Water Mastery: cool.
Earth: +1 [type???] damage, to tie in with the rest. I would like to see the earthquake graphics on this one!
Air: change to +1 slyph. +1 Lightning damage to the caster.
Fire: cool.
Ice: +1 Cold damage.
hmm, well i purposly didnt give earth any additionoal strength due to the being able to always cross peaks (a very advantageous ability), but i guess +1 defence would be ok...
Air im quite happy with, the 20% withdrawl chance is on all terrains (the other mastery ones are limeted to certain terrains) and the small chance of casting power surge is a huge bonus IMO. i could reduce the sylph summon to +1, but im not actually sure how that would work... perhaps ill just make all summon spells summon twice as many units (ala twincast) but then that will be WAYYYYYYYY over powering.
Ice, due to the caster always being on tundra terrain, the other ice spells will have higher effect (ie Heart of Ice), so i dont see the need for +1 strength here.
1. GORKFLICKA
Description: A big green hand descends from the sky and gives a random enemy unit a flick!
Turns cow, sheep, or deer resource to pig instead. Yay, Can now have boarboyz!
I like this one. It's cool how it seems to do two things at once, less I misunderstood. Question tho, wat damage does the flick do? And does it have a backfire? i.e. Gork flicks the caster instead?
OOPS thats a typo, it shouldnt have any pig creation stuff ill fix it up... but that just gave me an idea: Polymorph. turns a random unit (friendly or no) into a pig!
4. FISTS OF GORK
Description: The Shaman's arms become enwrapped with glowing bands of power.
Temporarily Adds a promotion to the caster which allows the use of 'air strikes' to bombard neighboring tiles without engaging in combat. +1 strength. 75% chance of wearing off each turn.
6. WAAAGH!!!
Description: The Caster calls the power of the WAAAGH!!! and instills all his fighters with the power of Gork and Mork
All greenskins within 2 squares of the caster get +1 str, +1 move, and blitz for 1 turn, (including enemy greenskin units.)
I really like how these give +1 str. Bout "Fists of Gork" tho, wat damage are air strikes? Are they basically like air strikes in Vanilla BTS? (Or am I way off?) Please describe the effects of "air strikes".[/QUOTE]
the air strikes act exactly like in BTS, the unit attacks an enemy using his normal strength, and the damage may be capped at a certain % of damage (ie 60% from airstrike) Like how the archers in my older mod mod worked
Awesome. Just how long will it take for you to code these? On a sidenote, the Gorkflicka becomes Pigs In Space?
Usually not long at all. less than a day to make the lot. the hard part is finding button art :/ so if you see anything suitable throw it my way please
Nice. Who needs metal for archers now? they sure dont.
Might see some early pounding rushes combined with Incant 4, then incant 1 to soften, incant 3 to heal, and stompy. Wouldnt like to be their neighbour. But as this is the only magic they can do, sweet.
Maybe think of some very very late game incantations? Just a buff upgrade maybe of these four? Eg incant 4: treat all terrain as a road and +1 move.
The incatations will appear around the same time as the regular winds of magic i believe (or i hope) but yes, the general idea for these is to make the khemri army a force to be reckoned with. and i think some late game promotions to boost the effects might be in order...
OOPS thats a typo, it shouldnt have any pig creation stuff ill fix it up... but that just gave me an idea: Polymorph. turns a random unit (friendly or no) into a pig!
im REALLY tempted to make this piggymorph spell now. can turn a random unit into a barbarian pig unit, with low strength etc, and then if you have a recon unit with the animal catching promotion, you could catch him. we could then use the code from Lutefisk mafia's 'mobile resources mod' to turn the pig into a pigs resource wherever you like! WOOT!
(oh and the actual GORKFLICKA is this:
1. GORKFLICKA
A Random unit (85% chance of it being an enemy, 15% chance friendly) is thrown 2 squares in a random direction and suffers a flat 25% physical damage. if the unit land on a tile with another unit then the other units suffer minor collateral damage.)
