[Altered Melee] Custom Race: Admiralty of Kul Tiras

[CollectorofStoriesUntold]

-Custom Race: Admiralty of Kul Tiras-

I need help beta testing this map as well as help developing a forth hero based on Asssssvi's HQ Captain Morgan model. I've spent the last two weeks trying come up with abilities that, match its theme and synergize with the other heroes, but don't overlap with theirs or the unit abilities, but all i could come with was some weird mashup of the brewmaster, dark ranger and a commissar from 40k.

Edited from Blizzard's Dustwallow Keys map.
All custom resources, spells and systems will be credited upon release.
There's a layout of the race's units and abilities.

Units

Halberdier

Hearty Infantry
- Gold Cost: 175
- Lumber Cost: N/A
- Food Cost: 3
- Build Time: 25 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 500
- Damage: Normal; 9 - 12; 10 - 16; 11 - 20; 12 - 24 (+30% vs Large)
- Defense: Large; 2; 4; 6; 8
- Abilities: Plate Armor; Polearm Training
- Attacks: Land units

• Plate Armor; Reduces the damage taken from spells, piercing attacks and magic attacks by 25%.
• Polearm Training; Increases damage dealt to enemy targets with large armor by 30%.

Arquebusier

Blackpowder Infantry.
- Gold Cost: 190
- Lumber Cost: 30
- Food Cost: 3
- Build Time: 26 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 420
- Damage: Pierce: 14 - 24; 15 - 30; 16 - 36; 17 - 42; (+4)
- Defense: Medium; 0; 2; 4; 6
- Abilities: Heavy Arquebus; Rifled Barrels
- Attacks: Land and Air units

• Heavy Arquebus; Attacks have 10% chance to reduce an enemy unit's armor by 2 and gives vision of that unit. Lasts 9 seconds.
• Rifled Barrels; Increases attack range and damage.

Cavalier

Shock Cavalry.
- Gold Cost: 220
- Lumber Cost: 50
- Food Cost: 4
- Build Time: 30 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 350
- Damage: Normal; 30 - 38; 31 - 43; 32 - 48; 33 - 52; (Double Vs Structures)
- Defense: Large; 1; 3; 5; 7
- Abilities: Charge; Explosive Tipped Lances
- Attacks: Land units

• Charge; Causes the casting unit to charge at targeted unit bypassing other units and stunning the target for 3 seconds
• Explosive Tipped Lances; Causes attacks to do 2 times normal damage to buildings.

Spiritualist

Support spellcaster.
- Gold Cost: 145
- Lumber Cost: 25
- Food Cost: 2
- Build Time: 30 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 315; 355; 395
- Manapoints: 200; 300; 400
- Damage: Magic; 10 - 14
- Defense: Unarmored; 0
- Abilities: Anchor of Binding; Mending Rapids; Swiftness Ward
- Attacks: Land and Air units

• Anchor of Binding; Conjures up a spiritual anchor, inflicting 75 damage and slows a target enemy unit's attack rate by 25% and movement speed by 60%. Lasts 15 seconds.
• Mending Rapids; Caster stand stationary alls upon the restorative tides to heal allies within a 300 for 4% of their maximum health per second for 10 seconds.
• Swiftness Ward; Summons an immovable ward that Increases nearby friendly units' movement speed and attack rate by 25%.Lasts 30 seconds.

Thornspeaker (Human)

Maneuverable spellcaster.
- Gold Cost: 120
- Lumber Cost: 30
- Food Cost: 2
- Build Time: 35 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 300; 375; 450
- Manapoints: 200; 300; 400
- Damage: Magic; 11 - 13;
- Defense: Unarmored; 0
- Abilities: Barkskin; Hawk Form; Dispel magic
- Attacks: Land and Air units

• Barkskin; Increases a target friendly unit's armor by 3. |nLasts 45 seconds.
• Hawk Form; Transforms the Druid into a Hawk, increasing mana regeneration, reducing mana and making him an aerial fighter.
• Dispel magic; Removes all buffs from units in a target area.

Thornspeaker (Hawk)

Maneuverable spellcaster.
- Gold Cost: 120
- Lumber Cost: 30
- Food Cost: 2
- Build Time: 25 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 350; 425; 500
- Manapoints: 100; 200; 300
- Damage: Pierce; 35 - 41; 36 - 48; 37 - 55; 38 - 62
- Defense: Small; 0; 2; 4; 6
- Abilities: Barkskin; Hawk Form; True Sight
- Attacks: Air units

• Barkskin; Increases a target friendly unit's armor by 3. |nLasts 45 seconds.
• Human Form; Transforms the Druid back into a Human
• Ture Sight; Reveals nearby invisible units.

