Altered era/ruleset (AKA "Altera", for 1.16, 1.14, 1.12 and 1.10)

[lea]

this is feedback/changelog thread for "Altera", also known as "Altered era/ruleset"

this era is an attempt to redesign, rebalance and re-flavor BfW's multiplayer factions according to author's taste (seven races/factions are "altered" so far).
it also adds some custom rules to make late games on big maps more challenging for winning player (especially when playing against AI), "tie loose ends" like using recall menu for resurrecting dead units and add some quality-of-life features, new tactical options and abilities.

it is available on official add-ons servers for following versions of Battle of Wesnoth (search for "Altered Era/Ruleset" there):
BfW 1.16.x (https://addons.wesnoth.org/1.16/)
BfW 1.14.x (https://addons.wesnoth.org/1.14/)
for BfW 1.10.7 and 1.12.6 new versions cannot be uploaded anymore, but version on 1.16.x and 1.14.x add-ons servers is identical and still compatible with BfW 1.12.6 and 1.10.7, it can be downloaded from there and manually copied (unzipped) to addons folder of BfW 1.12.6 or 1.10.7 (or any newer stable version) - which is recommended because add-ons server for BfW 1.10.7 is stuck with version 0.6.5 of Altered era/ruleset which contains annoying bug that was fixed in 0.6.6 (can also be mitigated by disabling icons for healing and tactician effects)
official downloads of older versions of BfW can be found here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/wesnoth/files/
Notes on compatibility of Altered era/ruleset with different versions of "The Battle for Wesnoth" (from "compatibility.txt" and "/ui-themes/readme-ui-themes.txt" files included with "Altered era/ruleset"):

Spoiler:

1.16.x - not recommended because of issues and limitations introduced in this version of BfW:
- using custom UI themes with campaigns is possible but only with extra hassle for the user, unlike all previous versions
- cannot run on 32-bit devices, consequently cannot run on windows XP, unlike all previous versions
- bug: list of unit's attacks/weapons is rendered on top of all other UI elements (in all UI themes, unlike previous versions of "The Battle for Wesnoth")
minimum supported resolution is 800x600, unlike BfW 1.12.6 and earlier versions
also this version has subtle changes in game mechanics:

 - "mushroom grove" terrain is mushroom+flat unlike previous versions of Wesnoth where it was
 mushroom only for purposes of unit's defense and movement cost,
 Altered random map generators use newly introduced "mycelium" terrain instead of "mushroom grove
" to work around this change and present same maps in terms of game mechanics

- different order of modifier stacking and rounding, see this forum discussion:
 viewtopic.php?t=55024

1.14.16 and 1.14.17 - recommended except it uses smaller fonts for some of its UI elements
older versions of 1.14.x series have subtle change in how they render text making it hard to read
minimum supported resolution is 800x600, unlike previous versions of BfW
allows using custom UI themes with campaigns

1.12.6 - recommended and preferred, especially for low screen/window resolutions
it mixes styles of UI from 1.10 and 1.14 and seems to be more buggy than other versions
minimum supported resolution is 800x480 (this is the newest version of BfW that supports it)
allows using custom UI themes with campaigns

1.10.7 - recommended unless features added in later versions of BfW are desired:
- era options are not supported in BfW 1.10.x

- default hotkeys for custom right-click menu entries do not work in BfW 1.10.x

- icons for terrain types for highlighted map tile are not shown in BfW 1.10.x
 (names of these terrain types are still shown as text)

- the fact that shield attack special is negated when used against mystical
 attacks is not shown in combat encounter estimations window in BfW 1.10.x

- tooltips for some attack specials are omitted (only "Weapon Special:" text
 is shown in tooltip) in BfW minimum supported resolution is 800x480
allows using custom UI themes with campaigns

also "Altered Era [+new sprites]" is discussed in this thread, which is (or at least was) The_Gnat's effort to provide unique sprites for "more of the same" advancements (for two races/factions so far), in Altered era/ruleset these "more of the same" advancements reuse sprites of lower level units they advance from (see explanation under the first spoiler below). it is available on official add-ons server for BfW 1.12.6

feedback is welcome!
under the spoiler are some questions if you want your feedback to be more structured:

Spoiler:

