Chromatic Wars Era

Elia41 · Post by **Elia41** » April 19th, 2024, 12:42 pm

I've been playing Wesnoth for some time and the game is great, but the people adding to it are just as great, and it helps that the developing tools are relatively easy to work with. So, having a creative streak, I decided to give it a try. (Reason 5: try my own skills. But also a bit of Reason 1: it would be cool. Sorry, that bit is an itch I need to scratch).

I know the factions need work in most regards. At the very least, the background is fleshed out. But that's why I'm posting it: for constructive feedback that will let me improve them. So far, only the Spellblade line is done (my very first) and I want to make sure I did it right before going further. It will serve as my reference for the others.

So, without further ado...

Carmine Confederacy: neutral, all units have some magic attacks
- Spellblade – Battlemage – Arcane Knight (footman) fire-ice-lightning blade, human
- Spellbow – Arcmage – Arcane Archer (archer) knife + fire-ice-lightning shot, elf
- Pathfinder – Greenseer – Geomancer (scout) staff + plant magic, elf
- Rune Squire – Rune Knight – Rune Champion (mounted) sword + runic effects, human
- Animist – Spiritist – Ritualist (healer) staff + spirit magic, elf
> Summoner - Channeler (mage) no melee but big kaboom spells, elf
- Arcanist – Scholar – Sage (gimmick) book + support, human

This is the "Team America" of the Era. Made of people who hightailed it from the war between Albia and Neros, it just wants to study magic in peace, hence why every unit can use magic to a different extent. Sadly, the Republic of Cerulea came and said "Technology is better!" The Confederacy took it... poorly. The two factions haven't gone to war because they don't really like it, but... they don't get along.

Kingdom of Albia: loyal, knights & holy warriors
- Edge Dancer – Blade Caller – Sword Saint (footman) dual-wielding sword flurry, swarm
- Songstress – Troubadour – Spellsinger (archer) bow + music
- Seeker – Inquisitor - Magebane (mounted) spear + light sword, charge
> Questor - Lightbringer (scout), light sword + torch, aura of light
- White Initiate – Shining Acolyte – Radiant Adept (healer) hand + healing magic
- Devout – Cleric – Bishop (mage) mace + holy hand grenade
- Pilgrim – Crusader – Templar – Grandmaster (gimmick) mounted + leadership

Your archetypical "knights in shining armor and zealous preachers". At first looks holy and good, but light can burn as much as it can cleanse... They are at war with the Neros Empire and have been so for a long time. Perhaps too long. Over time, their methods are becoming as brutal as the people they are fighting against, like black and white slowly diluting into grey. People who got tired of the war fled to the Carmine Confederacy or the Republic of Cerulea as a result.

Neros Empire: chaotic, heavy hitters
- Recruit – Gladiator – Champion (footman) sword & spear
- Gunslinger – Fusilier – Cannoneer (archer) big guns
> Sniper (archer), long guns, marksman
- Marauder – Commando – Reaver (scout) bow + knife, backstab
> Saboteur (scout) bow + knife, poison
- Mercenary – Lancer – Skirmisher (mounted) bow + spear, skirmish
- Black Initiate – Shadow Acolyte – Dark Adept (mage) staff + dark magic
- Slayer – Reaper – Harvester (gimmick) scythe, life drain

Your stereotypical Evil Empire (tm), hellbent on conquering the lands of the free because that's what Evil Empires do! ...Except their homeland is extremely hard to live and, if they could find a nicer place to settle, they wouldn't mind leaving. The fierce resistance of the Kingdom of Albia doesn't help. Those two have been at loggerheads since they met because they are polar opposites, which is a long time. Whose who refused to fight fled to the Republic or the Confederacy and are wondering why their leaders don't simply ask.

Republic of Cerulea: neutral, technology over magic
- Pugilist – Martialist – Specialist (footman) good old fisticuffs, swarm
- Mechanist – Engineer – Synergist (archer) wrench + gun
> Scrapper - Tinkerers (gimmick) hammer + gun, good at close and long range
- Stargazer – Astrologer – Stellar Diviner (scout) pen + stars
- Monster Hunter – Witch Hunter – Fiend Hunter (mounted) sword + gun, average mobility > high elemental resistance
- Herbalist – Alchemist – Scientist (healer) vials + potions, poison
- Defender – Sentinel – Warden (gimmick) high defense + hammer, regen

The "Team Switzerland" to the Confederacy's "Team America". Staunchly neutral and prefers to tinker with technology. Doesn't get along with the Confederacy because of their stances on Magic vs. Technology, but neither side enjoys fighting - though they can - so they mostly stay on the sides and watch the chaos unfold. But, if either the Kingdom or the Empire starts something, they are going to finish it. They have been watching. They have been studying. And, being made of refugees, they aren't stupid.

