I'm interested in this as well but it seems like this thread belongs in the general elemental section instead of the ideas section. 

I would agree and this does sound reasonable...  on the same note since larger maps have more room the dungeons have the possibility of being more epic.

I'm hoping we'll see different types of chests as well.  I'm hoping the chests are more related to the chests from the RPG  Might & Magic III & IV...  where the contents were more equal to the type of chest.   I think the smallest was a wooden crate but the highest was a gold chest and of course the very rare legendary "black box".   Upon finding these highest rated chests it would feel as though time would stop and you'd be in awe for just being next to the chest because the contents were significantly more important. 

Some of the worst examples of chests from todays game is where the super best chests drop nothing of value and the typical barrels can provide a super elite item.   Ultimately this results in having no joy based on the type of chest you discover.

3) There is no need for the high-level  dungeon to be too far from teh player. The more attempts the player makes, the more food the dragon will have...

I agree the original Age of Wonders  did fantastic work for exploring caves, dungeons, etc., .   I truly missed this feature when the sequels were released as did many other gamers.  The  altars from the original Age of Wonders  were also greatly missed.  It would be great if the exploring could match what was provided within the original Age of Wonders, but perhaps to include Stairways for the levels, Traps, Monsters(good, neutral and evil), Teleporters, variation of stuff to find(Herbs, Scrolls, Magic_Fountains, Chests, Coffins, Gems, etc.,).

I remember the original  Diablo game only took  10MB  of  diskspace  to install...  it was amazing how much replay value this game provided.

Thank you for the response BB! But I guess what I am after is probably even more simple of an answer than what you provided.

Do you expect that once a dungeon is discovered, it will usually be explored in one turn (like MoM) where you entered the dungeon, fought the monster and got the reward, or do you see dungeons being bigger and the player actually taking multiple turns to "crawl" the dungeon and find what surprises, pleasant or otherwise, it contains?

I'll be happy with either answer, and if the answer is "we don't know yet." that's cool too.

Thanks!

Thanks! It seems like the floodgates of info are starting to open, it is really appreciated!

It looks like the answer is "all of the above", which in this case is the best possible answer!

WooHoo!

Some other thoughts....

Ideally the larger dungeons should be more likely to eventually refill with new creatures, thieves, monsters, etc., .   Some of the larger dungeons should also have multiple exits(example-Moria)... a few one_way exits could also be available.  I'm also looking forward to finding huge dungeons which may take up 10+ map squares, thus providing that feeling of AWE.

It would be interesting to see independent adventurers which also travel the map.  This type of independent could not only visit dungeon structures, but also visit towns which can boost morale and gold income.  These adventurers would not clean out a dungeon, but they might get killed leaving their items&treasures inside or perhaps release a monster.  These independents could not be attacked without damage to reputation and possibly other variables such as trade.

I'm with GW swicord on this one.  Why would dungeons refil with monsters?   I mean maybe giant cockrooches and stuff, but things like dragons and what have you?  I can't imagine why they would come back.

If anything I'd want to clear out a dungeon and move in villagers and turn it into a new building.    I mean no sense in letting a perfectly good structure go to waste.   A bit of spit-shine will get that carrion crawler juice off the walls, and a rug can cover the lurker nest.

I think my parenthetical aside must be confusing. I was agreeing with NTJedi that larger dungeons should have something like a local ecology that would eventually make them dangerous and/or interesting to explore again.

On the other hand, I see no good reason not to have the possibility of refurbishing and occupying a dungeon structure if you've killed or chased away all the former occupants. Depending on the dungeon type, it might be hard to attract a civilian population, but you should at least be able to put some resources into converting them into a local fort.

Dungeons are top-notch real estate for monsters and things of evil which is why they should eventually be refilled.  The darkness and deep caverns are known for breeding insects, bats and other ugly things... within a fantasy world it's only logical these things would be much larger in size and would allow larger monsters to easily feed and reproduce.  The very darkness provides monsters not only protection, but an edge for surprise attacks.   Even the undead are more likely to seek places of darkness for their homes.   As a demi_lich to start casting rituals on the surface is much more likely to be noticed as compared to a deep dungeon.   Also if a level_12 demi_lich discovered a level_17 demi_lich was slaughtered by some adventurers which returned home, then naturally the level_12 demi_lich would be interested in seeing what might have been left behind of interest... such as corpses, evil_altar, writings on the walls, etc., .  Depending on the dungeons location and what was left behind the level_12 demi_lich may permanently move, yet hopefully more wise for planning defenses and escape thus not to repeat the history of the level_17 demi_lich.

I can't imagine any villagers being interested in living inside a dungeon since there's no sunlight, unclean and limited visibility/food unless the surface was being overpowered by some force of nature or dominated by a specific race.  The only exception would be dwarves and this would ONLY be for mines for the digging of jewels. 

I dont know if I mentoned this in another thread, but one idea I had (again, ideas are the easy part) would be to allow certain dungeons (catagorized into caverns, ruins, and towers), once cleared, and a spell of control is cast upon them, to be 'tapped' for recruitable creatures.

Almost like our current setup...you need an Archery to train Bowmen, Stable to train Calvary...here, each controlled dungeon would unlock various creatures that could be trained as 'units' in your various armies.

Again, just an idea, but a fun way to make dungeons more useful (especially if only certain races have hte proper spell).

Perhaps you could use them as special collectable items in the collecter's addition! Just put them in little sandwich bags and insert them into the boxes!

Using dungeons to train units is an interesting idea. Imagine a scenario where an enemy takes the nearby town, but you still control the dungeon without them knowing it. They then move their army on to try and take your next town, when all of a sudden a horde of crazed monsters emerge from the cave right next to the town they just left!

This idea sounds good for the smaller dungeon types, but should not be possible for all dungeon types.  The more larger and epic dungeon types should always remain as an uncontrollable source for generating chaotic evil.  While they can be cleared and become peaceful for several turns... eventually evil will return within the larger and epic dungeons.   It definitely would be fun for being able to recruit creatures from the smaller dungeon types.

These larger and epic dungeon types should even eventually spit out creatures if they are not cleared.   Some of the very rare events could even have a powerful evil army emerge from the dungeon which is being lead by one or more independent champions(Evil_Mage; Devil; Lich; Cyclops; etc.,) .  The game turn is one variable which can be used as a balance tool for deciding how powerful of an army emerges.