1. how do you prefer to play?
on which maps or random map generators?
what size of map do you prefer and with how many human and AI opponents?
2. what you liked most and why?
3. what confused you or seems unclear?
4. what annoyed or frustrated you?
5. what seems missing or would be nice to have?

please feel free to send your feedback in private message if you do not feel like going public )

more details about it:

full list of Altered Era's custom rules can be accessed in game from right-click menu ("Info about Altered Rules" entry), some of these rules are listed under spoiler below:

Spoiler:

(most of these rules can be turned off by commenting corresponding includes in _main.cfg file, grouped after "require_era=yes" line, in Wesnoth 1.12.6 or later some of them can also be disabled during multiplayer game setup by unticking respective checkboxes among era-specific settings)

units-related:
sustained march: each unit that has any move points remaining will get 1 extra move point on its next turn (also +1 maximum move points until start of its next turn - to produce correct predictions about its movement range)
ad-hoc recruiting: leaders can recruit units in windmills and owned villages when they stand next to them, cost is usually 2 gold higher (compared to recruiting in the keep) for units that advance to other level 1 units and 1.5x higher for other units, activated from right-click menu on windmill/village hexes
dismissing: unit can be dismissed (moved to recall list) if it did not act during current turn, was not attacked since its previous turn, was not recruited or recalled during current turn and stands on a terrain it can pass using only one movement point, dismissed unit's side gets gold equal to 1/3 of dismissed unit's current experience, activated from right-click menu
rebirth: all killed units are moved to their owners' recall lists
penalized recalling: unit recalling cost equals to half of the unit's maximum experience (rounded down), recalled unit loses half its current experience and is left with only 10 hitpoints
healing hamlets: units that start their turn on hamlets (flowering water lilies, great tree, oasis, mountain watchtower) are healed for 4 hitpoints or have their poison slowed, this effect is not cumulative with healing and regrowth abilities of units
no healing on advancement: unit after advancement has same amount of hitpoints as before advancement, unless explicitly modified by other circumstances
Commoners: level 0 units have zone of control, upkeep of 1 gold per turn and give 1 exp to their opponent after each combat encounter (except when it would allow opponent to advance)
Hero / Legend: all units except 'commoners' have default advancement paths that look and work in exactly same way as their base unit type except they are of higher level and correspondingly more powerful (more damage and hitpoints), they have type names of their base unit types with 'Hero' (level 2) and 'Legend' (level 3) suffixes appended
healing instead of advancement: unit can heal itself for 10 hitpoints instead of advancement, this option costs from 15 to 50 experience points depending on unit type, experience points in excess of this amount are preserved
rejuvenation (AMLA): level 3 units can increase their hitpoints maximum by 5% and experience points by 10% 'instead' of advancement (which is not available for them)

economy-related:
trade nexus: when side's leader is at least 25 hexes away from map's horizontal or vertical edges then each turn this side receives 1 gold per dimension, and 1 more gold per dimension if distance is at least 40 hexes
desperate stand: if sum of side's gold (treated as 0 if negative) and 25 times quantity of side's units is less than sum of map's height and width then this side receives amount of gold equal to sum of map's height and width when its turn begins
benevolent lend: if side is in debt (its gold reserves are negative) then its debt is reduced by half when this side's turn starts
storage expenses: if side has more than 250 gold then its gold in excess of this amount is reduced by half when this side's turn starts
corruption: if player owns more than 25 villages then excess villages provide 1/2 gold less income unless their income is required to pay the debt

AI-only:
ancestral memory (for AI): random unit of each computer player gets experience boost proportional to current turn number, initially capped at 15 and increasing with each leader killed
invasion support (for AI): each computer-controlled side at the beginning of its turn receives extra gold equal to turn number or 'support ceiling', whichever is lower, 'support ceiling' starts at 5 and increases by a number of dead leaders whenever leader dies

