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| Thread: Faction Recreation Contest #6: Stronghold |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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PandaTar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
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posted November 28, 2020 04:40 PM |
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Edited by PandaTar at 14:49, 30 Nov 2020.
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Faction Recreation Contest #6: Stronghold
I'll host this round to allow Rimgrabber a breathing room. Punch and pie, bamboo pie, is on the table by the lounge.
HoMM 3's Stronghold town on the adventure map
Stronghold now, the faction of the 'uncontrolable' shifting forces of the wastelands. Or, that would be their primary theme back in the original games. Bring forth your ideas! 'Tis has potential for a very wide range of ideas and versatility. Poke into the fluffiest depths of your creativity and give it a go.
As time schedule has been tricky, we'll set it as 3-4 weeks starting from now to finish with propositions and scoring when the last proposition comes up. Let's try to keep the schedule into these weeks, or we'll see the covid vaccine coming before the last of these propositions.
1. Necropolis
2. Castle/Haven
3. Inferno
4. Rampart/Sylvan
5. Dungeon
6. Stronghold
7. Tower/Academy
8. Sanctuary
9. Dwarf Fortress
10. Conflux
11. Swamp Fortress
12. Forge
13. Cove
14. Create-Your-Own (Good)
15. Create-Your-Own (Neutral)
16. Create-Your-Own (Evil)
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"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2
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FirePaladin
Promising
Legendary Hero
DoR Modder
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posted November 28, 2020 05:18 PM |
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I could see this as some viking town if one wants to keep it different, although where do the orcs, goblins and other beasts go after that? Or perhaps, have this as orc and beasts town and have vikings in the neutral new town?
Still not sure if I'll manage to make a submission, I'm working my a**** as usual.
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Enshackling time itself, heralds of the Ancients among their heat-depleted land.... Who could they be, who could rally the beings of the East and the North and control the mortals' fate?
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Rimgrabber
Promising
Famous Hero
Voice in Gelu's Head
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posted November 28, 2020 08:43 PM |
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Loading...
Stronghold(Might, Good)
Lore:
"'Brothers and sisters are natural enemies. Like orcs, and demons! Or orcs, and humans! Or orcs, and other orcs! Damned orcs, they ruined Stronghold!'
'You orcs sure are a contentious people...'
'You just made an enemy for life!'"
- Earliest known diplomatic encounter between orcs and dwarves. Following this incident, the two races fought each other in a bloody war that lasted over 20 years.
The orcish people are known by other factions as ruthless thugs that respect no order other than rule by an iron fist. Given the earlier interactions between orcs and other races, it's easy to see how this stereotype came to be. In the more recent decades, however, there has been a rather drastic cultural shift among the youth residing in the Strongholds. Orcish society today is defined by the clash between the youth, who favor a more peaceful and democratic society, and the "old guard" orcish leaders who favor the old way of the rule of the strong. Overall, life in the Strongholds is harsh but fair, and difficult at times, but the orcs know they are free to live as they see fit.
Town Theme
Classes:
Barbarian(Might)
Likely Skills: Offense, War Machines, War Cries
Unlikely Skills: Dark Magic, Sorcery, Summoning Magic (can’t learn occultism or destruction magic)
Bard(Mixed)
Likely Skills: Leadership, Light Magic, Luck
Unlikely Skills: Occultism, Destruction, Sorcery
Spellbreaker(Might)
Likely Skills: Defense, “Shatter” Skills, Enlightenment
Unlikely Skills: Can’t learn any magic schools, Sorcery affects their warcries instead but they rarely get it. No Occultism.
Troops:
1: Brownie (Bauchan/Redcap)
Brownies are small, teleporting spirits of mischief that somewhat look like miniature deformed elves. Their size and agility enable them to avoid retaliations from large creatures. Bauchans are more helpful variants of Brownies, and they are noted to enjoy collecting shiny things like coins and gems. After a battle, they have been known to gift their commander with items from their collection. Redcaps, on the other hand, are Brownies gone bad. Their bloodlust increases with every fallen enemy, and have rarely been known to inflict pain upon themselves to increase their own attack power.
2: Slinger (Javillier/Bomber)
While orcs aren't famous for their dexterity, some ranged support is required to form an effective army. Slingers are exactly what they sound like; orcs that are equipped with slings to hurl stones and other objects at their enemies. While they do suffer a penalty for ranged attacks, their melee prowess is still far superior to most shooters. Bombers are much more skilled with their slings than the average orc. Their excellent sense of timing allows them to hurl magical grenades at their enemies instead of regular stones if they choose, although they must be careful that their allies aren't caught in the bast. Javilliers have opted to swap their slings for sleek and aerodynamic spears instead, allowing their ranged attacks to not only deal full damage but have a chance to cripple their target. Unfortunately, these spears are clumsy and melee and don't allow for a side-arm, so Javilliers lose their full melee power.
3: Wulver (CuSith/CwnAnnwn)
You could be forgiven if you mistook a Wulver for a Werewolf, although as the orcs will tell you, the Wulver has a much friendlier disposition than its cousin. That said, they are still fearsome in battle and can retaliate an unlimited amount of times. CuSith are theorized to be an evolution of the Wulver, although they no longer bear any resemblance to a humanoid. Their bark can chill even the bravest of warriors to the bone, and so their attacks lower their target's morale. Cwn Annwn are a variant of the Cusith, although their powers are a bit different. Instead of lowering morale, their attack is guaranteed to kill at least one creature, provided their numbers are at least 10x their target's level. For example, they can only use their ability on tier 7 creatures if there are at least 70
Cwn Annwn.
4: Hippogryph (Gryphon/Hippogryph Lancer)
The mighty hippogryph is one of the most majestic creatures on the face of this world. Its silver feathers inspire all who are near it, increasing their morale and luck by 1 each. This agile beast is as brutal as it is beautiful, and its attack power makes it ideal to serve as the calvary of Stronghold's armies. The gryphon is an even more awe-inspiring creature; as long as you have one in your army, your troops will never have negative morale. While hippogryphs can be vicious, they can also form very strong bonds with their handler, and may even allow themselves to be ridden into battle. These lancers atop their hippogryph mounts use their momentum to lower their enemies' defense, and so they can ignore 10% of it per tile crossed.
5: Landschneckt (Giantslayer/Blooddrinkr)
Landschnekts are the name given to orcs who have mastered the use of two-handed greatswords in combat. These foes are feared throughout the world for their ability to kill multiple targets in one swing. Giantslayers have specialized their training into killing the gargantuan beasts that stalk the orcish highlands. Their damage is increased by 20% against large targets. Blooddrinkers revel in the heat of battle; their swords are serrated to deal additional damage over time to their victims, and their attack power increases when they suffer their first blow.
6: Kelpie (Cabyll-Ushtey/Njuggle)
7: Fachan(/)
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PandaTar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
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posted November 29, 2020 01:11 AM |
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Edited by PandaTar at 02:05, 14 Dec 2020.
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NOTES ON MECHANICS TO HELP UNDERSTAND ABILITIES AND PERKS
- Commanders, initially, carry 7 troops and 3 siege/war/support units. Explores, 6-2, and Rulers, 5-1. Warfare skills can change those numbers, as well as proficiency on Commander role. Only Commanders are hired with an assortment of troops/followers.
- Meta Magic are spells which only some creatures can cast, and largely cannot be learned by heroes, with very few exceptions.
- Arenas on the adventure map or in Clans towns can promote duels among heroes, providing rewards for the victorious.
CLANS TOWN
Under Construction
Clans is a very battle-driven faction, composed of fast units and active is all its borders with a lot of diplomatic issues, but, at the same time, they have access to many different cultures, high trading potential and absorbed technologies. However, little love for slow and focus-based activities, such as studying, meditation and magical learning, except Lightning arts for which they have excellent affinity, taught by the large and wise rocs who ascended to Tlalocs; and some shamanic magic, studies upon dreams and things of that ilk. Because of its nature, the faction is not really allied or very deep into war with any other, but they are hostile overall, will retaliate viciously if threatened, and will invade other lands if in need; as well as trade and cooperate temporarily when deemed fit. They favor mobility, so they prefer expanding over open areas, plains, plateaus and firm ground. Clans have greater neutral hostility against Haven Citadel, Feywoods, Sanctuary, Oasis and a tendency of war to Necropolis. Less hostile neutrality against Gates, Miasma Marshlands and Clockwork Library. Little hostility to none with Dungeon Maze, Summit and Atlantis.
