Posts from 61. Focusnik race

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about the Magic of Illusions (see issue #20). This side branch of the Magic of Mind is more geared towards entertainment, and many don't perceive it as a serious tool in battle, which is a mistake! In skilled hands, even a toy turns into a formidable weapon. Today, I will go further and try to depict a race that adheres precisely to this religion. Let's call them Tricksters – a community of creatures surviving by deceiving the enemy with any means necessary. So, Tricksters are the youngest member of the family of magical races (only Wanderers are less advanced in magic, but we’ll talk about them separately). Being despised by their older brothers, Mages and Wizards, they found their place in the sun thanks to their natural ability to instill false perceptions of reality in opponents. At first glance, their magical arsenal seems quite meager: Swap - shuffles all units and swaps their appearances. Image - an enemy freezes and does not respond to a unit's attack. Phantom - summons a group of ghostly creatures with zero attack. Mirror Image - the image of any unit fights for you. Camouflage - on the map, your army looks larger. Invisibility - a unit cannot be attacked directly. Glimmer - enemy archers aim worse (taken from Diablo). LSD - the image of each unit begins to live its own life. Sandcastle - all fortifications increase to maximum. Phantasmal Gold - the mage "summons" resources – borrows them. Effect of Presence - a unit attacks an opponent at a distance. Mirage - replaces an object on the map with a more attractive one. You can discuss further prospects of the Magic of Illusions here: /topic/1190/ As you can see, there is not a single attacking spell; it mainly focuses on defense and mitigating damage. I think that the race itself should have exactly the same characteristics. The vicissitudes of life force Tricksters to always be vigilant and stick together. They all possess exceptional abilities to strike without retaliation and demonstrate remarkable magical skills in critical moments. Perhaps only this, along with their innate agility, helps them survive encounters with aggressive neighbors over the centuries. After all, only magic compensates for their rather modest physical capabilities in direct confrontation. Let's get acquainted with them closer: Level 1:
Thieves/Gutters - steal unused abilities (including special abilities) from attacked units. A Thief could approach an imprudently landed Archangel, stab him with a knife, and he won’t revive anyone else in this battle. Ghosts will fare even worse – just a small scratch, and their desire to drain mana is instantly "quenched." In addition, Gutters, as more advanced units, have a bonus – morale +1. Level 2:
Imps/Gremlins - fly, once per battle they can cast Invisibility on themselves (Gremlins - twice). Reduce the attack unit's defense by 1 for each hit (Gremlins - by 2). What a real punishment for all mechanisms! They will hang nearby, invisible, and beat up the poor unit, reducing its defense to zero! Level 3:
Nimble/Grand Nimble - once per battle, it can give any of its units a "second wind," i.e., go again/attack/respond to an attack. Grand Nimble can do this twice! It so happened that in this race, the main striking force is concentrated at the first two levels. So, older comrades must support all their endeavors with all their might. And this is not charity; otherwise, survival would be impossible! Level 4:
Fakir/Grand Fakir - before the battle, automatically casts mass Magic Mirror (1/3 chance to block enemy magic + 1/3 chance to reflect enemy magic back at the enemy). Grand Fakir also automatically casts mass Glimmer before the battle. I introduced this creature into the game to take care of protecting its brethren from magical and ranged attacks. There is nothing else remarkable about it except for the same retaliatory strike in melee combat. Maybe you can suggest how else I can "enliven" it? Level 5:
Enchanter/Hypnotizer - once per battle, it can deprive an enemy unit of movement, attack, and defense (Hypnotizer – twice). Level 6:
Thrower/Grand Thrower - finally, a shooting unit. Throws knives without penalty for range or obstacles. Pins the target to the spot (cannot move this round). Attacked units have morale -1 until the end of the battle. Unfortunately, Throwers only have 4 knives, and Grand Throwers have 6. It would be difficult for Tricksters without shooters. Therefore, I put quite strong ones on the penultimate level. However, their supply of cold weapons is very limited. And in general, Tricksters are not created for prolonged confrontation; they quickly run out of steam after using up special abilities. Level 7:
Illusionist/Sorcerer - moves by teleportation, immune to magic. Once per battle, it can temporarily "remove" any enemy unit from the battlefield. Moreover, if someone else takes its place, it will not return for quite some time (until that one moves aside). The Sorcerer, again, can do this twice per battle! At first glance, the last three characters seem too powerful. But in practice, they only allow you to buy time, dissect the enemy army, and give your more fragile fighters the opportunity to destroy a strong enemy piece by piece. I already anticipate objections like: - What if the player places 1 Illusionist in several slots? Then he can "play" with the entire enemy army! Here, I must note again that the Trickster's warriors are modest: Gutters and Gremlins have to take care of everything, so it is disadvantageous to fill many slots with single special units; it is better to take more striking power because special abilities are not unlimited, and retribution will come soon enough! However, dividing certain squads into 2-3 parts will be very useful! Characterizing the race as a whole, I should note weak health, high movement speed (and turn priority), and relatively expensive recruitment of units. Here are just approximate sketches of some of their characteristics: Thieves/Gutters: HP 5/7 SPEED 7/8 DM 1-4/2-5
Imps/Gremlins: HP 9/11 SPEED 8/9 DM 4-8/5-10
Nimble/Grand Nimble: HP 15/16 SPEED 6/7 DM 8-10/10-13
Fakir/Grand Fakir: HP 20/21 SPEED 5/6 DM 10-15/13-20
Enchanter/Hypnotizer: HP 30/31 SPEED 9/10 DM 15-20/20-25
Thrower/Grand Thrower: HP 40/41 SPEED 10/11 DM 20-30/25-30
Illusionist/Sorcerer: HP 50/51 SPEED 11/12 DM 30/30 Such uneven amounts of HP resulted because the creatures strive to survive – after all, attack spells are usually multiples of 5 or 10 DM (and otherwise, a unit might be left with 1-2 HP). Speed is distributed so that first, you can use the most powerful abilities, scatter enemies, and then support your strike groups. Well, DM is built according to a simple scheme of continuous growth. Neighboring units clearly connect at the borders. Note that Grand Throwers simply become more accurate, and Illusionists and Sorcerers are practically equal in melee combat.

