Human Race Mechanic: Leadership Boni

[Shar Dundred]

Race Mechanic

Humans:
The Leadership Boni

What is a race mechanic?
As the name suggests, race mechanic defines a mechanic specifically made for a particular race.
For the Secon Books of Arkain, every race will receive at least one race mechanic to make the race more unique compared to the others.
They also increase the replayability of the campaigns since they are coupled with gameplay choices.


What are leadership boni?
The Leadership Bonus is the race mechanic for the Humans. Most of your heroes are leaders, rulers, generals. They all have their own strategies and advantages that you will now be able to pick from to improve your army. Researching this leadership bonus makes the hero the leader of your army for that map.
Their effects differ from enhancing your casters to unlocking new units.

How do they work ingame?
You can reasearch leadership boni in your Town Hall/Keep/Castle. They are all Tier 3, so you will always need a Castle before you can research any of them.
You are limited to ONE leadership bonus every game and you cannot undo your decision afterwards.
You will be able to choose from the leadership boni depending on the heroes you control in the mission.
For example, you control both Gardon and Merlon in a mission. Both of them have their own leadership bonus.
Gardons' Leadership Bonus will unlock a new unit and also improve a unit that is tied to him; Merlons' Leadership Bonus will make use of his expertise in constructing fleets and harbours, increasing the durability of both buildings and ships.

Spoiler

In Chapter Four, you will have access to two unique leadership boni.

When will they be included?
The Leadership Boni will be added to the demo of the Second Human Book with the 0.60 update that will also include the long-awaited Chapter Eleven!

Be sure to subscribe to the Arkain News Network thread to stay up to date with all news!

 

[lekxman22]

Cool bro

 

[Daffa]

Eleven, not seven

 

[lekxman22]

Yea i saw that now

 

[Championfighter25]

Maybe he has reworked chapter 7 too? It has been some time since the last big update after all.
Anyway this is very cool, it reminds me of the starcraft 2 co-op commanders and will certainly add a lot of replay value.
Also i hope it will increase the effectiveness of some... cheesy tactics.

 

[Wareditor]

Great Idea. I think it a good idea to dinstinguish the races in gameplay too.
Ideally, I think the player should also feel a difference gameplay-wise when facing a race. It's already the case but I think it should be built upon further. Though, this would require a huge amount of work and should be low priority.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Maybe he has reworked chapter 7 too? It has been some time since the last big update after all.

Still on my ToDo-list.

Also i hope it will increase the effectiveness of some... cheesy tactics.

Define "cheesy".
It will surely make way for some... bloodier tactics.

Ideally, I think the player should also feel a difference gameplay-wise when facing a race.

When I came up with the idea initially, I actually wanted to have the AI human factions use some
leadership boni of their own, but I have yet to figure out good leadership boni for them - don't
want to re-use the ones created for the named characters just like that.
I still got it somewhere on my ToDo-list though.

 

[Championfighter25]

Still on my ToDo-list.

Then i guess you will rework it after the campaign is officially released?

Define "cheesy".

Super bad tactics that don't work, but you do them anyway since they are sort of fun.
Chapter 2 - the greywolf, knight, hydromancer combo.You send your knights and greywolfs to slow down the enemy and to tank while the hydromancers destroy them with crushing wave. If you see your hydromancers getting attacked, pull them back immediately. If demons prioritise them, just pull back your knights and use them to buy time, while the hydromancers espace to their base, damaged, but still alive. I kept almost all the hydromancers i made during the mission alive by the end of it. Yeah, stupid, but i like using it, sometimes.
This is one of many examples.

 

[DD Mikasa]

That's accually cool,more in depth mechanics to the races makes the game interesting and hopefully less grindy.

 

[Daffa]

As long as Shar didn't buff chapter four after the boni, I will be happy *ups
(Ruins everyon's day)

It might occur that some boni > some other boni

 

[King Tidus]

Boni = plural of Bonus.... amirite?

 

[LickMyEyeBall]

I thought plural for "bonus" is bonuses. Anyway, sounds like a great addition to the campaign.

 

[Shar Dundred]

I might have decided to go with the latin variant "boni", since I don't like the word "bonuses".

 

[Morris]

I haven't checked the hive in a long time and seeing all the improvements you have made Shar astonished me
I loved the new mechanics and the characters sheet are outstanding!
Cannot wait for the next update to test all of this.
You never cease to amaze me great tyrant.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Sounds really cool

A couple of questions, though:

It sounds like each hero has its own bonus. If so:

1. Does each hero has a set bonus or do the boni change depending on the chapter? For example, let's say Merlon appears in missions A and B - will both of these missions have the same bonus for him?

2. Is there some sort of indication that a hero is the leader of your army, for example - his model is scaled to get bigger, he gets an additional aura/SFX, player name changes in the score screen or something?

3. Does the hero being a leader have any impact on the way that hero is played or does the effect of the bonus only affect your army?

 

[Shar Dundred]

1. Does each hero has a set bonus or do the boni change depending on the chapter? For example, let's say Merlon appears in missions A and B - will both of these missions have the same bonus for him?

