Tactical battle - Spell casting !

from Elemental Forums

i like the direction that spells are taking - (using up all action points)

though i have a idea that will really make the system awesome!


I would suggest letting spells cost a certain amount of action points - even to the point of costing more than a regular hero can ever attain to fire off in one round - depending on the (difficulty) of the spell.

Like a massive aoe spell that will hit every enemy (cost 7 action points) - the caster begins to cast first round - spending all 3 action points - the enemy approaches - he spendts another 3 action points - the enemy moves in and attacks him - he manages to survive the attacks - he spendts the last action point casting the spell - and vaporizes the foolish mortals with his massive spell - and then he has 2 spare action points which he uses to cast a heal on himself (2 action points cost) and walk off happy.

or if he had a single target to fire on he could start off with a quick slow spell (2 action points) and then begin casting his firebolt (2 action points) and then just keep hammering off fire bolts - shooting ever 2 action points at the target.


This will suddenly make the spell system interesting! - if two mages face off against each other - they suddenly start casting spells - but who will be first ?! - what is the other guy casting! oh the suspense! -

special spells could be added to this

- shield : Absorbs ONE spell at the caster (quick preemptive absorb - giving the caster safety to cast a spell that otherwise might be stopped
- Detect magic : what oh what is the other caster doing ?
- air wave - 2 fields out around the mage everything gets very minor damage and gets knocked back
- earth wall - the cater raises up a wall of earth making it harder to get to him -giving him extra time to cast spells.
- heighten spell casting - this battle only - one freebie caster action point per spell. (min one)


New skills can be added to this!

- Faster spell casting
- Hardened spell caster : when caster is hurt while casting a spell he has a higher chance at continuing to cast the spell
- Magic sight : can see what spells are being casted

Owning shards can lower some spells action point cost -

- like a major spell that cause damage but takes a whopping 12 action points to cast (or some other number) - the caster has ownership of corresponding shards and the spell now only takes 9 action points!.

Owning shards increases the chance of not being disrupted by damage!



Thoughts ? ideas ? suggestions ?

15,126 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

adding to this !

Ritual spells! - very high requirements in action points - but! more than one caster can assist on it!

say a massive death bolt super ultra magic ray that even titans go "dang" over - unfortunately it requires 20 actions points to cast - so either the caster will be one touch hombre with good defences or he has two friends he has empowered to channel magic like himself - he casts the spell - and the others can then cast onto the first caster taking action points off.

suddenly the suspense of seeing 3 casters powering up a spell - and you try your best to kill them off - slow them down! do what it  takes before that massive death bolt super ultra magic ray is fired off O.o

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

:digichet:   very cool idea. 

no reason in my mind that this same mechanic couldn't be applied to physical "special abilities" as well

- a power-up attack that does double damage (useful against high defense)

- a "quick strike"/"intense focus"/"stone skin" mechanism where you meditate for a turn which ups your speed/accuracy/resitance the next.

- a "wall" mechanism where units take damage in the next turn as they move past your unit

and non-magic units could combine their efforts as well:

- a "protect" command, where a unit gives up its turn but it partially absorbs and counterattacks any attacks against the unit its protecting

- a "flank" command, where two units attack as one, with the flanking units attacks facing a reduced defense

- a "back-to-back" command, where if a unit is out of counter-attacks it's partner counterattacks for it (as long as the partner has counterattacks)

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Yes indeed!

 

Combat-Wide spells would be a fantastic combat mechanism as well. Big casting cost, mid to high level in the research, big battlefield impact;

Magical Flux - All spells cast for the remainder of the battle have a 30% chance of failing instantly.

Control Winds - -X Accuracy on ranged attacks

Tempest - Heavy rains change the battlefield to mud. All tiles use 2 movement for the remainder of battle

Fog - +10% to dodge melee attacks.

Daybreak - Friendly units heal 1 hp per turn

Hideous Wail - 5% chance each turn for each enemy unit to lose its action.

