SXRPG Version 6.9.5 -- 1.18 Server

[Mabuse]

Together with my mate matto, we played through all SXRPG Chapters (ended ch5 out of boredom in at turn 90+)

Server: 1.18
Version: 6.0.5b
Era: SX RPG Era (I think in the past it was called SX RPG max, playing with some selected default era units and some core units at max level)
Difficulty: Grandmaster
Mode: Death mode (but we loaded up to about 2-3 times per game)
Players: 2
Starting level: 0

[...]


For balancing I'd recommend the following changes:

• nerf Mercs significantly that those aren't mandatory outshining op and add ranged versions for melee focused heros

• Magical Circle: I love the idea, but +2 mana per hit with upgrades in that area is too much. I think +1 makes it more enjoyable.

• Mages and Abilities: Magic Movement and Healspell are ability point free/pregiven, this sounds a bit unfair. Maybe have normal Hit and Run that they can upgrade. Or merge both together in a pack, so that they can be bought with 1 ability spot.

• Extra attack (Attack Spell): make it opt (once per turn) and decrease the cost increase rate, maybe cap it at 100 or 150

• Non Magical classes: I'd like to see an extra way to deal dmg for other classes too, as those Magic spells, it's sad that non Magic classes can only spend stamina on Hit and Run and in the late game on Mercs. They could just have a Magic spells version for physical dmg.

• For focused classes on melee or ranged the slow weapon special for their unfocused type should cost less, maybe 100 gold

• Weapon and weapon specials, melee costs more than ranged. (slow in melee/ranged 350/300, arcane weapon 90/45)

• When you sell a weapon, get a payback for weapon specials that you bought, 75%. (currently when you spend gold on a bad dmg type you lost the game)

• Bonus for early boss kills, but don't make first tun kills imba, it should just improve the flow of the game without the need to wait on a boss leader kills.

• Reduce the Boss spam and add cool events, better improve resistance or add cool events, maybe "seasons" a "longer night", "ghost party", "hunt a specific unit in time" for more fun and less repetitive gameplay

• I don't like how you can get over 80% resistance, with 80% resi the opponent deal 5 times less dmg. I'd cap it at 80% even with bonus and would let it cost 2x resistance points to upgrade from 70-80 (not rare you end on 100% resi vs the final boss, making it deal 1 dmg per strike)

At least those are my thoughts after we played all chapters, maybe you can consider some of those ideas.

ok, thank you very much for your eleborated Feedback, i enjoyed reading it.

i will look into your suggestions and take them into account.

a more detailed reply will follow.
also feel free to load up some save games - i will definately watch them



- one thing about nerfing things though i general, instead of nerfing things, we could also go the route to increase challenge taking some of your suggestions into account.

- as for the armor-limit , sounds interesting, and some of these limits could apply e.g. for non-melee classes, making melee a bit stronger in comparison,
eg. armor limit (without bonus items) may be limited to 70 or 60 for some classes, while warrior can go up to 80 (without bonus)

- also i realize now, as you write it, that CLERIC class do not have a "magic circle"-special, but they surely should have something like that to make it more valid

[Mabuse]

Hello, so i took a deeper look at the post, an have to say that the feedback is much appreciated.

Classes
If I had to rank all classes on my first impressions:
1. Mage ------------- faster to build than it's Rogue version
2. Rogue Mage ----- great movment
3. Ranger ----------- strong range dmg and resi
4. Warrior ----------- good early, but melee is worse than ranged
5. Rogue Warrior --- to expensive to build
6. Cleric ------------- melee mage without magical circle (recharge)

ok, this is an interesting list, i see that melee is perhaps a bit in disadvantage, but we always have to consider that melee units are usually not one-shotted by berserk-enemies, also they can crush strong melee rushers (like reaper ghots, or elephants) by sitting on defensive terrain, and deal tons of passive damage.

in my expierience, while ranged units put more into damage (distribution between HP and DMG/STRK) melee units need more HP, to fully utilize the damage multipliers. having done that melee units can deal tons of damage with proper potions in backpack.

so i dont think we need groundbreaking balance changes here, but perhaps some subtle changes.

