Era of Magic (EoMa) 4.6.2 - now on Ko-fi!

[inferno8]

Era of Magic 3.6.2 is now available!

This is another update based on IPS balance suggestions. We are closer to making the Masters era more balanced than ever

Thanks to IPS's observations I found out that the "double attack/split fire" weapon special didn't work as advertised. That's why I decided to rewrite the whole thing from scratch. The new code is 45% smaller and should work properly now (a unit cannot use a different attack when this weapon special is active).

Also, it's worth mentioning that zombie advancements now work properly - in previous versions some zombie variations kept leveling up to Souless zombies - now it should no longer be an issue. Btw, it would be nice to add a new 'zombies' mode n the future, where players could recruit, well, zombies only

Full 3.6.2 changelog at the bottom of this post.

The idea of new units for Runemasters seems really intriguing, that's why I am going to implement all of them for the next release. Runemasters at the moment have 28 units (including elusive Parachutist and Perfect Drone) - this is way too few in comparison to Summoners or Barbarians. That's why I've always wanted to expand this faction, so adding additional 4 units is a really good idea in my opinion.

IPS proposed 4 new units so far: Militia, Soldier, Technologist and Technocrat, but I want to include another 2 new units being an alternative advancement for Striding Machine. These units would be: "Mobile Turret" and "Mobile Defensive Platform (MDP)". Lore-wise these would be a Runemasters' answer to Destroyers swarm tactics. Lighter than tanks, but equipped with special area-control weapons operated by steam robots.
Mobile Turrets and MDPs would have 3 to 4 different types of pierce range attacks:

• a concentrated fire targeting one enemy unit,
• a similar attack with the split-fire weapon special allowing to target 2 different units,
• a 'triple-strike' attack capable of harming three units,
• a special all-around attack damaging all adjacent foes (available for lvl3 MDP only).

So basically these two new units would be in fact a combination of Hydra, Twin Archer Toad and Omen. This addition might make the Runemasters faction a lot more interesting in my opinion and open new strategic opportunities for players.

Below you can see an early draft of these two units added to Striding Machine's unit tree (the images are not final and might be a subject to change).

So combining IPS' ideas and mine Runemasters would get 6 new units. This means that the faction would consist of 34 units total after the change.

eoma_units_table_3.6.png (6.61 KiB) Viewed 977 times

If you like these ideas, I'd like to hear your opinion on potential stats for the two new units.

Btw, IPS I'd like to know your opinion on allowing drone upgrades be installed on drones by lvl2 units instead of lvl3s. One player argued that the lvl3 requirement is too hard to achieve in a regular match, so lowering it to lvl2 units could make things more interesting. What do you think?

3.6.2 changelog:

Code: Select all

## Version 3.6.2
 ### Gameplay
	* fixed zombie advancements not working properly in some cases
	* fixed the 'double attack/split fire' weapon special not working as intended
 ### Units
	** Barbarians:
	 * Roc Master: hitpoints from 50 to 47
	** Darkblood Alliance:
	 * Jungle Pikeman and advancements are now neutral
	 * Jungle Blowgunner and advancements are now chaotic
	 * Jungle Crossbowman: the second crossbow attack is now 6-4 instead of 8-3
	 * Saurian Assassin: the second crossbow attack is now 7-5 skilled instead of 9x4 marksman (the skilled weapon special is disabled in rpg mode); cost from 44 to 45
	** Destroyers:
	 * Cyclops Necromancer: movement from 5 to 6; dagger damage from 8-2 to 5-3; 1st gaze attack damage from 20-1 to 17-1; 2nd gaze attack damage from 10-2 to 9-2
	 * Piranha Monstruosa: cost from 31g to 28g
	** Kharos:
	 * Heavy Cavalry Archer: trample attack damage from 11-2 to 8-3
	 * Cleric: fire resistance from 0% to 10%
	 * Bishop's fire resistance from 0% to 15%
	 * Prophet of Light fire resistance from 0% to 20%
	** Runemasters:
	 * Technician: fire resistance from 20% to 30%
	 * Constructor: fire resistance from 30% to 40%
	 * Rune Adept: fire resistance from 10% to 20%
	 * Runesmith: fire resistance from 15% to 25%
	 * Runeartist: fire resistance from 20% to 30%
	 * Runemaster: fire resistance from 30% to 25%
	 * Steamcopter: hitpoints from 48 to 50; melee attack damage from 8-1 to 9-1+marksman; experience from 110 to 94
	 * Flying Fortress: 'hard landing' damage from 17 to 13
	 * Mechanical Dragon: 'hard landing' damage from 14 to 11
	** Sky Kingdom:
	 * Hydromancer: cost from 35g to 38g
	** Summoners:
	 * Fire God: physical resistances from 30% to 20%
 ### Descriptions
	* improved the 'double attack/split fire' weapon special description
 ### Translations
    * updated the Polish translation
	* updated the raw translation file

[Tezereth]

I feel like destroyers also lack a bit of units, there's less variations of units than in other factions (if you don't count the zombies)
I don't have many idea's right now cuz it's pretty late around here tho

Love your work btw

[ForestDragon]

If you like these ideas, I'd like to hear your opinion on potential stats for the two new units.

