Talk:Development/@comment-26393217-20150519114944

Hello,

Balance considerations besides, I have some ideas about what I'd like to be changed in this game, and why (mostly for lore reasons).

1) Plaguelords: ghoul and zombie

- Lore tells us that Lord Antharg uses to pick up some of its cleverest ghouls to make them its Plaguepriests. Well, ghouls are undeads, and not plague priests !

- Argueably, ghouls are deemed undeads or daemons in most games, but they could be only diseased and mad humanoids (humans for the most part), turning to cannibalism and necrophagy.

- Do really ghouls relate to zombies the same way whights relate to skelletons?

- Why undeads can't produce ghouls, then? (Alright, in Disciple2, ghouls are neutral undeads the undead faction can't produce either.)

- I would make Antharg more turned on devious, altered life rather than death.

Suggestion: make ghouls tagged as humans, not as undeads (still immune to disease)

If possible, make ghouls (high cost) builders and eliminate the zombies. The Cess Pool would produce only ghouls (contaminated slaves) and slimes. Ghouls would be like super-peasants, becoming more worthy as combat units the more they are upgraded at the Laboratory. I feel like this would fit more the racial theme.

2) Builders: giant eagle

It looks like those intelligent beasts are a bit overpowered as far as their building skill is concerned. They are currently nearly just as skilled as peasants!

Suggestion: decrease the building stat for eagle to be the worst of all in-game (or even worst).

3) Dark Dwarves: bronze golem

From game to game, the long fantasy paradigm of the dwarven golem has evolved to be the animation of a mechanical automaton through nercromancy. Two references would be TES3:Morrowind (the Dwemer armor) and DA:Origins (Caridin and the Anvil of the Void) (also: GW2 (the Inquest golems, and the Azura suits).

I'm fine with the models, animations and voices of the stone and iron golems. They are machines (possibly animated through a mix of alchemy and necromancy). My problem is about the bronze golem, a general.

Lore tells us that the Dark Dwarves are not as brave as their cousins. They fight with they machines. I won't debate on whereas siege weapons are manned by servants or not (models would figure them, back to Warlords IV), because dark dwarves siege weapons could be so automated that they don't need any servant to man them.

To me, there could be an exception: the "darest" warriors could lead the mechanical hordes from inside very heavy powered armors/suits (cf. TES3), devised such a way that other races would take them for just other golems, hence their name "bronze golem", and their ultimate capacity to convert buildings.

Suggestion: alter the lore/help files so that they mention that bronze golem aren't just another golem; change the voice files, or exchange them with the iron golem's (indeed, iron golem's and Grond's voices feel more lively than bronze golem's). They could stay tagged as mechanical units given their massive, autonomous  armor.

As a consequence, the Alchemy sphere would no longer be able to summon (create) a bronze golem. I believe that iron golem could replace it (it's possible to adjust the mana cost, the summoning time, or to have two iron golems instead of one (?)). The value of a high level iron golem would be in its high level fire bombs.

What I mean is that, instead of being just a mere automaton empowered by a dead dwarven spirit (that the other golems are), the bronze golem could be a real dwarf in a suit, going to battle only after the machines alone have failed.

4) Dwarves: building required

Let's look at the units that are produced at the Armory.

Runners need nothing. Infantry need >>Foundry<< (to equip them, I guess). Crossbows need Workshop (to equip and upgrade them). Berserker need Brewer and Guards need College...

I see a slight inconsistancy here. Bersekers and Khazrimi Guards are the more equipped warriors and they don't need any Foundry on the map?

Suggestion: Berserkers need Foundry and Brewer. Guards need Foundry and College.

And why not? Dwarven Lords need Foundry too. [EDIT] Foundry, not Armory [/EDIT]

5) Towers: monsters inside?

Firstly, I understand the trapped tower trick (with firebombs or spores): it's fun and logical.

An empty tower is able to shoot at foes, and that means that invisible defenders are already here (much like the siege weapons servants). When you affect units inside, they act on top of these unseen servants.

What I feel uneasy with are all those monsters actually manning towers, increasing their combat score and rate of fire...

Spiders, war dogs, fire bombs... really? It would make more sense to allow the builders to count as basic infantry, instead.

I try and explain myself that plague towers are organic compounds that may have use of any floatting eye or (let's dare to say) dumb slime. I figure that dark dwarves towers are mechanical complexes that dwarven spirits may upgrade (the same way they upgrade golems), and that even mechanical autonomous modules are welcomed, providing they speed up the rate of fire, even if we know them under the name of "Fire Bomb" (a... land mine?).

But spiders and dogs, I just can't !!

Suggestion: forbid monster tagged melee units to enter a tower. Or be more subtle, if possible (allow them, with no incidence to the combat score and rate of fire). Possibly, allow engineers to enter a tower and count as a base infantry unit.

6) Ssrathi: a new raptor unit.

I feel like there is a lore "gap" or rather an opportunity to devise a new unit for the Ssrathi. The Ssrathi need the Hatchery to produce their cavalry and the Saurus Pen to upgrade it. Well, if this doesn't smell the dinosaur...

Let's take a Lizard Rider, and put the rider off: we get a raptor, whose model is almost ready. Lore tells us about those Ssrathi raptors, the fastest ground creature in all Etheria (some boots description).

Suggestion: add a new Ssrathi unit, produced at the Hatchery at the same time the Lizard Rider is produced, or just before (and before the Triceratops). The goal would be a fast unit great at preying on lone units/formations in the open, but not really able to rush a base.

Stats would be between those of the Lizard Rider and the Snakeman. It would be faster than any cavalry unit, and would be tagged as a monster (not saurian, nor cavalry).

Damage would be slashing.

Balance consideration should watch the Riding and Dragonmaster skills, and the Saurus Pen upgrades, though (possibly giving the beast only the monster tag), as well as the need for a special vulnerability (anti-cavalry, piercing, fire?).

If possible (and to explain why the Ssrathi would not flood the battle field with them), they could simply be uncontrolable by the player/AI: not only would they get the Marauding attitude as a default, but they could be "set on fire" upon creation, or better, have a "summoning" timer before they manage to escape and disappear in the wilds.

To allow for bands of raptors to roam the map, perhaps the production rate could be high (or quasi instant, like the Empire Mercenary).