
- Effect: The spaceship's owner CAN, by announcement, cause the
spaceship to regain 3 hit points if e has not yet done so in
the current Agoran day. [Assumes the hypothetical hit points
rule already defines "regaining" hit points, and prevents
exceeding the hit point maximum]
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-twg
