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| Thread: ICTC 3 - THE PALACE |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 05, 2008 11:31 AM |
bonus applied by kookastar on 30 Apr 2008. |
Edited by Momo at 10:07, 19 Mar 2008.
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ICTC 3 - The Palace
NOTE TO READERS: this page will mentions many times some mechanics from "Heroes 6 of your dreams" project. If something isn't clear, ask me (or just read the project as whole, but I'd warn you it's 30 pages long).
Also, "Heroes 6 of your dreams" had its own storyline and setting, loosely tied to the pre-Ashan storyline but with hints from the Ashan world too. So you'll probably raise an eyebrow about the background; let me clarify that it works like a remake from HOMM classic storyline "all new", kinda in the fashion of the Marvel comics "Ultimate Spiderman", "Ultimate X-Men", etc. Essentially, the same story re-elaborated. Also, given my quite poor artistic skills, no pictures. Whenever I need to describe the outfit of something, I'll write letters in red
PALACE - FOLKLORE
Also Known As: the nagas
Associated Colours: sea blue, cloud grey, multicolor
Worship: Shalassa, Dragon of Water
Core Philosophy: better to avoid action until you know what you're doing
Motto: "May your mind pierce the surface, reach the depths"
Country/Kingdom: underwater ruins scattered through Colony, nearby Tatalya
Capital City: Naemo, a city only the nagas can reach, and no one ever seen.
Key Symbols: a spiral of magic letters becoming smaller and smaller on the center; the symbol is much more valuable as the writer managed to paint the smallest letters possible.
Bad Relations: Stronghold (orcs), Inferno (demons), Rampart (elves), Burrows (halflings)
Good Relations: Academy (mages), Castle (humans), Fortress (dwarves), Necropolis (necromancers), Dungeon (dark elves)
Culture: an Order-aligned culture, the nagas of the palaces believe that there are universal laws determining the course of the universe. Such hidden truths can't be reached if one lives with pitiful priorities like survival, richness, or political power: meditation in the deepest calm is the key to discover the secrets of the universe. While expending most of their times in the bottom of the waters, telepathically collecting thoughts or memories from the surface and wondering about the meaning of things, the nagas aren't as inactive if forced to deal with invaders or threats. There is a variety of amphibian creatures they can control easily with their mental powers, creating a telepathic link with them and forcing them to serve in war.
A brief history:
1) Creation:
like most races, the nagas were created by the Ancients to shape the world of Colony. They were crafted with incredible memory and mental powers, in order to be keeper of the knowledge, like "data banks" for thoughts; as all the Ancients' creation, they were beloved and protected, but stripped of any free will. As the Kreegans (now known as the demons) fell from the sky and managed to "free" Colony from the Ancients, introducing choices and emotions (and with those, war, hatred, and suffering) the nagas were mentally free from all bounds and thrived to find a place in the now chaotic world.
2) Shalassa:
Absorbing thoughts from races of the surface, the nagas came to learn and convince themselves of the new religion that was conquering all the inhabitants of Colony (including the half-blood heirs of the Kreegans, the demons), the worship of the Dragon Gods. They found a place for their race in the myth of creation as worshippers of the wise dragon of water, Shalassa, keeper of the sunken lore. Building a cult around Shalassa, the nagas came to consider prohibited from their religion to ever reach the surface or deal with the other races in any way. From their origin as teachers and sages, the naga twisted into secretive keepers that shares their secret with no one, and the few that still dared dealing with other races slowly faded into legends, as inhuman oracles that only the bravest would dare to seek for.
3) Tatalya:
While most of the Naga civilization was sunk in the depth of the seas with their mental powers, a few ruins remained on the surface. The people started to speak of a ruined kingdom that ruled the world and then collapsed, leaving nothing but few deserted coastal cities, inhabited by monsters. This story grew and grew until the small piece of coast occupied by the last palaces became known as the former Tatalya Empire (Tatalya meaning "abandoned" in the former Naga language). Said ruins were considered cursed by the Dragon God Shalassa, and avoided by any living being.
4) War:
"Tatalya" was like a wall, preventing the barbarian hordes from sailing toward new places. For a long piece of the orcish history, all that happened was internal clan wars to conquer enough of the northern territories to ensure the survival of a clan over the others. At some point, the barbarian grow tired of living in such a small, unhospital place, confined only by the myth of a cursed kingdom. They banded their clans together and began a march toward the coasts, sailing toward new lands, and determined to slaying any creature that Tatalya could side against them. Called by the suffering of their bethren, part of the naga civilization surfaced again.
5) Alliance:
At the time of their appearance in the game, the nagas are at war with the orcs. Queen Katherine Gryphonheart, ruler of the kingdom of Erathia, forms an alliance with them to stop the barbarian horde from reaching her kingdom (plagued by war already) and to seek the knowledge of the "Oracle of the Depths", supposedly the eldest and wisest of the naga kin.