The Red Moor is a large wasteland connecting many different regions of the continent, which makes it an important strategical route for many nations, realms, merchants and armies. That said, it’s also a place under direct conflict, because the Red Moor is also home of many casts away, entire races, creatures, lording, magicians. When not fighting, it embraces those who are willing to fight for it, but it will not reward the weak either. It is a place of strong and fierce predators, so whomever wanted to settle on these lands, needed to be able to deal with those predators, until cementing an alliance with them. The first ones known at those lands were the rocs, huge bird-of-preys, intelligent and social. In a sense, they are quite similar to the anzu, but they are not as noble as leaving their homeland to help weaker races. They are solely dwellers of the Red Moor and take care of it. Other ancient creatures, such as the behemoth, were found there. But not after many centuries that a rush of other species invaded the moors from all sides. That was a time of great changes and some races decided to form friendly clans, as friendly as their cultures allowed, that is, and gathered at some places. Orcs, ogres, goblins, centaurs, under the watchful eyes of the rocs, they prospered. Other races followed, and each new one brought some of their culture with them, even mages and shamans, who started to propagate the mystical, heavenly power of the thunderbirds. Culture-wise, the Clans of the Red Moors might be largest recollection of all known lands, and that alone provides them means to fight for their ideals and adapt to the many dangers they face inside and outside their borders, and they’ll all fight fiercely to defend their new home; especially against those who cast them away years before.
THEME SONGS
Townscreen
Terrain
Battle
FEATURED BUILDINGS
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Festering Bogs (Tier 5 Dwelling and War Machine Dwelling) – Crepitus unit can be hired there. Heavy Sulfur Cannon war machine unit can be hired there. Unlocks HSC related buildings and technologies. These bogs add a defensive layer of protection upon siege: deny enemy’s reinforcements. They also have a chance to summon a Crepitus on a random point at the edge of the battle map every round. If there’s already a Crepitus at range of the summoned one, it’ll add to its stack.
Hunting Woods – Unlocks Abattoir technologies and building. Goblins, gnolls, orcs or centaurs can be directed to the woods for hunting. It increases creatures’ growth uniformly accordingly to their tier. There are more games when the surroundings are teeming with wild life. Enlisting too many hunters may cause a halt to games and it will take time to repopulate the woods.
Guild of Thunder – Guild of Lightning Magic is activated there. Unlocks Slithering Steppes, Kujata’s Temple and Cliff Nest technologies and buildings. Unlocks Scytale, Kujata and Roc related technologies, buildings and upgrades. Lightning-based abilities cast on town premises have doubled chances to daze or stun foes.
Cliff Nest (Tier 6 Dwelling) – Roc unit and heroes can be hired there. Upgradable for Thunderbird and Tlaloc technologies. Grants ability for Rocs to reinforce nearby armies if they are available for hire. It also works with dwellings.
Berserker Arena (Tier 5 Dwelling) – Orc unit and heroes can be hired there. Every week, it can provide a visiting hero 1% of bonus experience over all experience the hero gained during that week. Creatures can be sacrificed there to boost income by challenging them with hero’s currently army. Higher bonuses for high tier units from different factions, especially opposite and hostile neutral ones. The experience gained in challenges is 20% greater than normal. If hero is defeated, one will survive, but neither experience nor gold will be gained and hero’s morale of any troops will be the minimum cap for the next week.
Village Rock (Tier 2 Dwelling) – Gnoll unit and heroes can be hired there. Unlocks Foundry technologies and buildings. Unlocks Orc Berserker and Centaur units related technologies and dwellings. Gnoll external dwellings provides Gnoll Shaman and Gnoll Skirmisher upgrades.
Lumina Arborea (Grail) – it can wither and regrow in any of the Clans town under control. Differently from most grails, it is bound to the hero who finds it. Unless that hero is not defeated, one will be able to seed the Arborea wherever decided. It takes a week to grow and a week to wither. Casts a cloudy and storm like weather in a large area around the town it is located. Improves effectiveness and overall stats values of all lightning-based abilities and lightning-friendly units in that area. Disables Teleport special of all foes in range. Casts chain lightning on enemy troops at the start of each round. Chain lightning abilities do not jump on friendlies and can strike a foe multiple times. It also improves effectiveness of all Oneiromancy skills and abilities of all heroes. The hero who’s bound to the Arborea have all spells costing a fourth of their normal spell point costs.
FEATURED SKILLS
Native Strengths and Weaknesses – Clans units are vulnerable to Fire, Spirit and Dark-based abilities. Resistant to Lightning, Earth, Mind and Light-based effects, some of the units being completely immune to Lightning and Stun. They have evenly good units fighting in Daylight or Night, structures that boost movement on the map have increased effect and their troops can remain more time away from the castle before suffering the effects of Weakness or when they are overnumbered, in case of units joining armies during a campaign, they endure more time before units start to leave the army due maintenance.
Faction Skill Tree – Tit for Tat: Clans units and heroes are prone to react to external friendly or opposing actions in a relatively similar way. On the battle field, whenever possible, units will have an added chance to retaliate offensively when attacked, even after consuming their default reaction ability. Or when a hero is visiting a merchant, prices are somewhat even when selling or purchasing. Some Keyskills: Melee, Projectile, Casting, Gambling.
Other common Clans heroes’ skills
Warfaring – keyskill which encompasses all warring abilities and improve their effects. Some secondary skills: Offense, Defense, War Machine, Archery.
Oneiromancy – secondary skill that makes towns under the rule of an oneiromancer Hero who is present at the time more prepared to the next week or month effects. It decreases penalty of Month of the Plague and slightly boosts growth of Clans-related units when they are benefited by a week or month. It also helps identify the movement of enemy stealth units during the night in a certain range from the hero.
Warcry – keyskill that enables tagging heroes to cast certain AoE abilities affecting allied troops or enemies around the tagged unit. Abilities does not cost mana. They have only cool downs. Some secondary skills: Warring, Boost, Focus.
Lightning Magic – through the Guild of Lightning, provides access to learn and teach Lightning Magic Spells and Techniques, which controls powers of shock, stunning, dazing and surge, chaining through metal and water. Examples: Lightning, Static Field, Shock, Chaos Bolt.
FEATURED HEROES
The heroes of Clans are classified into the following species:
- Anzu: 1
- Centaur: 5
- Dragon: 1
- Garuda: 1
- Gnoll: 6
- Goblin: 3
- Human: 1
- Orc: 5
- Ogre: 2
- Primatu: 2
- Roc: 3
In the chaotic midst of ranks of species ruling clans of the Red Moor, there is the human Kilgor and his story was an omen of turmoil. An egg fell from the sky and was caught by the Tlaloc Jasper, Sky Roar, almost fatefully. Sensing a strong power emanating from it, Jasper took it to the high nests, as she recalled shamans had spoken of a vision, a lion roaring louder than thunder and conquering death. Not long after that, a human boy broke free from that egg, not an infant, looking several years old. And there was such strength and power in him that made Jasper remind of very old rituals, of when a dying anzu would enclose a guarded creature into an egg, bestowing upon the chosen one all its powers, and then fully transport into a new anzu; however, the ritual seemed incomplete. So, Jasper had become Kilgor’s spirit-mother and watched him grow fast into a powerful man, with a strong heart, and a reasonable mind, heeding adamantly the safety of the many clans of the wasteland instead of vain violence. Whilst training him, Jasper learned that his physical power matched those of the anzu, and that was the reason no one challenged him even as a boy. Hence, Kilgor had ridden hither and thither and reached out other clans and lands to help those in need, while disposing of dangers. Still, he becomes enraged at the sight of the undead, partly because of his anzu nature. Although the clans are seemingly rivals, Kilgor has found important allies, such as the gnolls Rosic and Drakon, and the centaurs Asbolus and Jabarkas. Somehow, Kilgor feels he is destined to save the clans from an impending doom, or so he feels his anzu spirit guiding him. But that ordeal he would have to face with a human body, beyond the festering bogs past The Red Moor northern borders, as if unfamiliar memories started to awake in him pulling hims that way. He knows therein lies his real quest, but his clans of the Red Moor cannot face that danger alone. ‘Tis another ordeal he has to shoulder until they are ready.
