Design a Unit 3 contest (public poll)

[Arqane]

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.

 

[Bad Player]

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

 

[Silmeran]

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.

 

[Keilden]

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

 

[Frozen-Vomit]

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.

 

[it-ogo]

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.

 

[the_fish]

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:

Spoiler :

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.

 

[Broken Hawk]

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

 

[abman]

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.

 

[JDexter]

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.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

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

 

[Sannos]

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

Now I have to vote for the Trickster unit.

 

[xanaqui42]

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.

 

[onedreamer]

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.

 

[Jono]

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.

 

[xanaqui42]

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.

 

[White Elk]

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.

 

[Calavente]

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

 

[xienwolf]

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

 

[Rex rgis of Ter]

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.