[Altered Melee] Battleforge

[Wazzz]

Battleforge is an RTS mod inspired by many sources with gameplay stylized with Starcraft Brood War in mind. There are elements of Heroes of Might and Magic, Warlords Battlecry and Age of Wonders to name but a few.

For each faction, a great deal of emphasis in the individual unit design is the cornerstone of this project's development. With the goal being to flesh out each unit as much as possible, each faction has this level of attention to detail applied to every component available, with the ideal of filling each faction with a great deal of content to enjoy.

The goal is to include many races, although, for now, there are two playable factions with two more on the way. The playable factions so far are the Knights (a faction of chivalrous human knights in shining armor) and the Wood Elves (vigilant defenders of the woodlands).

Knights

Resilient defenders of the weak, the Knights field a variety of human combatants, cavalry and war machines. With no inherent racial traits, the Knights have had to compensate to equip themselves with the necessary tools to oppose larger threats. Some of their roster includes the Pikeman, a humble anti-cavalry combatant that can be called upon in moderate numbers as the City Watch and may enter Castles to man the defense weaponry, the Champion, a formidable shock cavalry adept it dealing burst damage against larger foes, and the Siege Tower, a powerful war machine of human ingenuity designed to threaten bases, support armies against hordes and transport units to higher ground.

Wood Elves

The Wood Elf armies field agile Elven warriors alongside powerful beasts and imposing Treemen. As defenders of the woodlands, the Wood Elves do not destroy trees to procure lumber, and, similarly, they do not have access to a Lumber Drop-off Zone beyond their Town Hall. Rather, the Wood Elves make their homes in the trees, supplying their army by creating Treetop Abodes along the out perimeters of their base. Some of their roster includes the Ranger, a versatile Elven archer capable of entering Treetop Abodes to ward off attackers and hiding near tree-lines, the Dryad, an agile light cavalry ranged attacker capable of setting up ambushes with Entangling Roots traps and providing vision from trees using Watchers, and the Ancient Treant, a lumbering goliath capable of holding its own in melee combat or taking root to become a formidable ranged attacker.

Some of the core gameplay mechanics include:

• A total rework of the damage and armor system, taking inspiration from Starcraft 2's approach to units doing bonus damage against specific unit types.
• A re-imagining of the unit classification system to illustrate exactly what unit tags are associated with each individual unit.
• A gentle reworking of the in-game resource mechanics which incorporates lumber to a role similar to Vespene Gas, designating it as a valuable resource which dictates tech.

From these core mechanics, each faction is designed to be as individual as I can be bothered to think of, the scope of which may prove to be maddening given there is the intention of including many playable factions. However, I am committed and so will strive to see this through. For the time being, come and check it out, have a play with us on our discord server and check it out for yourself.

@SgtWinter is a very valuable asset in facilitating this project and has been very helpful and so will be doing a lot of the things on this thread thank you.

 

[AMarkov]

Maybe it's easier to play the above games than a parody inspired by them?
And is BattleForge somehow related to MMORTS?

BattleForge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bawbz]

Snake faction when?

 

[Wareditor]

A quite interesting project with already two rich factions, join the discord and try it out with us!

 

[SgtWinter]

Maybe it's easier to play the above games than a parody inspired by them?
And is BattleForge somehow related to MMORTS?

BattleForge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I'm not sure if you've realized, but games and mods are usually inspired by ideas and concepts from other projects. By taking inspiration from other things and twisting them, they are creating something new entirely. Quite frankly, that mindset of 'just play the original thing' is pretty backwards for modders. It's like refusing to play a fun HALO map in Warcraft because that's already an existing game. Not to mentionn that Battleforge plays almost nothing like the games listed above, and so should be considered it's own thing and is definitely not what you'd consider a 'parody' of the listed works.
And no, it is not related in any way to that discontinued video game by EA.

Anyway! Figured I should show some a few screenshots of a match played on Desert Storm. More to come soon!

 

[Wazzz]

Snake faction when?

Soon™

Maybe it's easier to play the above games than a parody inspired by them?
And is BattleForge somehow related to MMORTS?

BattleForge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I dunno, I think it might be easier to play one game than many games
No it's not related, they stole this project's name retroactively by coming up with it first

A quite interesting project with already two rich factions, join the discord and try it out with us!

