Garrisons have been initially added to Cogmind within the months after the primary Alpha launch in 2015 (see an outline right here) as an elective location for gamers to go to, including a singular additional dimension to the world to reply the query “what if I infiltrate this stuff the place many enemy squads come from?” (Extra lately right here on the weblog I coated that class of Cogmind maps, the “maps between maps,” since a 3rd such map kind was added this 12 months.)
Within the time since Garrisons have been added, nevertheless, a mix of related adjustments to the sport began placing strain on their authentic design:
- Many extra full department maps have been added, together with factions, every with their very own attractive causes to go to them in comparison with the weaker incentives for coming into a Garrison.
- Finally Garrisons themselves grew to become a form of faction house as nicely, within the type of RIF-using bothackers, which in flip meant that some kinds of play inspired visiting many Garrisons.
Consequently, for some time now I’ve wished to revisit and replace Garrison design to higher merge it with what the remainder of the world had turn out to be.
This all the time felt like a form of aspect challenge although, one which may very well be small (doesn’t stay as much as the potential?) or massive (exhausting to suit the work in?), so it merely floated round on my prolonged todo record endlessly. For Beta 12 I made a decision to incorporate it on the patron characteristic voting record, and… it gained. Cue a number of weeks of labor which has positively been price it!
The quantity of content material selection supplied by the unique Garrison design was extra suited to a decrease visitation price, not the “I’m going to play virtually my whole run inside this stuff” which it had turn out to be for some folks. RIF garrison diving grew to become more and more widespread, as a result of it’s a enjoyable model, however we may completely make it much more enjoyable with higher selection!
So the objectives for Garrisons 2.0 are to extend selection within the type of encounters, occasions, and new layouts, whereas additionally transforming the clock and giving even non-RIF gamers good causes to enter.
Let’s get began!
As a fast reminder of their basic construction, not like most maps which use extra concerned era strategies, Garrisons are constructed solely from massive prefabs, 4 of them to be exact, becoming and rotating randomly chosen quadrants to create a bigger sq. map.
So every quarter of the above map is a separate prefab rotated such that their corners kind the central room. With 44 variants in all, many with considerably variable content material of their very own (random objects, traps, perhaps potential allies as an alternative of hostiles, and so on.), this leads to fairly a couple of attainable permutations, however seeing as every map consists of solely 4 of those prefabs, when gamers begin exploring upwards of ten of this identical kind of map in a single run, a few of these corridors begin wanting all too acquainted, particularly betraying hidden areas that may in any other case be shocking! (and by design there are fairly a couple of of those inside Garrisons)
We’re going to wish to inject extra format randomness in right here to liven issues up over the long run…
Earlier than getting began with that, I first constructed a bit instrument to get an thought of the entire contents of a random set of Garrisons. This may assist spot areas I wished to regulate, or at the least supply a clearer image of the entire challenges and rewards attainable in a given map as of Beta 11. For Garrisons the entire record can be extra related than elsewhere, since “full clearing” a Garrison is much more widespread than in lots of different maps.
The instrument would load up the sport, go to a Garrison at each depth, and tally its contents, including the outcomes to a file, doing this for nevertheless many seeds are specified. I may save the information to revisit it later, after changes are made.
Relay Couplers usually are not mirrored on this record, since there are virtually no free-standing couplers in Beta 11–they’re acquired individually from Relay machines, and I have already got a good suggestion of their distribution because it’s extra instantly managed anyway. Right here I’m extra within the non-RIF-related rewards.
One very noticeable concern is that for some Garrisons there was little to nothing beneath the “usefuls” or “objects” classes, making the whole map virtually purely of profit to RIF gamers (since there are all the time Relay Couplers to be discovered, plus the RIF Installer for skills).
Typically different gamers would Garrison dive for enjoyable/one thing totally different to do, and typically come out with good rewards/out-of-depth gear, however not like the choice (going for department rewards as an alternative) that was positively not assured, so not likely a dependable long-term technique to mess around. It’d certain be good to resolve that!
Including additional content material may have the twin good thing about each spicing up Garrisons and making them worthwhile to a couple of kind of participant. I’m reminded of Beta 11’s spicing up the principle complicated with Heavies and Cargo Convoys, although on this case it’s not simply including one or two new mechanics however as an alternative about turning Garrisons into correct department maps when it comes to content material distribution…
When you’ve learn a few of my earlier map era articles (particularly right here, and right here for caves), you is perhaps acquainted with how I make use of an “encounter system” to procedurally distribute and insert map content material, typically through prefabs.
