Kalevala: The Iron Age: Races

[Jgrr]

This thread is meant to support my Kalevala: The Iron Age scenario thread at http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11811 . I'm making new races for my new scenario, Kalevala : The Iron Age. I'll start with two new races, and possibly convert other races later.

Since these races will probably only be used in the scenario, I'll steal pictures from existing races, at least from now.

Does this seem to be balanced at all? What should be done to adjust the values? How much should the units cost?

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FACTION: The Kalevalan Heroes (the Finns, playable faction)

All the Kalevalan hero units have a good movement on Snow and a +20% resist versus Cold. All units are Neutral.

Orja (Slave, level 0), Moves 5, Hp 20
Spear 7-3

upgrades to:

Soturi (Fighter, level 1), Moves 6, Hp 30
Sword 9-3

upgrades to:

Sankari (Hero, level 2), Moves 6, Hp 40
Sword 9-3
Crossbow 9-2

upgrades to:

Kuningas (King, level 3), Moves 6, Hp 50
Leadership
Enhanced Defense
Sword 9-4
Crossbow 9-3

Metsämies (Hunter, level 1), Moves 6, Hp 26
Spear 7-3
Crossbow 9-3

upgrades to either:

Sissi (Ambusher, level 2), Moves 6, Hp 36
Ambush
Sword 9-3
Crossbow 9-4

or:

Eränkävijä (Ranger, level 2), Moves 7, Hp 32
Spear 7-4
Crossbow 9-4

upgrades to either:

Hirvenhiihtäjä (Elk hunter, level 3), Moves 8, Hp 38
Spear 7-4
Crossbow 10-4, Marksman

or:

Karhunkaataja (Bear hunter, level 3), Moves 7, Hp 42
Spear 8-5
Crossbow 9-4

Paimenpoika (Shepherd-boy, level 0 Unique), Moves 6, Hp 16
Knife 5-4

upgrades to:

Laulaja (Singer, level 1), Moves 6, Hp 22
Knife 5-4
Calling the Bears, 10-3 Ranged Impact Non-Magic

upgrades to:

Loitsija (Singer-Enchanter, level 2), Moves 6, Hp 28
Sword 9-3
Calling the Bears, 10-4 Ranged Impact Non-Magic
Sing Foe into the Swamp, 4-8 Ranged Impact Magic, Slow

upgrades to:

Tietäjä (Wise man, level 3), Moves 6, Hp 34
Cures Poison
Heals +8
Leadership
Sword 9-3
Calling The Bears, 10-5 Ranged Impact Non-Magic
Sing Foe into the Swamp, 6-8 Ranged Impact Magic, Slow

Sepän apulainen (Apprentice smith, level 1 unique), Moves 5, Hp 32
+20 Fire resist
Sword 10-3

upgrades to:

Seppä (Smith, level 2), moves 5, Hp 42
Enchanced resists (better armor)
Sharp sword 11-4

upgrades to:

Kuuluisa seppä (Renowned Smith, level 3), moves 5, HP 52
Yet more enhanced resists
Very sharp sword 12-5

Väinämöinen (level 5 god), moves 6, HP 100
Cures Poison
Heals +8
Leadership
Sword 10-4
Calling The Bears, 10-6 Ranged Impact Non-Magic
Sing Foe into the Swamp, 7-8 Ranged Impact Magic, Slow

Ilmarinen (level 5 god), moves 5, HP 200
World finest sword 15-5

Lemminkäinen (level 5 god), moves 7, HP 150
Spear 8-5
Sword 10-4
Crossbow 10-5, Marksman

Vetehinen Aino (mermaid Aino, level 1 unique)
???

Saarelainen kalastaja (Fisherman from Saari, level 1)
???

Leader starts as Orja (lv0 slave), advances as a warrior, gets a battle-axe but no leadership.

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FACTION: The Pohjolan people (the Lapps)

The Lapps move fast on snow and have a +30% resist to cold. All units are Chaotic.

Orja (Slave): as in Kalevalan Heroes, but gets shortbow instead of crossbow (less damage), and has no Lv3 advancement.

Metsämies (Hunter): as in Kalevalan Heroes, but gets shortbow instead of crossbow (less damage).

