The Great Steppe Era (1.16,1.18 add-on server)

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ThroneGame
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Re: [new faction] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ThroneGame »

Very glad that Tartarus Mandate is out!
It seems very surreal that less than a yeah ago it was just a random idea I came up with shortly after playing GSE and brainstorming various concepts which can fit into the nomadic theme of the era. Tartarus Mandate has a lot of inspirations from and outside of Wesnoth and I had never thought it would come together so nicely!
I am happy to be a part of GSE team! :mrgreen:
Co-developer of the Great Steppe Era (GSE): viewtopic.php?t=53932
My deviantart account: https://www.deviantart.com/coredove
christucker
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Re: [new faction] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by christucker »

Damn this looks like the highest quality faction by far since Era of Magic. Any word on when this might make it to the Ageless era? Seems like a no-brainer to add this to the list, given how excellent it looks, although the sheer amount of unique mechanics might make balancing a key question. At first glance there seems to be a dearth of healers in these factions, I wonder how that's been taken into account? Might make survivals and the like noticeably more challenging?
Cheers for the hard work, can't wait to try these out.

edit: So the Bull faction can't occupy villages? How's that supposed to work with the Steppe survival map, or any survival for that matter - or are they just not meant for that type of gameplay? :D
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ForestDragon
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Re: [new faction] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

christucker wrote: April 21st, 2022, 8:34 am Damn this looks like the highest quality faction by far since Era of Magic.

Cheers for the hard work, can't wait to try these out.
Glad you like it :)
christucker wrote: April 21st, 2022, 8:34 am Any word on when this might make it to the Ageless era? Seems like a no-brainer to add this to the list, given how excellent it looks, although the sheer amount of unique mechanics might make balancing a key question.
Am not really a fan of Ageless to be honest - it's way too bloated for my tastes, and it takes away downloads from the creators of the original eras. Besides, even if we wanted to add it, steppe code would be a huge pain in the ass for Ravana to maintain.
christucker wrote: April 21st, 2022, 8:34 amAt first glance there seems to be a dearth of healers in these factions, I wonder how that's been taken into account? Might make survivals and the like noticeably more challenging?
In mainline, 4/7 factions have healers, in steppe it's 3/6 so I wouldn't say it's that far behind from mainline. (Tumen has healer from lvl1, coven has a lvl2 healer (Rodimitsa) and Northern Knyaz Triumvirate does actually have heal, but you need to use Skylark's build ability to get it). Serpent Khaganate can also enslave enemy healers in survivals.
christucker wrote: April 21st, 2022, 8:34 am edit: So the Bull faction can't occupy villages? How's that supposed to work with the Steppe survival map, or any survival for that matter - or are they just not meant for that type of gameplay? :D
Actually, bull tumen is very op in survivals :P - while it's true that they can't take villages, they earn lots of gold from killing enemy waves thanks to their pillage ability. In co-op survival maps you should give your villages to allies
christucker
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Re: [new faction] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by christucker »

ForestDragon wrote: April 21st, 2022, 3:26 pm Am not really a fan of Ageless to be honest - it's way too bloated for my tastes, and it takes away downloads from the creators of the original eras. Besides, even if we wanted to add it, steppe code would be a huge pain in the ass for Ravana to maintain.

In mainline, 4/7 factions have healers, in steppe it's 3/6 so I wouldn't say it's that far behind from mainline. (Tumen has healer from lvl1, coven has a lvl2 healer (Rodimitsa) and Northern Knyaz Triumvirate does actually have heal, but you need to use Skylark's build ability to get it). Serpent Khaganate can also enslave enemy healers in survivals.

Actually, bull tumen is very op in survivals :P - while it's true that they can't take villages, they earn lots of gold from killing enemy waves thanks to their pillage ability. In co-op survival maps you should give your villages to allies
Cheers for the reply! We use Ageless in our multiplayer mostly for the convenience, and the novelty of seeing different types of factions at the same time and see how they measure up against each other. My inner fanboy yearns to see something epic from the Era of Magic, like Destroyers, going up against the Bull Tumen or something. I'm like wetting my pants at the thought, lol. But I understand that it's a lot of work and brings with it unwanted baggage. Shame, that - would've loved to see these factions go up against, or working side by side with other cool ones.

