SXRPG Version 7.0.8b -- 1.18 Server

[Skyend]

That sounds very cool. great job

[cupcakes]

I ran into a bug where, after picking up a yellow pot, the map was not updated. See after turn 40 or so. I ended up putting labels on the ones where I knew I picked them up.

[Mabuse]

I ran into a bug where, after picking up a yellow pot, the map was not updated. See after turn 40 or so. I ended up putting labels on the ones where I knew I picked them up.

yes, you're right its a stupid bug. already fixed in new version, i think i will load up the new fixed-version regardless of the new map not finished yet.

[cupcakes]

I ran into a bug where, after picking up a yellow pot, the map was not updated. See after turn 40 or so. I ended up putting labels on the ones where I knew I picked them up.

yes, you're right its a stupid bug. already fixed in new version, i think i will load up the new fixed-version regardless of the new map not finished yet.

Thanks!

[Mabuse]

OK, just want to drop in any say that it is heavy work on the new update.

as said earlier there was big rebalance of units, and while doing that and testing and stuff i encountered literally thousands of bugs concerning the units and all that stuff, regarding animations and so on.

so the overhaul went on and on, so ranged units units got improved projectile animations (although nobody will care one the gamespeed is set to 16 ), also melee is now actually working on that behalf that the units move at least into the adjacent hexes, there were missing attack icons, typos --- and all that stuff.

beside this the new map is in the pipeline, new units etc. - its in the last stages.


aslo there were some balance adjustments in general, the early maps were corrected and give more gold from chests for example, also boss list got again overworked, to be more progressive

gameplaywise there will be some changes i.e.
- terrain defense will now increase terrain defense training by +5%, which will allows for some more customisation, so its actually not only a "penalty" having to train terrain, and may make some units more valuebale.

- also i PLAN (this is not yet included) to add STANCES, they work like spells (activate for mana) and will last a complete round (until start of next turn), unless stance is changed again. like reckless stance (+25% damage all combattants) and defensive stance (-25% damage all combattants), the first may be an alternative to damage-spell, to get some more damage, the latter one to increase survivability. will work on offense and defense, so you may even tank more recklessly or use defensive stance to minmize damage income for regular attacks. (when entering shop these must be deactivated though, but its a coding issue)

i seriouly hope to get it out in a week or something.

[Skyend]

Yeah playing at full speed against the ai.
I like STANCES in Bobby's Survival Era (tho the it's bugged).
Looking forward to play the new map in about 2 month when I'm free.

[Mabuse]

You're definately booked as a play tester. as said actually im writing the script, but currently running out of bosses, so i might make some more, or recycle other or both. it will be cool either way. in any case that thing will be out soon, as i have a ton of other ideas.

from now on i will keep content coming, i have a small map in mind, a reinterpretaion of an old Map.

i forgot to mention, that i canged TELEPORT so you can teleport next to ANY ally, even on-leaders, making it suitable for soloplay, and as a side effect mercs and stuff get some more use. you may simply place one near shop and be able to retreat back shop if needed. etc.
MAYBE teleporting next to non-leader is more expensive or something like that. to prevent some possible exploitation.


however, in all modesty, the new map i really great. i just dont want to spoiler it, also i would have uploaded a screen of it sor something. and i hope it play as good as i imagine it to be, its always a dance between balance. make it to hard and restrict everything, or allow RUSH games and speed runs and make parts of the map to easy. nobody knows it yet.

also with the new unit-balance the game may feel different and more difficult. several reasons for this. so you might get used to it again a bit to get a feel for the enemies and stuff. most bosses didnt change though (except cosmetics like projectike and halo effects - very basic still). except minor things.

this was also the reason basically almost all maps got more gold, since i realized on the older mapas (cantar, evil dead) the "basic chest" contains only 30 gold. but with new units balance and gold flow is different.

also i dont care if lower tier maps get easier. i had huge problems beating easy maps like cantar or evil dead with non sylph like units on UNCONTESTED.

i also planned to add a bit more gore so that every missile (that has no other effect on hit) will trigger some blood and gore, however, this again means adding [censored] to EVERY unit, to every attack. so i decided, f*** this, im going back finishing the map.

