Battle against a major antagonist/villian

[Blake8]

Me and a few buddies of mine intend to create a campaign, one of the mission is supposed to be an epic battle between the player's army and the army of an enemy general who is considered evil and cruel even by his own people's standards, and he is rumored to be possessed by demons. Anyway how do I properly set the tone for this battle, for instance I was thinking that it should occur in heavy rain with thunder all around, any ideas you guys can contribute regarding this would be appreciated.

 

[Pyrogasm]

I'd have the antagonist march on a previously uninvolved/peaceful medium-to-small sized city and then raze the entire place before forcing you to fight the battle there amid the still-smoldering ruins. Before the actual battle, first have the player fight a doomed battle from the perspective of the city's paltry defense corps. That way you actually get to see the antagonist destroy something for no reason except to force you to fight him out of rage (maybe some important character(s) are from that city, the player has been there before, etc.). When the player gets down to a small enough number of units, short cinematic of them attempting to surrender but being mercilessly slaughtered instead.

Probably lots of fire in the initial battle for dramatic effect, but they're mostly all put out for the real battle so it's not too cluttered visually. Lightning is probably good too.

 

[Nowow]

Dunno about the tone, but you could add a game mechanic (for whatever kind of gameplay you're planning) in which the enemy sands waves of weak enemy units when you attack him in order to weaken and distract your attacking force. That will show the enemy as a calculated person who has no value for human life while also using a disposable force as a meat shield when most needed.

Bonus if you add an inspiring ability that switches the meat shield to an ally player.

P.s.: please don't make an over the top villain. It's not credible and usually just awful to read the dialogue.

 

[cleavinghammer]

There's always the classic "villains disarms hero, lifts sword, gets hit by lightning" resolution.

 

[Blake8]

I'd have the antagonist march on a previously uninvolved/peaceful medium-to-small sized city and then raze the entire place before forcing you to fight the battle there amid the still-smoldering ruins. Before the actual battle, first have the player fight a doomed battle from the perspective of the city's paltry defense corps. That way you actually get to see the antagonist destroy something for no reason except to force you to fight him out of rage (maybe some important character(s) are from that city, the player has been there before, etc.). When the player gets down to a small enough number of units, short cinematic of them attempting to surrender but being mercilessly slaughtered instead.

Probably lots of fire in the initial battle for dramatic effect, but they're mostly all put out for the real battle so it's not too cluttered visually. Lightning is probably good too.

That's a really good idea, I thought about it...basically you'd have a city get destroyed and the actual battle takes place afterwards, you are fighting in a burning city in the rain....reminds me of the third mission in the ascension campaign

additional useful ideas are also welcome

 

[Blake8]

Ok, I came to revisit this idea in another light....the antagonist is an army general, one who leads a special unit against the Hero's forces, this unit is a very elite unit, however the antagonist himself is an evil man that doesn't care about the means as long as the ends are good, and that ultimately spews the war out of control (with him and this unit gone peace would much more likely to be established between both sides) Now I was thinking that you have like 3 heroes and a few strong melee units, healers, etc. have to destroy him and his main group, however he gets in an airship and attempts to escape...now there you have to use your own airships to strike down the fighters he send to protect himself and then finally destroy his airship...how does this sound?

 

[cleavinghammer]

Maybe have the option to have the hero's airships present during the first boss battle, but every time one elite goes down, he takes one airship with him. Basically making the first battle easier and the end battle harder.

 

[Lord Siler]

@Blake8
very elite units? Ironguards perhaps?

 

[Lord Siler]

Here is the trigger part of the aura you wanted for that villain

• Aura
  • Events
    • Time - Every 1.00 seconds of game time
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Unit Group - Pick every unit in (Units in (Playable map area) matching ((((Matching unit) has buff Fortitude Aura ) Equal to True) and ((Life of (Matching unit)) Less than (Max life of (Matching unit))))) and do (Actions)
      • Loop - Actions
        • Unit - Set life of (Picked unit) to (2.50 + (Life of (Picked unit)))

 

[Blake8]

That was genius, I didn't realize that you could create an aura by supplementing a regular auras effect with a trigger like this

 

[Lord Siler]

Yes, however it can only be done to increase hp and mana regeneration.

That's the limiting factor in case you're interested, but there are also other auras you can modify the same as you did with that command aura to reduce the enemy's attack, for instance reducing enemy armor, attack or movment speed, or you could develop an ultimate that enables the unit to have a very powerful aura for a set amount of time e.g. insane healing, large armor bonus, insane attack rate bonus, etc.

I have other ideas but I haven't fully developed them