Overall, I think Mage classes are too strong, they don't have risks dealing more dmg with extra attacks while recharging their mana and healing themself in between for free. They can cope with any situation whereas other classes must carry and use red potion to deal with slow, blue to kill even an almost killed unit and cyan for escape.
Mage: The +20% more magic spell dmg feels weak compared to rogue mages cheap mp, but that's probably fine. Overall magic classes outshine non magic classes by a lot.

sure, mage classes get stronger in later game, they are versatile and convenient while non magic classes may seem a bit clumsy.
i may compensate that by

- reducing cost for hit-and-run a bit
- adding some kind of teleport ability to ALCHEMY (pots important for non mage classes)
- adding some ARMOR restrictions for mage-classes

• Non Magical classes: I'd like to see an extra way to deal dmg for other classes too, as those Magic spells, it's sad that non Magic classes can only spend stamina on Hit and Run and in the late game on Mercs. They could just have a Magic spells version for physical dmg.

i might add some kind of "throwing"-ability to non magical classes for physical damage, with reduced efficiency

• I don't like how you can get over 80% resistance, with 80% resi the opponent deal 5 times less dmg. I'd cap it at 80% even with bonus and would let it cost 2x resistance points to upgrade from 70-80 (not rare you end on 100% resi vs the final boss, making it deal 1 dmg per strike)

i think that could be a way to separate magic/non-Magic/melee/ranged classes and give small nerf for amgical class.

magical ranged classes would be capped at 60% (without bonus, bonus will always increase armor)
magical melee+physical ranged capped at 70%
physical melee capped at 80%

Warrior: At 1st glance a rather boring plain and weak class, tho I tried a zerk Wose with high physical resistance that was really strong in the early, I also heard, and I can see that Paladin is op as warrior with it's low upgrade cost in the early and good weapons (arcane). Initial rage on a more balanced approach was something my mate tried out, this worked fine too.

yes, we might add something to make non mages less clumsy

Cleric: A melee mage with healing. Whereas the first two combinations sound interesting, healing rather not at 2 players, also they don't have magical circle.

i definately see the lack of some kind of magical-circle-special for the cleric. this is a good point

• Teleportation: This is by far the strongest ability in game even at 2 players. You can escape almost every situation or cover your mates, alongside it's the strongest movement and that for only 75 mana.

yes, its good. however, you need 75 mana.
i might add access to some kind of teleportation ability to ALL units via alchemy-abilty

• Magic Movement: A pregiven cheaper version of regular "hit and run".

• Healspell: Whereas other factions need to spend potions to heal or ignore/risk a low self CTK mages don't need to, just heal yourself a bit. Crazy how this doesn't even cost an ability spot.

• Mages and Abilities: Magic Movement and Healspell are ability point free/pregiven, this sounds a bit unfair. Maybe have normal Hit and Run that they can upgrade. Or merge both together in a pack, so that they can be bought with 1 ability spot.

never seen it that way. i extremly rarely use healing spell even it is free, so its refreshing to see this opinion
im not sure what to so about it. IMO i considered the spell almost uselee, but is see where you come from, using mana-regen to heal and get killing sprees running.

but thats intended kinda.

maybe i make HEALING cost 1 ability slot, but CLERICS would get it for free, so some buff for cleric to make it get up in the tier list

• Extra attack (Attack Spell): Not even opt (once per turn), get a 3rd attack kill anything. It's more expensive than magic spells, but you deal more dmg. The cost for these scales with range upgrades, it's too cheap early - mid, while too expensive in the late game.

• Extra attack (Attack Spell): make it opt (once per turn) and decrease the cost increase rate, maybe cap it at 100 or 150

yeah i see later it falls a bit short, becaue of this magic-spells seem better in long run, however it (potencially) deals more damage.
so its kind of trade of.

so your suggestion is to make it lee OP via OPT in eary/mid while making it bit more useful by reducing cost in late game.

but maybe i will balance costs instead, making initial cost a bit higher and reduce costs in late game.

i see that it can be stacked with magical circle though, which is a great combo, i didnt think about

• Magical Circle: Surely mages don't use a duration amplifier as onrush, charge or hail of arrows, but just the craziest weapon special instead. As you may notice all those op magic costs mana, why not giving mages a mana generation weapon special, +2 mana per hit and 90% CTH. With this you can almost go on forever killing bosses and lesser units to recharge in between. (especially after mana or cost reduction items)

