The high elves

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dtw
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The high elves

Post by dtw »

I have heard to talk of them but the phpbb search is so crap i can't find out about them - has Jetryl posted graphics or anything?
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Jetrel
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Post by Jetrel »

:o wow, this is creepy. Really creepy.

I log into the forum to post the high elven images that I had just upgraded to the "new look" of the elves, and the only topic I find unread is titled "The High Elves"

dang.

What I'm about to post has been seen in earlier revisions, though in this one, the spearman looks a lot better, the enchantress and sylph have finally been touched up, and I finally tossed the cavalry and level-1 archer into the picture.

The cavalry and archers have been around for a while, they just sucked too much to post, back in the day.

The sylph still needs a bit of work, but I think I can call what I have shown here, done.
I still need to make a line of horse archers, a branch of shieldsmen from the spearman line, and some other stuff: a line of skirmishing swordsmen, and/or perhaps a leader.
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Disto
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Post by Disto »

What about my Cavalry 'thing' :D .
I don't like lv. 1 horseman but i likes its upgrades, and the archer looks like a recolouring of the wood elf. I thought these guys were going to get lots of diverse cavalry, it looks to me like 2 linear lines of it.
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Jetrel
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Post by Jetrel »

As for a quick note on what they do, what they're like...

High elves are not as good in the forest as wood elves (although they are decent, and most of them can move fairly well in the forest). I'm thinking 50% defense, with 1 move (loyalists are 50% with 2moves). The cavalry would not get a defensive bonus in the woods, though, and likely wouldn't move as fast there.

High elves are from the great elven cities, and though they do share a love of things that grow, they are used to living in the open plain, under the stars, or in the silver towers of their cities. They just weren't raised to be woodsmen, like their kin. They like trees, but they didn't grow up around them.

In LOTR terms, it's like comparing the Noldor (IIRC) to Legolas's people.

High elves are somewhat like loyalists in tree structure, except they are notably more expensive, and notably more resilient (and somewhat harder to level). High elves live more strongly than humans, just like dwarves, although they aren't quite so resilient. The trick with high elves though is that they don't have any reckless danger units that are easy to kill, like the human mage or human horseman, or human thief - for one example, high elven horsemen have an option of a sword attack at level-1.

High elves are a faction that is very strong in formation, but they are one in which you have to value the lives of your troops. A high elven player can't swarm, nor can they easily afford to sacrifice their men in wild tactics.

High elves will do best in many of the same places loyalists do - plains and cities.

Anyways, the one unit from the current elven tree that is getting pulled over to the high elves is the sorceress/enchantress/sylph, although she will, as shown, be getting an upgrade to her look, and level-1 will not be green, either. The sorceress line will also be bumped down a level, and her abilities will change quite a bit - she will lose her entangle attack, and will gain healing.
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Jetrel
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Post by Jetrel »

Disto wrote:What about my Cavalry 'thing' :D .
I don't like lv. 1 horseman but i likes its upgrades, and the archer looks like a recolouring of the wood elf. I thought these guys were going to get lots of diverse cavalry, it looks to me like 2 linear lines of it.
2 linear lines is as much as the humans have, minus the lancer.

What I may well do is give them a scout branch of their horse archer; I may also use snippets of your horse archer - the shield you gave it was kinda cool.

2 lines is enough for a beginning, and more than qualifies as "lots of diverse cavalry". Keep in mind that high elven troops are very versatile - the level one horsemen will basically be like a combination of the human horseman AND cavalry. But it will be more expensive, and harder to level.
Disto
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Post by Disto »

Cool it will be interesting to see the finished product.
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Post by turin »

They look almost exactly like I would have imagined the Noldor to look*... very, very cool.

The only part that looks rather odd is the archer, and that's because its just a recoloring of the ranger, AFAICT.


*: BTW. that's a good thing.
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Post by Shadow »

Yes they look good I like especialy the horses and the sylph
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Ankka
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Post by Ankka »

turin wrote: The only part that looks rather odd is the archer, and that's because its just a recoloring of the ranger, AFAICT.
I kinda agree on this, it is really the only thing that bothers me... it doesn't fit really with the rest of them having some shiny armor stuff and he only some colored clothing...


Absolutely fantastic, in any case. The current units in-game are getting kinda less shiny with these new units looking better and better all the time... :D
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Post by scott »

They sound like weaknessless drakes, but I assume the lack of every unit having fire makes up for it. The art looks great and I'm looking forward to them. They are not flashy with a bunch of weird abilities or outrageous traits that have come to reside in the other factions. I feel their straightforward simplicity as per your description really adds to the high fantasy feel of the game without going Nintendo - they're elves but not in a silly way. Awesome.
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Disto
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Post by Disto »

My Horse Archer had a shield? My High Elven thing had a Javelin. Could be a idea for a versatile High Elven Cavalry.
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Post by mmHg »

Beautiful work! Can't wait see them in action!

My little critique: the lvl 1 cavalry looks a little oversized compared to the horse and to the other cavalry. Maybe cutting his hair a bit........ hard to say. Also, the lvl 3 cavalry has too many plumes. I thought the ones on the helmet were horns at first and if scaled look like they're about a foot tall! An alternative would be perhaps a different style helmet (without plumes). I do like the plume on the horse, however. The enchantress is my favorite, and I love the armor on the high level spearmen.
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Disto
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Post by Disto »

It seems that the lv. 1 cavalry and the lv. 2 spearman seem to share the same head, but why has the lv. 1 spearman got a much brighter bandanna.
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Post by Sangel »

I love the high elven style. They look exactly like "nobles elves girded for war". I also like the lack of reliance on forest, but I think you should be careful in making them too similar to the Loyalists - if they're near identical in everything but cost, they won't be as interesting. A skirmishing swordsman might cross that line.

A handful of graphics comments:-
1. The archer, as people have pointed out, looks far too much like a wood elf. I think you need to replace the "robin hood" hat with something else, and perhaps make more modifications.
2. The helmets on the cavalry line need harder edges; they don't stand out enough against the grass background.
3. The barding of the level two horseman looks too "matt". I understand that it's meant to be fitted leather barding, but it doesn't come off looking quite right. Is there some way you could add a grain to it?
4. The speartip of the level three spearman has an excellent shape, but looks entirely unshaded. Could you fix this?
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scott
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Post by scott »

They remind me of samurai (again, just having watched "The Last Samurai"...). The cavalry with scary-looking armor (the horns), the loose clothing, the spears, etc.
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