I think we could try something like this:

lvl2 attacks:
trample 10-2 impact (slightly lower than normal branch)
focused fire 8-3 ranged impact (giving the unit branch impact ranged, since the branch is supposed to be strong vs destroyers)
split fire 10-2 ranged impact split fire (slightly lower base damage than focused fire, but higher potential total damage, since this is supposed to be mainly an aoe branch)
spread shot: 18-1 ranged impact triple strike

lvl3 attacks:
trample 13-2 impact
focused fire 12-3 ranged impact
split fire 15-2 ranged impact split fire
spread shot: 27-1 ranged impact triple strike
spin shot: 24-1 ranged impact all-around no counter

overall you can't be able to achieve the same single-target damage is tanks, but higher total damage against groups

as far as hp/resistances, it can stay mostly similar to the base branch

[Lord_bold]

I feel like destroyers also lack a bit of units, there's less variations of units than in other factions (if you don't count the zombies)
I don't have many idea's right now cuz it's pretty late around here tho

Love your work btw

I feel the same, they kind of lack diversity, and are a sort one trick pony option. They do bite hard but a counter to one of their units generally counters everything save maybe maras. I guess this could be changed if we could select the kind of zombies the necromancer summons, but their quality kind of varies greatly from one another, so that does not sound balanced either

[IPS]

Btw, IPS I'd like to know your opinion on allowing drone upgrades be installed on drones by lvl2 units instead of lvl3s. One player argued that the lvl3 requirement is too hard to achieve in a regular match, so lowering it to lvl2 units could make things more interesting. What do you think?

I agree with allowing technician to use this feature, would increase Drone popularity as well of technician unit being more popular. Upgrading Drones takes turns and money to have a viable drone that can match correctly its purpose. Also this would allow us to know faster how fair/balanced is this feature considering that it's more correct to use Drones to fight lv0, lv1 and lv2 units instead of lv3.

Propossal design of Mobile Turret and Defensive Platform
This would be my concept for the AoD attack, the centry would raise and then fall, creating a melee shock-wave AoD . The concept of this, would make Mobile turret taller but more slim and slastic with taller legs. This could completely replace the need of Trample attack and even, using melee shock-wave AoD attack (would work as a normal melee attack with no retaliation, similar to Omen's melee). This could bring the unit having an opportunity to have more different properties than tanks, being something more revolutionary and fresh.

Allowing even different movement costs AND higher resistance variation in unit, as well of needing one less attack for all what we're looking for. So melee and All-Around attack could be the same attack !!

Image to propse how would be AoD attack.

AoD propossal.png (215.14 KiB) Viewed 887 times

This is my propossal for both Mobile Turret and Defensive Platform

Mobile Turret
HP : 55 (Only 4 more HP than Stridding Machine)
Movement: 6 (it might have better movement costs than tanks! so it will be more movible than Pacificator!)
XP: 115
Cost: 42g
Advances to: Defensive Platform

Shockwave 10-2 impact melee +All-Around +no-counter
Foccused Fire 9-3 impact +Marksman
Split-Fire 9-2 impact ranged +split-fire (used twice, has more damage at a single target than focused fire, as long enemy unit is not at high defense tile)
Spread-Shot 15-1 +triple-strike +first-strike (30 damage if potentially 2 targets, 45 damage if potentially 3 targets, quite situational)

Resistances:
Blade 20% (-20% to blade than tanks)
Pierce 20% (unchanged)
Impact -20% (-10% to impact than tanks)
Cold 20% (+10% to cold than tanks)
Fire 10% (+20% to fire than tanks)
Arcane 20% (unchanged)

Movement costs
Flat 30% (unchanged, in lv2)
Mountains 3 --> 2 and defense 40% --> 50%
Hills (debatible if lowering to 1 or leaving to 2 for lv2)
Swallow Water 4 --> 2 and defense 10% --> 30% (as much as flat)
Swamp water 4 --> 3 and defense 10% --> 20%
Sand 2 --> 1 and defense 20% --> 30% (as much as flat)
Frozen 4 --> 2 and defense --> 30% (As much as flat)
Coastal Riff 3 --> 2 and defense 20% (10% less than swallow water)
Deep water (depends, could be 4 and 20% , but, what about deep sea scenarios acting this as floating but disabling melee? debatible)

Unit as is prepared to deal againist destroyers, spread-shot is first-strike additionally to at least retaliate before cyclops attack in case unit is very very wounded. The device is made of a more heat resistant material because generating shock-wave heats the surface of the central device.




