Mages of the Rainbow

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mlangsdorf
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Mages of the Rainbow

Post by mlangsdorf »

This is a somewhat radical proposal to add a larger variety of mages to the game (and weaken the power of the teleporting arch and great mages).

It keeps the current Mage and Dark Adept as 1st level units, and the Red Mage, White Mage, and Necromancer as 2nd level units. It adds 4 new 2nd level mage upgrade paths for the Mage, and a logical 3rd level extension of the 2nd level mage. The Archmage (3rd level) is an upgrade for any 2nd level mage (ie, White mages could become Archmages) that advances to Great Mage.

The following is a list of all the 2nd level mages and their 3rd level upgrades. I'm listing name, a brief description, movement, and spell attack (separated by a slash for 2nd/3rd level). 3rd level mages have an "aura" effect that modifies adjacent units:

Red Mage/Mage of Flame: The current neutral fire mage. 5 smallfoot movement, no teleport, Fire 8x4/12x4. Mage of Flame has an "Aura of Destruction" that gives all friendly/allied units in adjacent hexes +10% damage.

White Mage/Mage of Light: as currently described.

Blue Mage/Mage of Waves: An ocean based wizard. 8 swimmer movement, Waterspray (Impact) 8x4/12x4. Mage of Waves has "Aura of Movement" that gives units that start adjacent to him +1 MP.

Brown Mage/Mage of Stones: An earth wizard. 5 fly movement and skirmish (could be mountainfoot, but the idea is to simulate someone who can tunnel through earth and ignore terrain), +10% resistance to all damage. Impact attack 6x4/9x4. Mage of Stones has "Aura of Shielding" that gives adjacent units +10% resistance to everything.

Grey Mage/Mage of Winds: An air wizard. 7 fly movement. Lightning (fire) 7x4/11x4. Mage of Winds has "Aura of Winds" that gives reduces the chance to hit adjacent units with ranged attacks by 20%.

Green Mage/Mage of Nature: An elvish, naturalist wizard. 6 woodland movement, entangle (pierce, slow) 8x3/11x4. Mage of Nature has "Aura of Growth" that gives all adjacent units Ambush like an Elf Ranger.

Archmage (3rd level)/Great Mage: A master, generalist mage who can use the attack spells of any other mage. 5 smallfoot movement with teleport. Archmage has all the 2nd level mage attacks (but does 20% less damage with them), Great mage has all the 3rd level mage attacks (but does 20% less damage with them). The idea is to trade attack power for flexibility.

Images should be relatively easy - just recoloring the current robes. Assuming that this proposal doesn't get shot down too hard, I'll give some samples today or tomorrow.

Any comments?

-Mark
Boucman
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Post by Boucman »

colouring would be enough for lvl2, but lvl3 should be unique...

I linke most of your auras, most of them are interesting; I especially like the ambush aura.


however, I don't think that mages should have that many variations. that's way toomuch. try to take some of these ideas and give them to other units. there are other sides that need original units (as in different in usage, totally different strategies like berserker)

no, mages have already two upgrade paths, a third one would be OK, and I really like the green mage graphic, but more than that would be overpowered.

why not get a second path for the elvish shaman, the ambush aura on a very weak unit would make woods extremely fearfull in age of hero era

the orcish shaman also needs a second lvl, and I like the idea of orcs not having "standard" magical units. some of your auras could be used there.
Integral
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Post by Integral »

I like the idea of a very widely branching mage tree (didn't look at the specifics of your proposal)...but I definitely do not like the idea of a "supermage" like the Arch-Mage you propose. Part of what makes a branching tree interesting is that you have to trade off different abilities (for instance, I can't have both healing AND teleportation), and turning the mage advancement tree into a diamond would eliminate that -- any mage class has equal abilities at level 3.

Daniel
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turin
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Post by turin »

IMHO, the blue mage, brown mage and grey mage proposals are all exrtaneous. The current 1st level mage is blue. The arch mage is basically brown. And grey would look too much like the white mage. You have to think visually as well as gamewise.

Also,i don't like the idea of the mage branching into more than 3 units. IMHO, 3 should be the maximum. Green Mage, Red Mage and White Mage are good for second level units, any more is overkill.

