Edward Nygma wrote:

Tom announces he's been working on a huge implementation...

We read it and immediately ask for something new when we misunderstand what it means...

 

We seem like selfish children.

Not the first time.  It's a sign of love.

Win conditions sounds awesome. 

The only practical way to avoid loops that I can think of is to only allow RTFs to fire once per turn - which then limits their use in counters or controls for example.

tom wrote:

The only practical way to avoid loops that I can think of is to only allow RTFs to fire once per turn - which then limits their use in counters or controls for example.

Right, but don't SFs have the same limitations?  I guess my point is, there's nothing fundamentally different from a functionality point of view.  If I'm not mistaken, SFs can only engage once per turn.

M57 wrote:

tom wrote:

The only practical way to avoid loops that I can think of is to only allow RTFs to fire once per turn - which then limits their use in counters or controls for example.

Right, but don't SFs have the same limitations?  I guess my point is, there's nothing fundamentally different from a functionality point of view.  If I'm not mistaken, SFs can only engage once per turn.

Yes, they do - I just wanted to call out that that won't change.

To be clear, one thing an RTF shouldn't do is trigger at the beginning of a turn..

The RTF should only engage as a result of an attack acquisition or in response to another RTF's acquisition.

To be clear, one thing an RTF shouldn't do is trigger at the beginning of a turn..

The over-under on time between Tom implementing RTF and the first designer to ask for option to allow it to trigger at turn start is 1 week.
Place your bets now... 

BorisTheFrugal wrote:

To be clear, one thing an RTF shouldn't do is trigger at the beginning of a turn..

The over-under on time between Tom implementing RTF and the first designer to ask for option to allow it to trigger at turn start is 1 week.
Place your bets now... 

You know where I'm putting my money.

Damn! I'm working on a board and thinking, "If only.."   Let's see ..will it help if I throw a temper tantrum??

whaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

IWANTRTFsNOOOOWWWWWWW!

Oh well..  I guess I'll have to figure out a workaround.

This is the last I'll make requests for a while, but this is everything that I wish I could do on WarGear.  Think of it less of something that I want implemented, and more of a list of options that I think WarGear would benefit from, if added some time down the line.

1. Unit Counts

I want to be able to register how many units are in a territory/continent, and have Wargear use that information.  This could be used for number of units per territory, number of units on the board, number of units in a given continent, to determine whether or not a continent/factory should produce, potentially determine the number of attacks you get per turn, or any other fun implementation.

*I would like for this to be able to transport a specific number of units with a factory.  If I have 4 units in this continent, place 4 units in that territory.  So you can keep troop count in forced movement.

2. Non-Unit Bonuses

I'd like for factories to be able to provide more than just units.  Continents could provide cards, borders, modifiers, # of attacks/turn.  This would allow for tasks that could be accomplished to open doors, or add vision, etc.  

3.  Territory Classes

I know I've explained this before, but I'd like a way to categorize territories into classes, and then reference those classes in continents in the form of:  "If player owns (#) units in 'Class A' the continent produces." 

4.  Token Territories (per Cramchakle) 

Territories that are not included when considering if a player is eliminated or not.  If a player is reduced to only token territories, the player who caused this eliminates the player.

5. Friend or Foe Continents

A continent that can check if an ally or enemy owns a given territory.  Also a continent that can grant an AutoCapture for another player, friend or foe. "If I own this AND an enemy/ally owns this... P2 autocaptures Factory A with +2"

6.  Chain Reactions

The ability to set a continent to react to a continent.  When a continent triggers, if it's a "catalyst" it has associated "reaction" continents.  When a catalyst is triggered, it places the units, then triggers another continent.  This could cause loops,so I understand that it's an issue, but it could be avoidable.

I'm sure I could come up with a few more, and probably will at somepoint... but this is my current laundry list of what I would do, if I had the time and know-how to make it happen.

...oh and maybe end of turn continents, so continents could be toggled (in the designer) as Beginning of my turn, or End of my turn, or beginning of all turns, or end of all turns.

4.  Token Territories

For me, this falls in a category similar to per/territory abandon in that they are both territory attributes. I think a lot of designers would use these.

5. Friend or Foe Continents

The concept may sound a bit unusual, but I'm working on a board now where I would use this feature.

#? Continents could be toggled (in the designer) as Beginning of my turn, or End of my turn, or beginning of all turns, or end of all turns.

Again, a feature I would use on boards I am currently working on.  This is really an extension of the Real-Time Factories idea. So The full list would be.