• Magical Circle: I love the idea, but +2 mana per hit with upgrades in that area is too much. I think +1 makes it more enjoyable.

perhaps the problem is the extra-attack-spell + magical-circle combo is to cheap/powerful, so i might add cost for extra-attack-spell.

the circle with just +1 would be a significant nerf.

you maybe found a great combo

Rogue Warrior: Their class bonus is weak compared to others, not a real choice unless you want to use Berserk. The extra 2 armory is cool, but setting this unit up for mid game is quite hard.

maybe rogues should get access to TOP warrior upgrades, with high multipliers and high hp they may even need a more different set-up
maybe also +1mp after kill like rangers.

Rogue Mage: Magic Movement reduced by 20% mana cost. Their class bonus is by far the strongest, having cheaper movement and magic.

yes, its good. since you often use movement-spell reduced cost will effectiveley result in having more mana for the other spells.
also resistant to berserk units

i dont think i will change that though

(other then the previously suggested armor-cap for ranged-mages)

Mercs

• Mercs are late game units you can summon for 225 stamina/mana. Those are even stronger (2-3 times) than your hero, making them 100% essential (you can scoop if you have spent all our ability points). All classes can get them for lawful + physical dmg, whereas only mages can get chaotic + magical damage. But the lawful aren't worse beside that they can't fly.

• nerf Mercs significantly that those aren't mandatory outshining op and add ranged versions for melee focused heros

this is interesting, maybe i overdid it with the mercs.

i personally never used them and considerd them useless.
so they goot beefed up, but never made it into my "must-have-list"

nerfing them a bit is basically no problem,

also adding some kind of ranged mercs is something to be considered. (but would be weak to berserk enemies or strong rushers)

• With them using melee obviously range units profit more from them to compensate their weakness.

sure

Weapon

• What we figured, and dislike is how overall good arcane attacks are with almost no problems in resistance while there is a fire ghost with 100% fire resi, not to forget cold vs ghosts/ud and physical attacks that struggle too often. Maybe resistance or units compositions can be improved in that regard. (chapter 4 is ok and 5 is fine in that regard)

yes i agree that this is perhaps an annoying part.

personally i use 2 weapons+upgrades:

- first is arcane/fire (depends on map)
- second (setup in mid game) is some kind of physical, usually impact


so i agree there is a certain META which makes most sense,
i could TRY to compensate it by giving some/all units +10% arcane resistance for example, however that might disturb balance, without real benefit

since it would change nothing about the fact that you want to have a weapon be able to deal with ghosts

so by now, only method to balance that one out is by balancing enemies, but unless you dont know what you're up against, your best choice for initial weapon would be always arcane even if that mean that you would be slightly weaker against mundane enemies.

but i see where you come from, nevertheless, there will be ALWAYS a META, which could be map dependent then
(e.g. map with strong mundane enemies in early/mid game, and later magical enemis, would be better to get physical first --- once you know the map, you buy what you need, so no matter what you do, every map will have its meta)

• I liked the idea, to have a weapon with magic + slow for your unfocused melee/range. But to buy slow is too expensive there. I'd love to see a price drop for ranged slow for the warrior, cleric and melee slow for the ranger, mage classes.

• For focused classes on melee or ranged the slow weapon special for their unfocused type should cost less, maybe 100 gold

ok. could be considered.

Overall Gameplay

• Once the ai spams mostly bosses it becomes a rather boring and dragging grind (probably fine at Expert level)

• Reduce the Boss spam and add cool events, better improve resistance or add cool events, maybe "seasons" a "longer night", "ghost party", "hunt a specific unit in time" for more fun and less repetitive gameplay

i see theat "events" or "conditions", maybe even linked to wether certain bosses are alive or not alive, could add diversification to the game, so yes thats a good suggestion