Defenive Platform
HP : 70
Movement: 6 (but better movement costs than lv2 !!)
XP: 150
Cost: 60g

Shock-wave 9-3 impact melee +all-around +no-counter +first-strike
(would also need to disable AoD specials like triple-strike and others to not work againist units in berserk frenzy ... as a very smart player can use these specials to extra harm adjacent enemies, as in the case of hydras, omen and this unit)
Focused fire 10-4 impact ranged +marksman
Split-fire 12-2 impact ranged +split-fire +first-strike (total of 48 dmg is single-target)
Spread-Shot 21-1 impact ranged +triple-strike +first-strike

Resistances:
Blade 20%
Pierce 30% (slightly, more pierce resistant than lv2)
Impact -20%
Cold 30% (10% more than pacificator and lv2)
Fire 30% (20% more than pacificator and lv2)
Arcane 20%

Movement costs
Flat defense 30% --> 40%
Mountains 3 --> 2 ---> 1 and defense 40% --> 50%
Hills 2 --> 1 (defense unchanged)
Swallow Water 4 --> 2 ---> 1 and defense 10% --> 30% (it's even taller, just only -10% defense than on flat)
Swamp water 4 --> 2 and defense 10% --> 20% (swamp water is more thick, no full movement liberty)
Sand 2 --> 1 and defense 20% --> 40% (as much as flat)
Frozen 4 --> 2 --> 1 and defense --> 40% (As much as flat)
Coastal Riff 3 --> 2 and defense 20% (20% less than swallow water)
Deep water X ---> 3 and defense 20% (arms can of swim, device is designed to swim)


It's debatible that shock-wave be 2-3 strikes instead of 1 strike, but, it would make the unit be damn OP in survivals like Orocia, also having more strikes makes rasonable that it's harder to be full-hit either full-miss from a shock-wave, which is highly logical.

Intention is that split-fire be stronger in 1vs1 than focused fire, unless we're talking about an unit with high terrain defense, where focused-fire accuracy bonus is more effective.

Values of anything (damages, terrain properties are still being calculated... it might take time to define them correctly to a stable value)


Also an important doubt regards +split-fire, can it be used twice over the same unit or not? this aspect is essential to avoid nukes of +55 damage in single-target as in this case, it would be not fair for melee units without any ranged attack. On this aspect will depend the propssed damage of +split-fire attack for lv2 (which I think it's fair) and lv3 (which if higher than 13-2 is OP as 14-4 to a single unit is not lv3 damage).

I feel like destroyers also lack a bit of units, there's less variations of units than in other factions (if you don't count the zombies)
I don't have many idea's right now cuz it's pretty late around here tho

Love your work btw

I feel the same, they kind of lack diversity, and are a sort one trick pony option. They do bite hard but a counter to one of their units generally counters everything save maybe maras. I guess this could be changed if we could select the kind of zombies the necromancer summons, but their quality kind of varies greatly from one another, so that does not sound balanced either

Quicker but ranged (and more scout) optional advancement for Nightmares? it's quite difficult to hold villages far away in heroic/Master mode, as I said, most scouts counters lv2 piranias , and well, another option for ranged (even if not very strong) but scout support could be of help for Destroyers

[Lord_bold]

Quicker but ranged (and more scout) optional advancement for Nightmares? it's quite difficult to hold villages far away in heroic/Master mode, as I said, most scouts counters lv2 piranias , and well, another option for ranged (even if not very strong) but scout support could be of help for Destroyers

Yes! Piranias are good and all but they are a bit mediocre at fighting if you dont have superior numbers. I tend to make them to smother away mages, and have map control, but swapping them up for actual dps units would seem beneficial, specially if ranged to pester slow and hard hitting on meele units.
Also the lack of specialized lvl2 units for the destroyers kind of makes their rooster limited in the masters mode IMO, so this is certainly the way to go. While its true everything they have is useful one way or the other, powerful level 2's with no upgrade like the cyclops breaker, the golem, hoplites, etc. tend to be extremely useful, both due to (obviously) less upkeep, and they only have the necromancer.

[IPS]

Quicker but ranged (and more scout) optional advancement for Nightmares? it's quite difficult to hold villages far away in heroic/Master mode, as I said, most scouts counters lv2 piranias , and well, another option for ranged (even if not very strong) but scout support could be of help for Destroyers

Yes! Piranias are good and all but they are a bit mediocre at fighting if you dont have superior numbers. I tend to make them to smother away mages, and have map control, but swapping them up for actual dps units would seem beneficial, specially if ranged to pester slow and hard hitting on meele units.
Also the lack of specialized lvl2 units for the destroyers kind of makes their rooster limited in the masters mode IMO, so this is certainly the way to go. While its true everything they have is useful one way or the other, powerful level 2's with no upgrade like the cyclops breaker, the golem, hoplites, etc. tend to be extremely useful, both due to (obviously) less upkeep, and they only have the necromancer.

I was thinking of a kind of hybrid ranged scout (60% ranged, 40% melee) with both fair good and melee damages, but at the cost of possibly losing drain of melee. It cannot be completely ranged because Carpet Riders would hard-counter more this option than Maras themself. Maybe if in their advancement their flames become Purple (then black?) because they seek death of living beings instead of destruction and therefore being slightly cold resistant but less fire resistant. Also maybe causing plague whenever it kills a living being.

