3D Maps

[Jotari]

No not like the Tellius games. 3D Maps in the way you can move on a third axis. Instead of a chess board like battle field, imagine having two or three chessboard like playing fields above each other so you can stand over an enemy on a different floor. You could have stairs to transverse the different levels or pit fall traps to cause units to fall down below and take damage. In open areas flying units could fly up to another area. Two range weapons could attack from different floors with the Radiant Dawn style accuracy penalty for aiming upwards. Though I doubt you could shoot an arrow directly downwards to hit somone. Magic on the other hand probably could. What do you think? Would you like to see a 3D playstyle in games? And do you have any thoughts or ideas on the matter that would make it broken or interesting?

[Dragoncat]

I don't see why shooting arrows straight down wouldn't be effective.

I'd be for it, but it might get confusing having to constantly keep track of all the floors and what's on them if there's not a way to see them all at the same time.

[Anacybele]

Ooh, that sounds cool. :o

I kinda hope IS does something like this in the future.

Dragoncat, Jotari said that there would be a penalty for shooting upward, not downward. :P

[Jotari]

I don't see why shooting arrows straight down wouldn't be effective.

I'd be for it, but it might get confusing having to constantly keep track of all the floors and what's on them if there's not a way to see them all at the same time.

Directly downwards because the floor would be in the way.

[Dragoncat]

Dragoncat, Jotari said that there would be a penalty for shooting upward, not downward. :P

Yeah he did:

Though I doubt you could shoot an arrow directly downwards to hit somone.

Easily missed I guess.

EDIT - I get if there's a floor there..I was thinking maybe without the floor, derp. Wouldn't magic make a hole there? That'd be interesting.

Edited December 30, 2014 by Dragoncat

[Jotari]

Yeah he did:

Easily missed I guess.

EDIT - I get if there's a floor there..I was thinking maybe without the floor, derp. Wouldn't magic make a hole there? That'd be interesting.

That is why I said directly downwards. Also, from a gameplay stand point, shooting directly up or down would be technically similar to shooting someone one square away from you so the limitation would probable be in effect for that reason too. As for magic, it doesn't tend to fly towards an enemy, it kind of just appears at the enemy, with the exception of Thunder Magic.

Edited December 30, 2014 by Jotari

[Sock]

3D chess like in LoGH. :o

Uhm, what sort of "maps" are you thinking of? I need an image in my head. Is it like 3 stories of a building? Holes/pitfalls in the floor and open areas with balconies? Ooh, a mix of balconies that are "on top" of walls and balconies that protrude past the walls. 'k I've got my image.

Shooting off arrows and magic from balconies would be SO cool. It was already kinda cool in FE10.

[spoiler=wall of ideas]If there's a hole in the floor, the hole takes up a tile on the grid--or more if it's a HUGE hole. Your non-flying units won't be standing on that tile. If there's an enemy directly under the hole-tile, your unit can attack the enemy by being adjacent to the hole WE KNOW HOW THIS WORKS I'm rambling. Either the different layers count as 1 tile apart or there's some sort of "layer" mechanic where ranged attacks just automatically ~work~. Both up and down.

Let's explore a "layer" mechanic! Extra range would be nifty; people up top have a wider viewing angle so they have more range. And have a certain viewing angle from certain sides of the hole. OH, OH, bigger hole means more range. To a certain degree. And the downstairs-unit has an avoid deficit; fish in a barrel! A hit deficit also: they are aiming into a very small hole that is quite far away, and the enemy can avoid easily because of that. ...That's a lot of words to say "it's like FE10's height bonus".

What if...this 3D chess mechanic allowed "sky battles"? Fliers could actually FLY to fight other fliers! And bombard the enemy with javelins from way up high! Since it's open sky there wouldn't be a "height bonus"; both ground-units and sky-units have the fish-in-a-barrel effect. Well wait...realistically speaking, sky-units have 3-axis movement whereas ground-units only have 2-axis movement. Sky-units can DIVE and use gravity to help evade incoming weapons. Also, it's gotta be difficult to aim and throw a weapon from on a FLYING MOUNT, [/end realism] so maybe units have an avoid boost PLUS a hit deficit when they're in a "sky layer". Rather, a "sky-tile"; it's simply a terrain bonus. Mountains in the upper layers would act as ground-tiles. The open air of a valley would act as sky-tiles.

Oh gosh, I so want 3D-chess-style aerial battles. xD

WHAT IF...it was a cube-block grid? Instead of a square-tile grid. Duuuuuude can you imagine hills?! ...That would be a lot of open air. No wonder the enemy seems to have a thing for ballistae. Cube-grid would work for building interiors. :3 More than three layers, YEAH! Oh, but maybe the 'cubes' would be taller than they are wide to account for peoples' height. Then again, mounts are squished into tiles. Would they be literal cubes after all?

Wow, I really got carried away... /spoilers the wall of text

As for magic, it doesn't tend to fly towards an enemy, it kind of just appears at the enemy, with the exception of Thunder Magic.

Nah, it depends on the game. FE13, for example, is a huge mixed bag. Wind/Elwind/Arcwind/Fire/Arcfire/Thunder/Thoron are from your unit, Rexcalibur/Excalibur/Elfire/Bolganone/Elthunder/Arcthunder are near the enemy. (Uh, El-Arcthunder come from ABOVE but not directly from your unit, so...) FE13 Flux is near the enemy, whereas GBA Flux is from your unit.

For 3D mechanics, GBA Flux could go through the floor but I don't know if it would "fall" properly in order to hit your opponent. It would most likely have to travel along a wall to get to the lower level. Or perhaps not, I dunno how FE magic works.

Thinking... What if there's a glass floor? You can see your opponent. Can't hit them with physical weapons (you want to break the ground you're standing on AREYOUNUTS) but would magic work? Magic that comes from the user would just hit the floor, but magic that appears near your opponent might work. Depending on how magic actually works. Hmm.