EDIT: ok ive convinced myself that the DIS LIL PIGGY will have a chance of doing Piggymorph aswell
Something that might help is to set out a general "power rating" system for spells at different levels. I would suggest that you keep this in mind for rebalancing the Lore spells too.
A spell that has this effect should be about this power, but can be more or less effective depending on whether the effect is In School Flavor or not.
So for example, a fire school is about destruction, so it might have slightly stronger damaging spells, but weaker buff/debuffs and summons. A death school is probably about curses/debuffs, so should have weaker buffs and damage spells. For each school you create, think about what things it should be strong at, and what schools it should be weak at.
Elf magic comes earlier, so should obviously also be weaker.
Any spell that has secondary/multiple effects should also be weaker than baseline. A summon that has more power should have less movement, and vice versa. A summon that can bombard or does collateral should be weaker.
Having a baseline like this to deviate from makes is much easier to balance across spell schools.
My suggestion would be:
Area damage spells (area of effect 1 tile in every direction)
Level 1 Nil
Level 2 Damage 15%, +2% per combat level, max damage 25%
Level 3 Damage 20%, +5% per combat level, max damage 45%
Stack damage spells
Level 1 Damage 10%, +2% per combat level. Max damage 20% (like a catapult)
Level 2 Damage 15%, +3% per combat level, max damage 40%
Level 3 Damage 35%, +5% per combat level, max damage 60%
Single unit damage
Level 1 Damage 15%, +3% per combat level, max damage 40%
Level 2 Damage 35%, +5% per combat level, max damage 60%
Level 3 Damage 45%, +5% per combat level, max damage 90%
Looking at the changes;
Earthquake should do -1 pop, not -20%. Its too nasty to be able to slaughter enemy city populations by 4+ people per turn from several squares away without any chance of protection. I would make it kill 1 pop, do less damage, but also bombard city defences.
Chain lightning still too strong.
Otherwise, very much improved. Nice work.
Ritual spells still all seem far too strong, but its hard to balance these without knowing what the requirements would be. If you make them only castable by a level 3 caster, then its not so bad. Definitely should have high tech requirements for most of them.
1. GORKFLICKA
A Random unit (85% chance of it being an enemy, 15% chance friendly) is thrown 2 squares in a random direction and suffers a flat 25% physical damage. if the unit land on a tile with another unit then the other units suffer minor collateral damage.
That makes a lot more sense. Ok. Very nice. It's not overpowered, imo. And it allows the caster to send one unit to a different tile. Potentially, this would allow your melee units to then deal with the thrown enemy. Nice work!
Earthquake should do -1 pop, not -20%. Its too nasty to be able to slaughter enemy city populations by 4+ people per turn from several squares away without any chance of protection. I would make it kill 1 pop, do less damage, but also bombard city defences.
Something that might help is to set out a general "power rating" system for spells at different levels. I would suggest that you keep this in mind for rebalancing the Lore spells too.
A spell that has this effect should be about this power, but can be more or less effective depending on whether the effect is In School Flavor or not.
So for example, a fire school is about destruction, so it might have slightly stronger damaging spells, but weaker buff/debuffs and summons. A death school is probably about curses/debuffs, so should have weaker buffs and damage spells. For each school you create, think about what things it should be strong at, and what schools it should be weak at.
Elf magic comes earlier, so should obviously also be weaker.
Any spell that has secondary/multiple effects should also be weaker than baseline. A summon that has more power should have less movement, and vice versa. A summon that can bombard or does collateral should be weaker.
another good idea, though i believe it will be a lot easyer to balance based on actual game play rather than theory. ill mod in rough numbers for the first version, but ill fine tune them as we see fit later on ill definately keep these numbers of yours in mind though.