(just some random, probably meaningless number on how I feel about the scenarios)
Scenario ------ Fun -- Difficulty - Path - Options -- Opponents -- Note
Chapter 1: --- 6.5/10 --- 4/10 --- 8/10 --- 6/10 ------- 5/10 ------- It's a good beginner and speedrun map
Chapter 2: --- 5.0/10 --- 5/10 --- 6/10 --- 5/10 ------- 4/10 ------- Since that was too easy, we tried the real power of mages out yes
Chapter 3: --- 6.0/10 --- 3-6/10 - 7/10 --- 6/10 ------- 7/10 ------- Kinda free after we figured the pot out, game felt over after we killed the first 3 bosses
Chapter 4: --- 7.5/10 --- 7/10 --- 7/10 --- 6/10 ------- 8/10 ------- The number of opponents early on, the variety of units as well as path finding is great
Chapter 5: --- 6.5/10 --- 6/10 --- 6/10 --- 6/10 ------- 7/10 ------- The opponent’s unit have good resistance mix not making arcane outshine

interesting list, so i will try to improve the weaker map.

"events" and "conditions" from the previous suggestion may spice things up

• Weapon and weapon specials, melee costs more than ranged. (slow in melee/ranged 350/300, arcane weapon 90/45)

yes. it maybe doesnt make sense. but thats the way it is writen in the ancient books

• When you sell a weapon, get a payback for weapon specials that you bought, 75%. (currently when you spend gold on a bad dmg type you lost the game)

yea, can be considered.

• Bonus for early boss kills, but don't make first tun kills imba, it should just improve the flow of the game without the need to wait on a boss leader kills.

there is a bonus, you get free gold for killing leaders 6+7 each turn
also you get access to the gold chest earlier

another thing is, low players start, initial hero is stroger, so has higher chance to killl leader early, more bonus would result in even stronger single-player hero

so its difficult to balance,

but, as i write it, i may add a bonus for early killing also scaled by player number, so for every player in-game a bonus might stack up for all players.
also turn dependent. (e.g. (50 - turn-number) x player = bonus gold. turn 1 kill with 1 player = 49 bonus gold (along with free gold at star of each turn and access to gold chest, turn 10 kill with 5 players = 200 Bonus gold)

need to think about it and balance

At least those are my thoughts after we played all chapters, maybe you can consider some of those ideas.

sure, this were great suggestions, as you know

everybody has a certain style of playing, so as i complety ignore healing-spell and mercs, you find them OP, i never use extra-attack-spell, but you use it in combination with magical -circle (which is great) and consider it OP

so i guess we can do something about it. but i dont mind having good combos.

[Mabuse]

• Extra attack (Attack Spell): Not even opt (once per turn), get a 3rd attack kill anything. It's more expensive than magic spells, but you deal more dmg. The cost for these scales with range upgrades, it's too cheap early - mid, while too expensive in the late game.

• Extra attack (Attack Spell): make it opt (once per turn) and decrease the cost increase rate, maybe cap it at 100 or 150

yeah i see later it falls a bit short, becaue of this magic-spells seem better in long run, however it (potencially) deals more damage.
so its kind of trade of.

so your suggestion is to make it lee OP via OPT in eary/mid while making it bit more useful by reducing cost in late game.

but maybe i will balance costs instead, making initial cost a bit higher and reduce costs in late game.

i see that it can be stacked with magical circle though, which is a great combo, i didnt think about

having said it, i realized that there is a bug, with extra attack spell,
it should have a minimum cost of 65 mana (as stated in spell description), which isnt true.

so yes, in early game its surely too cheap.

[Skyend]

Thanks for considering some of my ideas.

having said it, i realized that there is a bug, with extra attack spell,
it should have a minimum cost of 65 mana (as stated in spell description), which isnt true.

Yeah I had it below 65 mana cost often, most efficient it's around 60-80 range. (with reductions)

- adding some kind of teleport ability to ALCHEMY (pots important for non mage classes)

That will help other classes to escape.

i think that could be a way to separate magic/non-Magic/melee/ranged classes and give small nerf for amgical class.

magical ranged classes would be capped at 60% (without bonus, bonus will always increase armor)
magical melee+physical ranged capped at 70%
physical melee capped at 80%

interesting idea, this may balance the range dmg type variety lack, on the ai side. Whereas melee units need to focus on everything, ranged only on fire, arcane and cold. There are some units, with pierce and impact or even blade, but those are less common.

