Fog of War

ArchivedUser

I actually really like this concept..

You start your new character, and the world map has a Fog of War on it. You can only view land that you've already visited, and the map updates as you travel. For example:

You've been playing for a little while, and you've opened up all of the map for the starting area, and the nodes/areas around it. When you open the map, you can see all of that, but not what you haven't visited. So you wouldn't be able to see any settlements or upgraded nodes, unless you actually FOUND them in-game. 

Now lets say that you've made a metropolis, and you've explored half the map and found one other lvl 4 settlement. So you go back to your city, do what you need to do, and like a week later you want to go back to the settlement you found for some reason. It's still on your map, so you start out on your journey. Yet, when you reach the settlement, you find nothing but death and destruction; as the citizens failed to fend off a dragon. NOW your map updates, and the settlement is no longer on your map.

This creates an air of tactics and uncertainty, that I think would be able to truly enhance the game experience. It's like the Fog of War setting in the Warcraft 3 online battles. You don't know if your tiny group of hero's will stumble upon a goblin camp, or a hostile player camp.

This creates the need for cities to have scouts who constantly go out and do recon. Discovering all of the map on a regular basis, to find out where certain resources, threats, and other valuable information. This info can then be used by leaders to update "war maps", battle plans, etc. 

This would also enable sentinels to be a valuable asset. Post patrols around the outskirts of your sphere of influence, so that when hostile scouts come near, they can be killed or chased away. Thus making it harder for others to know the layout of your s.o.i., and making it harder for a siege to be successful. 

Ideas like this could also only exist on certain servers, for those who would like it to be part of their game experience. 

ArchivedUser

I think IS said that there won't be an game minimap like in other games ? but rather in game actual maps and so on (this could work like a FOW where the map gets discovered once you own it and you can see all the locations you have 'mapped'), I could be wrong though.

ArchivedUser

There will be a proximity mini-map. There will be a world map. However that world map will obviously not be static as to points of interest and others, since the world will be changing. The quote I remember is that you could roll through a node and your map would update, come back awhile later and there will be many changes, thus needing to update your map again. There will be a way for players to trade static points of interest, and from the blog a tactical map table to help plan siege and guild actions. Many things not confirmed yet that we may see down the line. Also not having a static world map allows them to add new nodes as they develop them without having the bog-standard "And a lost continent rises from the bottom of the ocean!" tagline every time they want to add content.

ArchivedUser

UnknownSystemError said:

There will be a proximity mini-map. There will be a world map. However that world map will obviously not be static as to points of interest and others, since the world will be changing. The quote I remember is that you could roll through a node and your map would update, come back awhile later and there will be many changes, thus needing to update your map again. There will be a way for players to trade static points of interest, and from the blog a tactical map table to help plan siege and guild actions. Many things not confirmed yet that we may see down the line. Also not having a static world map allows them to add new nodes as they develop them without having the bog-standard "And a lost continent rises from the bottom of the ocean!" tagline every time they want to add content.

So essentially what i was posting in the thread? Awesome.

To touch on the adding content topic:

A cool way they could add content is to create a mountain range you can't cross. Then, when they're ready to release the new content, they create a new mechanic that makes every metropolis (max amount for the server needed) work together, to find a way to the other side of the mountain range. Dig a tunnel, carve a pass, level the mountain and distribute the rock/soil/lumber/resources found, etc.

It would provide them an opportunity to create an epic random encounter (Dragon's roost at the top of the range, giant monsters underground, trolls throughout the range, etc.), depending on which route they take.

It would encourage the players to work together (even briefly) to unlock the content they all want to see, encouraging new trade agreements, causing new rivalries, and broadening your friend base with those across the server. 

It would allow them to make two separate "continents" (individual metro caps, drastically different scenery, new resources only found there, with a new profession to match. 

It would also allow them to play with the idea of continent vs continent warfare. Like maybe if 2 or more metros form an alliance, they can create a new type city. Like a castle that needs to be withing a certain distance from the mountain range, and castles of that scale can only attack other similar castles, not metros. Also, Metro citizens are only "allies" when in the ZoI of those castles.