Inquisitor

Anti-Spellcaster.
- Gold Cost: 190
- Lumber Cost: 30
- Food Cost: 3
- Build Time: 28 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 420
- Damage: Chaos; 10 - 12; 11 - 15; 12 - 18; 13 - 21
- Defense: Medium; 2; 4; 6; 8
- Abilities: Ravage Magic; Mana Transfer; Mana Cloud; Spell Immunity
- Attacks: Land units

• Ravage Magic; Dispels positive buffs from enemy units, and negative buffs from friendly units.
• Mana Transfer; Transfers mana between the Inquisitor and a target. Drains 6 mana per second from an enemy, or transfers 6 mana per second to an ally.|n|nMana Transfer can push the Inquisitor's mana over its maximum value, though excess mana drains off rapidly if not used. Lasts 10 seconds.
• Mana Cloud; Stops all enemies in a target area from casting spells for 30 seconds.
• Spell Immunity; Renders this unit immune to all spells.

Naval Gun

Long-range siege weaponry. Exceptional damage versus buildings, but slow and vulnerable.
- Gold Cost: 165
- Lumber Cost: 70
- Food Cost: 3
- Build Time: 32 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 360;
- Damage: Siege; 52 - 64; 53 - 77; 54 - 90; 55 - 103;
- Defense: Large; 0; 2; 4; 6;
- Abilities: High Explosive Shell
- Attacks: Land units

• High Explosive Shell; Uses explosive shells to increase damage dealt to Unarmored and Medium armor units.

Ark

Amphibious assault transport. Has no initial attack. Can load an Arquebusier to gain an attack; each additional Arquebusier increases its attack speed.
- Gold Cost: 160
- Lumber Cost: 40
- Food Cost: 2
- Build Time: 50 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 400
- Damage: Pierce: 30 - 40; 31 - 46; 32 - 52; 33 - 58; (+4)
- Defense: Large; 3; 4; 5; 6
- Abilities: Firing Ports; Rifled Barrels
- Attacks: Land and Air units

• Firing Ports; Causes nearby an Arquebusier to run into the Ark so that it can gain protection and allow the ark to attack.
• Rifled Barrels; Increases attack range and damage.

Dreadnought

Flying, heavy assault ship.
- Gold Cost: 385
- Lumber Cost: 120
- Food Cost: 7
- Build Time: 65 Seconds
- Hitpoints: 1350
- Damage (Land): Magic; 93 - 115; 94 - 127; 95 - 139; 96 - 151
- Damage (Air): Magic; 84 - 94; 85 - 105; 86 - 116; 87 - 127
- Defense: Small; 2; 4; 6; 8
- Abilities: Arcane Shells
- Attacks: Land and Air units

• Arcane Shells; Fires shells filled with volatile liquid mana that causes buildings to take damage over time. Buildings that are currently taking damage from Arcane Shells cannot be repaired, and have their attack rate reduced by 60%.

Hydromancer

Mystical Hero, adept at controlling enemy movement and ranged assaults.

1. Orb of Water; Sends a great orb of water to the target point. During its short lifetime, it will send away bolts of water to nearby enemy units, dealing damage.
2. Explosion; Creates a water explosion at the target area that will slow nearby enemy units. Slow effect lasts 3 seconds.
3. Hydromancy; Gives a chance to attack faster for 3 seconds, on an attack.
4. Mass Freeze; Freezes enemy units around a target enemy unit with frozen water, preventing them from moving for 10 seconds. Frozen units will also take 10 damage per second.

Chaplain

Mystical Hero, adept at Healing.

1. Pure Light; A holy light that heals a target friendly living unit for a percent of its max hit points. Can't be cast on self.
2. Mind rot; The Chaplain afflicts an enemy unit with a Mind Rot, which will cause the unit to lose mana per second. And if the afflicted unit casts a spell, will it become stunned for 2.5 seconds.
3. Holy Nova; Causes an explosion of holy light around the Chaplain, increases life and mana regeneration. Has a chance to reset the cooldown of Pure Light.
4. Spirit of Retribution; Upon death, the Spirit of Retribution is summoned. Can cast Pure Light free of cost with a reduced cool down and will raise Lesser Spirits of Retribution from your fallen units.

Champion

Warrior Hero, exceptional at melee combat.

