Vote for your favorite entry. Voting remains open until December 9th.

Blood Hawk
by the fish(replaces Raven, uses slightly reskinned Hawk (darker))

as Hawk, but can also:
A) intercept other fliers (%50 chance)
B) strafe (harry) stacks for minor amounts of damage at range

The idea is that Svartalfar recon can use birds of prey to weaken enemies at range, and close for the kill. The intercepting feature also allows them to take down enemy hawks trying to scout their territory.

To balance this, it'd probably need to cost a bit more (+%50?). Also, all units on the archery line should be able to defend against strafing in a similar manner to SAM infantry, if this is at all feasible to add.

Ideally this'd be some sort of drake/drakeling, but of course I'm limited by #10.

Divided Soul
by VerdianSidar
Stats are the same as Hunter, except it loses the ability to carry cargo, it cannot build camps, and it's movement drops to 1. It gains the "Severed Soul" spell.

The unit can summon a permanent 0/1 "Severed Soul" with a movement of 2. This unit is always invisible. The Divided Soul can, at will, be summoned to the Severed Soul. This destroys the Severed Soul. Another one can be summoned, but a Divided Soul can only create one at a time.

The main purpose of this unit would be the ability to be in two places at once. This could help the mysteriousness of the Sidar, by having units appear out of seemingly nowhere. Upgrading this to an assassin would be especially nice.

The Severed Soul would have the skin of a Life Spark, and the Divided Soul would look like a normal Hunter (or whatever unit it replaced).

Ghost Pirate
by khanjackalUU for Sidar
Naval Unit
Undead Unit

100 hammers.
5 Strength.
4 Movement.

Invisible with Hidden nationality.

This unit replaces the Pirate for the Sidar. It has the same requirements, and in all respects functions as a pirate, save for a slightly higher strength, and invisibility. The downside is that as an undead unit, it is vulnerable to undead damaging effects.

"Those are the rules... the GHOST PIRATE rules."

Mana Freak
by ArqaneBalseraphs
4 strength
1 movement

Requires: Knowledge of the Ether, Mage Academy, Freak Show

Upgrades from Freak

Starts with:
<Random Magic> Affinity: +1
<Random Magic> Affinity: -1
Mutated

The stakes have been raised once more for the Balseraphs. Their normal circus freaks have been infused with pure blasts of mana. Using the already mutated freaks, there's no telling how these infusions will effect each freak.

An upgrade of the freak, but still a staple melee warrior for the Balseraphs. As the game progresses and more mana is gained, the effects will be even more severely random.

edit note: The <Random Magic> trait could be set to a dynamic counter like the Armageddon Counter. So every time the AC changes, there's a new +1/-1 for each freak. One turn it's a beastly 10 strength monster, the next it's a piddly 1 strength (AC) mod (rand) = whatever mana type for more crazy randomness.

Mime
by Black WholeBalseraph unique unit
Melee unit
90
4
1
Mind affinity: 1
Can use bronze, iron, mithril weapons
Starts with: Mime
Requires: Hall of Mirrors, Alteration, Drama

The mime promotion marks the unit as a mime and has the following effect:
Everytime the mime defeats an enemy, he gets every bonus and malus the last defeated enemy had (e.g. if the mime defeats an archer, he gets the +50% city defense, +25% hills defense and the first strike).
If this isn't possible, he gains all promotions of the enemy. After the next fight all promotions(except for mime) get lost and he gains the new promotions of his enemy.

The Restless
by it-ogoSidar UU

0/0 Strength
1 Movement

Unit can not be built. Arises whenever Sidar living non-immortal unit is defeated. Ignores terrain movement cost. Can explore rival territory. Water walking. Can pass unpassable terrain. Completely invisable to everyone but owner. Can share tile with enemy units. Can be sacrificed to increase the population in Sidar city.

Model: Djinn

Trickster
by Sureshot(Arcane Unit Type)
Available for Svartalfar, possibly also Balseraph
Available with Drama
Requires Theatre
Upgrades to Assassin

4/3 (3/3 base but with Sinister promotion upping to 4/3)
2 movement
1 first strike
60 cost

Promotions:
Sinister, Channelling 1

An arcane unit with a recon feel. Gains XP over time as an arcane unit. Can learn level 1 spells, but has no hope of learning higher level spells. Instead advances as an assassin and later a shadow. Based on Arcane Trickster class from DnD, a mix of rogue and mage.