Thing that I'm having in mind in case there is interest for the implementation of this unit would be the following:
- 40% melee, 60% ranged, melee of lv1 value, lv2 scout ranged damage.
- 7 or 8 movement (with same movement cost than Maras)
- Another color and concept for this path of Nightmares
- Possibly causing plague instead of drains (this would also match my version of seeking living being elimination).
- Slightly cold resistant but less fire resistant, MAYBE even more weak to arcane as well.
- Slight chance of having another special that buffs them (+Nocturnal-regeneration? , +Skirmisher?)
- Possibility of an aura or debuff, which will lower enemy damage output (that is not awe) or that instead increases damage taken (if increasing damage taken from enemy and is not +dazzle, special should only work in attack).

Edit: Thinking that +Immobilize and +Stun debuff can of work well, specially in what it refers to map-control. My style is personally making +specials not be unique of a single unit if possible but +petrify from sculptor will be the only exception for now.
(Targeted unit will lose ZoC and will not be capable to move) , still, damage output or defense are not affected) This will force enemy scouts to be more cautious at not entering in an engagement that they cannot win as it will mean the doom of the unit.

[inferno8]

IPS and ForestDragon - thank you for the stats proposals

This would be my concept for the AoD attack, the centry would raise and then fall, creating a melee shock-wave AoD . The concept of this, would make Mobile turret taller but more slim and slastic with taller legs. This could completely replace the need of Trample attack and even, using melee shock-wave AoD attack (would work as a normal melee attack with no retaliation, similar to Omen's melee). This could bring the unit having an opportunity to have more different properties than tanks, being something more revolutionary and fresh.

This is quite an unusual concept for a melee attack but I like the idea! Changing the unit image to reflect different legs and silhouette may take some time (and I need to focus on Technologist and Technocrate sprites too), that's why I decided to use the existing Striding Machine image as a base (for now). Today I wrote a code for the Mobile Turret and even made the shockwave attack animation. The top part of the machine goes up revealing 6 shockwave emitters, then goes down releasing stored energy and harming potential targets:

shockwave-test.gif (2.46 MiB) Viewed 830 times

Tomorrow I'll implement the Mobile Defensive Platform unit. And speaking of which, IPS you haven't proposed stats for the last "spin shot" attack yet. It would be an Area of Effect ranged attack capable of harming all random adjacent units. I know we have the shockwave, but it works only in melee combat. The spin shot would be a range equivalent of this. ForestDragon proposed this: "spin shot: 24-1 ranged impact all-around no counter". I'll go with this, unless you have objections, so let me know. EDIT: I've just realized the melee attack has "no-counter", so it looks like the spin shot is no longer needed, especially that it deals the same impact damage type, so maybe my request is no longer necessary...

Also an important doubt regards +split-fire, can it be used twice over the same unit or not?

Yes, players can use this twice on the same unit/target (you can spam Cyclops Breakers in Masters era to see how it works exactly). Changing this to prevent the usage on the same target may be tricky, so I'd like to leave it that way.

I feel like destroyers also lack a bit of units, there's less variations of units than in other factions

Destroyers are a very "linear" faction, that's true. Currently they lack alternative advancements but they have the most lvl4 units of all factions. Nevertheless, I am going to expand them in the future, after we successfully deal with Runemasters first. I see room for 3 new lvl2-3 Destroyers units being alternative advancements. Feel free to brainstorm some ideas for potential units and I'll try to review them later.

[IPS]

Tomorrow I'll implement the Mobile Defensive Platform unit. And speaking of which, IPS you haven't proposed stats for the last "spin shot" attack yet. It would be an Area of Effect ranged attack capable of harming all random adjacent units. I know we have the shockwave, but it works only in melee combat. The spin shot would be a range equivalent of this. ForestDragon proposed this: "spin shot: 24-1 ranged impact all-around no counter". I'll go with this, unless you have objections, so let me know. EDIT: I've just realized the melee attack has "no-counter", so it looks like the spin shot is no longer needed, especially that it deals the same impact damage type, so maybe my request is no longer necessary...

Yup, it already has 4 attacks, I saw an opportunity to merge 2 attacks into 1 attack and even be usable for lv2. It will make this unit be easier to use for new players as if there are too many options players can get confused and may over think. Makes sense that when shock-wave is used offensively not having retaliation as there is no way to counter that using a melee weapon againist something that is "not exactly melee" , still, unit can use this to retaliate in a different way than Stridding and Tanks.

So my lv3 attack values for split-fire will be left to 12-2 but having +first-strike and +counter-defense (60% hit retaliation) special as well. Still, I'm still thinking which terrain properties can of be adjusted or modificated, values are said to not be definitive and possibly after testing some of them can be buffed either nerfed depending how test phase goes on. as this is the feature that is the most difficult to therorize (want something really new and never seen, but still being fair and not OP nor underpowered).

