SXRPG Version 7.0.8b -- 1.18 Server

[Mabuse]

we should play together one day.

Currently I'm only playing it as 2p with matto he is dry on time - well I'm kinda too. So we prefer it only the 2 of us to save time.

alright then, will maybe go for a group run to ensure its playable.

or ... start another map. after all, its taking always longer than exspected. so why not start earlier.

[Mabuse]

i just made a quick start of 2 player game, i say 2p game can work very well.
(no replay because i dont want spoiler things - the replay session will open in a few month, or at arrival of new map (and conversion to 1.20 / 1.19))

also progress is a matter of strategy, i never go for gold-abilities like divine-reward or soulstealer, so i need to push for chests and stuff to keep progress (and knowing the ma helps a lot for this),

but using these gold-abilities may allow to linger around a bit longer to pick off stuff as a source of income, so its a pretty valid strategy to explore a new map.

[Mabuse]

so a small fix for some things, these werent game-breaking things, with the most important that yellow pots appear now in drop down menu when carried.
and a misplaced shop (was inaccessible though) on new map was removed. this was spotted earlier and i though i already removed it, and somehow didnt notice on previous runs.

so the new map will remain for now as it is, as it works like intended, and i think it can be beaten on all difficulties. all my tests were made on grandmaster. future updates may cover old maps that get revisited, or we add new things, on player suggestion.



----------------------
Current Version:7.0.7
BUGFIX UPDATE
Not compatible with 6.X.X Version
----------------------

7.0.6
------------

- description of regeneration ability says it gives +3 temp HP, but obviously its 5, and it should be 5.
(fixed, now it displays correct info)

- removed an accidentally placed shop (was inaccessible though, so no harm to gameplay in earlier version (ulthar map)

- description of chain-attack-spell a bit more organized


7.0.7
------------

- yellow pots will now appear in right-click drop down menu
(no need to go into inventory)

[Mabuse]

well seems i found another bug that haunted SXRPG for years now..
along with some minor late game changes for ulthar map and another category for inventory-display


----------------------
Current Version:7.0.8
ESSENTIAL UPDATE
----------------------

7.0.8
------------

- added two new units to ulthar map

- inventory shows mana per level of killed unit

- fixed some desscriptions (e.g. Ranger still stated +20movement bonus, but that was scrapped for +1movekill)

- fixed bug in shop that did not show correct defense for shallow-water and swamp-water
(also like ages old bug)

[Mabuse]

another thing that MAY change is that Weapons get more expensive the more you buy damage+strikes
the increase will be cut by about 50%

- so we still encourage solid, well rounded loadouts at start.
- if you do the math and/or see an advantage paying an reduced punishment in certain cases
you might delay one weapon.

[Mabuse]

Since all replays prior to version 7 are no longer compatible, there is need for replays on all maps. Feel free to post them as examples for both beginners and expierienced players.

[Mabuse]

i added the elvish sharpshooter to the era, because they "are the undisputed masters of archery". As their decription describes them correctly.
hp and resistances suck though, but its not wrong to have them in the era i guess.

----------------------
Current Version:7.0.8b
BALANCE UPDATE
----------------------

7.0.8b
------------

- added elvish sharpshooter to SXRPG era

[MCP]

Umm... Hi. I contacted Zeus. I see our names are in the intro lol.
Thanks for maintaining it! I'm trying out Castle of Cantar after... 17 years?

We'll see how I do with basic arcane+impact+slow or whatever works ... I'll probably die quickly

EDIT: You were defeated

[Mabuse]

We'll see how I do with basic arcane+impact+slow or whatever works ... I'll probably die quickly

Umm... Hi. I contacted Zeus. I see our names are in the intro lol.

hey MCP, great to see you.
yes, of course your names are in the intro, you helped a lot developing SXRPG.

