Somewhat related, there is a Star Wars themed Risk game, where the deathstar can fire on any space on the board (i.e. territory) and destroy everything on it. It is a very cool twist. In that game, it affects only the targeted space, not the surrounding spaces. That might be an easier way to introduce the concept to D12. It would still bring quite a bit of variability to a game, since
- An attack could now come from a non-adjacent territory
- Massive troop buildups could be wiped out in a single turn (despite being surrounded by only low troop count territories)
Otherwise, agree that the decay should remain the same as what already exists.
What's interesting in the Star Wars variant is that a deathstar blast is not guaranteed to succeed. The player must roll a 5 or 6 to have the blast hit it's mark. Though, it is much easier to acquire the deatahstar blast option than accumulating 5 cards in D12 (i.e. in Star Wars, the player draws 3 action cards for each turn, any of which might be a deathstar, they then decide which card to employ for that turn).
So, perhaps in the Nuclear option, we simply add Nuke cards to the deck. Anyone holding a Nuke card can treat it as wild, to combine with other cards for a normal turn in, or they can play that single Nuke card to target a single territory.
Trying to keep as close to existing behavior as possible (presumably to simplify the coding, while also easing the understanding of the new feature):
- Nuke card behaves as wild when combined with other cards
- Nuke card could alternatively be played on its own to do its damage, impacting only the single territory selected by the user (thereby avoiding the port problem)
- Capitals can be treated as "non-adjacent" and thus out of reach of a nuke (i.e. not selectable for attack)
- Ideally, a player with 5 cards, where 1 or more are a nuke, would have the option of playing just the single nuke instead of having to make a set using the nuke as wild. But, as a first pass, if it keeps the coding easier, might instead keep the mandatory turn in rule using nuke as wild and it sucks if you draw the nuke as your 5th card!
- Regardless of whether played on its own or as part of a set, cards (including single nuke) must always be played at beginning of turn, or immediately upon conquering an opponent
- Might make it that you had to roll a minimum dice roll for the nuke to succeed (e.g. Star Wars uses a single die, with a 5 or 6 succeeding)
- If holding multiple nuke cards, could play each in succession, again only at the beginning of a turn (equivalent to multiple turn-ins upon conquering), to keep the experience as close as possible to the existing game
Not exactly what the OP described, but potentially equally enjoyable, while possibly being easier to code due to reduced scope of the change (he says without having ever seen the code!).
Somewhat related, there is a Star Wars themed Risk game, where the deathstar can fire on any space on the board (i.e. territory) and destroy everything on it. It is a very cool twist. In that game, it affects only the targeted space, not the surrounding spaces. That might be an easier way to introduce the concept to D12. It would still bring quite a bit of variability to a game, since
- An attack could now come from a non-adjacent territory
- Massive troop buildups could be wiped out in a single turn (despite being surrounded by only low troop count territories)
Otherwise, agree that the decay should remain the same as what already exists.
What's interesting in the Star Wars variant is that a deathstar blast is not guaranteed to succeed. The player must roll a 5 or 6 to have the blast hit it's mark. Though, it is much easier to acquire the deatahstar blast option than accumulating 5 cards in D12 (i.e. in Star Wars, the player draws 3 action cards for each turn, any of which might be a deathstar, they then decide which card to employ for that turn).
So, perhaps in the Nuclear option, we simply add Nuke cards to the deck. Anyone holding a Nuke card can treat it as wild, to combine with other cards for a normal turn in, or they can play that single Nuke card to target a single territory.
Trying to keep as close to existing behavior as possible (presumably to simplify the coding, while also easing the understanding of the new feature):
- Nuke card behaves as wild when combined with other cards
- Nuke card could alternatively be played on its own to do its damage, impacting only the single territory selected by the user (thereby avoiding the port problem)
- Capitals can be treated as "non-adjacent" and thus out of reach of a nuke (i.e. not selectable for attack)
- Ideally, a player with 5 cards, where 1 or more are a nuke, would have the option of playing just the single nuke instead of having to make a set using the nuke as wild. But, as a first pass, if it keeps the coding easier, might instead keep the mandatory turn in rule using nuke as wild and it sucks if you draw the nuke as your 5th card!
- Regardless of whether played on its own or as part of a set, cards (including single nuke) must always be played at beginning of turn, or immediately upon conquering an opponent
- Might make it that you had to roll a minimum dice roll for the nuke to succeed (e.g. Star Wars uses a single die, with a 5 or 6 succeeding)
- If holding multiple nuke cards, could play each in succession, again only at the beginning of a turn (equivalent to multiple turn-ins upon conquering), to keep the experience as close as possible to the existing game
Not exactly what the OP described, but potentially equally enjoyable, while possibly being easier to code due to reduced scope of the change (he says without having ever seen the code!).
