Clocks
From early on I at all times wished to ensure Cogmind had enough meals clocks, though because the world expanded within the time since, I’ve added a couple of areas wherein there isn’t a clock for no matter cause. For some time I’ve deliberate to ultimately tackle these as alternatives current themselves.

That’s to not say we want extremely tight clocks–Cogmind clocks are lenient sufficient to supply loads of flexibility to permit for various play types, however assigning some express worth to time by giving it a mechanical influence is nice for steadiness in a goal-oriented roguelike like Cogmind (versus a sandbox), in any other case any variety of bizarre participant methods may begin to emerge as they take benefit the inevitable design cracks in a posh net of programs that may begin to break down when you could have limitless time to poke at them in a single run. While some gamers take pleasure in puzzling out artistic methods to get forward, on the excessive finish it will definitely devolves into optimum tedium which is total dangerous to the expertise. I wrote about this think about my current article on recreation design philosophy.

Garrisons initially had their very own clock whereby the alert stage step by step rises over time (versus the standard decay or at the very least remaining impartial), thus overstaying in a single Garrison may have a unfavourable influence on the next map.

As one among its perks, RIF-aligned builds weren’t affected by this kind of ambient alert enhance, which made Garrisons rather a lot safer for these gamers. But RIF has since gotten much more highly effective in its personal proper, with much more advantages to come back in Beta 12, so we actually do want to contemplate a clock that applies to everybody, and seeing as we’re constructing Garrisons 2.0 right here, after all it is sensible to try this now as a part of the brand new design!

At the identical time, the unique alert will increase for non-RIF builds have been a bit too punishing for gamers to significantly contemplate these maps as a part of their route, so I did not wish to merely say “okay RIF is not immune anymore.”

Initially I approached this as a possibility to provide you with some new sort of clock. Over the years I’ve been including extra distinctive clocks as a part of totally different sorts of challenges in Cogmind, so perhaps there was one thing appropriate for Garrisons as properly? Some ideas:

• More enemies may present up? Okay in order that’s not a brand new idea, and kinda used usually all through Cogmind for each clock and non-clock responses, so nothing particular there and even kinda repetitive, to not point out it invitations farming anyway.
• Sterilization is an alternative choice, the floorwide response to farming on another maps, slowly elevating the ambient temperature to ultimately soften something that does not evacuate. I’ve already reused a barely altered model of this within the new DSF maps, and balance-wise do not discover it appropriate for Garrisons anyway.
• Probably probably the most fascinating and distinctive risk I thought of is ultimately completely sealing every of the Garrison exits one after the other, till ultimately there’s completely no method out and you might be trapped and lose the run! This is much less harsh than it’d sound at first, because the closing escape window can be clearly telegraphed to the participant together with enough time to go away, and in contrast to different flooring the exit places usually are not precisely exhausting to seek out (they’re all in predictable places with largely predictable paths to achieve them). That stated, if somebody have been to really lose that method for some cause it might really feel kinda unhealthy, plus (except the mechanics get much more sophisticated than that) it is a very exhausting cap on time, whereas versatile clocks are usually extra fascinating than brick partitions the place potential!

So, uh, what’s a versatile mechanic that ties right into a bunch of different mechanics already? …alert stage xD

Yeah we’ll simply do this, solely this time we’ll tweak it in a different way!

Alert nonetheless will increase naturally over time whereas inside a Garrison, however will probably be a lot extra lenient for some time, then ultimately the speed begins to shortly ramp up, earlier than plateauing. Mind you, the price of enhance plateaus, not the alert, so that you usually do not wish to hold round too lengthy as soon as it begins ramping up, however the possibility is there should you want just a little extra time, relying on what is suitable given the circumstances.

Ambient alert accumulation inside a Garrison begins from flip 1200, although bear in mind the alert depicted right here is solely from being contained in the Garrison, excluding some other alert ensuing from actions inside, like… blasting all the pieces 🙂

The numbers used are primarily based on a wealth of participant run stats, together with the specified steadiness for these new Garrisons. The time required to full clear will usually push alert fairly excessive, however is technically nonetheless achievable and never unreasonable if that is one thing the participant needs to do, whereas the choice to bail early is at all times out there.