PALACE - GAMEPLAY:
Economy: due to the Ancient Hatchery and the Stone of Meditation, the Palace grow more and more powerful when forces wait in town, doing nothing. Essentially, while being rich of fast explorers, the Palace player will be forced to exchange movement for power, deciding from time to time which is better. Of course, this must also take into account how Palace is a might faction, which will need resources in a timely fashion to build up its town and consequentially its army.
Structures:
standard: village hall, town hall, city hall, capitol, fort, citadel, castle, tavern, marketplace, shipyard, prison, caravan.
dwellings: lizards' eggs, chanting peak, drake's hive, guarding blades, hissing lair, secret depths, silent chapel, whirlpool.
special: mage guild lvl1 (1st circle enchantments), mage guild lvl2 (1st circle blessings), stone of meditation*, ancient hatchery**, Great Aqueduct (Grail Building)***;
*if the stone of meditation is built, a hero will gain a level after a full week spent in town.
**the ancient hatchery will increase the amount of all creatures born each week in proportion to the amount of said creatures who spent the week in town.
***usual Grail Building's effects, plus boost the movement of all your armies.
LOOKS:
The naga's Palace will look like an old japanese villa coming out of the waters, with a "rotten" aspect like if it was consumed by the seas (a lot like the Flying Dutchman in "Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead's Man Chest").
The village hall and evolutions look like said villa growing up in floors, with ever flowing waterfalls coming out of the windows.
The walls look like the Chinese Great Wall, ruined and covered in sea grass; inside the walls (no matter where the town is located) there is a lot of waters, and shipwrecks.
the tavern looks like an abandoned small japanese house, half-flooded.
Mage guilds and Stone of Meditation looks like some ruined obelisks covered of light-blue luminous ideograms.
The Ancient Hatchery is a small pagoda a la gong temple, except that there is no gong, but big almost spherical eggs fluctuating and glowing in blue, purple and green lights.
The Great Aqueduct is a spiralling naga statue pouring water from a shell-shaped pot to another, crying water from the eyes sustained by huge pipe-like pillars.
Troglodyte's dwelling (lizard eggs) looks like a mass of cracked, giant eggs stacked at the palace's feet.
Dragonfly's dwelling (drake's hive) is a thin, tall tree coming out of waters straight, near to the palace, with hive-like holes on the leaves.
Basilisk's dwelling (hissing lair) is a portal of grey stone carved in the palace, resembling a bearded face and decorated with emerald statues of snakes guarding it.
Gorgon's dwelling (silent chapel) is a portal of black stone carved in the palace, with ornamental golden eyes and decorated by gold statues of cobras guarding it.
Mermaid's dwelling (chanting peak) resembles a slightly open oyster coming out of water.
Naga Guard's dwelling (guarding blades) is a circle of huge, long swords of various shapes that seem impaled on the waters, surrounding the palace.
Naga Queen's dwelling (secret depths) is just a white fragmented light on the bottom of waters, with the black shapes of nagas swimming that can be spotted from the surface.
Sea Monster's dwelling (whirlpool) is a bottomless vortex of water.
Racial Skill: MOULT
If a stack of Nymph, Naga Praetorians or Naga Empresses survived a sufficient amount of battles, they will evolve in a superior form at the beginning of next week after the treshold of battles has been reached. These evolved creatures are unique and cannot be recruited in any other way. Some creatures don't survive the moult but, as the skill level increases, so does the percentage of creatures that will evolve in their new form. If a stack of new creatures is added to the non-evolved one, this will "set back" the stack, which will need more battles to evolve.
After the first moult, the creatures will be lightly nerfed in stats, but will now be able to moult again each time, this time without changing aspect, but increasing their stats. Long story short, Moult will allow these creatures to grow up in levels like heroes.
Abilities connected to Moult will enable one of the possible moulting creature to moult faster (=with less battles) and/or enstabilish relationships with each of these creatures (for example giving "symbiosis with heroes" to the Siren), etc.
The evolved creatures will be:
Nymph--> Siren(LVL1)
The Siren adds "flying" and "seduce aura" (self explanatory) to the Nymph stats.
The siren's colors changed into silver and pale green; her fins grew now completely like wings. She also has developed two humanoid slim legs, and and a fish-like tail growing from the head, instead of tails. She wears a shell-shaped elmet in seagrass-covered gold and plays a shell-shaped ocarina of the same material.
Naga Praetorian--> Naga Blade Priestess(LVL1)
The Naga Blade Priestess improves the Praetorian's stats and allows to shoot six blades in six different directions at reduced damage.
The Naga Blade Priestess is colored in rust orange and bright orange, painted with glowing white tribals; she has a manta-shaped head with no hair nor eyes, and six arms instead of four. Her blades are no more smooth, steel blades, but seem made of rough corral.