 

Magic isn't supposed to be fair. It's supposed to be powerful.

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Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

indeed-  this could work for other things - melee combat - like a warrior with a special ability "whirl wind attack" attacks everyone around him would cost 5 action points he needs to orient him self and position properly first.

or making basic attacks cost 2 action points - heavy attacks 4 (less accurate more damage) - flurry attacks (wild fast attacks that cause little damage but good against weak wounded targets.

and - Block - set off action points to increase dogde block

suddenly there is a big system than just walking up and going - i attack..counter...i attack counter...i attack(sigh) counter...aaaannd i attack (counter)

spells like haste can now make a warrior a deadly instrument run up to a foe - he then uses 2 action points to boost his blocking (knowing he is surrounded by many foes) he uses 4 action points for a heavy attack (spending 2 of them this round and finishing apon the start of the next round - whilst he is doing this the enemy tries to stop him from completing his attack but unfortunately he was clever and set of block and he is hard to hit.


my mouth is drooling in wild anticipation and hope for something like this O.o

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Cool idea. There was a Magic: the Gathering PC game that I think MicroProse put out in the mid to late nineties. It had an overland strategic element to it - I was hooked at the time. If Stardock can attempt to mirror the depth of a Magic the Gathering duel it would be outstanding. I was always fascinated how deep Magic duels could go with mana build-up, counters, summons, counter-spells, counter-counter spells, heals, buffs, nerfs, offensive damage, etc (by no means was I a hardcore player). I always though it would be cool to visually witness a duel... kind of like Lord of the Rings series brought to the big screen. I'll be one happy camper if EWOM tactical magic combat ends up feeling like a visual Magic: the Gathering duel. I think it would be simply amazing to play and witness in addition to the strategic element.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Anyone else think that its very very very dull to - Attack / counter - Attack / counter - always ?

wouldent it be nice if you actually only countered if you had spare action points left over ?

and add a supstatial bonus to dogde IF you chose to save points to dogde! - suddenly there is tactic involved in not using all your action points if you think you will be better off going defensive - instead of just "oh well i might as well attack hope i cause more damage"

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Brilliant ideas... I hope the devs are reading! 

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Are you guys playing the beta? A lot of these suggestions are already in, or there's something similar.

I don't know about multi-turn spells, I don't think it would really work well. It's easy to get 6+ AP, and if it doesn't take at least 4 turns to cast then it would be somewhat meaningless since that's how long it takes standard units to reach and attack your casters. Meaning without +speed items it would take like 8 turns to cast which is ridiculous, and speed would suddenly become the only stat that mattered. I wouldn't mind some spells only taking a couple AP to cast though, while the rest continue to simply drain the remaining AP.

Quoting Redwind85, reply 6
wouldent it be nice if you actually only countered if you had spare action points left over ?

That's how it works, except you get a full AP bar each turn (including enemy turns). Once your AP runs out you can't counter.

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

i know that you counter and you only counter so many times - but the way battle is now its


attack - counter
attack - counter
attack - counter
etc

I would rather


Attack (the other guy saved action points from his last round hence he can now counter (+ defensive bonus because he is doing this)
attack (he no longer has enough to counter - out of balance due to him attacking alot)
save a point for counter (because there are many foes around him - but he hopes his defences holds out)
save a point for counter (security)


Or a heavy armored heavy hitter unit - fighting alot of badly equipped units - instead just chooses to attack all he can and not get any counter options - instead trying to take out as many as he can - hoping his armor will soak it all up - meanwhile the low equiped units try their best to have units in close with counter action points to spare - the others staying 1 field out of range and move in and attack - trying to make the heavy hitter spendt to many actions getting to them

i miht now be making sense much and it might jsut be to complicated - but i really think that the - attack the unit till he is out of counter and then everyone swarm him just gets a bit old - this system would add alot of different situations and tactics