some changes to factions id like to see implemented/discussed

[Marquis Andras The63rd]

hey everyone, The Banner Saga Factions is a great game, but id love to see some changes/improvements on its formula. so, heres some gameplay tweaks and unit/special ability ideas ive had. feel free to tear them apart, and bear in mind ive only made it to power 9 so far, these may seem like poor ideas to a more experianced player.
gameplay tweaks:
4 player ffa and 2 0n 2

renown bets prematch, players must be in agreement of amount if any

archers able to select path along thier route of movement to fire from

movement after attacking if you hadnt moved beforehand

as optional mode:larger teams on bigger maps 12 unit roster

banners that show available matches should show hosts name so you know incase of unwanted repeat plays

the horn should have an option to expend 2 stored willpower to call down lightning on any 1 tile for reasonable damage,
1 arm 2 health? or 3 stored willpower to expand effect to 4 tile range

a 2 or 3 slot sidebar of units, from which you can choose wether or not to exchange with units in your lineup prematch, after the teams have been shown,to allow for changes to better suit your opponents team (units must be of equal rank and cannot break build rules)

units/abilities:
range melee mix class- spear user, attacks up to 2 panels away, can throw spear for 1 willpower up to 4 panels away,can exert extra willpower to increase throw damage, must revert to one panel attack distance after throw, draws sword/axe etc

some type of mage class with range and aoe attacks

polar bear from great hall map? 4 tile varl type.. willpower1 intimidating roar, reduces willpower of enemies in range

1 tile druid style char. uses willpower to heal partners at range... also, sacrifice 1 willpower to add 2 willpower to horn
or steal 2 willpower from enemies horn

1 tile beserker, no armor, instead has two health bars and attacks twice per turn, once per health bar, if one bar is
depleted, they only attack once

option for warleader to move enemies back in their rotation

defense based varl that can set shield into ground, creating a 2 tile barrier in front of him, perhaps pushing back 1 tileany characters infront of varl, armor score should drop by 2? after setting shield into place

[Aleonymous]

Hello Marquis,

A set of very interesting ideas you got there! I will comment/answer more in detail later.

*** Meanwhile, you might wanna re-post (and better structure/separate/format your ideas for readability) at the official StoicStudio forums (http://stoicstudio.com/forum/forum.php), where the developers themselves have a higher chance of reading/replying to your post.

[Aleonymous]

Comments on Class-types & Abilities

***Spearman: A base-class of this name is coming after Saga is released. I am not sure about his special abilities, but his attack-range is confirmed to be 2 tiles (where 1=melee). However, I am not sure if throwing his spear will be allowed, as it will mean that he effectively changing his class...

***Mage/Wizard/Sorcerer: This type of unit, common to fantasy, has been requested multiple times. I believe that Stoic have a generally reserved position against magic, but units of similar type called "Menders" (male & female) are to appear too. No idea what their ability will be like, but surely they are not warriors.

***Druid/Healer/Cleric: The same that I explained for the mage-classes above hold for this one too, i.e. no clue at the moment but perhaps the Menders will have some of the features you describe. Not sure about "stealing" willpower though; this is another kind of taboo, I believe.

***Polar-Bear (or Varl): Interesting idea, to scare enemies out of their willpower. I'd like to see it.

***Beserker: A base-class of this name is coming after Saga is released. I think it is a Varl (2x2) unit. No idea as to what the base-ability is. Your idea sounds interesting (and faithful to the definition of the "beserker"), but it deviates from the ARM/STR mechanic...

***Change Enemy Unit-Order: I believe Stoic will introduce a unit with this type of ability, but I think there is a lot of players that will hate it! Already changing your own order (Forge-Ahead) can eventually be harmful for you; doing that to the enemy could destroy him!

***Create Block Ability (Varl): Another interesting idea. So, he forms an impenetrable wall before him, a "blocked tile" (like the posts in the Beach map), that only arrows can pass/see through?

[Aleonymous]

Comments on General Suggestions

*** 2-vs-2 & Player(s)-vs-AI: These features have been requested multiple times and are in the future plans of Stoic for Factions.

*** Renown Bets on Match: Not sure Stoic would want this gambling feature in their game. I'm all for it (as an option), but from my experience there's a lot of players who dislike the idea. However, watching other people's matches (live) is something that has been asked for -- Spectator mode.

*** Acher arrow-path: I'm not sure what you mean by this. Something like a "guided missile" that hits multiple targets? If so, the 4th archer-class (to come after Saga) called Sharpshooter has an ability like that, but hits only targets in a straight line (friend or foe).

*** Move after Attack: This feature has been discussed a miriad time. I think it was "hard choice" made for the game mechanics, so little chance of changing that now since it globally changes almost everything about the game as we know it. I'd prefer this option too, though.

*** Large teams/Bigger maps: Yes, please. Although, this would mean that matches would take ~45-60mins.

*** Names of Player(s) in Queue: An interesting suggestion. I don't believe Stoic wanna do this just now, as they expect the playerbase to increase after the release of the Saga.

*** Horn Attack: Stoic have mentioned that other "greater magical objects" (apart from the Horn) are planned for Factions. This could possibly be one of them.

*** Unit Swapping at Matchmaker: This has also been requested multiple times, the reason being that there's some over-powered builds that you just can't handle with certain build. Not sure how this is gonna be implemented, but such "wildcard" features may well be part of it.

[Marquis Andras The63rd]

hey there aleonymous. thanks for your responses. i definately should have checked out stoics forums before posting, after some reading over there i see as you noted, a good few of these have been brought up before. i havent joined at the forums just yet, and hadnt browsed those posts much since just after the site recovered from being hacked. my idea for the archer would be for you to be able to select your path of movement, and before moving, select a tile along that path to fire from, as if you were standing there, to facilitate archers lingering just out of range, moving in a tile or two, fire and retreat. your right on about larger team games taking a while, 4 player would be quite a long match even on expert timer, but as a longtime fan of 4 player chess and rosicrucian chess id be all for it

[Aleonymous]

OK, now I got it. I see this as a sub-case of the generalized Move-Attack-Move feature (whereas, now, it's just Move-Attack).

On a side-note, I believe that archers are especially powerful in this game, owing mostly to their passive ability (Puncture). Also, their ARM, STR and Armor-Break seem disproportionally high compared to the other "male" units. However, having played the game for a long time, I believe they are quite balanced in their present form, so that anything else would have big consequences that would ripple across all the other units. In the past, I have argued about several changes to the archers:
[1] Nerf their stats,
[2] Buff their passive to +1STR for each -1ARM (instead of +1 for each -2),
[3] Apply Line-of-sight & friendly-fire,
[4] Increase range at the cost of miss-chance proportional to the distance.
But, I think that the game was pretty much built around the archer's mechanics, so no chance of any of the above happening.

[doomator]

please, dont meake this game to compicated. More units?..ok, but no tons of abilities.

[Aleonymous]

@doomator -- It's perhaps the first time someone openly expresses this opinion! :-D Most people are like "we want more, more, mooooore!"

[doomator]

glad to hear that @Aleonymous

@Marquis, i know this game has endless potential, i hope it will be more games like this, but i think this game is simply great and greatly simple. Adding to mutch can kill it

[Aleonymous]

doomator, I think you said it all there!

"This game is simply great and greatly simple"

[strange_carrots]

Good post wish I saw this sooner :). Be sure to visit the main website/forums as well!