Now that I'm free for the summer, I've begun work on animating neo's
level-3 drakes.
The burner line is the only line that is really "finished" right now,
and many of the others could stand to have some minor rebalancing.
Those subscribed to the commit message mailing list will have already
seen that I've added a level-3 flyer - moreover, I have added marksman
to the flyer line.
This would normally overpower the faction, but this is part of a larger
change at work.
Sometime within the next week, I am going to completely remake the
saurian tribalist line - graphics and all. A number of people, Sanna
especially, have complained about factions being or becoming too
similar, a sentiment which I agree with. The tribalist is having his
magic attack replaced with a drain attack (along with the rest of his
line). The level-2 branch is also being collapsed, since it had little
utility. Hitpoints are being increased, slightly. The unit's stats
were originally created NOT under the aegis of "every faction needs a
unit with a magic attack," but rather under the more destructive "every
faction needs a 'mage'." This is quite nearly the antithesis of
faction differentiation.
Besides all of this, it has never seemed right to me that in a faction
with _fire_breathing_dragons, a primary ranged offensive unit was
something else. If nothing else, the tribalist should really be
de-emphasized as a combat unit, and formed into what it was originally
intended to be - a support unit. Almost all players right now hire the
tribalist for his attack capability, not his healing.
By having a ranged drain attack, several things are accomplished:
a] It is a unique configuration which no other faction has.
+faction_differentiation
b] It removes the cliché "mage" unit from the saurians.
+faction_differentiation
c] It fits better with the "voodoo/witch doctor/serpentine/jungle"
flavor of the unit's magic style +flavor
d] It makes the unit less volatile - harder to kill with, harder to
get killed +gameplay
e] It makes the unit MUCH less common on the battlefield - fitting
with the idea of magic being rare and powerful. +flavor
The unit will remain effective on the attack, when pitted against units
with bad defense and cold weakness, such as heavy infantry and drakes.
A side benefit of this is that the sky drake, which is currently of
questionable use when compared with saurian skirmishers, will become a
much more generally useful unit. Drake players will have a choice of
attacking with a unit that can help to ensure a hit, or a unit that can
do a lot of damage. Additionally, by having marksman, the drake flyer
will still be vulnerable to retaliation during the opponents turn -
marksman activates only on the offense, not during retaliation.