Naga Empress--> Naga Mother Goddess(LVL1)
To the Empress's performance, the Goddess adds the "tideshaper"* special, which makes her the tactical leader of the naga army.
* tideshaper allows the naga mother goddess to cast once per fight a flow of water on the battlefield, thus altering the structure of the battlefield itself. On portions of battlefield covered by waters, the troops with "aquatic" will move faster, and troops without it will move slower (flyers will be unaffected). Creatures who are under the course of the waters when the ability is used suffer minimal water damage and are displaced.
The Naga Mother Goddess's colors are crimson and elecric blue. She has no hair, but two long wings-like fins growing from the head. Her huge fans are no more made of leather, but seems made of some everchanging liquid substance.
Army: the Palace is nothing more than pathetic at damage dealing, with most units not going above a Peasant/Worker offense. While strength isn’t certainly where Palace shines, it has two big advantages on other troops. The first one is the amazing movement ratio both on the map and on the battlefield, which makes nagas and their brethren the fastest army in the game, with many of them having the aquatic special that allows them to move on the waters without a boat; the second it’s the good survivability, with most creatures having good defense and hit points, and many of them featuring regeneration. Both outside and inside battle, the Palace army wants to swarm around the opponent and take time until they can turn the tides of the game, rather than going for a direct attack which would take a lot of time (due to the fact they die hard) only to most likely end in defeat. Such approach works best against the linear strategies of might factions like Castle or Rampart, but they can also hold the Fortress due to huge difference in speed and are too though to take down for the weak attackers of the Burrows, if they don’t rush immediately.
The naga are meant to have a mysterious, spiritual and secretive look, mixed with the sensation of antiquity and decay of Heroes 3’s Fortress. I imagined the Palace’s creatures to be in varied bright colours, like tropical fishes. part of the Palace's line-up is meant to hint at Heroes 3: the troglodyte is meant to cross its Heroes 3 incarnation with lizard-man, dragon-fly and basilisk are there, and also gorgon, meant to cross Heroes 3’s gorgon and medusa in appearance.
CREATURES' LINEUP:
LEVEL 1:
Troglodyte: weak stats except speed, blind immunity, regeneration. Upgrades to Lizard Soldier.
The troglodyte has the outfit of Troglodytes with a thinner and more athletic torso and fan-like fins at the sides of the face, hinting Lizard Warrior; it replicates the green and red skin tiger-like patterns of Infernal Troglodyte, and uses a rudimental knife as a weapon.
Lizard Soldier: light stats improvement, blind immunity, regeneration.
The Lizard Soldier stands more erect than its unupgraded bethren, thus seems more humanoid, and its face looks more that of a saurian than that of a toad. Its scales are more brown, but completely covered with lemon yellow and blood red tribal tattoos (mimicking also eyes on its face). It uses a japanese spear as a weapon.
Mermaid: SWN (Small-Weak-Numerous), aquatic, seduce. Upgrades to Nymph.
The mermaid is a half-fish little girl with a single crest-fin instead of hair and large fins instead of hands; her skin is cyan and purple. She moves on land like a snake, and has a skinny but dangerous look.
Nymph: adds symbiosis(nagas).
The nymph changes colors in emerald green and magenta, her arms spread in two fins-wings, and she now has two very long antennae ending with bright lights. Her teeth, also, are now bigger and sharper, giving her a more feral look.
Go for Troglodyte or Mermaid?
One is the basic unit of the Palace: decent in battle (for the Palace very low standards, of course), has a good movement, and regeneration; Also it has the sometimes useful blind immunity. The other has terrible stats, aquatic and symbiosis*, so you can chose her if you want to further push defense or, more importantly, to take control of a water-based map; to that, the mermaid adds the chances (albeit this won’t matter often) to use the seduce** special. So the choice sits between a not spectacular but decent soldier, and a useless unit in combat with a lot of tricks under the sleeve.
* symbiosis will works like it works on Heroes V's Dryad, but each creature having symbiosis will be able to heal/resurrect or be healed/resurrected by different creatures. In mermaid’s case, the symbiosis works on the naga units.
** the seduce special will be nerfed; now it applies only when facing a troop with of equal or lower level of the seducer, having low morale.
LEVEL 2:
Dragon-Fly: sub-par in stats except HP, flyes, regenerates, has cleansing attack. Upgrades to Drake-Fly
The dragon-fly looks like a drake with a big head, in tournesol yellow and black scales; instead of arms, it has four large fly-like wings glowing in dark red, which glow brighter when the dragon-fly attacks dispelling a status.
Drake-Fly: light stats improvement, adds cleansing vibration.
The drake-fly will be different in color. Its scales will go fro beige to fiery red to black. Its wings will be larger and glow in a golde light; it will also have two big fly-like eyes of the same color, and insect-like pinches around the mouth, complimenting the teeth.
