SXRPG Version 6.0.5 -- 1.16 Server

[Mabuse]

5.5.5a:
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- in upgrade menu and inventory the number of turns is now displayed when the next companion upgrade will be available
for better overview.
- small bug fix (ability scroll item was not displayed)

[Mabuse]

small (?) balance upcoming:

in order to credit hero units strengh and weaknesses better than before,
instead of a flat value that is added to starting HP, there will be a multiplier based on the average of all starting heros in SXRPG ERA
(e.g. +50%) - so ghost had on old system 71 start HP - with +50% it would be around 53 HP, which is a whopping -20HP, which is 115 gold in shop. have it or not have it. so ghost would be really in disfavor on starting HP and other Heroes may have more even more starting hp.
(in endgame these 100 gold penalty doesnt mean anything, but it will surely affect the gameplay and strengh of the ghost at game start and thus offer more of a challenge than before and even the playing field)

this is to balance units which accumulate a lot of benefits but have low HP as a balancing factor and other more beefy units with less benefits against each other

there will be a simple and neutral multiplier used instead of a flat value. the difference may be just 10 to 20 HP so it of no effekt in late game, but it can still offer some needed penalty for very strong units (ghost - mobile, undead, strong resists) against some other beefy units with no benefits (orcish ruler e.g.) or wose, which has strong resists and free regen but is a bit clumsy and need help with mobility


in any case a neutral, average number will be determined and it will be just used and heros have to compensate for it.

[Mabuse]

The Value was determined:

the average HP of SXRPG era units is 58. With an old Boost of +36HP Flat that made for a 94HP
which results finally in a +62.1% Boost. Which will be applied instead.

as a result, the lowest units (e.g. spectre) will have -16HP less than before, the highest units, (e.g. enforcer) (hp wise) will have +16HP
16 HP are 100 Gold in shop. so some units recieve arithmetically a -100 gold penalty,while other get a +100 Gold bonus

[Mabuse]

so the needed adjustments has been made.
but not so much changed anyways.


----------------------
CHANGELOG :5.5.6
ESSENTIAL GAMEPLAY UPGRADE
----------------------

5.5.6:
--------------

balance:
-----------
- heroes now recieve a percentage boost for HP instead of a flat value, so heroes with higher base HP get more hp, heroes with lower base HP get
less
this is to emphasize differences between units, the new range is -16HP to +16HP in comparison to old version. most heroes will not see a difference,
but some may get a few HP less than before, others a few HP more. (Ghost for example get -15HP at start so it has to invest more gold in HP at start.)

- some units got adjusted
golem+titan: arcane melee instead of cold (makes more sense)
skeleton wizard+dark archon: get arcane+slow instead of arcane+drain (always wanted that change since most minor sorcs have some kind of slowing melee)
dread rider lvl2+3 get baneblade (arcane drain) instead of coldblade (cold+drain) (makes them more versatile)

- minor changes to TOB and WOW II map, some guard-units became more mobile in order to catch less careful players off guard

bug-fix:
---------
- fixed a wrong image at the start of dread island
- fixed a wrong (debug) setting for one of the lower difficulties, which entered "debug" mode


other:
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- darth saul image changed
- no downward compatibility

[Mabuse]

with the version 6.0.0 comes more near, it becomes obvious that something must be done about balance in general for warrior

some weapon specials need to be revised

charge seems cheap in comparison
onrush+slow special seems a bit cheap in comparison

charge would become more expensive like +50 gold

and onrush-slow needs to be adjusted i guess i will ramp up the cost to 600 gold


but maybe i wil just get rid of stunnig shield use for warrior and adjust all other prices and specials accordingly

[Mabuse]

ok, the next balance update will be something radical since i dont like how the game has become too easy.

2 reason:

- weapons in shop which had some powerful and expensive upgrades already implemented (at the cost of soe gold and reduced stats)
but this still enabled the player to benefit from that powerful upgrades and also made other choices redundant

-unbalanced specials


Balance:
------

- in shop there wont be ANY weapons other that magical or marksman upgrade, everything else got wiped from the shop
- just prure and raw weapons, at best soem magical stuff can be found. (whichis good enough for a starter package)

- warrior and roguewarrior have stunning shield use enabled from the start on (no more extra ability, since its silly kinda)
- costs for specials got adjusted
- onrush is now separated from slow

- so in general its more raw and you always have to pay full price for all weapon specials (except magical, which is redundant for ranged, and ok'ish as a base for melee)


this makes more sense,


e.g.
as a starter pack for warrior one could add charge for 150 bucks and slow or 350 bucks, so invest 500 bucks
and you have charge+slow to begin with (but a weapon with higher base stats), former you would have get onrush+slow for 475 bucks, but its way to cheap

now onrush (250 bucks) + slow (350) cost 600. add charge and you pay 750 total.

