12-17-2021, 04:12 PM
The Priority Tweaks
Earlier this year I was thinking we would have a two-stage release: the first with just priority tweaks and fixing potential exploits; and then a major release for Maelstrom. But Mike (our developer, partner, friend, and Keeper-of-Alamaze) has somehow cultivated interests outside of Alamaze, so his schedule works best to do everything at once. I think that time is right around next week.
Anyway, you can see what I felt were the things to be addressed with priority, which were category 1 and 2. Some you may want to reflect on, like the order sequence changes. The design index has 20 categories, i.e., there is lots more.
MMXXII
Maelstrom 2022
1. Order Sequence Changes
a. Dispel Magic (92) becomes 77
b. Instant Self Teleport becomes 71
c. Self-Invisible becomes 73
d. New Spell “Jolt” becomes 75
e. Learn Regional Reaction to 913
f. Learn King’s Influence to 914
g. Guard Becomes 53 – no longer carries over to next turn
h. Counter Espionage to 54 rest as Guard
i. Regional Control check is only made at #880. Changes to Loyal.
2. Spell Changes
a. Summon Death: Do not target brigades immune to death magic such as undead and exempt from the spell such as flying brigades. Then, if sufficient other brigades, do not target brigades with resistance to death magic. Target first then brigades without immunity or resistance to death magic with the lowest experience (green), working up in experience as needed to eliminate the required number of brigades. Default losses are 4 brigades, which becomes 3 if the group has Stalwart, 2 if the group has Magic Resistance or Death Resistance, 0 if it has Death Immunity or Death Magic Immunity or Battle Magic Immunity, and is +1 if the target group is Army Group sized.
b. Fear is influenced by spells, artifacts, traits, kingdoms, and brigade types. In any battle resolution, the total percent of Fear (reduction in enemy morale) cannot exceed 35 points from all Fear sources for each side.
c. Fear effects ae reduced by the % of brigades in the group that have immunity via Trait or Ability.
d. Wall of Flame does 25% damage to a group, not modified by other factors like leadership or morale, but is reduced by 50% of Shield protection including Shield benefit of Presence. For example, a P4 Shield spell, providing 20% protection from battle magic provides 20% x 50% = 10 point reduction in Wall of Flame to a net 15% damage.
e. Speed adds its value to the effective rate of the group (for example, 22 if Riders trait) rather than a base of 20.
f. Battle magic.
i. Base values (eg, P1 lightning = 500) are doubled (to 1000).
ii. Defense against magic is group defense before leadership or artifacts, but after Shield and Shield Benefit of Presence.
iii. Example: Currently a P3 fireball (rename from fire strike) does base 2100 to a division. If group base defense is 2.0, and leadership is 25%, so effective defense becomes 2.5, actual damage is 2100 / 2.5 = 840. Now will be 4200 / 2.0 = 2100.
iv. Target Density damage is now x2 for army sized target and x3 for army group sized target. So a P3 Fireball now would.
v. A successfully cast fireball reduces enemy morale by 5 points for the remainder of the battle (similar to Fear), unless target is army group sized, then reduces 0 points.
vi. Tornado reduces 10 points or 5 points if target is AG sized.
vii. Earthquake 15 points or 7.5 if AG sized. Battle magic is Lightning, Fireball, Tornado, Earthquake, Wall of Flame, Crack the Sky, Meteor Strike, and any newer spells that do direct damage to a target.
viii. Lightning does its battle damage and also targets the lowest ranking leader of Captain class who has a base 40% base death chance, modified by the table for possible character death. Battle magic resistance reduces chance by 50%. Will supply a new table to determine character death chance. Lightning occurs immediately before Dispel Magic so is the only offensive spell that cannot be Dispelled. It occurs after Self Invisible and Instant Self Teleport but before Guarded Attack.
Brigade Special Abilities and brigade adjustments:
· Urik Hai – begin as Regular rather than Green. If there are at least 3 Orc and/or Goblin brigades in the force, then each Urik Hai Veteran or Elite brigade provides a 5% Valor bonus to the force up to 35% max Valor from all sources.
