SXRPG Version 6.0.5 -- 1.16 Server

[Mabuse]

Two replays from the new version, Temple of Bones (105 turns), Isle of dread (74 Turns)
Solo, lvl 0 (standard), Grandmaster, Death Mode (Warrior Dwarfen Lord)


in both games i died a few times (though significantly more on Isle of Dread) because i stuck in hopeless situations
(you dont see it in the save games, but these were not perfect runs, although temple of bones i was a bit more aware what im doing, still i got killed at some points)

as you see there is a Error meassage in temple of bones as well, i have to shut this one down.
(so there might be another update soon)- including the improved random bosses.

as the additional bosses are (sligthly) weaker than the default ones, but i think i will make them as strong as the other ones for consistancy.
there may be also some adjustments here and there in the next update.

its also possible that i may add some more stuff, upgrades etc, the more testing is happening
right now warrior works quite well, we will see how the other classes will do


feel free to provide also tests of your solo runs so i might take a look and perhaps adjust things or do some balancing etc.

SXRPG IsleOfDread Aufzeichnung 20230704-013236.gz

(319.09 KiB) Downloaded 42 times

SXRPG TempleOfBones Aufzeichnung 20230704-224400.gz

(416.95 KiB) Downloaded 54 times

Thoughts:
-------------
From my solo runs i can say that cleric really really is weak compared to warrior, cleric really has nothing useful to offer for being weak.
mana regenerates way to slow to be useful, i think (at least in solo).

cleric:
------
- i guess critical hits special will recieve a buff (will increase damage by 15%)
- also cleric (and mage and rogue mage) get another +1 ablity points
- furthermore the 2nd ability of the the cleric staff (+10% arcane armor) will instead boost mana regen by a nice percentage

[Mabuse]

In any case there will be a rebalance and restructuring of the weapon specials in order to make the classes/upgrades a bit more balanced, also more testing will be included.

there is also a chance that existing weapon specials like "magic" will get an overhaul, for example ranged magic will be replayed with magc-circle or something like that.or replaced witzh marks and get a bonus on damage e.g.

in order to be able to be upgradeable accordingly.

[Mabuse]

So there is a bug delaying the next update,

but be sure that there is a improvement in fire power for rangers (via specials), small buff for clercis (via specials),

ranger:
- (rangers will be able to combine focus+hailofarrows+precision(+slow) for max damage, blessing cannot be added anymore instead the is another blessed+hailofarrows+precision(+slow) branch for less damage but better dealt/taken ratio, and its also slightly cheaper)

cleric:
- (clercis "critical-hit" ability get buff from +10% damage to +20% damage as it was pretty useless and cleric just need a small buff to better handle creeps, and if it gets unlucky you can use attack spell to kill off, other options such a berserk got unchanged, but healing power of clercis was buffed from +35% to +50% so it may come handy to use healing spell if you go berserk or rage.)

- also magic got buffed across the table with higher mana regeneration-bonus from their personal-items
(and mage, cleric, roguemage get +1 ability point)

- every class has now 2-3 major weapon special clusters which can be put on weapons, one option that deals most damage, and another that has a lower damage but better dealt/taken ratio

- also the attack spells get a small fire/ice/energy-ball attack option for 30 mana, which allows them to kill off creeps that survied with a few HP to continue their killing streaks. so that magic is now a bit more useful in these situation when a creep barely survived to compensate that mage/cleric ... is in general damagewise weaker than warrior/ranger

some shop weapons got adjusted

so far ranger class got tested and i made a 100 turn temple of bones run, obviously with some luck since i found some great weapons at the end which helped me lot, also i found some scrolls of herbal knowledge and finally got alchemy so i went crazy on potions (for may taste), but now i see its the key to success once you "hit the wall" and dont know what to do) which was the best decision in end game
(e.g. stacking up 5 blue potions that give +75hp (beyond max) will give you +375 HP, that can boost you almost a high as a yellow pot, and if you can reduce blue potion cost a lot, you can basically buy yourself yellows)


all classes will be tested for "solo-grandmaster-temple-of-bones-ability" as if they are valid to play, that is some fun.
after that thoughts will be made how to make it more difficult

- one thing is for sure that i make one more boss in isle of dread so you cannot sneak into the final boss lair and kill it

and finally a speed-run-competion wil be announced

[Mabuse]

also while i think about magic ...

