Major Release 08APR

The_Dude wrote:   Awesome!  Love it!    How do I access it from within the game?  Which tab do I click? EDIT: Fixed Quote for ya! GM Stormcrow

You don't at this very moment, except off the link in The Herald.

We'll be adding it linked from somewhere ingame soonish though.

Wuzzel wrote: Who is on Illyriad Admin? And you just dropped in respect SC

Let SC come out of the closet.  If the man likes it, let him relish in it.

Illyriad Admin wrote: We apologise for the 1 hour or so delay from the previously announced time.  Stormcrow was, apparently, indulging a guilty pleasure by the name of "American Idol".  And we don't mean his wife.

Lies! Lies, I tell you!

MAJOR RELEASE 08 APR
A number of quite major changes came into play today.

We apologise for the 1 hour or so delay from the previously announced time.  Stormcrow was, apparently, indulging a guilty pleasure by the name of "American Idol".  And we don't mean his wife.

1. MILITARY UNIT REBALANCING
Military Unit combat values, costs, speeds and a whole host of other things have been rebalanced.

The changes to combat values have not been hugely major, and haven't changed any of the general truths: Orcs still have the best spearmen, Elves the best bowmen, Humans the best cavalry and Dwarves the best Infantry.

However, the changes to relative upkeep means many of you should have a lot more Gold flowing in.

In essence:

• Basic Spear Units continue to cost 1 Gold per hour
• Advanced Spear Units have been reduced from 3 to 2 Gold per hour
• Basic Ranged Units continue to cost 2 Gold per hour
• Advanced Ranged Units continue to cost 3 Gold per hour
• Basic Infantry Units continue to cost 2 Gold per hour
• Advanced Infantry Units have been reduced from 4 to 3 Gold per hour
• Basic Cavalry Units have been reduced from 4 to 3 Gold per hour
• Advanced Cavalry Units have been reduced from 6 to 4 Gold per hour

This is a good thing, because you're really going to need that extra Gold for:

2. LIMITED SIEGE WARFARE

The pre-requisite requirement for both the:

• Siege Engineering technology, and the
  
• War Machines technology
  

has been changed to Barracks Level 15 and can now be researched.

Each race has 2 different Siege Weapons - one that works against City Walls, and one that works against buildings.

For those who haven't looked this far ahead, Siege Engineering allows you to build fearsome weapons of war, capable of tearing down an opponent's City Wall.

The War Machines technology allows you to build even more massive and terrifying machines - capable of flinging missiles over the walls of your opponent's city and destroying the buildings inside.

This means that players will be able to build Siege Engines and War Machines with Barracks Level 15 onwards (if they have sufficient Siege Blocks to build the unit).

The different races' Siege Engines cost different amounts, travel at different speeds, and have different chances of achieving their objective.  Siege Engines are expensive.  Very expensive.

Whilst you cannot deploy Siege Engines or War Machines in a Siege Encampment (and thereby capture or raze a city) until you have Barracks Level 20, from Barracks Level 15 onwards you will be able to attach these units to an attacking army.

Armies sent out against another City, operating under standard Attack orders with Siege Engines or War Machines attached to the army will be able to destroy opponents' walls and buildings with the effect that:

• Each attacking Siege Engine attached to the army will have a chance to level down the target's City Wall by 1 Level, if the attackers are victorious

• Each attacking War Machine attached to the army will have a chance to level down one building, selected at random, by one level, if the attackers are victorious

• If the attackers are not victorious because a sufficient force of defenders are present - or they run into a defensive Rune of sufficient power to kill all the units in the attacking army -  then all the attacking siege weaponry is destroyed
  

The order for Attack alone - not Raid, Blockade, or heaven forbid, Reinforce - is the only valid army order for using this kind of limited siege mechanic.

Siege units will be counted as defenders - with a zero defence value - if they are caught sitting at home or in an encampment/occupy situation.  So, if you build them, you really, really need to defend them.

Siege Engines and War Machines cost a substantial amount of resources (Siege Blocks) to construct.  They are also very expensive to maintain as they require expertly trained engineers to operate and maintain them.

These siege units will move slowly, and the army moves at the pace of the slowest unit, so defenders should have enough time to either organise a defence... or take what's coming to them.

TWO ADDITIONAL POINTS TO MENTION FROM THE ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
1. Order of Combat
Siege Engines are only deployed after combat has been resolved.  It's silly to imagine the defenders will just sit there whilst the Battering Rams smash down the gates.

So Siege Engines will only resolve their attacks after the non-siege armies of the attacker and defender have resolved their combat.

2. Siege Engine Chance To Succeed
Siege Engines have a chance to succeed in their objective. 

This chance varies depending on the Race of the Siege Engine.   The chance of success is per Siege Engine, not applied to the whole attack - so an Attack with 10 Siege Engines with a 40% chance of success should mean an average of 4 Siege Engines hitting their targets.

We will, in the future, introduce Commander skills and Combat magic spells that effect Siege Engine to-hit percentages.

3. UNIT ARRIVAL TIME CALCULATION
Unit ETA is now displayed FOR MILITARY UNITS ONLY before you send them out.

This means that you can better co-ordinate military actions with your other actions, or your Alliance members.

We will be putting the Unit ETA on the Diplomatic and Trade screens very shortly, and we will be adding in a "counting timer" as well on all the screens (including the server clock in the top right) for added accuracy in timing arrivals.

4. MILITARY UNIT VALUES PUBLICATION
Yes.

It's true.

We've published the values - Attack, Defences, Movement Speed, Carrying Capacity, Siege Engine "To Hit" chance - the whole lot.

You'll need to be logged in, ingame.

UNIT DATA TABLES


Hope you all like this one.

Best wishes,

The Illyriad Team.






Edited by Illyriad Admin - 08 Apr 2010 at 22:11