More/Ranged scout alternative version of lv2 nightmare for destroyers will fit well for them. Propossals are purple --> black flames for lv2 and lv3 respectively, chosen debuffs might be +immobilize and +stun , this leaves more room for skirmishes in smaller maps as Destroyers have no skirmisher unit, as well, +immobilize can stop enemy scouts from over-expanding if too greed or uncautious. Optional +plague-attack (would be slightly more similar to cyclops but not exactly) , being hybrid fighter but more ranged allows this unit be useful againist all scouting units and to not be hard-countered by carpet riders which tests show that they're one of most aggresive map controlers in the era (Slows can make a lv3 be lv1 damage, making a serious danger being out-numbered by lv2 carpet riders). Nocturnal regeneration to give them sustain from not draining, and making it clear to player which units have to recover in villages and which ones can stay out of villages at least in certain Time of Day.

Values are not clear, but base concept would be this:

Death Whisper
Advances from: Nightmare
Health 36 (few more than Mara)
Movement 8 (consdering of spectral movement costs which are worse than purely flying)
Touch magical fire melee of like 5-4 +magical (no longer drain)
Corrupt Fire 7-3 fire ranged +magical +plague
Chaotic Vortex 15-1 impact ranged +precision-attack (no bonus accuracy in defense) +stun +immobilize
In night time, its melee will be 6-4 and ranged 9-3 ,which is more ranged.
XP : 114
Cost: 38g
Advances to: Doom Bringer

Specials: Nocturnal regeneration +5.

Resistance:
Cold resistance might be 20% (Maras are -10%)
Fire resistance might be 20% (Maras are 40%)
Arcane resistance is -10% (Maras are 10%)
Physical is the same as Maras

Considering the lv1 HP, it will not tank well either any of the magical attack types even if being 20% to both fire and cold, also player must be cautious with arcane attacks when positioning this unit. Chaos Vortex being impact damage type HELPS the unit dealing againist enemy scouts, as impact type is more useful againist swift/light scouts. At night time, this unit can fight back and have advantage againist cosmic eyes mostly because of this vortex attack.


Doom Bringer
Advances from: Death Wisper
Health 42 (few more than Apocalypse)
Movement 8
Touch magical fire melee of like 6-4 +magical
Corrupt Fire 10-3 fire ranged +magical +plague
Chaotic Vortex 21-1 impact ranged +precision-attack (no bonus accuracy in defense) +stun +immobilize +skilled (60% hit in retaliation)
XP : 150
Cost: 56g
Advances to: AMLA

Specials: Nocturnal regeneration +7 , Summon --> Dark Portal (36g) ten golds more expensive

Resistance:
30% to fire (+10% than Death Whisper)
- Rest is the same than Death Whisper.

Intention of lv3 is be more focused in ranged than lv2 itself. Intention is that combining lv2 and lv3 have different ressults than if spamming either one of the two lv2 and lv3. They're low in health, but they can plague distant unit and fight back cosmic eyes but in disadventage if in day-time. Summon is completely human feature, giving this unit an opportunity to shine more in lv3, but portals are 4 movement, which if wrongly used is just waste of money.


Balance changes:

Cosmic Eye
- Impact resistance from 0% to -10% (they can be trained to gain Veteran Trait, which is a fair exchange)

Edit: Splitfire of Mobile lv3 can have +Counter to be 60% hit when defending with +first-strike too.

[IPS]

Btw, in soon I will test most of new changes. I have some other observations to do regards previous balance changes and some explanations to more new reajustments. As well I will be editing values of stats of new suggested units, as said, theorical phase is not already done at all, so few aspects of new units can variate over time, until 5th or 6th of March as I get more sure of first release definitive values (Terrain properties for optional tanks advancement, pricement of new Nightmare advancement).

Kharos:
They lack of a "DPS mage" , Prophet of light is low of damage (6-4) because of having 2 support auras (heals +8 AND +leadership). This will obviously lead Kharos have some deficiencies with ranged damage againist certain stuff. They need an hybrid fighter as optional advancement of shielders with similar properties as Loyalist Javalineer, but with lv3 advancement. This way Kharos will get a stronger physical source of damage specially in ranged as they have no actual counter of methods to deal againist Matriarch of Emptyness. Allowing them having Elemental archers and at least a infantry with decent source of physical damage.

Heavy Calvary is now very strong unit, as they were insanely impopular and as tested, they don't do much in Masters Era, might of test how it goes. But they can decently counter Golems better than any other Kharos unit at being highly impact resistant. Test phase still needs to recheck how are they performing in Kharos army. Might of think that increasing their resistances but removing their steadfast (similarly done with red ulfseker) might be a better idea. This unit is potentially getting reworked a bit.

Prophet of Light having low damage for lv2 standards is mentioned as a situation it's hard to deal for Kharos, but in compensation they gained fire resistance as they might have problems dealing Maras and Fire elementals. A possible solution is giving to lv2 an extra 8-3 arcane ranged +magical that they can use situationally to sometimes take less damage from killing things in fewer strikes but not alterating the 24 ranged damages. Deficiency of this unit comes mostly at lv2 as it's technically weak in terms of damage as lv2 for mentioned (and justified reasons).