For Graphics, just a single Svartalfar Swordsmen with a reskin, or something more appropriate.

Wild Mage
by RandolphCiv: Balseraphs
Requires: Sorcery
Cost: upgraded from L6 adept
Str: 4 (or the same as mage)
Free promotion as Mage
(and otherwise the same as Mage)

Special:
1. Every round there is a 50% chance the wild mage will (temporarily) loses the ability to cast one of her spells (randomly determined), and gains the ability to cast one randomly determined spell (of any mana type, level, and sphere (sorcery, summoning, divine)). Abilities return to normal the next round.

2. Whenever the Wild Mage casts a spell there is a 5% chance that a randomly determined spell will be cast in its place

(you could be just one of those, but I like both effects, so that's my submission)

Will'o'wisp
by CadaveresRecon unit
90 Hammers
0 (cannot attack)
3 (can pass through ANY terrain, including mountains and oceans)
Technology: Deception
National Unit, only 3 of them allowed at a time.
Invisible
Can detect invisible units in nearby tiles
Can undertake espionage missions
Promotions: Sentry, Dimensional I (Escape), Mind I (Charm)
Confusion: Units in the same tile than a Will-o'-the-wisp get: -30% strength if the tile is ocean, hell, forest or jungle, -20% if the tile is not any of the previous but there is no improvement nor city on it and -10% strength on improved or city tiles (resembling that their confusion power is greater in dark areas)
Model: Can use fireball model (changing the colors to bluish and increasing alpha channel/transparency)

Description:
"Wanderers of unknown paths, the Will-o'-the-wisps are mysterious even among the Sidar. Those who say that they have seen one will tell that a Will-o'-the-wisp resembles a faint flickering blue flame, but they banish so fast that nobody can really know their real aspect. They are like that dream you do not remember when you wake up, like that object you think you are forgetting but you don't know what it is, like that feeling you have on your back when you think that somebody is staring at you. Masters of distraction and deception, they take advantage of dusk, night and darkness to confuse travelers and peasants by resembling candles and leading them through dangerous paths, but even in light they can be mischievous"

Strategy:
The idea is that a will-o'-the-wisp is a powered spy. The confusion ability and the charm person spell can really help in combat, while the ability to pass any terrain plus the escape spell give them great versatility as recon units. Furthermore, they can undertake espionage missions, as normal spies.

Are you sure the Divided Soul is possible? I don't see how, unless it were a national unit (or even world unit) with a limit of 1. I'm considering voting for it (but even if it works, its still not quite at the top of my short list), but I can't bring myself to pick something that I don't think can be implemented. Of course, if you can devise a means to tie summons directly to their summoner then you should. It would have many other useful applications beyond making this unit possible. I would definately want a divided soul to be able to transport only to his severed soul (it might also be nice if his ability automatically kicked in when the unit would otherwise die, like how Immortal works, but to the unit instead of the Capital city). I guess a targeted spell could work if you lifted this restriction, but I don't think the AI could handle it. (Kael has gotten rid of targeted spells entirely because of this. I'm not even sure targeted spells are possible in the BtS implementation.)

I'll hold off on voting for a while. I was actually pretty evenly divided between about half of the choices, and disappointed overall. Why didn't the Sand Lion Rider or Opium Smuggler or the Protean make it through? And how did the Ghost Pirate make the cut, when the Sidar abhor the undead?

The picks in the contest are either someone on the teams favorite, or where picked as secondary picks by multiple team members. My top few didn't always make it through, and a few were eliminated because I didn't think they were possible (though I tried to be as open as possible if a team member picked it, even if it has to be modified a bit).

If it was "Kaels favorites" it would be a different list. But thats just one guys opinion, so if someone else on the team picked it and its possible it included. I certainly dont have any special talent for picking good ideas so Im anxious to see if the community votes along with my preferences or someone elses.

One thing I noticed was that the team members had very different preferences in the unit and wonder contests, I don't know what that says about us except that we tend to look for different things from submissions. We were pretty similiar in our picks for the events poll though.

Just out of curiosity, why was the Opium Dealer rejected? Was there any specific reason or was it just because of popular vote?

