Idea: minion-based fighting system (like in Overlord)

[Swiftstep]

Dear reader,

first of all: this is my first thread on this forum; if the category is wrong, please, dear mod, move it to the right place. Thanks in advance.

The introduction: I do like this game, but after several hundert hours of gameplay I got very tired of the fighting system. Since there are limited possibilites to advance in the game, I thought of an alternative, that shifts the action from "dodge & hit" to "managing units".

Now, down to business: if you know the game "Overlord", you got a pretty good idea of my intentions. I want my character to be able to summon a horde of minions to do the dirty work, while I only need to command them. At the very basic the minions are supposed to follow my order, and return to me when I desire them too (or the order is fullfilled); any other task the minions might manage is to be discussed later on.

And in detail: despite the undead or daedric creatures one may summon, the minions are meant to keep me out of combat, since I only command them. No more button smashing, but more thinking and leading. More supporting, less fighting. This should give the game a completely new, yet immersive expierence.

 

The problems: unfortunately I do not have the slightest idea if this is possible, how much work it would need to realize it or what skills one would need to have. Furthermore I am not a native speaker, so any dialogue I can muster may seem flimsy to the users (compared to the rest, this should nevertheless be the tiniest problem); of course, I am willing to help with any skill I possess, but don't expect me to do the important work. Which leads me to the last point....

The question: this forum surely has lots of readers and lots of very qualified users. I would humbly like to request an oppinion on this idea, as well I would like the users to know what they think of the whole idea. So, what would it need to realize this idea, and are there enough players out there that would like this idea to become real?

 

Thank you very much for your interest. Your response would be highly appreciated. 

[Keyboard Warrior]

Hmm. This has been done with the Dwarven Spider Control rod, albeit on a smaller scale. If someone could rip the script for that and attach it to summoned creatures (Preferably with support for mods like SkyRE and Requiem. Mmm. Requiem), then it could act as the same.

 

An example of how this works;

 

Player has Summon... Ghostly troll, for example, in his right hand. Uncap summon limit, instead give it an upkeep cost to keep them all out. Summon about 4. Player is a cheating bastard and can keep like 10 of them out. Player then has "Command summons" in left hand; Player sees an NPC he wants dead, charges "Command Summons" and fires it. It works the same as the Dwarven Control Rod, except it effects summons. Trolls run up and brutally beat NPC to death.

 

Now that you bring it up, this sounds like an awesome Idea. 10/10.

 

EDIT: Fuck it. I'm going to get my lazy ass into the CK and look at Requiem's "Upkeep" costs and see about making something like this. Highly doubt I can do anything but I'll give it a shot. My idea is to add multiple spells; Summon Skeleton (1): Upkeep - 2 magic per second - Summons one skeleton. Cast again to desummon. Control with "Command Minions". Then there'll be higher tier spells such as "Summon Skeleton (10)" - Upkeep - 20 or so.

 

Since I use Requiem, if this ever does happen it's going to be balanced to that.

 

EDIT 2: So I'm curious. Requiem has a spell called "Darkvision", which allows you to see in the dark but at the same time drains magicka by 2 very slowly (Upkeep of 2 magic per second). Is it achieving this by basically adding to the spell "Drain Magicka - 2 points per second" and just calling the effect itselp "Upkeep" ?

[Swiftstep]

Thanks for your reply and input, mighty warrior. Actually, I never used the control rod (because I thought it to be just one funny gimmick), but it clearly shows that the idea itself is already in the game (with a texture for the command, too - great!). After looking the rod up in Youtube I can agree on it being a good first step into the concept.

By tweaking this content one could reach the very basic of the Overlord-experience. But there is still one key command missing: how to cancel an order? I belief, this should be possible too, because when you command your follower to do sth., you can cancel that "command interface" by pressing the exit-button (you know, talk to the follower, ask him to do sth., and then press tab to cancel). Correct me please, if this can not be combined at all, dear expierenced user.

 

If it's possible to combine, the following things would be required to make the idea more vivid:

-> humanoid minions (Undead? Riekling? Down-sized humans?)
-> set of ingame equipment (to enlarge the horde, make it more versatile e.g.)
-> quest-line / story content
-> skill-tree (for the minions, the commander, spells, minion-spells)
-> lots of easter-eggs (we're talking about the overlord-expierence here...)
-> the limitations on what the minions can do, and what they will never be able to do (can they harvest plants and mine ore for me? That would be gorgeous)
-> technical apsekt: impact on the game (ressources), how the scripting / manipulation / mod may affect the whole game (thats why I thought about a certain item the hero must equip in order to conjure up his minions -> no gear = no minions = normal game)

 

Hm, certainly I am missing some key-points. Well, there is no need to rush. First step is to collect all the required data, then check on possibility. I do have some ideas on the content itself, but not on how to implement them. For me, the technical questions are of major importance (the soft-part like quest, conversations, lore, names and so on does not "scare" me - if a modder likes to tweak the game, but does not like to do the blathering-content, I gladly be of assistance).

 

Thanks in advance for your feedback, dear community!