Thank you very much, glad you had fun and hopefully you will continue to have fun <3

 

[AMarkov]

Wow, there are non-standard models here, this definitely pulls on 8/25
Creativity is very lame, again human people, again elven elves. Originality 0/25.
Knights definitely need Faith, and so 0/25.
I won’t appreciate the balance, because I’m too lazy to follow dubious links, publish at least something on the site... but for now 0/25
Hello Wazz! =)

 

[Daffa]

Is the invite even active?
I cannot join via the invite link.

Anyway, it sort of Battle of Wesnoth. No, not the game mechanic, but the race description seems to remind me of that game.

Curious, but I am not an online person so unless AI is implemented, I might not get full experience

 

[Wazzz]

Is the invite even active?
I cannot join via the invite link.

Anyway, it sort of Battle of Wesnoth. No, not the game mechanic, but the race description seems to remind me of that game.

Curious, but I am not an online person so unless AI is implemented, I might not get full experience

Oh it should be, it's a recent link but I don't know how long they last before they expire. I might have to keep it updated.

I am hoping to implement AI, however, as I feel it is important for people to be able to enjoy a single player experience with such a project
(Unfortunately that may take a bit of time due to the complexity involved, but seeing as a lot of what is involved can get pretty complex, I still want to tackle it)

EDIT: I believe I found the issue with the Discord Server link, so hopefully that should be all fixed now

 

[Wazzz]

UPDATE: Attached to the main post of this thread is a "Battleforge Play Pack". Within it, there are four maps where you can play Battleforge, including AI for one of the two playable races. These also have balance adjustments based off of play tests done within our discord server, so if you want to join in the fun, feel free to join us!

 

[Daffa]

Umm sorry, where?

 

[Wazzz]

Umm sorry, where?

Sorry, apparently I had difficulties attempting to upload a .rar pack containing the maps. They should be uploaded now, although as individual maps rather than a pack.

 

[SgtWinter]

Incoming screenshots of a Wood Elf vs Wood Elf game played on Battleforge.

 

[Wazzz]

Incoming screenshots of a Wood Elf vs Wood Elf game played on Battleforge.

Me VS my stupid idea of making Ancient Treants able to attack air units without any adjustment to their attack range

 

[Kyrbi0]

Very cool. Good luck on continued development!

Trolls when? ; )

 

[Ralle]

Sesame, open!

 

[Wazzz]

Hey everyone, it has been a while since I've updated this thread, but I have been steadily making progress on this project and am on the cusp of being ready to deliver four playable factions!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So, first off, the Knights and the Wood Elves have seen a lot of adjustments while keeping to the spirit of what was originally intended in their design. The Knights are still very much the underdogs, but have much greater survivability with cheaper Barracks units and the addition of a "Paladin" unit (this will likely need to see balance adjustments over time, but for now the design is at least as intended). The Wood Elves, on the other hand, are still formidable opponents, but take longer to realise some of their full potential to afford more counter attack opportunities against them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And now we can take a look at the new factions, starting with the Orcs. A while ago, the Orcs were announced somewhat publicly on the Discord server, and these were designed with the intent of presenting a very aggressive playstyle with an emphasis on "might makes right". As a consequence, technology progression for them is a little stunted in contrast to other factions, but they more than make up for this with early game pressure.

From the Stronghold (the Orc's "Town Hall" structure), they are able to get access to the Chieftain, a unique unit that the faction can only ever have up to one of. This unit provides potent buffs to friendly units around it and can benefit from multiple researches which are also available from the Stronghold. While the Chieftain is a potent unit in its own right, some may question the value of getting the researches that are unique to it. What players will find, however, is that for each additional Stronghold the player owns after their first Stronghold, they can get access to an additional Warlord. These Warlords share similar (but incomplete) leadership potential in comparison to the Chieftain, with a greater emphasis on individual power. Bear in mind that if in playtesting these researches are still found to not be worth getting, balance adjustments may be incorporated to find a nice area where these do become valuable.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finally, the unannounced but perhaps no less expected fourth faction - the Undead. This faction has presented a unique challenge across its development (and still presents some even as I apply the finishing touches for playtesting), but for the most part I am happy with its presentation. One of the biggest difficulties that I have encountered with developing an Undead faction is, thematically, there is a lot you can do with them. On the surface, this might seem like a good thing, but when you get into trying to make everything within the faction coherent, relatively easy to access for the player and fun, some ideas end up becoming overly ambitious.