Race: Human
Role: Commander and Ruler
Asbolus came from the north, stumbling upon his four legs, pouring blood from many wounds, some of which festering already, and an almost unbearable stench. He was found by the goblin Kreena and Kilgor, who instantly fought an urge to finish Asbolus on the spot, for that centaur was an undead. Kilgor, however, decided for mercy, a decision he could not quite place, and conceded Kreena a chance to try and save the centaur nonetheless. Strangely, Asbolus healed fast, like the living. His silent demeanor, monstrous body and ruthlessness in battle, especially when he fought to defend Kreena’s homeland, made him a strange creature to make an acquaintance, because Asbolus had never uttered a word in their midst and looked completely out of place. Still, he defended it as his own home, as fierce as any other. He would also never object a challenge in the many battle arenas, and would never kill his opponents. When the day that a group of undead was found meandering the bogs in the north, everything changed. Asbolus took Kreena to Kilgor’s cave and started to tell a tale of death and suffering spreading by the cold hands of the undead, a black maelstrom, absorbing all life. His resilient spirit endured the foul necromantic powers which tried to control him, but it didn’t save his body completely. He edged between life and death alongside a human, another cursed. That’s the reason Asbolus, and probably Kilgor himself, saw in each other a strong bond, weaved by fate and the need to rid their lands and their people of death’s grasp.
Race: Centaur (adds few unique formations for centaur troops under his command)
Role: Commander
Gundula was an unstable troublemaker from the distant lands ruled by the istari, where garudas dwelled, her kin. After an incident in which she caused the death of an entire garuda platoon while crossing the venomous fumes of Ulgorim Swamps, she never returned home, for she feared punishment, even more for her already turbulent reputation. However, she was never sought by her kin or the istari. Then, divided between relief and regret, she flew into the wastelands and had to fight against many enemies, only flee again and find herself battling again. As she was already wounded, she was faced by a group of harpies, led by the orcress Zagna. Zagna challenged Gundula, saying that she would offer her a place in her ranks, if she survived a battle against those harpies, and Gundula barely survived. Zagna, then, assigned her to be the new captain to rule over the harpies for more specific jobs. However, Zagna was unaware of Gundula’s law-breaking nature, which led them both into trouble. Zagna lost her favor between the orcs, then abandoned Gundula to her fate, demoting and sending her away. For the second time, she was again on her own. Still, she remains around the wastelands, for she feels that her place belongs to the wilderness, the chaotic nature of the Clans, deciding that this time, she’ll earn her place.
Race: Garuda (harpies under her control have access to more tactics formations)
Role: Explorer
Representing one of the Archgnolls, the gnoll Rosic is a master strategist and a great leader, for he can successfully take down enemy forts and restructure it as their own stronghold. But his enemies do not find any mercy. And because he’s seen many different castles and armories, he is familiar with a great array of foreign warfare technologies. With the help of other clan leaders, they adapt their findings to themselves, not always successfully, but enough to reap some advantage. He considers himself Kilgor’s best gnoll friend and ally, which made him more comfortable when wandering human settlements, learn of their weaponry and machinery, or to trade. In one of these excursions, he had come face to face with Maximus, a fabled orc who had sided with humans, in the valleys beyond Hephe’Ara Mountains. Maximus had been quick to engage Rosic in a fierce battle, until Kilgor intervened. The orc recognized Kilgor as one of the sons of the Cleric Dimitri, albeit much older, but the scent was telling. Kilgor didn’t remember any of that, and still Maximus sheathed his zweihander, fearless, and didn’t wavered from his tale. He explained that Dimitri had three sons, but had them away from danger, as the kingdom was being targeted by many forces. By then, the anzu Mihrador took care of them, but he was lethally wounded when last seen, flying away to face his demise. That’s why he reached for one Dimitri’s sons, to pass on his powers and the chosen one was Kilgor. But Mihrador had died before completing the ritual and Kilgor remained human. The man decided to forge a silence truce with the orc before departing, and Rosic came to trust the latter. Thereon in, they exchange information and trading, whilst protecting Kilgor’s past from unwanted attention.
Race: Gnoll (trains gnolls to wield a variety of weapons, besides bludgeons)
Role: Commander and Explorer
Shiva is a stranded orcress from the southern frigid mountains. She was brought north by Tugor since she was very little. She’d named him the Slicer, but he had never spoken of her past and would grow violent if questioned. Feeling more like a burden than a protégé, she spent more and more time with the tribes’ shamans, learning to read stars, and omens and signs, visions and dreams. Tugor didn’t like any of that, but never forbade her of learning her way into those arts. Diving deeply in mysticism, she started to have visions and revelations, and to become afraid of what all that meant. Kashnir and Kreena, both goblin shamanesses, tutored her how to control such visions and dreams, for they could lead one to madness. It was when they asked for Tabanka, the only Archgnoll shamaness, for she was the best oneiromancer of the clans. Shiva’s dreams started to get more and more complex which made Tabanka give her a dreamcatcher. She would have lucid dreams, controlling the depths she would delve, and so she saw through it. She confronted Tugor – actually her uncle, as of the reasons they left her parents at the frigid and far lands of Toranor. Tugor explained that they were being rounded up by giants, expurgating any species they deemed invading, which meant orcs: her father, him and Shiva herself. Her mother was native, so she would be safe as long as they didn’t discover she had a half-orcress was mating an orc. However, her mother cast a powerful memory spell upon her, making her forget everything about her homeland, even the truth about the Slicer, her kin. She made him promise not to allow Shiva return to the south to seek for them, for there would have nothing there, but death. As she came to understand her feelings, and Tugor got friendlier, she decided to use her new abilities to help others who are lost and cut from their past, for the clans in the Red Moor were often crowded by the strayed. She hopes her help may bring peace and a prosperous future for all who were tore apart from their homelands.
Race: Half-Orc-Half-Yeti
Role: Ruler
The Red Moor skies are ruled by rocs, giant birds who ascend to stormclouds and descend as thunderbirds and tlalocs – avatars of Lightning and thunder. Gelare is mostly experienced in battles and scouting, taking down enemies even when she is alone. She is responsible for finding and settling advanced outposts for the clans, increasing their dominions and their capacity to react to invasions. Also, these outposts serve to spot the strayed meandering the moors, left for dead, cast away or banished. Thus, Gelare had also become a great recruiter, besides Kilgor and Rosic. Regardless, she is proud and has never ascended to become a thunderbird or a Tlaloc. She grows as a roc and strives to challenge the other great giant birds outside the Red Moor, the phoenixes of flames and the chalkydries of icicles, without using the power of the lightning. Some of her companions already said it was folly, that the great birds have matching power only when they are fully awakened, and that Gelare would be killed by going with strength alone. That only made her want to battle her rivals all the more. However, to reach them, she needed to travel to far and wide away from the Red Moors, to reach the sands of the east and the cold lands of the south. That’s why she is always promptly ready for scouting missions and try her best to succeed, as every pace beyond the borders leads her closer to the day she’ll raise rocs and thunderbirds to the top of the triad once and for all.
Race: Roc (rocs under her command have greater damage and speed values. They also gain a second reaction when tagged: “Gust Wings”, which trigger after Retaliation is spent, pushes away any attacking small and medium-sized units)
Role: Explorer
Class: Frontier Keeper – Gelare is able to build military structures by herself on the adventure map, one of each kind on each controlled area. She can carry resources by herself to these places and take half the time kingdom workers take to build them. Her outposts have greater range of view and have a chance to gather stranded native units.
UNITS
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Tier 1 Alcyone – inhabitants of dried nests of the coastal areas of the wastelands, they are specialists at crippling foes with their talons. The oldest ones are called Tier 3 Alcyone-Furies and they evolve larger bodies and sustain longer flights, even with bad weather.
Perks
Living, Small (only Alcyone), Climber (only Alcyone), Flyer (only Alcyone-Fury), Diurnal
Special
Long Talons – attack has a chance to cause Deep Wounds (target takes damage when it takes action). Alcyone has default retaliation.
Stormrider – unit can fly normally during stormy weather. It also resists to 50% damage of any Air, Lightning or Water-based techniques.
Special Alcyone-Fury
Diving Slice – unit attacks by moving through enemy ranks. It does not target directly the enemy, so it draws no physical retaliation, but it can trigger other reactions.
