Hey guys,



Just came back from watching the twitch stream on the Allayi, it looked very promising all around, good job!

However it made me also think about a dilemma many strategy games face during their lifecycles. When a new factions gets introduced through an expansion, it has to be made with some unique gameplay mechanics, both active and passive, to make a customer desire to play them.The Allayi are a prime example for this. But sometimes, as new factions are introduced, older ones, witch worked with more basic rules, can look a bit stale in comparison.



Take as examplethe Wild Walkers. The WW have the sharing, they get a production bonus and can sense enemy movement in neighboring provinces. These are neat abilities, but they are also passive, meaning they don't let the player work actively with an unique gameplay element, like e.g the raising of magic pillars for the ardent mages or the converting of neutral villages with the cultists.



In the following paragraph I'd like to write down some suggestions for some of the original factions. Also I'd like to point out that these suggestions are not about a complete remake of a faction, but more about the addition of some small gameplay element or going more in depth with an existing feature.



The Wild Walkers: In the Lore it's stated, that the WW are great builders, who could shape tree and stone to erect great buildings. Going from this, it would be cool, if in the game the WW could raise structures on the map, maybe a 1-hex-wide wall to block a pass through cliffs, or a fort to serve as a border defense. Being able to raise defensive and supporting structures on the map, would fit quite well with them, I believe.



The Vaulters: I think they're fine, at least I can't think of any good suggestion. Maybe someone else has a good idea for them.



The Broken Lords: I think they're also fine, as they feel already very unique in their gameplay.



The Necrophage: In my mind something more could be done with the units spawned by the Proliferator. In the lore it's stated, that sometimes Necrophage offspring can inherit some of it's host DNA. As a gameplay feature, I would suggest for such units to be able to inherit some of it's host combat abilities. For example, if a necrophage spawns from a WW unit, it also gets a combat boost in forest tiles. Or if the host was an Ardent Mage unit, than the Necrophages attack is also increased, the more damage it receives. Or it can also walk in shadows, if it came from a Forgotten unit. Some visual represantation of its host inheritance, like the necrophage unit having WW Twi'lek tails, would be appreciated, but might be difficult to implement.



The Drakken: I'm not sure what can be done with the drakkens, they already have some active abilities, like forcing peace treaties. Since I first heard about them, I was pondering how something like a UN council or a "round table" with the drakkens as chairman could be implemented in EL, but that might get complicated, especially if there's more than one drakken faction (though perhaps then the drakken players could just change periodicly the leadership position?). Maybe some prototype of the inner politics system from ES2 could be implemented for the drakken and all its subjugated minor factions?



That is all from my side, I'm looking forwards to hear if these are good or bad ideas or just outright not feasible. Anymore suggestions would be welcome. A word from the devs would also be very welcome!



I'm looking forward to the release of the shifters expansion and any future content for EL.

I would bump the Forgotten. Stealing dust and resources from other players (e.g. by means of infiltration, not by pillaging) would be nice. Also a buff to spies ...

icarus86 wrote:
I would bump the Forgotten. Stealing dust and resources from other players (e.g. by means of infiltration, not by pillaging) would be nice. Also a buff to spies ...

There has been a slight buff to spies, but I personally don't think it's enough, as all factions can benefit from them just the same. But we'll try out the Forgotten now with the new boosts and see what they need.



I don't think the Wild Walkers need any revision. They are meant to be a vanilla faction, and even so, I still find them interesting. They have a unique tactical advantage in the form of excellent archers that could potentially end up with 5 range, in addition to favouring forests for engagements. If there is one thing that the Wild Walkers should have changed, it's the Agache Shamans. Otherwise, they should remain a "vanilla" faction.



As for the Necrophages, I think it would be a bit op if battleborns inherit abilities like stealth. That said, I would completely support having their stats depend on the unit they were born from. I would also add a change to "Demanding Gods", by having it add 4 cadavers (half a food stockpile) in addition to the approval boost (courtesy of Jojo). This would give the Necrophages the unique ability of almost transferring pop across their cities.



Finally, if the last expansion will focus on diplomacy (in addition to navy), then interesting things could happen with the Drakken.

I like your idea (necrophages).



There abilitie to adapt abilites from other factions. for example: "now I try to kill some forgotten units to sneak behind the cultists armies and backstep there city"



and a personal hope for me is that the cultists get a abilitie to controle regions. for ex: "if you controle all minorfactions in a region you own that region. so that you can place your units in the villages and controle the region."



(eng. is not my main language)



bb -mana

KnightofPhoenix wrote:
There has been a slight buff to spies, but I personally don't think it's enough, as all factions can benefit from them just the same.

That.s EXACTLY my point. Forgotten should be buffed in this area even more, IMHO. An alternative would be to nerf all others, but I think that it would be detrimental to gameplay variation ...