Poll - How often do you use creature Abilities?
 

Like for example:

1-play dead? (lv1 charnel, ranged)
(I rarely rarely use it... in multiplayer...)

2-Speed up? (lv1 stratos, melee/lv1 pyro, ranged)
(Use it everytime in a game, constantly.)

3-Eye of something (lv1persephone ranged)
(rarely use it in multiplayer).


So my question is, how often do you use creature abilities, from lv1 to lv9, and in comparison to the same level creatures from other gods, are they balanced at all?

I mean, why is lith raiding a problem for example? see above abilities, and give me an answer..

Feedbump!

~sigh~
You bump too much Burn, relax a little!
I use:
life breath
firewalk
cage pull

Uhm, that's it kinda, it mostly depends on the custom!

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I'm keeping DarkHarlequin's chef safe in my sign until Dark returns...:)
-Senior member of Jakal´s Tribe!

My point is...

There are some creatures who's abilities suck... and others, are just perfect for constant use...

Fallen - Archers - Fireminions

Are they balanced?

Fallen have a weaker/less utile ability
Archers even weaker
Fireminions... speed up, excellent use constantly...

the fallen ability is ok if you are ambushed and need to retreat quickly. The fallen can stay in place, because they can't be targetted by the enemy wizard

I use any non-targeted abilities almost all of the time. I have the summons bound to my ten-key, and the "0" on that pad is the "Use Ability" binding. Thus, if there is no target, it's easy to hit that with my thumb and not losing my place.

The targeted ones, on the other hand, I don't use a lot. Cage/Web Pull sometimes, but targets are harder to pick out, and the truth is a dead enemy is better than one that is blinded, or even disabled, so I go for the kill instead.

Edited a second time: Rend soul and the Warmonger "teleport" (forgot the name) are other targeted abilities I make a point to use.

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Questions are a burden to others, answers a prison for oneself.


[This message has been edited by Unused Nickame (edited December 13, 2001).]

Breath of life is of no doubt the best creature ability. Use it whenever I have to. Unfortunately, most of the time I forget my creatures have abilities, and thats what makes me lose.

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Stormgiants are cool when you use their ability..

Lv8 is all balanced...

but are the lower levels balanced? not directly to confront, but balanced towards the lith raidings, and everything related to such attack strategy..

Fireminions have the same speed up as Frostwolfs, but these prove to be less efective then the wolfs..

Ikarus and Blight's ability is also good, but with underrated use... could it be switched to something more useful? then why dont people use it more often?

rangers could be so more powerful if they had cloak, or speed-up... their dards miss lots of times, so the speed wouldnt hurt them at all i guess.. Is said persephone is the weakest god... Well... is she?

Lv1 balance is everything to most people... because they play games that wont be longer then that.. speed up, speed up, speed up, raid lith, cast lith, kill the wizard.

so what do you think? (appart of me being an annoying little imp?)

Is there any unit in the game, that could improve its ability? or worth the trouble?



[This message has been edited by Burncrisis (edited December 14, 2001).]

Just because each individual creature ability isn't as good as all the others doesn't mean that the creatures themselves aren't balanced, or that the gods they serve aren't either. So what if flame minions have speed up? Earthflings are much better in combat, even though their special ability isn't nearly as good. Also, you're not taking into account passive abilities, like all of charnel's creatures gain back some life whenever they deal damage and whatnot.

TheMad

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The light at the end of the tunnel has been shut down due to budget cuts.

Yes i remember that, that is why i am asking.

I may be afirming, but its more a question then a statement..

Do you think it is balanced?

Dont just show me the other side, think if anything could be improved...

For example Persephone's Rangers...

take your personal look, describe it here..

imo, rangers *do* suck, but they are not as bad as everyone thinks.


flame minions have an awesome special.

Fallen's special sucks (any special that takes your units out of combat is suckerific, although i have once or twice used it to good effect).

jame's units have no specials because he his the newbie god. All his units are strong and do moderate damage, are slow enough for a newbie to keep track of, but are generally less efficient against another god being handled by an experienced player.

Stratos' unit's are balanced, i'd say, though many less experienced players would disagree - as well they should http://www.ve3d.com:81/wink.gif.

