A Glimpse at Version 3 Faction Changes/New Combat Abilities

[Glaehron Turaanen]

That are some amazing looking new features there. Good work!
I could imagine that a whole raiding party of Ferons using Bloodrage will cause quite a bit of lagg with all those blood looking particles flying around about them, or isn't that too much of a problem? I'm sure you tested it thoroughly so no form of criticism at all, pure curiosity.

 

[Kardiophylax]

That are some amazing looking new features there. Good work!
I could imagine that a whole raiding party of Ferons using Bloodrage will cause quite a bit of lagg with all those blood looking particles flying around about them, or isn't that too much of a problem? I'm sure you tested it thoroughly so no form of criticism at all, pure curiosity.

I don't think it will cause a lot of lag, but I will need to test with more troops to verify.  The ability will not be active all the time, so if it does hurt FPS it should only be for a limited time.

I am considering allowing particle effects to be turned off/on through the Talera options menu in case people have trouble with the new effects.



Planelord idea - Druid Idea - Weather ability - Create Planar Storm

- Create a Planar rain storm above the druids.  All Planelord troops within range of the storm gain a small amount of health / sec (probably 1 health/sec).  In addition, all enemy troops caught within the storm lose 1 health / 2 seconds. This is similar to other faction abilities except that it combines both a positive, healing effect, with a negative, damaging effect.  The Feron ability is a heal only (though stronger), and other troops have damaging effects in a radius, but none combine the two currently.  When the storm is over the rain will stop.

- I would make the rain sort of purplish. 



For the Fallen Heroes, I am thinking I should have them be able to activate an aura which infects their weapons and the weapons of any Revived Corpses within range.  These weapons would have a chance to infect any enemies nearby that are struck by them.  The infection would cause a slow damage over time and if any of the enemies got too close to another enemy they would spread the disease.  What do you think?

 

[Khandrak]

It's starting to sound to me like there's going to be smoke and particles and auras and **** all over the place. While it will look really cool, it's probably going to cause lag. I guess we'll have to test it out and see.

 

[Kardiophylax]

Good news, so far I've not noticed a lag issue.  At least, not with the Planelord effects in the tests I've done.  While large battles are always a little laggy on my system (in the 20's fps wise if I am facing directly at the oncoming enemy masses), the particle effects being used seemed to have little impact.  Here are two screenshots of the Planelord effects against a Feron army.  I have 50 units and they have quite a few more then that.  Their army size was 111 but I don't think all of them took the field at the start.  I am using all the particle effects to check FPS, but in reality it is doubtful the player would choose to use all 3 simultaneously.  Anyway...

Spoiler

First shot, Planar storm and arrows being used.

Second shot  of Planar storm, arrows, and planarstep being used.

 

[Khandrak]

Looking good. I'm glad to hear that it's not having a significant effect on frame rate as well.

 

[Glaehron Turaanen]

Indeed that is great news! This way players who don't have such good hardware can enjoy the particle effects as well.

 

[Darkstar707]

Oh god! Oh god! The lights! The lights!

oh god I'm going blind!!!!

MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!

lol That is a crapload of purple in those pics.

But yeah, nice job dude. That looks awesome.

 

[Kardiophylax]

Oh god! Oh god! The lights! The lights!

oh god I'm going blind!!!!

MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!

lol That is a crapload of purple in those pics.

But yeah, nice job dude. That looks awesome.

Lol, yeah, most of the time you wouldn't have all those things going off at once.    The Planelords love their purple though.  Most faction effects will be color coded so its easier to know whats going on at a glance. 


Most of the purple comes from the Planar Storm that the Druids have created.  It makes the sky appear purple and causes the purple rain to fall from the sky.  Those puff clouds from the Swordsmen also tend to disappear pretty quickly, I just used ctrl f9 (slow motion cheat) and ctrl f11 (pause cheat) to take the screenshots.


Thanks for the compliments guys.  I know it looks a little overwhelmingly colorful right now, but that again due to all the effects being present at once, and the game being in a paused state. 

 

[Kumoriha]

Looks awesome! I just hope it won't get too crazy with colors...
One little note: the sky seems too purple...I thought a more natural shade of red-purple would look better.
Anyway, that's just me being picky. I'm amazed by all this stuff you've put into it!

 

[Darkstar707]

Kewl, cus I almost had like a epileptic seizure or something due to that insane amount of purpleness.

 

[Kardiophylax]

I'll try some different color codes for the purple sky.  I've tried a few, but so far that one looked the best. 


Alright guys, I could use some info gathering help here....


1. On average, how long does it take before the first part of your force engages the enemy?  Please include both cavalry and infantry.  I need to know how soon enemies are reaching one another from across the battlefield so I know when the bulk of the combat starts.

2. On average, how long does a battle last for you?  Obviously this will vary, but considering two decent size armies, how long do they tend to last?


I need to be able to create a workable system for when the AI uses its abilities, and figuring out these times is an important piece of this puzzle.  It will also help guide the cooldown times I use.  I already have a base idea, but I need to know how long battles are lasting.  Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[Kardiophylax]

Slight bump.

No responses so I'll have to go with my own guesses I suppose. 

 

[Elenmmare]

Sorry, my bad .

I'll try some different color codes for the purple sky.  I've tried a few, but so far that one looked the best. 


Alright guys, I could use some info gathering help here....


1. On average, how long does it take before the first part of your force engages the enemy?  Please include both cavalry and infantry.  I need to know how soon enemies are reaching one another from across the battlefield so I know when the bulk of the combat starts.

