Hello people, I'm once again posting in the new year and skipped a patch. Ideally I'll release two more patches this year, then I can line up the patch number with the year lol.
NEW MAP - Mirrorglade
Mirrorglade is set in a mystical forest. It is a medium sized map with 14 bases.
The primary gimmick in this map is its diagonal mirror symmetry layout, one which has not been attempted in previous Noobcraft maps. In addition, there is a heavier density of expansions towards the bottom left of the map, away from the start locations.
This leads to expansion choices in the third base: the third in the top right corner which is difficult to attack but easy to defend, or the standard third which leads well into the fourth but opens up weaknesses in the natural and the third.
There are also semi-complex terrain structures in the middle portions of the map to create interesting skirmish terrain.
Unit Stats Mass Overhaul
The astute among you may have realised that the game was previously run on 80% HP handicap for both players, leading to weird numbers and inaccurate tooltips. I also felt that unit training times were rather high and demanded an uncomfortable amount of production structures. It thus became the perfect opportunity to rework all of the HP and training times of units.
A supplementary overhaul in unit attack ranges also became appealing as attack range is very closely tied to overall unit movespeed and tankiness, making sure melee units are able to reach the back line normally but not when running straight into a massive concave. As movespeed was recently standardized, I chose to rework attack ranges, and followed up with acquisition range and sight range standardization.
Specific Unit Size Changes
Certain units had their size changed (size as in their supply, but also their cost and dps, sometimes tech requirements) because there is a level of perceived overlap which i think can be improved.
Green lizard from 4 to 6
Chimaera from 4 to 5
Harpy Queen from 4 to 5
Murloc Flesheater from 3 to 2
Naga Royal Guard from 5 to 4
Revenant of the Depths from 4 to 6
Bloodfiend from 3 to 4
Felbeast from 4 to 3
Succubus from 3 to 4
Unit Tag Combat Changes
To compensate for the HP modifier being removed, buildings would be tankier. Pierce and Hero damage sources were also extremely effective. To address these issues, a change in unit tag weakness multiplier was employed.
Fortified armour is now standardized with other armour types. Pierce and Hero now only deal 125% damage instead of 150% against tags weak to them.
Core Structure Ability Scaling
The mechanic of the Shadow Core's abilities improving after each use proved fun and interesting, and is now implemented in the Aqua Core's abilities as well.
On the other hand, Call of the Wild which scaled with supply was a flavorful mechanic too, and is now implemented in Force of Nature. Summon Mana Elemental instead scales with buildings built.
Spellcasters
Because spellcaster units which couldnt attack were yeeting themselves into the front line, i added a weak attack to each of them to reduce the chance of this happening (hello high templar).
In addition, modal spells (thats the formal name of right clickable spells) were changed to have only 1 second cooldown. This is an experimental revert.
Air to Air (A2A) units
Ive finally taken the time to visit A2A units after a long time of brushing air units aside. Each race will now only have one dedicated A2A unit, which still somewhat contribute to the ground fight in a different way.
Human AI Changes
Footmen and Knights were changed to be Light units, which turn into Heavy units with the Paladin blessing. This encouraged Pierce dps sources and is a soft countermeasure to the Pierce damage nerf.
King's Blessing no longer gave melee units armour. They were unnecessarily tanky.
Archmage water elementals are less derpy and arent as easily kiteable in the early levels.
Finally, the specific unit changes. Not every change is listed as most of the changes are lumped together with the Unit Stat Overhaul.
Curator
Troll Trapper
Troll Trappers now cost 25 biomass instead of 50. Their dps has been nerfed slightly, but overall this made the unit more comfortable to produce as it allowed for better distribution of biomass.
Harpy Queen
Harpy Queens now provide and attack damage aura instead of a hp regen aura, and its attack damage ability was removed. In addition, its upgrade Queen Ascension was removed.
The Harpy Queen was extremely centralizing in the race; when ahead, the upgraded auras made it completely impossible for the enemy to break through. It felt as though training a second Harpy Queen was a viable tactic to account for the possibility of one Queen getting sniped, and this is not the intended power level of the Queen.
Chimaera
Somewhat of a related change is the addition of an armour upgrade for Chimaera, a replacement for Queen's Ascension. This upgrade allows Chimaera to better scale into the late game, enabling the full Sky Curator dream.
Green Dragon
The Green Dragon was reworked, changing its identity from a long range unit to a medium range splash damage unit. The previous iteration of the Dragon had its niches, but ultimately missed the flavour of a rampaging dragon.
To double down on this, the Green Dragon was given super-splash (colloquial name dont mind me), which increased the splash aoe and splash damage amount compared to other splash sources.
Misc Changes
Hippogryphs move faster now, and can attack Ancient units and air units.
Flexible Roots buffed.
Watcher's Omniscience fixed.
