This is a topic that, interestingly enough, rarely comes up. What is the ideal length of an average mission?
In some simulation-style games you play play a single epic mission from start to finish (like Civilization, Sim City etc). We don't have this situation, and for now at least, most of Empires will be based upon a series of self-contained missions.
Most missions will go through a roughly similar progression:
Build a small, efficient start-up colony;
Explore your local territory;
Expand your colony + claim food + deal with hazards;
Complete mission objective (e.g., win a significant final battle)
- So how long do you think the whole sequence should take?
- How long should the game be in each 'state' (i.e., how would you like to spend most of your time? Do you want to build up really fast and concentrate on colony vs colony war, or would you prefer to spend most of your time planning and designing your colony, dealing with battles as you go?)
- Do you like to set the pace of the game yourself? (e.g., turtle in, build up until you feel you are strong enough to win)
- Or do you prefer the game to maintain a certain pace of increasing danger so you are compelled to react?
Obviously every mission is different and peoples' play styles are different so I am just hoping for some numbers in the ballpark (we will do a bit of everything regardless, but it would be good to know what the general preferences are).
In some simulation-style games you play play a single epic mission from start to finish (like Civilization, Sim City etc). We don't have this situation, and for now at least, most of Empires will be based upon a series of self-contained missions.
Most missions will go through a roughly similar progression:
Build a small, efficient start-up colony;
Explore your local territory;
Expand your colony + claim food + deal with hazards;
Complete mission objective (e.g., win a significant final battle)
- So how long do you think the whole sequence should take?
- How long should the game be in each 'state' (i.e., how would you like to spend most of your time? Do you want to build up really fast and concentrate on colony vs colony war, or would you prefer to spend most of your time planning and designing your colony, dealing with battles as you go?)
- Do you like to set the pace of the game yourself? (e.g., turtle in, build up until you feel you are strong enough to win)
- Or do you prefer the game to maintain a certain pace of increasing danger so you are compelled to react?
Obviously every mission is different and peoples' play styles are different so I am just hoping for some numbers in the ballpark (we will do a bit of everything regardless, but it would be good to know what the general preferences are).