--->having said this, this post reminds me that i should add this gore definately to the SHOP weapons. the weapons players will see most. also at this moment i dont care if undead enemies cannot bleed.

all old records will break though, there will be no backward compatibility. since the uits all changed and you'll et OOS with old versin. you will not be able to watch old records anymore.



the stance thingy need some more thoughts though, they add more complexity to the game, and are pretty much non-KISS, but allow a new layer of tactical-depth

i also want to keep them comfortable, so you dont need to activate them every round. so maybe you get the ability to change stance ONCE per round (set it to OFF/default will always be spossible), for some mana, and then you will pay upkeep at begin of every turn, so using stance will cost you at least TWICE per useage. on activation and upkeep. however dealing +25% damage is a BIG deal. but maybe your only hope after the update.

however, having updated the game-info at start of game, adding stuff like that which is extremely important, will require NEW info being added ... *sigh


EDIT:
however, im glad the map rested a while and got edited frequently again, because the more you look at it the more things some into your mind, and other things come into your mind that you dont like. the first version of the map was arguably weaker.

Edit:
And ofc you coud tell a story/lore throughout the game e.g. via units descriptions. but you have to take time for it. i have ideas, but dont know if i dont end up using the generic placeholders i use atm. it can be added all later though, after initial release.
and this is ofc valid for ALL MAPS

[Skyend]

Do u mean Tele or Teleport xD. IIRC the silver mage had a bit worse version, for the team mates.
I think it's an good idea to improve solo play and non leader units with it. Movement is overall cool.
I don't think it needs to be backwards compatible. I mean it's not ladder, where the whole wesnoth community has to download all my replays every day. With new balancing I'm going to get some games on the old maps too.
Also 1. 20 will be out in 3-4 month. Hope it will not break much.

[Mabuse]

----------------------
Current Version:7.0.00
ESSENTIAL GAMEPLAY UPDATE
Not compatible with 6.X.X Version
----------------------

7.0.0.0
------------

content:
----------------

- new map "Mountains of Ulthar"
- new Units
- new Terrains (embellishments)


balance+compatability:
-----------------------

- marksman-special (weapon special) gets converted to magical at start of game.
(for players)

- armor-shop now has access to dauntless, steadfast, hvy armor abilty and cuirass

- updated gameinfo at start of game to give better advice for newcomers

- Tome-of-Forbidden knowledge increase Mana from Kills by +33%
- Tome-of-Forbidden knowledge increase Mana from magic circle and sanctification by +20%
(every 5 successful hits +1 mana)

- attack-spell minimum cost reduced to 30, so its viable in early game and allows more build-variety
(however, minimum cost is also kinda "hardcoded" by formula so even a basic 1-1 weapon would require without
any attack-damage-boni 65 mana to be casted, with attack+spell boni this can be reduced)
so realistically it still for most units no early game spell

- Combat-Stances are available via Iventory Menu, Aggressive/Defensive can be chosen for Mana to give +25% or -25% damage dealt and recieved
(in fact good way to boost damage, stances will keep themselves up and cost every turn the cast cost, going NEUTRAL is always free,
shops can only entered in NEUTRAL stance. Upkeep is calculated AFTER manaregenaration and BEFORE excess mana is capped, so its also good for
reduce manawaste. testing here is low, so if it turns out to be too powerful it may get nerfed a bit, however i think its great option to have.)

- Terrain Training grant now +5% Defense if Defense would be higher than 40% or 50% for flat Terrain.
(This will allow more Combinations of USE with AGILITY Ability - therefore its usually better now to get Agility BEFORE Terrain Training, except all Terrains with 20% or less Defense)
will also enable more diverse terrain defense among hero units.

- Agility Ability restricted to Units with low flat defense.

- Teleport Ability will now work in combination with non-Leaders (e.g. MERCS, HEROES) which makes it useable in solo play.
- Spirit-Link cost reduced by 25% (Bug-Fix: was to cheap for non-magic-heroes)

- Regeneration-Ability will provide +5 temp HP for each Kill
- Ankh-of-Life Item will provide +2 temp HP for each Kill

- rebalanced Map-Gold (Chests) for Maps: CastleOfCantar, EvilDead, IsleOfDread, SanctumOfShadows
(Gold was added to keep the Maps in flow, especially the early maps were massive short on gold, map-gold calculation depending on level of final enemy
(also maybe reacting to unit rebalance), so more gold in chests for the smaller maps. you still got to find them.

