MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
If you pillaged your incense you could. It won't matter anyway in the next version.
FfH2 BtS Conversion Beta
- Thread starter Kael
- Start date
Cruel
King
Ankhman
Chieftain
Although I understand the reason for upgrading to Excel 2007 it means that I will no longer be able to play the game unless there's a way of obtaining the update free which seems very unlikely. Well, it's been real.
onedreamer
Dragon
uh ? you don't need excel to play the game 
BlazeRedSXT
Warlord
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2003
- Messages
- 294
No, You won't need it to play the game, just to use the Editor file.
Kael
Deity
Well, I got impatient and Ive started cutting some of the low level (things that dont require new mechanics) features from Shadow over into the current version. What this means is that the next version/patch (I may cut it to 0.25 if I put enough stuff in) will contain more than just fixes, it will also have some new things to play with.
A few new units from the Shadow design:
Freak (Balseraph UU that starts with random mutations)
Puppeteer (Balseraph conjurer replacement that creates tiny puppets of creatures instead of summons)
Illusionist (Svartalfar conjurer replacement that creates illusions of creatures instead of summons)
And some new game options that you can select from the Custom Game menu:
Barbarian World- Barbarians start the game with 2 cities for every player, gotta conquer to expand
Double Animals- Double the normal amount of animals
No Armageddon Counter- No Armageddond Counter or effects
No Hyborem or Basium- Hyborem doesn't appear when Infernal Pact is research, you cant build the Mercurian Gate at all
No Lairs- Lairs aren't distributed on the map
No Settlers- No one can build settlers
Of course any mix of these options is viable. Play a Raging Barbarians/Barbarian World game for a really mean game. Or maybe you want to try a map with less than the normal amount of players and double animals to really spend time hunting.
A few new units from the Shadow design:
Freak (Balseraph UU that starts with random mutations)
Puppeteer (Balseraph conjurer replacement that creates tiny puppets of creatures instead of summons)
Illusionist (Svartalfar conjurer replacement that creates illusions of creatures instead of summons)
And some new game options that you can select from the Custom Game menu:
Barbarian World- Barbarians start the game with 2 cities for every player, gotta conquer to expand
Double Animals- Double the normal amount of animals
No Armageddon Counter- No Armageddond Counter or effects
No Hyborem or Basium- Hyborem doesn't appear when Infernal Pact is research, you cant build the Mercurian Gate at all
No Lairs- Lairs aren't distributed on the map
No Settlers- No one can build settlers
Of course any mix of these options is viable. Play a Raging Barbarians/Barbarian World game for a really mean game. Or maybe you want to try a map with less than the normal amount of players and double animals to really spend time hunting.
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
Nice. Go ahead and add as much as you want while were waiting for the patch.
So, what kind of unit is a Freak (and does it replace another unit, or something new entirely), and how do Puppets and Illusions differ from regular Summons?
So, what kind of unit is a Freak (and does it replace another unit, or something new entirely), and how do Puppets and Illusions differ from regular Summons?
Kael
Deity
Freak is a new melee unit, upgradable to a swordsman or hunter, 3 strength, can use copper or iron weapons. Costs as much as a hunter or axeman (so the build time is the same but the upgrade is cheap). Requires a Freak Show to build.
Hes a very Balseraph unit (kudos to seZ for coming up with the idea), the mutations make him a pretty random build. Sometimes you get a super unit, sometimes you get a pretty worthless one. The ability to upgrade him either into the recon branch or the melee, depending on how you think his mutations work out is nice too.
Illusions and Puppet mechanics wont be coming until shadow. Until then they just look different than normal summons, illusions are partially translucent, puppets are tiny with big heads (I was working on puppets when I made the big heads mod). They have their normal race replaced with "Illusion" or "Puppet" so an illusionary chaos marauder isnt alive so it wont be effected by death, poison, fear or disease, and a Balor puppet isnt a demon so it wouldnt be effected but units that have a bonus against demons.
In shadow Illusions will be only able to fight living units, they wont exist as far as non-living units are concerned and be able to walk through enemy non-living unit stacks to attack living units behind them. Not much good against an army of demons or golems but devastating against those that can see them. We may make illusions heal completly after each battle and make them more powerful than normal summons based on game balance.
