Channeler Births

Not your starting channelers

from Elemental Forums

Yes folks, its another thread by yours truly. Usual disclaimers, Already talked about, agasint lore, so-on and such-and-such.

 

In another thread( https://forums.elementalgame.com/375417 ) i was talking about how having the possiblity of marrying a peer would be nice. Didn't want to be stuck some arm accessory for a wife for next 1000 years. Flailed around trying to find something that would fit lore, but the only things really in a lauge with channelers are dragons, and they are not exactly wife material. Suggested maybe channelers kept being born and i could pick one up for my wife.

The idea, is that channelers continue to be born as the game progresses. Yes, they are very few in number, its very rare, but it does happen. If i have an empire with a billion citizens, over the course of hundreds of years, you would think at least one channeler would be born into that empire during that time.

When they are born though, it gives you a massive oppurtunity. Any channeler should be monitering for the presence of a new channeler on the off chance that one is born. After all, you built a massive empire because your a channeler, having a channeler you know nothing about showing up in your empire could lead to her starting a rebellion or other problems.

So you spot her right away and whisk her away to your citadel. Players could then get a choice. Kill her to remove any possible future problems. Sacrifice her for more power. Or raise her as a loyal apprentice/follower/hero.

 

I have 2 different thought on how she should function as a minion.

The first is that you control her, and she adds some bonuses to your magic powers and you can use her as a very powerful hero, or marry her, or have her stay at your citadel to research.

The second idea, and the one I like more, is that, as a channeler, she is her own seperate side, controlled by the AI. However, as you raised and trained her, she is allied to you. She would have a seperate spell tree and empire and everything. However, as she is very closley allied to you, you share tech and magic research with each other. You could also assaign her tasks.

Ex. You have an island out apart from your empire. You could assaign her to be its govener. You would retain control over the islands, but she would hang out on the island and support it with spells that you might not have the time or spare mana to cast.

Or you could marry her.

Or you could use her as a very powerful hero in combat.

You would be able to control what training she recieves as she is raised, so you could control her abilites.

 

This would also help out massive empires that have grown beyond a channelers ability to keep magiced. If mundane and magic power are seperated, then the empire might grow beyond the size that the channeler can cast spells over. Having a second, weaker, AI controlled channeler to assist you might help keep that from happening.

The new channeler should also remain at the strength of a very powerful hero at most to keep from unbalancing the game. After all, the strongest heroes have likley been around for a long time and have a lot of magic invested in them by thier channeler, in some cases, more then the new channeler can cast in total. The new channeler can't simply show up and surpass their experince and magic. And channelers are not born powerful, tehy become powerful over centurys, something this new channeler has not had a chance to do, and won't for quite a while.

Another way to keep this from being too powerful is the training given to the new channeler. Your channeler would need to take time to train her, time he could of spent researching or casting. She would be a major investment of time and resources.

 

The heart of this idea is a way for you to custom build a hero who has an in-built reason to never age on you and dosen't depend on your channeler completly for all of her magic.

28,549 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

If one civ gets a second channeler and the others don't will that be too much of an advantage?

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

No.

The new channeler should also remain at the strength of a very powerful hero at most to keep from unbalancing the game. After all, the strongest heroes have likley been around for a long time and have a lot of magic invested in them by thier channeler, in some cases, more then the new channeler can cast in total. The new channeler can't simply show up and surpass their experince and magic. And channelers are not born powerful, tehy become powerful over centurys, something this new channeler has not had a chance to do, and won't for quite a while.

Another way to keep this from being too powerful is the training given to the new channeler. Your channeler would need to take time to train her, time he could of spent researching or casting. She would be a major investment of time and resources.

I figured the first problem with this would be that its too much of an advantage, but by the time a baby channeler shows up, i would expect most heroes to have grown stronger than her. Until she is trained up she would be just as weak as any channeler just starting the game. And since most of the empire's resources would be devoted to you instead of her, she would not grow powerful as quickly as PC channelers.