Naga Guard: sub-par stats except hit points, has regenerator and circle attack. Upgrades to Naga Praetorian
The naga guard is a snake-woman with four arms; her body is in dark blue and aquamarine, with pearl white hairs and hints of a ragged dress of the same white. She holds four long swords which she uses to slash in all directions.
Naga Praetorian: adds shooter and unlimited ammo.
Same figure, now she grew red-orange fins in the head, tail and arms. The blades fluctuate around her in circle and, when she wants to shot, they fly toward the target and return.
Go for Dragon-Fly or Naga Guard?
Both creatures have stats comparable to Rampart’s Pixie, except for the exceptionally high hit points paired with regeneration. The Dragon-Fly is a flyer with the useful cleansing attack, and later cleansing vibration* , that works wonders against all blessing-based strategies, while the Naga Guard is a shooter with unlimited ammo, and of course she’s also aquatic, and has circle attack that can turn useful by making your opponent think twice before surrounding this unit. In short, the naga is generally superior when Dragon-Fly doesn’t find its best applications.
*cleansing attack dispels both positive and negative status on the target as additional effect. With cleansing vibration, a wave on a nine-squares area will be released, spreading the cleansing effect to all the units in the area.
LEVEL 3:
Basilisk: decent stats, regenerator, blinding attack. Upgrades to Midgard.
The basilisk is like a big snake with a beak and six legs, staying sit on two legs; it has rust orange scales, and two0 emerald green fins upon the eyebrows.
Midgard: adds coiling attack and improves stats.
Way longer than the basilisk, its body is spiralling higher. It's completely black. The fins on the eyebrows are in bright, toxic green variants.
Naga Queen: very low offense, high HP, initiative and speed. Features aquatic, circle attack, striking. Upgrades to Naga Empress
The naga queen has a tiger-like pattern in gold and sky blue, with coral red hair. Of her four arms, two are united in the act of praying, and two hold huge fans of coral red, which she can use to create a tornado around herself.
Naga Empress: Switch striking with tsunami attack.
Same figure, now she grew blue-purple fins in the head, tail and arms. Around her some small, luminous fishes swim in the mid of the air. Whenever she attacks with the fans, she now creates a vortex of water, not wind.
Go for Basilisk or Naga Queen?
Regeneration is again the common trait as much as swift mobility and poor damage. The Basilisk allows for some decent offense in the Palace army, being almost on-par with other lvl3 units, and features blinding attack* that can incapacitate the most dangerous units until time is right, and (if upgraded) coiling attack**. Naga Queen pushes again to the defensive side of the Palace, shares some specials with the Naga Guard (aquatic and circle attack) and adds striking, with her tornados driving enemies away from her, and later the powerful tsunami attack*** special. While one would be impressed by the combination of specials on the Naga Queen, they don’t make up for the terribly low offense, a crippling drawback of the Palace’s army that Basilisk is free from; it’s often best to chose Basilisk for superiority in battle, but keep in mind that it cannot play to the “sneak attack from the seas” strategy Naga are fond of.
*as the name would tell, there’s a chance that the target of an attack goes in the blind status. Already seen from vampire Prince.
**a small unit attacked by midgard could be imprisoned in it's coils for a turn.
***each unit in the area affected by the circle attack may be thrown in the air, staying away from battle, and landing after a few turns.
LEVEL 4:
Gorgon: average stats except speed, stone skin, blinding attack. Upgrades to Medusa.
The gorgon is a well-known mythological monster, a reptilian female with snakes for hair; however, to pay homage to the weird Heroes 3 Gorgons, resembling cow-like reptilians, the gorgon (called Medusa in Heroes 3) will be seeing riding the strange reptile in battle; their scales are black, fading into dark green and dark red.
Medusa: adds death stare, improves stats lightly.
Similar beast, but the snakes in the hair are now way longer, looking like tentacles; the horns of the cow-like ride also grew larger and move like snakes. The colors changed into dark wine red and purple. Whenever Death Stare triggers, it turns the target into a statue of purple crystal that pulverizes istantly.
Sea Monster: Large creature, aquatic. Upgrades to Kraken
The sea monster is a dark, dull-looking creature a lot like a killer whale with manta-like fins-arms, short and fat legs, and no eyes.
Kraken: adds the sink special, and switches large creature with huge creature.
The bottom part of the sea monster now became like a squid's mouth, with six thick tentacles. From the top of the killer-whale like head, it spreads geysers of waters toward the sky.
Go for Gorgon or Sea Monster?
Two completely different units functionally speaking, sharing nothing but large creature. The first one is a solid fighter, perhaps the only truly good creature in stats the Palace can display; also shares with Basilisk the blinding attack special, plus has stone skin boosting her already high defense; lately, she adds Death Stare*, making her the primary (or only) killer of the naga army. Sadly she’s also the most painfully slow lvl4 unit in the game, so you’ll need the other units to keep the enemy busy until she can come into action. Sea Monster, on the other hand, is quite sub-par as a lvl4 on all stats, but its two specials (aquatic and sink** in the upgraded form) are what seal the deal on naga’s dominance over waters, even with such a slow and clunky unit on the ground (the only "huge creature"*** in the game).
