Nargott
Counterstrike will grant +50/100/150% to retaliation damage, so creatures under Readiness will be able to retaliate with 250% strength. However, Readiness will not work against no-retaliation attacks (this option will be specifically disabled).
Fortress will double the defense bonus, i.e., from +50% defense to +100% (for Ancient Ents from +100% to +200%).
With normal defense, incoming damage in WGE is reduced by about half, and with fortified defense, it will be reduced by a factor of 3.
Let's see where such a powerful emphasis on defense leads; if necessary, defensive bonuses can be weakened.
Let's consider examples.
Suppose both sides have heroes with attack and defense 5/5.
Also, conditionally, there are creatures of category A (attack/defense 5/5, total 10/10). Creatures of category B (15/15, total 20/20). And creatures of category C (25/25, total 30/30).
Creatures A take 100% damage from A, 200% damage from B (difference +10), 300% damage from C (difference +20).
When defending (+5), creatures A take 67% damage from A (reduction factor 1.5), 150% damage from B (reduction factor 1.33), 250% damage from C (reduction factor 1.2). Average damage reduction - factor of 1.3 ( -25%).
With Fortress (+10), creatures A take 50% damage from A (reduction factor 2), 100% damage from B (reduction factor 2), 200% damage from C (reduction factor 1.5). Average damage reduction - factor of 1.8 ( -45%).
Creatures B take 50% damage from A (difference -10), 100% damage from B, 200% damage from C (difference +10).
When defending (+10), creatures B take 33% damage from A (reduction factor 1.5), 50% damage from B (reduction factor 2), 100% damage from C (reduction factor 2). Average damage reduction - factor of 1.8 ( -45%).
With Fortress (+20), creatures B take 25% damage from A (reduction factor 2), 33% damage from B (reduction factor 3), 50% damage from C (reduction factor 4). Average damage reduction - factor of 2.8 ( -64%).
Creatures C take 33% damage from A (difference -20), 50% damage from B (difference -10), 100% damage from C.
When defending (+15), creatures C take 22% damage from A (reduction factor 1.5), 28% damage from B (reduction factor 1.75), 40% damage from C (reduction factor 2.5). Average damage reduction - factor of 1.8 ( -45%).
With Fortress (+30), creatures C take 17% damage from A (reduction factor 2), 20% damage from B (reduction factor 2.5), 25% damage from C (reduction factor 4). Average damage reduction - factor of 2.6 ( -62%).
Thus, even against Fortress, properly matched attackers reduce damage only by a factor of 1.5 (against A - attacker C) or 2 (against B and C - attacker A).
And of course, abilities that ignore defense will work excellently: magic damage, defense burn (-50% defense) and defense bypass (up to -100% defense).
Added after 5 hours 45 minutes
ATTACK (10/20/30%)
1) Battle Frenzy -> Cold Steel
2) Archery (30%) -> Offensive Style (+3 attack to each hero on the battlefield)
3) Tactics -> Offensive Hird
DEFENSE (10/20/30%)
1) Endurance -> Stamina (+10% health)
2) Evasion (30%) -> Defensive Style (+3 defense to each hero on the battlefield)
3) Fortress (x2) -> Defensive Hird
LEADERSHIP (1/2/3), unavailable to Undead
1) Encouragement (50%) -> Retribution
2) Troop Gathering -> Fight to the Last
3) Diplomacy -> Empathy
Troop Gathering: for every 4 hero levels (including those already gained), creatures of levels 1-3 join him (+3/+2/+1).
Diplomacy: before battle, creatures from a stack already in his army, but of a different upgrade, join the hero for the duration of the battle, for a total value no greater than 500 gold per hero level.
LUCK (1/2/3, 50% luck bonus)
1) Soldier's Luck -> Critical Luck (100% luck bonus)
2) Traveler's Luck -> Magic Luck (when luck triggers, the hero does not spend mana)
3) Magic Resistance -> Double Resistance (Dwarven Luck)
Soldier's Luck: additional +1 luck.
