Bob's RPG Era (now with achievements!)

[Bob_The_Mighty]

The image in question (the shapeless black blob with a red '?', otherwise used for random leaders) is the sprite used for all characters in the first turn of this era. It is meant to represent the fact that the character has not yet been 'designed'. As soon as the player moves, and completes the character design process, it is replaced by the relevant unit image. Maybe this should be changed if it is confusing.

[Bob_The_Mighty]

I am planning to update this era and give it an overhaul. My first priority is to cut the fat. It used to be so damn laggy, but I think I have learnt a few tricks to streamline it.

After that I want to revise and improve. I'd really like some ideas and feedback on which bits people liked and which bits were confusing or just not good.


1. Would it be better with more variety of unit types? Or more classes? (Fighter-Mage?) What about more races? I want to stick to only using existing well-drawn and animated sprites, but they don't have to be mainline. For instance, I was thinking about adding a few dark elves. (Incidentally, is there any portraits of dark elves anywhere?)

2. I am keeping the negative trait, but it will be balanced by the choice of a positive trait. I don't really want to use the standard ones, so can anyone think of some novel/interesting traits for heros? Maybe I could just use the extra trait space to display the 'talents' (Concoction, Animal Taming, Weaponcraft, etc) that already exist.

3. Should there be more stances or less, or the same number? I was thinking of making it so that you can only switch stance once per turn. A good idea? (Also, I thought it would be cool if the stance your character adopted affected the music. For example, when you switch to the 'run' stance the music changed to a faster, lighter piece; when you switch to 'attack' it plays a more aggressive, martial tune. I've never looked into what music is available - so could anyone suggest which tracks might fit the different stances?)

4. I'd like to know what people think about the current inventory system - in particular the way it allows you to pick up items from the map (like rocks, slime and leaves) and use them to create potions, traps, balms, etc. It took a lot of work to set it up, so I am kind of reluctant to change it - but is it too fiddly or too confusing? Personally, I like the depth - plus the scarcity of the items seems like a good way to limit the amount of potions made or the number of times warriors can use weaponcraft.

5. I'd like to make a more comprehensive magic system, perhaps a bit like Brotherhood of Light. Should this replace potion-making or run alongside it (i.e. have two possible magic specialisms: Concoction, Casting). Should it be item-based (buy scrolls) or mana-based, or both? Also, if magicians get all sorts of fancy spells, will it make the other character-classes seem boring? Or can anyone think of a way to give warriors/rangers/vagabonds a similiar set of options without calling it magic?



Of course, if you have any comments not covered by these points feel free to spout off. And if you have any tips on making the era less laggy, please share.

[Velensk]

The stances are fine.

Invintory system if fine.

I would prefer you add another class/more abilities, but at the same time I have no idea what class you would add. I personaly have always thought of the talents as positive traits and would think that expanding the number of them could be the best option.

I have had a few ideas:

I think that making casting an alternate to potions is a good option. The way I would work it is that I would require wizards to buy spells at shops with gold, then use a small amount of xp every time they cast it. I can't judge if this would make the mage appear cooler than the rest because the mage is already my favorite class.

This may sound weird (and difficult to impliment), but an interesting talent for the warrior might be one that allows him to use two stances at once. I'd call it versitility.

A talent that the ranger could have would be one I'd call patience that would increase his accuracy if his foe missed its last strike.

A talent the vagabond could have would be the equivilent of the healthy trait (i.e. he gets a few extra hp, resting healing when on the move, and reduced poison damage. The healing would stack with standard healing, but not if he's been fighting)

Possibly you could have a universal talent which increase starting character points slightly (no other benifit)

You might have talents which give an extra weapon (such as maybe a ranger talent that gives bolos), or that boost class abilities. (For example, maybe if the warrior has a "leader" talent it initaly only decreases xp requirement slightly, but when you pick up the leadership ability you get it at one level higher than default. I'm not sure if leadership gives you level 2 or level 3 leadership, but if you pick up the leadership talent then the leadership ability then you would get level 3 or 4 leadership respectivly).