This is probably my most ambitious project, you will see why after i describe the spells and how i want them to function:
Lizardmen were the first race, and they were the first to use magic, and are still the most powerful magic users in the game. Thus, the Lizardmen, NEED something to represent this.
therefore i came up with the following, with the help of Kai:
The slann should have a very different magic structure to the other races. there should be 4 tiers of magic user:
Skink Priests: the weakest unit of the Lizardmen mageocracy. They should have access to all 8 of the regular winds of magic, but generate EXP slower, and not need to upgrade to reach 2nd level spells. they should never be aloud to use 3rd level spells.
3rd generation Slann: dosnt use the winds of magic. has his own branch of magic: Magic of the Old Ones (listed below) can cast the first 4 spells of that list.
2nd Generation Slann: again dosnt use the winds of magic. has his own branch of magic: Magic of the Old Ones but can cast all 8 spells off that list.
1st generation slann: The most powerful spellcasters on the planet, nothing can match their prowess with magic. they can cast all spells from the Magic of the Old Ones, and in addition to this may be able to cast 'Disaster' class spells, but ONLY if there are multiple 1st generation slann in the stack. each of these disaster spells should have a number of 1st generation slann to be required to cast, and each of these disaster spells should have a multiple turn recovery period, where all units involved in the spell are immobile and can only defend. im *hopefully* going to be using the god powers from the Gods of Old Scenario that came with vanilla civ. the Diaster spell list is below as well.
To compensate for the Disaster spells, and the enormous potential that the Skink priests have, the lizardmen should not be able to build any units, instead they wll be spawned as per the sheim spawning mechanics in FfH. also, they lizardmen will not get a world spell, the disaster spells are more then enough.
Slann will also spawn differently to normal lizardman units, and will rely on GPP. The Slann will be built by Great Clerics. Each Great Cleric may be sacrificed in the capital to create 2 Slann. the first 3 clerics sacrificed will result in 2 first generation slann. the next 3 clerics sacrificed will result in 2 2nd generation slann, and any remaining clerics will result in 2 3rd generation slann. this shows the Lizardman slanns slow decline from power, and encourages the more powerful slann to be kept safe, as most of the Disaster spells require 4 or 5 1st generation slann to cast.
Now for the spell lists:
Magic of the Old Ones
SpoilerMagic of the Old Ones :
1. SCRY:
-Description: The Slann Mage Priest closes his eyes and meditates, sending out probing thoughts into the world to gather information.
-Effect: Clear Fog of War in a fat cross sized area within 10 squares range of the caster.
2. BANISHMENT:
-Description: The Slann banishes a single enemy unit from this dimension temporarily.
-Effect: the strongest single enemy unit within 2 squares of the caster cannot move, attack or be attacked, cannot be the target of spells, or cast any spells for 1 turn.
3. MOVE GROUND:
-Description: The ground beneath the Slanns enemies feet starts to shake and ripple, carrying the units along with it.
-Effect: pushes all enemy units adjacent to the caster 1 square away. 10% chance that tile improvements of adjacent sqares are destroyed.
4. RUINATION:
-Description: The mind of the Slann focuses on the Walls of a city. Suddenly, with a resounding crash, it collapses, bringing stones and rubble showering down upon nearby units.
-Effect: reduces city defence. causes some very minor collateral damage to all units in and adjacent to the city (effects friendly units as well. dosnt affect the caster)
5. EARTH LINE:
-Description: A surge of power rushes from the Lizardman to a random enemy unit. all enemies in the path of this surge are damaged.
-Effect: a random stack within 2 square radius from the caster is selected. that stack and another enemy stack adjacent to them are critially damaged.
6. TEMPEST:
-Description: A storm begins to rage around the slann, as his eyes flare electric blue and lighting flies from his body, striking all enemys nearby.
-Effect: as will FfH Maelstrom.
7. TELEKINETIC SURGE:
-Description: The Slann emits a massive surge of telekinetc energy, which slams into the minds of all enemy spellcasters nearby.