auto-generated unit advancement trees (may be somewhat obsolete and occasionally incorrect, for example in Lamia Viper subtree both Haspid and Scylla are incorrectly shown as level 2 advancements of Viper while they are actually level 3 units to which Conda can advance):
https://units.wesnoth.org/1.14/Altered/ ... fault.html
https://units.wesnoth.org/1.14/Altera/e ... fault.html
https://units.wesnoth.org/1.16/Altered/ ... fault.html
https://units.wesnoth.org/1.16/Altera/e ... fault.html
there are some "commoners" - level 0 units that have most qualities of level 1 units, except they are weaker, fighting them gives experience to their opponent only if this opponent will not advance/level-up as a result and only 4 exp is given for killing them.
also some units are shown more than once because there is more than one unit type able to advance to them, for example both fey preserver and fey wanderer ("commoners" of fey faction) can advance to archer, so archer subtree is shown twice, once for each "commoner"

there are a bunch of other "design guidelines" that I strive to follow when making content for Altered era/ruleset, see them under the spoiler (or in design-choices.txt file from Altered Era's folder):

Spoiler:

All units in "altered" factions have melee and ranged attacks, melee-inclined units have very weak ranged attacks (so that there are no 'free', zero-risk attacks against melee units) and level 0 units ("commoners") have an upkeep cost of 1 (no zero-upkeep crowds for bankers) and full zone of control

"more of the same" advancements have same looks as their direct predecessors, so change in unit's appearance also (hopefully) leads to change in its use, even if only a minor one, added a bunch of weapon specials that change attack/defense/damage in different circumstances for extra variety, especially among non-magical units

some stats of units are derived from their looks:
- units with twin (two swords, two axes, etc) or two-sided (pole) weapons get "circular" attack special (additional chances to hit if some of their regular strikes miss)
- units with shields get "shield" attack special (defense bonus when attacking) for attacks which feature shield in their animations
- units with clothes/armor get minor resistances depending on what they wear as follows:
leather armor - 20% resistance to impact and fire damage
chain mail - 20% resistance to impact and blade damage
plate armor - 20% resistance to pierce and blade damage
warm clothes - 20% resistance to cold damage
some creatures covered with scales also get resistance to pierce damage
some deeply magical creatures (faeries etc, not spellcasters of "mundane" races) get resistance to arcane damage

random traits are changed to make most of them scale with unit's power (for damage bonuses) and have no downsides (for movement bonus), "intelligent" trait is removed (except for temporarily included mainline races), added some new racial traits, full list under the spoiler:

Spoiler:

Altered Random Traits of Units have following effects:
brave: no damage penalty for unfavorable time of day, for neutral units +25% damage during dawn and dusk
mighty: +15% melee damage (minimum +1 damage)
agile: +15% ranged damage (minimum +1 damage)
swift: +1 movement speed
elusive: ignores all zones of control (move freely when near opponents) as long as there are no more than one adjacent opponent
tough: +15% hitpoints
robust: always rest-heals unless attacked, heals 10 hitpoints and cured from debilitating conditions when advances
precise: chance to miss is reduced by 1/5 for all attacks
lucky: chance (10% plus 5% per adjacent enemy) to receive half damage from each incoming strike

Altered Fixed (non-randomized) Traits of Units have following effects:
recruiter: can recruit and recall units of its own faction when on keep or near windmill or owned village
lifeless: immune to poison
spirit: inflict and receive 50% less damage unless opponent also has this trait, cannot be healed with healing abilities

tested mostly on included customized random map generators ("Altered Huge random map" and "Altered Duel random map") designed to include most terrain types in relative abundance, including some rare mixed terrain types and special terrains for "healing hamlets" rule

[The_Gnat]

Hi Lea, this altered era sounds great, one thing i think would be cool to add also is that there are two types of villages, blacksmith shops, mines, mills, etc. that give money and normal villages that heal, rather than having villages do both

[lea]

I like the idea of multiple settlement types (would go for more than two) and I think I know how to make that in WML for player-vs-player games on custom-made maps. there are two major issues with it:
1) random maps (my mode of choice so far) do not contain enough alternative settlement types to fully take on either function of villages - need to tamper with random map generator to change that
2) AI does not know how to use alternative settlement types - need to tamper with AI obviously
both of these look like major time sinks to me... so not now. but may be later, when I flesh out a few more factions

