From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 15610 invoked by alias); 1 Aug 2004 18:52:06 -0000 Mailing-List: contact xconq7-help@sources.redhat.com; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: xconq7-owner@sources.redhat.com Received: (qmail 15587 invoked from network); 1 Aug 2004 18:52:05 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO web13124.mail.yahoo.com) (216.136.174.142) by sourceware.org with SMTP; 1 Aug 2004 18:52:05 -0000 Message-ID: <20040801185205.41346.qmail@web13124.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [67.170.222.55] by web13124.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sun, 01 Aug 2004 11:52:05 PDT Date: Sun, 01 Aug 2004 18:54:00 -0000 From: Elijah Meeks Subject: Opal To: xconq7@sources.redhat.com In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-SW-Source: 2004/txt/msg00818.txt.bz2 Okay, so this game was a real mess back when it was Specula, and most of what I was doing was trying to make it work. The default game is still too large for anyone to have a quick-sit-down-and-have-fun time, but I'll be putting together some random setups with various map sizes in the next few days. Still, it has a number of features that I'm quite proud of, many of them only made available by Hans' and Eric's improvements to the engine. Most noticable are the undead, who produce all manner of different undead depending on what unit they destroy and what unit does the destroying. They're pretty weak to begin with but they're like a plague--a really nasty plague, and if you're not careful you could find yourself beset by an army of liches, zombies and death knights. Also, the leader of the undead can turn other leaders into liches. The way XConq handles capture of self-units is such that this means the undead side captures the entire side, which makes sense from a storyline perspective (Kind of like Sauron corrupting the kings of Men with the nine rings). Also, there's an experience system, but a very primative one. Regular units, if they survive enough battles, can turn into a 'Hero'. They're powerful melee units and are also self-units, which makes sides not quite as fragile as they used to be. The same can occur with mages turning into 'Archmage' units, but it's much more difficult to keep mages alive. A Hero unit can turn into a Legendary Hero unit, which is one of the most powerful units in the game, if he can survive combat with self-units and other heroes long enough. As an aside, this highlights an issue with the current experience system. It doesn't seem to give cxp for every combat and it gives equal cxp whether you miss, hit or destroy. Not too big a deal, but Legendary Hero units leave behind an Eldritch Artifact unit (that represents their fancy sword or ring or armor or whatever), which is supposed to give enough cxp to change a Hero into a Legendary Hero, but it doesn't always work. Aside from that, the magic system works pretty well, though the AI only likes summon spells. Cast a Power Word, Kill and annihilate an army; or use the various nature spells to create a mountain range or inland sea. There's always a chance that some swordsmen or a fort or a wyrm will appear. There's also a possibility of an independant hero or archmage appearing, and using the independant-capture-chance, if you can avoid being slaughtered by them, you can convince them to join your side. If anyone gets a chance to play it, I'd love to hear feedback. Elijah __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail