Hey guys it's my first non champion release update since the inception of the blog, and this patch is quite a big one, bringing a new map, new AI improvements, new interface improvements and a bunch of balance changes!
NEW MAP
Snowflake
Snowflake is a medium sized macro map with notable repercussions on the expansion choice. Defensive options in either the low ground fourths allows for safe and harass based playstyles, while the central fourth is an aggressive option which allows the player to control the entire central high ground.
NEW UI IMPROVEMENTS
User Interface Hero
Tactical Retreat has been replaced with Tactical Maneuver, so now you can specify where to control the army as opposed to ordering them all back to the Core Structure!
Tooltips
Unit and structure tooltips have been updated to better reflect their tactical purposes. For example, unit tags in the description let you know if a unit has Light or Heavy armour before training it!
NEW UNITS
New unit - Battle Golem (Exalted)
The Exalted Order is the race with the most mechanical unit options, which would normally allow it to check Chaos damage compositions. However, all of the Exalted mechanical units are ranged dps units which sit at the back of the army, being unable to contribute their unique resistance to the front line.
Enter Battle Golem, a durable melee mechanical unit trained from the Exalted Factory. The Exalted race was also the race with the least units; this was a perfect opportunity.
Removed unit - Naga Myrmidon (Defiled)
Naga Myrmidon had one too many problems surrounding it. First, it was a very bland unit, being a melee meat shield, which would have normally been okay, but it was competing for space. The Defiled Swarm also does not particularly welcome units which enjoy a fair fight.
Second, it had classification issues, being the only melee non-Mur'loc unit (barring Shadowcaster since its a spellcaster). This not only made the production structures a mess, but it was difficult to accurately assign its upgrades.
With the removal of the Myrmidon, the Defiled Swarm can now use a melee/ranged separation in its production structures and upgrades.
Spellcasters - spellcasters were partially reworked to allow them to better fit their niche.
Gnoll Enchanter - Natural Energy, Return to Nature, Rejuvenation.
Celestial Faerie - Faerie's Blessing, Nature's Grasp, Celestial Serenity.
Wildkin Oracle - Boulder Toss, Slam, Oracle's Safeguard.
Naga Siren - Parasite, Sleep, Inception.
Mur'loc Shadowcaster - Shadow Curse, Haunt, Poison Bomb.
Revenant of the Depths - Magic Theft, Deconstruction, Takeover.
Priest - Blinding Light, Neutralize, Holy Light.
Sorceress - Firebolt, Enrapture, Polymorph.
Grand Magus - Nullify, Arcane Implosion, Light of Justice.
Deceiver - Dark Flattery, Cripple, Trickster.
Necromancer - Raise Dead, Unholy Charm, Death Coil.
Harbinger - Death Mark, Death Foretold, Ruination.
Unit Balance Changes
Curator combat units:
Buffed: Furbolg Escort, Quillbeast, Jungle Stalker, Dryad,
Nerfed: Troll Priest, Green Lizard, Chimaera, Hippogryph, Harpy Queen, Green Dragon.
Defiled combat units:
Buffed: Mur'loc Tiderunner, Flesheater, Plaguebearer, Ancient Hydra, Couatl.
Nerfed: Dragon Turtle, Azure Wyvern.
Exalted combat units:
Buffed: Emissary, Lieutenant, Phoenix.
Nerfed: Elder Swordsman, Barrage Engine, Hyperion Cannon.
Fallen combat units:
Buffed: Bandit, Wraith, Infernal Contraption.
Nerfed: Fel Beast, Doom Guard, Death Wyrm.
HUMAN AI IMPROVEMENTS
Economic Consistency
So a major problem of the AI was that it had very volatile strengths. The Human peasants would call to arms to respond to minor harass, which severely impacted their income consistency. This resulted in games being too easy or too hard based on how often the AI was harassed.
While worker harassment is definitely an age old rts technique to limit the opponent's economy, the problem here is that only the quantity of the harassment mattered and not its quality.
Anyway, the solution I've opted for is an external source of passive income which scales with the AI's peasant count and their total supply. This way, random call to arms affect the AI's income less, and killing peasants will still result in economic damage to the AI. While this method does come with the drawback of making the AI more resistant to contains, the AI isn't programmed to abuse this interaction, so that won't be a major issue.
Hero Blessings
Previously, Hero Blessings were announced when they bestowed, which gave the player little time to respond with a tech switch. While scouting the Hero beforehand allowed the player to know what Blessing was coming, it is unreasonable to expect players to remember what each Blessing did this early in the game's development.
Thus, the Blessings are now announced twice, once when the Hero spawns, and once after 3 minutes, when the Blessing will then be bestowed. This way, the player would have sufficient time to adjust their composition, or even attack the Human AI during the 3 minutes to make best use of their units while they remain not countered.
Difficulty settings
The AI's difficulty settings were too close in relative strength, so I've pulled the power of the AI down, maintaining the Insane AI's difficulty whilst making the Easy and Normal AI easier. This should allow non-rts players to more easily get a grasp of the game units and mechanics instead of being steamrolled every game.
Tip for players: you can enter the difficulty setting -de, -dn, or -ds (easy, normal, insane difficulty respectively) within the first second of game time when the fog of war is fading!
CLOSING THOUGHTS
This was a big patch (and the first of many hopefully), but thanks for reading to the end if you're still here, I really appreciate it. Do give the game a try if you haven't already!
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