Lifespark and musings on defensive casting

[Kael]

There is a new spell in 0.15 called Summon Lifespark. It creates a non-combat glowing ball that you can run around with and sacrifice to heal your units 40%. But the interesting part is that if a defending unit in a stack with a lifespark is about to die, the lifespark will sacrifice itself to heal the unit in combat.

This doesn't interrupt combat, the battle goes on. Meaning that its my first time playing with spells inside of the combat process. It opens up a lot of possibilites, some of which have been mentioned here before but I just didnt know how to implement. We could have spells that block hits (ie: stoneskin), spells that drain life from one unit and give it to the other on each successful attack, etc etc.

A lot of cool stuff that could be done.

[tyrantpimp]

Sounds cool, but honestly i worry about the AI's use of magic. Seems like the more loaded up the player gets with neat spells the harder it is for the AI to cope. Could be just me?

With that said, im still in favor of more spells. Its one of my favorite parts of the mod

[Sureshot]

sounds amazing

lifesparks would be great things to attach to your heroes

[AlazkanAssassin]

Would it be possible to have an entire battle within a battle?
i.e. a mage capable of casting fireball/meteor is attacked, fireball is cast and attacks the attacking unit, damaging or destroying it. Combat then returns to normal if the attacker remains.

[Moon Hunter]

Originally Posted by Kael

There is a new spell in 0.15 called Summon Lifespark. It creates a non-combat glowing ball that you can run around with and sacrifice to heal your units 40%. But the interesting part is that if a defending unit in a stack with a lifespark is about to die, the lifespark will sacrifice itself to heal the unit in combat.

This doesn't interrupt combat, the battle goes on. Meaning that its my first time playing with spells inside of the combat process. It opens up a lot of possibilites, some of which have been mentioned here before but I just didnt know how to implement. We could have spells that block hits (ie: stoneskin), spells that drain life from one unit and give it to the other on each successful attack, etc etc.

A lot of cool stuff that could be done.

But make sure that the process is not repeatable too much, as the AI tends to heavily fortify it's cities making conquest hard... this would make sandbagging even worse...

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Kael

There is a new spell in 0.15 called Summon Lifespark. It creates a non-combat glowing ball that you can run around with and sacrifice to heal your units 40%. But the interesting part is that if a defending unit in a stack with a lifespark is about to die, the lifespark will sacrifice itself to heal the unit in combat.

This doesn't interrupt combat, the battle goes on. Meaning that its my first time playing with spells inside of the combat process. It opens up a lot of possibilites, some of which have been mentioned here before but I just didnt know how to implement. We could have spells that block hits (ie: stoneskin), spells that drain life from one unit and give it to the other on each successful attack, etc etc.

A lot of cool stuff that could be done.

Does this mean there could be another spell contest soon? ^^

[Kael]

Originally Posted by Moon Hunter

But make sure that the process is not repeatable too much, as the AI tends to heavily fortify it's cities making conquest hard... this would make sandbagging even worse...

Yeah, I moved lifespark from life 2 to 3 (and boosted its healing effect) because of this so it can only be cast by national units. That should restrict it from becoming to common.

[Kael]

Originally Posted by tyrantpimp

Sounds cool, but honestly i worry about the AI's use of magic. Seems like the more loaded up the player gets with neat spells the harder it is for the AI to cope. Could be just me?

With that said, im still in favor of more spells. Its one of my favorite parts of the mod

The lifespark has the medic promotion and the appropriate AI set so it should known to stay in stacks of units. The AI is never good at long term planning but it should be decent at using lifespark.

And the use in combat isn't a decision by the AI or the player. If the lifespark is in a stack with a unit that is about to die, it heals the unit 40% and then combat goes on normally. So from that aspect its "fair".

[tyrantpimp]

Im intrigued, Im guessing this one that only high priests are gonna be casting?

[Kael]

Originally Posted by tyrantpimp

Im intrigued, Im guessing this one that only high priests are gonna be casting?

Summon Lifespark is the Life 3 Summoning spell. So Summoners training up to rank 3 in Life magic will be able to summon them.

[tyrantpimp]

Question, is life spark a sure shot? I mean will it work 100% of the time and always heal 40% damage? Or will it be more unpredictable sometimes healing less sometimes more. Perhaps occasionaly not even working at all?

[Jono]

So, is that a no on the contest?

[Civkid1991]

Does that mean there will also be a summon lvl 2 spell for the life sphere?

Oh and is this updated on the develompent:spells page?

[Jono]

Summon Phoenix is being implemented aswell.

[Kael]

Originally Posted by Deathling

So, is that a no on the contest?

Probably not, I think abotu all the spheres for the "Light" phase are filled, thanks to all the good entries in the last contest.

[Jono]

Any other contests? I really enjoy trying to make a difference. I wish I hadn't been absent for the unit creation contest ^^ ...

[Kael]

Originally Posted by Deathling

Any other contests? I really enjoy trying to make a difference. I wish I hadn't been absent for the unit creation contest ^^ ...

Probably not an idea one in the near furture. We ar eint he polish stage of development and trying to improve on what we have more than add new stuff. New stuff does get implemented as things come up, but I dont really need ideas right now.

If I did one it would probably be a skinning contest where I listed a dozen or so units that needed skins and then we picked/voted on the winner. But I was worried that a contest like that may only appeal to the small portion of the community with access to art tools.

[Civkid1991]

Originally Posted by kael

...may only appeal to the small portion of the community with access to art tools.

True but it would still be cool. I have hardly any artistic abilities but i have both flash and blender so...

[Kael]

Originally Posted by tyrantpimp

Question, is life spark a sure shot? I mean will it work 100% of the time and always heal 40% damage? Or will it be more unpredictable sometimes healing less sometimes more. Perhaps occasionaly not even working at all?

Nope, he always works. And always heals 40%. Wether or not that makes any difference in the outcome of the battle is the variable part.

[Chandrasekhar]

Doe the lifespark work offensively? That is, can you have a lifespark and a unit in the same tile, have that unit attack, and then be healed by the lifespark when it would normally die? Also, how does this spell work with withdraw chance?