this alone will make the game rerurn to the old days and be much more fun

[Mabuse]

rebalance finished

this should bring back the challenging gameplay and adding new options
imo some shop weapons got added in the past before this balacing project without much testing or understanding.
some shopweapons had kinda meta status and were overpowered as they offered a shortcut to maximized weapon specials,
which imo made the game a lot easier but also flattened it

along with the flexible HP-boost, there is really much diversity, and no shop-weapons shortcut, so every weapon-special branch has to be upgraded from the ground. still the game should be doable, which will be proved and then back to adding new stuff


----------------------
CHANGELOG :5.6.0
ESSENTIAL GAMEPLAY UPGRADE
----------------------

Balance:
------

Much needed Balance Update to bring back the immersive, challenging and option-rich gameplay.

- itemshop will only feature basic wepons with either no special at all or magical/marksman special
other specials shifted the meta to "must have" instead to "is an option", since they were too powerful

- costs for some weapon-specials got adjusted (e.g. slow for warrior is bit more expensive, charge is more expensive)
- warrior and roguewarrior have no more stunning-shield-ability instead it is enabaled enabled from the start on (slow addable)
(so no need to spend extra gold on this one, but due to this slow got more expensive, but most strategies other than old meta are cheaper now)
- onrush is now separated from slow, so its an independent upgrade (except for cleric)
- cleric has still access to onrush slow (as it cannot add slow), but its cost was raised from 475 to 600

- some units changed got added (changes for wizard of war, isle of dread)
- no downward compatibility

[Mabuse]

actually the focus of balance shifted toward 5 player-game which is insnely much fun, but also a lot more complex than solo play
so testing take some while, figuring the whole thing out again ( )

initially i thought my changes made team-play too hard but i actually found out that this isnt the case, getting used to it.
it is way more unforgiving on higher difficulties as you have much less money though.
however, there are some bugs an minor balance tweaks that enrich group play and fix some things



next version this fixes come:

gameplay:
----------
- ankh of life will now also boost basic regenablity (regen15) by 25% (to regen19)
(so you can give hero a small regen boost to its initial +15 regen ability by spending 40 Gold (beside its revive))


bugfix:
----------
- revive from ankh of life didnt work on death mode (fixed)
(nobody ever noticed ...)
note:
ankh of life revive function was always meant to work in ANY mode
(beside the bug fix, this opens up puhsing strategies, so you might be a bit more daring at start if you equip ankh of life, and might even use its revive funtion as a fast shop travel. but as usual theres only one revive per game so it might be questionable to waste it unnessesariy since you can always have some bad luck and getting a ton of bosses spawned in your face and then having a revive wont harm anyone)

- a green shard (boss item) could not be picked up (fixed)

- companion upgrade time display did not take exponential-progression into account (fixed)
(new levels are in high turn number games faster available then shown in menu)

[Mabuse]

rather small update, but fixes things at the important points
also the small ankh boost to basic regen may make life easier at start and encourage early ankh
(buy +6 HP fpr 40 gold, or regen+4 per round for 40 ... seems almost a nobrainer fpr ankh )
(unless you buy regen+x st artart but i cant imagine doing that, besides ankh still gives regen+x also a bonus and a revive)

last minute i also aded a menu which allows examine inventory of other players, since this is always so important for team coordination


----------------------
CHANGELOG :5.6.1
ESSENTIAL GAMEPLAY UPGRADE
----------------------

gameplay:
----------
- ankh of life will now also boost basic regenablity (regen15) by 25% (regen19)

- you can now examine via right click into inventory of allied players/heroes
(for better management to see how to support players with potions or other stuff)


bugfix:
----------
- revive from ankh of life didnt work on death mode (fixed)
(nobody ever noticed ...)