*death stare has a chance of removing from the game a stack of creatures under blind status when attacked.
**whenever the kraken attacks an army on a boat, that army loses the 70% of each stack’s units, rounded up, as soon as the battle begins.
***a huge creature occupies nine squares on the battlefield.
HEROES' PROFILES
Amon-Shu
Shu is very fond of races on the surfaces, and many times in the past she tried to convince her fellow nagas to resurface again and help mages, humans and dwarves in their trouble, but never succedeed. As of today, with the nagas under the barbarian's invasion, any help from Erathia or AvLee would be greatly appreciated, so Shu is now kept in the greatest consideration as the appropriate ambassador to seek help. Kind and sensitive as she is, her knowledge and sympathy for these races is unsurpassed. Her plan is to form an alliance with Queen Katherine to negotiate peace with the barbarians horde if possible.
Attitude: Amon-Shu is likely to gain "Nobility" and "Enchantments", thus is likely to become a "Lord", a "Mage" or a "Elder King".
Specialty:ARCANE AMBASSADOR
This ability will work as Basic Diplomacy with Order, Life and Death (but living) aligned creatures. If Amon-Shu gains the "diplomacy" skill, the ability will increase its effect on these creatures.
Seth-Yuda
Incredibly wise for her young age (in a naga's respect), Seth-Yuda is also known for being cunning, malicious and envious. During her time spent in meditation and divination underwater, she drawn many aquatic creatures to herself with her mind powers and became worshipped as a goddess of the depths by them, especially mermaids, which admire her magical charm and ability to control minds. While she despises the races of the surface and cares little about her fellow nagas too, she still despises the barbarians the most, seeing them as uncivilized and arrogant. Her intent is to eradicate them from Colony forever, thus she joined the fight.
Attitude: Seth-Yuda is likely to gain "Tacitcs" and "Nobility", thus becoming a "Knight", a "Lord", or a "Overlord".
Specialty: SAILORS' BANE
When under the command of Seth-Yuda, Nymph and Sirens will have a chance to successfully cast seduce on unity of higher levels (LVL2, LVL3, LVL4). The chance depends from the level of the creature and the level of Seth-Yuda.
Isis-Rey
Also called "Dreamshaper" by her kin, it's said that when she used to sleep in her lair the whole ocean warped itself around her dreams. While not a leader in combat, whenever she's meditating her mental powers manifest, shaping reality around her. Considered one of the noblest nagas, she was one of the first to hear the psychic call for aid from the ruins on the surface, and answered the call.
Attitude: Isis-Rey is likely to obtain "Summonings" or "Enchantments", thus becoming a "Druid", a "Mage" or a "Enchanter".
Specialty: DREAMSHAPER
When Isis-Rey stations into a town, at the beginning of the week she will gain an amount of Water Elementals. This amount depends on Isis-Rey's level.
Ra-Shin
It's unusual for nagas to care something about material needs, but Shin "the glittering one" is fascinated by the concept of richness she learned from the surface. Instead than spending her time in meditation, she scavenged the depths to collect all forgotten treasures the sailors lost. While seen as an original and rather immoral naga before the war, she covers now a special role for "Tatalya", with her economical power being a valuable resource in war.
Attitude: Ra-Shin is likely to gain "Tacitcs" and "Nobility", thus becoming a "Knight", a "Lord", or a "Overlord".
Specialty: TREASURY OF THE DEPTHS
Whenever Ra-Shin finds a chest in the water, the amount of gold the chest would give is increased by the 50%. This values goes up as Ra-Shin gains levels.
Spart
An expert trainer of his fellow lizards warriors, Spart believes that the strenght of an army comes from their cohesiveness, discipline and mutual help. Actually, he's one of the few lizardmen who has even a sense of community, and is for this reason greatly respected by his kin. He lived in the ruins mistakenly labeled as the Tatalya Empire with his brood until the naga found him and psychically forced him to serve against the barbarians.
Attitude: Spart is likely to gain "Tactics" or "Combat", thus becoming a "Knight", a "Warrior", or a "General".
Specialty:BROOD HUNTER
All lizard-warriors stacks in the area affected by Spart's ability have the "pack hunter" ability, functioning exactly like for Rampart's direwolves. This effect ceases if the lizard-warriors exit from the area, or has no effect if only a single stack of lizard-warriors is present. The area increases as Spart grows in level.
