quick start

[szymraszyn]

hello,
Do you remember my favourite opton in WARLORDS II, the quick start? what do you think about it?

[fantastory]

Can you setup custom strating cities in map editor?

[szymraszyn]

yes, I can. but I have to create new map and replace grey with some "colorufull" cities. And I have limit of 10 maps. I am not asking how to do it, but what do you think about it.

[Chazar]

Actually I think that ladder games ought to always start with 3-5 cities, to ensure a fair start as opposed to a lucky one.

Of course, ladder maps must be adjusted for that.

[KGB]

Adjusting maps is probably impossible to do at this point. There are so many of them and most aren't under anyone's control any more. Plus many smaller maps wouldn't work with 3-5 cities owned at the start.

It would be FAR easier to change the game to start with 12-15 units to ensure a fair start vs a lucky one. That proved itself over thousands of games in DLR and opened up a lot of different strategies at the start of the game.

KGB

[Negern]

Adjusting maps is probably impossible to do at this point. There are so many of them and most aren't under anyone's control any more. Plus many smaller maps wouldn't work with 3-5 cities owned at the start.

It would be FAR easier to change the game to start with 12-15 units to ensure a fair start vs a lucky one. That proved itself over thousands of games in DLR and opened up a lot of different strategies at the start of the game.

KGB

I think this would be a really good idea. And also, it would make sense to make the default starting units less situational.
Units I think of are units with very strong group move or terrain bonuses. Like fire elemental, dwarf, yeti etc. A dwarf can be really great for someone starting in an area with a lot of hills while someone starting in a forest will not have much use for it, as it's too slow to move with a stack.

Crusader, minotaur and ghost, i think none of them are used as starting units now. But they all feel equally useful no matter the starting position. Ghost a little bit less than the other two.

[KGB]

Actually the default units should be MORE situational to even things out for everyone.

Lets say the game used a random number between 12-15 for starting units. I'd want to see the breakdown be 5/4/3 (5 1-turn, 4 2-turn and 3 3-turn units). For a 13 unit start add 1 more 1-turn unit, for 14 add 1 more 2-turn and for 15 add 1 more 3-turn.

Furthermore everyone should start with the following units
1 Scout
1 Elf
1 Orc
1 Yeti
1 Giant
1 of (Eagle/Ghost/Gryphon). Note that all players get the same, so if it's Eagle chosen for the game everyone gets 1 Eagle.

So 6 units are fixed. I chose those 6 because it means every terrain type is covered with a 2-move cost so there is no 'bad spot' due to the wrong terrain unit. Also you get a guaranteed flier for your hero to lessen the advantage of the Sorc waterwalk.

The remaining units are randomly chosen but leaving out Dwarf, Sandworm, Sea Serpent, Kraken, Wizard. The Dwarf/Sandworm because of their too good movement bonus, the sea units because they might be useless and the Wizard because of the too good max movement.

So for a game it might chose 13 starting units with the guaranteed flier as a Ghost. Then each player gets 1 Scout, 1 Elf, 1 Orc, 1 Yeti, 1 Giant, 1 Ghost. Then the 7 other units chose 3 more 1 turn units at random (same for all players of course), 2 more 2 turn units and 2 more 3 turn units. The final might look like 1 Scout, 1 Pikeman, 1 Hv Inf, 2 Elves, 1 Orc, 1 Yeti, 1 Giant, 1 Minotaur, 1 Hv Calv, 2 Ghosts, 1 Elemental.

KGB

[szymraszyn]

It would be FAR easier to change the game to start with 12-15 units to ensure a fair start vs a lucky one. That proved itself over thousands of games in DLR and opened up a lot of different strategies at the start of the game.

KGB

quick start gives you about 15 which means you got 15 units. I like it because you don't waste time to capture cities. pure tactic is more important than fast expansion then.