I have no particular issues with the way Holy Word functions right now. My previous comment was a specific response to Seravy's concern that the proposed Ruler of Heaven reviving units would result in abusable 1-man spearmen armies to allow for a lot of combat spellcasting opportunity. That doesn't work with Holy Word, or any other Life spell, really. It's too situational and generally requires a hero, which the proposed Ruler of Heaven's revival mechanic would exclude. And in any case, this would be made irrelevant if it was limited once per town.
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Caster of Magic II Spell System overhaul discussion
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We have moved Mana Leak up to uncommon, but are we happy with the 20 mana cost?
I feel when the spell is useful, it's worth more than that but when it isn't then...it's not used anyway. Also, even an "empty" Mana Leak that only drains from the enemy wizard will drain 125 so it's always a net positive regardless of the casting cost assuming the battle lasts enough turns and the skill spent on it wasn't needed for anything else.
I've got a couple of ideas for Mana Leak but I think first we should address the function of the spell: Is it more geared to be a general, all-purpose magic debuff, or something geared specifically towards countering Magician garrisons? IMHO the former makes more sense since Night Stalkers already accomplish the latter in most cases, but I could very well be wrong. If it is the former I think we need to decide the main purpose of the spell: Is it to harm enemy spell casters, with a perk of draining the enemy wizard's mana reserves? Or is it to drain the enemy wizard's mana reserves, with a perk of weakening enemy spellcasters? If it's the former, I almost wonder if it would be better to make the spell an instant, rather than an enchantment. Mana Leak's main issue is that it has little to no impact when it's first cast and takes a round or two to make a difference - but the first couple of rounds are often the most crucial ones in combat, especially in battles where magical ranged attacks are present. An Instant spell that, say, hit as two rounds of Mana Leak (i.e. removed 2 magical ammo and 10 CP) all at once and didn't do anything after that could be more useful.
Downside is that with multiple casters one could neutralize an entire stack of ranged magic attackers in a single turn. Would probably need to raise the mana cost considerably - maybe pull a Doom Bolt and give it a base cost of 41 so Demons can't cast it.
I think Mana Leak is already the most effective spell to counter Magicians in the game (and that is its main purpose) and doesn't need to be better at it. Yes, you need to take 2 turns worth of damage but the spell can be cast in combat, protects all your units against all enemy spellcasters, and at uncommon.
Compare it to Elemental Armor, it protects a single unit at rare and doesn't actually do anything to the enemy units, they are free to attack everyone else. Draining the mana instantly means casting Wall of Darkness to prevent the ammo from being used while it is being drained by Mana Leak stops being a combo. It also makes casting Mana Leak on turn 3 the correct move in all cases - earlier it wouldn't affect anything in the first turns on units that have ammo but no MP. So that takes out the immediate need of cast it which is what makes it a choice between Mana Leak or other spells that also are best if cast earlier like Black Prayer. Removing player choice and making one order of spells always work better than another is bad for strategy games. About the mana cost, I think the most important thing to answer first is, do we want Magicians to be able to cast it. If yes, then adding a Magician to allow casting it and another spell on turn one becomes an option but requires the magician to be in the battle which is easy when defending but difficult as an attacker (magicians tend do die quickly). If not then Mana Leak is equally difficulty to utilize fully for defenders and attackers alike as any less than bringing a hero (or a summoned demon) would not allow casting it without giving up the first turn casting opportunity. ...and that might explain why I never raised the cost the past 5 years, because giving the defender an advantage is (almost) always the better option.
Going back a discussion point -
do I understand that you have an open sorcery/global/uncommon to add back? I suggest a global that gives you a free phantom warrior in every (defensive only, maybe?) combat. If it's too good, make it defensive only. If it's not good enough (which seems unlikely, this would be pure gravy right?), then it could lower unrest ala Just Cause. The Dominions global that I'm stealing this suggestion from does that. https://steamcommunity.com/app/722060/di...942011313/ Keep up the good work! --TNDP
Thoughts on Mana Leak from Death perspective:
- Well-priced spell. This is not usually the first spell I need to cast, so if it cost more I would like it to do more otherwise I would cast it less. I feel it is too situational to warrant a higher casting cost and is extremely hard to justify casting it when attacking since there are a lot of other combos that are more valuable. Strictly from a Death perspective, Black Prayer goes first, then Darkness if I have death units fighting (i.e., Shadow Demon stack). Otherwise I go straight to Massacre/Wave of Despair/Annihilate (depending on enemy composition of course), or choice spells (Possession against non-undead, Cloak of Fear against no Death resist, Wraithform against normal weapons, Siphon Life, Reaper Slash/Gate of Hades against enemy Death) if my army can now generally handle the enemy. - This spell is generally replaced on defense by Cloud of Shadow - Removing at most 125 from an enemy wizard is mostly a pleasant side-effect: the proper way to lower their mana reserves is to attack the enemy's low-hanging fruit power sources and repeatedly hit him with Instant Drain Powers. If the cost were increased I'd prefer it to also drain enemy wizard Skill while in combat by a small amount. Even If the enemy wizard then only manages to get off 5 spells instead of 6 in a long siege it would help allow normal garrisons the potential to "do more" against super powerful stacks. 