Yea I assumed it was 2/6 because didn't get to see the healing building yet. Good to know that it's there, though. Good stuff.

I just now realized that pillage gives gold for kills, I don't know why I thought it only gave some for the villages. I just did a 180 on this faction - what an awesome idea and mechanic. Will give it a proper go soon. I'm loving the amount of new mechanics.

A curiosity I happened upon that I might as well ask about while I'm at it - Wild Witch reads that she gets 2 free Fear Shadows for recall, but starting up in Steppe Survival they cost 9 a piece. I'm probably missing something obvious here but I can't think of what..
Deciton_Reven
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Re: [new faction] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by Deciton_Reven »

christucker wrote: April 21st, 2022, 5:13 pm Cheers for the reply! We use Ageless in our multiplayer mostly for the convenience, and the novelty of seeing different types of factions at the same time and see how they measure up against each other. My inner fanboy yearns to see something epic from the Era of Magic, like Destroyers, going up against the Bull Tumen or something. I'm like wetting my pants at the thought, lol. But I understand that it's a lot of work and brings with it unwanted baggage. Shame, that - would've loved to see these factions go up against, or working side by side with other cool ones.
One of my favorite parts of Wesnoth is that if you want this to happen, it is actually pretty easy. It wouldn't be especially explicitly balanced, but you can always make a personal add-on that uses this Great Steppe Era and any other eras you like as dependents to add an era resource that combines any or all of their factions together. I won't got into details in this thread because that's not what it's for, but the WML Workshop is ripe for learning if you're unsure how to do it.
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ForestDragon
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Re: [new faction] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

christucker wrote: April 21st, 2022, 5:13 pm A curiosity I happened upon that I might as well ask about while I'm at it - Wild Witch reads that she gets 2 free Fear Shadows for recall, but starting up in Steppe Survival they cost 9 a piece. I'm probably missing something obvious here but I can't think of what..
Truth is, it was originally free, but we later nerfed it, but forgot to change the ability description, sorry about that. Will fix next update.
Deciton_Reven wrote: April 21st, 2022, 5:46 pm
christucker wrote: April 21st, 2022, 5:13 pm Cheers for the reply! We use Ageless in our multiplayer mostly for the convenience, and the novelty of seeing different types of factions at the same time and see how they measure up against each other. My inner fanboy yearns to see something epic from the Era of Magic, like Destroyers, going up against the Bull Tumen or something. I'm like wetting my pants at the thought, lol. But I understand that it's a lot of work and brings with it unwanted baggage. Shame, that - would've loved to see these factions go up against, or working side by side with other cool ones.
One of my favorite parts of Wesnoth is that if you want this to happen, it is actually pretty easy. It wouldn't be especially explicitly balanced, but you can always make a personal add-on that uses this Great Steppe Era and any other eras you like as dependents to add an era resource that combines any or all of their factions together. I won't got into details in this thread because that's not what it's for, but the WML Workshop is ripe for learning if you're unsure how to do it.
That is a good idea. I might even try to make such an add-on myself and publish it later
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ForestDragon
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Re: [new faction] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 1.3.1 update is out! Changelog:
General Changes:
-hopefully fixed a bug that caused the era to show up three times in the unit database
Dead Field Coven changes:
-barrow warden now requires 68 exp to advance to instead of 80
-barrow tsar now has 1 more max hp
-fixed amlas reducing the level of souls spawned by Primal God
-changed Primal Patriarch's darkness beam sound
-fixed queen of wolves ability having an outdated description
Tartarus Mandate changes:
-added custom AMLA to Kobold Bombardier, and reduced his max exp from 150 to 100
-added custom AMLA to Kobold Arrowstorm, and reduced his max exp from 150 to 100
-added custom AMLA to Kobold Fire Lancer, and reduced his max exp from 100 to 65
-add lvl3 units now have an AMLA that gives nocturnal regeneration (might give more proper AMLAs to them later)
-buffed kobold fire lancer's fire resistance from -20% to -10%, but nerfed cold resistance from 0% to -10% (so it's more constitent with lvl1)
-kobolds and manguses can now get the healthy trait
-changed vixen huntress' claws icon (now it's metal claws instead of normal claws)