EDIT: retroactively adding release note for first published version of Altera (below) since forgot to do it when it was released

version 0.1.0 is published for BfW 1.10.7 and 1.12.x

changes:
- added first "Altered" race - fey (called elves in mainline)
- changed random traits:
damage and hitpoints bonuses are expressed as percentage of base value,
removed downsides from random traits,
formerly race-specific random traits are available for all races
intelligent trait is removed for "Altered" races
- added "Altered" custom rules:
no healing on advancement - units afte radvancement have same amount of hitpoints as right before it
rebirth - killed units are moved to their owner's recall lists
dismissing - units can be dismissed to recall list (essentially committing suicide)
penalized recalling - recalling a unit costs half of this unit's maximum experience, recalled unit loses half of its experience and has only 10 hitpoints
ad-hoc recruiting - leaders can recruit units in windmills and owned villages at double price
desperate stand - side that almost exhausted its army and gold reserves receives extra gold

[The_Gnat]

1) random maps (my mode of choice so far) do not contain enough alternative settlement types to fully take on either function of villages - need to tamper with random map generator to change that

Yeah i agree, (and always if you can't change the map generator you can just make events for specific terrain types to differentiate between settlements)

2) AI does not know how to use alternative settlement types - need to tamper with AI obviously
both of these look like major time sinks to me... so not now. but may be later, when I flesh out a few more factions

Another yeah it would be silly for ai to be sitting on a income earning settlement waiting to get healed

I'd love to hear your other ideas for settlements!

[lea]

Yeah i agree, (and always if you can't change the map generator you can just make events for specific terrain types to differentiate between settlements)

current random maps have only regular villages in required quantities so without changing map generators there will be lack/overabundance of either healing sources or income sources - except in maps manually customized for this kind of settlements

I'd love to hear your other ideas for settlements!

these are settlements where otherwise unavailable units can be hired, like hiring animals in lairs located in their natural habitats (desert lairs for scorpions, forest lairs for wolves etc), hiring trolls on bridges (for those who like this fantasy stereotype), hiring dragons in cave lairs (if I manage to add caves to random maps) and so on

[The_Gnat]

Sound good! I am interested in trying out your era when it is completed! (also is the circular weapon special going to be included in this era) EDIT: After trying it i see it is included

[lea]

version 0.1.1 is published for BfW 1.10.7 and 1.12.x

changes:
- fixed bug in circular weapon special - it was possible to make more hits than this special should allow if used defensively
- added 3 more units to elven faction
- changed elven tender melee attack from 4-4 to 4-3 (one of new units now fills "cheaper blunt melee" niche)
- fixed a few typos and bugs in animations

[lea]

Sound good! I am interested in trying out your era when it is completed! (also is the circular weapon special going to be included in this era)

it is already included and used by 3 units (4 in 0.1.1 update).
this era is not intended to ever be "totally finished, nothing more to add", I intend to put 1.0 version number when 3 races will be "altered" so that default factions can be removed. unless I "run out of steam" before reaching this milestone
If you want to find out whether you may like this era when it will be more or less "full" then I suggest to play one game on (medium or larger) random map with "Elves" faction chosen for all players

[The_Gnat]

it is already included and used by 3 units (4 in 0.1.1 update).
this era is not intended to ever be "totally finished, nothing more to add", I intend to put 1.0 version number when 3 races will be "altered" so that default factions can be removed. unless I "run out of steam" before reaching this milestone
If you want to find out whether you may like this era when it will be more or less "full" then I suggest to play one game on (medium or larger) random map with "Elves" faction chosen for all players

Ok i'll give that a try and post my thoughts.

[The_Gnat]

Hi i have played a random map with the altered era and i think it is really cool! I totally love the magical attack animations you have created, especially call lightning!!! Here are my thoughts:

I noticed in the rules desperate stand and i was wondering what that was for. Also i was wondering why the units have yellow arrows showing their level under them? Also i was unable to recruit onto owned villages.

Other things i noticed:

-The elven nymph has 52 xp to advance where as its counterpart the elven oracle only has 36 that seems like a big difference
-The elven wanderer and forester i did not at first realize do not advance to lvl 2 units, it would be nice if that was made clear (but even once i found out i bought a lot of them )
- I noticed that villages heal and give gold, are you planning on changing that still? Also if some villages no longer heal are you planning on adding in any healer units?

