I've been wondering about the balance of retorts as it feels it's always the same ones getting used while others are not. So i'll try to summarize my thoughts here.

Warlord and Tactician - Being the only two pure military retorts in the game, and military being the most trivial thing to go for (basically the only thing you have in all other 4X games, which do not have summoning and heroes, plus even here you always have cities that make normal units, and can rarely play a game without relying on at least some)  these definitely see a lot of use, but mutual exclusivity will improve it - at the very least you have to play one or the other instead of both, which leaves more picks for other retorts or books. (see the discussion in the Life thread for details on that.)

Famous and Artificer - These are pure hero retorts that you will only pick for hero strategies, but hero strategies are not as commonly played as normal units and even with hero strategies, you don't always pick either of these retorts - but you do pick them often enough. So these see a reasonable amount of use for their role.

Alchemy - This is likely overused. The military effect is not very powerful anymore - Alchemist Guilds only cost 100 so it's merely a +200 gold per military production center - but the convenience it offers is very tempting, as you can't know in advance whether you will have a balanced flow of resources, or need to convert regularly due to having bad luck on either gold or magic power. I don't think we can do anything about that, human psychology, fear of the unknown. I do think the cases where alchemy is picked because a large amount of conversion is part of the strategy are probably a reasonable share of the games, and not the problem, so while this retort does see above average use, it's not a balance problem and not something we can do anything about (nor do we need to - while it's a tempting retort, it's also the first one to drop if there is no room for it in a strategy)

Myrran - This is really a game mode, not a retort in my opinion, so I'll ignore it for this thread.

Guardian - Definitely underused, partly because it's 2 picks, partly because defense is usually not a desirable tactic for human players, and maybe also because it relies on having strong units in garrison which is a strain on your economy. We still haven't decided on how to improve this retort, it's been on the "open problems" list for like 2 years.
(idea : what if it also reduced maintenance costs on patrolling units? Yes that's useless for the AI (do they even patrol their garrisons? Or just not order them to move...), but the AI picks it for the defense and it's pretty good for that, it needs to be improved for humans, really. We also had that idea of somehow improving spellcasting in city defense battles, that would also help AI. Considering how expensive the retort is in picks, we might even want both effects added...)

Sage Master, Conjurer - These are used very often but reasonably so, no change needed.

Channeler - This feels underused, and I blame the range penalty changes for that, see the other thread posted today.

Archmage, Spellweaver - Used often but not always and Mutual Exclusivity helps, like the Warlord/Tactician case. I think the current Spellweaver is actually good as is, it was nerfed enough to be no longer a "must always pick" retort even for spell strategies.

Omniscient- Most versatile retort in the game that outright allows otherwise unplayable combinations to win, while it doesn't seem to be picked excessively, definitely sees enough use.

Cult Leader - A bit overlooked but definitely a strong contender for games that rely on magic power. I think it's fine as is. Only retort that requires you to pick a race that can build certain types of buildings btw.

Charismatic - Only diplomacy retort. I'd say it's underused because "kill everything that moves as soon as possible" seems to be the trend nowadays. Not really a problem with the retort itself, if we succeed on our goal to make longer games more viable and shorter games harder to pull off, this will also start seeing more use.

Specialist - This kinda feels too good as it's basically allowing you to have a 11th pick in you main realm and it also encourages single realm play (which is already strong enough and doesn't seem to need that.) - I think it's both overused and a somewhat poor game mechanic. Would be sad not to have it, though, being very good at one thing is a strong element of flavor in a game. I'm tempted to say toning down the numbers is a good idea but it's not that simple because it can't be worse than picking +1 book - it has to be viable even if you haven't maxed out the books in the realm, and books do give cost and research discounts.

Astrologer - Node Mastery was popular for a reason, not only is this a pretty good effect, but treasure hunting is also popular. While not a mainstream retort, I don't think we need to worry about it not seeing enough use either.

Runemaster - I'm definitely worried about this the most.
Faster Spell of Mastery is a big deal, but for 2 picks you could just get Sage Master and something that enhances magic power and probably be at the same position or better. This effect might need to be much more powerful to matter, like +100% instead of 50.
Double dispel power sounds great but Sorcery gets it by default, and others...don't get dispelling wave. Being resistant to city curses and globals is a big deal but city curses were recently nerfed and this doesn't even cover them all, only those 5 that stay on the city and can be dispelled, and not every enemy will have strong globals, in fact it's quite likely only the last enemy reaches them and they might end up not getting any. So this is a nice extra but no one would actually pick the retort for it.
Dispel resistance is the big selling point, but it's not always necessary, specialist also provides it, for less picks, and Spelweaver is also an overlapping effect (you get to recast them 33% faster when dispelled - far less effective but also works if there were no dispels!)

So it's overall a package of 3 not very desirable effects for a very high cost of 2 picks, and all 3 are late game effects, too. (ok dispel resistance can be useful even early, but Dispel Magic isn't that much of a threat. Dispelling Wave comes quite a bit later, in the midgame only.)

