So I was originally trying to avoid magic, but I think it needs some.
The game is a land and sea mmo/moba hybrid. Below is a screen of the ocean gameplay. Focus has all been on functionality at this point so while I’m trying to keep the visuals in line with the intended art style (stylistic), it’s all prototype models.
Currently I have core combat systems to support most anything so it’s a design question at this point. Right now I have two ship weapon types. Ballista and catapults basically although I’m calling them lobbers and bolt throwers. The idea is weapon types do more/less damage to different things. Lobbers do damage to the ship itself. Bolt throwers do higher damage to weapons on the ship. Lobbers do some splash damage.
One thing I haven’t implemented entirely yet is ship armor. Ship design will probably be a fairly blocky style not that far off from the prototypes, because ships are built by players in a ship editor and I want a good amount of freedom there. Currently the ship editor just lets you place weapons on prototype ships. but I’ll be adding some type of armor you can add. So bolt throwers will be able to pierce that, but lobber splash damage will be greatly minimized. Protecting both weapons and characters.
Anyways, A good support role is one of the main reasons I started thinking about magic. I still want to keep the magic somewhat subdued, with a reason for it being a thing. One thing I was thinking of was crystals. Have them provide restorative/healing/subversive effects. So a support ship could have a crystal driven turret. Swap crystals for different types of effects. I was thinking I could use this not only for support but for cloaking/stealth also.
So ya crystals are the best idea I have so far. I’m trying to keep the game light and and not serious. I probably don’t want whacky stuff, but I’m intentionally avoiding realism in all forms as much as I can while not going all out magic. Like ships I’m using recognizable bases like catamarans, but after that players can build those out so they only barely resemble a catamaran.
Does everything have to be about combat? Like if the only mode is deathmatch, then go for magic. Otherwise there’s resource management and other sorts of roles that aren’t just about keeping your team alive while killing everyone else.
There is a whole resource management side I just didn’t go into that. Every player gets a complete island map actually to manage, plus contested islands that have higher tier resources.
Then think about how those resources can be used in play. Consider transport and supply ships that wouldn’t be directly in combat, but would still be vital to the overall strategy.
I like your idea of using crystals as kind of like a magic ammunition type that you swap out for different effects. I could see magic being used to provide bonuses or do area effects. I’d stick with the main damage dealing being caused by the standard weapons, but magic could assist. A few suggestions for magic effects:
Area of effect that increases damage output of your weapons
Area of effect that decreases ship speed (use on enemy)
Area of effect that increases weapon fire rate
Heal a nearby friendly ship
Freeze the position of a nearby enemy ship
Temporarily disable all weapons on a nearby enemy ship
Summon some kind of magical creature, like a dragon, that lasts only a short time
Trigger a localized weather effect, like a strong wind that blows ships away, or waves that damage ships
Make your ships temporarily invisible until they start shooting
Area of effect that makes enemy weapons less accurate
Already a thing. There is a lot I didn’t mention just to try and keep the conversation focused.
I’m leveraging some tech I’ve built that lets me let every player have their own map without actually having to run server side unity instances for every map. So the gathering/crafting side of the game is more resource management oriented. You hire npc’s to do most of the work and it’s more volume based. So to build a ship you need say a hundred or more trees, but you don’t have to go harvest them all yourself, your minions do that for you. Along with that are transport ships for taking stuff to economic hubs that are in different regions/zones.
Have you considered the ‘mystical’ beliefs of the seas? We all know about the fantasy and fantasy/history based legends and I’m pretty sure all native islanders have there own beliefs, spiritual/mystical abilities, and stuff.
Instead of crystals - why not attempt to tie into sea dwelling legend/lore to generate the ‘magic’?
what about cannons with specialized cannonballs that do whatever kind of ultility your trying for? like a cannonball with a net, a cannonball that deploys a noisemaker, etc
That’s a good idea, I just couldn’t see that working for the problem I was trying to solve, which was how to give support to friendly ships. I really like the mechanic eve online uses with logistics ships, that was kind of the base idea I was working with.
Originally I started out with the idea that ammunition was going to be the primary way to specialize combat. Most games take the exact same approach of adding depth with tiers of weapons and armor. Sometimes quite complicated. I wanted to try and take an approach that retained depth but with a simpler progression system. Having a limited number of weapon types but a huge variety in ammo seemed like a good approach to try.
If you are going for historical accuracy, catupults and ballistas were the support weapons. The majority of pre cannon naval combat revolved around boarding actions and/or ramming.
It wasn’t until Sir Francis Drake took out the Spanish Armada in the 1588 that the idea of sinking an opponents ships from a distance really took hold as a practical naval doctrine.