My favourites aren't in, I am confused. I too cant think of how could the divided should be done, more over how the AI could handle it. Also, while the whole idea of the restless is very nice, the last sentence disqualifies it.

It will be blood raven or Will'o'wisp but I have to think it thru. Hear other opinions.

It is ok to discus them here, right?

Are you sure the Divided Soul is possible? I don't see how, unless it were a national unit (or even world unit) with a limit of 1. I'm considering voting for it, but I can't bring myself to pick something that I don't think can be implemented. (Of course, if you can devise a means to tie summons directly to their summoner then you should. It would have many other useful applications beyond making this unit possible.)

I am surprised and elated that the Divided Soul made the poll. I had the same doubts as Magister when I came up with the unit. I am not familiar with coding in Civ4, but it seemed like it would not work. It made the cut, though, so I guess it is possible. Or it will be implemented as a unique unit? I seem to recall the contest was for non-unique units, so...

Regardless, thanks to any and all that vote for it.

Interesting, I read the Divided soul wrong the first time through, I thought you could delete the offshoot and make a new one at the unit, not summon the unit to the offshoot. That is actually pretty sweet.


As for how to do it, I would imagine it could work as a targeted, unlimited range spell or a relocate+damage capability. So any of your Divided Souls could Relocate to any of the existing Severed Souls, and kill that Severed Soul in the process. Might not force you to use YOUR severed soul, but it is still only 1 Divided Soul who can move at a time to that spot.

And, IMO: Don't vote against something you like because you do not think it can be implemented. If it is on the list, Kael believes he can implement it, or something dang close to the original intent.

I am a little disappointed that there are no Malakim units to choose from. Weren't there any good suggestions for them?

Sure there were good Malakim suggestions, including one of my favorites: the Sand Lion Rider. I don't see how this could have peen passed up while the Sidar get an undead unit, when one of the few tings we know for sure is that the Sidar despise necromancy and undeath.



Now for the critiques of the options I can choose (still haven't decided yet which to choose):

The blood hawk really shouldn't be a UU, but an upgraded form of the birds for everyone (with slightly different flavor units, like hawks/raven/parrots have). It seems like a waste to implement archers as interceptors for only one minor UU, but would be fine if everyone could have attack birds. Birds tend to become worthless later in the game without any upgrades (except for grafting into flesh golems, where they are amazing and probably overpowered. But don't take the ability away, I'm just getting used to this exploit. ;)) (Why did we have ot limit the contest to those 4 civs? There were plenty of sugestions tat would be better for the barbs, r for everyone.)

I still don't think the Divided Soul is possible. I like the ability if it is, but am not quite sure if it is appropriate for them. In general, I think the Sidar need not a UU but a powerful racial promotion (perhaps making the unit invisible from more than one tile away from a rival's unit, and granting withdrawal and/or first strike chances).

Ghost Pirate, as I've said many times, should have been instantly vetoed because of the Sidar hatred towards the undead. However, it could be good as an Infernal UU or an OO Hero.

The mana freak is nice, but I would rather have is abilities just be rare possible mutation promotions for normal freaks, probably with various tech/mana requirements.

The Mime is fine too.

The restless doesn't fit the Sidar theme well, and again I still think they need a a racial promotion instead of a UU.

Trickster isn't bad.

The Wild Mage just sounds like a normal mage with a high chance to miscast. I would rather just make choas and maybe also mind mana make miscasts more likely.

The Will'o'wisp's abilities are interesting, but I'm not sold yet. Without more info on how Shadow's espionage system will work I don't think I can make a judgment on this. And again, I would prefer a Shade racial promotion to a UU.

My guess is that someone found out were Kael lives and has took his family hostage.

[almost non of my favourites got in and I am too surprised of the many that {for me alone off course} just do not fit or are unbalanced]

I was a Divided Soul between, uhh, Divided Soul and Wild Mage, but the amount of people saying the DS couldn't be done made me vote for it. Folks, if the team has included the DS into the poll, then they think it can be done somehow. Just vote on what you think is cool, and ignore whether or not you think it could be implemented. :)

Exactly what Xuenay said. If it couldn't be implemented it was bumped.

You get to vote on what you like, not what can be coded and created since that variable was already addressed.