[Bob_The_Mighty]

Thanks for the ideas, Velensk. However, most of the talents you suggested sound more like regular abilities - and I can add as many as I want of those to the 'Improve Character' menu. So, feel free to suggest more class-based abilities.

But, talents should be a little bit special. For a start, each character only gets 1 talent - which is chosen during character design. I'd like them all to allow something that doesn't happen in normal Wesnoth, perhaps with a right-click option. Ideally, I'd like the same number of possible talents for each class - and there should be a mix of talents which utilise inventory items, and some that don't (since I still want the era to be useable on all maps, not just my ones).

I have now got 2 talents for each class. I'll post them below so I can show the icons I made, and check whether the images make sense/look okay.

[Bob_The_Mighty]

Warrior Talents

Rouser
You have a natural ability to rally men to a cause, whatever it may be.
Effect: Allows you to temporarily gain control of same-alignment units. This will be done via a right-click on an adjacent unit. 'Roused' units will only remain on your side for x turns.

Weaponcraft
You've learned to take great care of your weapon, knowing that preparation is often decisive on the battlefield.
Effect: Weaponcraft allows you to use enhance your melee weapon with raw materials. (Use rocks to increase damage, slime to add slow and scorpion tail to add poison). Once applied, the effects of weaponcraft wear off after your next combat. The effects are also cancelled if you equip a new weapon.

[Bob_The_Mighty]

Ranger Abilities

Taming
Effect: Allows you to temporarily tame monsters.

Herbalism
You have a thorough knowledge of plants and their medicinal properties.
Effect: Herbalism allows you to create simple medicinal balms, which are applied by rubbing onto skin. Each ingredients has a unique quality which is hinted at in the item description. Herbalism requires only one ingredient; it is depleted on use even if it has no effect.

[Bob_The_Mighty]

Vagabond Talents

Trapper
Effect: Allows you to make and set traps. Inventory items like rocks and scorpion tails can be turned into traps like bombs and poison vials, which can then be left on the ground for ai units to trigger.

Scavenger
A character with the Scavanger skill has learnt to quickly rummage through the possessions of fallen foes.
Effect: Killing an enemy on the player's turn earns the scavanger a small random sum of gold. This skill only works on units that might carry gold, for instance, not undead, monsters or sea creatures.

[Bob_The_Mighty]

Magician Talents

Casting
Effect: Allows you to cast a variety of spells. No details yet.

Concoction
Effect: Concoction allows you to create potions and spells by mixing two raw ingredients. Each ingredient has a unique quality which is hinted at in the item description. Some combinations of ingredients have no effect. Others will produce a result fusing the qualities of both. Both ingredients are always depleted, even if the mixture has no effect.

[Blarumyrran]

Scavenger
A character with the Scavanger skill has learnt to quickly rummage through the possessions of fallen foes.
Effect: Killing an enemy on the player's turn earns the scavanger a small random sum of gold. This skill only works on units that might carry gold, for instance, not undead, monsters or sea creatures.

Is the thug peeking under the skirt of a dead female thief?

[CountPenguin]

where can i get the era? i couldnt find it on the add on server, so i thought it might be included in your other scenarios, but it isnt there when i try to play Labyrinth of Champions...

[Ken_Oh]

I am planning to update this era and give it an overhaul.

I don't think that means he's finished.

[St.John]

Can't wait Bob, you never disappoint!
It's people like you who make Wesnoth what it is!

EDIT: By the way, I saw you put up the test on the server.
I immediately noticed that the mixed classes dissapear.
Right after you pick your negative trait, the unit ceases to exist!

EDIT: This happens with many units, not just mixed classes.
I'm sure you wouldve noticed that immediately, so, never mind haha
I know it's not ready for stable play yet, but i couldnt help it

[Bob_The_Mighty]

I have updated Bob's RPG Era for 1.6 and given it a massive overhaul. Version 1.2 is on the add-ons server now.

Previously the two main problems with the era was that it was incredibly laggy and that the inventory stuff only worked on certain maps. Both these have been dealt with. It's now playble without nosaves, and there's a random item generator which scatters items around any map.