Spell Ideas.
Ignorance. Sorcery, common City curse 75 MP cost. 1 upkeep. Increases the maintenance cost for beneficial city enchantments by 2 mana Increases the maintenance cost of garrisoned fantastic units by 2 mana Increases the maintenance cost of enchantments on garrisoned units by 1 mana per enchantment. Decreases the mana produced by magic markets and wizard builds by 3 per building. Purpose: to delay early game economy by enemy wizards (when sorcery is weakest) but be little more than annoyance to an established empire late game. Casting cost is low to make dispelling easier. Lantern Life uncommon, creature summon Casting cost same as upper end uncommon summons despite poor stats 1 figure, flying 2 +1 to hit Melee 1 magical ranged 8 (4 shots) defense 7 resistance 8 10hp immolation, fire immune poison immune. Purpose: A below average expensive ranged damage summon to round out holes in mixed Life+military armies. Cloud cover Sorcery uncommon City defence enchantment. Fliers and invisible units attacking this city must save at -1 each turn or loose flying and invisibility for 1 turn. Ranged attackers attacking this city must save at -1 or loose 1 ammo. Purpose Situational early game defense against some of the troublesome trump cards. later combo with flying fortress. Arcane Supremacy. Sorcery very rare Global enchantment. All your units have the effects identical to the focus magic enchantment which stacks with the focus magic enchantment itself . All your normal units produce +1 Power and +1 research. Purpose: Gain significant late game military potential in the form of vastly improved magical damage for your entire empire, quickly build up to the capability of any of the other very rare game enders. Summon Swordsman Life common combat summons. 14 MP Summons in a High elf Swordsman unit at default experience for the duration of the combat. Purpose: Brings in a barely competent buff target for life wizards to work with. Revelery of corruption. Chaos rare Economic city enchantment 250 Casting cost 6 mana upkeep. City gains +3 Power income +1 unrest , +1/2 food production and +1/2 max population per corrupted square other benefits of the terrain are still lost. Purpose allow the realm that creates corruption to benefit from it later once you've conquered the corrupted area. Cities built entirely on corruption should wind up as little more than mana intense hellholes unsuited to normal production or economy. Also allows a non purifier race to engage in a corruption war with another chaos wizard. Wall of Lightning: Chaos Rare City Defensive enchantment. Enemy Units crossing the walled area take a Stregnth 20 armour piercing attack, this includes fliers and incoporeal units. Stabilization Sorcery Rare Global enchantment. The casting cost and maintenence cost of all global enchantments is increased by 100% All disjunction spells targeting global enchantments besides this one have 50% increased effect. Purpose: Significantly slow down game enders untill your'e ready to face them. 
We've already filled all new spell slots so I can only use new ideas if one of the spells doesn't work as expected and has to be removed during testing.
Ignorance : We've already agreed curses are not a common tier game mechanic and maintenance modifiers are bad because the AI has large maintenance modifiers based on difficulty level. Lantern : Life intentionally doesn't have a flying or ranged summoned creature. Adding one that has completely useless stats wouldn't really change this because the spell is too weak to ever consider using it. I do like the idea but we can only use it if Life ever becomes a below average realm that needs to have fewer weaknesses, which it currently isn't. (in that case though the creature will need better stats) Cloud Cover : We already have enough realms that can counter invisibility, there is no need for another one. Functionally and thematically similar to Wall of Darkness which was considered to get moved into Sorcery but keeping the combo in two different realms is more balanced. Arcane Supremancy : Very similar to Reinforce Magic, but the granted 3 ranged attack on all normal units is probably more annoying than useful (the units will default to using ranged instead of melee even if they were a melee unit.) A spell that grants power and research based on number of units is an interesting game mechanic that could be a spell on its own without ranged attack buffing. Probably would be better as Rare than Very Rare. One particular problem I see is it can be abused by building a thousand spearmen. Summon Swordsmen : Life intentionally doesn't have a summon until Very Rare, this was discussed in the thread before. Revelry of Corruption : Too situational, only works when playing Chaos against Chaos specifically. Even then it's weak because it doesn't do anything about Volcanoes. Wall of Lightning : This is good although Chaos doesn't really need it. By this tier it can destroy most enemy armies using Flame Strike. Defensive spells aren't the realm's style either. Stabilization : Does the exact opposite of what's desirable - game enders actually ending the game.
Any plans to make Crack's Call not such a blatant cheat spell? I understand Nature needs a way to counter high defense enemies, but it still feels cheap to have a spell just go "Okay, now this big powerful unit dies because the dice agreed." It's especially egregious when you try using it and keep failing while the AI seems to almost always succeed with it.
No I have no such plans. The only problem with crack's call is the inconsistency of dealing irrecoverable damage even if the unit survives the hit but so far no one suggested any good solutions to that.
I don't think if it had a cost of 100 and worked 100% of the time that would play better, on the contrary. |