I was a Divided Soul between, uhh, Divided Soul and Wild Mage, but the amount of people saying the DS couldn't be done made me vote for it. Folks, if the team has included the DS into the poll, then they think it can be done somehow. Just vote on what you think is cool, and ignore whether or not you think it could be implemented. :)
It doesn't seem complicated at all really.

It doesn't seem complicated at all really.

Yeah, well the only complicated thing seems to be how the game will know what summon belongs to what unit.

The Restless is almost like my Shade, that it spawns when Sidar units die. So I vote on it.:)

Yeah, well the only complicated thing seems to be how the game will know what summon belongs to what unit.

Myself, I'd just add a unit ID to the unit class. I'd default the unit ID to an invalid value (-1?), then replace it with the ID of the appropriate unit on the split. One could make this relationship bi-directional, to allow easy teleportation at the end, and an easy check for the existence of the Severed Soul.

I think that the major problem for Divided Soul would be to get the AI to use it effectively. On the other hand, having an invisible scout (which the AI could presumably use just fine) could be useful in and of itself.

Blood Hawk - Aircraft in FFH. I never liked atrcraft war in civ, but perfect as a way to make one nation more specific. All the mechanisms are already programmed.

Divided Soul - Sudden assassins are impressive and flavourful. But it is a toy only for human player I think. Shadow is much better in many reasons. As for completely invisible beholder... My variant is what I like more. :D

Ghost Pirate - Not much really new and I do not like this area (sea piracy) for Sidar specific unit.

Mana Freak - More insanity for Balseraph. I do not think this will change gameplay. Just provide some noise.

Mime - very nice toy. A way to acquire foreign unit with unique abiliies. Like Mind control but without risk to lose archmage.

The Restless - This is my. :mischief: The way to make Sidar gameplay more specific. Some influence on expansion strategy and tactics. Recycling system with draft. Plus eyes everywhere.

Trickster - Never liked Arcane Tricksters ;) but this one is acceptable. May be a bit overpowered. Hope Svartalfar have no arcane leaders.

Wild Mage - This is really crazy! I like it as an idea! Makes imagination working. But checking changes each turn for Law 3 sourcery etc. would be boring...

Will'o'wisp - Do not like. Not worth efforts IMO.

again, my favourites arnt up there :(

The Restless - This is my. :mischief: The way to make Sidar gameplay more specific. Some influence on expansion strategy and tactics. Recycling system with draft. Plus eyes everywhere.

My main concern about the Restless is the population increase. My thought is something like this:

Build a lot of Warriors or Scouts (Why? Minimum time to build). Send them to attack a city. On victory, they loose a city defender; on loss, you get an extra population in the number of turns it takes for the unit to get back to your target city.

Even if you can't get that unit to work directly, you could use it to feed a whip.

You could also save a bunch up, and move them along with each settler - for an instant happiness-cap city.

you get an extra population in the number of turns it takes for the unit to get back to your target city.

But remember that they move slowly and cost money.


You could also save a bunch up, and move them along with each settler - for an instant happiness-cap city.


Yes, this makes Sidar stronger in expansion and more aggressive. And less dependent on food storing buildings. And better adjusted to draft and sacrifice population. That is what I call specificity. ;) I do not think they will be overpowered but if it is so, we can balance them in other way. E.g. stop growth after, let us say, 5. I believe specificity worth efforts.

For the mime, since it is stealing other units promotions, does that mean it does not gain its own (meaning it does not level)

For the mime, since it is stealing other units promotions, does that mean it does not gain its own (meaning it does not level)
Good question. And XP? Let us assume mime kills an archmage. He becomes an arcane unit with 0 exp and a bunch of promotions? (Or he remains melee unit?) And what about hero promotion?

I think it shoud become an exact copy of defeated unit (including skin, power, level, XP, and religion) with only addition of mime promo.

Let us make a restriction: if mime defeats undead unit then he has no way back and then can mimic only undead units. The same with demons and angels.