Shamaani (Shaman): Level 1, Moves 5, Hp 22
Stills Poison
Heals +4
Knife 5-3
Curse 6-3 Ranged Magical Cold

upgrades either to:

Karhumies (Bear-man): Level 2, Moves 6, Hp 38
Paw 10-3
Curse 6-3 Ranged Magical Cold
Calling the Bears 10-3 Ranged Non-Magical Impact

or to:

Lapinnoita (Lapp witch): Level 2, Moves 5, Hp 28
Stills Poison
Heals +4
Knife 5-3
Curse 7-4 Ranged Magical Cold Poison

Louhi/Tuonelan Emäntä, Level 3 unique, Moves 5, Hp 48
Undead
Knife 5-4
Curse 8-5 Ranged Magical Cold Poison

Bear, Level 1, Moves 6, Hp 32
Paw 10-3

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FACTION: Peikot, maahiset ja menninkäiset (Trolls etc)

Using Orc faction for now

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FACTION: Ruotsalaiset ristiretkeilijät (Swedish Crusaders)

Using Loyalists for now

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FACTION : Metsänväki (Forest Folk)


Using Rebels for now

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FACTION: Tuonen väki (Folk in the land of the Dead)

Using Undead for now

[Alks]

Draw units, and it'll be great.

More reality-oriented factions would do great. I know only Karjallan Sissit(I don't know if i pronounce it well ;D)

BTW:
Remove lev.4+ units
Start doing one faction - you'll see how hard it is.

[Noyga]

It looks like your lower level units are overpowered for their levels and your lvl 5 are underpowered for their level. It might not be a problem after all is every unit of the campaign is campaign-specific.

I would also call you attention on the Orja -> Soturi where you change your weapon from spear to sword.
As you change the damage type, versus an unit that has a pierce vulnerability (typically mounted units or drakes), your upgraded unit might be less efficient than the non upgraded unit, except if the damage upgrade cover the difference in the worst case (which doesn't look to bee the case here).
There are other upgrades like that, but in those cases you have a branch that don't loose the original damage type, so they are not a problem.

[Jgrr]

Thanks for the notes, I'll keep them in mind. I could as well give Orja the ability to advance to Metsämies and keep the piercing attack.

The level 5 units are meant to be off-balance units (they are gods anyway), and used in 1-2 scenarios only.

[Jgrr]

This is probably a stupid question answered N times, but I couldn't find an answer in decent time.

I have created some units and tried to have them use existing graphics. However, the only way to do this was to copy the graphics from one location (the original location) to another (under my unit pack directory), which also seemed to slow down loading times considerably. Is there a way to circumvent this and "share" the files, without loading them twice?

BTW, I'm "eventually" going to convert to units based on 19th century Finnish artwork, but that's really "eventually", I'll focus more on getting the capaign working for now...

[Noyga]

Just use the same paths as in their original units .cfg for the pictures ... You don't need to copy the images.
Then when your picture are done, just change the patsh in the unit .cfg to your pictures.

[Jgrr]

These are my first attempts to create unit images, based on the thief, of course.

(the light gray is supposed to be linen, and the shoes made of dough.)

[Elvish_Pillager]

Heh, not bad. Redo the hair and it won't be recognizable...

[Jgrr]

Here's the hunter draft... now I know exactly why there are so few crossbowmen in Wesnoth... Don't know yet what to do with the hair.

[Jgrr]

...and the level 2 warrior... much easier

[Jgrr]

Posting some new image drafts here...

[Jgrr]

Revision of the first plan:

Advance tree for Finnish units:

-lv0------lv1------------lv2------------lv3
Slave -> Warrior -> Hero -> King
--------> Hunter -> Ambusher
---------------------> Wanderer -> Elk-hunter
-------------------------------------> Bear-hunter

The "sage" line for unique Finnish units (Jouko starts as a shepherd, while Väinämöinen is an Ancient Sage from the start):

lv0
Shepherd -> Singer -> Enchanter -> Sage -> Elder Sage -> Ancient Sage

The Lapps have an additional Shaman line, which is recruitable by them, and later comes for the Finns as an unique unit:

lv1
Shaman -> Witch -> Mistress
-----------> Bear-Warrior

They also have bears:

lv1
Bear -> Mother Bear

Other factions:

Trolls (Orcish Horde)
Swedish Crusaders (Loyalists)
Folk of the forest (Elves, with Bears)
Folk of the water (Mermen)
Folk of the dead (Undead, led by a Mistress)

[Eternal]

eternal_sage

I think I'm starting to like this campaign.

[Ryorin]

The "Eternal" touch, the ability to transform a potential low-level unit (See Celestials) into a kick-ass Lv 5.

[Jgrr]

eternal_sage

I think I'm starting to like this campaign.

Great work! I added it to the new unit pack as the lv5 picture.

How much exp should the lv5 advancement cost? I'm thinking about something like 20-50-150-450-900, but is it reasonable to expect to achieve so much in just 13 scenarios?