Unique to the Undead, instead of beginning the game with 7 workers, they begin the game with 5 workers and a Necromancer. Despite its frail physique, the Necromancer fills the role of a mobile "Barracks" for the faction. It is through the Necromancer that you are able to raise corpses to become your basic worker unit - the Drudge. Tech progression follows a more expected trend - the Graveyard is similar to the sort of "Barracks" structure you would find in the Knights, for example, and this unlocks the ability to raise Zombies from corpses. Both the Graveyard and the Dark Citadel (the latter being the "Town Hall" structure) produce corpses periodically, with a Necropolis research being available for increasing the rate these corpses are produced. The Necromancer can also raise the Ghost and the Wraith units, two units who are unique for their inability to benefit from traditional armor upgrades - instead, they get the unique "Incorporeal" research, a passive effect which allows them to reduce damage taken from attacks by 20%. It is here that I should note that I will not go into detail about every research I have put into these factions - there are a lot, and I mostly want to outline the ones that I feel are more prudent to mention at the moment.

The tech progression diverges a bit after unlocking all of the Necromancer units - you are able to make a choice between the Crypt or the Abattoir. While you are able to go for both at your own leisure, this is similar to how the Protoss will often choose between the Robotics Bay and the Stargate at first - while they can easily get both, usually they go for one first depending on their plan. From the Crypt you can, with the right supporting structures, unlock the Gargoyle, Vampire and Death Knight, while the Abattoir provides access to the Butcher, Corpse Wagon and Flesh Dragon. Both paths, however, do provide access to the Sacrifical Altar, which allows players to convert one of their Necromancers into the Lich. This unit is a powerful caster which players may only get one of at any given time - however, due to the nature of their Phylactery, they can be very tough to kill permanently. Any instance of the Lich that is killed will respawn at the Phylactery after a short duration, ready to wreak havoc once again. As such, the only true way to kill the Lich is to destroy its Phylactery.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At present, finishing touches are being applied before further playtesting may commence. One of the difficulties encountered at the moment is use of an ability similar to "Tiny Farm", as when that is used for a unit's ability, selecting more than one unit that has the ability causes the icon to disappear. This is becoming very tedious for wanting to adjust how the Undead get access to their structures. I have heard there may be a solution, but at present do not know what that solution may be.

Beyond that, I hope that if you have an interest in this sort of project that you stay tuned, and I welcome you to come and join our Discord server if you haven't done so already. I'll probably see about more screenshots being provided sooner than later, but at present, I felt more like writing out a lot of content to get us up to speed. I will be looking at providing more screenshots when visuals are more 'final' - there's a few little niggles here and there that I want to nip in the bud first.

 

[Wazzz]

Just a brief update concerning the four playable factions so far.

Some updates are in motion, some larger than others, but the next round of playtesting should be ready and available soon.

The updates per faction so far are:

Knights:

• Pikemen now cost 1 food each and train in pairs
• Veterancy system added for a decent number of the Knight units

The idea behind these changes is that the Pikemen have been somewhat intentionally "poor" units, however the biggest let down for them was their food cost. It made it difficult to justify getting them when everything else for the same food cost was superior. Veterancy being added is a holdover from the NWC project, which adds some very minor boosts to units as a reward for actually keeping Knight units alive (which is a feat in itself).


Wood Elves:

• Treetop Abodes now start with Camoflage
• Fungal Guardians are now an anti-air defense tower

The Wood Elves are not seeing major changes since their last round of playtesting, but this change is centered around adding greater survivability to their food structures without bothering to increase their stats (I absolutely refuse to do this since it feels thematically inappropriate and like a cheap cop out from finding a more creative solution), while the change for the Fungal Guardian centers around the fact that the Wood Elves are far from lacking in anti-ground options and actually lacked a bit in terms of a major anti-air option until later in the game. I don't know, it made sense to me at the time.