Also we can add small withdrawal chance as a property of mime promo and ability to mimic even after withdrawal. That would be really interesting.

imagine, you mimick archeron... and then, you are attacked by a warrior, it loses.. and your mimed archeron becomes a warrior .. :)

The blood hawk really shouldn't be a UU, but an upgraded form of the birds for everyone (with slightly different flavor units, like hawks/raven/parrots have). It seems like a waste to implement archers as interceptors for only one minor UU, but would be fine if everyone could have attack birds. Birds tend to become worthless later in the game without any upgrades (except for grafting into flesh golems, where they are amazing and probably overpowered. But don't take the ability away, I'm just getting used to this exploit. ) (Why did we have ot limit the contest to those 4 civs? There were plenty of sugestions tat would be better for the barbs, r for everyone.) I think it works well for just one civ (though without the interception chance on marksmen); I'm imagining a svaralfar shadow being protected by nearby hunters whose ravens intercept other birds that try to find the shadow. making a sneaky civ sneakier, but not expanded to everyone to keep the birds still useful.
Assuming recon missions are prone to interception, which I'm not 100% sure of, it's been while since I played unmodded Civ.

Go Blood Hawk!

Yippee! My unit is in the poll!

For the mime, since it is stealing other units promotions, does that mean it does not gain its own (meaning it does not level)
Normally, it should steal special abilities, but as I'm not good and progamming, I don't know if this is possible, so I proposed the idea with the promotions as an alternative. Yes, this would make the mimes not gain promotions (the same way the golems do).

Good question. And XP? Let us assume mime kills an archmage. He becomes an arcane unit with 0 exp and a bunch of promotions? (Or he remains melee unit?) And what about hero promotion?

I think it shoud become an exact copy of defeated unit (including skin, power, level, XP, and religion) with only addition of mime promo.

Let us make a restriction: if mime defeats undead unit then he has no way back and then can mimic only undead units. The same with demons and angels.

Also we can add small withdrawal chance as a property of mime promo and ability to mimic even after withdrawal. That would be really interesting.

If the promotion alternative is chosen, I would say that the mime don't belong to any unit branch and therefore can't gain promotions.
About the undead thing: Mimes are masters of copying their enemies but they don't become their enemy. Assuming that the mime is able to 'transform' to their former enemy. Why wouldn't they be able to transform from an undead back to a human?

But I really like the idea with the withdrawal chance. This would be indeed interesting.

Hmm I like the wild mage idea, could use a better name though.

As I read it, the ideal implementation of the Mime means that it gets the abilities of an Unpromoted version of the unit it attacked. So then modify it by the promotions you have selected, and in the end the Mime's ability is almost not noticeable once you get sufficiently large EXP levels.

I really *can't* choose among 3 of these... what should I do to vote all of them ? :D (they are the raven, the wisp and mime).

For the mime, since it is stealing other units promotions, does that mean it does not gain its own (meaning it does not level)

the original plan is for it to steal special abilities.

I think it shoud become an exact copy of defeated unit (including skin, power, level, XP, and religion) with only addition of mime promo.


This would make it useless because once I see a Mime I would attack it with my crappiest unit (can even be a summon...), turn it into the same and kill it with my next attack.

you won't know... maybe the warrior is the mime, or maybe the axeman ... :)

the original plan is for it to steal special abilities.
This would make it useless because once I see a Mime I would attack it with my crappiest unit (can even be a summon...), turn it into the same and kill it with my next attack.

Your threat is taken into account. I will never let my little Mime walk alone. Only in stack with stronger units.

Problem if you have it accept the same promotions as the unit attacked:

Multiple Orthus' Axes (and any other item marked by promotion when carried) can be created (with a Mime who has decent withdrawal ability).

Ah, but if it's the strongest unit in the stack you won't have a choice :)
I'm coming round to that a bit - I voted for Sureshot's Trickster, but then I can't imagine it'll take her more than 10 minutes to mod it in and try it out herself anway :)
you won't know... maybe the warrior is the mime, or maybe the axeman ...
The only way that'd work is if you weren't able to see the mime promotion on the enemy units.

Ah, but if it's the strongest unit in the stack you won't have a choice :)
Then mime's aims are not strongest units but spellcasters. In any case there is much to play with.


The only way that'd work is if you weren't able to see the mime promotion on the enemy units.
Good idea by the way. The only problem is that Kael will have a number of issue reports on misterious transformations.