Thorns – default retaliation is lost for added reaction ability. Whenever attacked at close range, it sends outs thorns from its body on all surrounding hexes. Thorns can apply Deep Wounds and can inflict critical strike.
OBS.: dwelling for this unit is only available if the town is located at the coast.
Tier 1 Goblin – the most numerous inhabitants of the Red Moor, goblins are fighters, even clever, although they lack the physical strength of orcs or centaurs. That’s why they are best suited for sneaking attacks, tailing enemies when trained to Tier 1 Goblin Chargers and throwing weapons, when they ascend to Tier 1 Goblin Axethrower.
Perks
Living, Small, Diurnal and Nocturnal, Equipment (goblins wield knives, daggers and leather gear; chargers wield short swords, cutlasses and chain gear; axethrowers wield axes, throwing axes, knives, darts and plate gear)
Special
Sneaking Attack – on melee combat, goblins have a high evasive capacity and their retaliation has a high rate to inflict critical strikes. Their critical chances and damage upon flanking attacks are also greater than default.
Special Goblin Charger
Tailing – when an adjacent enemy moves away from the charger, the charger army follows behind, always adjacent to the fleeing enemy. If the enemy has greater movement than the charger, the latter will tail as close as possible. Does not tail teleporters.
Special Goblin Axethrower
Sneaking Throws – on ranged combat, these units can throw axes through most of obstacles (which are not walls or any massive body) and through other armies. The fact their attack reaches enemies undercover take them in surprise, having higher odds of critical.
OBS.: upgrading buildings for this unit occupy the same spot as buildings for upgrading gnolls.
Tier 2 Gnoll
Tier 3 Scitale – a very fast and electrified lizard which runs through the moors. It is usually hunts during storms, because it can lure lightnings to strike upon them when they are attacking their prey, for a sure kill.
Perks
Living, Diurnal or Nocturnal
Special
Shock Lure – during stormy weather, lightnings are likely to strike nearby this unit. The higher its numbers, the higher are the odds. Lightning will always strike an adjacent foe. This unit is immune to lightning abilities and spells.
Dazzling bite – attack is electrified, inflicting half-damage based on lightning, which a chance to Stun. It inflicts bonus damage when enemy is Soaked or standing on water|wet terrain.
Tier 4 Harpy – rather vicious creatures, they are very vindictive on the battle field and also steal food from their surroundings for themselves, of for their masters if they are servants.
Perks
Living, Flyer, Diurnal
Special
Constant Nibbling – when engaged by this unit, enemies cannot retaliated other attackers, but only harpies.
Steal Food – groups of armies can be sent on parts of the adventure map, acting like support|stealth units and steal food from the area. Upon returning to a hero, it’ll reset the clock upon campaigning without rest. Upon city, it makes instantly available few numbers of some random units.
Tier 4 Zephyrus – when the winds howl, a Zephyrus is calling. These swift creatures travel with the winds and defend all which respect their freedom, or have a home by their side. They control the wind and move with it, making them both elusive and present everywhere.
Perks
Living, Diurnal, Teleporter
Special
Wind Form – reaction ability when this unit is physically attacked or attacked by lightning-based abilities. It’ll go into a semi-unsubstantial form, decreasing any other physical and energy damage (only unit in the game that has a block against energy damage) upon it. It is immune to hostile Air-based abilities. I has increased friendly Air-based abilities effects. It does not trigger upon the effects of other magic school spells. Zephyrus returns to its normal form when it teleports away or attacks.
Windlord – its presence upon the battlefield creates a windy weather, increasing in power as more zephyrus are present, but penalties are suffered upon enemies only. Allied units have their ranged attacks slightly empowered. Any wind, tempest or storm weather increases Zephyrus base damage. On the Adventure map, it can lose a turn to create a wind barrier (slows down enemy armies) lasting three days every seven days. It can also break wind barriers (if enough creatures are present).
Tier 4 Shredder – vicious wild boars carrying some manner of deadly carts and released in the middle of enemies. Quite messy.
Perks
Living, Frenzy, Diurnal, Mind Immunity
Special
Restless Charge – this unit goes after enemies every turn. After it moves its normal movement range, it’ll move a little every time an ally move. It damages any enemy it gets into contact with.
Spiked Carapace – it damages back any melee attacker based on the number of units in the stack. Damage is equal to a fourth of shredder’s base damage.
Tier 4 Tarrasque – probably the hardest natural armor known belongs to these slow powerhouses. They also have a powerful tail which is quite efficient at breaking other armors.
Perks
Living, Diurnal, Heavy
Slow – unit is immune to any Haste or any movement increasing.
Special
Belly Exposure – terrain effects or ground-based abilities and spells have increased effectiveness upon tarrasque.
Expulsion – melee attackers have a chance to be pushed away when they attack a tarrasque by reflective force. There’s also a chance to stun attackers. Projectiles have a chance to bounce and cause no damage. Incoming melee damage is 50% lower and ranged damage is 75% lower. Flanking’s effects are decreased by 66%. It is sensitive to armor-breaking abilities or spells.
Hit the Anvil – its tail attack breaks defensive garment and halves enemy defense. It also ignores any sort of defensive special of an enemy. Tarrasque’s retaliation also makes it turn away from the attacker as it swings the tail.
Tier 5 Crepitus– creeping from bogs from which stench cannot be measured in words, these blind creatures will eat anything they encounter and leave nothing behind. Only very skilled commanders know how to command these wandering creatures on the wasteland, but the wise will not linger among them.
Perks
Living, Awareness, Blind
Mindless – immunity to any mind-based ability.
Special
Berserk – unit does not wait, will always move and attacks the closest foe, uncontrollable. Heroes cannot tag along this creature.
Devour – unit eats foes it kills. Killed foes cannot be retrieved, resurrected, repaired, animated or brought back by any means. A small boost upon speed, damage and attack lingers for three turns. It stacks.
Purulent Pus – reaction ability whenever damaged, a foul pus jet will rupture from the wound upon the attacker. Pus makes it easier to eat and digest the target, increasing Crepitus damage and bonus granted by Devour.
Tier 5 Orc Berserker – one of the most social-oriented clans, they make the spine of the Red Moor. Excellent fighters and explorers, and when in battle, very difficult to take them down.
Perks
Living, Rider, Nocturnal, Equip (leather, chain and plate gears, swords, long swords, axes, cutlasses, scimitars, maces, hammers)
Special
Arena Fighter – hero employing orcs to fight at Arenas has 20% bonus upon rewards from victories.
Berserker Blood – the more this unit keeps fighting, the more damage it’ll inflict. Attack rises every round, but defense lowers in contrast.
Simultaneous reaction – retaliates a foe at the same time it’s attacking.
Tier 6 Centaur – from the ground clans, centaurs are probably the strongest ones. They have a wild, untamed look, but they are very disciplined, fast and experienced with a lot of different equipment.
Perks
Living, Diurnal and Nocturnal, Equip (horseshoes, body armor, flank armor, helmets, pauldrons, bracers, gauntlets, halberds, polearms, 2-handed weapons, pavises)
Special
Stampede Tactics – any tactical formation based on a hero’s Tactics skill have increased effectiveness and will block enemy’s formation effectiveness. The larger army will prevail upon effects and same number armies and hero’s skill level will null both effects.
Jump – jumps over small obstacles or terrain with penalty effects.
Long-Reach – this unit can reach foes with melee attacks 1 hex away with any weapon they wield. It also grants them time to turn at the direction of their attacker and cancel incoming flanking attacks.
Tier 6 Roc – huge and wise birds-of-prey which guard the wastelands. They can absorb the powers of storms, becoming Tier 7 Thunderbirds. And then they can reach Tier 8 Tlaloc, the embodiment of thunder, where no foe is safe during a storm.
Perks
Living, Flyer, Giant, Mount, Diurnal and Nocturnal, Stormrider
Special
Siege Carrier – this unit can carry stationary war machine or siege machine units about the battlefield. A matching number of rocs detaches from the main group to carry the machinery. These units cannot react or attack. They can only move. They are added back to the main group automatically after positioning their cargo.
Siege Destroyer – increased damage and destructive effectiveness upon hostile Siege machinery and Defensive Town’s structures. It can also dive to attack buildings.
Roc Vision – increases a hero’s vision radius by 4 hexes and improves effectiveness of hero’s Scouting-related abilities and skills.