[Mabuse]

We'll see how I do with basic arcane+impact+slow or whatever works ... I'll probably die quickly
EDIT: You were defeated

haha, know that feeling, there is always some time needed to get into it, and also the older maps can be surprisingly tricky.
also with the new update the difficulties might be more challenging now.

Btw, there is need for replays
Expierienced difficulty upwards, dont need to be speed-runs or whatever, just examples how to play the maps.

these will become part of the thread-description, so new players can see how the game is played.
it would be even better if difficulty is not so high (so expierienced/expert is ok) so there is room for more and players can improve.

i would ofc also do it, but i decided making new content, also i forgot (or not forgot)
polishing some shop weapon animations, so that need to be done also.
(but i definately want to make a bigger map for now - more exploration, more fun,
and i also thought about a mod like PvP where each player has a castle+leader to protect
items can be found, and other players attacked and killed. for that reason players will recieve a more or less "hidden" ability be default. That
will make them recieve -33% damage from other players on defense (like dreadful sight)).


but maybe we can play in sometime together the new map, once you are a bit more into again, would be fun to beat it in group play.
(it was only tested in solo so far with one class on grandmaster)

also maybe i want to make something like a "hint" section, so if you or someone else has a good strategy, or a hint which may be useful to know, just tell me so we can collect them all and put them in.

so as you see i want to make more maps actually and i think a PvP map could be really cool.
(however there not even a fll concept about how it might work)

[Mabuse]

So this is the first Example Game, Castle of Cantar. It shows the power of Warrior.

Castle of Cantar is a challenging Map because it has not many potions to support player, and long ways to run, so QoL (quality of Life) and recovery with regeneration ability are very important. on the other hand a significant part of the map can be done with one-weapon-only. and no late-game abilities are needed to finish.

The example Games for the Maps will be shown in the 4th post of the thread.

This is only for display.


-----------------------------------
REPLAYS and EXPLANATIONS:
-----------------------------------


Still no idea, how to play?
Look at this example.



FIRST MAP: CASTLE OF CANTAR
Here is an example Gameplay of the first Map, Castle of Cantar

SXRPG Chapter ICastle Of Cantar Example Warrior Uncontested Turn 51.gz

(503.91 KiB) Downloaded 1 time

The following explain the Build-Up and parts of the Strategy.



Type: Marshall
(Marshall is very solid Choice for Warrior, dont has the highest default resistances, but they are very well distributed,
also it provides free Fearless (its leadership gets converted to fearless in SX), which makes it a bit more versatile)

Class: Warrior
(easy to play, powerful class)
Aligment: Lawful
(basically the default choice, it provides +25% when most enemies are weak, gameplay would be retreat/recover on night, attack at day, other alignments are for special builds)
Trait: Strong
(also overall the default choice, the +3 damage is hard to top, heroes with 4 default moves may do better with scout trait, all other traits are for special/advanced cases)

Shop:
-------
1.)Terrain Training:
-----------------

Forest
Hill
Mountain
Cave
Fungus

Movement: +4 (10 total)

(Train all important Terrains, keep remaining for special cases, 10 total moves for solo is good)
(also: all trained terrains get +5% defense)


2.)Armory:
--------

- Fire: +20%
- Cold +20%
- Arcane +10%
(= all resistances at 20%)

- Dauntless: double all to 40% on offense


3.)Item-Store:
-----------

- Ring of Defense: All Terrain-Defense +5%


4.)Weapon-Store:
------------------

- Sell Sword
- Sell Crossbow

- Buy enchanted Blade (Arcane)
(you see this setup use Arcane only for the majority of the map, in end-game i will buy Cold Weapon
and in this Case i decided to accept the penalty (weapon cost more in late game) to have more gold for
build up. Usually i would have kept default-blade or buy a mace or cold weapon)

- you also notice i didnt buy a net yet, this will be immediatly bought on the next shop visit, it is very important !!!!
(alternatively buy NET right away and renounce on Ring-of-defense, save remaining gold and buy ring on second shop visit)