I have done tons of work on this and it will still need a fair bit of tweaking, yet I'm very pleased that I was able to make it run really fast AND add loads of new features.

Check it out. These are the changes...

GENERAL
Updated for 1.6
Made several huge code optimisations
Fixed a few hidden bugs
Added lots of new icons
Updated and added more portraits
Added a random item scatterer (this means the era and inventory can be used on all maps)
Updated unit animations (to fit the mainline animations)
Removed the 'Soul' (ghost) unit that was spawned when you died, but I might put it back later

CLASSES
Removed the 'random unit' image since it was confusing people
Also removed the 'weapon skill' menu - unit selection now happens normally in game set-up screen
Made a fifth 'faction' category: Mixed Class (mixed-class characters begin as a 'Novice' in 2 classes, whereas pure-class characters begin as 'Experienced' in 1 class)
Added more character units: Battle Princess (HttT), Apprentice Necromancer (DiD) and Elf Lord
Moved Dwarven Runesmith and Longbowman into the Mixed Class category
Tweaked hp of all classes
Standardised unit type names (Warrior rather than Javelineer, Lieutenant, Steelclad etc)

IMPROVING CHARACTER
Replaced Leadership with Inspire/Lead (these both boost damage regardless of level, meaning Warriors can 'lead' other characters)
Added Scare/Terrify for Magicians (similar to 'Terror' from EE)
Added Stealth abilitiy for Vagabonds (same as nightstalk)
Added Distract ability for Vagabonds (negates zoc in the hexes around you)
Added Ranged-Firststrike special for Rangers
Added Mentor ability for Warriors: when you kill something xp is awarded to adjacent friendly units
'Defend' stance is now available to Warriors, rather than Magicians
Rearranged the abilities/specials available at each class level
Shortened the length of ability names and made some of them supercede previous ability - this creates more space to display character's abilities in the info panel on the right of the screen
Removed Cures ability - now 'Heals +6' and above cure poison
Added an overlay icon to show players when their unit has over 10 character points remaining
Put a cap on lowering max XP
AMLAing now increases max XP by 10%

TALENTS & TRAITS
Turned 'Talents' (weaponcraft, concoction, etc) into traits, so they are visible to other players. It also means there are tooltips available for each talent
Put the options for each of the inventory-related talents (Weaponcraft, Concoction, Trapper, Herbalism) into their own right-click menu. This reduced the code massively and is much more straight-forward to use
Added Magician talent: Conjure (Magicians can use raw materials to conjure temporary creatures)
Replaced Scavenger with Pickpocket (Vagabonds can steal gold from units with a right-click)
Changed Animal Taming to Tamer (Rangers can now tame beasts with a right-click)
Improved Bomb traps: they now do 12 damage
Improved the effects of Herbalism
Increased the max XP penalty of stupid trait from +15% to +20%
Prevented more than one of the same kind of trap being set on the same hex

INVENTORY
Certain weaponcraft and potion bonuses now show as temporary weapon specials
Sounds for drinking potions
Removed the 'eat' function: i thought it was kind of fun, but no one used it and it longer fits anyway
Added Turuk's excellent weapon descriptions to the inventory screen
Replaced the floating text with printed messages for actions like equipping weapons and drinking potions - hopefully this will allow other players to see what you are doing when you're using menus
Added a few new raw materials
More creatures drop items when they die (i.e. kill a skeleton and you can pick up its skull)
Bloodlust Bile potion is more effective: drinker can attack again even if they didn't kill

I'd like to thanks Turuk for his weapon descriptions, and Zookeeper for his time and incredible debugging powers. I might have missed some, though.

I'll post a revised help guide here when I've got it sorted.

[Aethaeryn]

Awesome. Can't wait to play a real game with it.

Expect a list of bugs/feedback once I have the time for a full test, I always take notes when playing add-ons like these.

[Turuk]

I'd like to thanks Turuk for his weapon descriptions, and Zookeeper for his time and incredible debugging powers. I might have missed some, though.

Glad to help. This reminds me that I still have to poke around with the armor and material descriptions, so I'll look into getting that done soon as well.