Bats: Flying Wonders?

[Skrim]

Note also that Mushroom Groves are the Undead's preferred terrain. Skeletal units and Ghouls get 60% defense there but are somewhat slowed down by it.

Humans, Elves and Drakes get 10% increases over their Flat-terrain defense and are also slowed down. Trolls also get 50% defense, which is actually quite good compared to their generally low evasion abilities. Dwarves and Saurians get 40% and 60% and can travel thorough Mushroom Groves unhindered. Orcs/Goblins get no defensive advantage, and are heavily slowed down. Human cavalry has huge difficulty in navigating them and gets a defensive penalty. Gryphons and Bats, also suffer heavy defensive penalties and significantly hindered movement.

[Araja]

Well the Undead will just gain power from the aura of decay which hangs heavy in the air or something.
Humans, Elves and Drakes are clever enough to use the mushrooms as cover, they won't stop an attack but they can help you hide. And they have to navigate between them, just like any other forest.
Dwarves could hide behind a giant mushroom just like anyone else, but also power through them like they do most other terrains, and
Orcs and Goblins find walking on a soft, bouncy floor is tricky, I have no excuse for the lack of evasion.
Human cavalry are obviously going to find it difficult, as riding a horse over a spongy, bouncy floor and around giant stalks simultaneously would be amazingly hard.
And we've discussed gryphons and bats being poisoned by spores.

[KrisK]

Maybe the mushrooms are just ridonkulously huge? Like, kilometres high?

Griffon/Mushroom collision.

1. Griffon rams into mushroom at high speed.
2. Mushroom goes 'splode.
3. Griffon just keeps keeps going.

[Pentarctagon]

4. griffons has allergic reaction to the spores, making it sinuses clog up, making it hard to breathe.
5. result: griffon slows down.

[Exasperation]

Maybe the mushrooms are just ridonkulously huge? Like, kilometres high?

Griffon/Mushroom collision.

1. Griffon rams into mushroom at high speed.
2. Mushroom goes 'splode.
3. Griffon just keeps keeps going.

Now that's just silly. The mushroom's width has to be a significant fraction of its height in order for it to support its weight. This means that a multi-kilometer tall mushroom is going to have an enormous cross-section. So your Griffon/Mushroom collision is going to look more like this:

1. Griffon rams into mushroom at high speed.
2. Griffon buries itself several meters into mushroom before running out of momentum.
3. Griffon, unable to move around sufficiently to free itself, suffocates to death.

Think of it like a griffon running headfirst into the stomach of the giant Stay-Puft marshmallow man from Ghostbusters. The griffon just isn't going to win that fight.

[Rigor]

1. Griffon rams into mushroom at high speed.
2. Griffon buries itself several meters into mushroom before running out of momentum.
3. Griffon, unable to move around sufficiently to free itself, suffocates to death.

HAHAHAHAHAA !!!!! that image burnt into my mind. really good one !

im glad u pick up my explanation so willingly. the spores are not causing allergies, just disorientation, which is why certain living creatures take so long to pass this hex, when they go on to other hexes they have fully recovered already.

any other ideas why bats are flying wonders ?

[KrisK]

Nice

Looking at the collision again I think we get.

1. Griffon flies over mushroom.
2. There is no Two.

I think the results of a collision depend on the size and allergies of the griffon.
I was thinking of a very large griffon flying very fast, but given the size of the mushroom it might not come out the other end (see Exasperation's post for details).

There is also landing and fighting in 'shrooms to think about.

[Pentarctagon]

given the apparent size of the mushrooms, they could very well be fighting on top of them .

[KrisK]

Maybe they are slow because they have to jump from mushroom to mushroom?

[Tryptic]

Why has nobody suggested this scenario!?

1. Griffin (or other living unit) sees giant mushroom and remembers this one time in college...
2. Griffin gets large mushrooms for eyes as it recalls being high out of its mind and seeing all those green-skinned women.
3. Griffin lands on mushroom and begins excavating.
4. Several minutes later, Griffin and friends are so wasted on hallucinogenic mushroom it can't tell which way is up.
5. Blood bat comes along and Coup De Grace's griffin, levels into Dread Bat.
6. Dread Bat gets equally high off of mushroom, but couldn't tell which way was up to begin with, and never really needed that knowledge to be able to fight because it uses sonar!

And THAT is why bats are awesome.

p.s. In conclusion, all bats, and dark adepts as well, are perpetually high off of mushrooms, otherwise why the heck would they be teamed up with the undead? Half the time the pale adept is actually facing the wrong way when he casts his spell, it just goes over his head and homes in on the target. This is also why he has no melee attack.

[Pentarctagon]

hmm...somehow i don't see this being added to the unit desciptions .

[Rigor]

guys, maybe lets get back to our main topic.

here is a fine replay on Qs own map, where i was trying a defender stance against orcs.

in the end, one s-hitty bat decided the game, because it was always lurking in deep water out of reach for everybody and took a village just in time to await his returning 2hp leader

[KrisK]

Bats are awesome because a swarm of bats can appear out of nowhere, kill something, then retreat out of your opponents range. You can also use swarms of bats to turn a battle around, I only use this tactic when I have all the units I will need for the next few turns, and enough income to fund the bat swarm.
For example: your opponent has, say a troll, and your units can't attack him this turn, because enemy reinforcements are coming; use the swarm to kill some of the reinforcements and screen the others off from your units, then kill the troll. Next turn your opponent will have to retreat, attack the bats and be open to attack by your units, or try to get around the bats and be vulnerable to attack from both sides.

[Araja]

I think the bat is unrivaled as a sneaky, village stealing little so and so that never gets in an honest fight through the whole match.
That being said, they're good at they're job.
Having a village stolen every time your units are out of movement range is amazingly annoying.

[Pentarctagon]

its rather annoying playing against northerners though, you can use a bat to go assassinate a grunt..except the bat costs more than the grunt.