Summoners
Fire God was being blatantly OP , said earlier they were meta, but I didn't realize earlier that they were breaking the game that hard (being hard counter of a lot of things !! , and too tought because of previous 30% physical ressitance). This was product of a transitional buff I made long ago in times where Fire Elemental and advancements were instead highly underpowered and therefore ignored as unit.

Air elementals and advancement nerfed again is not new, people still abuse them in survivals due their high resistances and 60% everywhere defense (appart of passive regeneration...) . Players can still enjoy of this units advantages and using them smartly and nerfing mostly these who spam air elementals.

Carpet Master have high chances of getting a nerf (another one), minding in the possibilty of removing bonus fire resistance to this line, as their cold and slows allows them to counter effectively units that individually are stronger than themselves.

Sky Kingdom
I have actual no news about the upcoming new unit that will be added to S.K army. Their main issues are in pricing accuracy in Masters version of the era, pricing correctly this master-piece faction is tought and hard, as lv2-lv3 have to be repriced in base of possible strategic synergies instead of individually (Mysitc Warrior being fairly underpriced as in Master Era S.K army is expensive, Sky Guardian being a brutally strong unit but demanding much XP from lv2 mystic warrior as said, are all a coinsidence that I'm glad to watch and enjoy as how it is actually). Their damage output was cut by a lot compared to older versions of wesnoth like 1.12 when all S.K lv1 magis were 21 damage and +magical instead of standarized 18 magic ranged damage, but in compesation of the surgery of their lowered damages, all them got extras in other areas in a much more creative aspects of the unit, allowing them be something more different than just "fire/cold/arcane version of lv1 S.K magi" and instead, giving them blatantly different properties (terrain and resistances notable variations between lines)

Barbarians
Easiest to use of all factions, no flaws, no blatant OP, I think only few re-pricement is still pending to test.

Tharis
Some pricement is still pending to be done! I see that lv2 Wizards are overpriced by misstake of me because they're not very relevant in a Tharis army because Orbs are all cold attacks too, so Lv2 Wizard will be lowered back to 39g instead of 42g even if their output of damage at lv2 is blatan 42 (14-3 cold damage at night). Still viewing and testing various tactics in Tharis to have a better idea of their pricement.

Destroyers
Basically most relevant points of them was said already, new units might fix this. Death Whisper and Doom Calls give to destroyer that physical ranged damage they did not have. Reason why I wrongly priced this patch too low... fixing even before unit release. Might see how creativity of others works for creating the other advancement, as I have no real idea from where I could implement new units neither of own any good idea how to develop them by myself.

Dark Blood Aliance
Testing , for re-pricing in Master's Era and still testing, forced already more temptative using the under-used salamanders. Huge nerfs to Toads and Wyverns were done already (too many slight continous nerfs were done to them), as I realized many were only spamming toads and wyverns with basically unjustificated good ressults for too poor variety plan.

Rune Masters
There are most news regards EoMa , lots of tests were done and lots of corrections to make faction more flexible and adaptable to maps with more flat and forests. Nerfed some chaotic AoD hard-landing as stuff like that is super crazy to balance (to not say impossible!) because it depends too much in how the player uses the unit and hard-landing event ... player can even suicide the unit with the purpuse of forcing the hard-landing event with huge damage ressults (well , this is quite viable actually, specially if disabling ZoC with stun to positionate better the suiciding air machine unit)


So in resume, these are some rebalance propossals:
- Tharis Wizard price from 42g to 39g
- Carpet Master fire resistance to 0%
- Cosmic Eye was said to be -10% impact in soon.
- Lv2 Prophet of light will now have a secondary 8-3 magical arcane ranged attack (this is only for lv2) ; if boosted by lv3 leadership this might give extra options for Kharos day-time assaults.

- Kharos Heavy Cavalry will no longer have steadfast but resistances will be increased for a more offensive purpose. Will now be more melee.
---> Health from 58 to 53 (They're quick heavy unit)
---> Blade resistance from 10% to 20%
---> Pierce resistance from 5% to 10%
---> Impact resistance from 20% to 40%
---> Ranged damage from 11-2 to 9-2
---> Rename just to Heavy Calvary
Kharos lacks of Impact ramage appart of brown warriors. Increased ressistance allows them attack in melee with no fear. This might help the unit be more popular now.

Edit: Elemental Archer and Mystic Archers
They will not recive extra damages, but they will now take less damage from magical attacks , as they as scout, have movement cost dissadventages.
- Elemental Archer fire/cold resistances from 15% to 20%
- Elemental Archer Arcane resistance from 20% to 30% (it's already a bad idea using arcane againist kharos army)
Lv2 Elemental archer now joins to the party of units with these ressistances (Mu, Hidden Face & Sorcerer)
- Mystical Archer arcane resistance from 30% to 40% (so they can counter better Cosmic Eye)

Not any other relevant change propossal, appart of still designinig units that actually don't exist yet.

