Premise
Real time tactics game where currency is damage dealt and skills are drafted ingame.
Inspirations
Dawn of War 2, Dota, Sangokushi Taisen, Smite, Dominion or deckbuilding games, Dynasty Warriors...
Specifics
Both teams start in equal grounds in opposing bases, from 1 to 5 playable characters (PC) each. Base has hitpoints and first team to destroy the enemie's wins. Friendly fire is active through the game, even for buildings.
Resource gathering would be done by a Dynasty Warriors approach where there are several hotspots through the map where two opposing factions are duking it out, or just neutral spawns like in an MMO. You can attack all factions, and they can damage you back. Resources are not team pooled, each PC has his own pool.
Resources can be spent in improving your characters by means of one of the variants plus passive stats. Players have to travel to the base to improve themselves. Acquiring improvements is supposed to be a team effort to overpower the enemies'. Different approaches/tactics are encouraged.
Variants
Idea A: There is a small, finite skill pool accessible to both teams, different for each match. Think the cardgame Dominion or other deckbuilding games or Dota's skill draft. There are X copies of Y skills, each one of them representing a level on it.
Idea B: There are a set of buildings that give access to different tiers of skills or player improvements. This buildings have to be created and improved at a cost.
Player control
From most liked to least
Option 1: top-down camera, indirect control. One players per team controls all playable characters, or several players split the PCs to their liking. Given that I suck balls at micro the approach would be in a Sengokushi Taisen style of a tactics panel and a main screen. Attacks are automatic triggered on proximity, skills are player-driven but the pace is slow enough that you don't need to be Daigo to combo them.
Option 2: full DOTA or Bloodline Champions. Direct/indirect control. One player per PC.
Option 3: third person camera action, akin to Dynasty Warriors or Smite, or a platformer approach like Awesomenauts. Each PC belongs to a player. Direct control, combos, skills.
Random thoughts
Friendly fire in a game where damage is the currency. Healing should be quite scarce or not be available at all.
Players may feel forced to play safe and ricefarm all game, so team interactions should be rewarding to be even considered i.e. dying gives all your resource pool to your killer.
Players will be damaged by neutrals by a fraction of what they attack. Players have to return to their base to upgrade. A player that has farmed a lot may need to be escorted to base to avoid ganks, making it a team effort again.
No defenses in base, early game aggression is possible.
Should we pool all our resources in a carry or just play a team strategy? Get those early skills and go starve the opponent or play the long game?
Should I attack my own base or teammates for safe, fast, early resources at the expense of less safety lategame? Are my teammates doing the same?
