SORCERY Realm

[rgp151]

I really liked Word of Recall. I think that instead of removing it, a better option would be to have moved it from Common to Uncommon and increased the casting cost by 2X or even 4X. I think the spell can work well with the intent that it be a way to bring a powerful unit to a place when need, but yeah, being able to easily move whole stacks was a bit much.

Still, in 1.3 Word of Recall was a primary reason to use Sorcery. My main strategies were often built entirely around that spell. Not so much being weak on defense, but being able to do stuff like have one Troll city building War Trolls off in a remote corner of the world and bring them up to where they needed to be on the offensive lines, etc. I viewed this as a good counter strategy to Death's use of Zombies and Life Stealers as a way to keep momentum in a game.

This seemed reasonable given that Sorcery provided so little offensive power to begin with.

[rgp151]

Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. Great unsummoning should not impact your own units.

Really, the spell is kinda crap, all the things you REALLY WANT to unsummon have high resist. And there are less fantastic enemies in the game then normal ones. It feels so big and epic, but tactically it's never worth the time and mana.

Honestly, if this spell were replaced with an entirely new one I wouldn't mind. As it only hoses specific builds and any time any of the four AIs learns this spell those builds become useless. So it fails at being the big flashy spell you want it to be when you have it (that makes the actually dangerous enemy summons go away) and simply negates strategies (such as skeletons to reduce unrest) whenever an enemy has it.

Yes, remove it and replace it with Word of Recall! :D (Though honestly I think word of Recall should be Uncommon.)

[Seravy]

I really liked Word of Recall. I think that instead of removing it, a better option would be to have moved it from Common to Uncommon and increased the casting cost by 2X or even 4X. I think the spell can work well with the intent that it be a way to bring a powerful unit to a place when need, but yeah, being able to easily move whole stacks was a bit much.

Still, in 1.3 Word of Recall was a primary reason to use Sorcery. My main strategies were often built entirely around that spell. Not so much being weak on defense, but being able to do stuff like have one Troll city building War Trolls off in a remote corner of the world and bring them up to where they needed to be on the offensive lines, etc. I viewed this as a good counter strategy to Death's use of Zombies and Life Stealers as a way to keep momentum in a game.

This seemed reasonable given that Sorcery provided so little offensive power to begin with.

You can have wind walking units (or even flying ships!) carry your units. It doesn't take more than 5-6 turns to reach a far away location that way, the map is only 60 tiles wide so the furthest point possible is only 30 moves. 5-6 turns to reach anywhere is very fast (especially compared to having to produce new troops on the location) but not as broken as instant travel.
For reference Nature has a spell that allows instant travel to your city...and it's very rare, Earth Gate. Even at that rarity it's an extremely powerful spell and Word of Recall was superior to it. WoR worked in combat, was cheaper, and worked across planes.
But Word of Recall isn't just broken because any unit can go anywhere instantly. It also is broken because your valueable units are almost invincible. Your hero got hit by a lightning bolt and is about to die? remove it from combat. Sky Drake used up in battle, down to 5 hit points? 20 mp and it's safe, can destroy another 3 enemy cities after resting a little. Wait, it doesn't end here, if you had wind walking reactivation, the recalled unit was able to attack again after the battle, so you could use a unit to attack the same city or node multiple times in a turn ...having full mana and ammo for each battle without risking the unit by fleeing!

Either way it cannot be restored because the space (both literally in the EXE for the effect and AI decisions, and in your spellbook) is already used up new features.

I also liked this spell, but unfortunately it breaks the game.

[rgp151]

I'd like to see Djinn also be an in-combat summon. I think that since you gave most of the other schools in-combat summons it has taken away from Sorcery as the king of in-combat summons, and also by having Djinn as an in-combat summon it would make up for the removal of Word of Recall as a way to still play light on defense with the ability to summon in strong units as needed. Basically Djinn would be an overland summon and an in-combat summon. In-combat cost of 70?

