Sprites are still overpowered

[Seravy]

I don't leave my important cities without ranged defenses,

Good. That means they achieved what I wanted them to. Most people won't bother putting proper defenders in their cities and sprites punish them for that.

But I always do that (in original MoM as well), and it has nothing to do with Sprites. This game is (still) all about ranged units, and it's foolish to rely on melee defenses alone.

Most players think 1-2 spearmen/swordsmen/bear/skeleton is enough. (obviously, I'm not talking about players playing impossible here)
(also, sprites come early. You might not have bowmen everywhere yet. This only really matters for players dumb enough to attack the AI without some plan, though, the AI can't attack before turn 37...ermm 25 since today's update.)
btw there are races who don't have ranged units, or don't have early ranged units.

[zitro1987]

Having a handful of halberdier-level melee defenders behind city walls can be very effective. Having flying melee defenders even more so.

[Catwalk]

I don't leave my important cities without ranged defenses,

Good. That means they achieved what I wanted them to. Most people won't bother putting proper defenders in their cities and sprites punish them for that.

But I always do that (in original MoM as well), and it has nothing to do with Sprites. This game is (still) all about ranged units, and it's foolish to rely on melee defenses alone.

Most players think 1-2 spearmen/swordsmen/bear/skeleton is enough. (obviously, I'm not talking about players playing impossible here)
(also, sprites come early. You might not have bowmen everywhere yet. This only really matters for players dumb enough to attack the AI without some plan, though, the AI can't attack before turn 37...ermm 25 since today's update.)
btw there are races who don't have ranged units, or don't have early ranged units.

Those races tend to be crap, and I'm smart enough to avoid them

[Seravy]

I believe I have a rough idea on how the new Sprites unit will be if we conclude the old one is overpowered - however, I might even do it if we don't, as it sounds more useful than a dedicated "neutrals only" unit. I haven't decided yet.

Sprites
Cost 80, upkeep 2
Flying 2
5 Figures
+0 or +1 to hit
2 melee
2 ranged
2 or 3 armor
2 health
4 ammo
7 Resistance
Lucky
Freezing - Any ranged attack done by this unit performs a strength (2+number of living figures) armor piercing cold attack on all figures in the target unit.

[zitro1987]

That sounds a bit confusing. So against a 1 figure, it's a 3 cold attack but against 6 figures, it's an 8 cold attack to each figure?

Unless we play the reverse (more damage the fewer figures), it might be better to just use a ranged immolation effect of cold damage

[Seravy]

That sounds a bit confusing. So against a 1 figure, it's a 3 cold attack but against 6 figures, it's an 8 cold attack to each figure?

Unless we play the reverse (more damage the fewer figures), it might be better to just use a ranged immolation effect of cold damage

I meant the number of living Sprites figures that are attacking, to scale the damage, as immolation damage otherwise does not scale by the attacking figures.

[zitro1987]

That's a pretty functional idea then, though it makes 'fairy dust' redundant.

Another idea is capping summoning cost/upkeep of common creatures at around 60/1 , resulting in weaker ghouls, sprites, and I guess nagas. If making stacks of doom, they're easier to defeat by normal units, hero, advanced creatures, etc.
Ghouls might lose the 'poison 1' or 1 attack+ranged
Sprites could lose 1 to hit
Nagas could lose 1hp and 1 poison.


But given we're just talking about sprites, we could just make them cheap and lose 1 to hit. They'll be more limited, less likely to damage advanced units. It'll also kill the focus magic strategy (though I don't think that combo was that special)

[Catwalk]

If you can scale it with figures alive that's certainly a lot better. But I think I will still be able to clear lairs as effectively as now with the above configuration. And it'll be even better at taking neutral cities early. Ranged + Flying + Early is the problem we're dealing with, and you're leaving it in place.

[Nelphine]

I actually like lucky and +0 to hit. Although I'd drop them to 1 armor, for the same reason as slingers. Although I still think slingers should have 2 armor.

But freezing means their attack is stronger than the current attack of sprites when at full figures, although only against multi target units. But they also have their own weak attack on top of that. This unit is far stronger than the current sprites. I don't see any way this is supposed to help with sorites strength. If freezing only attacked once instead of once per unit in the target, I could see it.

[Seravy]

This unit is far stronger than the current sprites

Of course it is. We are redesigning the unit from being a treasure hunter with no combat stats into something that is meant for real combat.
Nature is the strongest at summons by definition, and this is the most expensive unit in the realm and rarity (bears are cheaper) which makes them the strongest common summoning spell.