Mithrandir
07-03-2005, 09:01 PM
Certified Platinum Unit (http://www.tacticsarena.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16946)
DON’T WORRY! This is NOT just a screwed up and overpowered scout.
Crossbowman
HP: 45
Armor: 16
Power: 20* (unblockable)
Blocking: 40%
Movement: 3
Recovery: 2 (practically speaking, it’s more like 4 though)
Attack Pattern: Range of 4, LOS applies. The thing that makes this unit unique is that it takes two turns to load the crossbow. So on Turn 1 you select the place you want the Crossbowman to move and/or the space you want to target and then he DOESN’T do anything yet, he simply starts to load the bolt (if he moves without attacking, he can move right away). Then your opponent has a turn, then you have your second turn, all the while the Crossbowman is loading (if the Crossbowman is attacked while he’s loading, it doesn’t delay the attack unless the Crossbowman is killed). Then after your opponent’s second turn ends, the Crossbowman finally does his attack (attacking the SQUARE that was targeted regardless of what has changed since targeting, it does NOT attack the unit that was initially on the square unless that unit didn’t move), then your third turn begins. When your third turn begins, the Crossbowman’s recovery time will be at 2. If the space the Crossbowman needs to move first to get to the target but since making the command units have gotten in the way, the attack is cancelled.
Bolt: The powerful bolt doesn’t just wound its target but partially cripples it in two ways: armor and HP. 20 damage is done to the target’s armor (which IS reducible by armor, assuming it doesn’t just hit an empty space), destroying it permanently (DOES NOT apply to stone armor and bolt damage is not reduced by stone armor). Once a unit has zero armor (not counting stone armor), this part of the attack doesn’t affect it anymore. The second part of the attack is as follows: 20 damage is done to the opponent’s HP, half of which can’t be healed.
So if the Crossbowman successfully hits a fully healed pyromancer, it will take 20 damage and its new max HP will be 20 (the armor destroying aspect of the attack would be irrelevant). So after the attack its HP would be at 10 and its max HP would be at 20.
If the Crossbowman attacked a knight two times, the first hit would reduce the knights armor to 10 (remember, the 20 is reducible by armor, so when it first attacked the knight it could only do 15 damage). The second part of the hit would give the knight 15 damage (again, reducible by the armor the unit had in the beginning of that turn), 7 of which couldn’t be healed. So after the first attack, the knight would have 10 armor 35 HP and a max HP of 43. The second time you attacked the same knight (assuming it didn’t heal), you would destroy the remaining armor and do 18 damage (reducible by the 10 armor in the beginning of the turn), 9 of which couldn’t be healed. So after the second attack, the knight would have no armor, 17 HP and a max HP of 34.
If you could use it effectively, it would be devastatingly powerful but keep in mind that essentially, the recovery is 4 and you would either have to be very lucky or very, very good at predicting your opponent’s reaction to you starting to load your crossbow. Here’s one type of scenario (I’d illustrate with screenshots but this computer is not cooperative and it isn’t really necessary; just imagine a blue scout three spaces in front of a red knight). The blue scout represents a Crossbowman, the red knight is the enemy. The Crossbowman has just started to load his Crossbow, meaning the knight must now make his move.
Now what do you do? It could be that the Crossbowman just targeted the knight but perhaps he didn’t. Perhaps he targeted a space right next to the Crossbowman, anticipating an attack. Perhaps he targeted a space where he thought the knight might retreat, such as the space six spaces in front of the Crossbowman. Hopefully you can see the psychological potential. There are a lot of units that require outwitting your opponent but this is one of a very small number where you make a decision and the success of your plan depends on whether or not your opponent is fooled or if he/she figures you out (the Mirage Ward is another with the same concept).
It is a unit with an overpowered attack, for sure. But it would take a lot of skill to use the unit effectively because you'd have to tell it what it will do (where it will move, what square it will attack and what direction it will face) two turns before it ends up doing it, giving the opponent time to potentially screw up your plans. But if you can predict your opponent's actions well enough, it could be devastating. It could also be used simply as an incredible threat to just scare your opponent off. In another situation you could put the attack on an empty space to keep an enemy scout from being able to get in the right place to hit something using LOS. Another possibility would be to use it in conjunction with the furgon and frosty to make it more likely that your opponent wouldn’t be able to escape. The possibilities are endless.
There is a saying of mine that I’ve used many times and has been quoted by others quite a few times as well, and I believe it applies to this unit well.
Any unit that is overpowered in the hands of a good player and underpowered in the hands of a bad player is a great unit.
I have yet to find an exception to this rule. I bring it up because I expect people to say that this unit is overpowered and I firmly believe it isn’t. I would say that THIS unit is potentially overpowered in the hands of a good player, utterly useless in the hands of a bad player and is therefore well-balanced, though not necessarily great (that’s another issue). I believe that when you consider the lack of versatility, very high recovery time and extreme difficulty in using it, I think if anything it’s underpowered. Please consider how difficult it would be to use practically speaking before you say it’s overpowered.