5.)Abilities:
----------------

- Regeneration
(cantar is a map with not so much healing-potions, so you will run around more, regeneration helps to use the time between turn to recover health, which is needed by Warrior)

- Alchemy
(very useful choice for all non-magic classes, gives healing-spell and cheap recover Moves/HP in Shop)

- Lightfoot
- Swiftfoot
(gives +2 Moves after KIll, also give Bonus for Hit-And-Run)

(so in this Run all Ability Points were spend at start, regeneration will cover the missing potions, Alchemy+Lightfoot+Swiftfood provide QoL (Quality of Life))

(there is another AbilityPoint in Item Shop which could be unlocked in late Game to buy HvyArmor or AdvancedAlchemy)
(however is not needed on Cantar Map)


6.)Weapon Specials:
---------------------
- rage for enchanted blade
(rage is pretty much the default choice for warrior, and get this ASAP)
(next one would be SLOW after you get 5 or 6 strikes ASAP)


7.) Enhancements:
-------------------
- +2 Strike
(get 5 strikes total its 100% important and reduce damage due to bad luck)



Explanation:
-----------------

For the example Game Warrior Class was chosen. Warrior is an easy-too-play class, which can stomp basically everything.
Important for Warriors is good HP supply. So everything that PRESERVES HP is imporant.


Unusual things:
-------------------

- The build-up that was used was very simple, it uses just ONE weapon at start, later in game i bought a cold weapon to deal with final boss and have an easier time against the drakes. usually you would want to get the 2nd weapon at start, but in this case (it sn uncontested game, so it assumed we know the map) i traded a penalty (at the moment i bought the cold weapon, it costed 200 gold, instead of the default 95 gold) for a more smooth start. so i bought REGENERATION ability right away for its +5HP on kill and because CANTAR MAP is quite big, and being able to recover is a HUGE difference for warrior.

- on 1st turn i also renounced on NET andbought that after i grabed the first 2 gold-chests (because i wasnt defending anyways, and the +5% terrain defense from the ring was better preserving more HP), however you cannot really renounce on NET or other defense side-weapon, as you see in the replay it saved me



After the Start:
-------------------

- after the start on my first shop visit i bought NET
- also i very quickly also got SLOW for my weapon, since warrior cannot renounce on SLOW to fully utilize the RAGE special, else warrior would take too much damage
- after getting SLOW basically everything went into strikes and damage, until i bought the cold weapon+upgrades.
- i also bought cyan potions, since they are cheap with alchemy to be able to pull off some things in time.
- i didnt buy more armor than the initial 20% everywhere, i collected a ring-of-resistance which brought me to 50% on offense total, which
is ok for cantar map, on higher tiered maps it may not be enough

so for warrior getting the +5% terrain defense fom ring and early regeneration ability and SLOW as early as it makes sense

the marshall is good choice because of free fearless ability, as long you dont need a better unit with a more fittting default weapon.
some units have devastating default weapons which can be game-changers, the marshall on the other hand is a peak-example of an easy-to-maintain unit.

[Mabuse]

-----------------------------------
REPLAYS and EXPLANATIONS:
-----------------------------------


FIRST MAP: CASTLE OF CANTAR
Here is an example Gameplay of the first Map, Castle of Cantar as MAGE

SXRPG Chapter ICastle Of Cantar Example Mage Uncontested Turn 48.gz

(490.19 KiB) Downloaded 1 time

The following explain the Build-Up and parts of the Strategy.