The query was how one can apply this method to Garrisons.
Embedded prefab encounters in different tunneler-generated maps have an outlined set of empty rooms to work with, however Garrisons don’t have any empty rooms in any respect, themselves being composed purely of prefab quadrants the place each area is hand-crafted with goal.
I thought of quite a lot of choices right here, going so far as pondering of constructing a brand new generator from scratch (one that will make encounters a lot simpler to implement), however I preferred the established and constant core theme of present Garrisons and didn’t wish to mess with that. As an alternative I got here up with a technique to combine Garrisons into the room-based encounter system: If we don’t have any empty rooms to position encounters, we’ll simply must dig some!
And I imply dig manually…
I went again by way of every prefab and outlined areas as basically “elective placeholder rooms” which the generator may use to insert prefabs, however any of those areas not used for an encounter would really not seem within the ultimate map.
Whereas a extra algorithmic method may be used to do that, I favor the handcrafted touches this permits for, like what close by prefab sections the encounter at a given place is allowed to hook up with, and the way broad to make the hyperlinks (which additionally determines which forms of encounters can seem there).
Additionally we may’ve achieved one thing like select an encounter then construct an appropriate area for it, however I used to be making an attempt to benefit from as a lot prior work as attainable right here, and that meant merely handing the encounter system an inventory of present empty rooms to work with.
How the encounters hyperlink up with the map is a bit totally different than common, too. As drawn, some areas have a number of connections to foremost Garrison corridors or rooms, however just one connection is chosen at random for use. This permits but extra variation in layouts.
Try some full-sized Garrisons within the map generator earlier than the sport will get maintain of them to really insert the encounters, proven right here with potential encounter areas in darkish grey:
Right here it’s essential to recollect: Encounter rooms aren’t practically that enormous (normally), outlined is simply the accessible area inside which to position them, area which is then shrunk right down to match the required dimension. Let’s see the steps as I shared for the embedded prefabs in different maps!
- Discover an elective placeholder room massive sufficient to carry the specified encounter/prefab. The one above has two attainable connections with the Garrison, one to the south and one other to the west.
- The southern hyperlink is chosen and the goal prefab space is shifted in opposition to the southern fringe of the room. The horizontal offset is chosen randomly however nonetheless permitting entry to the prefab inside in instances the place the prefab itself incorporates objects that will in any other case block the trail.
- Areas of the room unused by the prefab are crammed in with earth.
- The prefab’s contents are positioned on the map, and any partitions nonetheless wanted are created adjoining to open area (most prefabs don’t specify their very own outer partitions, however this one particularly does as a result of it desires to encompass an inside part with bolstered partitions).
The proper column reveals an instance the place prefab contents are rotated and shifted to make use of the western hyperlink as an alternative.
Additionally discover the blue part wall on the entrance to the western-facing prefab, as an alternative of a door. That is one other key distinction with Garrison encounters, that they specify the type of their outer reference to the Garrison, be it an open area, hidden door, or part wall. Some encounters pressure a sure kind of connection, whereas others makes use of weighted potentialities, no matter is appropriate for the design.
Not like 0b10 encounter rooms, these can’t really develop or transfer doorways, and use a tunnel-like connection somewhat than sharing a wall with an outer hall. As with 0b10 encounters although, random horizontal flipping is allowed for additional variation.
For now encounters solely join instantly with foremost Garrison prefab areas as per the drawn strategies, so just one entrance/exit every. I thought of introducing the opportunity of dynamically producing extra loops through hidden paths between some encounters, although there are already a good variety of hand-crafted loops constructed into Garrison quadrants anyway, and gamers can all the time attempt to create their very own further connections given the circumstances and format. Rampant terrain destruction is superior, by the way in which 😉
Producing extra paths would doubtless make Garrisons simpler in some regards (pointless!), and never be suitable with lots of the encounters anyway, since understanding which course the participant will enter from is usually an essential a part of their design.
Under is a set of pictures exhibiting the complete format of a number of Garrisons after the entire era course of, together with encounter placement:
New Garrison Quadrants
With a brand new encounter system in place, one other factor I did was return and create two new units of Garrison quadrants, including 12 extra variants on prime of the unique 44. Every “set” of quadrants follows sure guidelines for his or her format, and on this case one of many guidelines was to keep in mind the truth that encounter rooms could also be embedded into the quadrant, one thing not one of the earlier units anticipated once they have been created.