- one of the problems with mana is that you need to spend gold in shop in order to increase manapool
- next problem is that you only generate mana per turn, so time is mana, and you dont have time

- so while on a streak kiling units you wont increase your pool, because the gold is idling on your account
so you need to shop more in order to get best effects, which is clumsy for gameplay

- as a solution for this, now also the gold that is on your main account vand not spend yet will increase the manapool

this will also have the benefit, that you generate mana from turn 1 on and not on turn 2 after you spend gold in shop
so a little more mana from start on and throughout the game

second change will be that stamina/mana will be slowly regenerated by killing enemis. 1 mana per enemy level seems appropriate
so its nothing game breaking, but slight increase of QOL and in general bit more mana to spend

this will give magic user the slight buff they needed in order to consistently utilize magic

also this gives the opprtunity to make a new ability which increase this effect and as well 1 or 2 items that cover this aspect

[Mabuse]

--------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------
CHANGELOG :5.5.0
GAMEPLAY UPGRADE
----------------------


5.5.0:
--------------
Balance:

Basic Mechanics:
-----------------
- all players start with their current max Mana/Stamina right at start.
- also non-spend gold will increase max Mana/Stamina, just collect gold and you'll be fine. No need to spend gold in Shop.
- Mana/Stamina will refill when killing enemy units, value is enemy Level
- killing enemies with Energy-, Fire-, Iceball will grant full gold reward, full expierience and will also recover mana,
gives some moves back, gives an additional attack back etc. it just just behave like a normal successful attack.


Mage/Cleric/Roguemage:
-----------------------
- all magic class get +1 potion storage
- clericstaff, roguemageamulett, magestaff and magegem got buffed to increase spellrates and manarecovery/max mana
- Cleric +1 ability point
- Mage +1 ability point
- attack spells now also have a 30 mana attack to finish off weak targets
- attack spells got slightly nerfed by about 10% to honor the fact that spells are a magic-circle attack of 90% cth
(mage class get higher bonus on attackspells to compensate for that, and will end up slightly buffed
cleric+roguemage lose a bit attack spell power but will benefitt from higher melee damage instead)
- mage class get +20% bonus on attack spells by default
- cleric class get +20% bonus on heal spell by default
- roguemage class get +20% bonus on movement spell by default
- class shop items will also further increase these boni

Cleric/Rogue:
-------------
- Critical Hit Special now grant +20% damage (former (+10%) (affect: clerics, rogue warriors)
- no more reduced potion costs

Ranger/Roguewarrior:
----------------------
- "fast reload"-special deleted (+15% strikes), instead "focus"-special available (+50% damage inflicted/recieved, 70% CTH)
- "hail-of-arrows"-special is now addable (for rangers/roguewarriors)
(this allow for "focus+precision+hailofarrows+slow" combo which dishes out more damage for non-magic ranged units)
- "Blessed"-special availabale for rangers/rogues

General:
----------
- some shop-weapon changes
- divine reward now grant +1 gold regardless of unit alignment (which made lawful clearly bad choice overall)
(btw, it worked like that before 5.5.0 but the description said otherwise)

Gameplay:
--------------
- randombosses spawn now on the same level as other bosses

- Font Size was increased as it was really very small, some years ago it was important so everything could be displayed
but nowadays the screens have a better resolution

- some shop adjustments to better keep track of gold spending


Conclusion:
-----------
- ranger (and rogue warrior ranged) do more damage
- cleric (and rogue warrior melee) do a little bit more damage
- magic was overhauled and is in general more useful also for handling and finishing off creeps
- magic users are able to utilize magic from start on


Bugfix:
-------
- Temple of Bones Bug fixed wehen Gorgon Sorcress was killed
- fixed bug with fungus-defense for cavalry

Report more bug on wesnoth Forums if you find any

[Mabuse]

So feel free to show me your Speedruns on Grandmaster difficulty, Temple of Bones.

The Balance of the Classes follow something like this:

- Warrior is easiest class with the most raw damage but also the less Quality of life. It can stomp everything just due to raw WeaponPower. Has more Armor
- Ranger ist like Warrior, but ranged with a little bit of QOL (Quality of Life), like better Hit-and-run and more Moves after Kill. So its more agile.
- Cleric is like a tricky QOL Warrior, it has some strategies to be tested, like getting magical-Rage + Cleric Staff and Heal Spell early and just mow through enemy lines while healing up for example. Wasnt fully tested that way, but it may work like this. Later it may rely on Potion and Attack Spells to soften up hard Bosses
- Mage will do the least raw Damage, so everything is set up for Attack Spells, but thats some QOL i can tell you. Grab a mage-staff early and see what you can do. Later it may rely on Potion and Attack Spells to soften up hard Bosses
- Roguemage: Something like a Cleric and Mage at the same Time, but not as specialised, may deal more damage early though due to its second-strike ability.
- Roguewarrior: Something liek a Warrior and a Ranger but not as specialised, may deal more damage early though due to its second-strike ability. Has less QOL.


Rougewarrior and Roguemage may be revisited since i didnt test them out too much.
now the testing begins with TEMPLE OF BONES


The next quick update will elaborate on the random bosses, which will also change during
the progression of the Game using different Spawn Table depending which Situation is ingame.
And there may be a chance of increased Spawn chance while progressing.