Here is also a new demon portrait drawn by Kordov (it was added in 1.3.0 but now is a better to show it off):
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ForestDragon
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Re: The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

It's been a while since I released patches for GSE, so decided to release a quick bugfix patch
-fixed some weird interactions between enslave, capture, disloyal and enslaver of souls abilities
-whenever you enslave/convert a caged unit the unit becomes free from the cage
-whenever a caged and/or enslaved unit is resurrected as a shade by Primal God, the shade will no longer be caged/enslaved
-whenever a caged disloyal unit desert to an enemy side, he will be freed from the cage
-replaced some deprecated lua code

Behind the scenes we are actively working on the ogre kingdom rework, and something else too, stay tuned ;)
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ForestDragon
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[rework] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 1.4 update is finally out, bringing the reworked Ogre Kingdom faction! The Ogre Kingdom is a powerful feudal power located in the mountains west of the Steppes. Constant feuds and conflicts with neighbors have honed the siege skills of Ogres: at their disposal they have long-range Catapult Trolls, furious Stormtroopers, Fire Pigs, armored Knights and Monstrous Beavers from Bitter Swamps. Ogres’ army is unstoppable in a siege, but vulnerable in a maneuverable field battle.

Rework features:

General: The mercenary and religion mechanics that forced the player to camp have been replaced with a number of siege mechanics for an aggressive playstyle!

- Completely updated art with some animations!
- New mechanics such as breaking castles, pulling units, long-ranged attacks, etc.
- New units like: Siege Troll, Giant Beaver, Fire Pig, instead of the boring old serfs and mermen
- Rebalancing the stats of old units
- Full descriptions for all units in both Russian and English
rework_all.png
rework1.png
rework2.png
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ForestDragon
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Re: [rework] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 1.4.1 bugfix update is out, bringing with it some much-needed tweaks to the reworked Ogre Kingdom in preparation for the upcoming campaign!

Bull Tumen changes:
-fixed the AI attacking prisoners
Ogre Kingdom changes:
-added custom AMLA to Ogre Magnate, and reduced his max exp from 150 to 100
-improved feudal line attack animations (now has dust, similar to boars in mainline)
-feudal line now has double hit/die sounds (one for ogre, one for the boar), similarly to most mounted units in GSE
-longrange attacks no longer free slaves
-fixed longrange attacks not being able to hit units on 0% defense, or units whose defense was reduced by primal god's attack

Here is also a new naga overseer portrait drawn by Kordov (it was added in 1.4.0 but now is a better time to show it off):
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ForestDragon
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Re: [rework] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 1.4.2 update is out, bringing with it two new Coven units as well as a few minor fixes! Since Mechanical will be quite busy next month, and I'll be taking a small break from GSE, expect updates to be slower than usual, but I'll still try to fix bugs with GSE/Ogre Crusaders if they arise, and will still remain active on forums/discord. Changelog:

Dead Field Coven changes:
-new units: Familiar and Imp
Ogre Kingdom:
-fixed hillstalk not working on forested hills/mountains, as well as hill/mountain villages
Misc Changes:
-replaced a lot of deprecated lua code

Here is also a new steppe ghoul portrait drawn by Kordov (it was added in 1.4.0 but now is a better time to show it off):
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Konrad2
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Re: [rework] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by Konrad2 »

'Bridge' (Castle, Flat) is not affected by 'castle breaker'. This terrain is used in 'Smoke of the Fatherland' (Ogre Crusade).
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ForestDragon
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Re: [rework] The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

