PBEM balance mod v1.16 released (Community)

Following tests and debates on balance, v1.16 closes the door to some remaining exploits for Necro and Theo and fixes a few issues with v1.1. It is a must-have for all PBEM players and for single-players interested in playing a balanced game! Thanks to Zaskow and cbower for the coding and to the community for feedback on balance!

An Article by Hiliadan

A little more than one month after the release of v1.1 of the balance mod for PBEM, v1.16 is ready. v1.16 contains fewer changes (less than 10) than the major v1.1 release but some of these changes are critical for balance as they close some remaining loopholes that could have plagued the PBEM 2vs2 team tournament organized on the Battlefield (see the news about the opening of registrations).

Full changelog of v1.16 (v1.15 changelog and v1.15 to v1.16's changelog) compared to v1.1 (v1.1 changelog):
Bug fixes
– Tigran RG 1 Economic – settlers gain 15% discount (was 20% in v1.1).
– Brew Brothers’ Nourishing Meal work again (v1.1 made it unusable)

General
- Ella the Runaway, Frostling Sorcerer, has Throw Ice Ball (was Charm) as a starting skill
- Amok the Beastfriend starts with Awaken Spirit and 2 points available (was Befriend Animal)
Velvet the Assassin’s Hero Slayer ability is correctly shown in Unit Panel (his skill only works against HERO units, not LEADER units)
Yarati the Spellstealer starts with Steal Enchantment

Necromancer
- Inflict Despair causes "Holy Weakness" (non-stackable) and "Despair" (stackable) on the target and is strength 9 (non-stackable). Holy Weakness gives 30% Spirit weakness. Despair gives -200 morale. (was Inflict Despair, strength 10, causes "Despair": 20% Spirit weakness, -200 morale and stackable)
- Energy Drain has a spirit strength 10 chance of draining 20 of the target’s MP and is non-stackable (was 50% and stackable)
- Ghouling Strike does not work on Machines, Undead, Dragons, Elementals, Incorporeals, Ghouls, Leaders and the (Pure Good T4) Archangel now.
- Ghouling Strike and Inflict Ghoul Curse (from Deathbringers) do not work on units with Mind Control Immunity any more
- Immune to Ghoul Curse cannot be dispelled any more

Theocrat
- Slayer’s Doubt last 3 turns (was until the end of battle)

Frostling
- Each time Ice Queen uses Last Rite Of Winter, it loses 48 HP (was: sacrifice Ice Queen)




One example of a change brought by v1.16 - a bug fix for Tigran economic RG1: Tigran economic RG1 was supposed to give a 15% discount on settlers since v1.1 but it gave 20%, it is now corrected

Please note that many descriptions are currently incomplete or lacking. The texts will be added in the coming days, through the release of v1.17.

The next planned release is v1.18 which is planned in about 2 months, to be ready about 1 month before the start of round 2 of the PBEM 2vs2 team tournament. It will aim to address the most pressing issues regarding:

• The evolve mechanism of Serpents and Spiders;


• Arcane Forge's ability to build mind control items (especially items with Dominate; see the forum discussion addressing this issue);


• Other critical balance issues that could affect the tournament, such as Warlord's Death March.

• Balancing specialisations to make all of them equally attractive (forum discussion);


• Fixing the possible exploit of huge armies with no income (forum discussion);


• Further balancing Archdruid and especially Tigran Archdruid as well as the pounce issue.

Related Links

Published on Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

• #6186 
• Tasslehoff(The Sinners)
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Tigran RG Economic doesn't work

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