- slightly more gold for AI6 (also higher bonus if early kill)
- ai6 always trains Lvl 1 creeps, until lvl2 creeps get unlocked at turn 10 (and turn 20 lvl 1 get disabled)

- more gold for creeps of lvl3+4 (base level) (+1 each)

- orcish-sovereign(sx) ability change

- all units got reworked and rebalanced, will make the game potencially more difficult but this will break all old recorded games unfortuanately.

- to encourage exploration, on player-defeat the map and remaining ai units get hidden.


bug-fixes:
-----------

- various and tons of them (animation bugs, etc etc)

- ring-of-darkness cannot be picked up if bow-of-hunter has already been taken (should have not been possible)

- "killbonus" (gold for killing creeps) cannot be negative
(was possible if solo play on solo uncontested difficulty for lvl 0 enemies)

- minimum killbonus is 0 (on solo-uncontested lvl 1 creeps grant no gold)

- yellow-potion will now disappear if collected via ALCHEMY



Conclusion: Beside new Map and Content, all (enemy)Units got reworked so there may be gameplay differences to former versions,
Gamplaywise most important is that
basic COMBAT Stances were added
Tome got a Buff
Regeneration-Ability got a buff that it grants +5HP on kill
Ankh of Life +2HP on Kill
Teleport can be used with non-leaders (summons, heroes, mercs)
terrain defense can be slightly improved via terrain training,
Shop got some conveniences so less hopping between Sub-menues
also some old maps got a slight refresh, but almost all got more gold except Wizard+Temple

[Mabuse]

Btw, the overworked "shop advice at start of the game will recieve in another update a new hint for higher tiered maps (which there arent many of for now)
which may require a more diversified weapon-loadout, as higher tiered maps will be designed to "encourage" (=force) the player to use more then one or two weapons.

so in order to get more than one/two weapon working, players would delay individual weapon upgrades in favor for things that affect all weapons.

e.g.
if you want o develope 3 weapons,

- buying SLOW for the weapons early isnt a good idea, then better get your armor up to 50% via DAUNTLESS first
(slow for 3 weapons = 900/1050 gold, getting dauntless and 18 armor slots (if you have 0% armor on all) cost 690 gold for mages and 510 for warriors
so it may save you an entire strike (or better said: the required cost for the base upgrade for 2nd or 3rd weapon, like circle or rage). if you need more damage reduction temporarily, like warrior for example you may try defensive stance or go onrush instead of rage.

- BLESSING, cost 100 gold and give you a free strike every 5 default strikes your weapon already has. with 1 or 2 weapons, it is no brainer, since 2x blessing (200gold) = 1 strike, so once you have 5 strikes for each weapon it can be bought (also weapon specials wont increase cost for stances or attack-spell).
if 3 weapons, blessing make sense once all weapon have 10 strikes, before than, better buy raw strikes.


also there may be a few corrections, balance changes etc, with the new map, and bug fixes if reports come in, but actually focus is on new content

also some animation things hasnt been worked on yet, for now help testing the map and give suggestions

[Mabuse]

and there will be one update soon, after i sorted some things that bug me

- actually you can enter shop only with NEUTRAL stance, but this will change to shop can be entered with ANY stance
- some more updated advice
- some bosses on new map may be exchanged

[Mabuse]

----------------------
Current Version:7.0.1
ESSENTIAL GAMEPLAY UPDATE
Not compatible with 6.X.X Version
----------------------

7.0.1
------------

- slight changes in ulthar map (bosses, boss placement)
(one new unit was "added", so its essential update)

- combat stances taken out as they favor some classes more than others
so they are for now suspended until a better solution is found

- ankh of life (shop) will no longer provide +2HP on kill.
(the dropable Item will still provide +5 HP on Kill)

- fixed problem with ID of some spawned bosses on new map

- map/start version-info wasnt updated



conclusion: some of the proposed things were not good for balance. and made the game too easy.
it will be checked IF STANCES may reappear as SPELLS or ABILITIES for example.
so there will be most likely some new ability for every class that comes with more unique buff
(e.g. for mages some FOCUS stance (+25% damage both) for warriors something like an intimidation stance (damage reduction))

But for now the game only gets harder


there was also a problem with STANCES and no-luck-more which made the game freeze, that was sorted out, but finally the stances are considered not-balanced enough atm.

e.g. mages profited a lot from them (especially attack stance), while warriors had no real advantage (better of staying neutral) and so just lose their status as damage-dealer.

so new stances will maybe return as abilities, so they have to be bought, so there is something like a trade off, but however if they are too good, they become meta and everything else is too weak. so for now, we better go back to the idea board.