The mod has increased the distance where each level of range penalty gets applied quite significantly.

I'm wondering if maybe this was a mistake. Ranged penalties should help slow down early expansion/conquest, without having a significant effect on the late game - in the early game you only control cities that are in the "medium distance" zone where the reduction was the highest, but in the late game, most of your battles are in maximal penalty anyway, those few that happen closer barely matter. 
This would also make Chaneller a more powerful retort, I think it's somewhat underused.

These were the originals (we don't need to restore these exact numbers, we can pick anything we want) :
1-5 : 1x
6-10 : 1.5x
11-15 : 2x
16-20 : 2.5x
21- : 3x

And these are the current ones :
1-8 : 1x
9-13 : 1.2x
14-18 : 1.5x
19-24 : 2x
25- : 3x

Do note the map is only 60 wide, so there are only 10 tiles in the furthest region that are 3x range while the other 50 are lower. Unless the starting city is very close to the poles, it is also unlikely to exceed the 25 in the north/south direction.

The change would affect the AI, as they cast a lot in combat, more than the human. However, when the AI is attacking the human in the late game where they have the high skill that makes it relevant, they usually do so in the high range penalty distance anyway - in the player's territory, who already knocked out the closer wizards. Fights closer to the AI are less frequent, as those are only limited to those few, short battles where the human attacks and AI city. The last war even happens between planes, being always max penalty. So the overall impact on the AI seems to be not as great as it first appears - most critical being likely when the AI was at the "2x range" distance from the human, if the change pushes that into the "3x" one.

Overall, this change would steer the game towards defending a larger empire on combat spells becoming more expensive, while cost of conquest would be mostly unchanged for "doomstack" strategies, but much more expensive for strategies that use many small stacks to attack in multiple places at once (to wipe out all the wandering AI armies), sadly that includes the AI as well, but mostly only the first two (last two is already paying near max range).

Unfortunately, "raze all" strategies, falling under the doomstack category, would be unaffected, but razing all is rarely viable.

Edit : It's worth mentioning territory affected by range is not linear - doubling the range quadruples the area included. So I'd say the mod's changes made a much larger impact than the numbers seem to imply at first sight and what I expected. For example the 1x range area went from 81 to 225 tiles. (omg that's a 177% increase!)

Has anyone else been following Wargroove?






From their website:

Quote:Wargroove is a turn-based strategy game for up to 4 players, in which each player takes control of an army and its commander unit to wage war on their enemies! [...] Wargroove is a modern take on the simple yet deep turn-based tactical gameplay popularised in the 2000s by handheld games such as Advance Wars. As big fans of those games we were disappointed to find that nothing in this genre was available on current generation platforms and set out to fill the gap ourselves. Wargroove aims to recreate the charm and accessibility of the titles that inspired it whilst bringing modern technology into the formula. This modern focus allows for higher resolution pixel art, robust online play and deep modding capability, ultimately creating the most complete experience for Advance Wars and TBS fans.

Quote:Skirmish Mode: 30+ two-player PVP maps, 10+ three player PVP maps & 6+ four player PVP maps. Possibly a number of ‘scenario’ maps – not confirmed yet. This works both online and offline, can be played vs CPU in any configuration. Allows you to configure weather, turn timer, fog of war, income, map biome, Commanders and teams. Online matches can be synchronous or asynchronous and can have many matches running at once.
Puzzle Mode: 25+ extremely challenging puzzles where you have to defeat the enemy in a single turn.
Map Creation: Easy to use basic tools/map painting. Advanced scripting tools for frankly ridiculous possibilities. Cutscene creation in-game, with really detailed tools that allow you to dress up your maps or campaign with a story. Includes a decoration System with fine control over the visuals of the map.
Content Sharing: A powerful content sharing centre for maps and campaigns. Ability to rate maps – Like/Dislike, with filters and search. Various different discoverability methods.

http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showt...43&page=15

One of our turn players has vanished without a trace and we need a sub to keep the game rolling.

The game has lasted about 60 turns so far. You'll be taking over Arabia, in something of a difficult spot - as best I can tell from demographics. 

We don't mind much about spoilers - a spoiled player is better than no player at all, or an AI. Anyone interested is welcome.

I was talking with Sullla about trying out some online co-op on For the King. We'd both like to do that, but Sullla mentioned that if possible, it would be best if we could have a third player.

Anybody interested in joining us?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, Sullla has a few good writeups about the game at his website.

Arc the Lad is a somewhat obscure series of tactical RPGs for the Playstation.  I tend to think this genre has several main categories:  "Final Fantasy Tactics type", "Shining Force type", and "Fire Emblem type".  Arc the Lad feels closest to Shining Force.  Dead characters can be revived, turn order is based on Agility rather than a "Player Phase", and the arenas are top-down rather than isometric.


