Unimplemented spheres

[Pike the Hands]

I dig magic, a lot. And I know that there's still three spheres from the lore- Dimensional, Creation, and Force, I think- that aren't in the game. My question is simple: is there a chance that one or all of these spheres will eventually find its way in?

I know the mod is past the point of adding new features and toys so I'm guessing the answer is probably 'no,' but it'd be pretty swell if the answer was actually 'yes.'

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I hope so.

These spheres are already in Fall Further, and will definitely be in my modmod, in a slightly different form.

 

[Yaotzin]

AFAIK, Kael just wants good spells for them. Come up with spells he likes and they're in.

 

[MiKa523]

A summon with guardsman promotion would come in handy.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Yes, but it really doesn't sound appropriate for any of the unimplemented spheres.

It would definitely fit best in the Law sphere. I've been giving Host of the Einherjar the Guardian promotion for a while. Being more likely to defend synergizes well with getting +1 duration per kill.

The only other summon I can think of that should have Guardian is the Guardian Vines. It hasn't been a summon in a while (it just recently returned to the game only for use in scenarios, although its 'pedia entry does make it sound like it is still a Nature summon) but I plan to bring it back as the Nature III permanent summon and give it some poison damage and the Entangle spell too. Vitalize fits better in the Creation sphere.


I also make Aureales see invisible units, have a bonus vs recon, and the ability to target recon units in stacks of stronger units so they are really good at killing assassins before they get close enough to hurt you.







I personally think that FF's Dimensional sphere spells (including one pseudo-spell that is really just airdropping permitted by promotion) are quite good and should be adopted in FfH. I may want to see if I can get a Dimensional 3 spell using the portals from The Cult to work before borrowing them myself though. This would allow moving an unlimited number of units back and forth from two remote points on the map each turn, so a single archmage could allow hundreds of units to appear within striking distance of any enemy city. I think it would be pretty easy to do if you the spell created a portal on the caster's tile and linked it to one created in the caster's owner's capital city. There would mean that you could only have 1 pair or connected portals per player at a time, unless perhaps you move your capital. I could probably set it up either so that making a new portal destroys the old one or so that having one already blocks making a new one until the old one is destroyed. I'm trying to decide whether having hostile units enter the portal's tile should destroy the tile or if you should be able to steal a rival's capital city if you manage to slip a unit though their portal. I think I may be leaning towards the latter, as such a powerful spell deserves some risk. Creating a portal from your capital to a rival's shouldn't just allow you to attack without reprisal.

I also think that each level of Dimensional should provide some boost to a summoner's summons.


I'm not a fan of Vehem's Force I spell (Accelerate, a version of haste for mechanized units) at all, but I really like his Force 3 spell. (I liked his 0.42 Force spells better.) I'm ok with the ranged attacks that level 2 allows, but I like it better if each level provided a smaller ranged attack that added up. I still think that one spell should represent the Balance of the sphere. I'm thinking my version of Force I would be Moderation or Temperance, a spell granting units in the stack a similarly named promotion that gives resistance to both Holy and Unholy damage, to protect the agnostics from both heaven and hell alike. I also feel like having a scattering spell available to non-dragons could be cool, but now that Roar can scatter units out of cities it might be too strong. If I did make this a force spell I'd make it level 3 and make a weaker Wall of Force a level 2 spell.



I'm not really a fan of FF's Creation spells. Growth is ok I guess, but I do not like his Fertility. Changing one resource to another doesn't really fit the sphere imho. Creating a new resource might, but that would probably be too strong. Birth can be nice, but not that useful in the late game due to its population cap. It might be a good spell if the cap were removed but it only worked in a city that had enough food to slowly grow anyway, and then possibly moved down a level. As stated earlier, I think that Vitalize (Nature III) fits perfectly in the Creation sphere (probably at level 2). Actually, Inspiration (Mind I) might fit well in Creation too, as sphere represents fertility of the mind as well as body. Amathaon is the ultimate Genius, in the modern too but mostly ancient sens of the word.

 

[Jabie]

Dimensional could have a random summon - something good or evil, a Teleport Others spell - moves target which fails saving throw six spaces in a random direction - and a mini-obsidian gate that departs if the caster departs from town, a la Hope or Inspiration or Wall of Stone.

 

[rusty217]

Here are some spells I suggested a little while ago....

Spoiler :

Dimensional

Spoiler :

Dimensional 1. Escape, Teleports caster back to capital.
Dimensional 2. Summon Void, Summons Void unit, 2/4 strength +1 dimensional affinity 0 moves, can carry up to 3 units, can teleport to any visible tile.
Dimensional 3. Vortex,Range 1 Damages enemy units about 60% to a limit of 90%, 2% chance to kill the caster, 4% chance to teleport the caster to a random tile, 4% chance to teleport the caster back to the capital 90% chance to work normally.