- a green shard (boss item) could not be picked up (fixed)

- companion upgrade time display did not take exponential-progression into account (fixed)
(new levels were in high turn number games earier available then shown in menu)

[Mabuse]

next thing to add some fun to mage/ranged class is to revisit the magic circle special, it may be combied with some kind of drain which replenishes mana/stamina, but it has to be done carefully, maybe each (successful?) strike gives you +1 mana

and perhaps some equivalent for the cleric, but im not sure 100%

[Mabuse]

so while working on the next map, i frequently relax and balance check old maps and there is always soemthing to be done to make game expierience better ofc.

so next changes will include:
----------------------------------

- slight change for isle of dread map to improve flow/gameplay a bit (just some cave critters/plants on west side of map got reduced in strengh) so player wont be punished for exploring and instead get a fair fight and earn some money/items. they were just too strong and it didnt made much sense for them to be that strong beside punishing plyaers for exploring which didnt make sense and disturb gameplay
(fixed)

- bosses strengh increase delayed by 5 turns
(actual setting a little tad too harsh)

- some item-weapons (boss drops) got improved stats, because it didnt matter
(e.g. improved net/shield get another strike)

- attack spell (+1 attack) wil be sepearated form the ranged ball spells, instead it will be a spell on its own
with variable mana-cost that depends on highest base weapon damage, there is certain formula (also affected by items/effects that improve
spell efficiency) but for example you would have to pay more mana for a 60-15 attack than for a 20-4 attack.
so the spell cost will most likely increase over time, since your weapon damage+strikes will be upgraded, but thats ofc compensated by the fact that your mana/manpool also increases while getting stronger.
the spell will no longer refill 2nd strike ability, and will be in comparison to the potencial damage that can be dealt a bit cheaper than energy-ball attacks but for the disadvantage that it cost ofc also health to attack someone physically, so its another kind transforming mana into damage for clercis, mages
weapon specials will not increase spell cost, so get your specials ready for best efficiency
e.g. a 19-4 attack would be like 29/30 mana in (base)cost (a 60-15 attack something like 338 mana), but if you put CHARGE or ONRUSH special on it, its potencial damage would be doubled, but since base-damage wont increase the spell cost would not rise. all effects that improve spell performance will basically reduce the cost of this spell.
(fixed)

- magic circle will refill mana +1 on successful hit (planned)

- for convenience and to prevent misclicks i may show only weapon specials to certain weapons that wont affect existing specials or duplicate existing specials. so there will be somekind of "upgrade tree" the upgrade process will follow, and the following possibilities will be also displayed
but thats some more elaborated task that may consume some time, but has to be done sooner or later. (planned)

- improve flow/gameplay on other existing maps (planned)

[Mabuse]

- for convenience and to prevent misclicks i may show only weapon specials to certain weapons that wont affect existing specials or duplicate existing specials. so there will be somekind of "upgrade tree" the upgrade process will follow, and the following possibilities will be also displayed
but thats some more elaborated task that may consume some time, but has to be done sooner or later. (planned)

while im working on this it becomes more obvious that this will offer a complete new approach to upgrading weapons, since alle the former restrictions are gone now.

now i check for existing specials (up to a certain point possible), not taking other eras into account, and this offers a whole new batch of possibilities, which for example both warrior and cleric (atm working on melee) benefit from.

you can even now freely choose which upgrade you take as first etc.
(there may be exceptions e.g. berserk)

powerful new combinations will be possible that offer new an interesting option and can be very well form a new meta.
e.g. magical, slow, rage, critical hit possbile for both warriors and clerics.
(slightly less damage dealt than onrush+charge+magical+slow combo, but has a better hit/dealt ratio for the same price)

[Mabuse]

conclusion
------------

- undead heros can be drained (balance reasons, two choices; make undead trait avaialable to all others, or simply nerf undead trait, latter was chosen, think its best, undead will only protect against poison, which is good enough)
also drain attacks the source of power every non-living unit is powered by. be it magic, or electricity, doesent matter.
drain will give the caster strengh/health from the enemies power source

- weapon special now partially more customizeable and non valid options are no longer shown, also no longer possble to buy same upgrade twice
(long needed)

- boss strengh increase a bit slower (mainly to prevent in early game that players get overwhelmed by too strong bosses)
(up to turn 20/30 it was to harsh, since ai basically spawned at turn 31/21/11 bosses that should only be in game at turn 40/30/20
now its turn ....35/25/15)

- random boss spawn increase if only 2 or even 1 enemy leader left (= more bosses in end game)
make end game more interesting

- +1 attack spell separated, 65mana base cost, cost will increase with raw damage increase (but will stay for a while at 65 mana)
new spell, yay.

- blue pots no longer refill 2nd strike ability (rogue nerf)
blue pot is blue pot, is +1 attack not +2 attack.

