My wishlist

[LichKing]

My little wishlist:

1. a way to know how many turns a unit or stack will take to reach a destination. Graphically it could be like this (red numbers mean you'll reach that square in 1 turn, 2 turns etc.; in the image numbers aren't placed in the right square, it's just to show it):


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2. a cave/underground terrain type (not impassable, move cost 4-6). Dwarves could have a terrain bonus there instead of in hills, so spiders or other units. I made some graphics (obviously amateurish )


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3. cap system: I proposed a cap system with max positive stack bonus +25, max negative stack bonus -5 (fear+chaos max 5 negative bonus, unless chaos is >5, that is only with high-level DK you would get a negative stack bonus > 5). It could be modified to allow negative stack bonus for kraken or other high fear units (if fear > 5 and <=10 and fear>chaos, then fear > 5 could be used).

This was the post:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=621&start=40#p3499
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4. units rebalancing:

- 1 turn units: orcs/elves terrain bonus reduced to 5, pikemen's to 10
- 2-turns units: less expensive (except yeti)
- critical 100% (or 90%) for medusa
- 3HP for Sandworm/Elemental
- Gryphons: 35+10 in town and less expensive, or 30+10 and 3HP
- Demons/Unicorns: built in 3 turns
- Devil/Grand Archon: built in 5 turns
- Spiders: some kind of rework (maybe with poison) or lesser cost
- Red Dragon/Devil/Grand Archon: more expensive (ideally removed from neutral towns or with extra defenses)
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5. some form of poison. My idea was:

On first hit, -5 strength, on second hit death (so a poisonous creature could kill a 3HP unit in 2 hits, if it can land 2 hits to the same unit). Even better would be if the strength loss were permanent, and the lost HPs couldn't be recovered. If lost HPs are recovered between battles and the strength loss is permanent, it could be poisoned in another fight and lose more strength. It would be a bit like critical strike, less powerful (unit must actually hit, death only on 2nd hit) but it would work against all units in the opponent stack, not only once.

(thread was here)
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=709&start=0&sid=0ce762c3272609ed5cb9c622ee178500#p3803
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6. Other ideas:

- "Field Vision" hero skill: decreases the value of the battle outcome for which battle is always won (every 10 points 5 points reduction, 90%->85%->80%->75%)

- Possibility to give some 1-turn units (more powerful ones better not) to an ally

- Possibility to disable certain kinds of production for each town in the map editor (for themed maps)

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[piranha]

Nice list!

1. Sound like a good idea, will put it on the todo. Probably Beta6 if its not a really quick thing to do. Its snotlings department.

2. We had a cave terrain planed. Our idea at first was to make ruins into underground places similar to your image and/or a travel down and then up somewhere else to cross a mountain or river.
Another terrain idea is river, a 1 tile wide thing like a road where ship can move and land units.
At the moment we wont buy the graphics. We need to get to a point where we can make some money in order to buy more graphics.
To those of you who suggested we should allow donations, its great to know that there is support for that, will check it out.

3. I'm still very uncertain about the cap. Will take a closer look at it again.

4. We will change balancing for beta5 and most of the stuff in your list is on our list too. I like the medusa 100% idea you came up with. Gryphons are probably the hardest unit to make something fun out of with demon going down to 3 turns.

5. Wont be a poison skill by B5 so spider will probably just be adjusted a bit to be more attractive. Perhaps B6.

6. In fact there is already a "slider" for that in b4 that changes it to 85% when total battle is between 60 and 400, and above 400 its 80%.

Do you mean that one turn units could be allies that could be given with heroes that are cheaper?

This wont be in B5 but I like the idea. Perhaps B6.

[magian]

I like the idea of a river terrain type, and caverns could be very interesting.

[KGB]

The Caverns/Underground idea was used in Age of Wonders (A fairly popular Warlords look-alike, especially Age of Wonders 2 - Shadow Magic).

There were actual spots on the map where you saw the entrance to the underground world. When you entered those, the map switched to the entire underground world where there were passage ways, ruins, cities etc. Everything you had on the surface. Eventually those caverns came up someplace else on the overland map so there were ways to bypass moving around on land and you could instead move underground.

Many people like this. It was so-so for me. Mostly because the distance traveled underground wasn't the same as on the overland map (it was often quite a bit shorter to travel underground to your destination). Also I tend to think of maps as being great distances (as in hundreds of miles across) and there is nothing in the real world where there are caves/caverns that long or anywhere near big enough to support actual cities (how would they even feed themselves?). Also switching views back and forth between the above and below ground map was not exactly intuitive.

DLR instead went with the simpler idea of either all above ground maps or maps that were entirely underground (so you could make Moria for example) with appropriate cavern/dungeon terrain. This severely restricted fliers since you can't fly anywhere but the normal passages you walk in.

KGB

[LichKing]

Do you mean that one turn units could be allies that could be given with heroes that are cheaper?

Actually I meant the possibility to give your 1 turn units to a teammate, through a menu option.

The Caverns/Underground idea was used in Age of Wonders
...

I didn't mean something like that. Also War2DX had some underground maps. But I'd like that underground/overground could coexist in the same map, with underground surrounded by mountain/volcanic tiles, so you can enter only from determined spots. Heroes with ashwalk could pass walls, but it's not important.

[magian]

I think a cavern terrain type would work best if you did travel down into it and then up and out at another opening. I have no problem with the idea of vast caves (seems like a fantasy staple to me), besides there are huge cave systems here on earth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth_Cave .

[KGB]

LichKing,

I see. You want to be able to create a Moria like area in the middle of a map. I wholeheartedly second that idea/wish as I too would like to be able to create areas that could only be entered at certain points and not be flown into the middle of.

Magican,

Caves are indeed a staple of fantasy. But if you've ever been to one you realize how much of a fantasy it is. I've been to Mammoth cave and while it's hundreds of miles in length in all it's passageways, 98% of those are literally areas so small you have to crawl through for miles at a time! It is literally impossible to bring horses or other such animals into even the bigger areas of the cave much less Dragons or Siege Equipment. There is a reason that Dwarves never have any horses or other animal companions in fantasy. Even if you imagine those caves as made by Dwarves I think of the Chunnel (the 20 mile tunnel between France and England) and remember it took over a decade with the best modern machinery to build a narrow tunnel just wide enough for a couple of trains to pass which isn't close to being big enough to support a full time city or anything else like an army passing through it.

So I'd support the idea Piranha had for exploring ruins but in reality that makes the ruin hunt into a tactical game which Warbarons isn't because you need to finish that entire ruin visit in less that 1 turn (2 moves worth on the map).

KGB