Athen
Unlike most lizardmen, Athen isn't a slave of the nagas; his relationship with them is more one of mutual curiosity and appreciation, because of Athen's unusual high intelligence, wisdom, and magic talent for his race. Actually, it's possibly the only lizardman ever heard of that is capable of casting spells in combat, and it's said that he is capable to mimic spells the moment he sees those. Avoided by his kin as an aberration, in return he is favored by the nagas, and entrusted by them with a role of command.
Attitude: Athen is likely to obtain "Enchantments" or "Combat", thus becoming a "Mage", a "Warrior" or a "Battlemage."
Specialty: SPELL CHAMELEON
Whenever a "enchantment", "blessing" or "curse" is used in combat, that spell is added in Athen's spellbook for the duration of the combat. The effectiveness of the spell depends on Athen's level.
Theb
When he was leader of his brood in the almost-deserted Tatalya, Theb always preferred to fight and win by big numbers, and thus loved the swarms of Dragon-Flies that the lizardmen are able to tame. More versed in commanding them that his fellows, he became so skilled that it's rumored that he's capable of moltiplicating their numbers by magic, but it's not true: Theb merely whistles and Dragon-Flies appears out of nowhere. Such an ability didn't pass unnoticed by the nagas, who subdued him and put it in command of an army.
Attitude: Theb is likely to obtain "Combat" and "Nobility", thus becoming a "Warrior", a "Lord", or a "Warlord".
Specialty: SWARMCALLER
Whenever a stack of Dragon-Flies or Drake-Flies is added to an army leaded by Theb, the stack gains a small percentage more of these units, depending on Theb's level.
Arkad
Perhaps out of mere ingenuity, Arkad serves the nagas willingly and fervently, seeing them as a superior race that will grant the lizardmen and their related reptilian races a better future. He also tries hard to push his race out of their barbaric state as troglodytes and make them less beastly and more civilized. His dream is that the lizardmen will one day rule a kingdom of their own, in alliance with nagas, humans, and mages, and out of their current cavemen state.
Attitude: Arkad is likely to obtain "Combat" and "Nobility", thus becoming a "Warrior", a "Lord", or a "Warlord".
Specialty: HARBINGER OF PROGRESS
The cost to upgrade Troglodytes, Dragon-Flies, Basilisks and Gorgons is reduced. As Arkad goes up in level, it's reduced even more until costing zero (meaning you'll be able to recruit upgraded creatures at the cost of the un-upgraded versions). This works only in towns were Arkad is gouvernor.
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bixie
Promising
Legendary Hero
my common sense is tingling!
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posted March 05, 2008 03:59 PM |
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looks very impressive.
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Love, Laugh, Learn, Live.
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 06, 2008 10:52 AM |
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Edited by Momo at 10:53, 06 Mar 2008.
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Quote:
looks very impressive.
Thanks, though judging by the number of reviews, it's not that impressive.
I must admit, the nagas were by far too obvious as additions to the HOMM V world (being mentioned in the myth of creation) so I don't consider this the most inspired part of my work. I had much an harder time with the Burrows.
If anything, I'm happy that at least a single user likes it.
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Drunk_Lord
Known Hero
very happy hero :)
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posted March 06, 2008 01:34 PM |
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I like it 
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 08, 2008 10:34 AM |
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Edited by Momo at 10:35, 08 Mar 2008.
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I like it
Perhaps I'm a bit morbid, but my wildest fantasy was defending this town against someone who doesn't like how it's been realized and/or questions my choices. I have an insane love for debate.
Incidentally: my girlfriend for instance hates them. She says that wise, secretive, inactive races have been done to death in fantasy.
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Mytical
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
Chaos seeking Harmony
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posted March 09, 2008 11:54 AM |
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Edited by Mytical at 11:56, 09 Mar 2008.
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While wise, innactive, secretive is canon for fantasy; it is about the delivery  . You deliver it well. Also, all these things help explain why they were unheard of.
Edit : one thing that I would like to see here is their racial skills, Ultimate, and such.
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Message received.
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 09, 2008 12:47 PM |
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Edited by Momo at 12:48, 09 Mar 2008.
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Edit : one thing that I would like to see here is their racial skills, Ultimate, and such.
In my Heroes 6 there are no racials. There are peculiar ways to enhance economy (in naga's case, "hatching", wich allows you to trade movement for economy) and a unique way to move in the map (aquatic), but no racials.
However, there also weren't upgrades in my Heroes 6, but I managed to spawn eight upgrades upon GenieLord's request for "The Burrows", so there you go:
Oracle: need to build- humh, Eyes of the Oracle. Let me think... ok:
Eyes of The Oracle look like crystal balls in various blue colors held on altars of grey stone sculpted to resemble the tentacles of an octopus holding the spheres. These sprehes are scattered around the japanese-like building and project rays of light cricling the sky, like pharos.
1st level: an area equal to the 10% of the map at is revealed (you click on that as you get the skill, selecting the part).
