Bug that might make for an interesting ability.

[JW]

but for now 14-4 sounds ok.

oO

That was a mere mock-up from Delfador's lightning attack. 14-4 would be ridiculous for a level 2 unit, even if it's only used on attack. The current Shadow does 10-3 Backstab and I think if he kept that attack and added maybe a 6-3 unblockable he would be pretty sweet.

[bioman]

but no melee attack

Hello again.
I don't know if making it so the Shadow can only do this spectral attack would add anything. For instance, if it has no melee attack, how would it retaliate when it is being attacked?

Also, I think what is being said is that it would be nice to have the option to do either the normal attack (with more damage, but where the opponent can retaliate) or this special attack - without and retaliation, but with a lowered attack power.

And as for the thieves, when I picture them doing the backstab move, one of the units surrounding the opponent has him in a head lock (or something similar!) whilst the thief attacks. That way, it would make more sense as it would stop the opposing unit from fighting back.

I like it the idea in general, most of the hard work would be in the unit balancing...

[Deathblower]

OK, so my idea was a little different (ie. to change the unit's use completely )

Anyway, that's my two cents. Just putting it out there, if you don't like it that's fine - no worries.

DB

[Sapient]

Having no melee attack and only a spectral attack would actually be pretty boring. It's pretty much the same thing as normal, except slower.

Normal:
T1(shadow): Shadow attacks target, target retaliates
T1(enemy): Enemy attacks shadow, shadow retaliates

Only Spectral:
T1(shadow): Shadow attacks target
T1(enemy): target retaliates

+possible abuse:
T2(shadow): shadow withdraws, nightstalk invisible
T2(enemy): undoes move until shadow is found, attacks without retaliation

[scott]

An AMLA 16-1 sniper attack for the Sharpshooter is another possibility.

There are definitely situations when you might want to try such an attack, but normally going with the higher damage is better. In this case the unanswerable attack would have a niche use rather than being the main attack.

[Deathblower]

Actually this sounds quite good.

I would assume that other aspects of the sharpshooter would be weakened though. Or have a seperate unit (like swordsman and pikeman have different attacks as different progressions). Not necessarily though - I don't want to kick up a fuss about 'we don't want loads more unit suggestions' - I'm just saying

DB

[Garion]

This might be an ability that would make sense for the Silver Mage, too. It's always seemed strange to me that his attack was just a weaker version of the Great Mage fire attack.

Here's a guy who has supposedly mastered the art of travelling through another dimension, and he fights with the same fire as everyone else?

From a gameplay perspective, the Silver Mage is already one of the most useful units around, so he doesn't actually need any changes. I'm just saying he'd be more thematically consistant if he had, for instance, a 20-1 spectral attack with Slow.

[SmokemJags]

Seems like this idea has been pretty well received. Awesome.

Maybe it's time to start making seperate threads for proposed units that would have this ability?
As someone pointed out:

Most of the hard work would be in the unit balancing...

That 'sniper' attack as an AMLA sounds interesting. Is it like 'magical' where it's a guaranteed % chance to hit?
Definite one shot one kill type of deal, heh.

The Shadow and it's level three are being considered, the thief line (maybe orc assassin too?) and some AMLA possibilities...

So, how about we start making seperate threads to discuss these individual unit lines and possibly use of this so-called 'feature'?

[JW]

One major problem, or possibly one major consideration, would be that similar units would retaliate against each other. This may make sense, but not necessarily. And man, those two sentences just sounded really odd.

[Sapient]

I could picture a magic arrow for the Sharpshooter in the proxy/seeker range. I'm thinking something like:

enchanted arrow
10-1 seeker (70%) magic
(pierce)

And for Dark Sorcerers:

send nightmare
6-2 seeker (?%) poison
(mental)

So if you send and enchanted arrow to a Dark Sorcerer, he will send a nightmare back to find you. Mental damage would be more harmful against mages, though.

[SmokemJags]

would be that similar units would retaliate against each other.

I think this makes good sense. As the saying goes, fight fire with fire.

[JW]

Sapient: you're combining way too many things into one. You've got an unblockable attack with an unused damage type with poison. I hope you don't suspect this being added to mainline.