Deadlock [NE] 2.4/2.5

[master Gul'dan]

I want to capture the unique feel for Night Empire, to give the impression they are different than others. Thanks for the rate and the praise

you're welcome.

 

[twojstaryjakcie]

I really like the originality of the mechanics implemented in your army. It reminds me of Dawn of War with all its powerful late game upgrades and units. That said, there's quite a few issues with the map that could be addressed.

The first thing I noticed when playing your race is that the building hotkeys are switched to ZXCV for some reason. As far as I'm all about using QWER when using custom heroes, it's definitely less confusing to simply use hotkeys that are similar to the building's names (I'd actually consider switching most hotkeys <definitely Altar, Farm and Barracks, since they are the most basic buildings> to their original Human state, because it's more intuitive than adapting to ZXCV).

You implemented a rather unusual tier advancement system which, in spite of being innovative and fitting the concept of your race pretty well (slow crawl towards powerful late game), is quite confusing even after the first few games. I suggest highlighting building names in the building tab with specific colours so that it's easier to spot buildings necessary for Tier 2 and Tier 3.

I think it's been mentioned before that the Emperor hero is quite underpowered when compared to any other hero (neither the buff or the ultimate are worth picking, so the "Storm Bolt" with aura are the only viable options right now. As far as other heroes are concerned, I think they are all pretty good, though the Magician's Q deals insane amounts of damage and is pretty much always better than W which is channeled and deals less damage.

Another issue I have is the scaling value of your units - it seems to be a minor problem, but it looks weird and disorienting when certain units such as the Scholars are almost twice the size of a regular infantry unit while having only 230 hp. Same goes for Noctis Knight (much bigger than Human Knight while having 135 less hp), Sky Guardians (which have Fortified armor and twice the hp of a Zeppelin, yet they're much smaller) and Elite Guard (having better stats than an Abomination despite not being much bigger than a Footman). Some could consider it a minor problem, but to me, it really takes away from the gameplay experience as the counterintuitive unit sizes often lead to confusion in terms of units' capabilities and break immersion (Little fortified zeppelins that can tank a million hits and heal with salves? The Wraith heal mechanic seems more reasonable as it's just a repair icon, but I digress - the names and icons aren't really that much of a problem).

The armor type of the Loyalist bugs me - such typing is usually reserved for flying units, not for melee fighters - it means that right now Loyalists are heavily countered by ranged units, making them very hard to use effectively. Before the upgrades they're just overpriced cannon fodder. I suggest changing the typing from Small to Large, so that they don't feel underwhelming during the early stages of the game. The Fortified armor of Sky Guardians seems pretty strong, especially upon realising that there are no siegie units that attack air. By the way, Elite Guard has only 1 Armor despite theoretically being the most powerful unit available. Is there a particular reason for it having less armor than Loyalists and Swordsmen?

The University model (is it called University? I'm referring to the building that trains casters) and the Bank are too large and you can't select units directly above it (maybe a smaller model could be used?). The main HQ and Military Command, on the other hand, look quite tiny in comparison (a bank is twice the size of military command, for instance).

It's debatable, but I think that the Swordsmen upgrade takes too long to research and doesn't give much in return. I suppose the cost and research time could be either reduced or the stat bonus could be increased (or the upgrade could reduce the cooldown of Quick Deploy). Also, Deflecting Shield doesn't grant additional 50 hp, contrary to what the description says.

All in all, the race is quite complex and innovative, though it does have its shortcomings. Despite that, it's still is enjoyable to play, mostly thanks to how different it is in terms of mechanics.

 

[Daffa]

I really like the originality of the mechanics implemented in your army. It reminds me of Dawn of War with all its powerful late game upgrades and units. That said, there's quite a few issues with the map that could be addressed.

The first thing I noticed when playing your race is that the building hotkeys are switched to ZXCV for some reason. As far as I'm all about using QWER when using custom heroes, it's definitely less confusing to simply use hotkeys that are similar to the building's names (I'd actually consider switching most hotkeys <definitely Altar, Farm and Barracks, since they are the most basic buildings> to their original Human state, because it's more intuitive than adapting to ZXCV).

You implemented a rather unusual tier advancement system which, in spite of being innovative and fitting the concept of your race pretty well (slow crawl towards powerful late game), is quite confusing even after the first few games. I suggest highlighting building names in the building tab with specific colours so that it's easier to spot buildings necessary for Tier 2 and Tier 3.

I think it's been mentioned before that the Emperor hero is quite underpowered when compared to any other hero (neither the buff or the ultimate are worth picking, so the "Storm Bolt" with aura are the only viable options right now. As far as other heroes are concerned, I think they are all pretty good, though the Magician's Q deals insane amounts of damage and is pretty much always better than W which is channeled and deals less damage.

