Nargott
Good afternoon!
I generally love battles with small armies, and this also adds interesting roles for different unit types.
Yes, there is a certain charm to managing small squads:
- each soldier's life is of increased importance
- realism is higher, since the "1 squad = 1 tile" model is only adequate for small numbers; large-scale battles don't look as good
- shooting across the entire field is also only adequate at small unit scales
- the role-playing part plays out more adequately when the hero isn't cutting down tier-7 dragons like paper birds every turn (and there's no need to invent mega bosses of tier 8+ for this)
My advice: alongside the release, make a small wiki (those very pictures for each race, and then an alphabetical list of all ability types with explanations)
That will be done.
2. I couldn't see which perks my own hero had upgraded in the duel (like Expert Light Magic or Advanced).
Strange, that possibility definitely exists; you can see both your own and the enemy hero, including spells (thanks to the built-in "Eagle Eye").
3. I didn't like that the number of units in a stack doesn't seem to affect the strength of some abilities, from what I understood.
The presence of such units is a given, going back to the original. Most auras work at 100%, regardless of the number of units. Retaliation strikes can be removed by singles, singles can block shooters and key movement tiles (especially against large fliers).
Charms (buffs and debuffs) are also, as a rule, effectively applied by small squads. I further enhanced this effect by removing the dependence of unit charms on their spell power. This is necessary so that the effectiveness of casters does not increase with their numbers (since it already increases along with the growth of other squads, compared to chaos).
Some things (Prayer, Banshee's Cry, Inspiration) cannot be tied to spell power at all, even technically.
The Lich, by the way, had 2 spells there: Raise Dead and Shield. And they cost mana, I don't remember exactly, for example 12 and 15. And the unit's mana is 18.
The Lich has 15 mana, Raise Dead costs 12, Shield costs 10.
Currently, unit mana amounts are multiples of 5, just like the hero's (based on Knowledge).
Specifically regarding these Liches - I think they will be given 20, 25, or 30 mana; I just haven't gotten around to calculating the casters yet.
it annoys me when there is guaranteed unusable mana =)))
It annoys you, but to spirits, it's daily bread 
4. Purely cosmetic: I find the Castle militia's ability to summon more of their kind like the original's wolves unaesthetic. From a tactical and balance standpoint, no issues. But visually, there are. Like, guys go 40 strong to beat faces, and then, OPA, there's 80 of them))) Such an ability would look more understandable on Water Elementals or Demon Nightmares.
There were actually 80 initially - 40 on the front line and 40 in reserve. At the same time, if the frontline troops get hit hard, part of the reserve will scatter in fear before it's even deployed. I consider this ability logical, although I understand why it might raise questions. But it was used for gameplay reasons (a very cool ability on units that previously weren't interesting in any way).
5. And finally, the most sensitive point. I disagree with the damage heroes deal to creatures with their bare hands
Bare-handed damage ("punch") can be considered a spell that depends neither on Spell Power nor on Knowledge (because it's free). Many free spells also don't depend on Spell Power and are analogues and alternatives to the punch. These spells (Evasion, Blessing, Confusion, Curse, Hornets) are balanced at the same level as the punch, though they are demanding on the skill (while the punch depends on level).
My battle: I'm Undead, enemy is Elf (don't remember heroes). I cast Plague 2 times, mana runs out faster in the mod. I see that if I cast Heavenly Shield on my Bone Dragons, all the mana is gone. So I decide not to cast it, saving it for one good Raise Dead (it's more expensive here, and I have less mana).
Here, all Necromancers have maximum Knowledge (40%), specifically in duels that's 9, or 45 mana. That's quite a lot.
Plague costs 5 mana, Raise Dead costs 12, Shield costs 10. So clearly, besides 2 casts of Plague, something else expensive mana-wise was played.
And I realized I don't need all that, I just need to punch the enemy Ent from hand - 60 damage on its 100 hp (? roughly) I think something like that.
Regarding Ents - they are a tier-6 unit with 160 hp. A punch against tier-6 kills 40% of the unit, i.e., in this case deals 64 damage, which is quite a lot.