Special Thunderbird
Lightning Envoy – only affected by beneficial Lightning effects, and immune to hostile ones. Its presence on Storm weather increase number of lightnings striking the battlefield and its damage. The odds of striking foes are greater.
Chain Lightning Talons – attacks add a Lightning bolt after the physical damage that will chain to other adjacent foes, halving its damage at each jump. It chains even if the enemy is immune.
Special Tlaloc
Embodiment of Thunder – its presence on the battle field casts a lightning storm weather after one round. During a storm, this unit can teleport. It passively reacts to any attack by chaining a jolt of lightning on all hexes around it seeking foes, as it does not consume an active reaction, which is a normal retaliation. On the adventure map, spends a turn to summon a storm on a medium area that lasts three days every seven days.
Tier 7 Kujata – legends said that the seas retreated when kujatas descended the skies shapeless as lightnings and upon striking the earth, they were given form. They are big, strong, sturdy, vicious and shockingly fast.
Perks
Living, Mount, Diurnal, Lightning Envoy
Heavy – even for its size, this unit is very heavy, and cannot be pushed away easily. It also takes doubled damage from drowning.
Special
Momentum – when this unit moves more than 4 hexes to perform an attack, at any hex beyond that, nothing can slow or stop its movement anymore.
Double Hammer – a two-strike attack: the first attack has a chance to break equipment and lower enemy defense (it stacks indefinitely), whilst the second attack is half-physical, half-lightning based which causes a random damage of a Lightning bolt spell at Master level which can Stun.
Thor’s Guard – flanking damage stances are simultaneously countered by a concentrated bolt of lightning so strong, it causes half-energy and half-lightning damage. It triggers from attacks, ranged attacks and projectile spell casting.
Unyielding Carapace – flanking damage is lower than regular damage and any defense affecting abilities or debuffs are ineffective.
Tier Ultimate Behemoth – No other creature in the wastelands is more formidable than the Behemoth. Its power and impetus are likely to be the last things most enemies will ever know.
Perks
Living, Giant, Diurnal, Swimmer
Special
Rear – stance when the command Defense is used by this unit. It’ll rear on its hind legs an spread its wings. It covers completely any allied troops standing adjacent to it. Any small or medium-sized unit gets invisible to enemies due the cover. Giant units are only partially covered.
Stomp Quake – while reared, it can stomp on the hex right in front of it, inflicting massive damage and causing the effect of the spell quake on a large area around it. It may slow down all affected enemies, decrease their morale and trigger some effects upon the terrain, like eruptions, flood, etc.
Nutcracker – its attack breaks through any defense, lowering enemy’s defense to zero until the end of the battle.
Sweep – when flanked and attack, retaliates with a tail sweep, striking three adjacent hexes. It can push away small units.
FEATURED SUPPORT, WAR MACHINE AND SIEGE UNITS
Heavy Sulfur Cannon
Burning B*tch
Wardrums – large leathery drums carried to battle to set the rhythm of war, providing some discipline and organization upon the otherwise chaotic mixed armies.
Perks
Mechanic (requires 2 units to play them), Stationary, Support Unit
Special
Mind barrage – the drumming helps blocking external influence upon allied troops mind and senses, giving all troops a base resistance to mind effects.
Tactics advantage – boosts effectiveness of hero’s Tactics and Warcry-related skill and subskills.
Commands
Play Warcry – it continues playing a warcry cast by a hero on their position, carrying its effect throughout the battlefield in a lowered effect.
Play The War – automatically plays a rhythm that focus on raising morale, speed and initiative depending on the battle itself.
Koto, the Merchant – this relatively docile courier is a symbol of truce and respect among all clans, and it’s free to wander to and fro carrying many products for trading and also attending to some errands – on its own pace.
Perks
Living, Adventure Map Unit, Support Unit
Special
Wandering Merchant – each hero can have a Koto beast. It takes seven days to travel around and bring some resources back to the hero, some dealings for the market, and even some equipment or artifacts for commerce.
____________
"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2
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Alon
Known Hero
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posted November 29, 2020 11:11 AM |
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Edited by Alon at 12:02, 27 Jul 2021.
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Actual edit date is 2020-12-14, I just made one grammatical fix
Horde
We came from the steppes, and are on the precipice of conquering the humans' largest city. We follow strength, not 10th-generation blood. We grow up hunting game with the spear and the bow, not eating gruel. It is our time.
The horde is the orc town. Half the troops in the lineup are orcs of various kinds. They are green-skinned and with big canine teeth, though not purposely ugly; they are proud of their teeth and think they signify strength and good nutrition, and think humans have small teeth because they mostly eat gruel whereas even poor orcs hunt and eat meat and cheese.
In the campaign, the horde is depicted as a compressed history of Central Asian nomads turning into a complex empire. Their shamanic religion is that of Genghis Khan, complete with the motif of the shaman as the wounded healer. They are to be depicted as culturally mostly Turkish. Of note, this involves a bunch of variations from fantasy stereotypes of orcs:
* They eat recognizable Central Asian food at feasts, like shashlik, not human flesh.
* They are seen to engage in peaceful entertainment popular in premodern Turkey like shadow puppet theater, not bloodsports.
* They do not dress in rags. Peripheral cultures take great pains to look refined. There are color photographs from Central Asia from the 1900s and 10s and the people dress nicely.
* The horde is not an undifferentiated mass of berserkers. The meaning of the word horde is military camp or court - the word Urdu comes from the same word, the idea being that it was the Mughal court language.
* They have smaller numbers than the sedentary groups they attack, so force preservation is important, much like for the preserve.
* They have tremendous mobility on the adventure map, and use hit-and-run tactics with feigned and real retreats. In a pitched battle, they simply don't have the numbers to beat sedentary humans or reptilians or summons or actually-endless undead.
Heroes and skills
The heroes have to prove themselves in battle, so they are themselves uplifted ogres and shamans. They nonetheless do not personally attack enemies, leaving that to actual ogres and shamans on the battlefield, and instead command, inspire, and use their abilities to support the entire army rather than an individual stack.
Special skill: escape
All horde heroes have the ability to escape with the army mid-battle, taking minimal to no losses provided their army is faster than the opposing army. When the escape is declared, all enemy units can still act in initiative order until the next turn, so a slow army facing a fast one would still take damage and not be able to respond. However, warg archers are fast and therefore the escape ability can be activated after they've shot and before their targets will be able to reach them. Two drawbacks exist, both reduced if the hero has high level: first, the army does take small amounts of damage, and second, because the escape is not necessarily in the best direction, if the same hero engages the same enemy army next turn, the enemy gets a tactics bonus and will fight on better ground.
The escape can also be feigned. A feigned escape looks like a normal escape to the enemy, but represents a commitment to attacking the same enemy hero the next turn, in which case the horde hero gets a small tactics bonus rather than a penalty. However, while the horde hero gets a tactics bonus, the enemy hero still gets to move, and the battle will occur on the terrain the enemy hero moves to, and thus the enemy hero can slowly retreat toward the safety of a town or an allied relief army.
Bey
The bey is a warrior and commander who was given a noble title after showing success in battle. The orcs expect to be led by beys, answering ultimately to the khan.
Because the steppes are flat and have long sights, orc armies have long learned to use surprise. They don't even light fires overnight. This gives the bey the surprise ability, which partially blocks scouting (but not magical scrying), and makes it easier for the horde to force a fight. Of note: there are simultaneous turns out of combat, and combat is declared at the end of a turn and then if one side wants combat and the other doesn't then whether combat happens depends on hero skills and mobility, and the surprise skill gives a bonus to this.
Additional bonuses are unit-based, as the orcs tend toward less complex single-unit compositions, so a bey is likely to have experience with a specific unit type. So different beys are distinguished by having bonuses for different non-magical units.
Spiritualist
The spiritualist is the horde's magic hero, the most experienced healer and leader of shamans. With less military experience than the bey, the spiritualist can perform real and feigned retreats but not attack from a position of surprise, trading that for a repertoire of spells. These spells include scrying, healing, inspiring troops for higher morale, releasing more game for on-the-move upkeep.
In addition to spellcasting, spiritualist heroes all have the wounded healer skill, which enables them to counter negative spells that they've been hit with in previous battles. Additional skills differentiating spiritualist heroes from one another revolve around specific abilities and protection from specific types of spells.
