This is just an idea i had for making the game more accessible, popular and generally more fun to play. Positive and Negative Feedback is welcome.

Futuristic Theme Makeover

Introduction: Demigod is pretty much the exact SupCom engine, with SupCom mechanics although used in alot more Melee orientated combat instead of Ranged combat. The Moho engine is spectacular and looks and feels amazing but since i started to play Demigod there was always something that felt uncomfortable with the gameplay. The engine is awesome, it was created for the purpose of large scale, primarily ranged combat, using physics and trajectories to guide all of the projectiles and LoS weaponry that were the means of combat. Where this amazing engine falls short is that Demigod is primarily Melee combat. The engine was designed for SupCom and i'm sure there were little to no intentions of melee combat being present in the game. I am unaware of how much the engine actually was altered (if any) for Demigod but from my experience and i'm sure others may have noticed that while these 3D units on the battlefield range from the size of a mouse to the size of a building, the combination of the massive scale of units causes for poor unit pathing at times and especially when trying to engage in Melee combat with particular units causing a rediculous amount of collision between all the tiny units and yourself and frustrates you as it takes prolonged time for a melee unit to actually start landing blows.

Idea Desciption: The concept of Demigod is very good, pretty much basing itself upon DoTA but trying to expand outwards from it. The problem is that is tries to be DoTA too much in some aspects yet strays from DoTA in other, more important aspects leaving Demigod to be in some sort of void in regards to how deep the gameplay is and how it is supposed to be played. The idea i am proposing (even though i am aware it is quite farfetched) is to implement the style and theme of Supreme Commander into the base concepts of Demigod. This would be to replace the Demigods with the Commanders, eliminating the 2 sub-classes of Assassins and broken Generals and giving the Commanders 2 ability/upgrade trees that would respectively include "Assassin/Combat" type abilities and "General/RTS/Builder" type abilities. The creeps waves will act as normal, the maps will act as normal but could be enlarge to fit ranged combat, items could act in a very similar way allowing Commanders upgrades in combat ability, regeneration etc. In simple terms, merge Supreme Commander and Demigod together to have Demigod's unique style of gameplay with the units style, supurb ranged combat and scaled battles that this engine was created for.

Possible Concepts:

• Replacing Demigods with Commanders, that could vary from races. Each different race of Commander will be have their own set of Ability Trees (skill tree) and units that can be summoned/built. The differences between the commander's race could be minor, perhaps having 1 or 2 unique units to each race and a few abilities that differ, giving purpose to making this decision.
  
• 2 different Skill Trees per Commander, each could look similar to how a single Demigod's skill tree looks right now although a Commander will have 2 seperate trees to be able to focus in or split between, will consist of "Assassin/Combat" type abilities and "General/Support/Building" skills. A player can choose to focus in one of the tree's or to strategicly spend points into both to give themself a more unique and varied type of character to play.
  
• Combat Tree: This page of the Commanders skill tree will consist similar to a skill tree of a current assassin although with abilities more related to a Commander unit. This tree will enchance the Commander to be a more aggressive type of character having upgrades that will benefit his Auto attack damage/range, having Active abilities such an AoE attack that will use up Energy (Mana), replacement weapons for his Auto Attack, enhanced Armor or perhaps a personal shield etc.
• Support Tree: This will be the tree to focus on for those who are more passive and prefer a "General" style of gameplay. The abilities in this tree would consist of how many of us would have wanted to see the Generals in Demigod turn out but ultimately did not. The skills in this tree would primarily involve the summoning/construction of units that could be controlled and used on the battlefield as individual entities to the Commander. These units will be individually controllable as would your Commander be and as you would any RTS game's unit. Further up the tree would unlock a more variety in units to build that would have different abilities or combats strengths and perhaps even the feature to unlock buildable towers. Other abilities in this tree could involve more passive style gameplay as Energy regeneration or Aura's that would benefit yourself and your team/minions. Skill points that would increase their personal income for the purpose of construction would also be necessary.
  
• Creeps Waves would act as they currently do in Demigod although having the generic grunt/archer units replaced with various units/bots that could be similar to those from Supreme Commander. (Read below)

Creep Waves:

• Wave unit 1: A group of small bots with a short range, weak laser attack. Much the same as the cannon fodder minotaurs in Demigod although having a small ranged attack to allow for less collision and pathing issues.
• Wave unit 2: This would replace the current Archer type unit with a medium ranged bot unit that would be able to combat other units/commanders with an increased range.
• Wave unit 3: Which would be replacing the Angel unit, i wasnt very fond of how Demigod handled flying units as they just flew around like crazy with no sense and then landing a single attack. I have no suggestion on how to replace this unit and would just exclude it's type.
• Wave unit 4: Ah the good ol' catapultasaurus, quite easily replaced by an Artillery vehicle that would act exactly the same.
• Wave unit 5: Giants! Alot of room for customisation here. The unit could be a mobile weapons platform that could be upgraded to fit additional/different weapons onto it from the Citadel. Also could be a Bomber aircraft, Gunship, A robot replica of the Giants etc.