Hope you like it, let me know what you think (and I’m sorry this is such a dang long post, I didn’t think it would be this complicated).
DON’T WORRY! This is NOT just a screwed up and overpowered scout.
Crossbowman
HP: 45
Armor: 16
Power: 20* (unblockable)
Blocking: 40%
Movement: 3
Recovery: 2 (practically speaking, it’s more like 4 though)
Attack Pattern: Range of 4, LOS applies. The thing that makes this unit unique is that it takes two turns to load the crossbow. So on Turn 1 you select the place you want the Crossbowman to move and/or the space you want to target and then he DOESN’T do anything yet, he simply starts to load the bolt (if he moves without attacking, he can move right away). Then your opponent has a turn, then you have your second turn, all the while the Crossbowman is loading (if the Crossbowman is attacked while he’s loading, it doesn’t delay the attack unless the Crossbowman is killed). Then after your opponent’s second turn ends, the Crossbowman finally does his attack (attacking the SQUARE that was targeted regardless of what has changed since targeting, it does NOT attack the unit that was initially on the square unless that unit didn’t move), then your third turn begins. When your third turn begins, the Crossbowman’s recovery time will be at 2. If the space the Crossbowman needs to move first to get to the target but since making the command units have gotten in the way, the attack is cancelled.
Bolt: The powerful bolt doesn’t just wound its target but partially cripples it in two ways: armor and HP. 20 damage is done to the target’s armor (which IS reducible by armor, assuming it doesn’t just hit an empty space), destroying it permanently (DOES NOT apply to stone armor and bolt damage is not reduced by stone armor). Once a unit has zero armor (not counting stone armor), this part of the attack doesn’t affect it anymore. The second part of the attack is as follows: 20 damage is done to the opponent’s HP, half of which can’t be healed.
So if the Crossbowman successfully hits a fully healed pyromancer, it will take 20 damage and its new max HP will be 20 (the armor destroying aspect of the attack would be irrelevant). So after the attack its HP would be at 10 and its max HP would be at 20.
If the Crossbowman attacked a knight two times, the first hit would reduce the knights armor to 10 (remember, the 20 is reducible by armor, so when it first attacked the knight it could only do 15 damage). The second part of the hit would give the knight 15 damage (again, reducible by the armor the unit had in the beginning of that turn), 7 of which couldn’t be healed. So after the first attack, the knight would have 10 armor 35 HP and a max HP of 43. The second time you attacked the same knight (assuming it didn’t heal), you would destroy the remaining armor and do 18 damage (reducible by the 10 armor in the beginning of the turn), 9 of which couldn’t be healed. So after the second attack, the knight would have no armor, 17 HP and a max HP of 34.
If you could use it effectively, it would be devastatingly powerful but keep in mind that essentially, the recovery is 4 and you would either have to be very lucky or very, very good at predicting your opponent’s reaction to you starting to load your crossbow. Here’s one type of scenario (I’d illustrate with screenshots but this computer is not cooperative and it isn’t really necessary; just imagine a blue scout three spaces in front of a red knight). The blue scout represents a Crossbowman, the red knight is the enemy. The Crossbowman has just started to load his Crossbow, meaning the knight must now make his move.
Now what do you do? It could be that the Crossbowman just targeted the knight but perhaps he didn’t. Perhaps he targeted a space right next to the Crossbowman, anticipating an attack. Perhaps he targeted a space where he thought the knight might retreat, such as the space six spaces in front of the Crossbowman. Hopefully you can see the psychological potential. There are a lot of units that require outwitting your opponent but this is one of a very small number where you make a decision and the success of your plan depends on whether or not your opponent is fooled or if he/she figures you out (the Mirage Ward is another with the same concept).
It is a unit with an overpowered attack, for sure. But it would take a lot of skill to use the unit effectively because you'd have to tell it what it will do (where it will move, what square it will attack and what direction it will face) two turns before it ends up doing it, giving the opponent time to potentially screw up your plans. But if you can predict your opponent's actions well enough, it could be devastating. It could also be used simply as an incredible threat to just scare your opponent off. In another situation you could put the attack on an empty space to keep an enemy scout from being able to get in the right place to hit something using LOS. Another possibility would be to use it in conjunction with the furgon and frosty to make it more likely that your opponent wouldn’t be able to escape. The possibilities are endless.
There is a saying of mine that I’ve used many times and has been quoted by others quite a few times as well, and I believe it applies to this unit well.
Any unit that is overpowered in the hands of a good player and underpowered in the hands of a bad player is a great unit.
I have yet to find an exception to this rule. I bring it up because I expect people to say that this unit is overpowered and I firmly believe it isn’t. I would say that THIS unit is potentially overpowered in the hands of a good player, utterly useless in the hands of a bad player and is therefore well-balanced, though not necessarily great (that’s another issue). I believe that when you consider the lack of versatility, very high recovery time and extreme difficulty in using it, I think if anything it’s underpowered. Please consider how difficult it would be to use practically speaking before you say it’s overpowered.
Hope you like it, let me know what you think (and I’m sorry this is such a dang long post, I didn’t think it would be this complicated).