Note that whereas RIF builds now not instantly profit from merely being RIF builds on this state of affairs, by design that play fashion comes with extra instruments for controlling alert, so at the very least retains some oblique profit.

Balance
With all these new encounters, the typical content material density inside Garrisons simply shot up. However, I do not assume greater density itself has a major influence on issue, which might be the primary concern. Garrison map circulate stays unchanged from earlier than, with all exits instantly accessible from the middle through 4 spokes, and encounter rooms are both additional out in the direction of the sides, or at the very least off the crushed path, that means they’ll often be prevented if desired, serving largely as non-obligatory areas for the participant to analyze primarily based on their very own risk-reward tolerance.

The added selection little question makes Garrisons extra fascinating and enjoyable to discover, but in addition introduces new design challenges. Encounters now make up at the very least half of their content material, together with lots of the potential advantages (even the holy grail itself, the RIF Installer!), however many of those additional rooms are hidden behind one or perhaps even two layers of section partitions which not all gamers are outfitted to detect. This could make exploring a Garrison very problematic, even unfun. In principle it could possibly be optimum to destroy all of the partitions in a seek for hidden paths (particularly with Beta 11 when there was no clock including at the very least a while strain), assuming one is keen to pay the alert price for the collateral injury.

To assist alleviate this I added a assured Terminal embedded within the wall of a random principal hall, a Terminal that lists the “Access(Emergency)” hack which reveals all hidden doorways and section partitions throughout the total map (expanded conduct past its regular impact).

Access(Emergency) inside a Garrison is sort of revealing…

So merely exploring the primary areas of the Garrison will ultimately result in discovering this Terminal, which presents a reasonably good probability of marking all of the hidden paths, however first you must discover it.

Failing that (will get blasted in a battle? hacking makes an attempt unsuccessful?), one of many potential “encounters” is one other Terminal nook containing a brand new “Download(Registry)” hack with an much more excessive impact, revealing all terrain, safety places, and even merchandise caches.

Download(Registry) is much more revealing! If out there, that’s.

But it is not a assured discover, and being an encounter itself there’s a probability it is not simply accessible, both (it has no door of its personal, however the space chosen for it could in any other case not be instantly linked to a principal hall).

So that is only one potential possibility. The cause these choices are extra vital inside Garrisons is as a result of various typical sensor varieties are blocked, which is the place the expensive backup strategy is available in: Destroying the Phase Generator eliminates the blocking (at the price of elevating alert additional), and likewise opens all of the section partitions, making it simpler to discover freely. There’s often (however not at all times) at the very least one Phase Generator in a Garrison, and it will possibly typically be discovered via pure exploration because it’s designed to be heard via section partitions that result in it.

RIF Installers (once more!)
Any RIF construct visiting a Garrison is itching to seek out this factor ASAP. More skills? Yes, please! (In reality, I even added a brand new capacity for Beta 12 so we’re as much as 16 now, 7 of which have a number of ranges.)

It was once pretty straightforward to find–if it is not adjoining to your beginning place, comply with the spokes to every of the three exits and it will be at a type of, however now that Installer placement has been merged with the encounter system it could possibly be anyplace! Including after all outlying hidden areas (see the picture from earlier for one such instance). That’s an issue.

Forcing some gamers to repeatedly full clear Garrisons to make sure they discover these is extreme, so I added a brand new mechanic to assist out: Once a participant has put in the RIF system, getting anyplace close to different Installers will robotically ping them, revealing their exact location.

There it’s! Now to seek out the doorway…

There is precedent for this conduct, since RIF-capable builds already equally ping close by Garrison Access factors elsewhere in Complex 0b10, and including this characteristic elegantly solves the “the place the hell is the Installer?!” problem. In reality, it may even be thought of extra fascinating than the predictable places used earlier than, because the new randomized places may require a bit extra exploration to uncover, in addition to determining find out how to attain the Installer as soon as found. That whereas ensuring it is not broken within the course of, since who is aware of what else is lurking round…

Incidentally broken RIF Installers (:O) will little question be extra frequent in Beta 12, although there are steadiness elements at play right here, too:

• A single Garrison might comprise multiple RIF Installer. That’s fairly thrilling information for RIF customers, although it is price being cautious because the second potential installer could also be trapped or defended!
• Looping again to a principal ground via one different explicit new encounter for a shot at one other Garrison (and its Installer(s)) on the similar depth is a risk. This is totally different from regular exits in that it at all times loops, no matter the place the opposite exits lead.

