Posts from UNIT - Creature Balance + Visual Changes

A building for Bone Throwers has been constructed, and the bears have been moved to the outpost.

Machines are a topic that has probably been discussed in every thread on this forum.
In short, the essence (in my opinion):
At the beginning of the game, machines work well as they are, without any changes, but in a prolonged game, they start to fall behind.
If we strengthen the machines, we get more powerful units that are interesting even for a prolonged game, but also a very strong skill for the start (I won't call it overpowered - it all depends on the degree of strengthening).
In general, a pleasant enhancement of the skill that doesn't turn machines into an overpowered unit is to increase the HP of all machines (without going overboard), as well as increase the number of shots of the siege engine.

I completely agree with this.

I have a question: is it normal for black dragons to have 3000 HP?

Most likely, you have a third-party modification or map installed, and the mod is not making these changes.

I have a question, is it normal that black dragons have 3000 HP?

It's definitely the influence of some map. There was one like that, but I don't remember the name, unfortunately.

Can you open the map with the WinRar archiver and see what exactly it changes?

Of course.

She is not only strong at the beginning, but also quite good in the endgame. What bothers me more now is the Gift skill, which can remove 10 debuffs in a row. But in general, it's now a full-fledged skill, just like Luck + Deadly Strike + Reflection.

So, the desired effect has been achieved.

We can also increase the cost of the machines, since they have been enhanced. So that at the beginning, players have to pay a lot for them.

I agree, it's the simplest and most reasonable solution. At the beginning, the player will have to choose whether to use resources to build an army or focus on expensive but effective war machines.

In the original, the starting price for a ballista is 1500, a tent is 500, and a cart is 750. In the city's forge, 2 out of 3 machines (randomly) are sold at three times the price, i.e., a ballista can cost either 1500 or 4500, and the other machines are either at the starting price or three times the price.

The question is: by how much should we increase the price?

I think that, considering the enhancement of the machines themselves, their prices should be approximately as follows:
Ballista - 2500. In the city, the price will be 2500 or 7500.
Tent - 1500. In the city, the price will be 1500 or 4500.
Cart - 1000. In the city, the price will be 1000 or 3000.

By the way, the following nuance arises: if the price of war machines increases, then the weight of heroes who initially have machines in their arsenal (Vittorio, Daleb, Kaspar, etc.) will also increase significantly, and against the background of these heroes, the others (non-machine users) will be less of a priority at the beginning (from an economic point of view).
Perhaps it would be worth taking away the starting machines from these heroes and compensating for this with stats, for example, +1 to Attack, Defense...?

In the original, I was always a little surprised by the fact that sometimes you go into the forge and see a ballista for 4500, and then you go into the tavern and see Vittorio with a free ballista + starting army + cockroach ability, and all for only 2500. As they say: "Why pay more?".

What are your thoughts on this?

Yes, it's simple: increase the size of the starting armies (in places where there are no machines) so that more powerful machines don't give such a significant advantage.
Another option: don't give machines right away, but after reaching level 2 (for example).

Oh, but after the third game, the fifth-generation machines are simply divine by default.

It's simple: increase the size of the starting armies (where there are no machines) so that more powerful machines don't give such an advantage.

It's not a bad idea, but unfortunately, it's not that simple.
The size of the starting army for heroes is tied to their specialization, and changing the specialization is a direct path to modifying the game's executable file. In general, this goes beyond the scope of the project.

Of course, you could process all the standard maps so that at the start, the script gives heroes who specialize in machines additional creatures to their starting army, but that would be quite a hack.

Another option: give machines not immediately, but upon reaching level 2 (for example).

Again, this can only be implemented through a script-based hack.

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The compensation for the loss of starting machines for heroes should work on all maps, including fan-made, player-created, and generated maps, etc.
Therefore, you can only work with stats, spells, perks, and skills, as they are the only things that work everywhere, regardless of the map's origin.

Good afternoon, dear forum members and mod users.

Having gathered the necessary information, the final fix pack #2 for version 2.4 was created:

The undead raising table has been adjusted for creatures with changed levels (Monks, Griffins, Hydras, Twilight Witches, Centaurs, Orcish Warriors, and their upgraded versions).