Undead:

• Necromancers no longer summon Blight Obelisks and instead can "empower" Blight Obelisks to give them a powerful attack
• Blight Obelisks no longer upgrade to have a basic attack, and instead can be upgraded to have a host of angry spirits surrounding them to attack enemy units within their area
• Necropolis research removed

New Unit - Gravekeeper
- This unit acts as a replacement to the Necropolis research in the sense that it is able to dock at Graveyards and Dark Citadels to increase their corpse production rate. They also act as an early-to-mid game caster unit that can provide temporary blight and repair at a faster rate than the faction's Drudges. Later in the game they can get access to a useful zoning spell.

The Undead are seeing some relatively major overhauls to their base support mechanics, with the idea that Necromancers will be focusing primarily on the summoning side of things while the Gravekeeper will focus on increasing production rate. While I do enjoy the Necropolis research, I feel it is better suited to an upcoming faction in the distant future.


Orcs:

• Thralls get access to powerbuilding (but still no repair)
• Chieftains spawn naturally after a 90 second timer at the start of the game
• Shaman are now able to dock at Shaman Circles to allow Shaman Circles to cast their abilities
• Shaman have been drastically rebalanced
• Thralls benefit from Goblin Horde upgrade
• Minor tech changes to support other aspects of the techtree

The Orcs have seen the most changes. It was only recently that them starting with the Chieftain was revealed to provide an incredibly unfair advantage with no significant drawback if it was used for instant aggression at the start of the game. After deliberation on how to rebalance this, it was determined that the best approach would be a minor time requirement before it became available for free. As it stands, it now works rather well with timed aggression builds which still allows the momentum to heavily favour the Orcs. This is an intentional design philosophy in assymetrical faction concepts where the Orcs will be somewhat dependent on early game damage to push ahead due to their poorer economy - this may end up not being the case, however, and it opens up the possibility for mind games where instead of using early aggression as expected, the Orc player could switch into a fast expand into a timed push tactic. There are many unexplored possibilities here, and we look forward to seeing what players come up with.

More importantly, the Thralls benefitting from the Goblin Horde upgrade creates more incentive to research it when you are not using Goblin-heavy strategies, and it feels thematically appropriate that the goblin worker unit can respawn at the Goblin Hovel. This is also partly owing to the fact that Orcs are intentionally lacking in their capacity for defense, and so it makes counter attacks a bit less devastating to them when they can often be so vulnerable. Also the Shaman was incredibly cheap and powerful for some reason, so now it is not.



And that's all for the major balance changes. If you want to join in for some of the upcoming playtesting, you are welcome to join us on our discord server here, and if you want to drop any thoughts about the project you can do so here or on the discord server. Hopefully soon I'll have some images to share as well

 

[Wazzz]

UPDATE:
After a lot of fine tuning of the four currently playable factions, balance updates have become closer to finalisation for these factions with the development of functioning AI being an ongoing pursuit. Here are some of the faction's primary updates which will hopefully shed some light towards what considerations have been undertaken.

Knights

Some elements for the Knights have been considered more difficult to deal with by people playing as the Knights, while others have been more difficult to deal with by people playing against the Knights.

Castles

Starting with a primary thorn in the side of a lot of players, Castles were considered to have very limited counterplay options once they were effectively set-up. So, now they function quite differently. Their attacks have a minimum attack range now, and each Pikeman that enters the Castle contributes 1 extra arrow it can fire, now housing up to 8 Pikemen (so they can fire at up to 8 separate targets at once). Most factions had a reasonable pathway to out-ranging Castles with siege weapons, but it forced a very narrow counterplay narrative that primarily served to punish melee-focused factions like the Orcs (who, coincidentally, also really need to rely on dealing damage to boost their economy in the early game). To keep up with the newer factions having more options in the early game, too, the hiring of Pikemen no longer requires the Town Guard research - instead, it is now an interactive ability called "Town Guard" which only requires a Barracks. This means that in the early game, you can get very quick access to higher numbers of Pikemen, or you can save your money for other ventures if you're feeling brave enough. If you experience early game pressure, however, the option is always there for some instant reinforcements. This keeps in following with the previous change of Pikemen training in pairs, effectively costing 60 gold each (only 10 more gold than a Peasant individually).