Ah, but if it's the strongest unit in the stack you won't have a choice :)
I'm coming round to that a bit - I voted for Sureshot's Trickster, but then I can't imagine it'll take her more than 10 minutes to mod it in and try it out herself anway :)
ya when i was thinking of a unit i thought "what would i make that could be done without too much trouble, that i would like to use" and put it on a tech that could use a unit heh

i was almost going to make the unit and show pictures but i decided against it heh

Wow, I'm just very pleasantly surprised that my proposal made the poll!

sniff.. mine didnt... :lol: but it was a stupid idea anyway..

for me the only one that really hits me as unique and new, but not overly complicated is the "Divided Soul"

The possibilties for scouting with this are fantastic, and would a new edge to this part of the game. Great idea!

Yup, finally a scout that doesn't make you scream in frustration when you walk right up next to a Giant Spider :)

I actually think it would. I mean, you'd be miles away with the divided soul. It would take ages to get back to where you were, I'm assuming you'd want to if it were important enough to scream about. ;)

I am a little disappointed that there are no Malakim units to choose from. Weren't there any good suggestions for them?

Actually, the Mana Freak was originally going to be a Malakim upgrade of the Lightbringer. I didn't like the drop in strength for .25, and wanted to buff the Malakim holy line up without being TOO powerful.

It was originally going to be an remake of the Lightbringer that was:

+1 Affinity for Sun Mana
-1 Affinity for [opposite of Sun Mana] in enemy territories

See the similarity? Unfortunately, I knew that Sun Mana was planned, but I didn't know if there would be Shadow Mana. Otherwise it would have to be Death, or maybe Chaos, or both? So I changed it slightly as a Balseraph unit instead. Of course if -1 Affinity is implemented, it would be easy enough to put both in (although searching for enemy mana is slightly harder I suppose).

Gives a reason for the Malakim to try and spread the Light in the dark.

Some great ideas for units here! I don't know which to vote for... :(

I like the Mime, but I think it should be renamed to something more suitable, like Devourer or something like that. This unit actually has a strange and mysterious ability, and Mime sounds like some kind of comic.

Vote for The Restless. Its the closest thing I have for wining:)

Very hard choice here.

I guess my entry wasn't chosen because it was too simple for the contest...

I was mainly designing from the don't desing t3/t4 units standpoint and came up with the simple but flavourful Dunewalker. Is there a chance to have it implemented anyways :)

I really miss cheap marksman units when playing Malakim and I don't see a reason why he shouldn't be allowed to use them if he is no longer good.

I like the Mime, but I think it should be renamed to something more suitable, like Devourer or something like that. This unit actually has a strange and mysterious ability, and Mime sounds like some kind of comic.
Mime is proposed as Balseraph unit. Balseraph style is "Evil clowns": cruel joy of the insane power, so it is intended.

Woo Blood Hawk! (wonder why I said that...)

It's nice that it made it to the poll, but the funny thing is that I was going to revise it to something else, but that something else was too similar to the 'Mime' entry:

Mimic/Doppelganger: starts off as an [average unit] with the 'Shapeshifter' promotion. When a unit with this promotion defeats another (nonhero?) unit it becomes a copy of that unit (including promotions) and gains the 'Shapeshifter' promotion.

(I almost voted for the mime, but then my ego won out. Sorry)


I figured SAM intercepts on Blood Hawks wouldn't be too hard to code...if the harrying attack is implemented then all it requires is a check in that function for archery class units in the targeted stack - and have say a (1-(0.75^n))chance to kill the hawk where n is the number of archery units.

I guess mine was too simple. I voted for the Blood Hawk. Nice to see an aerial unit with some teeth.

Not really enthused by any of the options. Where are all the Malakim entries? I'd really loved to have seen a fun Malakim unit as I'm going to play them a lot more than I would the Sidar.

I liked xanaqui's sand lion rider the best. I was going to propose something similar as a Sand Worm Rider. Sure, it's a blatant Dune ripoff, but my blatant LOTR ripoff Giant Spider won the first new unit contest, so I figured why not stick with a good thing.

As for the units actually in the vote, the Mime is probably the most different from anything currently in the game, but for some reason I just don't like it conceptually. Maybe its just the visual of a mime attacking warriors on a battlefield. If this unit wins the contest, please, please do not have the unit look like Marcel Marceau!