For Silver Mage -mage-class this would mean that you can't have 0/0/0/80/80/80 (80% on fire/cold/arcane), but would be at:
20/20/20/60/60/60 or 0/30/30/60/60/60 or 0/60/0/60/60/60 or 0/0/60/60/60/60

perhaps the problem is the extra-attack-spell + magical-circle combo is to cheap/powerful, so i might add cost for extra-attack-spell.

the circle with just +1 would be a significant nerf.

you maybe found a great combo

yeah i see later it falls a bit short, becaue of this magic-spells seem better in long run, however it (potencially) deals more damage.
so its kind of trade of.

so your suggestion is to make it lee OP via OPT in eary/mid while making it bit more useful by reducing cost in late game.

but maybe i will balance costs instead, making initial cost a bit higher and reduce costs in late game.

i see that it can be stacked with magical circle though, which is a great combo, i didnt think about

Well, I think only +1 should work fine. Otherwise you need to adjust everything you spend mana on, well mainly extra attack.

this is interesting, maybe i overdid it with the mercs.

i personally never used them and considerd them useless.
so they goot beefed up, but never made it into my "must-have-list"

I felt myself out of the game on ch5, when I didn't had it nor an upgrade free for over 10+ turns in the mid-late game (we got it as dropped item, but at this point I was bored)

but i see where you come from, nevertheless, there will be ALWAYS a META, which could be map dependent then
(e.g. map with strong mundane enemies in early/mid game, and later magical enemis, would be better to get physical first --- once you know the map, you buy what you need, so no matter what you do, every map will have its meta)

In practice we just bought arcane and got other later-game weapons from drops.


Something I didn't mention yet, there are few units with missing image at 1.18, you still play the game fine, but sometimes you'll fail detecting the berserk ghost. It was a bat, naga, and ghost but can't recall the exact unit.

Also, maybe gold giving abilities could be pre given, I think all players should and will take them.

[Mabuse]

....

[Mabuse]

Something I didn't mention yet, there are few units with missing image at 1.18, you still play the game fine, but sometimes you'll fail detecting the berserk ghost. It was a bat, naga, and ghost but can't recall the exact unit.

Also, maybe gold giving abilities could be pre given, I think all players should and will take them.

yes, i also recognized the missing bat already, thx for mentioning the other units, they use default GFX but the folders got partially renamed in 1.18.
(e.g. bat were in "undead" folder now its "bat" folder)



changes so far (not yet uploaded):
-------------------------

bug-fix:
----------------

- extra-attack-spell has minimum cost of 65 mana as stated in spell-description
- dread-bat display error fixed


balance:
----------------

- extra attack spell has minimum cost of 65 mana as stated in spell-description
- extra attack spell has maximum cost of 450 mana
- extra-attack-spell is accesscible by all classes as an ability

- hit-and-run cost reduced by -37,5% (former: -25%), to make non-age class more convenient to play

- mages + roguemages buyable armorlimit: 70 (79)
- clerics + rangers buyable armorlimit: 70 (79)
- warriors + rouguewarriors buyable armorlimit: 90 (99)

- Clerics recieve Blessing-Special (+20% Strikes, successful Strike refills +2mana) instead of RAGE
(fully combineable e.g. with berserk. refilll mana and heal, berserk again ... )

- Roguewarriors recieve CHARGE-Special instead of Critical-Hit-Special


gameplay:
----------------

- Killing AI6+7 early will provide AI8+9 with their remaining extra gold



--------

so as you suggested to benefit from killing AI6+7 early, ALL their gold they will get in the turns that are left (e.g. kill ai6 on turn 1 with 49 turn remaining)
AI8+9 will get (49x30)/2 (or whatever the income is) gold to buy units. (there is a chance that it will be split into a passive amount over time and unit count, so some balancing will be considered here.)

so they gold is not wasted, instead it will be fully converted into a big unit bulk ready to kill the player ot get killed.

along with the already pre-existing bonus-gold (which may be nerfed slightly) it will be always beneficial to kill leader ASASP




other plans:

ranged ai attacks, e.g. the gorgon appears and spit some nasty spell that devastates and/or slows an unfortuanate hero
(mages and top tier enemies only)

also to reduce long term grind AI will recieve more gold to spam more units units in end game, e.g. ai9 will recieve income boost if ai8 is out and vice versa

leaders may cast spells at a random chance at a turn-basis that will boost certain aspects of FRESHLY summoned creeps, e.g. faster, more damage, higher arcance resists

so there may be some variety in gameplay

so there is a good chance the game gets a bit more harsh, no doubt about that

[Skyend]

- extra attack spell has minimum cost of 65 mana as stated in spell-description
- extra attack spell has maximum cost of 450 mana
- extra-attack-spell is accesscible by all classes as an ability

I feeel that with 450 mana max will be useless, once it's above 225 max attack spell. (probably wouldn't pay much before that)
I rather prefer the idea of a physical attack counterpart to casted spells.
I want soemthing cheap for killing low units, so that you get less punished by rng when you are not able to get the 97% ctk.