Another issue I have is the scaling value of your units - it seems to be a minor problem, but it looks weird and disorienting when certain units such as the Scholars are almost twice the size of a regular infantry unit while having only 230 hp. Same goes for Noctis Knight (much bigger than Human Knight while having 135 less hp), Sky Guardians (which have Fortified armor and twice the hp of a Zeppelin, yet they're much smaller) and Elite Guard (having better stats than an Abomination despite not being much bigger than a Footman). Some could consider it a minor problem, but to me, it really takes away from the gameplay experience as the counterintuitive unit sizes often lead to confusion in terms of units' capabilities and break immersion (Little fortified zeppelins that can tank a million hits and heal with salves? The Wraith heal mechanic seems more reasonable as it's just a repair icon, but I digress - the names and icons aren't really that much of a problem).

The armor type of the Loyalist bugs me - such typing is usually reserved for flying units, not for melee fighters - it means that right now Loyalists are heavily countered by ranged units, making them very hard to use effectively. Before the upgrades they're just overpriced cannon fodder. I suggest changing the typing from Small to Large, so that they don't feel underwhelming during the early stages of the game. The Fortified armor of Sky Guardians seems pretty strong, especially upon realising that there are no siegie units that attack air. By the way, Elite Guard has only 1 Armor despite theoretically being the most powerful unit available. Is there a particular reason for it having less armor than Loyalists and Swordsmen?

The University model (is it called University? I'm referring to the building that trains casters) and the Bank are too large and you can't select units directly above it (maybe a smaller model could be used?). The main HQ and Military Command, on the other hand, look quite tiny in comparison (a bank is twice the size of military command, for instance).

It's debatable, but I think that the Swordsmen upgrade takes too long to research and doesn't give much in return. I suppose the cost and research time could be either reduced or the stat bonus could be increased (or the upgrade could reduce the cooldown of Quick Deploy). Also, Deflecting Shield doesn't grant additional 50 hp, contrary to what the description says.

All in all, the race is quite complex and innovative, though it does have its shortcomings. Despite that, it's still is enjoyable to play, mostly thanks to how different it is in terms of mechanics.

Yours not the first to complaint about the hotkey, I will consider replacing them in the next version.

I really like that recommendation, will look for proper coloring and highlight them which is tier 2 and tier 3.

Yes, I have addressed the issue and will buff the hero in the next update. Oh my, I must've take too high ratio of Blizzard for Cold Rain. It deals team damage though, so a cautious use is needed (cannot be in the middle of team battle easily).

Glad someone realize this, as I tend to forget it A LOT. I will re-scale them accordingly. Healing Salve was a bit forced cause the salve item ability is hard coded, Roar on the hand (base ability for Wraith Tank's repair) is steal-able and dispel-able.

Hence why their upgrade becomes more important for them. I will consider making the Defend upgrade to improve their armor type as well or just change it altogether. I've made the requirement as complex as possible to delay Sky Guardian, even raising their food cap without making them useless (you can smack one Sky Guardian with Raider's net or Spider's Web. I will check if NE and HU can counter them properly). Must've mistaken something on the Elite Guard.

Will rescale them.

Odd, I will check the bonus. I will change the effect to make it more beneficial.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Daffa]

Here's an update. I apologize that I haven't finished with all the reviews consideration yet, but I want to affirm everyone that I still work on the map.

 

[Daffa]

Good job new patch broke Ambusher's blink. Need to fix that ASAP.

 

[Daffa]

Update is out!

 

[Daffa]

I ran an AI test and found that in a Night Empire vs Night Empire match (yes, AI coming soon to all of you), Sky Guardian is near impossible to destroy (given there's only 2 anti-air, both of which has pierce which is reduced by SG armor). So, I decided that Sky Guardian spell immunity will be removed and replaced with 60% Spell Damage Reduction. All Night Empire non-mechanical units except Wizard will gain Night's Bless, reducing pierce and magic attacks. This will be in the next update, hopefully.

 

[Daffa]

A video of more recent version.

---

I decided to keep Sky Guardian's immunity but raised their training time, food and cost instead. They also get a buff making them an air siege tank instead of air raid unit, doubling the danger they create. All will be in 2.5 balance patch.

 

[Daffa]

Version 2.5 is underway, it's quite a major bug fixing patch. However, due to 1.31 editor constraint, the map is not available to patch 1.30 or lower. I will provide 2.4 for those who uses old patches.

 

[Daffa]

Patched to 2.5 and added a fix for 1.31

Detail of the patch is in the description. It's a lengthy boi.

 

[Daffa]

For those who wish to play with AMAI, I provided the 2.4 version with AMAI below. I do not attach this to the main post since 2.4 is technically no longer supported (and it adds another few MB to download) and aims for more backward compatibility, but some might find this interesting.

Uses 2.6.1 version of AMAI.