The brand new quadrant above strikes a few of its “commonplace contents” to past the doorway/exit (represented by the purple ‘0’) when pathing from the Garrison middle (top-right right here), and contains some particularly massive prefab areas with broad entrances, even leaving room for some inside its foremost construction somewhat than the extra typical periphery areas.
In fact merely having a bigger pool of quadrants for the map generator to tug from additional expands the potential variety of distinctive Garrisons as nicely, which was the very first thing I hoped to do with this replace earlier than even enthusiastic about encounters in any respect.
In my earlier associated articles I wrote about dividing encounters into 4 classes: Fluff, Reward, Threat-Reward, and Hazard.
When Cogmind was just about achieved in 2017, a survey of encounters all through the whole sport recorded 25% of them to be fluff, 46% reward, 15% risk-reward, and 14% hazard. By comparability, a breakdown of encounters in our newly expanded Garrisons reveals 3% fluff, 40% reward, 55% risk-reward, and three% hazard.
Garrisons are already pretty harmful given their focus of hostiles, so I actually wished to concentrate on the risk-reward aspect–go the additional mile with these principally elective aspect encounters, face much more harmful conditions, and sure be handsomely rewarded. In playtesting to this point this (amongst different advantages we’ll get to later) is already clearly tempting gamers who would in any other case all the time favor common branches over infiltrating a Garrison.
The above samples present encounters added to a wide range of Garrison layouts, highlighted with a dev visualization overlay. These sections of the map would have in any other case remained stuffed with strong earth.
Discover that encounters don’t typically fill the area accessible to them, with some even occupying solely a tiny portion of it, so the sizes of rectangles right here may be deceiving when it comes to figuring out the prevalence of encounters. We’re primarily respective counts, colour, and placement.
Gray rectangles within the visualization present areas not chosen for encounter placement. As with different maps, throughout era there are X variety of accessible encounter rooms, and totally different map sorts set their very own share of these to try to fill, so it’s simple to regulate general density.
For Garrisons I’ve began with a 50% utilization price. If that seems to be too overwhelming it may be lowered, or if we would like much more encounters for some motive it may be elevated (that mentioned, I don’t suppose the variety of accessible encounters I’ve created to this point is sufficient to assist a better prevalence whereas sustaining every Garrison’s distinctive really feel).
Some Cogmind maps have a 100% utilization price, although the circumstances are totally different in these instances, for instance caves being populated by a a lot increased variety of fluff encounters so as to add to their character. Others have very low charges like Entry (10%), being an enormous map with broad corridors and huge machines, designed for many open area and extra predictable content material.
RIF Installers
Again once I added a correct bothacking system to Cogmind, creating RIF Installers and inserting them in Garrisons for each lore causes and in a bid to extend the map’s relevance, they have been all the time positioned adjoining to a random entrance/exit, since by design the Garrison prefabs all the time left some open area in these areas.
Having launched encounters, this technique was now not dependable as these areas may now be occupied by different rooms in some or theoretically even all instances. Definitely one choice could be to order the required space prematurely, however that wasn’t very suitable with the prevailing structure, and there was an much more attractive and pure thought on this case anyway: put RIF Installers into the encounter system, too!
RIF Installers have been already a prefab to start with, one which (with out precedent anyplace else within the sport) have been really inserted through a separate hard-coded technique, so let’s add it as an encounter as an alternative. In fact this variation comes with important steadiness repercussions, which we’ll cowl after we get to discussing that subject additional under.
After implementing all of the encounters, I went again and added them to my authentic Garrison content material abstract instrument, primarily wanting to make sure that RIF Installers have been certainly being included in every single place as anticipated, although discover that even this earliest Garrison is kind of stacked in comparison with earlier than (once more, excludes commonplace content material like the traditional Relays and their Coupler contents):
From early on I all the time wished to verify Cogmind had adequate meals clocks, though because the world expanded within the time since, I’ve added a couple of areas wherein there is no such thing as a clock for no matter motive. For some time I’ve deliberate to finally tackle these as alternatives current themselves.
That’s to not say we’d like extremely tight clocks–Cogmind clocks are lenient sufficient to supply loads of flexibility to permit for various play kinds, however assigning some specific worth to time by giving it a mechanical impression 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 internet of methods that may begin to break down when you’ve got limitless time to poke at them in a single run. Whereas some gamers get pleasure from puzzling out artistic methods to get forward, on the excessive finish it will definitely devolves into optimum tedium which is general dangerous to the expertise. I wrote about this think about my current article on sport design philosophy.