[Mabuse]

the attack stance will most likely come back as a spell, or some sort of ability but with massively increased costs,
e.g. cost equal to a full attack-spell

while defense spell will come back for free, but also for massively increased cost (same as attack spell)
(and most likely without penalty for user)

[Mabuse]

So what actually bothered me a bit that there are still some development paths for weapon specials that are clearly inferior, so nobody (=me) uses them

this is

- warrior: onrush+charge (is often overdoing things and with 4x multiplier dealt/taken it can leave a weapon useless, so rage is the better option)

- ranger: focus (since ranger has hail-of-arrows for more damage, but the same dealt/taken ratio, and x2 multiplier is something that can be handled, focus almost never makes sense)

- mage: circle lacks power
- cleric: sanctification also lacks power


so in order to make things a bit more interesting, there need some improvements on that matter.


warrior: Charge, can be activated or deactivted in Inventory/Combat Options for some stamina. (deactivation cost = 0, activation cost 34% of attack-spell cost). This will prevent onrush+charge combo end up useless, but allow tactical charges that do high damage. as said, since it will cost mana you cannot use this unlimited. but may be interesting to try. as it is now, you can only avoid onrush+charge. Default after buy is active.

mage+cleric: recieve a new spell called "magic focus" that work like the previous aggressive stance. "+25% damage for attacker and defender for 1 round"
cost is same as attack spell. its usecase is to boost circle/sanctification builds, but will cost 1 ability point. and is not cheap, but for what it provides, its ofc still cheap.

ranger: recieve some CTH special that increase CTH to 90% but will work only with focus. "focus precision", result will be a bit weaker, but better damage/dealt ratio, so you may neglect armor/hp a bit more.
e.g. usecase: magical ranged weapon. you add hail-of-arrows to it for 300 bucks OR add focus and focus precision for a bit more. damage would be almost equal, but hail-of-arrows can get ahead by adding precision to it (but will cost also more then). but focus may have better ratio so pretty much interesting and may be situational dependent which is better choice. Hail would be still top-damage option.

so i guess these will come in soon update to increase possibilities and strategies to build hero.

[Mabuse]

----------------------
Current Version:7.0.2
ESSENTIAL GAMEPLAY UPDATE
Not compatible with 6.X.X Version
----------------------


7.0.2
------------

- new spell: "Chain Attack Spell", will provide +25% damage both for Attacker and Defender for 1 Round.
Spell ends at start of new (side)Turn. Cost same as Attack Spell. Firepower for Mana-Builds.

- Charge can be activated/deactivated for specific purposes to make it more useful. Is available as soon one weapon has Charge.
(basically only Warrior- and Rogue-Warrior-Class can have it). Make Onrush/Charge build viaable.

- ranger: lose +1 killmove bonus
but can buy lightfoot-ability again (which provides +1 killmove).
that Bonus made ranger quite a bit OP, as it has already top damage-ratios with precision and blessing specials - combined with HUGE damage multipliers
so this movement bonus was quite unfair since it is basically a free ability point. overlooked that.

bug fix:
- one map tile on new map was not accessible when it in fact should be accessible.


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

- Mages, Clerics, Roguemages got a new Spell that can help boosting overall damage (for 1 Round)

- Warrior, Roguewarrior got something to play around with (activate/deactivate Charge, im sure it can havesome usecases) incase they get bored winning by using rage.

- ranger got a nerf (lol), since i somehow forgot how strong they are. arguably highest damage output with better damage-ratio than warrior.
cheap armor, reduced HP cost and they had on top of that a free ability point (ok, its NOT cheap, i agree)
that was a bit too much, much they still have +20% hit+run bonus, the additional +1 killmove was removed, adding the killmove abilities can stack good boni though.