What do people think of the traits system?

[Dave]

these can't be easily be done in WML without rolling out a full blown programming language

Sadly not

David

[mbabuskov]

Some ideas for traits:

scouting - vision +1 or even +2 hexes

mayor - if unit is in the village at the end of turn, the village gives +1 (or +2) gold

besieging - unit does extra damage when attacking enemy which is in castle or village, but does less damage when attacking units not in the castle or village

slayer - unit does extra damage when attacking enemy captains, but does less damage on lvl0 and lvl1 units.

I know that names of these traits are not good, but English is not my primary language, so I'm sure someone will have better names.

[Sangel]

Brave (for Lawful units only) - Eliminates the penalty for fighting at night

Frightening (for Chaotic units only) - Increases the bonus for fighting at night[/b]

[Circon]

Some ideas for traits:

scouting - vision +1 or even +2 hexes

mayor - if unit is in the village at the end of turn, the village gives +1 (or +2) gold

besieging - unit does extra damage when attacking enemy which is in castle or village, but does less damage when attacking units not in the castle or village

slayer - unit does extra damage when attacking enemy captains, but does less damage on lvl0 and lvl1 units.

I know that names of these traits are not good, but English is not my primary language, so I'm sure someone will have better names.

Actually, the names are fairly good. But there's another aspect I want to take up:
Most of these cannot be coded yet, and are not expected for a while! WML has no support for terrain-based happenings (mayor, besieging). "Slayer" sounds nice, but exactly what is a captain? I can't really see the "attack" code calling in the "enemy-ability-leadership"-check.

So while the IDEAS are just great, and the names are decent, I think they're a bit too ambitious. Nothing wrong with being ambitious, mind you, but...

Keep it up

[Guest]

Some ideas for traits:

scouting - vision +1 or even +2 hexes

mayor - if unit is in the village at the end of turn, the village gives +1 (or +2) gold

besieging - unit does extra damage when attacking enemy which is in castle or village, but does less damage when attacking units not in the castle or village

slayer - unit does extra damage when attacking enemy captains, but does less damage on lvl0 and lvl1 units.

I know that names of these traits are not good, but English is not my primary language, so I'm sure someone will have better names.

sorry, but to me, all of these sound like abilities, not traits.

specifically, scouting would only be useful on FoW levels, mayor gives a very low advantage compared to taking up a trait space (it would be better to get a Loyal one, for example), and slayer is basically the same as the brave proposed by Dave earlier.
the names are good (except for Mayor), but the specialties they describe are not very good.

[Boucman]

(mentionned on IRC, I repeat it here for discussion)

good swimmer : beter movement in water
good climber : same on mountain

these are small advantages that wouldn't unbalence a unit, and they would fit well in WML (they can't be impemented right now though)

[turin]

(mentionned on IRC, I repeat it here for discussion)

good swimmer : beter movement in water
good climber : same on mountain

these are small advantages that wouldn't unbalence a unit, and they would fit well in WML (they can't be impemented right now though)

i don't like surroundings-specific traits that are only good in some situations and are overpowering in those situations. this is a personal preference of mine, but i think it is logical.

here is my idea (OK, its not really MY idea):
dextrous: like strong, but for a ranged attack. double what current strong does (what, +12.5% or something?), but no health gain.

[Kamahawk]

here is my idea (OK, its not really MY idea):
dextrous: like strong, but for a ranged attack. double what current strong does (what, +12.5% or something?), but no health gain.

+25% with ranged attacks?!?
That is Waaaaaay to powerfull. 15% is much more reasonable.
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Horay 300 posts with a PERFECT 2.00 post per day average!

[Guest]

How about these as new traits:

lucky: Raises own defense by 5 and lowers enemy defense by 10. ( There are units with a 90 defend, like wolfrider in cavewall, and i wont make a unit impossible to hit)

though: Units get one point extra from every healing, but the max is unchanged. Example they will get 5 instead of 4 from a shaman which only heals them, but cannot get more than 8 pro round.

[Guest]

units only have 90% on cavewall because they have to have something. they really can't even go on cave wall, and were never intended to .

i would advise against having any trait that changes the chance to hit of a unit. as dave has said before, this would probably end up too powerful.

[hook]

i'm a bit outdated, but are there negative traits as well? ...it'd be great to have those :]

[Boucman]

not AFAIK, but since traits are supposed to give sligh variation to units, it could be a good idea...

trait scumming is too expensive to be an option anyway...

[jtong77]

I've only started [laying this for about a week, but it's a lot of fun and thx so much for the creation. Now back on the topic, I think the trait system is working quite well. I agree that a few more traits from the pool to pick from will make it even more interesting, but I think rite now it's a decent amount. I like the fact that the traits are randomly generated. It adds so much more depth into the game coz now the players have to use their resource management skills rather than just having control of what kinda of traits that can give to a particular unit. That being said, I do understand it can sometimes be frustrating if u have bad luck and don't get the "decent" traits for some units. Maybe that can be solved by allowing the player to pick a 3rd and the last trait and add that on a unit when that unit has reached it's maximum lvl and gain a certain amount of Xp? Or maybe instead of letting the player add another trait, allowing them to switch one of the traits into something else under the same condition?

[turin]

adding traits is just too powerful. we are not looking to create uber-units. i, and many others such as miyo, don't want to make any one unit too powerful, and giving another trait WOULD make it too powerful (plus, think about what would happen if you got intelligence- you would feel REALLY ripped off)

note that when i said '25% added to ranged attacks', i meant that it would be double whatever strong gives. i don't know what strong gives, so i was guessing (what is it? +1? 5%?10%? +2?). basically the idea was the unit gets double the damage advantage of strong (or maybe not double, just +1.5 times), but no health bonus.

[Dave]

Strong gives +1 to hit.

Negative traits would add to the 'ripped' off feeling people already get about traits (some people don't even like 'quick', because it's slightly negative).

David