Also, i REALLY dislike the idea that all the units can get back to the archmage. It makes no sense.
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mlangsdorf
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Post by mlangsdorf »

Currently, the archmage is the "improved red mage", just like the "Mage of Light" is the "improved white mage."

The idea with the proposal is to create an improved red mage that is a logical upgrade of the red mage, and to turn the archmage into a generalist mage. That's why any 2nd level mage can become an archmage.

I'd rather recolor the Archmage and keep the Brown Mage (who I think has the most interesting powers of the suggested mages) than the Green mage, who is really rather boring.
Boucman
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Post by Boucman »

hmm, I think we're getting confused here...

there already was a green mage proposal with graphics and everything, which was never included because of the name "force mage"

as far as graphic are concerned, most people seem too really like the current green mage graphics. however, the graphic does not suggest your nature oriented green mage at all.

your green mage would fit with an elf side, the original green mage was sidewise neutral...
Dacyn
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Post by Dacyn »

If Arch Mage becomes a generalist mage it should not retain teleport. IMO, a generalist mage should have no specialties except magic.
turin wrote:IMHO, the blue mage, brown mage and grey mage proposals are all exrtaneous.
It is probably not a good idea to have one unit advance into so many. KISS
turin wrote:The current 1st level mage is blue.
er, why is it blue? Blue seems to me to be a specialized color...
turin wrote:Also, i REALLY dislike the idea that all the units can get back to the archmage. It makes no sense.
If they can all become the archmage, what is the point of splitting originally? Maybe they should retain a specialty from lvl 2...(but that would be kind of complicated)
KISS- keep it simple, stupid

When reading the above quote from TWP, keep in mind the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: "Language is the source of misunderstandings."
Insinuator
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Post by Insinuator »

Dacyn wrote:
turin wrote:The current 1st level mage is blue.
er, why is it blue? Blue seems to me to be a specialized color...
Well, what other color could it be?
mbabuskov
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Post by mbabuskov »

Boucman wrote: why not get a second path for the elvish shaman, the ambush aura on a very weak unit would make woods extremely fearfull in age of hero era
I really like this idea.
Circon
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Post by Circon »

Hm. The mages are nice but a bit complex for the current game. I'd suggest leaving the current mage with its 2 advancement paths, the buttkick-mage and the good guy-mage.

Set all these as Wizards instead of mages, and send them over to Slainte. He might want all these wizards for his campaign.
Dacyn
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Post by Dacyn »

Insinuator wrote:
Dacyn wrote: er, why is it blue? Blue seems to me to be a specialized color...
Well, what other color could it be?
it could possibly be gray or brown (or maybe even green, which is the same color as grass).
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turin
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Post by turin »

Dacyn wrote:
Insinuator wrote: Well, what other color could it be?
it could possibly be gray or brown (or maybe even green, which is the same color as grass).
Gray might be good. Brown is in yet ANOTHER proposal, though, so it, unfortunately, can't be used.
Green is the color of grass, true. Thats why its used for a nature mage. ;)

Having a 'generic' mage is a bad idea. Once you specialize in, say, holy magic, you can't re-learn the other kinds of magic and lose your holy magic. It makes no sense.
And no unit should branch into more than 3 options. Currently, nothing branches into more than 2.
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And I hate stupid people.
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Sangel
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Post by Sangel »

I agree, 3 seems like a respectable limit on number of branches. If you really want more, you should probably add an additional first level unit, much as has been proposed for Mermaids and Mermen.
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Dacyn
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Post by Dacyn »

turin wrote:Brown is in yet ANOTHER proposal, though, so it, unfortunately, can't be used.
only if the proposal is accepted :)
turin wrote:Having a 'generic' mage is a bad idea. Once you specialize in, say, holy magic, you can't re-learn the other kinds of magic and lose your holy magic. It makes no sense.
I agree. There does not seem to be much strategic difference between having a generic mage vs. having one more mage line.
KISS- keep it simple, stupid

When reading the above quote from TWP, keep in mind the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: "Language is the source of misunderstandings."
MattiRoto

Post by MattiRoto »

Well I like most of the ideas,I do have the water etc. mage under way.

it would go...

Water Sprite-Sprite-Sprite Raider...

they would be Merman mages.

The Sprite and Sprite Raider would walk on land faster than other under-water units.
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