2nd level: two areas equal to the 10% of the map can be revealed; you may now see the artifacts' descriptions and the quantity of money/exp in chests when these are visible on the map.
3rd level: three areas equal to the 10% of the map can be revelaed. You may now see the armies exact numbers and the hero level when an army is visible on the map.
4th level: four areas equal to the 10% of the map are revealed (meaning the map is cleared). You may now see buried treasures on the map (Grail included).
This way, nagas are able to exploit their advantage in movement with their superior infomation system (not sure they're not broken this way, but their pathetical fighting performances should make up for this)
Also, coming next the upgrades for nagas: lizard-warrior, nymph, drake-fly, naga praetorian, midgard, naga empress, medusa, kraken. Stay tuned.
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 10, 2008 03:16 PM |
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Edited with the upgrades and the racial (tuned a bit because at the first write was quite stupid).
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GenieLord
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted March 13, 2008 11:46 PM |
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I've been asked by Momo to feedback his racial skill.
Quote:
Racial Skill: DIVNATION
Divination will push even further nagas' need to keep an hero at home, but on the other hand will give them a great info net to abuse with their superior movement over the map.
As long as an hero with Divination is stationed in a town with Eyes of The Oracle built, it will be able to reveal once per week one/two/three/four/five portions equal to the 2% of the map (depends on the level: basic/advanced/expert/grandmaster)by clicking on them.
Abilities connected to Divination will enable to see in visible parts of the map the amount of money/exp in a chest, the exact numbers of an army, the complete description of an hero, the complete description of an artifact, and the location of underground artifacts.
I really dislike the concept of this racial skill. It doesn't have any sophisticated tactical use, not really interesting and has nothing to do with the nagas! My suggestion is just to give up the entire racial skill and to think up of a new one.
The creatures are very good, both names and descriptions.  I wouldn't connect the Troglodytes to the Nagas, but it's a nice innovative move. The system of choosing between two creatures that both can be upgraded works really good also with this faction. Overall, it's very well made, but just find a new racial skill.
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 14, 2008 08:45 AM |
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Edited by Momo at 09:34, 15 Mar 2008.
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Quote:
I really dislike the concept of this racial skill. It doesn't have any sophisticated tactical use, not really interesting and has nothing to do with the nagas! My suggestion is just to give up the entire racial skill and to think up of a new one.
I somehow expected a not-enthusiastic comment, so...
Well, given that the naga can move fast, I supposed giving them more information about the map would have been a good idea. I'll admit it felt a bit forced, though, but simply put I didn't have any other idea for the nagas, which were in a sense my less important work (compared to halflings). Give me a few days to think of a new one.
Huhhmm.... I was thinking somethin linked to tidal waves, like the chance to expand the water-covered surface on the field at will. Yeah no yeah?
EDIT: added.
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GenieLord
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted March 15, 2008 10:48 AM |
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Quote:
Racial Skill: TIDESHAPER
Tideshaper will serve the naga to manipulate the course of battle, taking tactical advantages to make up for the natural weaknesses of the nagas.
It allows the naga hero to cast a randomly shaped flow of water on the battlefield, thus altering the structure of the battlefield itself. On portions of battlefield covered by waters, the troops with "aquatic" will move faster, and troops without it will move slower (flyers will be unaffected).
As the skill increases in level, so does the portion of battlefield drowned by waters. Abilities connected to Tideshaper will allow the player to give a specific shape to the casted waters, or to cast said flow of water on the enemies doing little, but global, water-elemental damage and/or displacing them.
It's almost the triditional suggestion of racial skill for the Nagas, but it's always good.
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 15, 2008 10:52 AM |
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Edited by Momo at 13:05, 15 Mar 2008.
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Quote:
It's almost the triditional suggestion of racial skill for the Nagas, but it's always good.
If you're trying to scare me, mission accomplished. How could it be that every idea I have was already suggested by someone else? I must be the most freaking obvious game-designer on the planet. Sigh.
Let's see if I can think something else....
EDIT: My last attempt to make a naga racial. I hope this feels unique enough. I've kept tideshaper as an ability for the Naga MG because I liked the idea.
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GenieLord
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted March 15, 2008 05:28 PM |
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Hehe, the "flooding" racial skills (although it has many other names) has been suggested many times before, and I'm sure it will be suggested over and over. Read the last round of the Altar of Wishes: Weekly Faction Contest.
Quote:
Racial Skill: MOULT
If a stack of Nymph, Naga Praetorians or Naga Empresses survived a sufficient amount of battles, they will evolve in a superior form at the beginning of next week after the treshold of battles has been reached. These evolved creatures are unique and cannot be recruited in any other way. Some creatures don't survive the moult but, as the skill level increases, so does the percentage of creatures that will evolve in their new form. If a stack of new creatures is added to the non-evolved one, this will "set back" the stack, which will need more battles to evolve.