Special buildings
Foreign temple: a temple to a god the orcs do not worship. The temple brings additional income, and helps convince people in enemy and neutral cities that the horde is generous and will respect their traditions, reducing the cost of entering neutral cities and slightly reducing defender morale in walled enemy cities. Each town can only build one foreign temple, but bonuses from different towns' foreign temples stack.
Yurt outpost: a manufactory permitting the town to deploy a shifting yurt camp once per turn. The yurt generates income from a radius around it; all towns generate income in a radius around them, but deploying a yurt means generating income in a radius around a specified point that may itself lie outside the town's radius.
Vizier's court: an institution that helps professionalize the orcs' governance. In game terms, this means extracting a greater income proportion from the town's area control and giving a small bonus to spell learning.
Units
Tier 1
Skirmisher: fast javelin thrower. Skirmish units are ranged, but differ from archers in having much less range, much higher damage against armored units like behemoths and golems, and the ability to move and shoot the same turn. The skirmisher is an all-around balanced unit, trading roughly evenly with most other tier 1 units.
Harpy: light flier. The harpy is mobile and much tankier than comparable light fliers like the dragonfly, but is still fundamentally a unit whose main role is break formations. In monobattles, the harpy still loses to nearly every other unit, but the point is that the harpy can fly over defending troops and selectively engage archers. So an army of harpies loses to an army of pikemen on an equal-cost basis as well as to an army of crossbowmen, but will beat an army that's half pike, half archers, by engaging the archers first.
Warg: the warg is a lupine mount for the orcs. A warg rider can close distance fast and cut down enemy units that don't have good formation.
True to the horde's use of less complex unit comps, this style favors single-unit armies. Skirmishers are slower on the adventure map than harpies and wargs, and are ideally suited to kiting melee-oriented armies. Harpies are strong against army comps that rely on synergy, since they can pick out the glass cannons and avoid engaging the tanks, whereas wargs melt to defensive units but beat other light cavalry using the warg's bite.
Tier 2
Warg archer: the horde's dreaded mounted archer, capable of loosing arrows from a distance and then escaping. The warg archer's ability to move while shooting is endlessly frustrating to slower, lower-range units, and demoralizing to boot. With the hero's escape ability, a warg archer army can also infinitely kite slow melee-only armies.
Troll: a heavy frontal fighter, tanky and good at dealing damage, if less heavily armored than a golem or higher-tier units. The troll can also bash in city walls, as in the Battle of Minas Tirith.
Shaman: a healer who can take one on a journey. The shaman does not attack, but instead casts healing, scrying, and morale-increasing spells.
At this tier, unit comps become more complex. Warg-warg archer is a strong combination, historically accurate of Central Asian nomadic army. In sieges, speed is not of essence, so speed-mismatched harpy-troll is strong, with shamans for intelligence and healing support. Facing heavily armored units, skirmisher-shaman is strong, the shaman increasing the skirmishers' morale so that they don't run away from a wyvern or a behemoth.
Tier 3
Ogre: an accomplished orc warrior may receive the title ogre. Mounted on a warg, the ogre is far beefier than the lighter warg rider, and is a terrifying, demoralizing sight for the enemy. Instead of attacking, the ogre can also use spell-like abilities to increase the troops' morale or inspire one troop to fight harder.
Behemoth: a giant beast, so heavily armored that arrows are ineffective and even spears and swords cause less damage. The behemoth is the most demoralizing non-inferno unit one can face, and for good reason - its physical attack causes massive damage, especially to massed small units.
Konrul: a giant bird with the face of a dog. The konrul never lands, only descending to sweep units with a powerful melee attack. It also provides passive spell-like benefits to allied units, including a bonus to morale and speed, and can help the hero's escape ability.
Among these three units, only the behemoth is a direct damage dealer, the other two being mostly self-defending support units. Thus, they work in support of any tier-1-and-2 army. An all-cavalry warg-warg archer-ogre army is fast, a slower harpy-troll-behemoth is good in sieges and the harpy can tie up enemy skirmishers and casters, a warg archer-ogre-behemoth army focuses on demoralization, and the konrul pairs well with any other unit.
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Mystic_Genie
Adventuring Hero
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posted December 01, 2020 10:17 AM |
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Legend
> denotes a tier 2 upgrade
> indicates that a creature has two choices to upgrade the unit
>> denotes a tier 3 upgrade
Note: A select number of creature won’t have any upgrade but will give you more bang for your buck to compensate
Universal Mechanics
Mage Buildings:
- allow you to create scrolls, enabling heroes to cast spells without expending mana. To balance them out, scrolls are always cast with no mastery (even if the hero possesses the appropriate skill) and they ask for more and more rare resources the higher the tier you go.
- as a general rule, factions have one main element, two neutral elements, and a hated element. In practice this translates into 3 building types:
1. The guilds themselves which are guaranteed to give you spells associated with their main element;
2. Temples that give you extra spells per tier that are of the neutral elements;
3. Shelters which teaches visiting heroes the elemental ward warcry's of the hated element.
Might Buildings:
- Come in 2 flavors and they each can be updated to tier 3
1. War Machines that produce special creatures that can occupy the backrow.
2. Training Grounds which teaches heroes warcryes, actions that cost no manna but may have cooldowns.
Heroes:
- Heroes follow a semi random level up system.
- On Level up you will be offered a skill from a “preferred” pool which is class specific, and another from the entire skill list. You can opt to take neither, gaining a perk point instead that you can spend at your leisure.
In a nutshell
Strengths:
- THE might faction. Has some of the beefiest and most damaging walkers in the game.
- their more frail units are deceptively mobile and hard to pin down.
- best siegers in the game, with multiple ways to wreck destructible
Weaknesses:
- their magic guild is serviceable but completely random. Caster heroes should be avoided till after you fully build the magic guild, in order to adapt to the spell selection.
- susceptible to archer heavy factions that can snipe the weaker units before the beefy ones reach them.
- curse stacking is hard for them to deal with once it gets rolling.
Lore
The barren dry wastelands is home to the most hardened, most resilient creatures on the planet. Food is scarce, water is scarcer, and only the strong and cunning can make ends meet.
But it was not always this way.
These lands, along with its neighboring deserts, used to be claimed by the Academy faction. Through wit, magic and ingenuity, they crafted marvelous self-sustainable cities in these mostly isolated lands, where they could research to their heart's content the ways of the world and how to bend them to their will.
The actual natives of these lands were many but scattered, with green leathery skin that allowed them to shrug off the intense temperatures. They traveled in caravans, never staying in one place for long, lest they became targeted by the wildlife. Each caravan, no matter how big, did not have the power to take over these mystical citadels, so the two factions mostly ignored each other.
Eventually, Academies ambitions grew bigger than the cities, which were bound to the land and time, unlike the gods. So they crafted better cities, that hovered above the ground, self repaired with magic and had the ability to travel. And like a child getting a new toy, they pretended like their old ones did not exist, for they were worthless.
To them maybe, but not to the nomads.
With most of its defenses gone, the nomads steadily claimed the old cities as their own. The inside was surreal to them, there was no magic left within the walls, so most of the items and machinery there served no purpose other than decoration.
But the walls, it's towers, it's granaries and libraries. The purpose of these were immediately apparent, and what followed was a golden age for the nomads, as they imitated their architecture till they gathered the necessary knowledge to create their own cities.
Slowly, the void of magic was filled with might, and Academy inadvertently caused the creation of a new unified civilization, who finally had the tools to prosper.
Campaign
Campaign centers around the turning point in Strongholds golden age. Through it, they become recognized as their own faction, with the barren wastelands as their territory.
Your main enemy in the campaign will be Academy. Some wizards have taken notice that their old toys were being used by someone else, and are trying their best to reclaim them. Necropolis and Dungeon appear as secondary enemies, having been given magical items in exchange for help retaking the cities. Inferno also appears as an enemy faction for one mission, though notably they are not after Stronghold.
Stronghold will have gained recognition from it’s non warring neighbors as the campaign progresses, namely Sanctuary and Castle, proving their might to the former while establishing resource trading with the latter thanks to the many sulfur mines in the barren wastes. Neutral stronghold towns and units are present in all missions, something you should make a note of as your main hero starts with the leadership skill, meaning they have easy access to the diplomacy perk.
The final mission is a survival style mission where they have to hold control over one new town built from scratch for a certain number of rounds while being assaulted by all the magical factions. Succeed, and you have marked the creation of their capital city.
