Skill Tree for Generals

[Perwyn]

Looking at the new Ali Baba adventure on test server, the enemy units are quite powerful, and at least for now, all of them have splash damage. To counter this will require multiple attack waves for most camps. This fact, in combination with a comment on the test forum got me thinking about the Generals Skill Tree that was going to be part of the science system but still hasn't appeared. It would be a lot more fun to work on strategies involving various skills than to send wave after wave after wave at these camps. Here's a rough idea of how it could work.

General Skill Tree Possibilities

Shock Wave:
1st Book - 1st cavalry attack (round) deals double damage
2nd Book - 1st cavalry attack (round) deals triple damage
3rd Book - 1st cavalry attack (round) deals quadruple damage

Kite Shield:
1st Book - Cavalry immune from 1st enemy attack (1 round)
2nd Book – Cavalry immune from 1st 2 enemy attacks (2 rounds)
3rd Book – Cavalry immune from 1st 3 enemy attacks (3 rounds)

Silver Stirrup:
1st Book – Cavalry Hit points +15
2nd Book - Cavalry Hit points +25
3rd Book - Cavalry Hit points +35

Quilted Armor:
1st Book – Recruit Hit Points +8%
2nd Book – Recruit Hit Points +16%
3rd Book – Recruit Hit Points +24%

Silver Arrow:
1st Book – Bowman damage +8%
2nd Book – Bowman damage +16%
3rd Book – Bowman damage +24%

Golden Shaft:
1st Book – Longbowman have 25% chance to deal splash damage
2nd Book – Longbowman have 50% chance to deal splash damage
3rd Book – Longbowman have 75% chance to deal splash damage

Mantlet:
1st Book – Longbowman Hit points +10
2nd Book - Longbowman Hit points +20
3rd Book - Longbowman Hit points +30

Bronze Bolt:
1st Book – Crossbowman damage +10%
2nd Book – Crossbowman damage +20%
3rd Book – Crossbowman damage +30%

Pavise:
1st Book – Crossbowman Hit points +10
2nd Book - Crossbowman Hit points +20
3rd Book - Crossbowman Hit points +30

Powder Burn:
1st Book – Cannoneers have 25% chance to deal splash damage
2nd Book – Cannoneers have 50% chance to deal splash damage
3rd Book – Cannoneers have 75% chance to deal splash damage

Strongsword:
1st Book – Militia damage +20%
2nd Book – Militia damage +40%
3rd Book – Militia damage +60%

Leather Gambeson:
1st Book – Militia Hit points +10
2nd Book - Militia Hit points +15
3rd Book - Militia Hit points +20

Excalibur:
1st Book – Soldier damage +20%
2nd Book – Soldier damage +40%
3rd Book – Soldier damage +60%

Maille Hauberk:
1st Book – Soldier Hit points +10
2nd Book - Soldier Hit points +20
3rd Book - Soldier Hit points +30

Caliburn:
1st Book – Elite Soldier damage +25%
2nd Book – Elite Soldier damage +50%
3rd Book – Elite Soldier damage +75%

Plate Armour:
1st Book – Elite Soldier Hit points +15
2nd Book - Elite Soldier Hit points +25
3rd Book - Elite Soldier Hit points +40

Deflection:
1 Codex – 30% chance attack damage from enemies 1st attack (round) will be directed onto themselves

Golden Shield:
1 Codex – Entire army immune from 1st attack

The Arm of Mars:
1 Codex – Entire army deals +15% damage

Lion Strength:
1 Codex – Entire army hitpoints +15%

This is just a quick list that got banged out in an hour or so. Imagine what could happen if some serious thought went into a generals skill tree. The game could be elevated multiple levels of cool and be a lot more fun and challenging.

[Ceruhe]

Imagine what could happen if some serious thought went into a generals skill tree.

Getting ignored?

The list looks pretty neat, but because rough draft etc numbers need to be adjusted...some powerful stuff right there already haha. Not sure if BB can properly adjust for your cannoneers idea of having "x%" chance of splashing though (nevermind that the 3rd book should make it 100% :P).

