Power-ups and size of the board up to 9x9, 5 players

[gdgdgdgd]

vote quickly

[gdgdgdgd]

There should be upgrades for the plots like to put better soil for the crops.

[thx1138t]

Forgive me for being "Old School" - I began playing M.U.L.E. on my C64 back in the late 70's with a group of friends. This is the ONLY game from those days that some of us STILL play (Emulator).

I think that the main reason that we still enjoy M.U.L.E. is tied up in the competitive plot grab, followed by the turn based development phase that is followed by the interactive auction and resulting ranking.

I like the idea of more players, added race(s), and bigger area. I also really enjoyed a hunting, and catching a Wompus, which gave a player extra money - perhaps this feature could be added and the result of a successful hunt might give the player more time - which would serve the same affect of a Power Up.

As to greater valued land -since it takes longer to get to the outlying plots (especially if the board is enlarged) then perhaps the further away a plot is from the market should raise it's value.

As to time limit, on the old C64 in tournament mode a game took just about 1 hour. That seemed (and seems) to be an excellent target time to maintain. Enlarging the area and/or adding more players while maintaining a turned based development phase may well push game time to 1 and a half to 2 hours. So perhaps a Simultaneous Development Phase? Which could open the game up to races for a limited number of M.U.L.E.s. In order to maintain the current reversing of turns when fewer than 8 M.U.L.E.s are available, perhaps the players could be "frozen" for a limited time, with each player becoming "unfrozen" in the order of Last Place Player first and the First Place Player last?

While we would lose the turned based phase, we would gain another interactive phase. Maybe not such a bad trade-off.

I like the concept of a 3D playing area, not certain of how it would actually work - especially for those with slow connections.

[veridia]

One thing that would speed up the game is removing the delay before an event strikes. I get sick of waiting 10 seconds of nothing happening only for the game to announce a fire in store. The delay is actually so long that I end up thinking that nothing is going to happen that turn.

Take 12 rounds, with 1 event per round, and that 10 seconds adds up to 2 minutes of game time. (10 seconds per event.) Mind you, in the C64 version a fire in store was announced instantly after the last bit of production was finished. Same goes for pirates, earthquake, pest, etc. Also, the earthquake occurred before production, instantly after the last player finished his turn.

Remember that the game flows like this...
1. Land Grab
2. Land Auction (random)
3. Players take turns (with each having a chance at good luck/bad luck)
4. Pre-Production Events (earthquake, sunspot activity, acid rain storm, mule radiation, meteor strike)
5. Production
6. Post-Production Events (Pest attack, pirates, fire in store, nothing happens)

(About Events)
Also note that only pest attack, and mule radiation are events that effect a specific player. Other events should be allowed in the 1st round as they are non-player specific. 1st turn fire in store makes for a very interesting game. 1st turn pirates also eliminate one of the two possibilities of the pirate event. There are lots of subtle reasons why first turn events should be acivated.

7. Smithore Auction
8. Crystite Auction
9. Food Auction
10. Energy Auction
11. Colony Summary
12. Repeat steps 1 through 11 for the next turn. 

If you really want to make the game interesting, randomize the players starting gold from 900-1100 and activate 1st turn good & bad luck. Just make should that players with only 1 plot of land can not receive the lose a plot of land event. (as per original rules) But if you buy a land on the 1st turn, it is at your own risk.

[gdgdgdgd]

yes but also it would be cool to be one step more,
one that you can upgrade your plots of land,
or something like that

[Blitzen]

Flame throwers.

This game needs 'em badly.

[cerealbusiness]

I like all the radical ideas here! Obviously it would transform mule into something different but a really cool different! Real time, bigger size, wrap around globe, more players, all sounds really exciting for a new way to play this game. I think that this path could lead to more challenge, more complexity(if new resources or gameplay twists are added), and more exciting gameplay.

