Final Fixes Reborn

[Hiru]

Thank you! I actually followed the instruction step-by-step BUT, once in my steam library, I misclicked and applyed the original_release to regular CiV. This is facepalm worthy, I know.

Thank you for the answer (and for all your work), that was incredibly fast!

 

[black_imperator]

you're very welcome, don't hesitate if you have any other question, either here or on the discord server.

 

[Hiru]

Hi again and happy new year! Still playing my first game (I'm having a blast again!) no issues whatsoever except for the following:

Are my Svart cottages and relative upgrades supposed to look like this?

Spoiler Pic :

Looks like there are some mismatched textures to me. Any ideas?

 

[Samson]

I seem to have a weird repeatable bug in the stable version. When I move my healer to my city with most of my army with Ctrl-G the game crashes to desktop. Let me know if you want more details.
[EDIT]It is not moving to the city, it is giving the unit a goto order while it is loaded in a ship.

 

[cthom]

this is a well known bug, you can only unload a unit onto one of the first tiles of land.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Are the frozen still a thing in the new versions and for the future?

 

[black_imperator]

a thing that requires a large revamp, but yeah

 

[black_imperator]

small teaser of the next svn update

 

[black_imperator]

So, as seen in the teaser, next svn update will contain a first version of the crime update.

Something else that is entering in the planning phase is some work on magic. Here is a short summary of it :
Every arcane unit get a new stat called Magical power that determines whether they can cast a spell and how well they do so. Taking too many different spheres decrease your magical power.

For example, if you're at 100 Magical Power and cast Fireball, you'll get a less powerful one than if you're at 200 Magical Power. (numbers not finals)

Since this idea introduces gradual effects into the spell effects calculation, there'll be a need to rebalance all the spells. I'm looking for your opinions on the current spells, to see where the consensus is at. I've set up a spreadsheet for you to give your opinions on :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mZxKhTfPDEVrCgjG22AKFddfWiCeqCZtH826e__Zgsg/edit#gid=0

Just take a free column and write your opinions on the various spells, with a 1-10 grade ( 5 being ok for its current level). Opinions of both newcomers and experienced players is welcome

 

[Calavente]

I filled that chart.
I feel that "ok for level" is more in line with a 7 notation
after reading the comments 5 seems to be "not too bad for the level, but I still find better spells for that level
9-10 can either be : Absolut must have but I'd expect all spells to have as much utility, tooo OP please nerf, or belongs in another level class.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Ok is just another word for fine or serviceable. As in stuff that does not stink so much it needs removing but isn't good enough to be worth your time either.

For my part I made sure in the comments to note exactly how I feel about the spells. And if I gave something a 10 that means it's perfect and should NOT be modified.

 

[Calavente]

I know, I read it all
but I still think that a few "9-10" could be swapped or nerfed.
for example, I dislike shadow 1-2 on principle of them nullifying a whole set of mechanics.
or haste could be lvl 2 versus regen being lvl 1, same for enchant1-2

in reverse, I think that maelstrom is the best attack spell... but it's still a sub-par RoF... which is sad and bad and 2tiles effect doesn't even compensate for the difference, because units are stacked and not dispersed, and being an AoE is only slightly interesting for the same reasons (95% of the times you use it only for 1tile).

however if maelstrom could stun.../confuse it would be great .. but then OP versus mind 2 :/ but mind2 is boop anyway.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

To be perfectly honest I do not think there is a single spell in the game that needs nerfing. Not a single one.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that every spell should be balanced around being a 10 out of 10.

As for maelstrom in particular I honestly am not sure it needs any strengthening. I mean, it's a decent damage spell for softening stacks and such. And whilst the long range multiple tile thing is not super useful I can find good uses for it like say hitting enemy reinforcements or something. And giving it a stun effect would just be way too OP.
This said, the new power mechanic B_I is planing to implement might be a good way to make it even better. In particular I am thinking just flat out giving it more damage.


This all being said I'd still give the title of best to the fireball simply due to its utility at siege work.

 

[black_imperator]

i don't think i'll really nerf the effects of the spells. I'm more likely to make the more powerful ones require more base power ( meaning you need to be more selective in your choice of spheres, and they'll grow in power more slowly than others).