Too strange, silly, doesn't fit into any framework! It would be better if new spells were suggested instead of new creatures...:o

Illusion magic and Rogues – I like them. The rest – not so much. Well, maybe daring illusionists could find a place in Heroes 3 or 5, but many will consider this race insignificant and unworthy of the epic world of Heroes...

I myself am a generator of ideas and always try to see in other people's thoughts not only my own opinion, but also the possible positive aspects that the author relied on. Here, I saw them, but there are also not-so-strong aspects: they need their own god, a main, original race, and more, um, epic creatures for the highest levels. Oh yes, they need two decent ranged units – balance shouldn't be forgotten either.

Ghost, you've finally made a suggestion!!! (otherwise, I'll moderate you for "unconstructive criticism":))
The race is not bad... Well, not exactly a combat race... BUT STRONG!!!

Regarding spells, more than a dozen have been suggested. Is that not enough?

As a suggestion, I propose a 5th-level spell, replacing Armageddon with "Confusion" - all units on the battlefield randomly change their speed, initiative, damage, defense and attack skills, HP, and may (50/50 chance) change allegiance to the player casting the spell - to the opposing player, and vice versa.

Alex, your opinion has already been heard.

That's cool...
But I think the Warriors need a few tweaks...

In its current state, this race has no right to exist; more effort needs to be put into developing its potential, if anyone even cares!

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.

I'll say this: it's all undoubtedly interesting, especially the magic, but the illusionists really don't quite fit into the epic and fantasy world of the heroes. And the hit points seem a bit low for the units, and even all these magical enhancements won't save them. At the beginning of the game, the low health isn't noticeable, but it will become apparent in the middle, and by the end, if the hero is sufficiently leveled up, magic comes into play. The castle isn't that weak, though. But these are just guesses and my assumptions. Overall, good job.

Alex_soldier Well done, in a word. You know, you can play if you really want to, but as it turns out, only a few can actually make their dream come true...
So start thinking about how to create what you want...

I just wanted to express an idea – maybe we could find another faction that fits the world of Heroes and also organically incorporates illusion magic. A brazen race of circus performers who trample on humans and others – that's certainly not bad. But firstly, the average person might not understand it and will think of the Castle as an Asylum for jesters and clowns, etc. Secondly, there's not much real depth, philosophy, or soul – it's not very serious, or rather, the philosophy isn't. There's no epic quality. Thirdly, it's not very believable – entire armies of circus performers... And fourthly, the Eastern style of the Academy and the style of this race will likely be similar. Although, from a gameplay perspective, there are certainly many advantages. That is, there are many pros and many cons. I've thought about a possible race that could embrace illusion magic. Definitely not gnome mechanics, that's nonsense. But there is a race that has mastered spiritual and psychic matters even better than Necromancers – the Elestian, also known as night elves, the ancient guardians of order. They remained unknown to most peoples for a long time, so maybe we could give them a corresponding magic that misdirects and deceives? Of course, their unique units won't have such a strong "cheating" and "trickster" focus, but excessive contrast isn't very good either.

Once again, thank you all for your feedback!
I just want to comment on the correspondence between the race and the game world.
When suggesting ideas, I primarily focus on playability. After all, that's what ultimately matters to the player.
And epicness, as well as the developers' opinion, interests me the least.

Hmm, these are actually important things. If a faction doesn't fit into the world, few people will play it.

Hmm, these are actually important things. If a faction doesn't fit into the world, few people will play it.

I don't agree with that. Players are primarily interested in the gameplay. The more intricate and well-designed the abilities, the more interesting the battles will be.

I agree that the appearance can ruin any faction, but love will still come over time, after a few trial battles.

And epicness is relative. This isn't a fantasy novel; it's a game. Colorful cutscenes and backstory will certainly enhance it, but they won't replace the gameplay!