Beginning of My turn
End of My turn
Beginning of All turns
End of All turns
Immediately upon first realization. (RTF)

I would use any or all variations of this feature on my boards.

I also think that AutoNeutral factories would be nice.

Edward Nygma wrote:

I also think that AutoNeutral factories would be nice.

+1 Again, a feature I would use on many boards, including some I am currently working on.  Of all of the continent/factory related suggestions on your list, I'd have a tough time coming up with my top 2 or 3.  I'd definitely have to think about it.

Edward Nygma wrote:

6.  Chain Reactions

The ability to set a continent to react to a continent.  When a continent triggers, if it's a "catalyst" it has associated "reaction" continents.  When a catalyst is triggered, it places the units, then triggers another continent.  This could cause loops,so I understand that it's an issue, but it could be avoidable.

@E I'm not exactly sure what you're saying here, but I think Real Time Factories cover this if they are active from the very start of the turn - and there would be no looping problem. Remember, RTFs can only fill once in a turn. With regular Continents/Factories, my understanding is that the first pass looks at all continents and decides what's valid. The second pass then fills all active orders.

Throw RTFs in the mix and the process would be as follows:

1. The RTF list is consulted before the second pass, and as each RTF is filled, the RTF list gets another complete pass (starting from the beginning of the list). Rinse and Repeat.
2. During the second 'normal order-filling' pass, after EACH order is filled ,the RTF list is consulted and when one is determined to be active it is immediately filled.
3. As each RTF is filled, the remaining RTF list gets another complete pass (as in Step 1).
4. Then it's back to the Standard Continent/Factory list where it was previously left off (Step 2).

Generally speaking, the RTF list is consulted with every change of the board at every point in the turn.  So for instance, proposed 'end-of-turn factories' would necessarily consult the RTF list in the same fashion as described above. I'm thinking these 'more or less standard' factory lists should NOT be 'reconsulted' on the second pass; they are simply revisited where left off.  This would enable designers to have more control over order of events using Alpha/Numeric etc. naming conventions.

If standard factories are "Cumulative." I.e., they sum their actions, I'm not exactly sure how that would work with my above post.  It all depends on "when" they are filled.  My post assumed that different states happen to territories and are tallied in series.

Edit:  If cumulative - then the simple solution is to fill RTFs once before, then once after all Standard Continents are filled.

Love the idea of having factories that can activate upon capture.

We are also missing the ability to "undo" auto-capture factories. With every other type of factory you can make an if-and-only-if structure. Such that If I have territory A it adds units to territory B unless I also own territory C.

With auto-capture there is no way to create a structure where if I own territory A it autocaptures territory B, but if I own A and C it doesn't.

From original concept present, the capabilities and actual uses of factories here have definitely exceeded (at least my) expectations, which speaks to the quality and forethought that Tom has put into their implementation.  Just as importantly, the range of great ideas for future possibilities speaks to their scalability and potential.

 From (relatively) basic expansion of their capabilities to include things like the timing of their implementation (RTFs, etc.) , adding caps and neutrals, to the more unusual ideas, like inverted functionality (like turning off territories or giving territories to other players) and ‘off-board’ programming’, factories offer designers a relatively simple yet powerful tool that makes WarGear so much more dimensional than the other ‘Risk-like’ gaming sites. 

When I think of some of the other requested designer features that we come up with, like perterritoryabandon, or tokenterritories, I’ll bet that at least 80% of the time, these ideas are thought of in the context of how they can be exploited by factories.  In my case, it’s more like 100%.  A higher percentage of boards are coming out that use them. Factories are fast becoming part of the backbone of this site, and I see their growth as an important aspect of where WG is heading.

Just sharing my perspective as a board designer where the ‘what’s next?’ question is concerned.

having a continent that grants a card would be awsome!

Anti-factory

This is a factory that fills when you don't own the continent.

The obvious usages:

• keeping doors, passages, etc. open or shut
• penalizing players for losing certain key territories.

But it also has a more technical functionality when combined with other factories that would make design much easier and de-clutter the xml.  For instance, eliminating (or significantly reducing) the need to create hundreds of factories that would normally be needed to balance unit count.

j-bomb wrote:

having a continent that grants a card would be awsome!

On it's face, this seems somewhat a mundane feature - After all, cards just give armies in hand, but so do regular continents - cards just delay and somewhat randomly redistribute the timing of the bonus.

But there are interesting considerations:

• if a factory can grant a card - why couldn't it also take away a card?
• By making cards impossible to acquire in the normal fashion (e.g.- setting the per-territory to 1 per 500). cards become something that need to be acquired in other ways.

..just another great use for factories.