Also i loved all the new units you created but noticed a lot didn't have unique images, here are images i found that (i think ) would be better for the various units to make them each unique!

Fighter Champion: (i suggest you use the elf shielder image from the golden age - not quite the same style if you don't like it i have 3 other images that i suggest would work)


Fighter Hero: (i suggest the elvish line holder from the golden age - i have other images that would work for this unit also)


Warden Hero: (navigator from uber default era)


Conjurer:

I created this unit, it has animations if you like it

prince.png (3.68 KiB) Viewed 28695 times

Conjurer Hero: (great champion by forest dragon, unfortunately has no anims)


Ancanist Hero: (overlord from uber default)


If you are interested in having this i have already found images for most of your units without unique pictures. (and if you don't have time to do this i can add them all for you!) I think that unique images are really important so it would be great if they got added!

[The_Gnat]

Also here are some additional attack icons that might be useful, and i have a bunch more magical attacks and attacks for other races (dwarves,humans,orcs)

[lea]

version 0.1.2 is published for BfW 1.10.7 and 1.12.x

changes:
- reduced hitpoints and max experience for most high-level units, fixed max experience for some of them (used to be same as level 2 units because of my mistake)
- added random map generators with different default settings (for tiny and large game)
- reduced ranged damage for sidne (was too high to make dancer hero worth going for)

[lea]

I totally love the magical attack animations you have created, especially call lightning!!!

thanks but this animation is made by someone else (don't know who exactly). I took it from ageless era (IIRC) and merely made the cloud move (it was hanging still in original version of this animation). Concord's "call hail" attack animation is closer to being "made by me", but still uses stormcloud images from "call lightning"

I noticed in the rules desperate stand and i was wondering what that was for.

as the name implies, it is an attempt to give losing side an ability to put up a final fight - or even recover. otherwise leaders without armies and cash can be killed by just a few level 1 units, even though I made them stronger than regular level 3 units.

Also i was wondering why the units have yellow arrows showing their level under them?

to indicate their level I hope it should help to distinguish "champion" and "hero" units ("more of the same" advancement paths) from their level 1 predecessors - they use same looks and animations so without additional signs players would have to hover the mouse cursor over them just to know if each such unit is basic level 1 unit or advanced version of the same basic type. for that same reason leaders are marked with red "flash" over their level indicators.

Also i was unable to recruit onto owned villages.

did you see "Recruit in Village" option in right-click menu? I'll check if I made some typo in definition of this ability

-The elven nymph has 52 xp to advance where as its counterpart the elven oracle only has 36 that seems like a big difference

it is 120 and 90 respectively in version 0.1.2 - still fairly big difference but I think it is justified by heal/regenerate abilities of the nymph and the fact that all oracle's attacks (except humble staff) cannot kill (have "nonlethal" special) so oracle should be harder to level up

-The elven wanderer and forester i did not at first realize do not advance to lvl 2 units, it would be nice if that was made clear

they are intended to be kind of level 0 units, but with non-zero upkeep and zone of control. I expected that it will be confusing (also they do not show up in advancement trees in https://units.wesnoth.org/1.12/Altered/ ... html#Elves) but failed to come up with a way to make it more clear any ideas?

(but even once i found out i bought a lot of them )

do you think they are too strong/useful for their price?

- I noticed that villages heal and give gold, are you planning on changing that still? Also if some villages no longer heal are you planning on adding in any healer units?

yes, villages work in the same way as in default ruleset. I intend to get at least 3 factions/races to playable state and only then elaborate on custom rules. also want to tamper with random map generator to add caves and a few other things.

Also i loved all the new units you created but noticed a lot didn't have unique images, here are images i found that (i think ) would be better for the various units to make them each unique!

my primary goal is to add variety in game mechanics and "backstory" (unit descriptions), not in graphics. But suggestions for images are welcome because after getting 3 factions up to playable state I will likely want to add more units to them and for elves I already ran out of default images also some existing units may get additional attacks

If you are interested in having this i have already found images for most of your units without unique pictures. (and if you don't have time to do this i can add them all for you!) I think that unique images are really important so it would be great if they got added!