[Mabuse]

I feeel that with 450 mana max will be useless, once it's above 225 max attack spell. (probably wouldn't pay much before that)
I rather prefer the idea of a physical attack counterpart to casted spells

max damage-spell is at 350 mana though
its "paired" costwise with damagespell, and damage-spell boni will also reduce costs for "extra-attack" (except that weapon specials are not taken into account so it can be much better at the cost of using HP, but damage-spell will hit 100%)

i MAY think about capping it at 375 mana, that seems fair to me.

something cheap to kill off wounded low HP units will be always damage-spell in the later game, since you can split it up.
making extra-attack to cheap could be bad for balance against damage spell

[Mabuse]

Also, maybe gold giving abilities could be pre given, I think all players should and will take them.

that wont happen, because everything will come at a price. gold giving abilities can weaken player in early game, also cost ability slots.
if you use the trait+extra ability slot in inventory for them they become +/- 250 gold more expensive, before they start to ROI

(if not, we could just simply give more money for kill, and no need for ability at all)

[Skyend]

ok


For gold giving abilities, I though about maybe there is a build that's not taking it, Cleric idk. In the end it doesn't change much to have it pregiven and less abilities spots or as it is. And I guess at lower level you can flex with other abilities.

For Extra Attack, guess I mixed something up then. I'd need to play this after your next updated before I can judge.

[Mabuse]

For Extra Attack, guess I mixed something up then. I'd need to play this after your next updated before I can judge.

also, i think you maybe right about magic circle though, +2 mana per strike is probably to good.

the thing with extra-attack is also that there are boni like +25% lawful/chaotic and +25%, making extra-attack deal amazing damage

[Mabuse]

So, the new and fixed Version is UP.

It contains also some Difficulty adjustments for SOLO (-3 Gold), 2 Player-Game (-2 Gold) and 3 Player-Game (-1 Gold), the less PLayer,
the less Gold per Creep.

At 4 Player Game, normal Gold ist given.

This was done since in recent Testing, the "Speed Run"-Time got faster and faster, almost Hitting the Sub-60 Turn Time (Temple of Bones), even on Grandmaster. (no Gold Abilities were used). Tested with Mage, Cleric and Warrior.

So the Game is too easy on Lower Players Numbers. While it is Fun though, there is need to ramp up the Difficulty on this matter.
With Gold-Penalty on Creeps better rResource management/harvesting or even need for Gold Abilities is needed.

-----------------------

Special Thanks to Skynet for his recent Feedback, leading to this Update

-----------------------


6.1.0

bug-fix:
----------------

- dread-bat display error fixed
- naga-fighter, naga-warrior, naga-myrmidon display error fixed
- shadow, nightgaunt display error fixed
- fixed road-transition bug in Temple of Bones Map (by changing terrain)



balance:
----------------

- magic-circle only grant +1 mana per strike

- extra attack spell has minimum cost of 50 mana as stated in spell-description
- extra attack spell has maximum cost of 375 mana

- extra-attack-spell is accesscible by all classes as an ability
- alchemy ability also grants heal-spell now for non magic-classes
- lightfoot-ability will reduce hit-and-run cost by -20% for non-magic classes

- hit-and-run cost reduced by -37,5% (former: -25%), to make non-age class more convenient to play

- teleport-ability now provides a SPIRIT LINK that will allow all other heroes to teleport to the
Teleport-Host-Mage by right-clicking next to it. Costs depend on Movement-Cost or Hit-an-Run Cost.

