Naval Changes

[MaxAstro]

Wouldn't that make navel units a little too generic? Seems like there should be more differentiation between units than just movement speed and strength.

 

[Vehem]

If Man O' Wars are upped to 16 strength does that bring back the issue of Krakens being much less useful by comparison?

I like the changes to Arcane Barges, should make them a very versatile and useful unit.

well, Kraken would need to be about 20 str now, unless the plan is to have a canon armed ship be more deadly then a Collossul Squid of Legend

I actually made Kraken a counter unit for the Man O War instead (+25% strength vs Man O War). Reasoning being that the Man O War relies on it's sheer size and strength to overpower the smaller ships, but it is slow making escape from a Kraken difficult and also just as vulnerable from below as a smaller vessel.

It also ensures that the Kraken remains potent vs the Man O War without boosting it against all other vessels.

Hmm...Arcane Crew is now making me think I may remove the Arcane Barge unit too, instead letting other ships gain arcane abilities. All the spell spheres would have to be removed when switching to another type of crew though.

Wouldn't that make navel units a little too generic? Seems like there should be more differentiation between units than just movement speed and strength.

There's always a question as to whether a "specialist unit" is best served by creating a unit or by handling it in promotions, but I think in this case we'll be keeping them as actual units.

 

[hbar]

...Some kind of an adapted Blur spell that protects/reduces the dmg from ranged attacks (aka long ranged Man O' War cannonballs) -- imagines the wizards conjuring up some kind of mist to obscure long-ranged targetting...

That's a great idea for a water II spell that is more than a one-time buff (waterwalking), especially since archers now have a ranged attack too. Maybe make it so the tile has to have access to fresh or salt water for it to be cast?

 

[Elm]

Something that may be interesting for Amurites, maybe Body and Death, to create skeletons, and caste haste on any units in accompanying ships.

 

[heisenberg]

Fair winds is already the naval version of the Haste spell.
hmmm... why would you want to need to summon skeletons and cast haste on them in naval battles?

 

[heisenberg]

They've (Arcane Barges) also become a national unit (limit 4) and increased to 5 Moves to allow them to keep pace with other ships of the Astronomy era (mostly a gameplay decision rather than thematic - though these ships are most likely magically propelled and so less reliant on the vagaries of the wind or the enthusiasm of the oarsmen)

Just for laughs~

Newly assigned adepts report to a supervising mage onboard an Arcane Barge.

Mage: "Gentlemen, welcome aboard our newly commissioned Barge. She has state-of-the-art magical systems on board to stabilize her against the crash of the unforgiving waves, and the best propelling system amongst the rest of the fleet making our speed unmatched in the choppy seas--well maybe save the Lanun pirates. Your job is to perform regular maintenance on these systems to ensure that they are running in smooth operation. Any questions before I dismiss you?"

Curious Adept: "Sir, so why do the Lanun pirates move so fast through the waters? I've heard legends say that the notorious Black Wind moves so swiftly she must have a Kraken towing it!"

Annoyed Mage: "Our magical systems might propel us swiftly indeed, but do not underestimate the enthusiasm of their oarsmen..."

Curious Adept: "Enthusiasm...?"

Annoyed Mage: "Their oarsmen are simply slaves captured from other ships, and their enthusiasm is unmatched when facing the threat of the Cultists on board ready to drown them."

Curious Adept: "Gulp! Remind me to hide in my trunk if we're attacked by the Lanun... So.... what do we do should our propelling system fail?"

Furious Mage: "Row with your damned staves you fools! "

 

[Gilg]

Fair winds is already the naval version of the Haste spell.
hmmm... why would you want to need to summon skeletons and cast haste on them in naval battles?

It's called S-K-E-L-E-T-O-N crew.

 

[Tarquelne]

Arcane Barges:

They've also become a national unit (limit 4)

Very good. I've felt guilty about AB spam.

I feel a module coming on for Amurite, Scion, and maybe Lanun ABs.

 

[Elm]

Fair winds is already the naval version of the Haste spell.
hmmm... why would you want to need to summon skeletons and cast haste on them in naval battles?

It would be like that old barbarian ship that generated skeletons and unloaded them. Each arcane barge could create a skeleton. Just a thought.

And haste would be for troops being transported by other vessels. For example, if it is used to support transport ships. Isn't offloading 1 move? If so, I think hasted troops could offload and attack at full strength in one turn. But this would be of limited usefulness, so probably not enough reason to add it.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

It's called S-K-E-L-E-T-O-N crew.

"skeleton crew" means that the ship is sailing with a crew made of as few people as possible. that's why it increases cargo capacity. T-O-R-C-H-E-D ya

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I think Gilg was joking.

 

[Darksaber1]

It would be like that old barbarian ship that generated skeletons and unloaded them. Each arcane barge could create a skeleton. Just a thought.

And haste would be for troops being transported by other vessels. For example, if it is used to support transport ships. Isn't offloading 1 move? If so, I think hasted troops could offload and attack at full strength in one turn. But this would be of limited usefulness, so probably not enough reason to add it.

You mean the sailors dirge? Thats in the game.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

The dirge is in the game, but it now merely starts with 3 skeletons and never generates more.

I'm thinking it should have a skeleton summoning spell. This should probably be a seperate, python spell so the normal skeletons spawned from barrows don't stop the ship from summoning them. I'm thinking these skeletons should have amphibious and boarding.

 

[Darksaber1]

Oh, I thought it still summoned. What's the treat of it now, then? (Unlees your it's first target)

 

[MaxAstro]

The dirge is in the game, but it now merely starts with 3 skeletons and never generates more.

I'm thinking it should have a skeleton summoning spell. This should probably be a seperate, python spell so the normal skeletons spawned from barrows don't stop the ship from summoning them. I'm thinking these skeletons should have amphibious and boarding.

Since this is FF, wouldn't normal skeletons not matter anyway since summons are linked to summoner?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Oh yeah, I forgot this was in FF.

 

[MaxAstro]

That said, I think I would more prefer a mechanic where skeletons slowly generated over time to a straight summon, so that the Dirge can create more than one skeleton at a time.

OH! Idea. Give all skeletons created by the Dirge Boarding (makes thematic sense). Then you can have a per turn mechanic for the Dirge to spawn skeletons based on how many it is currently carrying, and how many skeletons with Boarding are currently in existence.

I like the Dirge dropping a pile of skeletons off all at once; I really feel it should travel to a coast, drop a bunch off, then wander around for a while building up more, then travel to another coast and drop more off. Probably hell to get the AI working like that, but would be cool.

 

[xienwolf]

Giving the Dirge more than 1 at a time would be as easy as giving him a special spell which generated 3 skeletons at a time. Then anytime that all 3 of his are dead he conjures up 3 new ones.

Of course, soon(ish) I'll be creating fields to modify the limit of available units for a caster, so then you could just make the dirge be flat out capable of owning 3 skeletons at a time.

 

[Elm]

Not to hijack this thread, but in FF, how is twincast handled with summons? In FfH if a unit with Twincast summons a unit, two are created, but in FF you tie the summoned unit to the summoner already.

Would a limit of available units per caster affect how twincast works?

 

[Valkrionn]

Twincast was already changed to allow a caster to simply cast twice, rather than gain an extra summon.