[inferno8]

Era of Magic 3.7 is here!
Era of Magic Resources 1.3 is also available and is required.

eoma3.7promo.jpg (49.09 KiB) Viewed 718 times

6 new units for the Runemasters faction, 2 new weapon specials and 1 ability, improved balance and additional gameplay changes. Enjoy the latest release of EoMa!

The key feature of 3.7 is of course the addition of 6 new units for Runemasters. They were designed by IPS and me to overcome some balancing issues. IPS came with the idea of 4 new dwarfs, while I proposed additional 2 mechanical units. Thanks to this expansion Runemaster are now the second largest faction, right after Summoners, so you'll have plenty of brand new tactical options to use against your enemies.
Let's take a closer look at the new units:

• Technologists and Technocrats - you can get them by leveling up Mechanics. Lore-wise these two new units belong to a special "caste" of dwarfs responsible for designing advanced machinery and new weapons. Simply put: they do not create machines - they invent them. Armed with experimental plasma rifles (capable of piercing through multiple targets in a straight line), they pose a serious threat to any kind of foe.
• Cadets and Soldiers - dwarvish warriors who don't find the tradition of runic warriors appealing enough often choose a different path and enroll for army to gain knowledge of military art. Thanks to modern and lighter armor designed by technologists they are faster and can strike more times than their runic counterparts.
• Mobile Turrets and Mobile Defensive Platforms (MDPs) - the devastating Destroyers invasion on dwarvish lands forced Technologists and Technocrats to design new weapon systems to effectively deal with the deadly threat. That's how Mobile Turrets and Defensive Platforms came into being. Based on striding machine's chassis, operated by autonomous steam robots, these extraordinary vehicles of war are equipped with state-of-the-art shockwave generators capable of decimating swarms of enemies with ease.

Note: Most of these units have partial or no animations - I couldn't find time for this, but they will be made in the near future. Also, the new units are not tested, so expect them to be unbalanced in this particular version.

Another important gameplay change is that lvl2 dwarfs can now perform drone upgrades. This means you can just use Technicians, Steamcopters, Tanks, Runesmiths and other lvl2 units to modify your drones. This will definitely make battles more interesting, especially that there are many upgrade options for players to choose.

It's also worth mentioning that Area of Effect weapon specials such as triple strike, all-around and cleave are disabled when fighting berserker units. This will prevent players from abusing this kind of exploit.

On subject of new abilities and weapon specials, there are 3 of them: "stun" (which is used by Technolologists and Technocrats to temporarily disable enemies ZoC), "repair +4" and "precision (offensive)".

Apart from all these additions there are many balance improvements proposed by the one and only EoMa's "Chief Balancer" IPS
Btw, IPS here are my comments to some things in 3.7 you may want to know:

Spoiler:

Cadets and Soldiers lack the concealment ability. You haven't described how it should work yet, so if you want me to add this, please explain what this ability should do exactly.
Also, I added a new ranged attack for Bishop as you requested, but I had to do the same thing to Prophet of Light to maintain power leveling. Otherwise Prophet would lose that attack option when advancing from Bishop.
If I skipped some of your proposals, let me know. There had been a lot of suggestions in the past few days so I wouldn't be surprised that I forgot to implement something.

That's it. The ids renaming task has been postponed for now. I want to balance these new units first and maybe add new Destroyers too, before I make that change.

Enjoy and stay strong!

Full changelog:

Code: Select all

## Version 3.7
 ### Gameplay
	* added 6 new units for the Runemasters faction: Dwarvish Cadet, Dwarvish Soldier, Technologist, Technocrat, Dwarvish Mobile Turret, Mobile Defensive Platform
	* lvl2 dwarves can now perform drone upgrades (previously only lvl3 dwarves were allowed to do this)
	* Area of Effect attacks (all-around, cleave and triple strike) no longer work against berserkers (in this case AoE attacks harm only a single target)
 ### Units
	** Kharos:
	 * Bishop: added a new ranged magical arcane 8-3 attack
	 * Priestess of Light: added a new ranged magical arcane 10-3 attack
	 * Heavy Cavalry Archer: renamed to Heavy Cavalry; hitpoints from 58 to 53; blade resistance from 10% to 20%, pierce resistance from 5% to 10%, impact resistance from 20% to 40%; changed the arrow attack damage from 11-2 to 9-2
	** Runemasters:
	 * added 6 new units: Dwarvish Cadet, Dwarvish Soldier, Technologist, Technocrat, Dwarvish Mobile Turret, Mobile Defensive Platform
	** Sky Kingdom:
	 * Cosmic Eye: impact resistance from 0% to -10%
	** Summoners:
	 * Carpet Master: fire resistance from 10% to 0%
	** Tharis: 
	 * Dark Wizard: cost from 42g to 39g
 ### Abilities
	* added the "stun" weapon special
	* added the "repairs +4" ability
	* added the "precision (offensive)" weapon special
 ### Translations
    * updated the Polish translation
	* updated the raw translation file

[IPS]

Spoiler:

Cadets and Soldiers lack the concealment ability. You haven't described how it should work yet, so if you want me to add this, please explain what this ability should do exactly.
Also, I added a new ranged attack for Bishop as you requested, but I had to do the same thing to Prophet of Light to maintain power leveling. Otherwise Prophet would lose that attack option when advancing from Bishop.
If I skipped some of your proposals, let me know. There had been a lot of suggestions in the past few days so I wouldn't be surprised that I forgot to implement something.

