The Windsong

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megane
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Post by megane »

Lorekeeper and Harbinger fixed on the campaign server.
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megane
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Post by megane »

After play-testing a bit, I rebalanced quite a few things, almost all in the negative direction. v0.12 is up on the camp server, therefore.

New art will have to wait until I get to college this Sunday.

Edit: By the way, it'd be much more effective to play-test against actual people, and even more so to watch others play-test, so if ever you see me online and are willing to help out, just let me know.
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lu_zero
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Post by lu_zero »

could you please make a list of differences?
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Jami
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Post by Jami »

Things I like about the Windsong

1. Interesting backstory
2. Unique and very nice sprites
3. Nice job of dispersing damage types though units

Things I don't like about the Windsong

1. No real scouting units. Having a true scout really makes this faction have a hard time in MP. (seekers don't count, they have a magical attack and decent melee to boot)
2. Lots of magic and marksmanship = not a good thing
3. No cheap units
4. Not enough recruitable units. (Four recruitible units is not enough for a faction to be terribly interesting.) Six-eight units Is generally enough to cover all of the bases for your faction, as well as have some overlap with abilities and choice between high and low cost units.
5. No real "tanking" unit. (Be it footpads/gaurdsmen for knarlgans, HI for loyalists, Trolls for northerners, Ghouls and ghosts for UD, or Wose for rebels, every mainline faction has a unit designed to take a lot of punishment. Something I find the Windsong sorely lack. Even the Sidthe Elves from EE, notorious for weak units that rely on good defense, have a tank.)
6. An archer, with an arcane melee attack, and heals, and good HP? overpowered much?

In all, I like the idea and the sprites. But balance and unit versitility must be looked into.
lu_zero
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Post by lu_zero »

Jami wrote: 1. No real scouting units. Having a true scout really makes this faction have a hard time in MP. (seekers don't count, they have a magical attack and decent melee to boot)
Depending on the map and having different kind of units isn't that bad.
2. Lots of magic and marksmanship = not a good thing
I don't see why, you do less damage but in a slightly more reliable way
3. No cheap units
Again that isn't bad.
4. Not enough recruitable units. (Four recruitible units is not enough for a faction to be terribly interesting.) Six-eight units Is generally enough to cover all of the bases for your faction, as well as have some overlap with abilities and choice between high and low cost units.
One more unit would be nicer.
5. No real "tanking" unit. (Be it footpads/gaurdsmen for knarlgans, HI for loyalists, Trolls for northerners, Ghouls and ghosts for UD, or Wose for rebels, every mainline faction has a unit designed to take a lot of punishment. Something I find the Windsong sorely lack. Even the Sidthe Elves from EE, notorious for weak units that rely on good defense, have a tank.)
Gatekeeper.
6. An archer, with an arcane melee attack, and heals, and good HP? overpowered much?
more or less alike the raindancer. that has a good melee and hp and defense even if delivers ranged magic.

I like a lot the fact that windsong has different kind of units, that you have to use in pattern different than scout+tank.

I'd like to see a campaign around them anyway.
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Noyga
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Post by Noyga »

After a quick overview of the faction i find that even if there is only 4 recruitable units i find that the range of possilities they offer is quite good.
The only thing they really lack is a good air or water unit.

One other point that has no gameplay implication but i find interesting is the entire faction is actually female. This makes it quite different from the usual factions where males are predominent if not the entire faction.

I plan to add the faction in the Extended Era, maybe with those Frost Wyrms that were orginally designed for the Sidhe to fill the air/water unit slot.
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megane
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Post by megane »

Well, a new version has been put up -- v0.2 -- which addresses many of the suggestions people have given me. Specifically, I have added two new unit lines:

The Courier, a floating scout, which can cross water but does very badly in rough terrain such as forest. This is so that it can be used as a standard scout, but so that, in many maps, Seekers are still better at moving around, since they can easily pass through pretty much anything.

Wind Shards, a cheap, teleporting flyer. Very weak (4-2 cold and only 15 hp), but great for sneak-attacking weakened units. I'd like it to have some sort of invisibility, but I a) can't think of anything interesting and b)can't figure out how to code the one version I like.

In addition, I have made a few abilities:

Gatekeepers gained "counter," which gives them marksman-style accuracy when defending. This helps to make them more of the tank Jani was looking for, since melee units have a much harder time killing them safely. Lorekeepers keep this, Heretics lose it.

The higher-level Couriers have "dauntless," which increases their resistances while they attack.

Keep the suggestions coming, they help a lot.

And Noyga, thanks for your interest. Let me know if I can do anything to get them up to par (aside from art, I know, it takes a while xD)

P.S. as for a full changelog, uhm. I'll be keeping one in future >.>

EDIT: yay, I made a tree.
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As of 0.2.<br />-fixed, oops-
As of 0.2.
-fixed, oops-
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Last edited by megane on August 20th, 2007, 5:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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lu_zero
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Post by lu_zero »

Here some comments, I'm trying it using the survival in the development server right now:

- either reduce the cost of the seeker or add back the second ranged strike
- put back the marksman or reduce the cost of the weaver
- the reaver should have higher defense in swamps and oasis
- the crystal could be immune to poison

overall I like the new windsong
Weeksy
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Post by Weeksy »

crystal is already supposed to be immune to poison if you look at its abilites... the only thing I would do is decrease the resists of some of the higher level units. The ascendant is a bit powerful atm... maybe reduce the MP of the emissary by one... and spelling it right would also be nice ;)
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Post by scienceguy8 »

I can't seem to find your add-on when I click on the Get Add-ons button. Is it on a different server?
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Post by eyu100 »

scienceguy8 wrote:I can't seem to find your add-on when I click on the Get Add-ons button. Is it on a different server?
It is only on the development server.
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scienceguy8
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Post by scienceguy8 »

Okay. How do I access the Development Server? I'd assume you change the address in the prompt you receive when you click the Get Add-ons button, but I do not know what the address is. A quick search yielded nothing useful.

Edit: Never mind, I found it.
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megane
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Post by megane »

Weeksy wrote:...decrease the resists of some of the higher level units.
Like which? The only ones which have any resistances at all are the Reaver and Gatekeeper lines, both of which are supposed to be kind of hard to kill, and neither of which is even close to, say, a skeleton or ghost.
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Qes
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Post by Qes »

I've been obsessing over my own faction - but this one looks fantastic!

I love the art, and idea. When it gets into the EE i'm gonna give it a heafty go around!

I envy your skills. You're doing a fantastic job. Keep it up.
-Qes


ADD/MIX:

Say the backstory of your faction fits...shall I say very seemlessly with my own. Specifically the thing about preventing the balance of power from allowing one group or nation to conquer (and thus destroy) the world.

The Qesicans are paranoid to a fault. Much like Rome before its empire days, it sees everything beyond its boarders as a potential rival or threat. When they expand to destroy an enemy they discover new threats beyond their newly forged boarders and the vicious cycle continues.

The story of the Qesican's is intended to be a fascinating and noble tragedy. And your Windsong entering into the idea (perhaps the ultimate uniting force to stop the Qesicans) simply makes me lick my lips in anticipation.

Send me PM if you want to discuss some finer details of your factions history as well as mine, I sense much could be accomplished.


PS: I can't wait for your Cheese Elves faction, though Cheese Dwarves might be more interesting.
megane
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Post by megane »

Thanks for your interest.

I just ran a bunch of AI's against each other, from which I learned three things:
1) AI's are stupid.
2) The Windsong cost a LOT.
3) Teleport is fricking awesome. I mean really.
that little girl's parents were attacked by ninjas - generic npc
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