[Seravy]

I'd like to see Djinn also be an in-combat summon. I think that since you gave most of the other schools in-combat summons it has taken away from Sorcery as the king of in-combat summons, and also by having Djinn as an in-combat summon it would make up for the removal of Word of Recall as a way to still play light on defense with the ability to summon in strong units as needed. Basically Djinn would be an overland summon and an in-combat summon. In-combat cost of 70?

Sorcery still has the most amount of combat summoning spells. (3, tied with nature)
Air Elemental has been recently buffed, too.
I don't see a problem.

[Seravy]

I have an idea on how to balance Aura of Majesty.

What if the amount of REL points granted was based on the amount of current relation, the following way :
Below -90 : +5 per turn
Below -60 : +4 per turn
Below -30 : +3 per turn
Below 0 : +2 per turn
0-30 : +1 per turn
31-60 : Nothing
61-90 : -1 per turn (or nothing)
91+ : -2 per turn (or nothing)

The greatest problem I see with this spell is, it's guaranteed Alliance with everyone without any effort. (unless already at a war where peace is impossible)
Also, considering how good the spell is, a higher maintenance might be better?

[mhek]

I have an idea on how to balance Aura of Majesty.

What if the amount of REL points granted was based on the amount of current relation, the following way :
Below -90 : +5 per turn
Below -60 : +4 per turn
Below -30 : +3 per turn
Below 0 : +2 per turn
0-30 : +1 per turn
31-60 : Nothing
61-90 : -1 per turn (or nothing)
91+ : -2 per turn (or nothing)

The greatest problem I see with this spell is, it's guaranteed Alliance with everyone without any effort. (unless already at a war where peace is impossible)
Also, considering how good the spell is, a higher maintenance might be better?

I agree that it is boring and not balanced to have an alliance with all wizards. I would not give it negative REL points at higher levels though: If you had an ally with high REL points, than this would maybe cause the alliance to break? Also it would mean that you should cancel Aura of Majesty after a certain point (when you have reached 31 REL points with all wizards).
So I would vote for the (or nothing) option:

Below -90 : +5 per turn
Below -60 : +4 per turn
Below -30 : +3 per turn
Below 0 : +2 per turn
0-30 : +1 per turn
>30 : +/- 0

[Nelphine]

I'd probably make the ranges a little bigger, but only go from +4 to 0. So
-81 or lower: +4
-70 to -41: +3
-40 to -1: +2
0 to 39: +1
40+: 0

But I don't have a ton of experience with the new diplomacy yet. Honestly I wish you could go up to 60 or 70 at +1/2 turns.

While its super powerful, its also fun to have the option to get an alliance, albeit slowly.

[Seravy]

I'd probably make the ranges a little bigger, but only go from +4 to 0. So
-81 or lower: +4
-70 to -41: +3
-40 to -1: +2
0 to 39: +1
40+: 0

But I don't have a ton of experience with the new diplomacy yet. Honestly I wish you could go up to 60 or 70 at +1/2 turns.

While its super powerful, its also fun to have the option to get an alliance, albeit slowly.

I have no problem with the player getting alliances, that's what they are for, but I do have a problem with the player getting alliances with anyone, regardless of what books they play, which is what this spell originally did.
As you only need a relation in the range of 50-65 to get an Alliance offer from the AI (or have a reasonable chance of your own being accepted), it shouldn't go up that far. If it stops are 30, then you have to rely on actual diplomacy - tributes or trades - (or the effect of your wizard's pact over time) to get an Alliance, but you are still guaranteed to get the wizard's pact, and if starting relations were favorable, then it will be able to reach an Alliance in 5-7 years.

Also see : http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showt...p?tid=8324 which is related.

Either way I completed the patch meanwhile and will upload in a minute so you can try it in action.

[grazzy]

7 pages, and I havent read them all, so blame me if this is already answered.

But Stasis doesnt give a graphical indication anymore?

In my current game it caught me off guard a couple times, when all of a sudden some of my units couldnt move.

Now, I think, the previous turns the "dispel" effect showed up (the blue light to the sky effect thing, if that makes sense), but Im pretty sure that was just the AI casting a dispel spell on my units, as my units did indeed lose some buffs. And isnt the stasis spell like a grid-like special effect?