Adding extra creatures to the castle.

I have a question regarding an idea we discussed earlier, and I would really like to hear your opinion.

As I understand it, the feature of adding additional creatures to a city was well-received.

Additional creatures can be added by adding a third level of upgrades.

I wrote it for testing; the third upgrade for the peasant building allows them to upgrade to improved gremlins.

Download the test file

Thank you, Waterfall, for such a detailed video demonstrating the feature and analyzing how it was implemented.

This is a working scheme. But it has its drawbacks.

Drawback number one, the third level of upgrades in the recruitment window overlaps the second. Number two, there is some confusion with the upgrade price.

Number three, a conceptual drawback. With this scheme, logically, all creatures "evolve" from one basic unit. I'm not a fan of strange mods where a goblin turns into a catapult after upgrading, and with no lore explanation.

This introduces both lore and gameplay confusion. Therefore, in a scheme where everything is upgraded from one unit, the options for creatures that this unit can be upgraded into are quite limited.

Of course, some things can be justified in the creature's description. For example, that particularly cool angels take the form of a dragon (in the lore of Ashan, this is supposedly possible), or vice versa, a dragon can take the form of a faceless one. Or that, with the help of dark rituals, Warlocks turn their assassins into monstrous troglodytes.
It is also possible to make a foot unit into a cavalry unit. For example, upgrading goblins could logically result in goblins on wolves, and upgrading dark elf witches could result in witches on manticores, and so on.

But all of this is relatively makeshift and has significant limitations. For example, there is little that can be done with a hydra, bone dragons upgrading into spider queens would look strange, and a dark elf cannot be turned into a medusa, and so on. Also, it would look rather illogical for a cavalry unit to lose its mount after upgrading.



But there is another option: adding creatures for recruitment in the city. With this, two creatures will be available with each new level of the building.

i.e. 1st level of the building you can buy a basic zombie and/or a ghoul

2nd level of the building you can buy an improved zombie and/or an improved ghoul

3rd level of the building you can buy an even more improved zombie and/or a more improved ghoul

and so on, if necessary


The drawbacks of this scheme:

One. Forced complete abandonment of alt-upgrades

Two. Each new creature upgrade in the recruitment window will appear on top of the previous one, and it will no longer be possible to buy the unupgraded creature. But in the upgrade window, it will be possible to not only upgrade but also downgrade a creature.

Three. There will be problems with the city features of the undead and humans. The city-enhancing ability of humans and the undead converter will only create units from the original game.



But this scheme also has an important advantage: almost complete conceptual freedom. Two creatures are available for recruitment, which can differ in any way.

At the same time, the counter of creatures available for recruitment is the same for them. For example, you can buy a total of 12 creatures. If you buy 6 zombies, you can now buy 6 fewer ghouls.

In addition, these two schemes can be combined. That is, some creatures can be recruited according to the first scheme, and others according to the second.


I would like to hear your opinion and brainstorm together. Which option do you think is better? The third level of upgrades with alternative upgrades, or two parallel developing creatures? Or is the combined option the best?