Even if the unit was renamed to something more threatening and appropriate for FFH's dark fantasy feel, I would still have questions about the power. I understand that you risk losing powerful stats if you use those abilities to defeat a weaker unit. Still, I just see potential for exploitation. What if the unit you defeat can do permanent summons or something? do you get to keep those summons after your mime loses the ability that led to the summons? Another problem: if the mime attacks a non-combat unit, does the mime turn into a settler or a worker or a work boat and get stuck that way? A turn limit on abilities might help with that last issue.

I guess mine was too simple. I voted for the Blood Hawk. Nice to see an aerial unit with some teeth.Sorry pal, but birds don't have any teeth... (of course the archopterix did have teeth, he rocks! ;) ).

I also voted for the blood hawk, although mostly because I didn't think that the parted soul could be made with the AI grasping its concept... and because I love birds of prey. :P

Most birds have teeth (well, usually only one tooth) when they first hatch, which they use to help them get out of their shells.

I am depressed about not having a Malakim unit to vote on…

Now I have to vote for the Trickster unit.

Not really enthused by any of the options. Where are all the Malakim entries? I'd really loved to have seen a fun Malakim unit as I'm going to play them a lot more than I would the Sidar.

A few wild guesses:
1) They want to go a different direction with the Malakim then the directions that the proposed units went towards.
2) The Malakim units proposed wouldn't mesh well with the later units they have planned.
3) They liked other entries more.

In the end I voted for the Will o' wisp because among the proposed ones it's probably the unit the AI would be able to use at best.

I don't get why you guys think the AI won't understand how to use the Divided Soul. As long as the AI knows how to summon skeletons (and we know it does), it'll know to summon the Severed Soul and as long as it knows how to use recon units it'll know how to use the Severed Soul (as long as it is a recon unit). And that's pretty much all there is to it.

I don't get why you guys think the AI won't understand how to use the Divided Soul. As long as the AI knows how to summon skeletons (and we know it does), it'll know to summon the Severed Soul and as long as it knows how to use recon units it'll know how to use the Severed Soul (as long as it is a recon unit). And that's pretty much all there is to it.

There's a large difference between being able to use a unit and using it well :) I'm not saying that Divided Soul can't be used pretty effectively by the AI; I'm stating that using it as well as a moderately good human would take more effort than some other units.

I finally voted for the Divided Soul. It sounds fun and it fits the civs theme very well. I am not concerned if the AI knows how to Optimize this unit, but I think it will. There are other units which are far more powerful, for which the AI has no clue.

Was a tough choice for me between it and the Blood Hawk. I'd very much like for both these units to make it into the game. The other units have their merits but these two are the ones I like the best. Though there is one unit which I am very surprised to see in the contest since it doesn't fit with its civ at all. Nice unit but not for the chosen civ.

xanaqui42 is right..
using the summoned divided soul to go exploring is easy for the AI.
what will be more difficult would be for the AI to learn to teleport a unit in place of the divided soul.. either when said unit would be in danger, or when there is some profit to be made by being in place of the soul.

1 soul should die each time a scout dies. so as not having 20 souls in game with only 2 scout .
either :
-make that each dying scout is teleported to nearest soul, distroy soul, loose the 'summon soul' ability)
-kill nearest soul each time a scout with the 'divided soul' promo dies, a scout with divided soul promo has already summoned a soul, cannot summon a soul but can teleport to a soul. upon teleporting, scout loose 'divided soul' promo, cannot teleport to another soul, gains 'summon soul' ability.

souls cannot fight, cannot take bonus huts.

just my 0.02 on this unit

Souls can fight, just not very well. Their strength is 0/1, meaning they do have defensive strength.

I voted mana freak, cause' I want the Balseraph going down a more magical path. With pupeteers added, and now ,hopefully, a mana dependant unit, they can start being poerful mages, just like Perpantach and Keelyn before Perpentach was locked away.

Congradulations to Verdian for his winning entry Divided Soul!

This is an outrage!!! I voted for something else...waaaaaahahahahahaah

:cry:

Divided Soul
by VerdianSidar
Stats are the same as Hunter, except it loses the ability to carry cargo, it cannot build camps, and it's movement drops to 1. It gains the "Severed Soul" spell.

The unit can summon a permanent 0/1 "Severed Soul" with a movement of 2. This unit is always invisible. The Divided Soul can, at will, be summoned to the Severed Soul. This destroys the Severed Soul. Another one can be summoned, but a Divided Soul can only create one at a time.