- mages + roguemages max buyable armorlimit: 70/75
- clerics + rangers max buyable armorlimit: 70/75
- warriors + rouguewarriors max buyable armorlimit: 90/95
(Item-Bonus will always apply beyond limit, but it may be that ative Item-Bonus restrict further upgrading)

- Clerics recieve Blessing-Special (+20% Strikes, successful Strike refills +1mana) instead of RAGE
- Roguewarriors recieve CHARGE-Special instead of Critical-Hit-Special




gameplay:
----------------

- killing Ai6+7 early will provide Ai8+9 with their remaining extra gold (taking all turns until limit is expired into account)
(so killing AI6+7 early is ALWAYS beneficial, as it result in AI8+9 spam low level units that can be harvested, besides an additional income Bonus)

- if only 1 or 2 AI is left, higher random BossFactor

- if only 1 Top-AI is left, its Income is boosted

- creeps recieve random additional boni (movement, arcane resist, strikes)
so some units may be faster for surprise attacks, more resistant to arcane to crack meta a bit or retaliate harder
AI9 creeps will always get a boost, AI8 67% of the time, and AI6+7 50% of time.



Difficulty adjustment for SOLO RUNS and LOW PLAYER games:
----------------------------------------------------------
- As Solo- and Low-PLayer Games lack Difficulty even on Grandmaster, there is a new Adjustment.
Since in low Player Games the starting Gold is higher to compensate partially the lack of Players, but it has as a side-effect
that creeps decrease greatly in Difficulty, so they can be killed off in large quantities very early on, which results in a progress-avalanche
which goes faster and faster.

To compensate the much faster Creep killing:

Soloplayer (-3 Gold), 2 Player(-2 Gold) and 3 Player(-1 Gold) Game recieve an income Penalty from killed creeps.

This can be as usual partly compensated by gold-giving abilities, but it will also give a challenge to use Resources more wisely,
also only the TOP-Tier builds will succeed.

So better challenge in Solo Run, 2 Player and 3 Player Game.

[Mabuse]

Well, there are some Problems with the PASSPHRASE atm, since the ACTUAL upload was not initiated by me,

and i appreciate that of course since i somehow missed to port to 1.18, (it was on 1.17x server, and i thought it would be automatically ported), but now it keeps me from updating,

so patience is needed, until board-administration unlocks the upload.

so i have more time to test SOLO SPEEDRUN with minus -3 Gold per Creep
(and its doing so well, even without any gold upgrades - but i order to improve the time i guess NOW you really want to buy a gold-upgrade ability.
as a fun fact i didnt buy/use Regenerate ability, because solo'ing isnt about waitning in a corner to regen some HP.)

[Mabuse]

so i have more time to test SOLO SPEEDRUN with minus -3 Gold per Creep
(and its doing so well, even without any gold upgrades - but i order to improve the time i guess NOW you really want to buy a gold-upgrade ability.
as a fun fact i didnt buy/use Regenerate ability, because solo'ing isnt about waitning in a corner to regen some HP.)

so sologame testing is finished:
-----------------------------

with the current -3 Gold penalty on kills which comes with 6.1.0 for Soloplayer.
still finished Temple of Bones in 68 Turns.

489 Kills in total, which added up to (489 x 3 =) 1467 Gold Penalty, was noticeable during play,
and i had to use almost all map resources.

Grandmaster-Penalty probably estimated up to 678 Gold, which get on Top, in camparison to EXPERT Difficulty.

no gold-ability was used, and as a fun fact i didnt use major regenerate-ability or magic healing (though i missed it in end game ).
(only default minor-regen + ankh boost was used)
i think next time i would get a gold ability right of the start, which is effectively one less ability slot, and a minor setback at start
but will compensate 33% of the penalty in long run, leaving some room for improvement.

eneded the game with 1080+ unused Gold. so even in case of retreat, next day-cycle would have been even stronger.
so the balance seem about right to me, you need to use all resources and use day/night cycle for your advantage.

so i felt challenged somehow and had to think about how to use resources and build up.



right now, i just wait to be able to replace the old Version

[Mabuse]

right now, i just wait to be able to replace the old Version

it seems it can still take a while before someone is able to do basic things on add-on server.


so, while we are waiting, the BERSERK-ability has come to my attention.

i think its useless and would like to replace it.

warrior/roguewarrior gets CRITICAL HIT
cleric recieve RAGE

instead.


objections?