Garrisons initially had their very own clock whereby the alert degree progressively rises over time (versus the same old decay or at the least remaining impartial), thus overstaying in a single Garrison may have a damaging impression on the next map.
As certainly one of its perks, RIF-aligned builds weren’t affected by one of these ambient alert enhance, which made Garrisons so much safer for these gamers. However RIF has since gotten much more highly effective in its personal proper, with much more advantages to return 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, in fact it is smart to do this now as a part of the brand new design!
On 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 didn’t wish to merely say “okay RIF isn’t immune anymore.”
Initially I approached this as a possibility to give you some new kind of clock. Over time 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 nicely? Some ideas:
- Extra enemies may present up? Okay in order that’s not a brand new idea, and kinda used typically 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 another choice, the floorwide response to farming on another maps, slowly elevating the ambient temperature to finally soften something that doesn’t evacuate. I’ve already reused a barely altered model of this within the new DSF maps, and balance-wise don’t discover it appropriate for Garrisons anyway.
- Most likely probably the most fascinating and distinctive chance I thought of is finally completely sealing every of the Garrison exits one after the other, till finally there’s completely no approach out and you’re trapped and lose the run! That is much less harsh than it’d sound at first, because the closing escape window could be clearly telegraphed to the participant together with adequate time to go away, and in contrast to different flooring the exit areas usually are not precisely exhausting to search out (they’re all in predictable areas with principally predictable paths to succeed in them). That mentioned, if somebody have been to really lose that approach for some motive it will really feel kinda unhealthy, plus (until the mechanics get much more sophisticated than that) it’s a really exhausting cap on time, whereas versatile clocks are typically extra fascinating than brick partitions the place attainable!
So, uh, what’s a versatile mechanic that ties right into a bunch of different mechanics already? …alert degree xD
Yeah we’ll simply do this, solely this time we’ll tweak it otherwise!
Alert nonetheless will increase naturally over time whereas inside a Garrison, however it is going to be a lot extra lenient for some time, then finally the speed begins to shortly ramp up, earlier than plateauing. Thoughts you, the price of enhance plateaus, not the alert, so that you typically don’t wish to dangle round too lengthy as soon as it begins ramping up, however the choice is there in the event you want a bit extra time, relying on what is appropriate given the circumstances.
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 typically push alert fairly excessive, however is technically nonetheless achievable and never unreasonable if that’s one thing the participant desires to do, whereas the choice to bail early is all the time accessible.
Observe that whereas RIF builds now not instantly profit from merely being RIF builds on this situation, by design that play model comes with extra instruments for controlling alert, so at the least retains some oblique profit.
With all these new encounters, the common content material density inside Garrisons simply shot up. Nonetheless, I don’t suppose increased density itself has a big impression on issue, which might be the principle concern. Garrison map movement stays unchanged from earlier than, with all exits instantly accessible from the middle through 4 spokes, and encounter rooms are both additional out in direction of the perimeters, or at the least off the overwhelmed path, that means they will normally be averted if desired, serving principally as elective areas for the participant to research primarily based on their very own risk-reward tolerance.
The added selection little doubt makes Garrisons extra fascinating and enjoyable to discover, but additionally introduces new design challenges. Encounters now make up at the 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 part partitions which not all gamers are outfitted to detect. This may make exploring a Garrison very problematic, even unfun. In concept it may very well 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 least a while strain), assuming one is prepared to pay the alert price for the collateral harm.
To assist alleviate this I added a assured Terminal embedded within the wall of a random foremost hall, a Terminal that lists the “Entry(Emergency)” hack which reveals all hidden doorways and part partitions throughout the whole map (expanded habits past its regular impact).
So merely exploring the principle areas of the Garrison will finally result in discovering this Terminal, which affords a reasonably good probability of marking all of the hidden paths, however first it’s important to discover it.
Failing that (will get blasted in a struggle? hacking makes an attempt unsuccessful?), one of many potential “encounters” is one other Terminal nook containing a brand new “Obtain(Registry)” hack with an much more excessive impact, revealing all terrain, safety areas, and even merchandise caches.
However it’s not a assured discover, and being an encounter itself there’s a probability it’s 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 foremost hall).
In order that’s only one attainable choice. The explanation these choices are extra essential inside Garrisons is as a result of quite a lot of typical sensor sorts are blocked, which is the place the pricey backup method is available in: Destroying the Section Generator eliminates the blocking (at the price of elevating alert additional), and likewise opens all of the part partitions, making it simpler to discover freely. There’s normally (however not all the time) at the least one Section Generator in a Garrison, and it will probably typically be discovered by way of pure exploration because it’s designed to be heard by way of part partitions that result in it.