2. On average, how long does a battle last for you?  Obviously this will vary, but considering two decent size armies, how long do they tend to last?


I need to be able to create a workable system for when the AI uses its abilities, and figuring out these times is an important piece of this puzzle.  It will also help guide the cooldown times I use.  I already have a base idea, but I need to know how long battles are lasting.  Thanks for any help you can offer.

1. I only fight in battles of around 100 men, but it usually takes around a 40 seconds before the cavalry reach me, on an open plain. The infantry, I can't be sure, but generally around 2-3 minutes?

2. Again, with 100 men in total, never more than 10 minutes for me. Generally it takes around 6-7.

 

[Kardiophylax]

Thanks for the response.  I think those times are about right, maybe slightly faster arrival time across flat land for infantry, depending on type.  I am trying to make a somewhat smart AI, without going nuts, and this should help.

Player abilities except 1 are use able in game with cooldowns.  I need to add a help menu so the player can call up a list of the ability commands for their faction.  Besides that, there can be some minor graphics tweaks and some new sounds for the abilities if I can get some.  Most importantly I need to create additional commands for the AI to use their abilities.

 

[Kardiophylax]

Okay, for the Asaleth ability that allows you to temporarily misdirect the enemy's orders.  How should it work?  Would you prefer it make the enemy hold their fire for a set amount of time, or should it cause their archers to actually charge towards the enemy for, say, 15 seconds before setting it back to their prior orders?  That's the last ability I need to work out the details on.

 

[Elenmmare]

Hmm. Holding fire would be effective, but hardly as glamorous as an all out charge. I think making the archers in their army charge would be ideal.

 

[Kardiophylax]

Hmm. Holding fire would be effective, but hardly as glamorous as an all out charge. I think making the archers in their army charge would be ideal.

I'll be working on this soon.

As of now, I have 14 other abilities in place, 3 per faction (except Asaleth, which will have 3 when this one is added).  I also am making strong headway with getting the AI to use these abilities against the player's army in combat.  I am also added some new particle effects and some new sound effects provided by Checkmaty (who created the custom sounds mod integrated with Talera) which will help liven up these abilities. 

Adding 15 new combat abilities has been an exhausting endeavor.  In the end, I hope everyone enjoys using them and seeing them used against them. 

I have also made kingdom heroes and kings more durable then before.  They should not be flopping over early in the battle and should be more representative of their leadership status.  I will also probably adjust Thorain Felmore to be a little more durable. 

In essence, what I'm doing is working to make faction versus faction combat more fun and entertaining then ever before.

 

[WebSite]

As of now, I have 14 other abilities in place, 3 per faction (except Asaleth, which will have 3 when this one is added).  I also am making strong headway with getting the AI to use these abilities against the player's army in combat.  I am also added some new particle effects and some new sound effects provided by Checkmaty (who created the custom sounds mod integrated with Talera) which will help liven up these abilities. 

Adding 15 new combat abilities has been an exhausting endeavor.  In the end, I hope everyone enjoys using them and seeing them used against them. 

I have also made kingdom heroes and kings more durable then before.  They should not be flopping over early in the battle and should be more representative of their leadership status.  I will also probably adjust Thorain Felmore to be a little more durable. 

In essence, what I'm doing is working to make faction versus faction combat more fun and entertaining then ever before.

Sounds awesome! Keep up the good work Kard, and good luck with it ;D!!!

 

[Kardiophylax]

Thanks for the encouragement.  It helps, believe me. 

After almost a month, the 15 new abilities are basically complete.  I may add some particle effects to a couple to spice them up, but for the most part they are completed.  I'll be posting up some screenshots and in-depth definitions of the abilities in the near future.  These abilities will be usable by both the player and the AI in all land battles (most of the AI abilities would not be compatible with sieges without being redesigned, probably not something I'll look to do since most battles take place in the open land anyway).  Future support could be introduced for sieges, but I feel some of the abilities would be either broken from a game-play or bug standpoint in that situation.

 

[Sunfish Hero]

I'm relatively new to the game, and have been playing your mod and am utterly impressed. It's incredibly fun, the quests (the few implemented at the moment) are extremely fun and pretty challenging. I love how each faction is pretty well-balanced. I have been using the Planelords a lot lately, as they seem to be a primarily ranged faction I tend to use them defensively. It's good fun and the strength and weaknesses of each faction make this mod not only challenging, but very entertaining.

Also, to add to your research as per your reuqest:

1. In full-charge on horse back, it takes about 20-40 seconds on open planes. Infantry tends to take considerably longer and has taken anywhere from 1 minute to 4-5 minutes (with hills.)

2. On average, in this mod, since I use the planelords as a primarily defensive combat style about 7-13 minutes, depending of the size of the enemy force. With a cavalry heavy army, sometimes under 5.

Also, it seems you've already developed some kind of arrow effect for the Planelords, but I was thinking something simple like a flaming arrow. Increased damage per shot, or maybe a little damage over time effect from the fire. It seems you've already developed 3 abilities for the Planelords, I'm happy read it! I look forward to some form of epic artifact in the form of a bow or 1-handed sword from the Planelord questline.

Great work, the amount of effort and time you put into this mod really shows with the extreme amount of depth in the wolrd you've created not to mention the lore behind it. The amount of detail in this mod really legitimizes it I think. Well done, I'm impatiently anticipating the release of version 3.