Also i think Wizard of War II Map will get an overhaul in the Final Area, the End Boss may Change as well as some Bosses, to make it a bit more challenging

[Mabuse]

OK, after a quick review of the Mage and a new personal record of TempleOfBones in 81 turns (Grandmaster, normal start, Sylph), i come to the conclusion that Mage is a bit OP atm, the combnination of best deal/taken ratio weaponwise, strong attack spells, more or less cheap upgrades, and on top a good flow of mana throughout the game really kills it.

i admit it was a lucks run, and for whatever reason i ended up bosses dropping all the mage items, so i had a full developed mage at the end.
the end game is nothing surprising though. the mage is just good at it.
Also there were just a very rare extra bosses in the early game. And Sylph is a very good ranged Hero of course.

problem is that even the start ist too smooth. although i lke the flow of the game, progress need to be slowed down, i guess the main reason why it flows so extremely OP is that MANA actually benefit from non-spend gold, so you will get stronger just by keeping it going, not needed to visit shop, also mana rate increases, so you just get more and more mana.

and, for all non-magic heroes only progress is by visiting shops, so there is an inconsistancy that shouldbe reversed. so this will be taken out in the next quick fix, only gold spend in shop (after turn 1 !) will influence maximum mana/manarate.

next nerf for mage is that you will need both items to maximize your spell-damage output.
this will slow start a bit down.


- no more mana from not-spend-gold after turn 1
- spell-damage bonus will be divided on both mage items
- perhaps more spell-damage reduction (e.g. the damage boosting items should not increase spell damage)
- higher chance to spawn bosses
- more eleborate and adequate bosses


the full run is here:
TempleOfBones in 81 turns (Grandmaster, normal start, Sylph Mage)

SXRPG TempleOfBones Aufzeichnung 20230708-021407.gz

(470.88 KiB) Downloaded 44 times

[Mabuse]

so i applied a few nerfs to the mage and magic in general, but what can i tell you, .. you cant stop it.
the sylph has everything a mage need to get started. its such a powerful monstrosity

the mage is great since its weapon specials provide a good deal/take ratio, and because of that, it can focus on damage only almost, which means it deals pretty nice damage anyways, on top of it, it deals "cheap" magic damage when needed, while simply being in flow. the kills generate more mana, and still withou the "ever increasing" max-mana limit, it is a perfect gameplay.

also i noticed that in the last game i didnt use any attack spells on the last boss, i just killed it with the standard weapon. using yellow pots.
all in all i must say mage is really underrated

you could just stop it with throwing some nasty foes at it. which is part II of the work

rebalance so far:

Magic:
--------

- non-spend-gold will not increase maxmana and manarate after turn 1 anymore
- reduced damage-spell buff for magestaff
- minor attack spell (30 mana) base damage reduced
- for consistency rogue-mage gets +1 ability point


Mage+Cleric:
------------
- no extra potion storage for mage, cleric and roguemage

[Mabuse]

rebalance so far:

Magic:
--------

- non-spend-gold will not increase maxmana and manarate after turn 1 anymore
- reduced damage-spell buff for magestaff
- minor attack spell (30 mana) base damage reduced
- for consistency rogue-mage gets +1 ability point


Mage+Cleric:
------------
- no extra potion storage for mage, cleric and roguemage

Edit:
-----

Consistency:

- for even more consistency Clericstaff and Rogueamulett also increase maxmana instead of mana-recovery-rate
since max mana is more useful because of the recover from killing enemies


Buff:

- Cuirass and Ring of Defense will now also increase max stamina/mana and stamina/mana recovery rate, as well stamina/mana regeneration from kills
to make these items also more useful and orth their cost.

- Stamina Hit-and run base cost will be in general reduced by 25%, so all non magical heroes recieve this bonus

[Mabuse]

----------------------
CHANGELOG :5.5.1
GAMEPLAY UPGRADE
----------------------


Balance:

Magic:
--------

- non-spend-gold will not increase maxmana and manarate after turn 1 anymore
- reduced damage-spell buff for magestaff
- minor attack spell (30 mana) base damage reduced
- for consistency rogue-mage gets +1 ability point


Mage+Cleric:
------------
- no extra potion storage for mage, cleric and roguemage


Cleric+Roguemage:
------------
- their special shop items will now increase max mana instead of manarate, since maxmana is more useful, since you can refill mana by killing creeps now


Cuirass + Ring of Defense:
-------------------------
- Cuirass + Ring of Defense shop-items will also increase manarate (stamina) OR maximum mana (stamina), to make them more useful
- will also increase stamina/mana recovery from kills by +50% per item

Hit-And-Run:
-------------
- all non magical units (warrior, ranger, rogue warrior) recieve a -25% cost bonus, ranger loses its former bonus


