Perhaps there is a game like this already, but I was thinking what would be wicked would be an RTS similar to the likes of Warcraft, and the Age of ... series as an MMORTS. A persistant world. So people actually build a kingdom like in an RTS single player, but the progression would be much slower and it owudl be realtime. Theere would have to be some sort of mapping system like in 10six, but it would be cool I think.

I''ve had a somewhat similar idea, but would be more like the Total War games (in the sense of very large armies). There would be several worlds, split up into about 150 kingdoms each. Whenever you join, you would choose a world (or random) and choose the type of landscape you would like your kingdom to be on and the computer would try and find the kingdom most like what you would want. The entire world would already be made, so the landscape you want might already be taken, so you may have to settle for something different.

Anyway, once your in you start with a simple castle and a small village. For the first while you can''t be attacked, to help new kingdoms from being conquered from much larger ones. You would have to manage your affairs and build up your kingdom and army. The entire thing would be in real time. Since the game is always going on, you can lay out certain orders that will be carried out while your absent. There not really much of a way to prevent your kingdom from being attacked while your gone, but your armies will go on the defensive atomatically until you get back, and your allies might help hold off the invaders until you get back.

Which brings me to the next point of the game, the other players. It is important that you make some allies, for imports and exports, weapons and technology that may only be avaible where they are located. You only start with the land that is given to you, and to get more you must conquer other kingdoms in order to expand. You can invade with allies and then split the land between you. If you are somehow able to conquer an entire world, then you can the power to create portals, allowing you to spread and conquer other worlds.

Some make think "Why not join a world with no one else on it and take it over before anyone else can come?". Well, one the process would take a few weeks, and a few people are bound to join by then. Two, the worlds will be watched over and such things will be restricted. There is a possiblity that one player could take over several worlds and slowly conquer one after the other, but it up to other players to team up defend themselves. Also, the portals I mentioned earlier would have to be built, and take a lot of time and resources to create. Only when a portal is on a world would it be able to link to others, and therefore attack or be attacked, or simple just open up a link for more allies.

What I like about this idea is it''s a game you can pick up and play for whatever length of time, and your kingdom will grow without you being there (though slower). The idea of several players joining and create massive armies for war is also a rather kick ass thought.

One thing that would be very hard to get but would make the game a lot better is that battle simulator type system they used in LotR. In it, you gave orders to the armies and then let em go at it. They would pretty much fight for themselves, and I don''t mean just hacking each other back and forth, actually fighting each other and it''s quite entertaining to watch. People could simple gather huge armies, give a few simple commands and sit back and enjoy the fight. You still would be able to order them what to do, but this would make the battles a lot more entertaining.

Well, that''s the idea I had. Any comment or suggestions would be appreciated.

"Well, on second thought, let''''s not go to Camelot -- it is a silly place."

The big problem with universes persisting while the player isn''t logged in is the large increase in server load - if you have some sort of processing being done as well, you''re looking at some pretty hefty requirements...

Of course, the more processing you dump onto the players'' machines, the more you have to worry about various hacks... guess it comes down to a trade-off (like so much in life)

And I would bet that fairly rapidly, you would have someone who became almost godlike in power, and could portal to other worlds and destroy them easily. If you used admin powers to derail this process, you would be having to do it constantly, because as soon as you knocked one down, the next would eat up the empty space and become just as powerful. This would cause a game where you would be trying to constantly become second most powerful whenever the server did it''s monopoly sweeps.

M

quote: And I would bet that fairly rapidly, you would have someone who became almost godlike in power, and could portal to other worlds and destroy them easily. If you used admin powers to derail this process, you would be having to do it constantly, because as soon as you knocked one down, the next would eat up the empty space and become just as powerful. This would cause a game where you would be trying to constantly become second most powerful whenever the server did it''s monopoly sweeps.

True, but there would have to be a portal in the other world, so only certain ones would be able to be taken over by god like players. Also, if such a thing were to happen and none of the other worlds would be strong enough to fight back, then the player will be restricted from entering or building portals for a limited time (1 week to several months). This would buy other worlds time to build up whatever they would need to stop themselves from being invaded. Another way to help prevent this is several players on a single world joining forces and setting up defences around these portals. Only so many troops could come through at the same time, and a good enough defence could kill them off as the came in.

quote: The big problem with universes persisting while the player isn''t logged in is the large increase in server load - if you have some sort of processing being done as well, you''re looking at some pretty hefty requirements...

That''s the other problem. A game of this sorts would require a lot to keep running and keep it from lagging to much. I''m not sure how to address this problem, except to say that the game would be pay-to-play and the money would be used to keep the servers running. There might be other ways but it''s the only thing that comes to mind at the moment.

"Well, on second thought, let''''s not go to Camelot -- it is a silly place."

Uh, nobody would "defend" you if you were away and you were attacked. Your allies would immediately switch sides and help invade you. End of story. (I''ve tried the idea. It''s interesting...but I really don''t think it''s viable.)

Yeh exactly, not to mention that they would likely get very boring. As example, playing games of 30-50 hours on Empire Earth got so very boring after awhile....

A few of your seemingly "learned" comments are void. I can say this from personal experience.

A) your allies WOULD protect you for several reasons including the value of your trade, the value of your protection, etc.

B) It would not be so easy for someone to become godlike and it certainly would nto happen "very quickly".

C) If the kingdom areas were deigned correctly on the servers then there would not be a large taxation.

I know ALL of this from playing 10six. Although not extremely successful 10six was to a lesser extent a persistive, running while you''re offline MMORTS. For those of you who have played it, you will understand why I say your allies will protect you if they can, people who become powerful get a bullseye on their head instantly, and servers not being taxed.
If everything is done ocrrectly none of these problems would occur and I think of reasonable solutions for them.

quote: Uh, nobody would "defend" you if you were away and you were attacked. Your allies would immediately switch sides and help invade you. End of story. (I''ve tried the idea. It''s interesting...but I really don''t think it''s viable.)

....

A) your allies WOULD protect you for several reasons including the value of your trade, the value of your protection, etc.

If they were your allies they would must likely come to your help as Kinmii said. No doubt there will be people that will change sides and help invade, but let''s presume that your allies are back stabbers. If your kingdom is conquered you will have to start a new one. Possibly, to help people who weren''t there while they were being invaded they would receive a larger castle and town when they start their new kingdom. Some players may take advantage of this and log off before being completely conquered, which may bring up a bit of a problem. It would be easy just to let it slide, or there could be some ways to help prevent it from happening (keeping track of online/offline time).


"Well, on second thought, let''''s not go to Camelot -- it is a silly place."

There could be some sort of non-friendly fire with people who have alliances and if you decide to break an alliance you can''t actually hurt their units for a full 24 hours or something like that.