Chronic Logic

The Sycophant is a good way to kill a Hydra. As Kran said, a Dragon should be able to outmaneuver and kill the Sycophant.

I like Shaman the way it is.

I think Kran has a good point about lumping together damage that happens at the same time, such as unit+longbowman and spearman+tower. That makes sense.  I think it is fair for the martyr to kill two spearmen if they both attack it simultaneously. It also seems fair that the heretic only gets to lower life once for two simultaneous attacks. And I also don't mind if healing occurs after the simultaneous attacks. The Feathered Serpent might be slightly overpowering if it makes lots of units return... but who knows, it might be ok. In reality, it wouldn't return more than 1 unit very often.

If that isn't desirable, then it would be best to implement some kind of common-sense "tie-breaker." Perhaps you could break a tie by range. So if a tower hits a unit from range 3 and a spearman hits the unit from range 1, the spearman hits before the tower for tie-breaking purposes. I don't know how to break a tie between two spearmen that attack from identical range though.

For the dracolich, why not make the risen units go to the player who made the kill? So if my ally and I both have a draco, but my unit makes the kill I will get the risen unit.

I also would love tournaments, for a variety of reasons. It definitely would be annoying to loose in a tournament because of a bug though, so I hope a lot of these bugs go away with the new trigger system.

I also think the tactician is fine at 50. No change needed.

The Summoner does seem to be weak, but maybe it's just me.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I am not going to modify my original units since my intent isn't to create a totally balanced unit, but to give the developers some possible inspiration.

That being said, I do think the trebuchet is overpowering to units with only one action. Perhaps a way to make it more fair is to reveal the target you picked to your opponent if you target an occupied square. If you target an empty square, then it remains a secret.

Also, I think paying 200 for something that works as a potential anti-mage/siege/tower is justified since it will do absolutely no good hitting anything else. It can't even defend against someone standing right next to it like that catapult can, which is a big disadvantage.

@Lunaraia: Yes, undead would suit my Skeleton perfectly. But since it is not a valid unit type at this time, I decided to not use it.

Quote
The most explicit example I can think of would be:
>Warrior with 1 life attached to longbowman attacks heretic.
-->Warrior attack triggers longbowman attack.
-->Longbowman attack resolves, damaging heretic.
-->Heretic triggers, reducing life of all opposing organics by 1.
-->Warrior dies.
>Warrior is dead, attack is cancelled, heretic survives with 1 life.

I would prefer it if the warrior attack still went through, even if the warrior died in the middle of it. I have a few reasons:

1. It makes more sense conceptually. How can a longbowman successfully attack when the warrior doesn't even hit?

2. It gives too much precedence to defensive units. Take for instance a new unit.... call it a Thorn Bush. Whenever you attack it from range 1, it deals you damage. Under your system if you don't have enough health to survive the counter-attack you die before dealing damage. I would prefer it that in all cases, you still damage the Thorn Bush, even if you die. That way, there is a difference in the Swordman's parry ability and the Thorn Bush.

Quote from: Jezebeau on June 01, 2009, 01:34:09 AM
For further clarification, each time a new effect is triggered, it is added to the stack immediately after the trigger resolves, effectively at the level of the trigger.  This may prompt further triggers that would add to that stack.

This didn't clarify anything for me. Can you maybe give an example of what you mean?

I think Mongolian means the extra 250 points in Random -- 1250 instead of 1000. 250 extra can give you more allies in your main force that get protected, which makes the Archangel more useful/powerful.

I have a few new unit ideas.

First, to take the place of the old sergeant:

Name: Disciple
Class: Clergy
Cost: 100

Actions: 2
Life: 3
Power: 2
Deploy: 2 or 3

Move to target location. 1 range. Costs 1 action.
Attack enemy unit. Anywhere within 2. Costs 1 action.
Trade places with ally unit. 1 range. Costs 1 action.

The Disciple is meant to help mages across the screen. It is definitely less helpful that the old sergeant but I think it fills a gap and could still be quite useful.





Name: Bog Skeleton
Class: Nature (for lack of a better classification)
Cost: 150

Actions: 3
Life: 4
Power: 4
Armor: 1
Deploy: 3

Move to target location. 1 range. Costs 1 action.
Attack enemy unit. 1 Range. Costs 1 action.
When Bog Skeleton dies, it is replaced by a Boneyard.

Name: Boneyard
Actions: 1
Life: 4
Armor: 2

Create Bog Skeleton. Range 0. Costs 1 action, sacrifice Boneyard.


The bog skeleton is the Zatikon version of a regenerating unit. Fun, fun!


One more....



Name: Trebuchet
Class: Siege
Cost: 200

Actions: 1
Life: 4
Armor: 1
Deploy: 3 or 4.

Barrage: Costs 1 action. Anywhere within 6. Choose a location. At the beginning of your next turn, any unit on the target square is destroyed.


The trebuchet employs "delayed damage" and I think it's a cool mechanic. Plus, siege really needs a new unit.

Mongolian, I totally agree with you but I think it is unrealistic to make the game so balanced so that every army can be beaten by every other army. I love the constructed format because I think it has the most depth, but I think some kind of structure would be good to keep things more fair.

And that is why I am a big proponent of having a tournament format with a sideboard to let players adapt to their opponent. It is the only way I can think of to keep some semblance of balance, since armies will have to be made to defeat several opponents. And with a tournament, you can limit the unit choices for more balance.

I agree with Jezebeau. For clarification:

1. Actions go on stack, then resolve FILO.
2. When stack is empty check for unit deaths, and add their triggers to the stack.
3. Iterate steps 1 and 2 until no more units die.
4. Check for victory condition.

How about if the spectre dies after it stuns the enemy? That might make it more fair.

The Illusionist seems too powerful. For starters, I think that summoning a spectre should cost an action.

Also, the Illusionist is way better than the Enchanter with the ability to stun several groups of enemies at up to range 7 (deploy spectre(s) at range 5, move to range 6, stun at range 7).

Also, what does "Fades" mean? I wasn't entirely clear about that.

Yes, this is the best idea. It makes everything easier to predict. For instance:

Shield Maiden is next to the unit it is protecting and a fireball hits both of them. The Shield Maiden's shield ability should protect the other unit even if the shield maiden dies from the fireball.

From your explanation, I'm pretty sure my example would be correct since the Shield Maiden's shield ability would go on the stack after the fireball, and therefore resolve before the fireball damage is triggered.

This would really make things clearer and I'm really looking forward to it.