-Effect: all enemy spellcasters within 2 squares of the caster take severe damage.
8. APOTHESIS:
-Description: The Lizardman targets a random unit in his stack. That Unit is now protected by a golden aura and if that unit is slain while the aura surrounds him, then he is resurrected at the casters capital.
-Effect: Gifts the 'Immortal' Promotion to a random unit (not the caster) in the casters stack.
-Spell Delay: 5 turns (using the bloom delay mechanics in FfH)
9. RAISE CITY RUINS:
-Description: The Slann focuses his power on the runis of a city, and rebuilds the entire city.
-Effect: founds a new city on Ruins.
-Spell Delay: 5 turns (using the bloom delay mechanics in FfH)
Disasters
SpoilerDisasters :
1. EARTHQUAKE:
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into the earths crust and break it, fracturing the ground and causing magma to spill over the surface demolishing buildings and killing units.
-Effect: exactly like Earthquake in the 'Gods of Old' scenario. Perhaps add in a range, ie 6 square range.
-Recharge Rate: 5 turns
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast: 4
2. TSUNAMI:
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into the Great World Pond, they disrupt the natural ebb and flow and cause massive tidal waves to crash onto the land.
-Effect: exactly like Tsunami in the 'Gods of Old' scenario. Perhaps add in a range, ie 6 square range.
-Recharge Rate: 5 turns
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast:3
3. METEOR STRIKE:
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into the cosmos, drawing down hundreds of small celestial bodies to crash onto the target enemey stack.
-Effect: exactly like Meteor Strike in the 'Gods of Old' scenario. Perhaps add in a range, ie 6 square range.
-Recharge Rate: 3 turns
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast: 3
4. HURRICANE:
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into the Great World Pond and the air, twisting it and creating a whirling vortex of elemental wrath.
-Effects: Creates a temporary 'Hurricane' Tile improvement on the target tile, which acts exactly as the 'maelstrom' Unique Feature in that it can kill any unis in it, or teleport them somewhere random on the map. no limit to range, but must not be in fog of war.
-Recharge Rate: 5 turns
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast: 5
5. TORNADO:
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into the air and sky, drawing down the clouds to strike the ground, sucking up all in their path.
-Effect: Summons a 'Tornado' Unit. (move 3, 6 strength and 6 lightning strength. Blitz. auto pillage on move. automatically removes any forest or jungle the unit stands on.
-Recharge Rate: 3 turns
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast: 3
6. VOLCANO:
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into the earths crust and mantle, causeing magam to boil to the surface and erupt in a massive volcanic explosion.
-Effect: Creates a 'Volcano' Feature on the target tile (not a city, or within 2 squares of a volcano) and pushes all units off the tile, damages all units in surrounding tiles with fire damage, destroys all tile improvements around the volcano, and if a city is adjacent to the volcano, reduces population. Perhaps add in a range, ie 4 square range.
-Recharge Rate: 5
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast: 5
7. LAND SLIDE:
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into the soil of a hill or mountain and cause a massive land slide.
-Effect: select a hill or peak tile. transforms hill to flatland, peak to hill. damages all units surrounding and on the tile. destroys all improvements on and adjacent to the tile. and if a city is adjacent to or on the target tile, reduces population. Perhaps add in a range, ie 4 square range.
-Recharge Rate: 5
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast: 4
8. FAULT AND FOLD:
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into the earths crust, causing it to fault and Fold into a new mountain.
-Effect: turns a target flatland into a hill, and a hill into a peak. pushes all units off the tile into adjacent tiles, damages those units. cannot be cast on or adjacent to cities.
-Recharge Rate: 5
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast: 4
9. FLOOD:
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into nearby bodies of water, causing it to swell and flood its banks
-Effect: target a tile with access to fresh water, or adjacent to coast. temperarily turns that tile and all adjacent tiles to coast for 1 turn. any improvements or features on these tiles are destroyed, any units on these tiles have a small chance of instant death (not heroes, flying or water walking units) or be pushed to nearest land square. does not affect cities.
