61. Focusnik race

Well, I'm glad to finally get feedback on the release. Thank you all! I conceived this race as the primary inheritor of Illusion Magic. And who else would dedicate themselves entirely to illusions and deception, if not tricksters? I agree, it smells a bit like a circus. But what can you do – that's usually where they live (I even wanted to introduce a war elephant as a heavy strike force, but that would be ridiculous). I decided that this would be a human race that relies on jokes, glitches, and deceiving the enemy. The creatures are physically weak; under normal circumstances, any other race would crush them if it weren't for their defensive tricks. The race was designed so that each subsequent unit would more reliably cover the previous ones. So, Thieves are cannon fodder. They will have a high mortality rate; I can compensate for this with an increased recruitment rate in the castle. The player only needs to separate individual units from the army, which either quickly run forward and distract the enemy, stealing abilities from units, or surround the main formation. The only protection is a hero with spells. And I'm also considering giving Thieves immunity to magic or at least a 50% reduction – otherwise, they'll be defeated by magic in an instant. Goblins rush to help – immediately, flying units with innate protection in the form of invisibility, plus they specifically cripple the enemy's powerful units. As soon as the player builds them, the tactics change: now, individual Goblin warriors rush forward relentlessly, ruining whatever they can. And the main forces, in the form of Thieves, slowly and steadily approach the weakened enemies. As soon as Tricksters appear, the picture changes again. Now, we maximize their distribution across all available slots. After all, each of them provides a morale boost and a counterattack simultaneously. And since none of our Tricksters have a direct counterpart – the strength of the army is effectively multiplied by their number. At this point, you can start thinking about expansion and capturing the territories of your neighbors. With the appearance of Fakirs, the power is strengthened, and the mortality rate is reduced by reducing damage from magical and ranged attacks. This is the first and practically the only real defensive measure. Here's the problem I have. They cast their 2 spells before the battle, protecting the army. And then they just stand there like fools. That is, they are ordinary infantry, and quite weak ones at that. What else can I give them that is bright and unusual? Although, they don't have a direct counterpart, so what more could they want? It's a little easier with Hypnotizers – they can stand in battle and wait for their moment to "knock out" a dangerous monster at a crucial moment, giving their "fighters" the opportunity to deal with the rest of the mob. By this point, at least 4 slots will be occupied in the army, so the distribution of 1 unit per slot will begin to vary greatly depending on the available and opposing forces. Sometimes you need to give your units an extra burst of energy, and sometimes you need to hold a powerful enemy unit (or even a hero) out of the battle for longer! So that the Goblins can bite them and the Thieves can stab them! Next comes another enhancement. If a Hypnotizer could only hold back the enemy twice at the limit of his abilities, now Throwers come into play. The fastest and most dangerous enemy units are pinned to the spot for several turns – until they run out of knives. Only now you need to act more carefully; they lose their movement, but they can easily shoot or attack those nearby! And finally, the Illusionist completes the picture. He has reached the peak of his skill – he can fundamentally influence the balance of power in battle. He can remove entire slots of the most dangerous enemies – archers or high-level monsters. It will be especially fun if some behemoth (in a group of N) gets close to you. One cast – and it disappears. In its place, your weakest unit immediately stands, and the behemoth is out of the battle until the end. Or until the unit is killed by the archers or heroes of the enemy. Now, looking back, the race seems self-sufficient: nothing needs to be removed or added. I can't wait to play as them against real opponents! It's a shame that it's impossible. Unless I program a mini-arena myself to test out the ideas.