An idea for quests

I know there are plenty of discussions on quests and improving the system, just wanted to share one possible mechanic I thought of. What if quests behaved like harvest-able resources in the field, but hidden? Here's how it could work:

Step 1 -- The Tavern: New quests would be managed through the tavern. When new quests appear on the map, they are hidden to all players. Players can only access quests hidden on the map within their "Quest visibility" radius, which depends on the level of the tavern. In the tavern building page, there is a tab which would list all available hidden quests along with a preview of the quest, the difficulty, rarity, and the required building levels/research. Players can spend beer to make that quest appear on the map. Quests with greater rewards require more beer.

Step 2 -- Explorers: Once the quest becomes visible, players must send a new unit type, the Explorer, out to acquire the details of the quest. Explorers are produced in the tavern, and function like cotters or caravans; they "harvest" the information on the square before returning to the city, and can be bumped or destroyed while harvesting. When the explorer returns from a successful harvest with the information, the actual quest becomes available.

Explorers can harvest quest information even if the player has not spent beer to make it visible; if another player scouts your explorers, they will know there is info there and can send their own explorers to bump or harvest after you. In addition, the information does not disappear from the map until someone completes the actual quest, so multiple players can gather the quest info and race to complete it first.

Step 3 -- The Quest: Quests can be anything from trading for certain goods, to harvesting at a square, combating NPC armies, sieging an NPC fortress, crafting a specific weapon, or stealing from a faction hub! Some quests could also be timed, adding to the suspense.

Step 4 -- Rewards: Rewards could include quest score for leaderboards, basic and advanced resources, special types of weapons/commanders/units, passive bonuses to production or other city factors, a boost in faction standing, access to normally invisible mine/herbs spots, and more.


Edited by Hadus - 08 Dec 2012 at 19:24