Overall the typical whole capacity depend throughout a whole run will possible be greater than earlier than amongst gamers who wish to optimize for it.

Installer-rich surroundings detected!

Non-RIF Builds
RIF this, RIF that… however as I acknowledged initially, one of many objectives right here is to present extra non-RIF builds good causes to go to Garrisons as properly!

I feel the replace manages to ship on this level, and we’ll see different builds Garrison diving at the very least among the time, as part of current methods and even completely new ones. Advantages embody:

• Out-of-depth elements, typically considerably so.
• Other situationally helpful rewards reminiscent of giant numbers of traps or Authchips. Also allies, generally fairly efficient ones.
• Unique intel. Among the brand new Terminals added to Garrisons, we even have new hacks enabling the obtain of patrol navigation and safety knowledge for the subsequent map, intel which might be fairly helpful given its scope.
• Then there’s the actually huge one, a wholly new meta mechanic spanning many areas of the sport with important strategic impacts outdoors Garrisons and even into prolonged, however requiring Garrison visits to set off and… nurture. Almost seems like RIF, however by design the 2 are literally mutually unique choices, so I stay up for seeing who makes use of it, and when and the way. Writing about this new characteristic could possibly be an entire new article matter by itself, however on condition that it is steeped in lore and is a type of issues meant for individuals to uncover naturally, I will not go into any particulars right here. Let’s simply say it is neat, and it is helpful. I’ll virtually definitely be streaming it sooner or later although, so that might be one solution to find out about it from me, except for the standard locations in the neighborhood.

These benefits exist on high of the unique useful facet impact of passing via a Garrison, whereby looping again to the identical depth reduces the scale of all patrols (whilst you have your probability to reap extra sources? discover an elusive department?).

Hm, what’s this?

Events
While encounters assist flesh out the overall Garrison expertise, there’s one other potential layer on high of that to additional shake issues up: Events.

Events usually are not all that frequent, however after they do happen have a map-wide influence. These are varied faction-level actions that is likely to be useful for the participant, or add some new hazard, or one thing in between.

For spoiler causes I will not say extra about these, aside from to level out that from a design perspective it is good to have this additional layer so that when gamers are conversant in the person encounters potential in a Garrison, and provide you with localized methods for these, there’s at all times the prospect for one thing to come back alongside and alter the strategic equation in a much bigger method.

In different phrases, occasions contribute to avoiding the “flat” expertise of merely shifting from level A to B, coping with no matter challenges lie on the vacation spot, then the subsequent one past that.

Technically we now have encounters that when shut sufficient to at least one one other may bleed into one another because of an alarm entice, premature patrol, name for reinforcements, Terminal hint investigation, or… unintentional retreat within the improper route? 😛

And this strategy is mirrored all through Cogmind’s different maps as patrol routes change, models perform distinctive duties throughout totally different areas, and but others are dispatched to react to one thing distant (dungeon environments might be about as dynamic as an open world!), however Garrisons are smaller maps with fewer macro programs at play, so it helps so as to add that additional layer of potential content material to combine it up. For the identical cause, DSFs (even smaller and easier than Garrisons) even have the occasional occasion.

This type of mutlilayered strategy can be actually helpful for emphasizing the lore, benefiting from one other dimension to convey the world to life. It’s not simply “Cogmind vs. the world,” it is “Cogmind occurs to occupy this world alongside many different actors with their very own objectives, buddies, and enemies.”

Again these occasions are unusual, since we nonetheless need most Garrisons to be targeted round their encounter content material and steadiness, versus occasions which usually take over your complete ground and make it into one thing fairly totally different. As I’ve it set now, there’s a 60% probability of getting a single occasion throughout a full run that visits a Garrison at each single depth, and a ten% probability of getting two. 30% of seeds haven’t any Garrison occasion in any respect, no matter what number of are visited. Events are particular!