- magic circle special will refill +1mana on each successful strike
yay. if its any good and or may be even better i may even try weapon specials that add to this ability




----------------------
CHANGELOG :5.7.0
ESSENTIAL GAMEPLAY UPGRADE
----------------------

5.7.0
------

gameplay:
----------

- small changes to isle of dread map to make it a bit more friendly and exploreable

- small changes to castle of cantar

- random bosses and roaming event-based bosses are now slightly weaker (5 turns delay strengh upgrade)
(this is to prevent massive bosses pop up too early)

- overworked weapon-special upgrade system. player wont be able to buy specials of the same type again
and only working combinations are displayed, or in other words not working combinations will not be displayed
(e.g. if you put rage on a weapon then both rage and berserk specials cannot be put onto that weapon anymore.
and ofc other, non compatible upgrades)
there are exceptions though, since its possible e.g. to upgrade CTH (chance-to-hit)
specials you can simply upgrade the better ones over the weaker specials, and the weaker ones will be deleted.
usually only upgrading for the better is allowed and combinations with weaker special replaces stronger special
are not possible.

- as a follow up some old restrictions break away
- cleric will once again be able able to combine rage+slow(+magical]
- ranger gets "blessing" as special. wont work with "hail of arrows though
- more combinatiosn for brawlers and hunter (ranged units that have melee trait / melee units that have ranged trait)
since slow can be added now easier, and thus you may upgrade strong melee/ranged weapons
- warrior can add berserk to any slow-weapon that is handy at start (e.g. default or shield in shop)
(while this may seems OP, SHOP-SHIELD has impact damage so its use is limited at start, but could be a powerful
starting combination). however, freedom above balance-restriction at this point.


- blue pots wont refill 2nd strike ability of roguewarriors/roguemages anymore
(nerf)

- extra attack spell is now separated and has mana cost depending on player strengh
(ye stronger ye more cost, but (most likely) stronger heroes have also higher mana pool)
so this is another kind of attack spell, which simply replenish
the casters ability to attack, advanatge is that its cheaper.
Disadvanatge is that attacks cost health.
Basically some kind of blue potion spell without extra moves and extra HP.
Will not refill 2nd strike ability anymore.
the spell has a basic reqirement of 65 mana, so it wont be in the cheap category though

- magic circle special now fills up +1 mana on successful hit.

- undead trait will get "undrainable" removed and will only feature "unpoisonable"
so undead units will lose the advanatge of being immune to drain
(it would be no problem in general to have units be immune against drain,
since designwise you could always fall back to "slow" as defensive trait, but since drain is a bit weaker defensive trait
(depending on resistances and defensive capabilities of the hero ofc) its still nice to have in arsenal as a designer.
however, since it is an advantage to be immune against drain, especially in boss fights, it is kinda mandatory/meta to be undead
which leads to balancing problems about how to ensure that every player gets the opportunity at the end of the day to become undead.
and then we could ask the question why not simply remove drain completely or remove immunity against drain completely.
and since the latter offers more options to the game and reduces OP-ness of some heroes the decision to remove imunity against drain was made.
being immune to poison helps much more against creeps that interrupt your regen-ability, and wont mess up boss fights, so it stil an advanatge
but no game breaking thing that has to be taken care of.

- more random bosses if only 2 or 1 enemy leader left

[Mabuse]

while im pretty happy about how things develop so far, i still found some bugs

- some wrong GFX (def animations, attack gfx)
- some missing descriptions
- also "ankh of life" boss-drop item (not the one in shop) wont add one life, instead it activates revive mode, which is not intended ofc.

so this needs to be fixed.

also, i guess the dragons in "wiz of war II" are pretty redundant. especially the silver dragon should be way more aggressive and/or mobile
because its kinda the "pet" of darth saul and the only thing that could potencially stop a unit that is prepared to take him and his guardians out.

so this unit will be set up differently in order to give a nice "pre boss battle".

i just dont know wether i will do it by changing its movement_cost or by map design and wether it will be guardian or globally aggressive
(changing its movement type will again produce an essential update which i want to avoid though)

also something about the "end" of a scenario needs to be done.

also magic circle may be set to refill +2 mana per successful strike, more mana = better

[Mabuse]

one obvious problem so far is the incompatibility with unknown eras or unsupported eras (using unknown weapon specials), regarding the new upgrade system.

it wont work (right) once unkown specials come into the equation, you can simply add what you want and also the same spcials over and over.

so this got fixed, since basically there is only one special of a certian type allowed, one damage-modifying special, one attacks modifyinf special, one hance-to-hit modifying special etc.

some specials (like rage) dont allow for additonal damage-modyfying special

so this is fixed now, and more restrictive if unknown specials come into he equation.
chance-to-hit upwards upgrading will only work for known specials though, an unknow cth-special will block other cth-upgrades



also i will improve ability and weapon-special conversion to make it more compatible even with unknown specials, e.g. ALL regen abilities will be converted to mega-regen at start of play.

all unknown abilities/weapon specials may be converted to something else at game start