· Paladins - heal at the same rate as Trolls. Paladins begin as Regular rather than Green. Provides Valor of 5% per Veteran or better not to exceed 35% from all sources.
· Knights of Styx – begin as Regular than Green. Provides Fear of 5% per Veteran or better, Elite provides 10% Fear per elite Styx brigade, not to exceed 35% from all sources.
· Vikings - begin as Regular rather than Green. Provides bonus of 5% per Veteran or better to attack values in Storm and Melee phases, not to exceed 35% total from all sources.
· Stormgate Guards – Veteran or better Stormgate Guards provide 5% bonus to group defensive value per Veteran or Elite brigade to a maximum of 35%.
· Nyvarians – Provides 5% defense bonus for group per Regular Nyvarian brigades, 10% for Veteran or Elite in force in mountain terrain.
· Mythians – 2+ Mythian veteran or elite brigades grants Acuity to group (never surprised) and Mythians provide +5% per veteran or elite brigade to defense in swamp or forest up to 35% total for force from all sources.
· Adjust Hill Giants to provide Stalwart if 2+ Hill Giant brigades, without calculating a percentage based on number of Hill Giant brigades.
· Rock Golems do not show up on recon if group is located in mountains (like Wood Elves in forest).
· Saurus reduces Fear to its group by 10% per Saurus brigade, not the % of Saurus brigades in group.
· Scorpions – Ensure their special ability of increasing all opposing leader death chances by 10 points per Scorpion brigade. So a leader with a base 20% chance of being killed in combat would have a 40% chance of being killed (+20 points) if 2 Scorpion brigades.
· Swampmen +100% (instead of 25%) for battles fought in Swamp.
· Need to make text revisions to Companion Abilities chart and kingdom dossiers.
· Add Companion Abilities to each Kingdom’s dossier for the companions they can attract.
War machines are moved from Companion to a recruitable type for any kingdom from a PC with >13k population and >10,000 supply production. War Machines of a kingdom with Engineering start as regular experience. Requires a General and a Veteran brigade to recruit.
Dwarven War Machines – an improved recruitable type for Dwarves only. Double defense and about double LRM, SRM, and decent Storm / Charge.
Earlier this year I was thinking we would have a two-stage release: the first with just priority tweaks and fixing potential exploits; and then a major release for Maelstrom. But Mike (our developer, partner, friend, and Keeper-of-Alamaze) has somehow cultivated interests outside of Alamaze, so his schedule works best to do everything at once. I think that time is right around next week.
Anyway, you can see what I felt were the things to be addressed with priority, which were category 1 and 2. Some you may want to reflect on, like the order sequence changes. The design index has 20 categories, i.e., there is lots more.
MMXXII
Maelstrom 2022
1. Order Sequence Changes
a. Dispel Magic (92) becomes 77
b. Instant Self Teleport becomes 71
c. Self-Invisible becomes 73
d. New Spell “Jolt” becomes 75
e. Learn Regional Reaction to 913
f. Learn King’s Influence to 914
g. Guard Becomes 53 – no longer carries over to next turn
h. Counter Espionage to 54 rest as Guard
i. Regional Control check is only made at #880. Changes to Loyal.
2. Spell Changes
a. Summon Death: Do not target brigades immune to death magic such as undead and exempt from the spell such as flying brigades. Then, if sufficient other brigades, do not target brigades with resistance to death magic. Target first then brigades without immunity or resistance to death magic with the lowest experience (green), working up in experience as needed to eliminate the required number of brigades. Default losses are 4 brigades, which becomes 3 if the group has Stalwart, 2 if the group has Magic Resistance or Death Resistance, 0 if it has Death Immunity or Death Magic Immunity or Battle Magic Immunity, and is +1 if the target group is Army Group sized.
b. Fear is influenced by spells, artifacts, traits, kingdoms, and brigade types. In any battle resolution, the total percent of Fear (reduction in enemy morale) cannot exceed 35 points from all Fear sources for each side.
c. Fear effects ae reduced by the % of brigades in the group that have immunity via Trait or Ability.
d. Wall of Flame does 25% damage to a group, not modified by other factors like leadership or morale, but is reduced by 50% of Shield protection including Shield benefit of Presence. For example, a P4 Shield spell, providing 20% protection from battle magic provides 20% x 50% = 10 point reduction in Wall of Flame to a net 15% damage.
