I'm mostly writing this because I'm bored... and there haven't been too many topics posted lately. So, i thought this would be fun.
Exchange Market:
I'm probably going to add an NPC type market in my next game that lets you exchange resources. There will be 6 resource types (gold, grain, wood, iron, gems and mana), with some resources in natural higher demand than others. For example, iron will be used to make weapons. Because the rate at which weapons need to be made is fairly constant, there is not a high need to produce addition iron mines. On the other hand, gold is required for many types of transactions, thus, buildings that increase gold output will be in natural high demand.
The idea is to have a database that is pre-seeded with values. If a building that produces gold produces 10 gold per hour, and a building that produces iron produces 1 Iron per hour (and building cost are equal), then the pre-seeded database would look similar to:
Gold: 100,000
Iron: 10,000
As 100 Iron is sold for gold, the sales value is 100,000 / 10,000 * 100 = 1,000 Gold (less a 10% transaction fee). But then the amount of in-game iron sold is raised from 10,000 to 10,100. The next time a player goes to sell iron, it is worth less and less Gold (100,000 / 10,100, etc).
I anticipate this having a very desirable effect. First, the players that spent too many resources building iron mines will find themselves at a disadvantage as liquidating the resource will become less profitable. Second, the player who who has played before, and chose a strategy of building no iron mines, could find themselves with a serious advantage. Third, this exchange of resources could very easily tilt the other way, switching the tables on all users.
Luck of the Underdog
It is only natural for a larger player to expect to win a battle. It is also natural for a new or weaker player to think they should have a chance against a larger, much more powerful opponent. I am planning to include a luck system in combat that gives the smaller player a (1 / (20 + rank difference)) chance to defeat any opponent in the game. I am hoping this gives the new player a sense of satisfaction by having a chance (albeit small) to defeat anyone in the game while not upsetting the higher ranked players too terribly bad.
I believe that's all for now. As I have often overlooked the negative potential of things, I'm asking for feedback / discussion points.
