Part of a player's influence.
Influence (or area of influence) is an element of gameplay feature in both Black & White and its sequel. It is represented by colored fog. The area inside a player's influence is called a "realm".
Influence is the boundary of a god's realm. Inside it, a god is able to interact with the environment and cast miracles. Outside the influence, however, the player has a limited amount of time (and distance) to interact with things, being soon unable to do anything (represented by a red cross on the cursor/hand) but interact with his/her creature. This is sometimes referred to as "virtual influence" although no official name is known.
Mechanics[]
Influence has several mechanics related to it, such as the following:
- Influence is always the same color of the realm owner's. It cannot be seen if the player zooms in too close to it.
- Influence size is determined by two game aspects: population of villagers living in villages under control of the player and belief itself. The larger the population and belief, the larger the area of influence will be.
- Every influence ring originate from either a temple or village center, those aways being at their center.
- Upon crossing the influence barrier out of the realm, the player will hear a high-pitched sound that will gradually become lower and lower until it stops, meaning the player will no longer be able to influence anything.
- The time the player has to influence the world outside the area of influence is related to distance. The further the hand strays from the realm, the faster the player will lose virtual influence.
- Having breeder disciples, building homes and casting impressive miracles will increase a player's influence, while killing villagers and miracles from enemy gods will shrink the influence ring.
- The sky within the area of influence changes based on the player's alignment: it becomes brightly colored and clear if the player is good, and dark and cloudy if the player is evil.
- As with the above, music within the influence reflects the alignment, becoming eerie if the player is evil or peaceful, should the player be a good god.