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cuckoo
07-04-2005, 12:37 AM
A hideous grin broke out about Gelder's pitted face as stared hungrily at the oppositon, like a wolf surveying lambs. He licked his cracked lips as he meticulously lowered his oversized sword until it pointed directly at the nearest enemies throat. He broke into a swoft trot. Small rocks and dirt flew up around him as his plate-armoured body gained momentum; in a few seconds, he was thundering across the field like a runaway tank. Wind whipping at his face, Gelder roared with the shear power being released. His marked man, weak, terrified, pathetic, could only stare, rooted with horror, as Gelder drew closer. Gelder frowned as something plucked at his foot. In a split second, he was hurtling through the air, all three-hundred pounds of behemoth smashing into the earth.

His shiny, just-waxed armour now caked with mud and other bits and ends, Gelder struggled to his feet. Behind stood a simple trap: two stakes driven into the ground and strung with tough cord. A humanoid shadow caught Gelder's attention as it flickered behind a boulder. Setting his teeth, he lumbered over, determined to give the booby-trapper a taste of deadly steel. Yet when he got to the boulder, all Gelder had to accompany him was a mocking laugh, fading into the distance...

There are some who slink across the battlefield, not to fight or but to sabotage. Setting traps, tripping up enemies, these silent infiltrators flit unseen through enemy positions, a proverbial thorn in the foot.

Espionagist

Hitpoints: 33
Armour: 5%
Blocking: 35% (18%)
Movement: 4 (semi-teleport: can move past enemy troops as well as friendly)
Recovery: 2
Attack: Focus (cast on self)

Special Abilities:

Invisibility

The Espionagist starts life invisible to your opponent (you can see him as a dim shadow). Any attacks that hit the square the Espionagist is on still affect him as normal (Furgons can't grow shrubs on a square an Espionagist is on). If the Espionagist is hit or affected by any sort of attack, or if a unit attempts to move directly onto or next to the square the Espionagist is on, the Espionagist is reveled to all. If a unit tries to move onto the Espionagist's square, it moves back to it's starting square and may not move again for that turn. If an enemy unit is ever right next to the Espionagist,

for xxx
an xox x=square the enemy unit must be on o=Espionagist
eg: xxx

Then the Espionagist is visible to all.

If the Espionagist is revealed, it may go invisible again. It uses it's attack mentioned above, and goes into focus for one turn. If it is still focusing at the start of your next turn, it goes invisible (that does not mean you have to use the Espionagist though, you can simply let him sit there if you like).

Booby traps :

So by now you're probably getting bored and wondering what exactly this unit can actually do to help your side. Well, the Espionagist can also set a variety of booby traps to "trip" your opponent up. The range for setting these units is one (the same as a knight's).

Spike trap : A number of wooden stakes set sharp-side up. Any unit that walks over the spikes takes fifteen unblockable damage.

Jawed trap : Unlike the more modern steel jawed traps, these simply but annoyingly efficient traps of springs and sticks pop up, catching feet,and impeding movement.

xoxbad x= empty square o=unit, b= booby trap, d= square that o was supposed to go to, a= square o ends up in. Note that if square a is occupied, unit o stops at the booby trap square.

Any unit the jawed trap catches, has it's movement slowed by one until it gets it off (use the chart above for reference). The jawed trap has twelve health and, in order to get it off, the unit must attack itself. However, any overkill damage is done to the unit itself. eg: a knight attacks itself to rid itself of the jawed trap. The trap has 12 hits when, subtracted from 22 means the knight hits itself with a strength 10 unblockable attack. If the unit has no strength, you will need another unit that has some to attack it.

Rope trap : A rope tied to two stakes, sure to annoy all that are tripped up by it!

The rope trap is simple. If a unit walks over it, it must end it's movement phase on the square containing the rope trap.

Note:

-All traps take have 12 hitpoints. They take damage like any other unit, but cannot be healed. If a trap is damaged, it becomes visible.

-Once a trap has been set off, the square it was set on is now empty.

-Traps are invisible to both you and your opponent. The only one who can see them is the Espionagist that set it off. If possible, he will avoid stepping on one.

-The Espionagist does not count as an endgame unit (that would be far too frustrating).

So there you have it, my very long winded unit, the first I have made in quite a while. All questions, comments, queries, recomendations, flamings, and such welcomed (well, maybe not the flaming).

As for the story, it is but another of those little things I feel like writing every now and then. Reading it is optional but welcomed.

Dove
07-04-2005, 01:17 AM
First of all, we need a roleplay section in these forums. That first little bit wasn't bad at all...

As for the unit, I really like it. I think having that many options complicates it too much, but it's really not a bad unit at all. Simplify a little bit, pick maybe two or three of the traps (if that many) to employ and work on those. I like the idea, and all the traps are original, it's just that no unit out there is that complex or versatile so far as abilities.

Mithrandir
07-04-2005, 07:52 AM
I like it, good job. I do think you may be better off eliminated one or two traps. Practically speaking, I don't know how they could program it so it would be possible to do all these commands.

And there's something you never specified, that is whether or not the traps are invisible. I'm assuming they are and if they are that makes an overpowered unit. No invisible unit should be able to drop invisible traps. I like what you've done with the unit, the use of the traps and stuff. It's interesting but way overpowered. Imagine how overpowered my Minelayer would be if it was invisible. Now THAT would be nothing short of ludicrous.

Killjoy
07-04-2005, 09:13 AM
This is a good hero, but it shouldn't have invisibility.

