Custom Dragons

I've never really been sold on the idea of dragons - they can be useful, but I honestly don't remember the last time I saw a dragon last longer than 3-4 hours. I've also found it a little silly that the enemy kingdom already knows what you're going to send as soon as the project begins - a well organized kingdom can kill it in an hour if they decide they should, or they can even choose to ignore it.

I would like to propose a revamp of the entire dragon system, including ways to "heal" a dragon.

Customized Dragons

1. All dragons will have a base cost, using the same formula as they do now.
2. All dragons will maintain the base damage to income and draftees.

3. Final price will actually depend upon the options chosen:

a. Fear: increased military losses.

b. Timidity: decreased land gains.

c. Paranoia: building effectiveness reduction.

d. Armored Terror: decreased OME/DME. (possibly separate options)

e. Hunter: decreased WPA/TPA. (again, possibly separate options)

f. Production Pauses: decreased food/rune production.

g. No Peace: decreased birth rates. (10-15%)

h. Destroyer: chance to destroy buildings per tick. (50-75% as powerful as a single Tornado)

i. Strafing Run: chance to kill peasants per tick. (50-75% as powerful as single fireball)

j. Horrifying Presence: increase wages by up to 15%

k. Strengthened Hide: increased overall life. (25-50%)

l. Regeneration: chance to regain x% points of life per tick. (25-50% chance, 5-10% life regain)

4. Either a slider or point system could be used to determine the severity of the effect and cost of the effect.

a. Yes, you would be able to max out ALL of the penalties, but your dragon will probably cost more gc than an entire kingdom can generate in 72 hours. But it could be done.

b. Yes, you could add the minimum of each penalty.The dragon would be cheaper, but not very effective.

5. The target kingdom would also not know anything other than "a dragon is coming" until it was actually sent, and then the dragon page would reveal the powers and strength of the powers.

a. "Kingdom X:X has begun a dragon project against us! We will not know the strengths of the beast until it arrives."

6. There would obviously need to be caps on the penalties the dragon could apply.
7. A slider type system would allow for fine-tuning of strength vs. cost.
8. A point system would create an artificial cap, based on the cost of the penalties to impose and the default points available.

a. Perhaps more points could be purchased for an increased base cost.

Example: (Rough example, I know this isn't the dragon cost formula.)

Drake: 35 points, costs 90% of kingdom NW
Adult Dragon: 50 points, costs 105% of kingdom NW
Ancient Dragon: 75 points, costs 135% of kingdom NW

Fear: 2% increased military losses - 1 point
4% increased military losses - 3 points
..
..
10% increased military losses - 10 points

And so on.

The numbers are pulled from thin air, they are in no way representative of anything balanced. Very rough idea that probably needs a lot of refinement.

Also, dragons can be named.

I wouldn't mind to have a cheap dragon for its basic dragon effect, kinda like a lesser dragon (-income and -soldier training), and the ability to extend HP of the dragon is nice. (Sapphire is too damn easy to kill)

I like this, but imho the points cap works against the custom dragon - dont have a points cap, have points determining health and cost. Using your example, 10% increased military losses costs 10 points, so cost of dragon is (Kingdom Networth)+(Kingdom Networth * 0.1). Then for No Peace if its say 2 points cost, then it would be (Kingdom Networth)+(Kingdom Networth * 0.02).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kido

I like this, but imho the points cap works against the custom dragon - dont have a points cap, have points determining health and cost. Using your example, 10% increased military losses costs 10 points, so cost of dragon is (Kingdom Networth)+(Kingdom Networth * 0.1). Then for No Peace if its say 2 points cost, then it would be (Kingdom Networth)+(Kingdom Networth * 0.02).

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedPanda

I wouldn't mind to have a cheap dragon for its basic dragon effect, kinda like a lesser dragon (-income and -soldier training), and the ability to extend HP of the dragon is nice. (Sapphire is too damn easy to kill)

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That's one of my issues as well. The ones that are really useful are just too easy to kill.

As I said, the points/cost would need to be established and played with - no thought was really given to how that would be balanced. Each trait would likely also need a different weight. Some of them are definitely more powerful than others, but if 10 points in every trait is only a 10% cost increase overall, it might end up too powerful for the total cost. That is probably a better way to go than capping points, too.

Thank you for the input.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Erelwraia

if 10 points in every trait is only a 10% cost increase overall, it might end up too powerful for the total cost. That is probably a better way to go than capping points, too.

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Nah, i was just using that number as an example. Have more powerful traits cost more. like a 50% increase in health, could be 25% additional cost, or 50% effect of single tornado op on every prov being a 15% increase in cost. And then regeneration being 20% increased cost. So with those 3 traits you end up with a 60% increase to overall cost. Or even tier the effects. So you have a set of effects at tier 1: 10%, then at tier 2: 15%, then at then at tier 3: 20%, then at tier 4: 25%. So 4x tier 4 effects = a 100% increase of cost. Or you could have 10x tier 1 effects for 100% increase of cost.

Heck, I like the idea of the enemy KD not even knowing a Dragon is coming at all, until its launched!

This way, when your about to war, neither KDs know if either is sending a dragon or not. This is more real. How does an enemy KD KNOW we have started a Dragon? The game doesn't have spy capabilities.
i like this idea a lot. The numbers can be worked on, but this is a forward thinking positive game change!