Mod Kingdom of Angmar - Version 0.52 available - Page 15

LumenPlacidum · #**141** April 2nd, 2010, 10:20 AM

What? It's not even guaranteed spread every turn, only a god can do that. It's like each barrow wight is blood sacrificing one slave automatically each turn. It's definitely strong, but I didn't find it unreasonable in my tests. It seemed like an interesting and thematic mechanic to me. The nation is hard to attack, but one has to fight against the shadow of the enemy spreading.

Sombre · #**142** April 2nd, 2010, 10:35 AM

No, it's one spread per turn. It's the same as a juggernaut. At least in my experience.

Even if it weren't, I would also consider 34 extra temples to be domkill ahoy.

Also blood sacs are 2 checks, not 1 like a temple.

LumenPlacidum · #**143** April 2nd, 2010, 11:26 AM

Hmm, I swear I've seen it fail to spread its full amount, which is what made me initially think that domspread didn't work for dyingdom nations, or had a 50% chance or something like that.

Is it so unreasonable that it cannot be stopped? I want to make this into a balanced nation that can be used in MP.

Sombre · #**144** April 2nd, 2010, 01:56 PM

Depends how much barrow wights cost :]

Domkills are very hard to defend against when they involve blood sac and domspread units. But if they have to expend significant effort on the stuff, then it isn't so much of a problem. Of course rdonj seems to indicate that he'd be massing barrow wights even without the knowledge that they domspread. So effectively you're pushing dom like crazy for free.

kennydicke · #**145** April 2nd, 2010, 02:31 PM

IIRC, barrow-wights are little more than spirit-like agents of the Witch-King, in the common version of the trilogy. IMHO, I wouldn't have interpreted them as prophet-like dom-spreaders. The Nazgul, yeah; probably even the Balrogs.

I wonder if you have plans for an EA version? Maybe based around Morgoth and the The Silmarillion...

Anyway, good job on the mod; I'm always up for Orky-goodness.

rdonj · #**146** April 2nd, 2010, 08:37 PM

Currently barrow wights are at 10 gems per... for all the things they do right now that probably isn't enough. They're not THAT good as thugs because astral nations can kill them easily and their protection is never going to be stellar given your likely forging needs and capabilities (though they do just fine against PD, especially with ethereality). They're kind of weird because they perform a bunch of different roles all at once. At least their reanimation is only good enough for longdead skeletons and not cavalry. But it would be really easy right now to just use them as researchers who sit there the majority of the game spreading your dominion. They're easily a much better investment than juggernauts are, and much easier to research up to. Plus they can be used to form communions with each other, which could have consequences I don't quite think you intended....

LumenPlacidum · #**147** April 4th, 2010, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennydicke

I wonder if you have plans for an EA version? Maybe based around Morgoth and the The Silmarillion...

Once I get this done, which involves balancing factors, a couple replacement sprites, pretender god chasses, and a few more heroes (and maybe another summon or so), I will be moving to EA to do Angband: Battle of Sudden Flame.

Should have some very interesting summons and heroes, from Carcharoth the Red Maw to Balrogs to Drauglir and Glaurung. I don't think it will need a weird dom-spread mechanic like Angmar and the LA Mordor would.

Anyway, I hear the arguments that barrow wights are too versatile for their current cost. I'll increase the price a bit (maybe 12-15 gems each) and apply a research malus to them. I'd like to preserve the wraith dom-spreading mechanic, and I'd sooner get rid of blood sac, making the wraith mechanic the only way of spreading dominion.

LumenPlacidum · #**148** May 2nd, 2010, 05:38 PM

Dark Lord:

That's the basic chassis. I think fear and awe as a baseline is pretty powerful, but he's pretty expensive, and demon offers some counters. The magic is pretty limited, and death is not a very useful path for him to have to complement Angmar, so I think the potency of the chassis is ok. Besides, his encumbrance is probably too high to be a very good SC out of the box.

The weapon "Hammer of the Underworld" is currently a magical weapon with ok stats that hits with AoE 1 and turns things slain into soulless. I'm not sure why I have that second effect, but I'm looking for something to make it interesting.

Graphically, I think the legs are too bright inexplicably, so I'll probably play around with that to make it a bit better.

rdonj · #**149** May 2nd, 2010, 07:46 PM

Not bad. I think the arm with the hammer looks a bit... odd, too. He's kind of in a fencing position right now, which I'm not sure goes so well with that hammer as a weapon. And I think it would work a bit better if the armor was darker overall. But it's a good sprite overall

What level of awe does he start with? The encumbrance could definitely be an issue for him as an awake SC, but he might be able to pull it off. The aoe soulless could actually be helpful to him for that by absorbing attacks so he doesn't have to.

LumenPlacidum · #**150** May 2nd, 2010, 08:56 PM

Awe 0, Fear 1+death

Hmm, I see what you mean about the fencer position. Part of that is that the other hand seems like it's up for balance. Actually, I want it to be that he's making a fist with the rear hand and the fore hand is just sort of loosely holding the hammer low. I wonder how I can get that across better. Maybe the hands should be larger, too.