Im not sure what the Puppet mechanic will be yet. We may not have one except they look really funny. A Balor Puppet says all the same things a balor does but an octave higher, its really funny to play with.
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
Aren't Chaos Marauders demons too? Pretty much all summons are currently angels, demons, or elementals, so not being alive doesn't make much of a difference.
Ankhman
Chieftain
Well, I guess I've shown my ignorance. Thanks for the explanation. I feel much better.
BeefontheBone
Windbag of the sea
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2005
- Messages
- 2,018
Homminah homminah homminah (or however you'd like to render that noise) - I love those ideas! I've always had a thing for motley, jesters, harlequins and randomness - this could easily cement the 'raphs as my favourite civ
A smallish world, no settlers, barbarian world (and maybe even raging barbs) could make for a really interesting game, at least providing the AI can be made to understand not to raze anything when no settlers is checked.
Is it possible to make the invisibility effect conditional somehow, so your non-living scout unit (fast summons get used for this all the time) won't even detect illusions? That'd make a sneaky illusory attack viable and awesome in some circumstances.
A smallish world, no settlers, barbarian world (and maybe even raging barbs) could make for a really interesting game, at least providing the AI can be made to understand not to raze anything when no settlers is checked.
Is it possible to make the invisibility effect conditional somehow, so your non-living scout unit (fast summons get used for this all the time) won't even detect illusions? That'd make a sneaky illusory attack viable and awesome in some circumstances.
A small suggestion to Kael, since he now has time
Currently, we now see year and turn at the upper right corner, which are both the same. Since it seems pointless to see i.e. Turn 50 - Age Of Rebirth Year 50 why not to make turns go season by season?
Spring Year 1, Summer Year 1, Fall Year 1, Winter Year 1 etc. etc.
Then we would have I.e. Turn 40 - Winter Year 10 Age of Rebirth. It would make movement and development and warfare at least a bit more realistic on a timescale. Your wars wouldn't last 20 years but 5 years. And also seeing time progressing more slowly is just cool to me.
We could also have FfH seasons of months or whatever.
Currently, we now see year and turn at the upper right corner, which are both the same. Since it seems pointless to see i.e. Turn 50 - Age Of Rebirth Year 50 why not to make turns go season by season?
Spring Year 1, Summer Year 1, Fall Year 1, Winter Year 1 etc. etc.
Then we would have I.e. Turn 40 - Winter Year 10 Age of Rebirth. It would make movement and development and warfare at least a bit more realistic on a timescale. Your wars wouldn't last 20 years but 5 years. And also seeing time progressing more slowly is just cool to me.
We could also have FfH seasons of months or whatever.
Kael
Deity
A small suggestion to Kael, since he now has time
Currently, we now see year and turn at the upper right corner, which are both the same. Since it seems pointless to see i.e. Turn 50 - Age Of Rebirth Year 50 why not to make turns go season by season?
Spring Year 1, Summer Year 1, Fall Year 1, Winter Year 1 etc. etc.
Then we would have I.e. Turn 40 - Winter Year 10 Age of Rebirth. It would make movement and development and warfare at least a bit more realistic on a timescale. Your wars wouldn't last 20 years but 5 years. And also seeing time progressing more slowly is just cool to me.
We could also have FfH seasons of months or whatever.
Yeah, Im actually thinking about just removing the time from the equation entirly and just letting turns remain. The years are there because in traditional civ players enjoy seeing where their civilization lays out compared to real history. In FfH a player doesn't have anything to compare against so it doesnt serve any purpore other than to be like civ is.
Plus if we remove a real timeframe from the game we get rid of any pesky age issues like having a 600 year old Rantine. Not that it bothered any of us but making the timeframe abstract allows the player to imagine his own timeframe.
Yeah, that would be fine too.
Two more issues. Chaos Marauders don't gain xp and I hear spell sounds at the end of turn (I suppose it's AI casting spells)
Kael
Deity
Yeah, I didnt think that prophets were particuarly worthwile. And by removing them but keeping the Malakim UU the Malakim became more interesting. So now the Malakim can try to rush high level priests with early lightbringers, which is a unique strategy for them.