Guard Tower

Following suit with the Castle, the Guard Tower no longer has an active attack unless it has at least one Pikeman loaded into it. It can load up to two Pikemen, each one increasing the attack speed of the Guard Tower. Similarly, the Guard Tower also has a minimum attack range.

Squire

This unit by design was and still is effectively intended to be a poor ranged combatant that doesn't scale overly well towards the later game. In that, the deisgn was too effective - the biggest downside of the Squire is the food investment required to get their numbers up. So, they now cost 1 food, with their cost adjusted to 65 gold and 5 lumber. They have been played around with following these new requirements and, while training slightly faster than they used to, the adjustment primarily does serve to enable smoother transition to more desirable units, like the Champion. There has been some occasional successs with early game pressure using Pikemen and Squires almost exclusively, but in any instance where the initial offense is held, the army composition is genuinely terrible against anything that can be fielded against them in a counter attack. So we feel pretty good about this change, overall.

Champion

Honestly, these guys have been a fantastic staple of the project for a while, but ever since the introduction of the Wood Elves they have had an interesting relationship with Rangers. Initially, they were actually quite effective against Rangers. But then Wood Elf players figured out they could just... get more Rangers. And this ends up with a fairly poor dynamic where a tier 1 unit can be massed to easily remove any potential counterplay from Champions (who, I will iterate, were not intended to be good against ranged combatants specifically). So, the Champion has had a massive buff. Now while "Charge" is active, they will take 50% reduced damage from ranged attacks (they are moving fast, so they are reasonably resistant to this). To more meaningfully engage with spammable tier 1 units, however, the Joust upgrade also causes the "Charge" bonus to deal 100% line damage behind the initial target while retaining 300% damage against the initial target.

Siege Towers

A very minor change, Siege Towers now require 2 Foundries instead of just 1 to unlock.

Wood Elves

For a while these guys have been fairly stable, but with the added flexibility of the Undead and Orcs in the early game, some revisions have been made. Additionally, some unit roles have been reevaluated to determine how effectively these were being fulfilled.

Tree of Life

Not too much has changed - Force of Nature now safely ignores trees with Treetop Abodes built atop them and does spawn 1 Sapling per Tree. They actually do start with this ability, too. Instead of requiring the Magic Forest research, they start with 100 mana instead of 200, and Magic Forest increases the mana capacity by 100. Magic Forest still unlocks Tranquility.

Ranger

Very small change, Rangers no longer cost lumber. Now they no longer prohibit tech advancements.

Satyr

These guys now do bonus damage vs Light to help provide more counter options against early game harassment. Originally, it was concerned this would overlap with the Dryad's role - however... we will soon see why that is no longer an issue.

Druid

One change - Monsoon has been replaced with Cyclone, which functions more like the Phoenix's "Grav-Lift" ability from Starcraft 2 than what you might expect from Warcraft 3. That is to say, it will lift a target enemy unit into the air and make them targetable as an air unit for a short duration. This is really fun to pair with Ranger who can take pot shots at lifted units, or even Eagles who can swoop in and peck them apart.

Dryad

Now we're up to the real juicy changes. The Dryad now uses mana for casting its abilities (still with the exception of "Watcher"). Additionally, the Dryad now gets "Nature Ward", a former Ancient Wisp ability (more on those changes to the Ancient Wisp later). With 100 mana and Entangling Roots costing 30 mana, the Dryad is now more able to handle tier 1 spam with its abilities, but also has more versatility in providing support to Elemental and Spirit units like the Dendroid or Ancient Wisp. There is also a bit more counterplay available with the use of mana, maybe. I made that last part up, I'm not actually certain that's true.

Ancient Wisp

Now no longer having the Nature's Ward spell, Ancient Wisps have received a "Commune" spell, functionining effectively... just like Spirit Essence, really. It provides additional support to your Wood Elven mana-users. Also, these guys no longer require an upgrade from the Tree of Life to unlock access to - instead, they require either the Faerie Ring or the Druid Circle. At each venue they receive one upgrade they can benefit from - the Faerie Ring provides the Detonate research, while the Druid Circle provides "Primordial Essence", the latter of which being an upgrade that increases mana by 100 and mana regeneration by 25%.

