Expeditions - Design Spotlight!

[Nb4powerup]

Expeditions!


Hi! I’m Josh, an Associate Game Designer at Big Huge Games. I’m here to introduce Expeditions, my first big feature and our newest addition to DomiNations!

You can now launch Expeditions from your Dock. Send your citizens out to ports from all across history and they’ll bring back great rewards. By adding a General, you can find even cooler stuff. Keep upgrading your Dock to access new and more lucrative Expeditions!

Some rewards are rare items like diamonds, national trade goods, and peace treaties, while others can only be earned through Expeditions. Let’s look at a few examples:

• Medic Blessing: A new blessing that constantly heals your attacking troops during battle. It’s like having an invincible Supply Wagon following your whole army! Medic Blessings can be brought back from Nanjing, Amsterdam, and Alexandria.
• Demolition Squad: A small wrecking crew made up of a Veteran Commando, a Heavy Bazooka, and a Flamethrower. Drop one near an enemy base and watch the fireworks! Demolition Squads can be brought back from San Francisco.
• Sepoys: Expert gunner infantry hailing from India. They’re super tough and strong compared to ordinary Musketeers, making them the perfect guards for Cannons or other troops that are vulnerable to defenders. Sepoy Armies can be brought back from Calcutta.

There are lots more great rewards, so be sure to check out the feature!

On a personal note, as a former history major I’m delighted with the amount of historical detail we packed into Expeditions. During my initial research, I compiled a list of more than 80 great ports throughout history from all over the globe. We ended up writing over 6,000 words of text for the 40 locations that made it in!

Looking forward, our next big release will be the Atomic Age. With the power of the atom unleashed, scientists of this era made huge advances in computing, energy, and other technologies.

It’s going to be an exciting time for DomiNations. We’ve got plenty of cool stuff in store for you. Let us know what you think of Expeditions and what you’d like to see in the Atomic Age in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Josh

 

[redprince]

I think expeditions add a good element to the game, but to be totally honest...with so much other stuff to do my builders will probably not be able to go on an expedition any time soon. I do want to ask though...would you guys ever be open to making some of the expedition rewards be new tech that you discover on the expedition? So you come back and your general brings back the knowledge of Machinery lvl 4 or whatever, that would be fantastic...it can obviously be very rare. Kind of like you can discover tech in the ruins on Civ...

 

[Europeos]

Great addition to the game. One major caveat though: the extra troops will bring more unbalance to offense and shouldn't be usable in wars IMO.

 

[Viridila]

This is one of the great updates. Finally the dock is having some good use!

 

[Riyad604]

I will echo the comments above. Very neat, however, my citizens will most likely never go on expiditions as the university and 12-14 day upgrades will have the citizens pretty preoccupied. And I absolutely agree with Europeos that the army cards either expidition or purchased should not be use able in world wars. The historyx incorporated into the dock is pretty neat though.

 

[Manifesto]

It would be nice if the dock can lead to a world map of the ports you're talking about. Maybe we can click on the port we want, to make it more interactive? Also, can we use less workers with the dock?
And I hope Atomic age can come with new technology for our workers which will make things upgrade quicker - the upgrade times look like they will be crazy in Atomic.

 

[IzEagle]

I completely agree with what you have said about dock. Such an interface is a must for expedition.

 

[IzEagle]

I completely agree with what you have said about dock. Such an interface is a must for expedition.

 

[IzEagle]

First of all please postpone the release of atomic age or at least consider my idea about adding different kind of citizens to the game. I even can't touch the Expedition for now because my citizens are doing more important jobs than finding a special armay after 24hr.
and to be honest I preferred to see a war ship in the dock instead of a expedition list without even a special expedition ship.

 

[Ned Bouhalassa]

I wish the dock came with two new villagers. As it is now, I can't justify reducing the number of villagers needed for upgrades.

 

[Fable]

@Josh
Thanks for the update, expeditions r a unique feature to the game.

Ideas for the Atomic Age...besides the obvious (fix bugs & focus on WW...take your pick there) I'll bite and contribute.

-a blessing shortening the time it takes to train air units would b nice, or just shortened training time overall.

-reduced tactic times, 4+ hours for 6 tactics is ridiculous

-ability to use food upgrading walls at a certain point.

-ability to pick which mercs to use instead all at once

-updated single players missions (maybe a unique level if u complete them all called: "Hunt CS") I kid...kinda X0)

-new nations to choose from

-easier ways to communicate in game (chat room, pm's, world chat, don't put a limit of 3 posts per inbox)

-ability to make custom clan flags (can even charge us for it)

-option for our workers to procreate...ability to add kids to help do things

-clan spotlight/interview once a month

-player polls for which discount (ie: 50% off walls,,33% off all armory upgrades etc.) to have once a month

 

[Veldan]

The dock is awesome, but the citizen count really is a problem. As it is right now, I can't see myself sending any citizens to Expeditions, because it's better in the long run to send them to the University instead.

 

[Max_imus]

American and Russian nations are a must in Atomic Age. Although it would be cool if you wait for Xmas with that.
Thanks for the spotlight!

 

[Vixen]

and Australians... the Americans needs to hide their missile silos somewhere

 

[jmemira]

thanks for this! And I disagree with some of the above; I don't think extra troops from expeditions cause imbalances in war but instead create a way for players who don't buy the drop armies from pop-up sales to be able to have a bit more firepower for tough attacks without having to solely rely on the events that give troop cards as a bonus.

 

[Max_imus]

Lolll Vixen

 

[Max_imus]

Wait till you have 5 stalemates in a row, because everybody will be maxed offensive global with additional armies soon

 

[turmaffe]

I'd like to see the problem with overflowing food adressed.
It doesn't feel right to have it maxed and nothing to do with it. I'm against food for walls, since walls are the only end game at the moment.

My idea would be a new building where we can dump our food:
a sacrificial altar which later might transform into a stadium (more appropriate for modern times) where food is used for sacrifices or sport events.
The reward could be anything: small amounts of gold or oil, new blessings, or even a new system of prestige points (the citizens love blood and sport) with which we could temporalily buff our army or economy.

Overall great game, good luck fixing all the bugs and finally sorting out the issues with incorrect replays.

 

[Max_imus]

Very nice and constructive idea!

 

[Cris 4321]

Great suggestions above by Fable which I wholeheartedly endorse!