Thinking about some of the messages I missed while being armless, one suggestion i did think was interesting was Tom's idea of having a castaways game set in the wild west, with you setting up a town in the fronteer while being attacked by indians, having a gun smith as well as a sergion etc.
While I really liked this idea in principle, one problem I do see is a purely historical one, another is technological. From a technological perspective, the indians while a fierce enemy for a growing community still living out of their trail wagons, would be no match for a fully fortified town defended by riflemen and cannons. In castaways, one of the points of the game is that your enemies have, while not the same potential for destruction as your people, enough to literally wipe your community off the map, whether these are the goblins or other human cities. Funnily enough the same issue happened with dwarf fortress, and enemy factions were introduced precisely for this reason. This is a case of game balance vs history, since while historically speaking any new setlers with more advanced technology tend to irradicate their rivals, (often utterly exterminating them as with the aztecs), in a game you want a ruthless enemy who has the potential to challenge the player all the way through. the second problem is a purely historical one. i don't know too mch about the settling and colonization of America by europeans, however one thing I do know is that it obviously didn't go on forever, and what started out as an isolated community would, if they survived within a hundred years or so be a fully functional town and part of a very large new country, with accepted trade routes, centralized government, even a fully working railway system. In castaways, in the first mission you will take at the quickest three generations to complete your ship, thus meaning about 45 years or so pass, (even accounting for kids starting work at 12 and marrying around 16 as was usual in medieval communities), add on other missions and technological advances, and you have even more time pass, by which time a wild west communty's environment will have changed significantly simply by virtue of their being very many other setlers. My suggestion therefore, would be to have the game occur in an alternate western influenced world, rather than in the actual west, (for those who know the reference I'm thinking something like the alloy of lore from Brandon sanderson's mistborn series). As in reality therefore, the game begins when you take your wagon train of setlers who have landed on a newly discovered continent with a few supplies and a lot of know how, and need to setup a community. They have knolidge of gun powder (though they will need to find, smelt and mine the components for themselves), and of steam technology so could run a steam powered saw mill or build their own railway or factories, though this will take considderable time, resources and planning, and for a good few years they'll be on bare necessities. Unfortunately however, the country is also populated by a hostile race of none humans say call them umli (in D&D days this was the name for half dwarves). The umli are absolutely zenophobic, and want nothing better than to remove the new human settlers, however they have a very irritating habbit, that of copying what they seee, meaning that while they are not the most imaginative of creatures, if those around them make advancements, they are great at stealing such measures for themselves. they also breed faster and live shorter lives than humans as well, making them even harder to stamp out. this means they've slaughtered human settlers, by having similar weaponry and fire arms, though fortunately if they're beaten back it'll take them a good few years to renew their numbers. Throughout the game you setup your colony with it's farms, smiths, tailers, coblers, hunters and the like, and eventually get the where withall to create guns, steam powered factory machines for production, and even a railway should you build two close cities. however, unfortunately you learn that most other human settlements in the area have faired less well than yourselves, leaving you cutoff and alone, meaning you must forge your own government and institutions even as you colonize the new continent. This way, you! would literally build your own nation from a small colony, fighting off an enemy it was very hard to stamp out, (optionally other races or trade partners could be introduced as well). But you'd never be ruled from Washington, or need to pay taxes to the government, or have advances made that weren't part of your own civilizations rise to power. while I know for western fans as a purely historical venture this would lack something of the nostalgia factor, since you wouldn't get mexican bandits, sherrifs trained "back east" ruthless gold companies or bullian train robberies, at the same time it would let the developer be totally free with the world and setting of things and introduce all those factors which he/she wanted in the game. For example, I know in America there are no cammels, yet let us say that in the western enspired world to the south was a great desert, however far across it was an oasis full of very rich natural resources, but to cross it, the player would need to either breed cammels and form an expedition heavily protected by riflemen with experienced hunters, or, later in the game build a full scale railway across the desert, requiring the allocation of lots of resources and indeed workers, (both to build the railway and to keep the workers fed and watered in the harsh climate). This would be a rather interesting game challenge, but not obviously historically accurate to American history as far as I know. All the best, Dark. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. 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