Animations have been added for the artifacts "Runic Harness" and "Marquel's Skull".

Minor cosmetic changes have been made to the "Shadow Mistress" creature.

The characteristics of the "Zealot" creature have been reverted to their original values.

The characteristics and abilities of the "Acid Hydras" creature have been revised (page 27).

The cost of war machines has been revised (page 4).

The starting war machines of all heroes have been removed. Heroes whose specializations are based on war machines (such as Daleb, Kaspar, Vittorio, etc.) have received 1 starting skill as compensation (page 54).

Link to version 2.4 has been updated, the fix is already included.
List of changes has been updated.

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At this stage, the development of the mod has come to an end, version 2.4 #2 is the final version for the "UNIT" project.

With each new version, many fresh, and sometimes bold, ideas were introduced, some of which did not find their place and did not take root, but most of the changes turned out to be quite successful and remained until the last version. Corrections were also made for the shortcomings of the original version 3.1, among which were mostly visual bugs related to creature animations. For example, when the Death Harbingers were so happy with their victory on the battlefield that they "forgot to glow" (the "happy" animation), and the Astral Dragons suddenly "lost their eyes" when the cursor was hovered over them (the "stir00" animation).

When changing the balance, the main goal was to make all creatures full-fledged and in demand, and the upgrades competitive with each other, but at the same time preserve the general concept of creatures and factions. However, almost any changes in the balance of creatures are primarily a compromise between the original idea of what this creature would like to be and how it can be implemented, taking into account the existing game mechanics, most of which cannot be changed. In this regard, mod developers remain somewhat limited in their ability to change creatures, operating only with the tools that are initially embedded in the game. Despite this, in general, the balance of factions turned out, if not completely, then mostly as it was initially intended. IMHO, of course...:smile15:

It is difficult to disagree with the fact that balance plays a fundamental role in the game, however, the visual aspect should not be underestimated, because the visual is the face of the game. Therefore, along with the balance changes, a large number of visual changes were also made. Many creatures received a fairly high-quality rework of their original models, which now even more emphasize their individuality and belonging to the faction, and it became even more pleasant to look at them. Some creatures have changed not only their "wardrobe" but even their weapons (for example, Imperial Archers), and the Night Queens have undergone "advanced training" and learned to engage in ranged combat, throwing plasma at enemies, this effect was also added to them. New models and effects were added not only to creatures, but also to combat spells and even some heroes (as a bonus for version 2.4). Thanks to these changes, the game has not become fundamentally new, but it has definitely gained new colors, and judging by the fact that many visual changes have suddenly migrated to other projects, these solutions must have turned out to be quite successful.

I would like to thank the creators of the "HeroesWorld" forum for the opportunity to publish the project, the moderators for maintaining order in the topic, and the forum participants for their interest.

I would especially like to express my gratitude to:
- people who conducted discussions at a decent level and engaged in constructive debates regarding the changes in the mod;
- those people who were interested in the development of the project and were not afraid to contribute their ideas to improve the mod;
- those who conducted testing of the changes and reported the identified problems to me for further elimination;
- and also to those who simply supported with kind words, which is no less important.
This project existed thanks to you and for you! Thank you very much!

With best wishes,
Frozensoull.

Added 33 seconds ago
P.S. I leave the decision to close the topic to the discretion of the moderators.

Please package everything you've done regarding visual enhancements into a separate mod and post it here: HERE!

Please package all the visual changes you've made into a separate mod and post it HERE!

All visual changes are contained in a separate archive called "()UNIT_VISUAL" and can be installed independently of the other modification components, while maintaining full functionality.

Or did you mean that each visual change should be packaged into a separate mod?

All visual changes are contained in a separate archive called "()UNIT_VISUAL" and can be installed independently of the other modification components, while maintaining full functionality.

Or did you mean that each visual change should be packaged into a separate mod?

Well, you can do it separately, or you can do it in a pack, since they essentially fix the illogical aspects of the standard visuals! :smile13: