June 18th, 2004, 11:30 PM
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Re: Golden Age Arcoscephale
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Originally posted by Blitz:
I understand the concept of taking baby steps in a mod, and not completely changing the way the theme plays... but I wasn't really going for slightly more survivable. I'd really like to bring the wind riders up to their comparably costed peers (Neifel Giant, Black hunter). I like the kite shield idea, but it's a little like giving the myrmidions broad swords. Is it play balanced? Probably. But there weren't broad swords back in ancient greece, and things like that are important to the developers. We've seen lots of examples where play balance was sacrificed for cosmetic or accuracy reasons. I'd like to keep the weaponry and armor as is, and look at other ways to improve the units.
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You can't compare them to Niefel Giants, even though they are comparable costwise. Why? Because Giants and Niefelhiem in particular are built that way and they need the survivability of the Niefel Giant (Even though they are not build very frequently). Black Hunters run into a different issue. If they didn't have Sacred Black Spiders when they died, they wouldn't be in the same class as 'cost-effectiveness'. And neither Niefels nor Black Spiders can fly, thus the flying unit has to be weaker because of the huge advantage of flying both tactically and strategically.
If you don't like changing the weaponry, then you can just modify the base stats. This isn't going to help against missiles, but maybe that is okay
HP 13 > 15
Defense 14 (base) > 15 (Total Defense 17)
Strength 11 > 12
Cost 125 > 115 Gold
Now. Those again are minor changes. But lets see the impact as the game progresses:
Protection (the spell) = 23 Prot
5 Stars Exp = 22 Defense (nothing to sneeze at)
Now they may be worth it, if equipped with a decent blessing. And at least some small form of Air is probabaly key for initial expansion.
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The issue of the synergy between a recruitable SC and the power of the priestess is also a little troubling.
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This is exactly why you wouldn't want to. Imagine having Neifel Jarls with Arco? Not pretty, which is exactly what you are promoting here.
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What would you think of giving them both air and earth level 1? Obviously this allows both ironskin and mirror image, but not mistform and cloud trapeeze. It's similar, but different than Drotts and Tuathas.
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Quite honestly I wouldn't want to kill diversity so very much. Just give the exact changes that I gave to the normal Wind Lord to the commander and he'd still be fine. Having magic casting power on a mounted unit is great, but I don't think it should be given to flying mounted commanders.
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Well you would have to raise his cost considerably, as he'd be a pretty solid little SC in his own right (summon earthpower/ironskin/attack rear).
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The more I thought about it, the less I liked it. What I ended up thinking would be good for Icarian's (and commanders) is giving them a Javelin. Suddenly you have a Air mobile missile squad. It makes their quick strike capability enough that you would consider using them for their fragility (also gives them time to soften up their opponents before they get slaughtered).
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There's definately a lot you can do with the skeptic and engineer within the bounds of the mod. Both look reasonably mage-like, and changing the name and stats is trivial. Unfortunately we're never going to get more than 2 people to agree on what such hypothetical mage should look like, but I'm open to suggestions.
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If you could unrestrict the philosopher from the capital they would be fine. And have the engineer given either a Forge bonus (Cruel fate, no magic but can forge well. Hello Forge of the Ancients) and perhaps a Bonus to Alchemy akin to an Alchemist.
It wouldn't make the Skeptic any more attractive, but I think he's fine as he is, even with crappy stealth.
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