Concealment skill allows the unit to hide in villages terrain (present in Yellow Salamander if I remmeber correctly). Skill that if used correctly is devastating strong (dwarfs doesn't shine much at village terrain, hiding a lv2 / lv3 fighter as a surprise in right times can flip a battle situation)

Lol, just a bit later than your post I posted elemental archers and mystic archer buff (just slight magical ressitances, so they can perform better againist magical scouts that most of them are high tier and all of them fly which gives a notable advantage). In resume was thinking to give them standarized "mystical gear" ressitance like Mu / Hidden Face / Sorcerers

Will also test movement costs of new tank advancement as , theorically the bonus that should shine is the extra movility, but defenses are still mediocre as intended is the unit not having a notable performance but an equilibrated efficency in most possible terrains.

Will of edit previous post regards the mentioned optional advancement of Nightmares.

[IPS]

Quick-test of EoMa , found some bugs and details that have to be fixed appart a lot of good ressults.

First of all, I loved the ressults of technocrate and tecnologist shock-grenade, they are 20% magic resistant, also dazzle debuff decreases by -35% damage dealt from enemy unit to others , this means that lv2 tecnologist and lv3 technocrates even if their ressistances seems low , considering dazzle debuff the risk of taken damage from these dwarfs is only of 52% of total damage if you hit successfully shock-grenade first strike (in case of lv3 againist fire is 45,5% damage taken instead), so yeah, they can debuff mages with no running extreme risks. Lv2 technologist could debuff a -25 Time of Day Lv4 Chosen of The Swamp and survive !!

Dazzle also has a second debuff which decreases enemy defense by -10% less defense, this is of help for melee infantry and mostly balloons, as an unit at 50% def terrain if lowered to 40% ... BUT will not help marksman/skilled specials at all. So a part of Dazzle Special will not help +Marksman special from Mechanical Dragons and Steamcopters sadly (unless enemy is at 40% defense and then lowered to 30% or even lower). But, removing ZoC with +Stun debuff is always helpful.

Off-topic, getting short of technologists/technocrates feels very similar of getting out of slowers (at least in my case) so the units are completing correctly this role.

Tested lv2 shockwave damage, I personally think that it was a right desition not making it an one strike attack (appart of being potentially abusable in orocian survival map if being 17-1 +AoD +no-counter-attack). This way, more units can be harmed in different ammounts and this leads player to wait for Area of Damage ressults before doing next moves. Also, important to mention that kills from +Area-of-Damage is not giving XP to this dwarf machine as I could realize.

Lastly, it was blatant to me that Steam-copter has a wrong value for melee damage , so I used debug to eliminate the first recruit and instead replaced it by a lv2 balloon , much less relevant is the split-fire attack beign 9-3 instead of 9-2 for lv2 version, while all lv3 values are all correct (also, lv3 split-fire can of have 60% hit-chance in retaliation as buff, to make this unit a little more annoying to dealt with if using elusive ranged)

Saurian Assasin is now a pro poisoner, dealing with this unit even at day time was annoying for my dwarves lol , but in ways I found it fair and the unit be more realizable as a danger even if it's at -25% time of day.

RuneMasters test in 3.7

Random map replay 20220304-234659.gz

(43.87 KiB) Downloaded 50 times

[inferno8]

The 3.7.1 patch is ready!

It fixes recent bugs and includes improvements based on the latest feedback.

Also, important to mention that kills from +Area-of-Damage is not giving XP to this dwarf machine as I could realize.

A few months ago Ravana and I tried to make the fight and kill experience in mutlitarget attack as much consistent as possible, but this task probably hasn't been finished yet. I'll take a look at it next time. EDIT: I just tested that new shockwave attack against lvl1 units and it works fine for me (there is no fight xp though, but this is intentional - only kill xp is given).

Full changelog:

Code: Select all

## Version 3.7.1
 ### Units
	** Kharos:
	 * Elemental Archer: fire resistance from 15% to 20%; arcane resistance from 20% to 30%
	 * Mystical Archer: arcane resistance from 30% to 40%
	** Runemasters:
	 * Steamcopter: fixed incorrect number of strikes
	 * Dwarvish Mobile Turret: fixed incorrect number of strikes
	 * Mobile Defensive Platform: the split fire attack got the 'lesser revenge' weapon special (at least 60% chance in retaliation)
	 * Dwarvish Cadet: added the 'concealment' ability
	 * Dwarvish Soldier: added the 'concealment' ability
 ### Translations
    * updated the Polish translation
	* updated the raw translation file

[wuxiangjinxing]

Bug: both dwarvish cadet and its advancement, dwarvish soldier are lv2 units.

Bug: both dwarvish mobile turret and its advancement, mobile defensive turret, are lv1 units.