I suggest you add/replace them yourself and post it on BfW's addons server as your variation of my era (feel free to use similar name with some suffix for it so that it will be near my era in addons list when sorted alphabetically). Two more factions are going to take plenty of my time and only after making them I am going to get to polishing things. if I will live long enough

[lea]

version 0.1.3 is published for BfW 1.10.7 and 1.12.x

changes:
- fixed ad-hoc recruitment in villages and windmills not working in most setups
- added explanation for "commoner" units to "info about rules" right-click menu option, these are level 1 units that are intended to be "level 0 units with non-zero upkeep and zone of control"
- added traveler to ad-hoc recruit list and increased its price (used to be same as tender's price despite stronger attacks)

[The_Gnat]

Thanks for responding!!

Spoiler:

Also i was wondering why the units have yellow arrows showing their level under them?

to indicate their level I hope it should help to distinguish "champion" and "hero" units ("more of the same" advancement paths) from their level 1 predecessors - they use same looks and animations so without additional signs players would have to hover the mouse cursor over them just to know if each such unit is basic level 1 unit or advanced version of the same basic type. for that same reason leaders are marked with red "flash" over their level indicators.

Hmm... its a good idea but the arrows seem a little bit too obtrusive on the wesnoth sprites and scenery (maybe if you shrink them a little it would be better)

Spoiler:

Also i was unable to recruit onto owned villages.

did you see "Recruit in Village" option in right-click menu? I'll check if I made some typo in definition of this ability

Glad you fixed it, this is a good feature!

Spoiler:

-The elven nymph has 52 xp to advance where as its counterpart the elven oracle only has 36 that seems like a big difference

it is 120 and 90 respectively in version 0.1.2 - still fairly big difference but I think it is justified by heal/regenerate abilities of the nymph and the fact that all oracle's attacks (except humble staff) cannot kill (have "nonlethal" special) so oracle should be harder to level up

Yeah i see what you mean, nonlethal is a big disadvantage, so this is good.

Spoiler:

-The elven wanderer and forester i did not at first realize do not advance to lvl 2 units, it would be nice if that was made clear

they are intended to be kind of level 0 units, but with non-zero upkeep and zone of control. I expected that it will be confusing (also they do not show up in advancement trees in https://units.wesnoth.org/1.12/Altered/ ... #Elves) but failed to come up with a way to make it more clear any ideas?

Its good it is added to the rules, that way no one else makes my mistake

Spoiler:

(but even once i found out i bought a lot of them )

do you think they are too strong/useful for their price?

This is hard to say, maybe increase the price by 1gp, i would really have to play more to tell you for sure.

Spoiler:

- I noticed that villages heal and give gold, are you planning on changing that still? Also if some villages no longer heal are you planning on adding in any healer units?

yes, villages work in the same way as in default ruleset. I intend to get at least 3 factions/races to playable state and only then elaborate on custom rules. also want to tamper with random map generator to add caves and a few other things.

Yeah that is a good idea!

Spoiler:

Also i loved all the new units you created but noticed a lot didn't have unique images, here are images i found that (i think ) would be better for the various units to make them each unique!

my primary goal is to add variety in game mechanics and "backstory" (unit descriptions), not in graphics. But suggestions for images are welcome because after getting 3 factions up to
playable state I will likely want to add more units to them and for elves I already ran out of default images also some existing units may get additional attacks

If you are interested in having this i have already found images for most of your units without unique pictures. (and if you don't have time to do this i can add them all for you!) I think that unique images are really important so it would be great if they got added!

I suggest you add/replace them yourself and post it on BfW's addons server as your variation of my era (feel free to use similar name with some suffix for it so that it will be near my era in addons list when sorted alphabetically). Two more factions are going to take plenty of my time and only after making them I am going to get to polishing things. if I will live long enough

Thanks a lot, i will have a look around over the next few weeks and see if i can get sprites unique sprites for all the units!

Great Era i look forward to the new factions!

Also in the multiplayer window the altered era just says "altered", all the rest say "XXXX era" so maybe you should make it say "altered era" (this is not really important just a thought i had), and there is no description for the altered era in the multiplayer menu.

EDIT: also here are two good alternative images to use for entwine -

vine-ensnare.png (7.98 KiB) Viewed 28654 times

vine.png (6.31 KiB) Viewed 28654 times