[1.08] Battles & Gameplay: A step in the right direction (Images)

from Elemental Forums

The changes to the Combat System and weapon balance are certainly heading in the right direction with 1.08. :)

I like that melee battles are now more of a slug-fest between the combatants rather than the old insta-kill. While the balance is light years ahead of the older versions, there are still s few problem areas:

1. Magic is way over-powered in combat. Halve the damage of many of the spells would feel about right.

2. Some of the summoned units are also too powerful (Ice Lords). Also need the min/max treatment.

3. Many summoned creatures can't use their mana. Fire Giants and Earth Giants have their own specific spells and this model works. The Ice Lord below has a lot of mana but can't use it.

4. Shard bonuses seem a little inconsistent. Sometimes it doubles the damage of spells (various fire spells) and other times it adds 1 point of damage (Titan breath I think). I like that shards give a big bonus because it makes them important and strategic.

5. Regarding the UI - I want to know WHY I'm hitting and missing. And I want to know before hand what the odds of me getting a hit in are - and also what the damage is likely to be - including the retaliation hit/miss/damage odds.

Here is a suggested approach:

When mousing over the target a summary appears so you can evaluate your odds quickly. This sample also shows the various bonuses (Kingdom, City, Terrain).

6. I had an AI player attack me on her own while she still had a lot of cities. She lost badly and so her whole empire was destroyed. The AI is still attacking piecemeal.

 

This version is much more enjoyable but there is still a fair way to go. Keep fighting the good fight. :)

elemental
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Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top


5. Regarding the UI - I want to know WHY I'm hitting and missing. And I want to know before hand what the odds of me getting a hit in are - and also what the damage is likely to be - including the retaliation hit/miss/damage odds.

Here is a suggested approach:

When mousing over the target a summary appears so you can evaluate your odds quickly. This sample also shows the various bonuses (Kingdom, City, Terrain).

Thinking a little more about having a mouse-over summary like the suggestion above, it would also be good to indicate the number of retaliation strikes a unit has and how many it has used. I didn't bother mocking one of these up at this stage.

Also, if a unit has a special attack that should be shown as well.

And archers would not show the defender 'To hit' or 'Damage' unless they were capable of some sort of retaliation strike.

Area effect magic could just show the info for the unit under the cursor - it would get messy having all the squares active with the status boxes.

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Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Great idea with your 2nd screenshot bud! I would love an addition like that.

1.08 runs awesome imo! Getting better all the time!

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

 You think magic is overpowered ? I think not , an army consisting of archers  and even better catapults can sometimes one shot a sovereign and its very unlikely hes able to cast anything at all. Its getting better , yes but theres still a huge balancing effort to do. The defense stats is oversimplified, units should have specific strenghs and weaknesses.

      I think catapults should not be able to hit a sovereign, they should be able to hit infantry , get a bonus when attacking units garnisoned in cities, but not be able to crush everything at will. Medieval armies were using them for sieges.

Cavalry should be devastating against archers and catapults , high defense versus arrows and projectiles, but weak against infantry equiped with long spears.

 Sovereign and champions should have higher evade skills, and should start to take heavy damage only   by  strong monsters , strong units with good equipments, and off course other sovereigns and champions.Right now they  are decimated by a single volley of arrows or a basic infantry.

    Spells must be more specific and specialized, i still see no reason to use most of them. Now the fact the shards are rare and give big bonus force specialization and thats a good thing. You choose your spells according to range and now according to your best shards, but now we must have spells availabe only if you own a shard as well, much bigger buffs, rituals taking mutiple turns to cast , consuming ressources,and immobilizing the sovereign. Take MOM as example. Right now its worth researching the nukes according the shards you own, a teleport spell, maybe lower moutain .

 Well at least we are getting there i hope, game is much more smooth, stable, and IA more reactive now.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I agree with everything you are saying, Mhormal. The reason I find magic (and as you rightly pointed out - catapaults etc) overpowered is that now compared to normal weaponry they do too much damage.

Also agree that spells meed to be more specific and specialised. and that there should be some sort of paper-rock-scissors mechanic as you suggest with cavalry, archery and spears.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I love your battle expected odds tooltip. Civilization V has implemented something similiar (but not nearly as nice looking as yours:) and it makes a TBS a lot more playable. It is hard to keep track of all of the various abilities and effects that modify the to-hit and damage chances.

 

To be honest, When i played 1.07 (haven't played 1.08 yet), I felt magic was very underpowered. Most of the spells would barely do any damage and I had finite (very finite) supply of ammo (mana) where as archers and catapults can fire all day to full effect. Either mana needs to be regenerated at some rate in combat and/or a higher minimum damage (not maximum, i did have a few hit for 50 damage on AOE spells) so that each usage of mana feels worth it.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

That is a great suggestion

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Nice suggestion ... your lower pic (the one with the Battle Odds calculator) speaks volumes. In both UI and combat mechanics.

 

If the UI was more informative (like your pic), then at least people would know what to expect .... is Hit% and Damage currently separate??

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

great suggestion!!! Should be there for nearly all mechanics like morale etc.

+ Karma

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

i agree, i love the tool tip like approach.  we need this badly.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

I agree with the idea of a mouse over summary of your chances off hitting a unit, that would be a very good feature indeed.