Take only two or three traps, all of them would be hard to remember which was which, and would be difficult to program.

The main reason that I'm replying was that I loved the beginning of this hero. =) The background fit so perfectly well...

cuckoo
07-04-2005, 10:47 AM
First, thanks to everyone for the compliments!

Dove: It seems everyone agrees that there are too many traps. I'll take the magic scroll thing out, I don't really know which other one to take out though.

Mithrandir: Well I don't know much about probramming, but I was thinking something like selecting attack as long as the Espionagist is invisible will make a little option menu pop up with all the different traps available.

Yeah, the traps are invisible, but to both players. The difference between these traps, and the mines is that the mines are powerful damage dealers. The traps are hinderances and annoyances. And of course if the other player has a bad memory, he may set off a trap himself.

Killjoy: Thanks, but this guy isn't really a hero. Just a weedy little guy in a black cloak. ;) You too suggest taking some traps out. I'm taking out the magic scroll thing, what else should go? Probably the poisoned spike....

Mithrandir
07-04-2005, 10:57 AM
The traps are less powerful than the mines but having an invisible unit place invisible traps is still a bad idea. Too much abuse potential.

cuckoo
07-04-2005, 03:27 PM
Abuse potential? :confused:

The problem with making the traps visible to all is that it gives the opposing player a decent idea of where the Espionagist is. And as it is such a fragile unit, that is rather unfair.

Secondly, neither player would be able to see a trap, so one of your own could easily set it off if you're not careful, or just have forgetful tendencies.

Thirdly, if you could see the trap, would you really start moving your units towards it? "Oh look, it's a spike pit! I'll just walk right in."

It just seems that making traps visible ruins the effectiveness of the Espionagist...

Mithrandir
07-04-2005, 03:52 PM
If the traps were visible it would mess up the effectiveness of the unit, I agree. However, the fact that both the unit AND the traps are invisible in this unit is a problem. I don't know how to fix your unit other than to scrap it entirely but the way it is has a great deal of abuse potential, possibly more than even the Golem Ambusher and thus, I don't like it.

JesusCraig
07-04-2005, 05:55 PM
Uhhh if the problem is that the traps and the unit are invisible and you can't make the traps visible wouldn't the obvious solution be to make the unit visible :P

But I guess that makes him like your minelayer, which I'm not a terribly large fan of, its the invisibility thing, in my eyes to make the game fair everyone needs to have the same amount of information.

Would making the traps and the unit visible really destroy this unit? Make it more resilient and able to withstand the scout a bit and then the traps can be used against the melee units by making them charge through them to gain an advantage. The traps would be placable deterrents.

To which end it also helps you cut down on which ones you should use, the poison trap is less useful then the other three, make the spike trap purely damage, then you have a damage trap, a trap which impedes movement over a long term, and a trap which stops movement instantly, all powerful enough to warrant avoidance, without having to be invisible.

This is something I wished to post way back in the days of the minelayer but I was gone at the time and didn't want to bring it back from the grave. I've done substantial checking on patterns of movement and by using a diagonal pattern a unit can never get through a set of traps placed on a diaganol if that units recovery time is higher then the units that places the trap, keep that in mind. If you wish to check the pathways units move it will always take a step forward before taking its second step to the side, therefore incapacitating melee units. I know Mith says anyone who understands movement patterns deserves to benefit from that knowledge, but eventually it would become common knowledge and abused.

Questions: Would traps be damageable while not activated?
Do they block line of sight?

Mithrandir
07-04-2005, 07:14 PM
I know Mith says anyone who understands movement patterns deserves to benefit from that knowledge, but eventually it would become common knowledge and abused.
I look at it the same way I look at LOS. I suppose one could call the trick shots abuse but I don't look at it that way.

Kyir
07-04-2005, 07:17 PM
this all goes back to bottles thing about threats..,
cant find the quote, if it was visable it would make the other player decide weth er or not its worth it

Mithrandir
07-04-2005, 07:20 PM
Threats are everything in this game; they stop your opponent doing what he wants, and that gives you a chance to do what you want instead.
There it is.

cuckoo
07-04-2005, 08:56 PM
Pretty good advice JesusCraig, I'll make some adjustments to the unit.
However, I rather liked the whole invisibilty factor. :( It adds some suspense to the game, and makes the unit seem a bit more realistic (image a medieval nerd guy ;)).

So I guess I can either make the traps or the Espionagist visible...
EDIT: How about keeping the traps invisible until they take damage?


And no, the traps don't block LOS.

JesusCraig
07-04-2005, 10:52 PM
Hey its your unit, keep it invisible if you want, I'm merely an antagonist anyway :D

If you keep him invisible make him vulnerable, if hes visible make him more resilient, maybe do partial visibility, say at the beginning of any turn the unit moves they see perhaps a shadow or a gust of wind or something in the direction the unit was moving, this narrows down the possibilities of where it could be, then I don't think mith would have too much a problem with it, as clever deduction and the use of a scout could discover this unit relatively easier (a polar direction shot can cover 1/4 the area covered, with units in the way it can cover even more.)

cuckoo
07-05-2005, 05:06 PM
Well, I thought it over a bit, and I can see how annoying it would be to pinpoint the exact location. So, if a unit is next to the Espionagist, it becomes visible. How's that?

Oh yeah, I changed it so it is NOT an end game unit.

Wizard__99
07-08-2005, 10:30 PM
i think its a cool idea i like it

cuckoo
07-09-2005, 12:44 PM
i think its a cool idea i like it


Well NOW I'm stacked. :cool: