On a recent game I utterly destroyed the masklings. I mean, I methodically claimed, dismantled, and abandoned their settlements. But now I'm wondering about continuing using that world. I mean, there isn't much more combat I can do. Even if I migrate it into the upcoming morale update and suppress a settlement to create a rival empire, it still won't be the same. Could you throw in some kind of maskling revival? Essentially, they could rebuild a new village, starting from scratch. Unless you have settlements spread across the map, you might not know about it until all your fancy new settlements that don't have walls go up in flames.
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I posted it in another thread, but I think it would be cool if migrants/traders/invaders would sail in from the edge of the map. The difficulty and frequency could be tied to some metrics relating to the players advancement. You could have multiple factions, possibly tied to the direction they came from, so some might just send trade envoys and be friendly while others might launch invasions. Some may just attempt to colonize unclaimed areas and be largely neutral.
Obviously this would all have to wait until the boat and diplomacy updates, but I think it could really add a lot to the end game.
Masklings rebuilding could be tricky. From a technical standpoint it'd be pretty straightforward, but from a gameplay standpoint I could see it devolving into a tedious game of whack-a-Maskling. I've been toying with the idea of shipping experimental features as mods, so you could toggle them off and on, and this might be a good candidate for that.
I agree that end-game challenge is currently a major problem. Mostly, I think, because there's little getting in the way of player growth, and Maskling growth is capped. The Morale update should partially address this, as will the Nobles update. Long term, though, there needs to be a larger, more threatening enemy.
I did a bit of planning and design yesterday, and here's what I'm currently looking at for AI settlements. Some of these may show up as built-in mods, rather than in the core game, and some may be cut.
- Bigguns - Large, ogre like, giants.
- Diggers - Underground dwelling mole-people (probably tied to a post-release update that adds an underground layer like Age of Wonders).
- Mushroom People - Durable, peaceful, fungus people.
- Villages - Villages of fairly peaceful humans.
- Hill People - Primitive, aggressive humans that like raiding neighbors.
- City States - Advanced human settlements that can grow and expand (these are the rival empires).
- Pirate Cities - Coastal human settlements that raid on the seas.
My vision for the diggers is to have them inhabit an entire underground world. There would be caves dotted along the world that lead to the cave "layer", which is effectively a second world map. By travelling underground you can exit through a cave in a different area on the surface.
It could add a neat dimension to trade and warfare, with armies appearing from caves potentially well inside your empire.