Force

Spoiler :

Force 1. Might, gives the heavy promotion to the casters stack.
Force 2. Thrust, Range 1 pushes all enemy units back 1 tile, does about 5% to a limit of 20% damage and gives them the held promotion for 2 turns.
Force 3. +2 affinity to Force mana

Creation

Spoiler :

Creation 1. Oasis, requires a desert tile, creates an oasis in the casters tile.
Creation 2. Bliss, Creates Bliss building in the city, removed when caster leaves the city, ends Anarchy +2 in city +2 in city +2 in city.
Creation 3. Create Mana, Requires level 15, kills the caster, creates a raw mana node in the casters tile.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I decided to go ahead and write up that new Dimensional III spell that one of Ice's new mechanics allows.

in CIV4SpellInfos.xml:

        <SpellInfo>
            <Type>SPELL_OPEN_PORTAL</Type>
            <Description>TXT_KEY_SPELL_OPEN_PORTAL</Description>
            <Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_SPELL_PLACEHOLDER_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
            <Help>TXT_KEY_SPELL_HYBOREMS_WHISPER_HELP</Help>
            <PromotionPrereq1>PROMOTION_DIMENSIONAL3</PromotionPrereq1>
            <bDisplayWhenDisabled>1</bDisplayWhenDisabled>
            <bHasCasted>1</bHasCasted>
            <PyResult>spellOpenPortal(pCaster)</PyResult>
            <PyRequirement>reqOpenPortal(pCaster)</PyRequirement>
            <Effect>EFFECT_SPELL1</Effect>
            <Sound>AS3D_SPELL_HYBOREMS_WHISPER</Sound>
            <Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Improvements/Portal.dds</Button>
        </SpellInfo>
        <SpellInfo>
            <Type>SPELL_CLOSE_PORTAL</Type>
            <Description>TXT_KEY_SPELL_CLOSE_PORTAL</Description>
            <Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_SPELL_PLACEHOLDER_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
            <Help>TXT_KEY_SPELL_SACRIFICE_HELP</Help>
            <PromotionPrereq1>PROMOTION_DIMENSIONAL3</PromotionPrereq1>
            <ImprovementPrereq>IMPROVEMENT_PORTAL</ImprovementPrereq>
            <bCasterNoDuration>1</bCasterNoDuration>
            <bHasCasted>1</bHasCasted>
            <PyResult>spellClosePortal(pCaster)</PyResult>
            <Effect>EFFECT_SACRIFICE</Effect>
            <Sound>AS3D_SPELL_SACRIFICE</Sound>
            <bGraphicalOnly>1</bGraphicalOnly>
            <Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Improvements/Portal.dds</Button>
        </SpellInfo>


--------------------

in CvSpellInterface.py:


def reqOpenPortal(caster):
	pPlot = caster.plot()
	if pPlot.getImprovementType() == gc.getInfoTypeForString('IMPROVEMENT_PORTAL'):
		return False
	return True


def spellOpenPortal(caster):
	player = caster.getOwner()
	pPlayer = gc.getPlayer(player)
	pCity = pPlayer.getCapitalCity()
	pPlotCity = pCity.plot()
	pPlotUnit = caster.plot()
	pPlotCity.setImprovementType(gc.getInfoTypeForString('IMPROVEMENT_PORTAL'))
	pPlotCity.setPortalExitX(pPlotUnit.getX())
	pPlotCity.setPortalExitY(pPlotUnit.getY())
	pPlotUnit.setImprovementType(gc.getInfoTypeForString('IMPROVEMENT_PORTAL'))
	pPlotUnit.setPortalExitX(pPlotCity.getX())
	pPlotUnit.setPortalExitY(pPlotCity.getY())



def spellClosePortal(caster):
	pPlot = caster.plot()
	pPlot.setImprovementType(-1)
	iX = pPlot.getPortalExitX()
	iY = pPlot.getPortalExitY()
	pExitPlot = CyMap().plot(iX,iY)
	pExitPlot.setImprovementType(-1)

I tested it, and it works quite well. (I haven't actually added in the Dimensional sphere in 0.40 yet, so I currently have the spells available to any Channeling3 arcane unit once the Pass through the Ether tech is researched.) In conjunction with the existing Enter Portal spell it can let you move a whole army to the other side of the map instantly, but you risk losing your capital if the other end of the portal isn't well defended.


Edit: I should probably disable it for The Cult though, because otherwise an accidental use of Close Portal would make the game unwinnable.