I bought Arc the Lad 2 first, but soon realized I should have imported items from the first game if I wanted to try out any variants for it.  The reason is that the final dungeon of Arc 2 is a point of no return, and has a boss with 9999 HP in a game where powerful characters may do damage in the low hundreds.  If my Arc 1 file import succeeds, I'll attempt a (mostly) Elc solo of Arc 2.


Arc 1 is fun to play, but feels less polished than Arc 2 because it was rushed to be a PSX launch title.  The plot is as generic as a tactical RPG can get, with an environmental theme that's somehow less subtle than Chrono Cross.  The only dungeon is the 50 floor bonus area, and the rest of the fights are in their own separate arenas.  Arc starts out as so much better than the other characters that a normal playthrough feels like a solo at times.  Level matters a lot too, so expect your characters to die without getting a turn if they're weak.

The arena is a good way to remedy this issue.  All fights are 1 on 1 and scale to your chosen character's level to some degree.  You can get good prizes there too.  I would never have made it through the 50 floor dungeon without giving Tosh a +30% Agility accessory that he won in the arena.  You get a lot of items if you hit 1,000 wins, but few have the patience for that, and I certainly didn't.


The Forbidden Ruins is the 50 floor dungeon I mentioned earlier.  Players on various forums said it would take 3-4 hours to complete (without any save points!), but I did it in less than 2 or so by having Tosh rush to the stairs.  You don't actually have to clear out the enemies or get the treasure (mostly generic consumables, but a few unique items are available) to proceed.  All I wanted was the Romancing Stone at the bottom.


Arc the Lad 1 has 4 Romancing Stones to find.  The first one is in Arc's house after it burns down, the second is in the mailbox right after meeting the Earth Guardian (BEFORE going to the arena).  Gogen gives you the 3rd when he joins.  (Yes, you get Romancing Stone 3 before 2.  It's confusing.)  The 4th is at the bottom of the Forbidden Ruins in a treasure chest in front of a statue.  Then you have to fight the bonus summon Choko.  Choko wasn't too hard for me because I overprepared.  Tosh's paralysis special move rendered her unable to act for most of the fight.  Tosh and Iga pounded away until she was defeated.  Then I beat the final boss battle with dark versions of the player characters to make sure the save file transferred to Arc 2.  Hopefully it'll work, because Arc 2 didn't make any chiming sounds or fanfare when it happened.


Arc 1 characters:


Arc:  He's a typical RPG well-rounded main character.  He has various attack spells, good melee, Total Healing, and an Agility debuff.  One of Arc's unique items regenerates MP.  It's easy to make him steal all the experience.


Kukuru:  She's the main healer, because that's how the female lead is usually typecast in RPGs.  Unfortunately, her starter heal spell is melee range and her physical attack is weak, so it's very easy to have her fall behind.


Poco:  Poco's a musician, but he's not spoony like Edward from Final Fantasy 4.  His spells provide useful stat buffs, healing, and can deal damage as well.  He was underleveled in my playthrough, but that was mostly because he didn't get his attack abilities until it was too later.  


Tosh:  I didn't get much out of him during the main playthrough, but he was wonderful in the arena and Forbidden Ruins.  He's a fast melee fighter with mostly offensive special moves.  One of them hits exactly two tiles away.  No more, no less.  The paralysis slash can work on even some bosses, including Choko.


Iga:  He's another physical fighter, but his specials have more range than Tosh's.  One hits in a line in front of him, while another is a tornado that picks up enemies in a certain radius.  Iga isn't quite as fast as Tosh, though, but he's still worth building up.


Gogen:  Gogen is the Black Mage of the group, with various area of effect spells.  Too bad he's in a game where there isn't any easy way to restore MP!  (Unless I'm missing something.)  Be sure to listen to his Engrish voice acting.  If you think Arc's "Total Healing" sounds bad, you haven't heard Gogen try to pronounce "Diamond Dust".


Chongara: Chongara is a weird kind of summoner.  He doesn't use them to cast spells like a Final Fantasy character.  Instead, Chongara opens a pot and spawns a controllable character onto the field.  Most of them weren't very useful from my experience, except for the healing one he starts with.  Choko is the best one, but you get her at the bottom of the Forbidden Ruins, and she can only be used in specific areas.  She's effectively useless in Arc 1, but will save your party in Arc 2 if the Internet is correct about her.  Chongara's King's Image accessory lets him gain experience from his summons' actions.


EDIT:  I forgot to mention the "Ogre Battle" type of tactical RPG, but not many games try to copy March of the Black Queen from what I can recall.

Let's start the journey!
   

Grot, Banzai, Suboptimal, Alhambram, keep out, under pain of being MURDERED BY VIKINGS



all others welcome :D 

Archduke, I have some thoughts that I'll post up later. Looking forward to our partnership!

Horky borki Stormakstiden! Lurki önly!



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