Gameplay Balance:
-----------------

- random boss chance is now cumulative, that means, if an AI leader doesnt use its current chance to drop a boss,
the chance is taken over to the next turn and added to it. once a boss spawns the chance is reset. this will ensure
a certain consistency even if ai gets unlucky spawning more bosses. So there will be more opposition thrown at the player(s)

- random bosss type depending on game progression

- fixed an exploit in isle of dread map

[Mabuse]

----------------------
CHANGELOG :5.5.3
GAMEPLAY UPGRADE
----------------------

- bug fix.
bosstimers werent reset, which led to endless boss spam

- final bug fix boss timer.
it kept adding up chances for not yet existing (or killed) leaders, which led to boss spam in cases with
multiple leaders.



so now gameplay for each map should be slightly harder and different, exspect more bosses, but this time they are balanced, and will also becomingstronger as the game progress.

All Speedruns that would be considered valid need to use 5.5.3 version.
To Test balancing purposes.

[Mabuse]

Ok, so far everything works as intended.
As i said, you cannot stop the Mage. Period.

Balancewise i only think about actually replacing early Reaper Gosts as they seem a bit OP when they arrive early on the Battlefield.
Especially having higher Player Starts in mind.

But since that would only make things easier, its ok, to use 5.5.3 as speed run version onward.

i also think about nerfing Roguemage movement bonus a bit, but that would depend on how OP the roguemage really is.

i will make a new Thread for speedruns.

So, there may be a quick update on having early Reaper Ghosts replaced, but other than that i may Focus now on finishing the "new" Map and/or revisiting Wizard of War II to make its end Game a lot better.

[Mabuse]

The next update will only contain smaller fixes like

- some underused items (ankh of life, scroll terrain of terrain defense) will be significantly cheaper (40 gold)
in order to add options to the table

- "alchemy" will be avilable for non magic-classes (ok, that is not so minor change)



and maybe some wiz II upgrade, but actually im preparing a batch o new enemies or a new map and to upgrade existing ones

[Mabuse]

actually im working for ressources of the new map, and i plan to finish it in a few days, tbh.

there will be a small balance update that comes along with it, as mentioned above:
- some underused items (ankh of life, scroll terrain of terrain defense) will be significantly cheaper (40 gold)
in order to add options to the table
- "alchemy" will be avilable for non magic-classes (ok, that is not so minor change)
- teleport spell cost reduced to 40 gold


after that map, the focus will be on a revive of the "Forbidden Mountains" Map, which was a map played on 1.12 or 1.14 server
and it was really really big, even compared to TOB or WOWII and in the old days it had to be excluded from the pack since the "damage calculation - time" went crazy to the point that it was unplayabale and freezed the whole game, since the stat-numbers went to high during play.

right now the map is of course hopelessly outdated and extremely lame, but it will get a serious overhaul and fully reworked gameplay

[Mabuse]

So there is the last update before the new map (..), i had to upload it, since the imbalances stand out to clearly (for me at least)
end game of warrior for example, not having cheap potion or anything else to rely on (e.g. mercs) seemed a bit bland and unnessessarily restricted

there were some unused items, which were brought to life, and they may allow more variation in starter traits, e.g. for "not-so-mobile"-heroes it may be viable to renounce on cave-explorer and instead just go for addition terrain training, or go with cave-explorer and become more mobile.

alchemy now available,so if ability points are stil there it may be an option in end gae to go for potion for all classes

best upgrade was done for mercs and demons, they ALL get

- regeneration+100
- skirmisher right
- also mercs can now be healed and restock their moves in shop for some small bucks
- finally they can be upgraded in shop

and upgrade means simply they can get stronger over the course of the game like the regular creeps also do

so now it makes sense to keep your demons and mercs, the regen+100 make them more useful and combat-ready in time
you can additionally heal them in shop and most important keep them strong once additional upgrades are available.
(usually every 10 turns)


----------------------
CHANGELOG :5.5.5
ESSENTIAL GAMEPLAY UPGRADE
----------------------


5.5.5:
--------------

Items:
- terrain defense scroll in itemshop cost reduced to 40 gold (former 120)
- ankh of life in itemshop cost reduced to 40 gold (former 150)
- ankh of life in itemshop will increase regeneration rate by 25%
(boost underused items)

Abilities:
- alchemy-ability available for all classes
- regeneration ability now supports up to 750HP per Round as maximum (former 250)
(balance for non magic class and high HP strategies)

Merc Update:
- mercs and demons can be upgraded (level upgrade) and healed in shop
- mercs and demons have a basic regeneration-rate of 100HP/Round
- all mercs and demons recieve SKIRMISHER ability
(to support merc/demon strategies)

Balance:
- Adjusted some enemy Stats, so this update is not compatible former Versions.