It would not be hard to set her power increase rate to a low enough number that she is not more powerful that the top heroes, but she is still strong enough to be worth having around plus she would have unique advantages such as providing her own mana.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top
agasint lore
Heretic! Bring the pitchforks! :P
Remember that Stardock needs all kind of ideas so meh with lore. :P I do belive that wrapping an idea in a nice package helps though.
marrying a peer would be nice. Didn't want to be stuck some arm accessory for a wife for next 1000 years. Flailed around trying to find something that would fit lore, but the only things really in a lauge with channelers are dragons, and they are not exactly wife material. Suggested maybe channelers kept being born and i could pick one up for my wife.
Wives are accesories to allow for the Dynasity system. Gameplay issue, not lore one... maybe? Maybe all channelers (Sovereigns) are ultimately romantic and once their wife dies they lose all interest in "wives and/or bed mates". :P
Lorewise anything goes when selecting a mate for the Soverign. I mean, being so many holes about what we know, as long as it's reasonable, why not? The problem with dragons as wives is not that they are dragons. The problem is that they are frakking powerful and if you are waiting to have children until you marry a (naturally or magically) shapeshifted one, you better don't hold your breath waiting. "Enhanced" wives should not be "Turn 1" material as they suppose advantages. And for balance, better if tied to quests than to Lady Luck.
For what we know, channelers (the sovereigns, actually, as they are the only ones able to use magic) are "unique" (considering that there are 12 of them XD ) and from hints gotten, destined to somekind of epic mega battle over the world. It doesn't deny the possibility of "minor" channelers to be born though. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the Heroes are channelers without any Sovereign imbuing them with Essence.
The idea, is that channelers continue to be born as the game progresses. Yes, they are very few in number, its very rare, but it does happen. If i have an empire with a billion citizens, over the course of hundreds of years, you would think at least one channeler would be born into that empire during that time.
Bigger empires would have greater chance of second "sovereign" (because I suppose for what you write that you want a second sovereign, not a regular channeler which you can already create imbuing one of your heroes). Magical Empires people won't like that. XD You'd need to offer them something like magical oriented empires, with so much magic floating around in their lands, have a bigger chance than a... er... might oriented empire. XD
Only problem with the idea is to make it balanced. As I said, I prefer quests for such powerful individuals. Lady Luck can be a bitch (sorry, my mistress!!! :\ ).
having a channeler you know nothing about showing up in your empire could lead to her starting a rebellion or other problems.
So you spot her right away and whisk her away to your citadel. Players could then get a choice. Kill her to remove any possible future problems. Sacrifice her for more power. Or raise her as a loyal apprentice/follower/hero.
New "Sovereigns" as mega events that you have to deal with (destroy, ally, or marry!! XD ) seem nice to me if well done.
The new channeler should also remain at the strength of a very powerful hero at most to keep from unbalancing the game.
Then no need for "Sovereign" but regular channeler. Again, you can imbue a regular Hero to get a channeler. Yeah, it would depend on Essence spent and not randomness, but it's more balanced.
The heart of this idea is a way for you to custom build a hero who has an in-built reason to never age on you and dosen't depend on your channeler completly for all of her magic.
Imbued heroes live longer but wouldn't cut it. Only "Sovereign" types do but they cannot be such if they are capped at Hero level. Hmm Maybe if capped but with access to exclusive skills that no Hero (channeler or not) can have...

Remember that channeler is any creature able to use magic. Only Sovereigns can use it (lets not count dragons yet). To the channeler list you can add only those imbued by them with Essence (making a mundane hero into a channeler) and, if the original idea sitcks, those imbued by the new channeler heroes.

Sovereigns are channelers with the potential to kick dragon ass. Imbued channelers are... well, they have tricks that non imbued heroes don't. That seems to be the "official" thing. I suppose that natural born channelers that are not Sovereign type could/should be possible and with that it could work fine.

In any case, I hope that the wife, no matter how mundane she is, can be a unit. Really.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Since our channeler is immortal, when we marry a commonor then it is likely that we will outlive her.  So it may turn out that we have a whole series of different wives over the course of a game.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Very well thought out idea i agree with it and do not have anything worthwile to add besides my approvement.