The heroes have a set bonus, but this bonus will be useful for all the missions with the heroes.
For example, Merlon's bonus improves ships - you don't have access to ships in every mission you have Merlon.
However, his bonus also affects buildings, so it can also be useful in missions without naval combat.

2. Is there some sort of indication that a hero is the leader of your army, for example - his model is scaled to get bigger, he gets an additional aura/SFX, player name changes in the score screen or something?

I've been thinking about it, but decided against it since I don't consider it a neccessary component of the system.

3. Does the hero being a leader have any impact on the way that hero is played or does the effect of the bonus only affect your army?

The Leadership Boni are granted by the hero who use their abilities and/or knowledge to improve
their army. Therefore, most boni only affect your army, not your heroes.
The exception here are Vail and Gardon. Vail has a Leadership Bonus that only affects your heroes
while Gardons' bonus unlocks a new unit and improves a new ability that he will get in version 0.60.

 

[LickMyEyeBall]

The heroes have a set bonus, but this bonus will be useful for all the missions with the heroes.
For example, Merlon's bonus improves ships - you don't have access to ships in every mission you have Merlon.
However, his bonus also affects buildings, so it can also be useful in missions without naval combat.


I've been thinking about it, but decided against it since I don't consider it a neccessary component of the system.


The Leadership Boni are granted by the hero who use their abilities and/or knowledge to improve
their army. Therefore, most boni only affect your army, not your heroes.
The exception here are Vail and Gardon. Vail has a Leadership Bonus that only affects your heroes
while Gardons' bonus unlocks a new unit and improves a new ability that he will get in version 0.60.

Gardon getting a new spell? Are you replacing immolation?

 

[Shar Dundred]

Gardon getting a new spell? Are you replacing immolation?

More info about that topic will follow later.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Thanks for the answers, @Shar Dundred

The exception here are Vail and Gardon. Vail has a Leadership Bonus that only affects your heroes
while Gardons' bonus unlocks a new unit and improves a new ability that he will get in version 0.60.

That's actually really cool from the gameplay point of view - I mean, being able to choose between buffing your heroes and your army.
Heh, as someone who's micro sucks big time, I know what I will pick

 

[Boriss]

So, the 0.6 version comes as soon as ch11 is done? Or will there be some delay?

 

[Shar Dundred]

Heh, as someone who's micro sucks big time, I know what I will pick

So, the 0.6 version comes as soon as ch11 is done? Or will there be some delay?

No delay at all.

 

[Boriss]

No delay at all.

Well someone´s been plannin dis boni stuff for a long time

 

[DD Mikasa]

@Shar Dundred

Is this new unite that Gardon offers only avaible when you lead an Iron Fist army only?

Or we will have access to this special unit even when Gardon leads Golden Guard and Royalists?

 

[Shar Dundred]

Leadership Boni have now been released!
Arkain News Network

 

[LickMyEyeBall]

Leadership Boni have now been released!
Arkain News Network

Is there a specific thread where we could discuss or do we just create one? And this was a VERY generous gift. Astonishing work by you, guys.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Is there a specific thread where we could discuss or do we just create one?

Feel free to create a new thread for whatever you want to discuss!

 

[Boriss]

Feel free to create a new thread for whatever you want to discuss!

Shar, I have to ask. That leadership boni stuff is recently only available to the player right? Not to the comp controlled factions.
Do you plan on giving the computer their own bonus? Like since we are supported by Salana in 11A, her troops will benefit from her own leadership bonus (hopefully she gets one ), kingdoms may get one and so on. Or when we fight to free Gardon in Retka´s ex-capital city, if we choose one bonus the other Ironfist gets the other bonus.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Computer players, both enemies and allies, will have access to Leadership Boni in the full version - if they belong to the human/elven/dwarven race.

 

[Boriss]

Computer players, both enemies and allies, will have access to Leadership Boni in the full version - if they belong to the human/elven/dwarven race.

Ohh cool! I love it! Keep up the job man. Ever thought about making a film out of this?

 

[Daffa]

is the Golden path 14 meant to have 1 Boni only?

 

[Hinata28]

Leadership Boni list:
(Zyainor)
Pack of Bloodclaw - Adding Bloodfangs on Barracks, and having Zed with more power.
Fortified Fleets - Adding HP on naval assets and additional fortifications on structures.
Whispers in the Dark - Giving Cora a Dark Orb and giving Zealots and Executors Frenzy.
Medicine of the Exile - Giving Larine her aura that increases regeneration.
Elves of the Ironfist - replacing Marksmen with Ironforged, Elven Ironfist unit.
Shadows of the Shadow Master - Adding attack speed on several units.
Claire's Leadership - Adding damage to Elites.
Thanok's Leadership - Adding survivability to Elites.
Academical Knowledge - Adding mana to Cora, and improving the support skills.
Heroes of Zyainor - Adding mana and health to all heroes.
Dragons of Zyainor - Damage reduction and magic resistance to Dragons.

(Golden Guard and Allies)
Holy Crusade of Van Durce - Giving additional damage to several units.
Chosen of the High King - Replacing units with more powerful counterparts.