Creature size inconsistencies

[Ewierl]

The sizes of large creatures in Dom3 are often out of whack.

This is only a sample list, since I don't have access to the full unit databases on this computer. However, if people agree that this is a problem, I'd be willing to put my work where my mouth is, and sift through the database to come up with a balanced list of monster size recommendations.

Dragon: 6
Elephant: 6
Kraken: 6
Shark (large): 6
Basalt King: 5
Seraph: 6
Lumber Construct: 5
Cyclops: 5
Father of Winters: 6
Gryphon Rider: 5 (Note that Pegasus Rider = 4)
Catoblepas: 6

Is an elephant really as large as a dragon? Judging by sprites, the Kraken looks much smaller than a dragon, or even than a basalt king. The Seraph looks smaller than a Cyclops, though it does have a huge wingspan when attacking. But should a Cyclops be smaller than a Father of Winters, equal to an amazon on gryphonback? And the Catoblepas seems like it ought to be bull-sized, not elephant-sized.

The shark is an obvious problem: even a great white shark tops out around 5000 lbs, while African elephants can easily be 12000. There's no way a shark should be elephant-sized, let alone dragon-sized.

So: monster sizes don't seem to be broadly consistent. They should be!

[MaxWilson]

I think dragons should be size 11.



-Max

P.S. Apologies to Spinal Tap.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Ooh, give those size 11 dragons trampling too!

Seriously, with some characters such as the Titan pretenders, tweaking the size can be dangerous thanks to a certain pair of earth forged boots.

[Sombre]

In reality, sharks are smaller than elephants. But we're talking about a fantasy game here. Also I think there are actually two 'problems' that you're talking about here.

1. Some units are the wrong size.

2. Some sprites are the wrong size. This is only true via comparison.

I don't know much about sizes 5 and 6, but I had a look through some size 3 and 4 units to work out how big I should be drawing some of my mod graphics. I've attached a little image showing some different size units. There doesn't seem to be a huge problem looking at these.

But then you look at a unit like the underwater archmage pretender. Is the sprite too small? Is the size too big? Is it just that all the other size 5-6 units have sprites that are too big?

[Theonlystd]

what always annoyed meh is the amount of size 6 characters that dont have trampling automatically ..


What the thing doesnt know how to stomp?!?!?!

[thejeff]

Maybe it just doesn't like to.

Maybe it prefers its nice shiny sword.

[llamabeast]

I think the kraken is noticeably too small. None of the others have bothered me particularly to be honest.

[Ewierl]

Lazy_Perfectionist said:Seriously, with some characters such as the Titan pretenders, tweaking the size can be dangerous thanks to a certain pair of earth forged boots.

With a few exceptions, the Titan pretenders are already size 6, and would generally stay that way under my revision. Looking back over the sprites, the Cyclops is indeed a bit smaller than the true Demigod types anyhow. All told, far more things need size reductions (Blood Fountain dragon-sized? Come on!) than need increases.

I'm not enamored of Trampling pretenders; I've seen them get fatigue-slaughtered by large armies even with huge reinvigoration. But that said, I'm well aware of how size increases can significantly beef up a creature with foot slots!

[Tuidjy]

I wish there was a way to _disable_ trampling on a commander. The main reason I
have never used the earth mother in multiplayer is that after the first few turns,
trampling becomes a liability.

[Saulot]

A better way of looking at this is, that many creatures are actually larger than size 6 but since size 6 is the limit, therefore, they're listed as 6.