Unit bonus suggestions

[hatchfactory]

"I wish" there were 1 turn sand and snow units, as there are currently none...
- I wondered about maybe giving light calvary a +5 or 6 and a move cost of 3 in sand?
- Maybe giving Heavy Infantry move cost of 2 or 3 through snow, as they are heavily garbed and cold doesn't effect them as much? that - or give light calvary an even smaller (maybe +3 or so) bonus, as to emulate his older heavily armored brother with multiple terrain bonuses.

Another "I wish" is a smaller "Negate Aura" unit (negate morale/fear) a mini devil or "imp". ("demon" is already taken and useful)
- OR give a small -3 or so "Negate Aura" to a less used ally/unit like the Wizard.

[Moonknight]

I like the idea of a smaller "Negate Aura" unit (this has been proposed by others as well). Imp would be appropriate if there was an image available for it, otherwise I would suggest adding it to the Elemental as I hardly ever see them other than when they come as an ally with a hero.

[ChickenChaser]

Amen! That is to say that I am in full agreement with hatchfactory's suggestions. There needs to be balance in different terrains. The swamp has a one turn orc, and a two turn wolf rider. The hills have a one turn dwarf and a two turn giant. Forest has elves and wolf riders, The desert only has a two turn scorpion and the snow has a two turn yeti. I acknowledge that both snow and desert have cool three turn units: mammoth, elephant, and sand worm, but there is a lack of good one turn units in those terrains. One possibility is to make the scorpion a weaker one turn unit, lessen strength, swarm bonus. I don't have that thought out though.

[magian]

What about a one turn water unit?

[Moonknight]

What about a one turn water unit?

yeah, like a toad If we did have a one turn water unit, i would not allow them to go in the swamp.

I think it makes sense for a +5 strength bonus for light cav in sand and pikemen in snow...although pikemen would be extremely slow in the snow

However, I don't feel the need to have everything balanced out perfectly between the terrains.

[KGB]

MoonKnight,

HatchFactory's request came from a comment I made when playing his Outlands map. Down the middle of that maps is a large snow region between some mountains. Once a player gets in that region where there are Yeti/Mammoths in the neutrals it's virtually impossible to dig them out. The reason being there are no 1 turn units with any kind of terrain bonus or movement bonus (scout excepted) so the Yeti/Mammoths literally destroy units in the hundreds with their own bonus's. Especially since Snow (unlike Desert) costs 4 to move in making it take forever to make inroads and get to the cities.

His map is not the only one with significant snow regions. Maps that contain that feature right now are incredibly hard to conquer and move in for those reasons. And with the super high costs of those units you can't exactly buy them if you are the player looking to invade.

So while the game doesn't need perfect balance in all terrains it does need at least 1 1-turn unit capable of functioning and getting a terrain and/or combat bonus on snow (in the desert at least Hv Calv and Elephants retain their bonus's in addition to the Scorpion and Medusa and Sandworm).

KGB

[Moonknight]

Yeah, I love the Outlands map, quickly becoming one of my favorite!

Of course, you can plan ahead and build a yeti or mammoth before heading into battle in the snow...

[KGB]

MoonKnight,

Yeah, I love the Outlands map, quickly becoming one of my favorite!

Yeah I'm on my 6th game there helping HatchFactory tinker with it. Removing some of the choke points, adding more cities/ruins, balancing out the terrain etc. It works well as a 2 player game but it's much harder to play in 4-6 player mode still.

Of course, you can plan ahead and build a yeti or mammoth before heading into battle in the snow...

You're joking right?

A Mammoth costs 1500. Who would buy that instead of a Dragon for 300 more? Even a Yeti costs 700 and it only helps itself move in the snow and when the player in the snow has 3-4 cities for free making those Yeti, 1 Yeti city of your own is kinda pointless. Not to mention in MP games (4+ players) gold is very hard to come by so you rarely have excess to splurge for a unit like that.

On the other hand to invade Swamp or Forest or Hills one only needs to spend 200-400 gold so you can buy 2-3 cities worth of armies for that terrain type if you didn't find some of those units already (which you likely will since 1 turn units are common neutral city units). Buying 2-3 cities of terrain specific units is completely impossible in Snow and very hard in Desert.

KGB

[magian]

Light cavalry makes the most sense for a desert bonus unit. Arab, mongol, hun, scythean, and turkish light cavalry dominated earth's desert regions for some thousands of years.

Barbarians would make sense for a 1-turn snow unit (and perhaps some sort of water bonus too). But, without bringing new units into the equation, a snow bonus could make sense for light infantry (snow is very tiring to wade through so light troops would have an advantage).

[hatchfactory]

Vampire for tough low negate aura unit?? -graphics exist