THE MAGE
MANA BUILD

Type: Mage of Light
(Mage of Lights strengh is its Illumination Aura, which grants lawful +25% attack-bonus for 4 Turns per Cycle,
and also basically provides free Fearless, its not nessessarily the strongest Mage Unit, but a classic.)
Other good Mages would be Silver Mage, Grant Mage and Sylph for example)

Class: Mage
(fun to play, versatile)
Aligment: Lawful
(basically the default choice, it provides +25% when most enemies are weak, gameplay would be retreat/recover on night, attack at day, other alignments are for special builds)
Trait: Dextrous
(also overall the default choice, the +3 damage is hard to top, heroes with 4 default moves may do better with scout trait, all other traits are for special/advanced cases)

Shop:
-------
1.)Terrain Training:
-----------------

Forest
Hill
Mountain
Cave
Fungus

Movement: +5 (10 total)

(Train all important Terrains, keep remaining for special cases, 10 total moves for solo is good)


2.)Armory:
--------

none initially


3.)Item-Store:
-----------

- Ankh for +1HP on Kill and basic Regen boost
- Magestaff for +25% max mana (boost max mana, boost attack spells, reduces chain-attack spell cost)


4.)Weapon-Store:
------------------

- Sell Flail
- Buy Shield


5.)Abilities:
----------------

- Tome of Forbidden Knowledge (max mana Boost, mana supply)
- Magic Healing
- Chain Attack Spell (general Damage Boost)
- Energyball (overall best thing to use, since we also have arcane only as weapon)


- Lightfoot
- Swiftfoot
(gives +2 Moves after KIll, also give Bonus for Hit-And-Run)



6.)Weapon Specials:
---------------------
- magic circle for lightbeam
- blessing for lightbeam

(mana supply, high CTH, blessing is +1 strike for 100 bucks)


7.) Enhancements:
-------------------
- +2 Strikes
- +2 Damage (alternatively get magering in item store)

(get 5 strikes total its 100% important and reduce damage due to bad luck)
(mage need more damage)



Strategy:
----------

The Mage-Build is quite contrary to the Warrior build, as you see we dont buy REGENERATION ability at all (for soloplay, on group play it may be more useful though, and you may renounce on swiftfoot then), armor is initially not that important, however, later in game, mage also needs some protection.

- First Shop Visit: add MageRing (even more mana)
- We max out our Mana Capacity, so when we max profit from aining more and more mana form killing creeps.
- magic circle and tome-of-knowlegde for max mana inflow
- We chose EnergyBall since our ONLY Weapon is also Arcane and direct Damage-Spell is probably more versatile than attack-spell
(but attack spell is also valid choice, especially if you want to have 2-3 weapons, but harder to pull off)
- we buy tons a damage+strikes

- the remaining abilty point is for Dauntless
- no regen ability, as we heal via spells and mana
- buy damage + strikes, beside SLOW + rmor, until you can deal reliably with enemy bosses

- for this map we add later ice-ball-spell via ability point in Item-shop, however,we found an extra ability-point as item-drop, so we saved 150 bucks.


- the mage is very powerful and can temporarily do much more damage than warrior as long he does not run out of mana
- later he also neeeds to protect its low Health with SLOW and Armor.
- its strengh is also his weakness, without mana he is weak.
- mages have also access to teleport which can be used actively (mage teleport to other unit) or passively (other unit teleport to mage)
- in team-play mages (and other magic classes) should be placed on the front slots (p1, p2 p3 ...) since they profit a lot from killing creep, and they can also be used as teleport stations by other units so other units can follow up and contionue where mage stopped.

[Mabuse]

i always thought it is not good that default regen of 15 points doesnt scale with all items that boost regeneration, so far only with ankh and healing-abilty

since it would be trivial to implement, but i was always held back by balancing issues, because it would have kinda weakened regeneration ability

but now, with the improved regeneration ability (which give +5HP on kill), i think we can ditch this and make default regen always 10% of total health with a minimum of 15. all regeneration-boosting abilities+items will also boost this.

this is to make regeneration-ability less of a must-have and allow more freedom for builds. while regeneration-ability is still a good choice.

so i guess this will be implemented in next version 7.1.0



EDIT:
also i think santification and magic circle as well as all hero/minion/merc-mana abilities will be changed to work also on defense, not just offense
so you may set up a passive line of outlaws somewhere, tank stuff and gain mana for it, or make tank-builds or whatever.