Units
Tier 1
Goblin (Armed with a club)
- Type: Walker
- Strong Stats: Growth Rate;
- Weak Stats: All;
- Traits: Vigilance (Does not take bonus damage from being flanked), Cowardice (Runs away when struck in melee. Only Retaliates if Cowardice can't trigger).
> Goblin Hunter (Armed with a boomerang)
Type: Archer
Stat Boosts: none
Traits: Vigilance, Cowardice.
> Hobgoblin (Armed with a sword and wears a cloak)
Stat Boosts: Attack, Initiative, Speed
Traits: Vigilance, Cowardice, Stealth(Can not be targeted unless there is an adjacent enemy unit to it)
Note: Starting off with one of the worst traits in the game, it's upgrade paths weaponize it to the extreme and turn it into a boon. The Hunter's ranged attack can't be disabled unless you don't attack it, while the hobgoblin is one of the hardest tier 1 creatures to kill without AOE.
Orc Crusher (Axe and shield combo)
- Type: Walker
- Strong Stats: Defense, Health
- Weak Stats: None
- Traits: Shielded(takes 25% less damage from ranged attacks), Revenge(Gains 1 Attack whenever it takes damage, up to 10)
Note: On the opposite end of the spectrum the humble crusher comes out good right out of the gate, and actively benefits from taking ranged attacks in the early game. Late Game though they lack a goblins utility, and they can no longer afford to be hit by ranged attacks from higher tiered units.
Tier 2
Centaur (their lower half is that of a Blue Bull, the biggest asian antelope)
- Type: Archer, Large;
- Strong Stats: Attack, Hit Points;
- Weak Stats: Defense;
- Traits: Maneuver (Creatures runs away from melee attackers and retaliate with a ranged attack).
>Centaur Nomad
- Stat Boosts: Attack, Defense;
- Traits: Maneuver, Mobile Shooter (Creature can Move and Shoot on the same turn);
>>Centaur Marauder
- Stat Boosts: Attack, Defense;
- Traits: Maneuver, Mobile Shooter, Precise Shot (Ranged attacks made within 3 tiles of the creature ignore half of the targets armor).
Note: Big fan of the post heroes 5 centaurs as you can tell, my only addition to them is an extra mechanic to encourage them to move closer to enemies with their superior mobility, rather than just using it defensively.
Harpy
- Type: Flyer;
- Strong Stats: Speed, Initiative;
- Weak Stats: Health;
- Traits: Hit and Run.
Fury
- Stat Boosts: Attack;
- Traits: Hit and Run, No enemy Retaliation .
Notes: Their only flyer, and not a particularly sturdy one at that, but being able to take advantage of flanking while effectively being an archer means their damage can catch people off guard.
Tier 3
Karkadann (Rhinoceros looking creature with a silver colored curved spiral horn)
- Type: Walker, Large;
- Strong Stats: Attack, Defense, Health
- Weak Stats: Initiative
- Traits: Magic Resistance Aura (This creature and all adjacent friendly units have 30% increased magic resistance)
>Karkadann Gnasher (Gains a second smaller horn that sits behind the main one)
- Stat Boosts: Attack, Defense, Movement
- Traits: Magic Resistance Aura, Charge (Deals 5% more damage for every square it moves)
Note: The beefy cousin of the unicorn(and the ice breaker between Stronghold and Sanctuary), the Karkadann gives you one of the better aura effects in the game, that combined with ward warcries can help protect your centaurs from the dreaded forgetfulness spell.
Wind Caller
- Type: Walker;
- Strong Stats: Attack, Defense
- Weak Stats: Speed
- Traits: Sacrifice (Can kill allied creatures for Mana), Spellcaster (Bloodlust, Haste)
> Storm Caller
- Stat Boosts: Health
Traits: Sacrifice, Spellcaster (Bloodlust, Haste, Chain Lightning)
Lore: Orc elders aren’t usually respected by their kin. They slow and endanger everyone else in the tribe, and unlike a kid there isn’t a hope for them to grow out of it. The wise elders have figured out a way to make themselves useful by trading their weapons for the winds and figuring out how to give the other tribesmen rain when they need it most. The unwise elders typically end up sacrificed.
Note: Despite their status as the only caster in Stronghold, they are not only hard to kill, but they get great mileage from their own spells. Combined with Sacrifice for potentially unlimited chain lightning, they are not to be ignored.
Tier 4
Airavata (Elephant with 4 tusks and whose trumpet can split into 4)
- Type: Walker, Large;
- Strong Stats: Attack, Defense, Health
- Weak Stats: Initiative
- Traits: Heavy Impact (Small Creatures are pushed away one tile after being attacked by this Creature );
> Erawan (Gains an extra pair of legs)
- Stat Boosts: Defense, Health
- Traits: Heavy Impact, Trample (While moving, deals 25% of its damage to enemy creatures adjacent to it’s route)
Cyclops
- Type: Walker, Large;
- Strong Stats: Attack, Defense, Health
- Weak Stats: Speed, Initiative
- Traits: Demolition (Attacks inflicts double damage to structures), Bash (Attacks inflicts damage in a 4 tile area)
>Tamed Cyclops
- Type: Archer, Large;
- Stat Boosts: Attack, Initiative
- Traits: Demolition, Bash;
>Redeye Cyclops
- Type: Walker, Large, Fire Attack;
- Stat Boosts: Attack, Defense, Speed
- Traits: Demolition, Bash, Paralyzing Gaze (Has a chance to paralyze attacked creatures)
Note: Solidifying them as an offensive faction, the cyclops is one of the few tier 4 creatures with the demolition trait, which combined with bash will absolutely level walls. Tamed cyclops can better cooperate with catapults, but are much easier to shut down with an enemy flyer.
Heroes
Berzerker
Stats:
- Attack: 4 (55%)
- Defence: 0 (15%)
- SpellPower: 0 (15%)
- Knowledge: 0 (15%)
Unique Skill: Blood Rage
- Creature stacks in the heroes party have a blood rage meter that fills up while performing aggressive actions.
- Creatures Gain a bonus to their attack and initiative while the meter is filled past the halfway point. The bonus triples if the meter is filled to it’s full.
Note: Perks will either incentivise spending or keeping the rage going. Since perks are entirely under the players control, this gives you an extra layer to customize your heroes.
Preferred Skill Pool:
Attack, Leadership, Logistics, Luck and War Machines.and Warcries
Sample Perks:
- Fearful Strike (Master in Attack): Friendly non large walkers can not be retaliated against while at max rage.
- Bloody Luck(Basic Logistics): Stack is guaranteed a critical hit if their Blood Rage is full. Bloodrage is set to 0 after critting in this fashion.
- Shout of Rage (Advanced Warcries): Hero party gains blood rage when targeted by a warcry;
- Calm Before the Storm(Advanced Sorcery and one Basic Perk): Caster creatures in the heroes party consume 10 of their rage every round and convert them to mana.
Chieftain
Stats:
- Attack: 1 (25%)
- Defence: 1 (25%)
- SpellPower: 2 (40%)
- Knowledge: 0 (10%)
Unique Skill: Song of War
- Battlecries increase in power the more you chain them one after another.
Note: A simpler alternative to the Berserker, it asks for a little more involvement from the player to keep things interesting.
Preferred Skill Pool:
Attack, Defence, Leadership, Enlightenment, Sorcery, Warcries
Sample Perks:
- Blade Song (Basic Attack): Your strikes count as battlecries for the purpose of chains;
- Breath of the Snake (Advanced Sorcery): Unlocks a unique spell that lowers the cooldown on warcries.
- Words of Pain (Basic Destruction): Warcries deal Air Damage to enemy stacks
Buildings
Design: Architecturally the town has a notable indian inspiration,though less rounded due to inexperience.
Magic Buildings
Magic Guild Level One
- Allows a visiting hero to learn and create scrolls of the spells kept within.
- Keeps 3 spells of the first circle.
>Magic Guild Level Two
- Adds 3 spells of the second circle.
>>Magic Guild Level Three
- Adds 3 spells of the third circle.
>>>Magic Guild Level Four
- Adds 3 spells of the fourth circle.
>>>>Magic Guild Level Five
- Adds 3 spells of the fifth circle.