Traveler's Luck: for every 4 levels (including those already gained), the hero receives a random minor artifact.
LOGISTICS (10/20/30% bonus to hero movement on map and to unit speed at start of battle)
1) Path of War (+1 initiative) -> Aura of Speed
2) Scouting (additional penalty to enemy hero -1 initiative) -> Fog Veil (-30% ini)
3) Marauding (additional penalty to enemy hero -1 speed) -> Storm Wind
ENGINEERING (+100/200/300% machine health and +1/2/3 attack to shooters per wagon).
1) Ballistics -> Rapid Fire
2) First Aid -> Plague Tent
3) Artillery -> Elite Machines (Rune Machines)
Ballista damage and tent healing do not depend on the Engineering skill.
Ballistics, First Aid, Artillery do not double the health of the corresponding machines.
Artillery (catapult): additionally, before battle in the open field, kills 10% of the opponent's creatures (killed rounded down).
EDUCATION (+2/4/6 random parameters), unavailable to Orcs
1) Counterspell -> Distraction (30%)
2) Intelligence (+40% max mana) -> Scholarly Style (+3 knowledge to each hero on the battlefield)
3) Scholar -> Wisdom
Scholar: additionally, the hero learns 1 random level 1-2 spell per every 2 levels, including those already gained.
Wisdom: additionally, the hero learns 1 random level 3 spell per every 4 levels, including those already gained.
When knowledge changes, the hero's mana always scales: NewMana = OldMana * (NewKnowledge / OldKnowledge).
RESISTANCE (+10/20/30% to creature health), available only to Orcs
1) Weaken Light (-50%) -> Corrupt Light (+100%)
2) Weaken Darkness (-50%) -> Corrupt Darkness (+100%)
3) Weaken Summoning (-50%) -> Corrupt Summoning (+100%)
SORCERY (10/20/30%), unavailable to Orcs
1) Arcane Knowledge -> Elite Wizards (Secrets of Light)
2) Mysticism -> Mana Explosion
3) Keen Mind (30%) -> Sorcerous Style (+3 spell power to each hero on the battlefield)
Mysticism: each hero turn in battle restores 2 mana, but this bonus is lost after battle.
BATTLE CRIES (10/20/30%), available only to Orcs
1) Arcane Knowledge -> Elite Wizards
2) Mysticism -> Mana Explosion
3) Cry of Rage -> Mighty Shout
LIGHT MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to Orcs
1) Giver of Wrath -> Surprise Attack
2) Giver of Boon -> Eternal Light (additional +regeneration)
3) Giver of Protection -> Seal of Light (additional +holy word)
DARK MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to Orcs
3) Master of Minds -> Dark Recovery (additional +vampirism)
2) Master of Curses -> Dark Weakness (additional +sorrow)
3) Master of Pain -> Seal of Darkness (additional +unholy word)
CHAOS MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to Orcs
1) Master of Fire -> Pyrokinesis (additional +fire wall)
2) Master of Ice (40%) -> Deadly Cold (additional +stopping cold)
3) Master of Lightning (60%) -> Magic Exhaustion (additional +armageddon)
SUMMONING MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to Orcs
1) Master of Earth -> Cursed Ground (additional +earthquake)
2) Master of Life -> Shield of Immortality (Rune Shield)
3) Master of Elements -> Elemental Balance (additional +elementals)
COUNTERSTRIKE (+50/100/150%), available only to Humans
1) Double Strike -> Oversight
2) Prayer -> Guardian Angel
3) Readiness (does not work against no-retaliation attacks)
Double Strike: double damage from hero attacks.