After the first moult, the creatures will be lightly erfed in stats, but will now be able to moult again each time, this time without changing aspect, but increasing their stats. Long story short, Moult will allow these creatures to grow up in levels like heroes.
Abilities connected to Moult will enable one of the possible moulting creature to moult faster (=with less battles) and/or enstabilish relationships with each of these creatures (for example giving "symbiosis with heroes" to the Siren), etc.
You're on the wave.  This one is so much better than the last two ones. It's much more creative and original, and it fits the Nagas as well. Now, all you have to do is to phrase that also in numbers and statistic chances to make it complete. Tell how much battles they should survive in order to moult each time, what is the change in their statistics, etc.
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 17, 2008 11:53 AM |
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Heh, I don't think I will. Usually every balancing work fails miserably if one doesn't keep the stats under check with playtesting (which of course is beyond my power). That's why I prefer descrbing creatures functionally, but leavin stats for the mathematicians.
Suffice to say that the creatures will be lightly weaker after the first Moult, but will trade this with the ability to level up, growing in stats.
The first stats advancing will be those traditionally high for nagas (speed, defense, HP), while those traditionally low (initiative, attack) will grow slower.
The amount of needed battle will be about the same than that required for an hero to level up, but will increase everytime you mix your "experienced" stack with a new stack, depending on the percentage - of course, there will be a hidden algorythm calculating the EXP of the stack (for example, if you add 100 new naga queens to 100 experienced naga queens, you decrease the stack's EXP by 50%).
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flackmandan
Known Hero
Veni,Vidi,Vichi
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posted March 18, 2008 12:25 PM |
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i like it but what doES the trogs and basilisks got 2 do wit nagas
dont get me wrong i still like it
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 18, 2008 02:08 PM |
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Quote:
i like it but what doES the trogs and basilisks got 2 do wit nagas
dont get me wrong i still like it
Troglodytes are, in D&D system, amphibian lizardmen. Basilisks are reptilian too. And before someone brings them up, Gorgon once again are reptilian (nagas are reptilian demons in eastern tradition, and got their watery connotation from Warcraft). Now I wanted to make the nagas something more than a bunch of aquatic creatures, and also I wanted to include this old, favored creature in my Heroes 6 project (if you read it, notice that I find a place for virtually every creature mentioned in the series, including gnoll and harpy, and except Manticore), so I thought this was the best solution.
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 18, 2008 02:10 PM |
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Edited by Momo at 10:06, 19 Mar 2008.
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Adding heroes' bios. With this, even my naga faction is completed.
NOTE TO READERS: In my Heroes 6, the hero system resembled a lot the one from Heroes 4, except the fact that heroes have their unique abilities and are likely to obtain certain abilities instead than others. This explains the "attitudes." I won't post the plot of the campaign, because it would spoil my story and is irrelevant gameplay-wise.
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Snatch
Promising
Known Hero
Proud Kappa
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posted March 26, 2008 11:01 PM |
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Edited by Snatch at 23:02, 26 Mar 2008.
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Cohesiveness: 10/10 (your concept works well)
Imagination: 14/15 (great how you build your factions that each one has really a unique feeling and style of play)
Back story: 9/10 (very good, but mixing Erathia with Ashans dragon gods is disturbing me a bit)
Battle facets: 9/10 (Kraken sink special is a bit overpowered, the percentage should be based on number of Krakens)
Discretionary: 4/5 (I'm a naga fan)
46/50
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Momo
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted March 27, 2008 12:31 AM |
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Quote:
Battle facets: 9/10 (Kraken sink special is a bit overpowered, the percentage should be based on number of Krakens)
Very true.
Obtaining that effect with one single Kraken is totally broken, even if Kraken is completely worthless in combat.
Even worse, I could split a stack of krakens into multiple stacks of 1 kraken and prevent one from sailing ever again.
What an oversight.
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sith_of_ziost
Promising
Supreme Hero
Scouting the Multiverse
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posted March 27, 2008 01:52 AM |
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Cohesiveness - 8/10. Its a bit uncentralized, with the tendency to have to much unrelated to each other. However, it has balance, and what issues that it has really doesn't make a huge difference.
Wow Factor - 13/15. Its high up there, with a lot to look at, and more to love. Its nice and straightforward, and it introduces the right amount of new abilities. The Heroes definitely got you a good portion of these points.
Back Story - 10/10. It satisfies, yet it doesn't reveal everything. That gives a distinct flavor which forces you to freethink based on what information you've given. I liked your take on them.
Battle Facettes - 7/10. The faction that you've stated that they have pitiful attakc lost you some. They could've had penalties to thier abilities, not just horrible base attack. The battles will probably be long and arduous, in spite of their stated high speed.
Discretionary - 4/5. It was nice, but it could have been refined given you had more time. But, such is life, and you've done a fine job. Its a nice Naga faction, and a fine work indeed.
Total Score: 43 points
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