Note: Being Functionally identical to Academy's magic guild, you might be deceived into believing they have amazing magical options. But with the building being entirely random and with no access to Temples, Stronghold will end up with less spells per tier compared to other factions, as well as no way to plan around what you are likely to receive.
Shelter of Fire/Water/Air/Earth
- Teaches visiting heroes the Fire/Water/Air/Earth Ward Warcry.
Note: Access to every ward in the game is as useful as it is necessary, as none of their standard heroes will have the mana to properly handle curses and destructive spells otherwise.
Might Buildings
War Machines Level One
- Allows visiting heroes to purchase Stronghold specific war machines:
The Stone Ballista (Less damaging ballista but can attack destructibles);
Nomad Tent (Gives a Random creature a boost to Speed and Initiative);
Water Cart (Creatures on the battlefield have a +1 to Health while it’s up).
>War Machines Level Two
- Allows visiting heroes to purchase standard war machines at double the cost.
>>War Machines Level Three
- Allows visiting heroes to purchase other factions' war machines at triple the cost.
- Three of such war machines are available each week, and they can only be purchased once.
Training Grounds Level One
- Teaches Visiting Heroes Stronghold specific Warcries:
Mark of a Prey(Attack action that lowers a units Defence)
March on(Allied creature ignores effects that would slow or stop it’s movement for a turn)
>Training Grounds Level Two
- Teaches Visiting heroes universal warcries
>>Training Grounds Level Three
- Teaches Visiting Heroes other factions warcries.
- Two such warcries are offered at a time and they change every week.
Special Building
Escape tunnel
- allows heroes and their armies to surrender or flee during siege battles.
Slave Market
- Allows visiting heroes to sell troops for gold.
- Multiple Slave Markets give you better prices.
Stone Colossus
- Requires: Grail
- Provides 3000 gold per day. A
- The creature growth in this town increases by 100%, and the creature growth in all of the player's other Strongholds increases by 25%.
Lore: An oversized replica of Academy’s tier 4 unit, both to thank them for the opportunity presented, and to mock them for their stupidity.
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Jiriki9
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Altar Dweller
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posted December 03, 2020 04:18 PM |
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Hey guys, it is not likely I'll be able to post more than a skeleton faction this round, because I got several things for work left this year, which will take most of my attention. My son and christmas will likely take most of the rest. Also, I have no creative stronghold ideas right now. Thus I will probably not be submitting this round. I do not want to rule it out 100%, but I want to say right away, don't wait for me with this round....
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Alon
Known Hero
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posted December 03, 2020 06:30 PM |
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Jiriki9 said:
Hey guys, it is not likely I'll be able to post more than a skeleton faction this round, because I got several things for work left this year, which will take most of my attention. My son and christmas will likely take most of the rest. Also, I have no creative stronghold ideas right now. Thus I will probably not be submitting this round. I do not want to rule it out 100%, but I want to say right away, don't wait for me with this round....
Skeleton faction = necropolis?
(Sorry.)
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Jiriki9
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Altar Dweller
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posted December 03, 2020 07:54 PM |
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Jiriki9
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Altar Dweller
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posted December 16, 2020 03:12 PM |
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I just wanted to tell all of you I really like what I see of your factions so far. Makes having dropped out of this round easier, as I have not had stronghold ideas creative enough to compete here, anyway.
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PandaTar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
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posted December 16, 2020 04:43 PM |
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Hohohohohoho, well, you can help with scores later too. I still have some stuff to add myself. I am more focused on the book I am writing, or I would have finished already.
____________
"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2
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Rimgrabber
Promising
Famous Hero
Voice in Gelu's Head
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posted December 18, 2020 08:55 PM |
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Should finish mine in the next day or two, after I write my essay/review of H7.
Edit: finished the essay http://heroescommunity.com/viewthread.php3?TID=46723
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PandaTar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
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posted December 18, 2020 09:59 PM |
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Edited by PandaTar at 23:02, 22 Dec 2020.
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Sounds ok. Didn't finish mine yet either.
Saturday, is that ok for everyone? The day after Christmas.
____________
"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2
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Rimgrabber
Promising
Famous Hero
Voice in Gelu's Head
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posted December 23, 2020 12:32 AM |
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Mystic_Genie
Adventuring Hero
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posted December 23, 2020 12:06 PM |
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Alon
Known Hero
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posted December 28, 2020 04:00 PM |
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Edited by Alon at 16:02, 28 Dec 2020.
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Scoring
It's three days past Christmas. So.
The idea of an orcish horde as a villain is cliché in fantasy, going back to LOTR. So I'm scoring in large part on how much proposals avoid the more boring aspects of D&D depictions.
Rimgrabber
Oh, wow. This is kind of brief and I want to read more about this, but what you have included is really cool - the internal tension between different ways of being governed, the spellbreaker class reminding me of Roy from Order of the Stick, and the lineup showing me a complex army that nonetheless has clear nomadic heritage in tiers 1-4.
Sadly, it's incomplete  . So I don't get to see tiers 6-7.
So, 9/10.
PandaTar
I like the opening - the duality of how the Clans attack when threatened but are happy with trade and cooperation. It feeds into the geography of the Red Moor as a place that doesn't have that much of value by itself but is an important crossroads; it feels very Swiss that way, except arid rather than mountainous.
The problem is that the lineup doesn't really build up on this theme. It's too much like a D&D random encounter table: goblin, gnoll, scitalis, crepitus... armies usually have a reason to stick together and I don't really see it here - it feels like your theme and Rimgrabber's lineup would work really well together.
So, 8/10.
Mystic Genie
There's a Roman military historian named Bret Devereaux who has a blog post series called The Fremen Mirage, precisely about the myth that "Food is scarce, water is scarcer, and only the strong and cunning can make ends meet."
I do like most of the lineup, but the wind caller's sacrifice ability just doesn't fit. Low-population nomadic people don't do this, because warm bodies are scarce and there is strength in numbers. Historically, the Mongols had a culture of wrestling, not fatal dueling as in Europe, which was overpopulated and land-scarce.
So, overall, I do dock points, and despite the mostly-cool lineup, it's just 7/10, sorry.
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PandaTar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
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posted December 28, 2020 09:17 PM |
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Three days already indeed.
I got focused on my book and forgot to finish my proposal. Probably will skip the next round, because I don't like to do things half-assed.
I'll see the scores later tonight.
____________
"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2
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Jiriki9
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Altar Dweller
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posted January 08, 2021 10:59 AM |
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Edited by Jiriki9 at 17:07, 10 Jan 2021.
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Here are, finally, some scores by me:
Rimgrabber
Sadly, this seems rather incomplete. It seems to have a pretty classical approach, though the youths new ways is an interesting twist. I like that you seem to draw a bit more from Celtic (or is it Gaelic?) Mythology. But the lineup does not feel so coherent. Maybe it would if more background overall was there but this way, it is a bit of a loose creature connection. The "Landschneckt" is a bit confusing for a German native speaker, as it seems to be derived from the "Landsknecht", a German military unit fighting with a Pike. And that is a combined word with a meaning (roughly "servant of/to the land") - while "Schnecke" means snail or slug, so this unit reads to me as "Snail of the Land", which is quite un-awe-inspiring 
Overall, I give this 5 Points.
PandaTar
Although having a lot in it, it still feels incomplete. What I see, I do like, be it gameplay, background or theme.
I will still give 8 points for this.
Alon
I relaly like your concept, although I am not too much a fan of trying to represent earthly cultures in fantasy settings. I LOVE the escape skill. The units are fitting and seem nice to play, though I personally might prefer a bit more variety. Still, I somehow liek ti very much and I admire how nice factions you can present without having so much details and contents.
9 points
Mystic_Genie
You certainly are trying an interesting idea here. I am not certain how mcuh I like some aspects, though. Especially the magic guild being random. Because that can - randomly - make caster heroes an incredibly great choice. The lineup feels pretty classic in style. THe backstory is noce.
Overall, 8 points.
EDIT: Anyone still there? Will we continue this? Despite having little time, I would really love to!
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Alon
Known Hero
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posted January 11, 2021 12:12 AM |
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Rimgrabber
Promising
Famous Hero
Voice in Gelu's Head
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posted January 11, 2021 01:45 AM |
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I'm feeling a little bit burnt out, honestly, but I'd still like to continue this soon. I just got a new job and started a few classes so I'm gonna need to take a short break.
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