The main purpose of this unit would be the ability to be in two places at once. This could help the mysteriousness of the Sidar, by having units appear out of seemingly nowhere. Upgrading this to an assassin would be especially nice.

The Severed Soul would have the skin of a Life Spark, and the Divided Soul would look like a normal Hunter (or whatever unit it replaced).


Speaking of the Sidar, and taking FOREVER to do something because you have no concept of time... ;)


So, I've been tinkering with the SDK for a while, and I decided to challenge myself. Remembering this design contest winner I set it as my goal.

The end result is slightly modified from the precise design, but it is available in Fall Further 0.41 for your use.

Divided Soul is a Sidar Replacement for the Hunter, he still has 2 move points, and he can cast Sever Soul. This creates TWO severed souls, each one of which has 2 Move points, is invisible to all units and can summon the Divided soul to their location (at the expense of their continued existence). Severed Souls are incapable of exploring/revealing new map area though (Solid black, not fog of war obscured).

This creates an interesting bind for the owner: Do I keep the second soul hanging loose so I can recall myself out of a potential danger area, or do I delete it and summon 2 more? Do I send one soul out looking for prey and keep the other in a safe location so I can run away immediately after I attack, or do I send out both and enhance my chances of finding a target?



Anyway, feel free to download Fall Further and try it out :) It was fun coding, but I rarely play myself, so it'd be nice if you gave the little guy some company :)

EXCELENT! (10 char)

So, when can we expect this to be implemented?

If you mean in Fall from Heaven, whenever Kael decides he wants it, and has it how he wants. If you mean in Fall Further... about 19 hours ago.

So, I take it you're puttin it in your modcomp and then Vehem's updatin Fall Further?

I'm working with Vehem on FF. The MODCOMP will still update, but it'll be the exact same DLL as Fall Further uses and only as much other pieces as are required for it to work (Schema's, text tags, minimal Python) for as long as it remains compatible with base FfH. Once it is no longer easily compatible, then the MODCOMP will probably just quit getting updated seperate from FF. (right now I haven't posted 1.18, which would be the first MODCOMP with the capabilities required for this unit.)


Thus the short answer is: It is already in FF, it is not yet in MODCOMP

Ok. Sweet. Lookin forward to it, man.

I'd only add a unit if the Civ is lacking in power and needed the unit to attain balance.

Well, considerin the Sidar have no UUs, maybe they could use one. If nothin else, to increase their flavour a lil.

Well, the Sidar do have Ghost, which are notably superior then the Assasin's they replace (they can become invisible at will, after all).

Oh, duh! I completely forgot, not sure how. But most civs have 2 or more UUs. So, 1 more for the Sidar will certainly be nice. And it can't hurt really.

The Sidar could use a few more things to make them stand out. They seem rather...vanilla right now. Except for their wane ability of course, but that can be as much bane as boon sometimes.

Well since above unit did won a design contest (and even the non-winning entry mime is in and very nice) you can expect that unit to be implemented sometime in the shadow phase indeed. (city of a thousand slums took some time as well)

That is what has been the "prize" to be gained here after all. I doubt the team whould just drop said unit from its agenda without even dropping a line of excuse why. So its more like: Wait and see + expect it to be in. ;)
Frankly i whould rather like more units from above list to be implemented (blood hawk and trikster at least are nice ideas indeed imo. But all seem at least a bit interesting / with alot of potential) instead of fewer.

And balance should not be the reason to axe something nice/fun untested.
Tweaks are always possible or if really necessary axing it after testing and proven unbalanced.

(and how wane can be a bane for a player is beyond me. Unless players misuse of said ability. But that is true for most other features as well.)

This sounds great, Sidar is an old favourite of mine but they do indeed lack some flavour. Never underestimate the importance of fluff!

Been trying the Divided Soul out, works fine so far. Though it requires Obelisk instead of Hunting Lodge, was that intended? Not much to say in regards to balance etc, but it did feel very Sidaresque :)

edit: sorry for double post

Vehem meant for that to be intended, but missed the fact that you start with the tech for Obelisk's as Sidar. So it was updated to require a Unique version of the Hunting Lodge, available at Mysticism, instead. Consequently, so do their Hawks as a result.