RIF Installers (once more!)
Any RIF construct visiting a Garrison is itching to search out this factor ASAP. Extra skills? Sure, please! (In actual fact, I even added a brand new skill for Beta 12 so we’re as much as 16 now, 7 of which have a number of ranges.)
It was once pretty simple to find–if it’s not adjoining to your beginning place, observe the spokes to every of the three exits and it’ll be at a kind of, however now that Installer placement has been merged with the encounter system it may very well be anyplace! Together with in fact 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: As soon as a participant has put in the RIF system, getting anyplace close to different Installers will routinely ping them, revealing their exact location.
There may be precedent for this habits, since RIF-capable builds already equally ping close by Garrison Entry factors elsewhere in Complicated 0b10, and including this characteristic elegantly solves the “the place the hell is the Installer?!” concern. In actual fact, it may even be thought of extra fascinating than the predictable areas used earlier than, because the new randomized areas may require a bit extra exploration to uncover, in addition to determining how one can attain the Installer as soon as found. That whereas ensuring it’s not broken within the course of, since who is aware of what else is lurking round…
By the way broken RIF Installers (:O) will little doubt be extra widespread in Beta 12, although there are steadiness components at play right here, too:
- A single Garrison might include a couple of RIF Installer. That’s fairly thrilling information for RIF customers, although it’s price being cautious because the second potential installer could also be trapped or defended!
- Looping again to a foremost flooring by way of one different specific new encounter for a shot at one other Garrison (and its Installer(s)) on the identical depth is a chance. That is totally different from regular exits in that it all the time loops, no matter the place the opposite exits lead.
Total the common complete skill rely throughout a whole run will doubtless be increased than earlier than amongst gamers who wish to optimize for it.
Non-RIF Builds
RIF this, RIF that… however as I said at first, one of many objectives right here is to offer extra non-RIF builds good causes to go to Garrisons as nicely!
I feel the replace manages to ship on this level, and we’ll see different builds Garrison diving at the least a number of the time, as part of present methods and even solely new ones. Benefits embrace:
- Out-of-depth components, typically considerably so.
- Different situationally helpful rewards comparable to massive numbers of traps or Authchips. Additionally allies, typically fairly efficient ones.
- Distinctive intel. Among the many 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 may be fairly helpful given its scope.
- Then there’s the actually massive 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. Nearly 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 may very well be an entire new article subject by itself, however provided that it’s steeped in lore and is a kind of issues meant for folks to uncover naturally, I gained’t go into any particulars right here. Let’s simply say it’s neat, and it’s helpful. I’ll virtually actually be streaming it in some unspecified time in the future although, so that will be one technique to study it from me, other than the same old locations in the neighborhood.
These benefits exist on prime of the unique helpful aspect impact of passing by way of a Garrison, whereby looping again to the identical depth reduces the dimensions of all patrols (when you have your probability to reap extra sources? discover an elusive department?).
Whereas encounters assist flesh out the overall Garrison expertise, there’s one other potential layer on prime of that to additional shake issues up: Occasions.
Occasions usually are not all that frequent, however once they do happen have a map-wide impression. These are numerous faction-level actions that is perhaps helpful for the participant, or add some new hazard, or one thing in between.
For spoiler causes I gained’t say extra about these, aside from to level out that from a design perspective it’s good to have this additional layer so that after gamers are acquainted with the person encounters attainable in a Garrison, and give you localized methods for these, there’s all the time the possibility for one thing to return alongside and alter the strategic equation in a much bigger approach.
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 following one past that.
Technically we’ve got 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… unintended retreat within the fallacious course? 😛
And this method 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 may be about as dynamic as an open world!), however Garrisons are smaller maps with fewer macro methods at play, so it helps so as to add that additional layer of potential content material to combine it up. For a similar motive, DSFs (even smaller and easier than Garrisons) even have the occasional occasion.
This form of mutlilayered method can be actually helpful for emphasizing the lore, making the most of one other dimension to convey the world to life. It’s not simply “Cogmind vs. the world,” it’s “Cogmind occurs to occupy this world alongside many different actors with their very own objectives, associates, and enemies.”
Once more these occasions are unusual, since we nonetheless need most Garrisons to be centered round their encounter content material and steadiness, versus occasions which typically take over the whole flooring 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 don’t have any Garrison occasion in any respect, no matter what number of are visited. Occasions are particular!