The Feudal Era!

[turin]

Go to the 1.4 campaign server to get it.

Announcing the release (finally) of the Feudal Era, the sequel, if you will, to the Imperial Era. In the game-world of Orbivm, where both of these are set, this is the set of factions that emerge from the fall of the Lavinian Empire and the chaos in the northern lands. It (roughly) corresponds to the saecula foederum in the history. Campaigns will be released to go along with it, eventually (Invasion of Arendia will be the first one - since IoA takes place between the time period of the Imperial Era and that of the Feudal Era, it will end up using factions from both and requiring both to play). For now, though, it's just a MP era.

The factions included here are:

• The High Elves. That's right, Jetryl's High Elven faction idea from ages ago has been resurrected. The art has been redone - it had to be, the old art, while good, was too small and not tcolorized. Hope you like the new art. The basic concept is simple - expensive, powerful units. They don't have anything that costs less than 19 gold.
• The Clockwork Dwarves. This is another rather old faction idea that has been slowly progressing for a while. Art originally by Pic (and a few by Neoriceisgood), with me updating and filling out the faction. Basically Dwarves, with clockwork weapons, plus their mechanical constructs.
• The Aragwaithi. This is pretty much the same faction found in the EE. Why is it here? It fits with the game world. Right now they're a really cheap faction compared to the rest of the era, but they're probably going to get rebalanced so they're not quite as horde-like.
• The Khaganates. The same as the Steppe Orcs, just with a different name.

So, two new factions, two old factions. There's more factions planned, they just don't have graphics yet, and it's easier to balance an era with two already-tested factions and two new factions than two already-tested factions and twenty new factions anyway. Planned factions include the Kedarii, the Ainsarii, and the Feudal Men (for lack of a better name).

[Urs]

woot!

Planned factions include the Kedarii, the Ainsarii, and the Feudal Men (for lack of a better name).

And the Droch Fae.

[Neoskel]

Some problems:

Cuirasser cannot advance because 'unit not found'
Oiler is lvl 2, i think it is intended to be lvl 1 but i'm not sure.
Some of the Arangwaithi show up wearing fushia because they don't have the magenta is team color thing

[turin]

Cuirasser cannot advance because 'unit not found'

Yeah, not all the art has been made yet. I thought I disabled all the advancements that weren't yet possible...

Oiler is lvl 2, i think it is intended to be lvl 1 but i'm not sure.

If you mean the Greaser, yeah, it is supposed to be level 1. Not sure how it ended up level 2. Oops. Strange I didn't notice this after playtesting the clockwork dwarves several times...

Some of the Arangwaithi show up wearing fushia because they don't have the magenta is team color thing

Will fix.

[Gena]

its a really good era but maybe just maybe you overpowered the high elves? and i think you should put in more factions int the era like drakes or loyalists

[turin]

its a really good era but maybe just maybe you overpowered the high elves? and i think you should put in more factions int the era like drakes or loyalists

I've heard from some people that the High Elves are overpowered and from some that the Clockwork Dwarves are overpowered... Any comments on what units specifically are overpowered? The elves have what, six recruitable units - is it that some of them are too good, or are they just altogether overpowered?

[Gena]

[quote="turin"][quote="Gena"] its a really good era but maybe just maybe you overpowered the high elves? and i think you should put in more factions int the era like drakes or loyalists[/quote]
I've heard from some people that the High Elves are overpowered and from some that the Clockwork Dwarves are overpowered... Any comments on what units specifically are overpowered? The elves have what, six recruitable units - is it that some of them are too good, or are they just altogether overpowered?[/quote]

ok the elven sorceress was lvl 2 but u made it lvl 1 without weakening it


the spearman is a bit powerfull 14-2? 9-3? and 40 hp? thats a bit to much for a lvl 1 although i do like it its a bit boring for high elves it almost impossible to lose for them but still i love em

[Aethaeryn]

ok the elven sorceress was lvl 2 but u made it lvl 1 without weakening it

Don't forget the lvl 3 sylph having 10-5...