-Recharge Rate: 5
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast: 5
10. LIMNIC ERUPTION
-Description: The Slann uses the Mind Links between them to cast a spell in synchrony. they channel their power into the earths crust, causing toxic gasses in the crust to group and form a bubble below the surface, which explodes out gassing any units on the tile.
-Effect: deals extremely high levels of poison damage to a target stack, high chance of death.
-Recharge Rate: 4
-# 1st Generation Slann Required to Cast: 4
Like i said above, this is a highly ambitious project, and will probably be a huge mod on its own. also, these ideas are still very rough, and will need a lot of tuning.
Interesting, certainly. I never played Gods of Old so I'm not really familiar with these effects. Hard to balance, particularly without knowing where these units would fit into the tech tree.
The AI is never going to learn how to cast disasters that require multiple casters to be present in the same tile.
yes, i am worried about the AI and disaster spells... perhaps just make it require that many units be owned by the team and all 1st generation slann are imobalised when one disaster spell is cast, then scale the recovery period according to the number of slann...
the Lizardmen's very first 1st generation Slann should come with their first great prophet. so very early in the game. but due to the requirement of multiple 1st generation slann to cast the more devastating of the disasters, they would need at least 3 great prophets. and these 1st generation slann would NOT be rebuildable once they are dead. much like mini heroes. in fact, they could start with a hero-like promotion which scales their strength over time, so they start apropriately weak, but get stronger the longer you have them, representing the accumulation of knowledge over time.
Does the AI in Gods of Old know how to not settle/lightbulb their great prophets?
Alternatively, you could just remove the settle/lightbulb/golden age abilities from the Old Ones great clerics.
Does the AI in Gods of Old know how to not settle/lightbulb their great prophets?
Alternatively, you could just remove the settle/lightbulb/golden age abilities from the Old Ones great clerics.
yep the GOO AI handle it fine, but you cannot settle the prophets/ you can still lightbulb them but the AI rarely did that, they always had a few prophets sitting in their capital ready to unleash a few nasty spells of doom.
perhaps a Lizardman great cleric UU (like greenskin warboss UU) that cannot be settled would work.
you can get ONE cleric early on... you need at least 3 to cast a disaster spell, and i bet it would be possible to scale the strength of the spell according to the number of 1st generation slann, so with the minimum number of slann the spell would do minimal damage, but with an extra 1 or 2 slann... the effects could increase a fair bit. it could also be possible to make the slann require a certain level to cast a disaster spell, ie 3 level 5 slann could cast a minimal meteor shower. however 5 level 5 or greater slann could cast a highly devastating meteor shower.
this is all still theory, so i actually have no idea if any of this is feasable, but i have a good hunch that it is...
Slann will also spawn differently to normal lizardman units, and will rely on GPP. The Slann will be built by Great Clerics. Each Great Cleric may be sacrificed in the capital to create 2 Slann. the first 3 clerics sacrificed will result in 2 first generation slann.
Actually according to this, you'd only need 2 great clerics since you have them giving 2 slann each. You could get one from being first to research whatever tech it is (contemplation? I forget), and another from building a temple and using specialists.
You should make sure that their starting tech isn't on the path to whatever gives the free great cleric, to discourage them from getting this.
The easy way to scale by power is to attach the spellpower to combat promotions. Make the spells have very low effects with no combat or combat 1-2, and stronger effects with combat 3, combat 4 and combat 5.
Holy crap, man. The Slann magic...nasty. Lesson to note: Don't fight the Lizardmen less you wanna lose lotta troops. Or if you kill their Slann quickly, you might be ok. But still...HOLY CRAP!
It's death inside a Lizardman's head. Piss him off and you're gone.
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Sweet idea. Or polymorph into a toad (there is the toad resource too 
