Should Paradox introduce new anomalies with every major patch?
- Thread starter Vinipac
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Imagine if someone told you. Besides your (current) work I want you to commit to learning 5-10 Chinese radicals a month. Plus, you know if you don't write them perfectly they will have a hissy fit. What would be your response?
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This was because JMS thought for a while that the show would be cancelled at the end of season 4. This forced him to put much of what he had originally planned to put in season 5 into season 4. When the threat of cancellation stopped, he was forced to make a number of filler episodes because of that.
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I'm well aware, but that's still not good enough a reason for me to give S5 a pass. I only kept watching the show for more G'Kar and Londo... and because of all the good will and investment built up from previous seasons.
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I would tell them sure, I'll learn 20 of those a month if you give me more anomalies every patch
Disclaimer: Chinese is a my first language
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Huh. My grandmother watches Babylon 5, but I always assumed it's because she doesn't know how to use the remote, got lost on the way to the 1930s Nostalgia Channel, and then just gave up and watched whatever circumstance had brought her.
HAVE I BEEN MISINFORMED?
EDIT: Oh yeah, on-topic.
Every time a thread pops up saying "I hope they add $STUPID_FEATURE in a patch or dlc! :^) Pls upboat if you agree!" my stock response is "Time better spent adding more SPACE anomalies to this SPACE game". So you hit on the one $STUPID_FEATURE that is not stupid.
...that being said, I'm old enough to remember a world where a patch was a bugfix, not a content pack, so I am not about to demand that all patches have new anomalies, because NEW stuff really is what DLC is for.
But if new content is what you're getting, then new anomalies is the best form of new content.
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I think that creating new anomalies would go a long way in keeping the anomalies fresh.
Otherwise, exploration might lose some (but not all) of its charm after a few playthroughs (the number of which would be dependent on the number of the anomaly and the player's zeal in searching for them, I guess).
I think that another way they might keep us players on our toes would be to have different anomalies in the same "package", so to speak, e.g. the 2001's monolith-like anomaly discovered in the Blorg stream was found out to be a library. Perhaps another monolith would give the same anomaly text when encountered but if successfully investigated would, for example, give the scientist charterer experience and a rare trait (the monolith was a defunct uplifting device created by a precursor civilization; when activated it enhanced the mind of the scientist before crumbling to dust)
This will help prevent the feeling of "yeah, I know what that does" that goes against the concept of discovering the unknown.
Otherwise, exploration might lose some (but not all) of its charm after a few playthroughs (the number of which would be dependent on the number of the anomaly and the player's zeal in searching for them, I guess).
I think that another way they might keep us players on our toes would be to have different anomalies in the same "package", so to speak, e.g. the 2001's monolith-like anomaly discovered in the Blorg stream was found out to be a library. Perhaps another monolith would give the same anomaly text when encountered but if successfully investigated would, for example, give the scientist charterer experience and a rare trait (the monolith was a defunct uplifting device created by a precursor civilization; when activated it enhanced the mind of the scientist before crumbling to dust)
This will help prevent the feeling of "yeah, I know what that does" that goes against the concept of discovering the unknown.
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I think ultimately this will all boil down in to how difficult is it to make/add an anomaly to the game. Now I have no problem, if I desire to Mod, to dig through and edit files/create my own. But if it was possible, an official program that allowed easy development of homemade anomalies and their branching paths. That would be awesome.
There is one thing that bothers me about anomalies (well, not only about anomalies). It's about balance. On the one hand they have to balance anomalies in a way that one single anomaly never to be an overkill - because competitive multiplayer is one of they goals and loosing a party because one person rolled a very good one isn't very nice. And number of "not overkill anomalies" is limited (because amount of variables they can affect is limited too) - sooner or later it became just a number of similar (mechanic-wise) anomalies, or groups of anomalies, based on that they do, with different flavor text.
On the other hand, as a person who don't play multiplayer and want to role-play a bit, i really want anomalies that can change the whole course of party in a moment (for good or bad). I really wish they add something like this later with option to turn it on\off for multiplayer.
On the other hand, as a person who don't play multiplayer and want to role-play a bit, i really want anomalies that can change the whole course of party in a moment (for good or bad). I really wish they add something like this later with option to turn it on\off for multiplayer.
Yes
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Since creating anomalies is a creative endeavour, vs the actual coding of them/writing the events for them, it is not something you can just come up with each patch with ease.
More things to find and explore is always better, but someone has to think them up, and I don't envy that person.
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Every Paradox game has at least one dedicated scripter, and anomalies - scripted story-telling events - is a perfect example for what a scripter does. Of course, this time its not adjusting known history into game mechanics, but much more creative. But there are thousands of Sci-Fi stories out that can serve as a inspiration.
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It was mentioned in one of the Dev Diaries that anomalies will have multiple streams so they are less predictable. I take that to mean that for the chain event/anomalies each step in the process has a chance of several outcomes, each leading to other variable outcomes, probably based on scientist skill, ethos, and possibly traits. It seems like Paradox really thought this issue through to prevent anomalies and events from getting stale. You never quite know exactly what you're going to get.
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And Babylon 5 is definitely one of the best Sci-Fi shows of all time. Just sayin'
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And Babylon 5 is definitely one of the best Sci-Fi shows of all time. Just sayin'
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I'd rather they ninja them in. When you update your game, any anomalies sneak in along with the update or game synch or next Steam log-in or whatever.
Since I'm playing via Steam, all manner of anomalies could crop up with my being none the wiser. Which, given the potential punnery, is of itself amusing.
Since I'm playing via Steam, all manner of anomalies could crop up with my being none the wiser. Which, given the potential punnery, is of itself amusing.
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That's exactly what I had said in another thread so, yeah, I totally agree. It would be even better if they added an end game crisis too (related to the DLC or not).
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Why not, but with respect to anomalies and game crisises, I particularly have great faith in modders.