1. Crippling Strike; Strikes the target with crippling power, dealing agility damage and reducing the targeted unit's armor.
2. Blessing of Ironsides; Wreaths an unit in magical silver which increases damage dealt but reduces movement speed.
3. Stance; Allow Champion to change Defensive, Passive or Offensive Stance. Each stance improves Champion's performance.
4. Reincarnation; When killed, the Champion will come back to life.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Always love to see new custom factions. As a few notes, consider adding pictures (they help people get/stay interested, and help center your info-dumps), and consider getting rid of the excessive details; stuff like HP/attack damage/armor numbers are all well and good, but they can honestly change so much anytime you balance something, and don't necessarily give us a good idea about what the Unit is really about.

e.g.

Cannoneer
- HP: 500
- Armor: 5
- Range: 450
- Attack Damage: 35-55
- Attack Type: Siege
Abilities:
- Bouncing Balls: cannonballs bounce off of buildings & hit nearby units
Upgrades:
- Fiery Assault: Attacks deal an additional 7 damage vs. buildings

vs.

Cannoneer
[[cool model editor pic(s) and/or in-game screenshot(s)]]
[[tooltip-like description, speaking in generalities & in terms of gameplay/role, ala:
"Long-ranged Siege Infantry, strong against buildings but slow & weak against cavalry. Burly sailor with big muscles and a thick mustache, who wields a powerful hand cannon & wears thick iron plating."
]]
Abilities:
- [[icon pic]] Bouncing Balls: cannonballs bounce off of buildings & hit nearby units [[screenshot if applicable]]
Upgrades:
- [[icon pic]] Fiery Assault: Attacks deal additional damage vs. Buildings [[screenshot if applicable]]

Hidden

I'm pretty sure @GhostThruster would probably take umbrage with removing the Food Cost from the write-up, and he's made salient arguments about incorporating that into design docs ; )

//EDIT//

Ok I actually finished reading through them all & while I have a number of thoughts, I just gotta give you kudos for incorporating that classic old Beta mechanic of Riflemen crewing the OG Steam Tank in order to let it fire. Such a cool mechanic, was always planning on using it myself someday. ^_^

Also try to avoid recreating standard abilities 1-for-1; stuff like renamed-Liquid-Fire & renamed-Reincarnation. Buffs may now stack but that's no excuse for re-using everything. ; )

 

[cleavinghammer]

Does the Ark load only Arquebusiers, or can it serve as a general transport?

 

[CollectorofStoriesUntold]

Does the Ark load only Arquebusiers, or can it serve as a general transport?

The Ark loads only Arquebusiers. I originally wanted it to be a general transport with the same attack function, but i am not trigger savvy enough at the moment to implement it.

Always love to see new custom factions. As a few notes, consider adding pictures (they help people get/stay interested, and help center your info-dumps), and consider getting rid of the excessive details; stuff like HP/attack damage/armor numbers are all well and good, but they can honestly change so much anytime you balance something, and don't necessarily give us a good idea about what the Unit is really about.

e.g.



vs.



Hidden

//EDIT//

Ok I actually finished reading through them all & while I have a number of thoughts, I just gotta give you kudos for incorporating that classic old Beta mechanic of Riflemen crewing the OG Steam Tank in order to let it fire. Such a cool mechanic, was always planning on using it myself someday. ^_^

Also try to avoid recreating standard abilities 1-for-1; stuff like renamed-Liquid-Fire & renamed-Reincarnation. Buffs may now stack but that's no excuse for re-using everything. ; )
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I try to avoid reusing Standard abilities but by the time I got around to the Dreadnought I was burnt-out. (This was a pre-reforged map that was corrupted by the update so had to restart, then when i was about halfway done the trigger page started to cause crashes any time it was edited so I had to transfer everything it to a new map, and then later on it failed to save properly causing the imports be corrupted and had to be reimported. This occurred twice) Sorry for the rant needed to get it off my chest. When I get around to working on the map again I may replace those abilies. Thanks again for the input.

Also I just noticed you are missing 4 units; I can't exactly tell what everything is at a glance so I don't know what is missing, but is that part forthcoming?

I'll go over the the missing units.

First is the Worker - he is the Allance peasant without call to arms. I'm still trying to descide if i should give him a defensive ability. I wanted the Kul Tiras to be more aggressive focused.

Second is the 4th hero - I'm still trying to come up with a ability set for it.

Third is the light flying unit - one is actually the Thornspeaker Hawk form which also acts as the races mobile true sight.