Tanky units are especially vulnerable to punches, since punches ignore all their survivability and kill them at the same rate as damage dealers (while tanks should live longer to be equally effective).
This is a game given, and it's a vulnerability of tanks that is accounted for in their balance calculation. Therefore, Ents in WGE, with comparable survivability, deal 2 times more damage than in the original.
On the other hand, it's most beneficial to kill damage dealers first, not tanks, and from this perspective, early punches into Ents aren't the best idea, despite the formally high damage (especially since 40% damage usually doesn't kill anyone instantly).
This is much more effective than everything except expensive spells, which I'll cast 3-4 times the whole battle.
I disagree, because paid spells are usually much stronger than free ones, including punches. But they depend on both skill and Spell Power, while the punch doesn't.
Judging by the kit (Raise Dead and Shield) - we're talking about a Cultist, who has developed skills in both schools (Summoning and Darkness), as well as Spell Power 7, above average.
So it's even stranger to hear that the Cultist's punch is stronger than spells.
Let's examine in detail:
- Raise Dead (12 mana), for 130 hp
- Shield (10 mana), for 150 hp, 75% damage absorption
- Mines (5 mana), 32 damage on 8 mines
- Crystal (1 mana) - 50 damage in a ring
- Hornets (0 mana) - 40% knockback
- Fist (0 mana) - 27 damage
- Death Wave (12 mana), 35 damage to all enemies
- Blindness (6 mana), for 3.5 rounds
- Plague (5 mana), 48 damage over 3 rounds
- Weakness (1 mana), -9 Attack for 6 rounds
- Confusion (0 mana), - 50% for 3 rounds
- Curse (0 mana), for 3 rounds
Of all the listed, all expensive spells tier-3 and above are several times stronger than the punch, even against Ents (for 60 damage).
The remaining spells are either free (like the punch) or cost 1 mana. Meanwhile, the paid Weakness and Crystal clearly don't look weaker than the punch even against Ents, especially since they are much more versatile and don't target just one unit.
In short, my immodest and purely personal opinion: the hero's hand damage needs to be reduced further.
The effectiveness of the punch against different tiers is leveled (currently the strongest punch by damage is not even against Ents for 60, but against tier-2 Orcs for 75).
But the effectiveness of the punch within each tier still heavily depends on the unit itself, its strength, and its health, and these things differ significantly.
For example, a punch at 20% against tier-7 removes 50 damage from Dwarf Dragons (which have 250 hp). While against the same Doom Dragons, it deals only 20 damage (they have 100 hp and are twice as weak and numerous), and half of such attacks are misses (Incorporeal). That is, even against tier-7, the punch removes 5 to 20% of the squad's total HP.
The average punch strength for a level 10 hero is about 25. Where should it be cut further?
After all, we must also consider that there are perks for this very punch - for example, doubling the damage. And they need to be attractive enough to invest in (like Inspiration, for example).
A direct analogue of the punch is Fist (free physical damage), which deals 3*(Spell Power + 0/1/2/3) damage. Specifically in duels, that's 12-36 damage (12 for a Reaper, 36 for a Druid).
The punch deals:
- against tier 1: 40% per hero level (4 creatures in duels)
- against tier 2: 25% per hero level (2.5 creatures)
- against tier 3: 15% per hero level (1.5 creatures)
- against tier 4: 10% per hero level (1 creature)
- against tier 5: 6% per hero level (60% of a creature)
- against tier 6: 4% per hero level (40% of a creature)
- against tier 7: 2% per hero level (20% of a creature)
- against tier 8 (summoned Phoenix): 1% per hero level (10% of a creature)
In current HP, this is:
- against tier 1: 20-60 damage (Fairies have 6 hp for now, but will have 5, Guardians have 15 hp)
- against tier 2: 30-75 damage (Gargoyles have 12 hp, Orcs have 30 hp)
- against tier 3: 15-45 damage (Ghosts have 10 hp, Minotaurs have 30 hp)
- against tier 4: 20-40 damage (Mages have 20 hp, Bears have 40 hp)
- against tier 5: 15-30 damage (Witches have 25 hp, Liches have 50 hp)
- against tier 6: 20-64 damage (Griffins have 50 hp, Ents have 160 hp)
- against tier 7: 14-50 damage (Angels have 70 hp, Northern Dragons have 250 hp)
I generally agree with you that the damage turned out to be generally stronger than Fist and even stronger than the Shoot ability (especially considering that physical damage is better).
