28FEB11 - NATURE & NPC EXPANSIONHi all,
You
may have noticed over the last day or so, but if not - we've expanded the
seeding of nature units onto the map, and greatly expanded the types of
unit that are seeded.
These new Nature and semi-monstrous units
are sympathetic to the Geography and Biomes in Illyriad, as well as
sympathetic (although for the sake of gameplay, not completely
accurately) to natural cluster sizes.
The size returned by
clicking on a Nature spawn is now entirely relative to the number of
units on the square and so is no longer an accurate measure of
difficulty between different spawn types. To explain: "A Handful of
Wild Dogs" remains an easy kill; however "A Handful of Mammoths" is
going to be more diffiult.
Whilst this overall geography and
biome information is much more visible (and makes much more sense) in
UIv2 than in the current User Interface, the new units are available to
attack on both interfaces.
130 new units have been added to the
existing 15, and Arakvar and Sslipentin (Serpentkin) have been retired
from the seeding algorithm as they will be controlled in future via the
Faction AI rather than natural (static) seeding. Any troop movements
currently underway against Arakvar or Serpentkin will complete as
expected.
NPC Mercenary Army Factions (Crimson Dawn, Treggar's
Crows, Brotherhood of Kerala, Bayne's Irregulars & Marauding
Skullsplitters) will continue to spawn statically on the map for the
meantime.
We do plan to add more NPC nature units in time, but this release is the major tranche.
The Units are as follows:
WILD DOGS
BROWN BEARS
WOLVES
GIANT SPIDERS
GIANT SNAKES
POLAR BEARS
ARCTIC WOLVES
SNOW LEOPARDS
ICE SALAMANDERS
POISONOUS CRAWLERS
GIANT SCUTTLERS
SCRITCHERS
SCALED CHARGERS
SALAMANDERS
ANACONDAS
JAGUARS
LEOPARDS
GIANT SCORPIONS
ELEPHANTS
RHINOCEROS
CORAL SNAKES
LIONS
TIGERS
PUMAS
COBRAS
ALLIGATORS
GIANT BEETLES
BABOONS
FIRE SALAMANDERS
GIANT RATS
BLACK BEARS
There are, actually, more seeded onto the map than the ones listed above; but we wanted to have some secrets

We
have not seeded purely Aquatic creatures onto the map yet, but these
will come with the naval/maritime release. We have also avoided seeding
winged nature onto the map for the moment.
In terms of "what do
these creatures do besides wait for us to kill them"... ah well, that
all comes later. And mighty fine it is too.
In the meantime, please enjoy your new beasties!
Best wishes,
GM Stormcrow
Edited by GM Stormcrow - 28 Feb 2011 at 16:44