Reason being...or rather assuming, although we have Accuracy which would seem to be the same mechanic as a "chance".

I'm not convinced (and tried to articulate myself a few times but without math backing it up, therefore confusion...maybe I'll get around to it, though I'm feeling as if I'm missing parts of the equation...) that each and every unit gets their accuracy calculated individually but applied as a whole, in turn creating something like "a hidden splash dmg". I will elaborate further once I can make sense of the stuff in my head without causing more confusion trying to explain.

If BB decides to let players brainstorm the General Skills, I might as well actually do so, but pessimistic as I am, I will save me the time to come up with more examples, although hp and dmg buffs would be a rather basic thing on the list, meaning, the brain stroming would be to have special skills like splash dmg, bonus for the entire army, for the general specifically...and what have you.

Aside from a skilltree, I could even see a whole different chain to create v2 weapons/armor etc that one needs to "apply" to units. Bonus applies as long as the troop is alive, which may be used for more efficient sacs/blocks/attacks depending how it's being used.

Pros:
- We get new buildings and chains to create that stuff
- Another resource sink to keep inflation in check some more
- Adds more variety to how enemies can be taken down (and potentially guides)

Cons:
- We get new buildings and chains to create that stuff
- Displaying the amounts of troops you have vs the ones with bonus vs the ones with v2 bonus vs the ones with v3 bonus etc would be wild
- Will cause another layer of confusion for alot of people and others than will get angry for having assigned stuff wrong

While I like complexity, I think it would be too much for TSO to adapt such a thing on the other hand.

[BB_Endesmor]

Hello,

That's a nice list, Perwyn, thanks for sharing it with us!

BB_Endesmor

[Perwyn]

Aside from a skilltree, I could even see a whole different chain to create v2 weapons/armor etc that one needs to "apply" to units. Bonus applies as long as the troop is alive, which may be used for more efficient sacs/blocks/attacks depending how it's being used.

Pros:
- We get new buildings and chains to create that stuff
- Another resource sink to keep inflation in check some more
- Adds more variety to how enemies can be taken down (and potentially guides)

Cons:
- We get new buildings and chains to create that stuff
- Displaying the amounts of troops you have vs the ones with bonus vs the ones with v2 bonus vs the ones with v3 bonus etc would be wild
- Will cause another layer of confusion for alot of people and others than will get angry for having assigned stuff wrong

The idea of better weapons and armor also has merit. However, as you've already listed in Cons, new buildings and chains could be a problem for some people. Since we can take the iron chain to level 6, perhaps the same effect can come about with higher levels. So all iron swords at level 7 give militia higher damage. Level 8, higher still. And so forth with steel and all other weapons chains. Armor could maybe come from the barracks, with each level above 5 adding hit points. So the same effect without needing more island space. And just to keep the devs happy, recruits and bowman get left out of the upgrades.

Then again, the skill tree would enable selectively tweaking each general into a specialist in a particular area, so rather than everybody getting every bonus, it's more selective. Just like the MMA, Vet and Major each having their best uses, but on steroids. And Tav gens could be tweaked to be sac specialists of differing kinds for differing camps.

Not as if any of these ideas will ever go live LOL!!! But looking at Ali Baba, where's the fun in sending the same old wave after wave after wave attacks? I call boring on that one.

[Gibamou]

in addition to combat skill,

my suggestion
1. skill to reduce travel time.
2. skill to reduce recover time.
3. skill to increase troop upper limit
4. skill to have some chance to capture some enemy as your unit to use in that adventure.

[LoLex]

NO please, don't do that to generals, we did not finish to put skills in explorers and geologists. Better allow us to queue more books in bookbinder before implementing skill tree for generals.

[Ceruhe]

There is no need to "finish" all of your explorers if the skills for the Generals (and Home Island...) are worth their skills

Although I'm not hard consuming and selling stuff I find...I got so many buffs, I can't even keep up with it. And that's with "only" 7 SS and 3 Luckies.

[Koshko]

Really you can get away with just a few maxed out explorers and 1 maxed out geologist at higher levels once you've accumulated stuff.