OCCULTISM (additional +1/2/3 mana at start of battle per hero level, this bonus is lost after battle), available only to Dark Elves
1) Mark of the Cursed -> Weakening Strike
2) Fallen
3) Wave of Arcane -> Sense of Elements (Warlock only) or Arcane Luck (Assassin and Witch only)
DEMONOLOGY (50% for levels 1-2/4/6), available only to Demons
1) Fast Gate -> Wide Gate
2) Hellfire -> Desiccating Flame
3) Corpse Eater
RUNES (additionally, exactly 6 of each resource are granted per battle), available only to Dwarves
1) Renewed Rune
2) Greatest Rune (200%) -> Rune Harmony
3) Completed Rune (discount does not work on the Greatest) -> Rune Cooldown
Now the resources for using runes in each battle are fixed and effectively do not depend on the map (you can freely use the racial for clearing, and in the final battle there won't be an imbalance).
AVENGER (chance of double damage 50%, sworn enemies are tied to the whole tier - by default 1/2/3), available only to Elves
1) Enchanted Arrow -> Enchanted Ballista
2) Forest Leader (during battle, hero level is considered +5 higher)
3) Deadly Shot -> Rain of Arrows
BLOOD RAGE (30% damage absorption), available only to Orcs
1) Blood Memory -> Battle Frenzy
2) Fire of Rage
3) Reinforcement -> Stun (50%)
NECROMANCY (10/15/20%), available only to Undead
1) Banshee Wail -> Deadly Misfortune (-2)
2) Lord of Death (1 Death Knight joins the hero per every 2 levels, including those already gained)
3) Spiritual Connection -> Grave Cold (20%)
CRAFT (additionally grants 1/2/3 random resources per every 2 hero levels; wood and ore bonus is double), available only to Wizards
1) Wizard's Mark
2) Artifact Absorption -> Machine Devotion (additional +1 morale)
3) Magic Mirror -> Unraveling Secrets
Now Wizards will be able to craft mini-artifacts, compensating for the damage done to the economy (or conversely, boost the economy with crafts instead of troops).
The cost of crafting mini-artifacts is reduced by 5 times, and the bonuses from mini-artifacts are fixed and do not depend on knowledge. Thus, early crafting of mini-artifacts is now justified.
Decided to compare 2 skill variants:
1) 6 perks without forks (each t1 goes to one t2 perk)
2) 7 perks with a fork (one of the t1 skills leads to two t2 perks)
So, from the point of view of the difficulty of leveling a given build of 3 perks (t1, t1, t2), provided that all other skills except the target one are already closed, the chances are as follows:
1) 97% for a skill without forks
2) 69% if the build includes a forked t2
This is a colossal difference.
Thus, skills with 7 perks, which look nice, create significant difficulties and a high risk of not hitting the desired progression (with 10-11 possible combinations of 3 perks).
And simpler skills, with 6 perks without forks, are very convenient to level up (with 7 possible combinations of 3 perks).
If a 7th t3 perk is added to a forkless skill, it will drop the leveling chance from 97 to 82% (if the player needs to level a t2-perk before it, and another t1).
That is, t3 perks are almost as bad as forks.
Came to the conclusion that a skill with 6 perks without forks (3 t1 perks + 3 t2 perks) is the ideal variant, having sufficiently good diversity with maximum leveling convenience.
Added after 15 hours 3 minutes
Updated the skill descriptions in the post above.
All forks removed, racial skills now have 5 perks each (the rest have 6).
The mechanics of racial skills have been reworked so that the racial works from the first days of the game, even before building the corresponding structures.
- Humans: the entire emphasis is on retaliation damage, not on training (which is attached only as an additional city-dependent option).
- Elves: racial enemies are assigned automatically by 1-3 tiers (depending on the level of the skill). The city building only gives the opportunity to change these tiers. There are technical nuances here; perhaps in the end it will work a little differently, but the essence is the same.
- Dwarves: rune resources are decoupled from the map, and heroes will be given 1 random level 1 rune from the start, thus, using runes will be possible from the first days.
- Wizards: regardless of building the Artifact Forge, Wizards will be able to receive resources from their racial from the first days of the game.
- Dark Elves: the racial skill is now tied to gaining mana, rather than being a dummy leveled up later through perks and buildings.