The one nerf i'm considering is making the current permanent buff and debuff spells into temporary ones ( so that the power increase increase the duration of the effect)

 

[Calavente]

from my point of view, giving a "temporary" buff, is a big nerf.. but do as you wish.
on Magistermodmod, Fair Wind is temporary (dispels in about 5-10 turns). it's a pain in the ass: you cast it once when ship is born, and then, forget. the micro-management of having the ships come back to re-equip is not worth the gain.

(the only perma buff I see are : loyalty (limited interest) , valor (limited to 100xp), courage, enchanted blade, poison and fire-arrow : any of those are important, and making them temporary would mean that you would need an adept/mage in close distance : less than 3 turns : that's a pain in the ass.)
even "bless" is a pain as it's until combat only...)

I don't know how you'll code it, but unless you want to reduce the power of arcane units, I expect that the spells will need to at least stay at the level they are now but give increase of power if mage specialize.(otherwise a versatile mage will be weaker than in actual game, which marginalise arcane units... and the increased power due to specialization is not really an increase... because it comes with the cost of versatility !!)

ex : enchant blade, (lvl 2?) : normal : +20%, applied melee / mid : +25%: melee/mounted / high : +30%melee, mounted, disciples
ex: fire arrow : normal: +1str / mid : +1str +10%CA / high : +1str +10%CA applies to range & siege.
..etc

(I don't know how you'll balance, but I hope that a mage specialized in Air will have an Air II much stronger than RoF : the balance between mage and Cultist (5str, access to command promotions, starts with RoF from scratch and not at level 4, and RoF is stronger than Air II) is that mage are supposed to be versatile.... however if you need to specialize (ie, sacrifice the versatility), you obtain an expensive unit (needs lvl 4 + gold for upgrade), weaker than priest : 4 str, no access to priest equipement for str... conclusion : a mage specialised in 1 school should be MUCH stronger than a priest's spell.... and a mage with 2 schools should have each lvl 2 spell at least at priest str value.

 

[black_imperator]

the temporary buff is the easy way out, so it might be that way in the first version, but fixed in a later one when i implement a more complex way to upgrade spell effects.

To talk numbers and balance a bit :
A tier 2 specialized Mage with no additional power promotion will be at 350 power, while an average tier 2 spell will require 200, so that's 150 additional power which will show up in the effect calculation ( so, +75%).

Priests will likely have a lower base power too, probably just what's required to cast their spells.


It's not going to be soon anyway, i want to take my time working on the balance. The tools for the base system are setup, so i can implement it whenever i want.

 

[Calavente]

I noticed that Air I & earth I (among other) are not real loved..
I would propose secondary spells to Air I & earth I : "light" & "heavy" ... same effect as existing promotion, but as a spell buff : either permanent or removed after 1 turn ; either for normal level, or when adept is further specialized ; those promotion exist, and are somehow balanced (like the "crew promotion") ; they enable to help specialize your units.

If it were an enchantment, dispel could get ride of it; or force I ?

Nature I could give "poison resistance" in medium specialisation secondary 1st level spell.
Nature II could allow a second spell : cure poison, as a medium specialization secondary spell, 2 area range, applied to ally/peace(?) only, or on tile only if coding of FoF i too hard (but "dispel" can do it).

 

[Acrux]

...
(otherwise a versatile mage will be weaker than in actual game, which marginalise arcane units... and the increased power due to specialization is not really an increase... because it comes with the cost of versatility !!)

ex : enchant blade, (lvl 2?) : normal : +20%, applied melee / mid : +25%: melee/mounted / high : +30%melee, mounted, disciples
ex: fire arrow : normal: +1str / mid : +1str +10%CA / high : +1str +10%CA applies to range & siege.
..etc

...

I completely share this concern.

 

[black_imperator]

i'm aware it'll require fine balancing, and i really intend not to nerf arcane units with it. The goal is threefold,

1) being able to do more stuff designwise for arcane. now i can really show the amurites as being the master mages of Erebus, i can even modelize easily their tendency to breed for strong magic lines. Or make the sheaim master summoners, ...

2) moving to a more dll/xml-based system for spells, rather than the heavy python one, making it way easier for AI

3)i'm just very bothered by the fact that the best archmage you can get is unable to cast basic spells better than a freshly built adept.

 

[Go2got]

Is the svn update the only updated download now/in the future?