Then again, it could be intentional that Feudal Era is more expensive but also more powerful than Imperial Era, but I do not think this is a good thing since it kills the era's compatibility with others (for example, the most popular era I've seen is EE+EoM+Default, people like to mix-and-match eras). In my opinion, it would be best to just add a new lvl 1 elf and shift all the magic elves up again so they remain the same exact unit.

[Elerias]

i partly agree about the sorceress. In my opinion it shouldnt really be there. With the art its using it reminds me of fairies. High elves on the other hand are to me a very evolved but human-like civilization with very wise mages instead of forest fairies and such magic creatures.

also agree on the "should be balanced to default statement". Seriously hardly ever is gonna play the era with two interesting factions. I looked forward to see the high elves. I find them very good and hope they will be added also in extended or such to be usable in SX, nagas, RPG and such.

[turin]

the spearman is a bit powerfull 14-2? 9-3? and 40 hp? thats a bit to much for a lvl 1 although i do like it its a bit boring for high elves it almost impossible to lose for them but still i love em

He also costs 23 gold. But I see your point. I might change it to 12-2, 8-3.

i partly agree about the sorceress. In my opinion it shouldnt really be there. With the art its using it reminds me of fairies. High elves on the other hand are to me a very evolved but human-like civilization with very wise mages instead of forest fairies and such magic creatures.

Yeah, it needs new art. But I'd like to leave the unit there. I'm fine with giving it different stats than the one the Rebels have though - it probably should be made less powerful.

also agree on the "should be balanced to default statement". Seriously hardly ever is gonna play the era with two interesting factions. I looked forward to see the high elves. I find them very good and hope they will be added also in extended or such to be usable in SX, nagas, RPG and such.

1) Like I said, it will soon have more than two original factions.

2) Having the FE be more expensive and more powerful than the IE is indeed the intent; I'm actively discouraging mixing and matching eras, because it simply can't be balanced. The FE will be balanced within itself, as will the IE, not w.r.t. anything else. I don't honestly care if this isn't what is most popular on the server.

3) About re-using the High Elves in other eras (i.e. EE) - I can't stop anyone from doing so, but I would request that you don't, at least not until they've been developed a bit more here art-wise and balance-wise. Also, if you do, please make sure you change stuff like the unit IDs and image references, so that if your fork goes in a different direction than ours (as it almost certainly will if you decide to rebalance them to be less powerful and less expensive) we don't run into errors with people who have both installed.

[Me1234]

i am personally waiting for the Feudal Men to be realeased. and yes the FE still has bugs and they are quite interesting.

[Reken]

Well met Turin Turambar! Slayer of dragons and father of your sister's unborn child!

[Slann]

Hi, i have a problem with this era. Playing it with Fall of trent (i played this map with others eras) the game disconnect soon or later, dont know why

[pauxlo]

also agree on the "should be balanced to default statement".

2) Having the FE be more expensive and more powerful than the IE is indeed the intent; I'm actively discouraging mixing and matching eras, because it simply can't be balanced. The FE will be balanced within itself, as will the IE, not w.r.t. anything else.

Beeing more expensive and more powerful than other factions doesn't necesarily mean not beeing balanced towards them. Like Northeners are cheaper and less powerfull than Drakes in Default Era.

[Urs]

Beeing more expensive and more powerful than other factions doesn't necesarily mean not beeing balanced towards them. Like Northeners are cheaper and less powerfull than Drakes in Default Era.

In this case, I think it does. IE units have about the same gold cost as default, and are much more heavy-hitting. Any Feudal Era faction can, right now, beat any Imperial Era faction, so something like IExEExFE would always end up with the Feudal Era on top, unless the factions were "imported" into the other eras.
But, I mean, really:

3) About re-using the High Elves in other eras (i.e. EE) - I can't stop anyone from doing so, but I would request that you don't, at least not until they've been developed a bit more here art-wise and balance-wise. Also, if you do, please make sure you change stuff like the unit IDs and image references, so that if your fork goes in a different direction than ours (as it almost certainly will if you decide to rebalance them to be less powerful and less expensive) we don't run into errors with people who have both installed.

If you want to put some code in the EE file about EOMxEExIExEExWhatever, we can't stop you, but it just won't be balanced. IExEE might work, though. IE isn't that overpowered.