This happened because the percentage for the punch was selected first, and only then were the unit hp values specified.
What are your suggestions for the damage, in specific numbers? We can only adjust the kill percentage, depending on level.
Added after 2 hours 1 minute
Update:
I think to weaken the punch as follows:
- against tier 1: from 40% to 20% per hero level (2 creatures in duels = 10-30 damage)
- against tier 2: from 25% to 10% per hero level (1 creature in duels = 12-30 damage)
- against tier 3: from 15% to 8% per hero level (80% of a creature in duels = 8-24 damage)
- against tier 4: from 10% to 6% per hero level (60% of a creature in duels = 12-24 damage)
- against tier 5: from 6% to 5% per hero level (50% of a creature in duels = 12-25 damage)
- against tier 6: from 4% to 3% per hero level (30% of a creature in duels = 15-48 damage)
- against tier 7: unchanged 2% per hero level (20% of a creature in duels = 14-50 damage)
- against tier 8 (summoned Phoenix): unchanged 1% per hero level (10% of a creature in duels = 12 damage)
Against the summoned Phoenix, the hero deals little damage, but it must also be considered that the summoned Phoenix has 50% magic resistance, which also protects it from chaos damage.
The natural Phoenix (tier-7) receives twice the damage but reborns (making its effective health twice as high), whereas the summoned one does not reborn (unfortunately, this cannot be implemented).
The hero will no longer snap tier-4 Vampires like seeds one at a time (personally, this bothered me), and the damage against Ents will become much more modest.
Thank you for the feedback, which will lead to an improvement!
Specifically regarding human units, the punches of duel heroes will deal:
1) against Militia - 20 damage (was 40)
2) against Archers - 15 damage (was 37)
3) against Swordsmen - 20 damage (was 30)
4) against Monks - 18 damage (was 30)
5) against Knights - 20 damage (was 24)
6) against Griffins - 15 damage (was 20)
7) against Angels - 14 damage
Added after 3 hours 25 minutes
Hmm, maybe the punch damage should be reduced further for tiers 5-7 as well?
Something like:
Tier 5) 4% per hero level (40% in duels, 10-20 damage)
Tier 6) 2% per hero level (20% in duels, 10-32 damage)
Tier 7) 1% per hero level (10% in duels, 7-25 damage)
Then tier 8 for the summoned Phoenix could be cancelled in favor of tier 7, since the Phoenix will resist blows well enough anyway.
We need to calibrate the finger so that it is roughly equivalent to the free Fist:
12-30 damage with basic Summoning (depending on Spell Power)
15-33 damage with Advanced Summoning
18-36 damage with Expert Summoning
Added after 22 minutes
Actually, I like these numbers even more, so the final could be:
- against tier 1: from 40% to 20% per hero level (2 creatures in duels = 10-30 damage)
- against tier 2: from 25% to 10% per hero level (1 creature in duels = 12-30 damage)
- against tier 3: from 15% to 8% per hero level (80% of a creature in duels = 8-24 damage)
- against tier 4: from 10% to 6% per hero level (60% of a creature in duels = 12-24 damage)
- against tier 5: from 6% to 4% per hero level (40% of a creature in duels = 10-20 damage)
- against tier 6: from 4% to 2% per hero level (20% of a creature in duels = 10-32 damage)
- against tier 7: from 2% to 1% per hero level (10% of a creature in duels = 7-25 damage)
But then we need to weigh the attractiveness of the double damage ability for the hero, to see if it becomes too weak to invest in (since the damage drops by about half, so the bonus damage does too). Similarly, the attractiveness of Oversight, Cursed Mark, Reinforcements, Arrow Rain, and partially Deadly Shot decreases (although its main effect is killing at least 1 creature). But all these issues are irrelevant for duels and can be put off until the next stage (Arena).
Added after 6 hours 40 minutes
Re-uploaded the mod, available at the same link as before. Mostly updated the punch damage.