e. Speed adds its value to the effective rate of the group (for example, 22 if Riders trait) rather than a base of 20.
f. Battle magic.
i. Base values (eg, P1 lightning = 500) are doubled (to 1000).
ii. Defense against magic is group defense before leadership or artifacts, but after Shield and Shield Benefit of Presence.
iii. Example: Currently a P3 fireball (rename from fire strike) does base 2100 to a division. If group base defense is 2.0, and leadership is 25%, so effective defense becomes 2.5, actual damage is 2100 / 2.5 = 840. Now will be 4200 / 2.0 = 2100.
iv. Target Density damage is now x2 for army sized target and x3 for army group sized target. So a P3 Fireball now would.
v. A successfully cast fireball reduces enemy morale by 5 points for the remainder of the battle (similar to Fear), unless target is army group sized, then reduces 0 points.
vi. Tornado reduces 10 points or 5 points if target is AG sized.
vii. Earthquake 15 points or 7.5 if AG sized. Battle magic is Lightning, Fireball, Tornado, Earthquake, Wall of Flame, Crack the Sky, Meteor Strike, and any newer spells that do direct damage to a target.
viii. Lightning does its battle damage and also targets the lowest ranking leader of Captain class who has a base 40% base death chance, modified by the table for possible character death. Battle magic resistance reduces chance by 50%. Will supply a new table to determine character death chance. Lightning occurs immediately before Dispel Magic so is the only offensive spell that cannot be Dispelled. It occurs after Self Invisible and Instant Self Teleport but before Guarded Attack.
Brigade Special Abilities and brigade adjustments:
· Urik Hai – begin as Regular rather than Green. If there are at least 3 Orc and/or Goblin brigades in the force, then each Urik Hai Veteran or Elite brigade provides a 5% Valor bonus to the force up to 35% max Valor from all sources.
· Paladins - heal at the same rate as Trolls. Paladins begin as Regular rather than Green. Provides Valor of 5% per Veteran or better not to exceed 35% from all sources.
· Knights of Styx – begin as Regular than Green. Provides Fear of 5% per Veteran or better, Elite provides 10% Fear per elite Styx brigade, not to exceed 35% from all sources.
· Vikings - begin as Regular rather than Green. Provides bonus of 5% per Veteran or better to attack values in Storm and Melee phases, not to exceed 35% total from all sources.
· Stormgate Guards – Veteran or better Stormgate Guards provide 5% bonus to group defensive value per Veteran or Elite brigade to a maximum of 35%.
· Nyvarians – Provides 5% defense bonus for group per Regular Nyvarian brigades, 10% for Veteran or Elite in force in mountain terrain.
· Mythians – 2+ Mythian veteran or elite brigades grants Acuity to group (never surprised) and Mythians provide +5% per veteran or elite brigade to defense in swamp or forest up to 35% total for force from all sources.
· Adjust Hill Giants to provide Stalwart if 2+ Hill Giant brigades, without calculating a percentage based on number of Hill Giant brigades.
· Rock Golems do not show up on recon if group is located in mountains (like Wood Elves in forest).
· Saurus reduces Fear to its group by 10% per Saurus brigade, not the % of Saurus brigades in group.
· Scorpions – Ensure their special ability of increasing all opposing leader death chances by 10 points per Scorpion brigade. So a leader with a base 20% chance of being killed in combat would have a 40% chance of being killed (+20 points) if 2 Scorpion brigades.
· Swampmen +100% (instead of 25%) for battles fought in Swamp.
· Need to make text revisions to Companion Abilities chart and kingdom dossiers.
· Add Companion Abilities to each Kingdom’s dossier for the companions they can attract.
War machines are moved from Companion to a recruitable type for any kingdom from a PC with >13k population and >10,000 supply production. War Machines of a kingdom with Engineering start as regular experience. Requires a General and a Veteran brigade to recruit.
Dwarven War Machines – an improved recruitable type for Dwarves only. Double defense and about double LRM, SRM, and decent Storm / Charge.