Now, for the unit line I finished. Feedback is more important for this than anything else. I need to get it right. That's why I made it simple. Start small. Baby steps.

Spoiler:

I hope you can read the unit file. Otherwise, I'll just copy-paste it and in-spoiler it. And why can I only attack six files !? The Arcane Knight is missing.

IPS · Post by **IPS** » April 19th, 2024, 6:35 pm

The concepts are really cool, as soon you get more news I would trully want to see more about the era

Atreides · Post by **Atreides** » April 20th, 2024, 4:10 pm

I love eras. Looking forward to a new one.

Had a look at the carmine cfg and I would like to mention something that could be improved. A pet peeve of mine is units that lack attack animations. No, I don't mean a bunch of nice sprites although that's ideal, I mean just adding in a basic tag that'll add at least some attack sound. One frame (base) is sufficient.

It's much easier to add them while making the unit than later on. Trust me. ;- )

Elia41 · Post by **Elia41** » April 21st, 2024, 12:32 pm

Thanks for the tips § I hope I didn't screw it up... Also, here is the Arcane Knight.

Spellblade

Spoiler:

Battlemage

Spoiler:

And all three files of the Arcane Knight

Spoiler:

: arcane knight.png (2.46 KiB) Viewed 285 times

: arcane-knight.png (202.61 KiB) Viewed 285 times

And here we are. Note to self: post units one after the other instead of the whole line in the same post...

IPS · Post by **IPS** » April 25th, 2024, 2:22 pm

I've seen the stats, my toughts.

Lv1 is both underpowered and overpriced, meaning that even recruiting 2 or 3 could cost you the whole game because of their terrible value in stats. 24 HP and only 5-3 fire melee is more close of a lv0 in terms of stats than of a lv1. The unit even with magical on melee on their lv1 would still be a BAD unit. The unit needs stats increases to something similar like this:

Spellblade
HP: 32 (+6) or 30 (+6)
6-3 fire melee (+1) or 5-4 fire melee (+1 strikes instead of dmg)
MP: 6
XP: 35 (-3)
Price: 15g (-1g)

Even with my mentioned stats it's still underpowered but it could become into something viable that is quick to level up for extra features.
It's still low in stat value.

You could also add some extra magic ressistance (fire/cold/arcane) res to make the unit kinda more special rather than a just mediocre fire melee unit (if talking in terms of stats). In case of picking an alternative to stats, would recommend going both A or B options at same time.

Unit with my propossed stats to be fair should be costing 13g approximately... fire melee is not worth this much that massive loss of HP's. As it would lose againist spearmen/elf fighter in a same cost fight... bujt they would do kinda decent againist skeletons or woses.

Lv2 looks more viable, still terrible stat value (it becomes really fast, but it dies quick). For that one I have some few to keep its price of 30g.

Battlemage
XP: 70 (-6) as it's low in HP, it would suffer with high XP values, and also being melee unit.
Fire melee 8-4 (+1)
Cold melee 5-3 (+1)
Add (fire/cold/arcane) resistances to make unit more interesting.

Note that the unit with the very low HP's is bad at taking damage, which is forced to attack first even againist lv1 threats. This becomes this unit into a role of "duelist / damage dealer" but it cannot soap damage in front line because of its very low lv2 HP (it barely has 2 more HP than a red mage...) but would recommend placing something more tanky to take damages or only risk in taking damages if this unit is on 60% terrain defense.

Having slow features pumps this unit so much in comparation of lv1 , but with my increased value in damages and XP reduction, the unit is slightly overpriced, but hey, it's still slower so it could be worth spending this much in that lv2.

Lv3 values are fair for a duelist/dealer that needs to hit first, still its damages are fairly good. 61 HP and 7 movement is a good value for HP/Movement ratio and HP is also not this low in comparation of lv1 or lv2 for their corresponding levels. Keep in mind that 8-3 is sub lv2 value on the arcane attack, so I would recommend increasing its strikes mount to 8-4 , so 8-4 arcane magical melee is still a weak attack for a lv3, but I would not complain about bonuses on the unit.
- Just to keep the unit's consistency, add some (fire/cold/arcane) ressists to make this unit bit more interesting.

Elia41 · Post by **Elia41** » April 25th, 2024, 5:33 pm

Thanks for the reply. Balancing units is always the hardest part of the game. This said...

