Skaven Design and Ideas.

[Arexack_heretic]

Thanx.
They are mostly cut/paste/colour and resize images from the armylists or internet.
The skavenmagic icon was alot of fun with lots and lots of filterlayers, it started out as a grey circle.

The symbols I did in different hues on purpose, but I could do them all in warpstone-green if you think that is more appropriate.
What coulour of background would you propose?
I mostly chose to add bright filters over the existing background to get more contrast with the dark skaven figures.
Maybe black/green would be best, like the skryre and pestilens and magicicon are.
but I'd have to change the tenue-colour of from green to red for the first icons. not much trouble really.

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

yeh, i say make them all like the skaven magic. i like that alot

 

[Arexack_heretic]

Okay that is decided then. green it is.

Another connundrum I'm facing is the levels of skaven types.
slaves, skaven and blackskaven

Slaves will be a seperate type and may be changed into a fighting worker units.
But blackskaven are not really a seperate class, just more powerfull (and rare).
Should I
A : replace AXEMAN_TYPE with the more powerfull blackskaven.
B : keep them a seperate tree from skaven, with their own SWORDMAN/AXEMAN/SPEARMAN upgrades.
C : Not producable but upgradable from skavenunits. (maybe requiring a promotion or exp besides gold).

I have some arguments pro and con all options but I'll mention those later on.

 

[Chamaedrys]

I prefer "C". Only units with level 4 or higher can be upgraded to black skaven. Fall from heaven uses a similar concept.

 

[Arexack_heretic]

Ofcourse blackskaven are limited in number 10 to 15 units/civ.

But if we go with C, considder that Stormvermin (Heavyarmour+swords +elite eg RoyalGuard.) are upgraded from blackskaven.

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

i really dont know. C sounds good but ill wait for my final verdict

 

[Arexack_heretic]

copy/paste brainstorm-tunnels:

We agreed to try to make it depend on a learned(mining) skill, that gives workers/miners/slavegangs of certain bottomdweller civilisations the ability to build tunnels.
Tunnels will be (if we can) a transport feature/improvement, replacing rails.
They will be invisible to all but tunneler/sappers/'underground' units.
(maybe inquisitors too?)
They can be built outside city borders and even in enemy territory.

Additional tunnelling ideas:
Maybe additional level of improvement would be a 'tunnel mouth', so that troops inside will need to exit.
(free ability: exit tunnels / enter tunnels costs one movement flat)

Units in tunnel-mode,
will be invisible to units not tunnelled.
have LOS of 1.
can attack only other tunnelled units in a connected tunnel (Unless on a tunnelmouth)
Units that can BUILD tunnel, can move one square from an existing tunnel when underground unto non-tunneled land.
sappers can collapse a tunnel or tunnelmouth, without dying. Other units pillaging when inside a tunnel will die horribly.
...maybe collapsing a tunnel can be done within one tile of the sapper, so that they can collapse a tunnel on the enemy within.
might require gunpowder...nah, simple fire or sabotage will collapse most tunnels.

 

[Masada]

i dont ever remeber talking about tunnels in the brainstorm thread but then i wasnt really paying attention in the Skaven part of the thread.. lol

but that sounds like a good way to do it

 

[Arexack_heretic]

You just pasted some material from the private forums to the brainthread and someone got excited about it. I replied and brainstormed some on tunnels.

 

[Ploeperpengel]

Like the tunnel design. Hope a programmer says YES too

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

i like it but i can only vaguley remember discussing it
i hope its possible.

 

[sela1s1son]

The Skaven book says the legend of the skaven's origins is in the Marshes of Madness. Perhaps a bonus for putting civs in marshes, or letting them? No disease from floodplains, or further bonuses?

Lower population growth requirements, but higer costs in something else (settlers?).

 

[Arexack_heretic]

Tunnels WIP?

4th post. It sez Olleus is working on python, xml and art.

 

[Arexack_heretic]

bump.
Half a year later it's still WIP.
'the Lopez' seems to have fallen into the same hole I just crawled out of.
Olleus has other things occupying his mind/time.

Thank the Horned One for his cunning: I at least posted these buttons, all else has been lost.

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

yeh, this upload system is a saint

are you still going to give the buttons uniform backgrounds?

 

[Masada]

Olleus is still with us? lol... man am i out of the loop

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

i dont htink he is still with us. he gave up and fled

 

[Arexack_heretic]

Isn't Olleus still being a big-honcho in the official BtS-mods area?

I'll work on the buttons...I'll have to work from these though as all my resource material was also lost.
(From now on no more references to lost stuff, I promise.)

green-stained glass it was?

ps:
I'll try to upload two pdf's about skaven to my personal webspace. (WHRP_skaven and WHFB_skaven)
Note: these are for reference only and I intend no copyright infringements or distribution of illegal copies of GW materials. That said, I've had major problems uploading stuff to my serverspace, so it may fail altogether.
Especially the first book is very usefull for insights into skaven society and how humans react to skaven. It has some artwork I never saw before too.

 

[Deon]

Skaven thieves guilds/sewers.
I have an idea for the infiltration units for skaven.

Skaven guildmaster
Can only defend, can explore rival territory, can construct Pilferers guild.

Pilferers guild.
-X
Visibility of city
Gives taken gold to it's owner.

Rat immigrants
Can only defend, can explore rival territory, can construct Vermin sewers .

Vermin sewers.
+1
Visibility of city.

These should be not too early and should be countered someway... Let's say, there should be special city impovements like
Ratcatchers' guild
+1
Negates/have a chance to negate Vermin sewers effect

Thieves guild
+1
+3
Negates/have a chance to negate Pilferers guild effect.

===========================
Also if the Great district city-planning idea is implemented, anti-infiltration buildings will fit great in the corresponding districts.

 

[Masada]

I dont know about anti-infiltration buildings... but i like those ideas a great deal...

Actually they fix a fundimental problem i saw skaven as having.. ie the fact that they needed to be able to spread rapidly everywhere and anywhere...

Pilferers Guild has just made it into the Skaven special buildings etc section for districts

Vermin Sewers likewise Vermin sewers... i wonder could we create an "underhive" that allowed it to act as a Palace for Skaven in a foriegn city... and even more amusingly could that be expanded to allowing Skaven to build hidden troops in other teams cities?

In a similar vein would Slave Catchers Guild be a decent idea as well? producing Skaven slaves every 5-10 turns which could be sacrificed for money etc?