Defiled
Mur'loc Plaguebearer
Plaguebearer's Cleaving Attack was replaced with Evasion. The idea behind the change is to incentivize raiding squads composed of more than Plaguebearers. Cleaving attack synergizes very well with Disease Cloud, allowing the Plaguebearer to function well alone.
Plaguebearers can now attack air units. Together with its new Evasion ability, the Plaguebearer becomes a better combat unit, diversifying from its sole niche as a raiding unit.
Nightingale
The Nightingale replaced the Gargoyle this patch as the Defiled already had an A2A unit in the Cerulean Wyvern. The Nightingale preserves the primary unit traits of the Gargoyle, being an agile melee flyer.
Key differences are the Nightingale's ability to hit land units, its normal attack compared to the Gargoyle's Chaos attack, and the Nightingale's ability to Blink. These difference mean that the Nightingale is more versatile, but less effective at doing the Gargoyle's job of winning aerial skirmishes.
Misc Changes
The Aqua Core now has Deconstruction and the Revenant now has Snowstorm (renamed to Icicle Storm).
Ancient Hydras no longer have evasion.
Exalted
Dragonhawk Rider
Magic Binding is no longer upgradable, and its damage and cooldown are increased. Magic Binding was way too reliable and needed to be nerfed.
Skywagon
Skywagons have several changes. They can now attack and cast Energy Shield. Static Field is renamed to Lightning Crash. Their vision range is decreased by 200 in the day.
Misc Changes
Arcane Zeppelin new upgrade Overcharge which increases aspd.
Detection moved to towers.
Crimson Stabilizers now increases aspd instead of range.
Fallen
Fire Pit
The Fallen had both the least unique farm and no anti ground tower. This opened a window for the Fire Elemental ability to be introduced, which causes the Fire pit to upgrade to a Fire Elemental, a timed combat unit which does not produce nor cost food.
With this, tower rushing is now possible for the race (woohoo).
Mass Bandit/Spear Thrower
Massing bandits and spear throwers was intended to be a powerful opening strategy which allowed the Fallen to transition away from the comp. However, it was too consistent in closing out games and winning on the spot. Thus, im smacking Fallen bio with the nerf hammer to encourage transitions. If they're overnerfed i'll buff them next patch lul.
Bandits HP were decreased and their cost was increased. Insanity's aspd/amp/mspd was adjusted from 100/50/20 to 60/30/30. Finally, Critical Strike's crit damage was nerfed from 1.3(+0.35) to 1.3(+0.3).
Fire Drake/Shadow Drake
The Shadow Drake needed to be addressed as an A2A unit, while the Fire Drake is lacking in viability. Thus, they were changed to be able to hit both land and air units, albeit for lesser damage. Their upgrades were also combined into one to encourage doubling down on Drake production.
Infernal
The Infernal now has Permanent Immolation, while the Contraption's Inferno can now be upgraded to increase its cast range. Its upgraded cast range of 1700 is one of the highest in the game, allowing it to be absolutely certain it outranges its intended target.
Necromancer
The Necromancer has a new ability Shadow Sentry which replaces unholy Charm. A Shade is summoned at the target location which provides true sight and vision (even during the day), and decreases enemy armour.
In addition, the Necromancer upgrade now upgrades Death Coil instead of Raise Dead.
Voidwalker
Voidwalkers had their identity changed. Previously they were sniper-type units which sought to burst down enemy back line units in volleys. Now, it has the Void Sunder ability, which allows the Voidwalker to hit multiple targets each attack.
This all but nullifies the Voidwalker's sniping potential, instead converting it into a front to back dps source.
The Forgotten One
The Forgotten One has been reworked, gaining new abilities in a %hp damage aura, Animate Dead, and Erase from Existence, which is an aoe damage decrease, armour reduction and dps ability. It only retains its Forgotten Fire ability, notably losing its armour reduction aura.
Ghost
Ghosts have a defining trait in their ability, which provides them with damage at night but reduced sight range in the day. However, the difference in power level felt too far apart, so changes were made to bring the power levels closer together.
Ghost units daytime vision is increased from 100 to 300, while their night time bonus damage is decreased from 50% to 30%.
Misc Changes
Hand of Destruction no longer costs a Fire Pit.
Detection moved to towers.
Crimson Stabilizers now increases aspd instead of range.
Doom Bringers are now Ancients, making them immune to Dark Flattery.
Fade resistance now grants 10% max hp instead of 5%
Closing thoughts
In terms of the number of changes, this is definitely one of the patches made.
Ok but for real there are a massive number of changes in the patch. Not sure how they will turn out but I wouldnt be patching the game if i didnt think there was room for improvement.
I've had a little breather from university since im currently on sem break, but I'm filling up the time with (hopefully) more emikicraft activity.
yeet
- Emiki
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