Feedback on Vbros pack 2.
This post is addressed, first to the authors of the pack-—thank you and congratulations!--, and then to those players that, like myself until recently, had played nothing but Megapack. I hope the following comments will encourage them to try new experiences.
The four factions in the pack follow of course the general trend of the game as to production of buildings and units, but some original ideas have been introduced to freshen the interest of the player. I will try to comment on each faction separately:
GREECE. These greeks are vegetarians: Feeding is solved not by production of animals but by building barley fields. Each field feeds 25 units. It is a faction well adapted to a strong defense strategy, with static units like the oxibeles--a type of ballista with land-air capacity--, the tower, the air-box, and, above all, the Trojan horse. This last is a really fantastic find: A deadly statue of a horse, untouchable by the enemy, but capable of killing fast any land unit entering its 8-range. I was initially puzzled as to how to destroy it, but the answer is, you cannot. The only way is to surround it and destroy the barley fields. Then the horse complacently dies.
Attack units are more conventional, in Megaglest terms, although some names are indeed those of ancient greek warriors: hoplites, peltast, psiloi (slingers), onagers (catapults), chariots, archers... I rather like the chariots: strong, fast and with a good shooting range. Special units are the Atlas--rather like the Norsemen Thor--, the Alexander and the Artemis, these two very strong but limited to one each. And dragons as air units.
It takes time to start producing the strong units, but, if not rushed before, an army of formidable power can be assembled. Thumbs up for the greeks.
GAULS. This is a puzzling faction. While it is apparently well done and carefully finished, when you delve a little deeper some incongruous things come up. It gives the impression of having been hurriedly put together. A few details:
Air unit is a contraption called Copter, strangely out of place in Roman Gallia. And there are also cannons, but let us accept all that. Now, what of the doves? They seem to have been the original air unit, but now the attack skill is commented out in the xml, so that their final role in the faction remains a mystery.
A touch of humor is given by the inclusion of some characters of the Asterix saga: Obelix, the hermit (recreation of the Druid), the cauldron with the potion, the bard, and the same Asterix (in the version I downloaded the production of Asterix was disabled and I had to correct it). These characters were supposed to make the faction funny but in fact they add little to the gameplay. It would be an interesting turn if the magic potion could be used in the same way as in the comic: this would involve giving a temporary super-strength to all warriors fed on the cauldron. But I suppose the AI would not allow it. Instead, the potion is merely an one-time-for-all upgrade.
Obelix can produce a rock (menhir in the comic), but this has no object at all in the game. The rock can be sold, and you get 40 stone, that's all there is to it. And Asterix has a fast-run skill that does not seem to work.
As for the bards, they are supposed to enter combat singing a lethal song that weakens and kills enemies. But even with the upgrade, their song is practically harmless.
On the whole, Gauls is not one of the best factions, although one point in their favour is that they can start production of warriors fairly quick.
CRUSADERS. As with the other factions in the pack, neatly modelled buildings and units, quite a pleasure to play. It has all the usual warriors, so I will only mention the details that make the faction different.
Two kinds of workers: peasant and maid.
One new resource: water. Some special units require it. It is obtained by building a well. Only maids can build wells or farms.
Farms can trade wood by gold. Very handy in case of scarcity of the precious metal.
Peasants, as well as harvesting and building, can morph into catapults. And a catapult can morph into a trebuchet. This is a static splash weapon with devastating power. If anybody think that the roman ballista is too powerful, just give a try to the trebuchet.
Another powerful weapon, this one mobile, is the siege machine.
Air units are falcons. They are produced, not by a building, but by a unit: the monk. If you have several monks falcons can be created fast--and cheaply, too.
But the most outstanding unit is a character called Richard (Lion-heart, I presume). This is a warrior with an stunning HP of 35000! Of course only one is allowed in the game, but even one, helped by a few minor warriors, can wreak havoc into any enemy defense.
The conclusion is, quite a funny and challenging faction.
DARK KNIGHTS. Somber people, these knights. Obscure workers, dark warriors, gloomy buildings, ominous fires, great spiders, vampires... If an oppressive atmosphere was wanted, here it is, surely.
The strongest warrior is, obviously, the Dark Knight, chieftain of this merry party (only one allowed). Maybe a bit disappointing, though. Of such a big shot one would expect greater strength and size. More interesting are the axemen and the shadow riders, both strong and with nice sound effects. And then the fire swordsmen, big chaps with a deadly attack on both land and air foes. There are no war machines, but we have horrifying spiders, strong and fast. Air unit is the bat, vampires in fact, that attack dropping from above.
As static defenses we have the watch tower (land and air) and the torch (air only). The first has an interesting feature: when attacked at close range it can throw hot oil on the enemies.
There is no lack of punch in these dark ones, which are surely the main attraction of this pack. Players fond of this kind of gloomy aesthetics will certainly find their bit of fun here.
(One final touch to the authors of the pack: the music is ok, but don't you think that this piece below--copyright free, mind you-- would be a better fit for the dark warriors?)
http://www.1classical.com/title.php?recordID=Mussorgsky - Night on the bare mountain