Forth is the meduim flying unit - I left it out for two reasons. First is i wanted the the player be more reliant on the gunpower units to act as anti-air and second to be honest I was having hard time a air unit that fit the theme but didn't over shadow the others.

I tried a few different models such as the Human zeppelin (I felt it lowered the impact of the dreadnuaght and was a little two big), I had already used the hot-air balloon model with my Stromguard Race, and I'm planning to use a reskin of the war eagle rider model for a future lordaeron race and a reskin of the elf Valkyrie for a Alterac race.

What if they were just beefier, more-combat-capable Workers? Like, pseudo-Footmen?

Good idea. I'm going use this. it will help balance out the tanky but expensive Halberdier when defending.

What's the Hero concept?

I'm using Asssssvi's HQ Captain Morgan model for the last hero. I'm having two main problems. The first is that I've over tuned the abilities for the other heroes which causes any abilities I give to feel under whelming and the secound is the model has the drucken sailior theme which overlaps with Brewmaster. I thought about using some a few reskinned brewmaster abilities as there is no hero tavern on the map but that felt cheap.

Morphs don't count in my book but ok. ; )

In the original rendition of the race I had war eagles in the same fuction as the hippogryphs and the Thornspeaker was a more heavy dps version of the druid of the claw. Then I thought about were the hell would these giants birds roost at sea, so I folded the war eagle into Thornspeaker, buffed the Halberdier's tankyness and created Cavalier to fill the melee dps role.

Maybe this faction has that as a point of identity; give it a weakness when it comes to Aerial stuff. The Orcs only have 2 flying units, as a standard example.

That's the idea i came too. I've run into this problem when making custom races is that their are not that many organic flying units for the alliance. I plan to make a custom race for each of the seven human kingdoms and I don't like reusing models between.

For a defensive ability, workers could run into water and Submerge.

The flyer could be a scout unit with no attack or possibly a debuffing aura so it'd need to be maneuvered in the right position to be effective.

I like the idea of Submerging but it only works in deep water and there is not enough on the map for it to be that useful.

I also like your idea for the flying unit, but i don't think it would match the idea I have of the Kul Tiras land units. I pictured them as similar to orcs; Tanky melee units with powerful gunpowder support. Though feel the idea would work for a more naval based map were It function like aircraft in a blockade.

The concept for the unit that pops into my mind would to make it weak and semi-expensive with a low food, Have it have True sight and a damageless wind walk for evasion and movement boost. I'd have it gain a medium slow aura through upgrades. The idea would to have it hover near the enemy gold mines or lumber to slow their income or in the rear of your forces to slow enemy melee combatants.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Also I just noticed you are missing 4 units; I can't exactly tell what everything is at a glance so I don't know what is missing, but is that part forthcoming?

 

[cleavinghammer]

Compared to the Alliance techtree, the only ones missing from the first post are the worker, 2 light/medium flying units and the 4th hero, everything else has an equivalent.

 

[Kyrbi0]

I'll go over the the missing units.

First is the Worker - he is the Allance peasant without call to arms. I'm still trying to descide if i should give him a defensive ability. I wanted the Kul Tiras to be more aggressive focused.

What if they were just beefier, more-combat-capable Workers? Like, pseudo-Footmen?

Second is the 4th hero - I'm still trying to come up with a ability set for it.

What's the Hero concept?

Third is the light flying unit - one is actually the Thornspeaker Hawk form which also acts as the races mobile true sight.

Morphs don't count in my book but ok. ; )

Forth is the meduim flying unit - I left it out for two reasons. First is i wanted the the player be more reliant on the gunpower units to act as anti-air and second to be honest I was having hard time a air unit that fit the theme but didn't over shadow the others.


I tried a few different models such as the Human zeppelin (I felt it lowered the impact of the dreadnuaght and was a little two big), I had already used the hot-air balloon model with my Stromguard Race, and I'm planning to use a reskin of the war eagle rider model for a future lordaeron race and a reskin of the elf Valkyrie for a Alterac race.

Maybe this faction has that as a point of identity; give it a weakness when it comes to Aerial stuff. The Orcs only have 2 flying units, as a standard example.

 

[cleavinghammer]

For a defensive ability, workers could run into water and Submerge.

The flyer could be a scout unit with no attack or possibly a debuffing aura so it'd need to be maneuvered in the right position to be effective.

 

[Footman16]

Some screenshots would be good to give people an idea of the look of the tech-tree before downloading