Konrad2 wrote: July 18th, 2022, 9:24 am 'Bridge' (Castle, Flat) is not affected by 'castle breaker'. This terrain is used in 'Smoke of the Fatherland' (Ogre Crusade).
Thanks for the reporting the bug. Released a hotfix update (1.4.2b) that fixes castle breaker ability for castles with overlays like bridges and others (villages won't be damaged by castle breaker though, only castle layer, to avoid overlap with Bull Tumen)
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ForestDragon
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Re: The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 1.4.3 update is out, bringing some balance changes as well as some much-needed bugfixes
-fixed zeal/pull/idol ability descriptions
Bull Tumen Changes:
-fixed trample not giving exp on hit/kill
-fixed trample triggering death events twice
Tartarus Mandate Changes:
-brutal worm nerfs: removed scavenger on main branch (kept it on hydra branch though), reduced lvl1 hp from 40 to 33, lvl1 melee damage from 4-3, increased price to 20, but slightly reduced exp to compensate
-improved hydra's drain attack (now has 75% drain instead of 66%), but reduced max hp and tunnel radius to compensate
-slightly increased jorogumo hp, and reduced cost from 21 to 20
-reduced mangus cost from 18 to 17
-reduced terracotta cost from 13 to 12
-kobold now costs 15 gold instead of 16, and increased max hp by 1
-reduced jiangshi cost from 19 to 17, but also reduced hp from 29 to 28
Ogre Kingdom Changes:
-long-ranged attacks can now finally be buffed by leadership/zeal/any other similar abilities
-to compensate for that, cleric now costs 21 gold instead of 18
-buffed Noble Son's max hp from 38 to 40
-increased Feudal's price from 21 to 25
-increased Siege Troll's price from 18 to 19
-reduced giant beaver's price from 18 to 16
-fixed knockback not properly giving combat exp
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ForestDragon
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Re: The Great Steppe Era (1.16 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 1.4.4 update is out, bringing with it plenty of improvements, especially for the Serpent Khaganate. Changelog:

UI Changes:
-new/improved icons for all factions
Bull Tumen Changes:
-new Tarbynn portrait (contributed by ForestDragon)
-ogre butcher's strikes text no longer overlaps with gold text
-fixed ogre butcher's strikes text not being translated
-fixed burning villages not getting extinguished properly after the first one finishes burning
-fixed chariot's trample attack 'bouncing' off impassable mountains
Serpent Khaganate Changes:
-new unit: Serpent Immortal (alt. advancement of Serpent Tarhan, with a portrait drawn by Kordov)
-new unit: Slave Rouser (alt. advancement of both slave spearman and slave archer)
-added portrait to Serpent Tarhan line (contributed by Kordov)
-serpent tarhan now has a 6-2 fire magical attack (to make him not useless when he can't enslave)
-added attack anims to Greyblade day form (contributed by the_kaygan)
-improved Serpent Tarhan sprite
-improved Slave Spearman sprite
-fixed slave spearman translation
Dead Field Coven Changes:
-new sprite and halo for Wild Witch
-buffed wild witch ranged damage by 1
-fixed translation for birther of fiends, and fixed the description showing some outdated info
-improved fear shadow sprite
Northern Knyaz Triumvirate Changes:
-building/upgrading now costs a fixed amount of moves instead of a percentage of max moves
-buffed Surveilance Tower's vision radius from 14 to 16, and observe radius from 7 to 8
-translated Apprentice/Skylark descriptions into english
Ogre Kingdom Changes:
-adjusted healthbar positions on some large units
Tartarus Mandate Changes:
-removed Umbral Mandarin from the leaderpool
-worm now costs 23 gold instead of 21
-fixed tunneler ability breaking after being hit by aoe attacks or being affected by some other abilities during enemy turn
Misc Changes:
-fixed translation errors in enslave/curse of transformation
-replaced some more deprecated code in preparation for 1.18
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