[MuleyMan]

Lets see where the new development is and where it COULD go:
Version 2 will have 4-6 player available with 2 new rows of plots (44 now to 64 in ver 2)
Each round, players choose which character to use for that round starting with player in last place.
Each character has different attributes like the original description told of but didn't use.  Leggite is faster, flapper gets more time, another makes better smithore and so on.  In testing, this added a LOT of time to the game.  New backgrounds and themes being considered (anyone for Mario MULE?)

That and more is what i saw in early development.
Actually having a character different than others that act different is novel and perhaps about time!
Definitely added new levels to strategy because you don't always need extra ore or time but energy.
5 player(bout 13 plots each). server based, last is first strategy, with audio chat is what I hope to see.
Imagine choosing a character that sprays sparklers behind him that for just that round, puts small pits in the ground slowing others on their turn but not yours. Wanna screw over #1?  Spend half your time making a crater on 1 of his undeveloped and make him or her take 2-3 times as long to develop a prime plot. Or just make a moat around his area of the board! 

What do you want to see?  What character from the original character descriptions is your fav?
What character would you create?  How would it work?  I vote for a Bomb Brad button and ask for your support (jk mr B). lol

The new version being worked on at this time needs good ideas that are thought out and clearly described.
The original idea of turn based is critical to the design of Mule.  The programmers refused to allow a Mule II to be finished and released because of adding weapons and real time play that totally changed the unique flavor of the original game.
hmmmmm, a Spiderman character??

[moodzzz]

1st thing you need to prevent people from cheat booting you in a game if you've not disconnected.. you'll lose too many players due to this, as the game needs to be played by a host that isn't inclined to do this 

[gdgdgdgd]

That´s true, they should make 5 Planet Mule Official Servers, so if there are only cheating host people, you can enter there. 
Thanks for the good idea.

[Blitzen]

I really like the op's idea, I think the added total game time for player turns could be more than made up with a simultaneous development phase which someone else posted about too.

So why not go for double the plots and double the players? And keep doubling things as required to maintain the "scale".

Some small compensation for the guys in last place who can no longer let go of all the Mules: add a short queue in the coral and let them get to the "front of the line" whenever they enter right after a higher ranked player.  Add some time to the clock to compensate for new queue time.

Tack on a "break period" to let everyone peak at the competition from time to time...

Oh yeah and add A flame thrower in there somewhere too   who doesn't like A flame thrower?  Think of it like a mobile mule that spouts flames, costing other players hospital bills and to let go of any Mules that go insane from being cooked... you drag it onto someone's plot and they can't move it with a mule in their hands...

I'm starting to think tactical nuclear weapons too, for when you really can't stand the injustice of it all and want to make a statement!   

[leahcim99]

Blitzen, had to say tactical nuke didn't ya? - MuleyMan will now want to upgrade the Brad Bomb to a nuke.

Love the flame thrower idea and your other suggestions are well worth considering.

[MuleyMan]

lol Mike!   I gave up on the Bomb Brad Button when Peter Turborilla told me no.
And we don't need no stinkin nukes.  The flame thrower idea sounds like my mud flinger where u could run around sprinkling mud to slow others running thru it.  Soaking 1 plot in mud makes it not produce or really slow down development on it.

[leahcim99]

Yes Muley, However FLAMES would look soo much better.

[Blitzen]

Mud should be in too, you don't even need an arms dealer just a river plot and an entire turn producing mud!  And think of how much mud a Nuke in the river could shoot up!

But to be honest when I first posted flame thrower (I have 3 posts in this thread) I was mocking some of the suggestions herein!

When I elaborated on it I was in a foul mood but turned out to be entirely serious about it when I thought about implementing it.

However, I admit I am not entirely fond of weapons in Mule, sorta think it brings in a whole new layer or two or game mechanics when the games current layers are great since they have room for extensions and creative new elements. And they keep my mind plenty busy enough already, having to worry about where you are going to put a tree that big is too much.