Dendroid

These guys often find themselves on the butt end of a Squire's joke with Flaming Arrows usually being researched long before these lumbering (and expensive) treemen stumble their way onto the battlefield (usually followed shortly by a brief trip into someone's fireplace). So, their expense is more manageable, but also to provide some counterplay against the newly buffed Champions, they have some additional benefits of their own. The Brambles research now provides Dendroids with a slowing attack. And a defensive slowing effect against melee attackers. So, anything they damage, either with their big hammer or just by letting enemy melee units hurt themselves on their Thorns, will be temporarily slowed. This makes them a very effective wall against Champions, still allowing Rangers to get their pot shots off - but requiring more tactical skill and awareness to do so.

Undead

There wasn't too much to change about these guys - mostly it's just managing their code to try to avoid any foreseeable issues of lag. However, I wasn't overly satisfied with the way the Lich played, the Death Knight wasn't in a great position to see much use, and many units just took too long to field. I might have also made changes that either weren't mentioned in the previous update, so I will mention them here just in case. Also, Vampires were way too busted in some instances, so we have a final verdict on them.

Ghost

These cost 1 food now. They have for a while, so if I didn't mention it before, I'm sorry. They just weren't too effective to warrant costing 2 food, and now they're a really good 1 food unit despite being one of the more expensive ones.

Wraith

These cost 2 food now. i believe a new update was they also carry the "Large" tag, so that means Champions can dish out bonus damage to them. But genuinely I found these cost waaaaay too much gold in the first place, so they're much cheaper now. How much cheaper, you might ask? Well, I'll have to check... oh, 80 gold and 40 lumber. Okay, that's quite nice. Compare that to Ghosts costing 75 gold and 15 lumber, the biggest detriment for going Wraiths will be to your tech advancement now - but you will still be able to get good unit production from your Graveyards at home.

Death Knight

So, these no longer cast Terror, and instead get "Control Undead" (which was originally a Lich spell). These will also no longer be requiring the Sacrifical Altar, and instead will require the Spire (with their researches being made available there). This will promote more use by players. Also, they're a bit cheaper than they used to be, costing 190 gold and 60 lumber.

Vampire

Armed with the Vampiric Touch ability, Vampires can make any target enemy organic unit receive 30% more damage from all sources. If that unit dies, it will spawn a Vampire Fledgling, which loses health over time during the day but can restore health via a shared Life Steal ability. The reason these guys used to be way too overpowered is because enemies killed by Fledglings could also spawn more Fledglings. That is no longer a thing. Additionally, Vampire damage has been adjusted - now they deal 15 damage, 35 vs light. They can still cause a great deal of problems to structures with light armor like Farms, but they won't be nearly as effective against Castles. They also have the Blood Frenzy ability which increases their movement and attack speed by 30%, and also increases the amount of life they can drain from enemy targets.

Lich

This one is the biggest change. The Lich's original design was actually for it to be a more "typical" caster. Sure, it would be more powerful than most, but the design was built around the premise of being able to get more than one. So I felt that it needed a drastic revision considering you can only get one Lich.

First up, Death Touch. Leaning into the Grim Reaper theme, the Lich can expend a chunk of mana to instantly erase an enemy unit from existence. This will bypass any reincarnation, resurrection or reanimation effects. That unit is dead.

Next, Animate Dead. The Lich can raise a number of corpses to serve as "Walking Dead" temporarily, providing instant reinforcements. This used to be a cheaper spell that affected single targets, so it's been updated to be a turning point in larger scale conflicts. I don't know, I didn't find the original spell did the Lich much service, so it's been changed.

Death and Decay - this actually remains the same, this was always good. If you want to know more about it, please, do play the project with us <3

Next, Soul Reap. This is a passive of the Lich that restores mana for every living creature that dies near the Lich. This allows it to have fantastic mana regeneration in larger scale conflicts.

Finally, Death Nova. This is sort of a "hidden" passive, if I recall correctly, where when the Lich "dies", it will unleash a wave of death energy that targets... Undead units exclusively. So, while the Lich will be back after a short time unless you do kill its Phylactery, it will remove a chunk of its own army, making it a very good target to try to focus down if you get the chance. This is a counterplay tool, to allow us to make the Lich bonkers powerful but keeping it a fun game of "keep away" from both sides. Additionally, upon respawning, the Lich will start with 0 mana, so we can consider this as all of its magical energy being expelled outwards.