Magic means the unit will always be a little squishier than average. Lore-wise, when you train your mind you don't train your body and vice-versa. So, magic attacks but lower HP than the norm. On the other hand, resistance is a good idea and fits: learning to use magic, they also learn to shield themselves. The stat upgrades in tiers of 20%. I hope the balance still fits.

Upped the number of strikes rather than the magic power. Spellbows will be the ones who get an increase of attack strength, because Spellblades refine their swordplay while Spellbows learn to channel more magic in their arrows.

As the advice in "making units" went, Slow is a powerful effect, so of course, it would be balanced by either low hits or low power. Otherwise, it's OP. For the arcane attack, the issue is that it's magical. So, the Arcane Knight doesn't attack often, but he hits Hard, and rarely misses. Balancing.

Spellbow coming soon.

IPS · Post by **IPS** » April 25th, 2024, 8:06 pm

So, from what I did understand lv1 will become to 5-4 fire mele and magical bonus? with a cost of 15g and 35-36 XP? technically with the addition of magical bonus and the low HP , it means the unit might deals high damage for its costs but because of the very low HP not being cost efficient. Still, the extra magic ressistance bonus makes their high terrain defenses more valuable while the low HP punishing it from being in flat or lower terrain defenses, which sounds fair.

And this means lv2 and lv3 would have magical on their 7-4 (or 8-4) for lv2 and 10-5 fire melee on their lv3? I'm not completely sure about the other level ups, but if the fire melee on lv2 is magical and with a value of 7-4 it might still be fair with a value of 70 XP for lv3 (in case of lv2 being 8-4, then no XP buff with his base value might be fine), while lv3 would be trully scary and strong fire melee fighter, still having the HP of an archer in its lv3 places it still in a good spot as lv3.

Still, for Carmine Confederacy most tanky unit would be their scouts right? all factions need at least one decent HP fighter or unit to soap some damage. No faction can work well with only glass cannons.

Elia41 · Post by **Elia41** » April 25th, 2024, 8:32 pm

I already corrected the stats in the files I posted in "spoilers", which I also adjusted in their in-game files.

The tankiest Confederacy unit will be the Rune unit line, much like the Quenoth tauroch riders. They are mounted, yes, but they also have high resistance and hampering effects thanks to their runes.

On a similar note, here is the Spellbow:

Spoiler:

: spellbow.png (2.44 KiB) Viewed 148 times

: spellbow-bow.png (2.42 KiB) Viewed 148 times

: spellbow-sword.png (2.37 KiB) Viewed 148 times

: spellbow.png (178.4 KiB) Viewed 148 times

IPS · Post by **IPS** » April 25th, 2024, 9:18 pm

Ok, already got a view on all level spellswords, they look fine now.

Lv2 has greatest value in damage purpose while also, is most efficient level to use as slower as well. 7-5 is considered lil above lv2 average damage melee but having barely 2 more HP than red mage places it in a decent spot. Considering its massive movement of 7 and high dmg and also magic ressistance, its price could go up to 32g (+2g) and because of also having 4 strikes on a slow attack.

Lv3 is more balanced in all stats ratio (HP / movement / Damage) in comparation of lv2, even if lv3 has dmg lil above lv3 fighter but again, lower HP than average melee fighter.

Lv3 also has extremely nice magic res... literally taking 1/3 less damage from mages (ignoring that very often rounding will go down) than their lv2 (probably too strong magic ressistance). Maybe 50% on all magic might still help. Try values lower on lv2/lv3 archer (maybe lv2 20% and lv3 30%)

About archer... 22 hp is under the value of a defautl's mage (24 hp) which is schoolar armed with a staff, also Dark Adept from default is a mage with no melee retaliation and his HP is still 28 . Other comparation is Elvish Archer from default having a HP value of 28. So I think the HP on the lv1 archer could go to 26 (+4) which I think suits the unit the best.

Also I would recommend that this unit as an elf (and for their advancement), get some elf terrain advantages (like elvish fighter NOT like elvish shaman or elvish archer) which would add them 60% defense in forests and 1 Movement cost in forest tiles ... appart of other minor terrain improvements. This would make archers slightly more quick than Spellblade just because of movement costs. As an archer, extra mobility might help and it would have less HP than spellblade which is fine as an archer.

Not sure, but even with my buffs units in stats is worth like 16g mostly because of their very low HPs , additionally the unit offers an issue which is having the same damage type (fire) than spellblade, but in a ranged attack instead, but we know that ranged units must be less cost efficient if same damages/HP than melee as it's a common criteria in this game.

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