Commander's Minions:

Most of us are equally disappointed on how the Generals in Demigod have turned out (even some developers) but i think one very simple mechanic that can be implemented to make them many times better is the ability to build/summon a variety of minions, each having their own advantages and purpose and have full control over them as you would in Supreme Commander or any RTS game. This game is based on an RTS style using an advanced RTS engine so being able to build and control minions easily should be in it's core gameplay. Granted that this would make a person that focuses directly into their "Support/Builder" tree play a similar style as they would to Supreme Commander but would that really be a negative thing? As i recall a long time ago the game boasted to be able to play similarly to an RTS game if the player wanted to and chose accordingly.

The Commander's minions could be built from their standard income that may be increased with some carefully chosen skill points, as well as unit construction requiring Energy (Mana) from the Commander itself. The unit would be built adjacent to the Commander much like it would happen in SupCom. Newer minions can be unlocked through the cost of skill points into the respective skill tree that would render the Commander a force to be reckoned with, having an escort of powerful and unique units that would feel like a small army in Supreme Commander. Of course the balancing of these units would be necessary and they may be more vulnerable to AoE attacks from other Commanders to not allow this small army to be unstoppable but just difficult to fight face to face. Of course a "Combat/Assassin" specified Commander would be able to somewhat stand ground with these types of minion if they have a focus in direct combat and survivability. Deeper into this "Support/Builder" tree could also contain the plans for construction of towers that may have various effects from direct fire to short range AoE or Nova type attacks, etc.

Advantages/Benefits in this new theme:

• My main inspiritaion for this idea was to be rid of the mediocre Melee combat that this engine provides and focus on its strength, scaled ranged combat that makes the most of physics and tactical and strategical depth.
• There will no longer be a choice pre-game on which character you want, perhaps a choice of Commander's race is possible but the majority of gameplay style choices will be made in game, on the fly. This will allow for actual depth in a character's build not this current shallow, single, flat tech tree you get once you select which Demigod you want to be prior to the game starting.
• Building your skill tree's on the fly will alot for communication and synergy with your teammates into what style they will be focussing into or if yourself or your teammates will mix and match between play styles.
• Combat Tree Commander will act as an Assassin, being able to do alot of direct damage and be a strong force in combat having various upgrades to weaponry, personal defences and perhaps offensive auras.
• Support/Builder Tree Commander will act as a Commander does in SupCom. This skill tree will focus on unlocking various units and later towers that can be constructed and will have some skills to assist in resource gathering. Units constructed will act as an individual entity on the field much like your Commander although obviously much weaker, with varying combat prowess or unique abilities to assist the team.
• As the combat will now be based upon Ranged attacks instead of the currently mediocre Melee based attacks, there is no longer a need to emphasise Stuns and crowd control abilities to be able to kill an opponent. This could be done by careful harassing (sneaking in single auto attacks from range that will slowly grind down their health) and the use of more ranged focus damaged instead of the necessity of having to stun an opponent before any major damage could be done. Stuns/snares could still be a part of the game but as they would no longer be the catalyst for victory, skill points could be focused on other areas.
  

Disadvantages to implementing this theme:

• Would require an overhaul to the units of the game that would warrent alot of hard work. The engine/maps/graphics/coding etc would barely need to be touched at all.
• Completely changes the theme of Demigod, from a futuristic fantasy theme? to a futuristic future theme!
• Stardock are in control of updates to Demigod, this idea would be a total revamp of units that would cause alot more work for GPG
  
• No more rook hammer smash, which is like the most fun aspect of Demigod at the moment... could be replicated into a similar ability
• Less diversity in physical character representations, although upgrades to a Commander would be visible on the actual unit in game (such as a larger weapon, shields etc)

Conclusion: Yes i am aware that this idea is rediculous compared to the scope of Demigod and if this would be implemented it would be in years if it was worked on, but i guess i was just thinking out aloud to what would be an awesome Standalone Expansion to Demigod once the gameplay has run dry after release (which would be about a month, imo). Having lasers and cannons and explosions fit into the Demigod how it is now can only improve the game immensly, and merging Demigod and SupCom into 1 game would bring tens of thousands of SupCom lovers into the community (which i think would be very necessary) as i don't see the community for Demigod to be very large after a short time, once people have gotten tired of it's "Casual" based gameplay. More direct customizability, more explosions, actual RTS gameplay elements and a proven concept for success: Supreme Commander!. This engine fails in melee combat, there is no feel of impact to auto attacks and the atmosphere while playing the game is very lacking. Total Conversion necessary!

Thank you

Evanescent