Now, upgrades wise, the "Power Lich" upgrade actually enhances all of the Liches spells, and increases its mana pool by a whopping 200 additional points. This already starts at 400 mana, for context, so the Lich can throw a tonne of spells when given the chance. Soul Binding is our other research exlusive to the Lich, increasing its health by 150 (from a starting health pool of 250), increasing hit point regeneration by 2, increasing the effectiveness of Soul Reap and increasing the health of Phylacteries by 50. These upgrades are expensive, but they do a lot for a unit you can only ever field one of. The Lich itself is made much more expensive, too (costing 500 gold and 250 lumber!), but considering how hard it is to actually get rid of these guys... they're often worth their weight in gold (and wood).

Orcs

Finally, these guys have seen a number of revisions. As we've had more opportunity to get used to their strategies, there have been some things the Orcs did really well, and some things they just didn't have the tools to deal with appropriately. So I will try to provide a brief summation of these updates.

Shaman

The Shaman now has a spell arsenal consisting of Monsoon, Earthquake and Bloodlust. They no longer dock at the Shaman Circles. Instead, Monsoon has actually been ported over from the Druid. This provides some valuable anti-air, too. Earthquake provides some anti-ground damage, primarily slowing enemy armies but also harming structures and units with the Mechanical and Construct tags. Bloodlust functions the same, so you can expect this to be incredibly overpowered if anybody ever actually remembers that this spell does exist.

Totems

These have seen a few changes, so I will cover all the Totems together. Both the Earth Totem and Storm Totem are now available as soon as you get your Warlord research completed. They no longer require the Shaman Circle, but they only have an initial attack in that instance. This will allow you to set up your defenses a bit more easily, seeing as Warlords is a very actively sought-after research. To get access to their more potent features, there is now an Empowered Totems research available at the Shaman Circle. This allows Storm Totems to provide a permanent Monsoon around them, and for Earth Totems to have a permanent slowing effect around them. Earth Totem's also deal minor splash damage, while Storm Totems now have a basic long-ranged anti-air attack. The Monsoon provided by the Storm Totems only affect air units, unlike the Shaman's spell.

Wolf Raiders

For a while, these guys didn't fulfil a meaningful role, so they have seen a significant revision.

First, the Wold Raider has a Fire Bomb ability. This causes damage over time (bonus vs Flammable), and slow the attack speed of structures affected by the ability. It also does this as splash damage, so it can affect clusters of units if players aren't careful. Mostly, this allows for a bit more counterplay against the Knights with the slowing of defense structure's attacks, but it also helps deal with hordes of units like Zombies.

Secondly, the Wolf Raider now reduces damage taken by ranged attacks by 20% while moving. This is partly to help it in its role of dealing with ranged attackers (yes, this was actually intended for it), and is mostly explaind by the Wolf Raiders being so agile that they are harder to hit.

Finally, the Wolf Raider provides small detection. The Wolf has keen senses, so it felt like an appropriate fit.

Wyvern Hunter

To provide a nice addition to their role, the Wyvern Hunter now makes use of the "Aerial Nets" ability the Wolf Raiders used to have. This has been updated to negate air units caught within the nets from being able to attack, too. Suffice to say, this has made the Wyvern Hunter an invaluable unit to use against air harassment. Additionally, their Venom Sting ability is now a target spell that deals 12 damage per second over 15 seconds. For our maths enthuasiasts, that means this will deal a total of 180 damage! I think it's neat.

A change that doesn't really warrant its own entry, too, is that the Marauder is no longer in the Orc line-up. There wasn't really a meaningful role for it, and the Ogre Brute handles whatever the Marauder might consider doing better.

And that should conclude the changes made thus far. If I have missed anything, I will update accordingly, but honestly it might just be better to come and check out the project. Everyone is welcome to join us on our Discord server, and let us know if you want to playtest with us some time

 

[SgtWinter]

Hohoho, have some in-dev screenshots. We've got improved Knight AI with Wood Elves in the works, more fleshing out of the original roster's techtree and balance, and a banger new melee map to play on by little ol' me!

Knight AI Macro

Knight vs Undead

Mid-game Undead

Orc vs Knights

Humble Orc Beginnings

 

[Kyrbi0]

Impressive work