Shrike's and druid's sheilds were cut in half in patch 3, and im not sure if they're quite balanced. Especially the shrikes.


On the whole, however, the game is marvellously balanced. Not something to worry about, i'd say.

I used to use the blights ability often in direct battle. When they have done their raiding job and a head to head fight starts, I targeted the enemy wizard with blightmights.
1) Collecting Souls gets annoying.
2) I used the vortick. http://www.ve3d.com:81/biggrin.gif

Combine the creatures on the enemy wizard and he is in a world of pain, no matter if he is shielded. http://www.ve3d.com:81/smile.gif

I stopped using it, because my blights were useless against the stratos rusher who lightinged it instantly. Thanks for the reminder Burncrisis, perhaps I should try it again http://www.ve3d.com:81/smile.gif

Bye,
-Jerleth

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There are two essential basic strategies for success in Sacrifice:
1. Never reveal all you know

Well, in answer to the actual question, I use creature abilities all the time if they're useful.

Hmm, I speed up my units whenever I can, I use oil, life shield, that ranger thing when I make rangers (which is almost never), cloaking, and so on. I don't want to list all the things I use, because that would take to long. Suffice to say, I try to use as many as I can. I really should use blightmites and glue more.

TheMad

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The light at the end of the tunnel has been shut down due to budget cuts.

The best way to use creatures abilities (for newbs), is to assign any creature with an ability into a different group, and have the ability key HOTKEYED in a strategic place in your keyboard.. for me is SPACE..

I use left hand with keyboard, right hand with mouse. my thumb remains exactly on Space, so, im always using it.. its perfect!

Sometimes you need a fingerstretch exercise, like summoning hoars, speeding up and healing with the keyboard..

neutral spells that MUST be hotkeyed in places of easy access to your fingers:

Rate of Use:

Speed up ------ *****
Manahoar ------ ****
Cast Manalith - ****
Heal ---------- ***
Projectile ---- ***
Convert Soul -- ***
Teleport ------ **
Guardian ------ *

undoubtfully, my most used hotkey is Speed-up. I might be wrong you know... http://www.ve3d.com:81/smile.gif

There are more, but these are critical when you want to tweak yourself to the limit of fast build and fast rush...



[This message has been edited by Burncrisis (edited December 14, 2001).]

While we're talking 'bout balancing I think silverbacks shouldn't be able to freeze backs in their own team, well, just my oppinion....
I don't know how keyboards look in other countries but here I have.
Lv 1 spell= Space
Speed up= the <>| key
Heal= F
Lv 9 spell= R
Lv 5 spell= E
Creature ability= Q
Summon manahoar= Caps
Shield= at the button over caps
Convert= C
Lv 4 spell= X
Manalith= Z
Lv 6 spell= V

I mostly think the game is balanced, but frostwolves should be changed in some way...

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http://www.caned99.freeserve.co.uk/i...tyjaslogo1.gif
I'm keeping DarkHarlequin's chef safe in my sign until Dark returns... http://www.ve3d.com:81/smile.gif
-Senior member of Jakal´s Tribe!

[This message has been edited by Pikabutcher (edited December 14, 2001).]

hmm, my binds are as follows (I use a qwerty keyboard):

tab: upper level 8 spell
q: shield
w: move forward
e: heal
r: lvl 7 spell
t: teleport
y: lower level 8 spell
a: turn left
s: move backwards
d: turn right
f: lvl 6 spell
g: lvl 5 spell
z: speed up
x: creature ability
c: convert
v: lvl 4 spell
b: lvl 3 spell
n: manahoar
m: manalith

I generally just click on the fount instead of hit the M key. I also don't summon hoars very often.

*edit*
Whoops, looks like I forgot one. Space is my lvl 1 damage spell.

TheMad

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The light at the end of the tunnel has been shut down due to budget cuts.

[This message has been edited by TheMad (edited December 14, 2001).]

Do you think its better to have a bind related to its key, like M for manalith, and T for teleport.. or it doesnt really matter, what matters is the confort, and to have the keys as tight as possible?

Actually im just killing time...



[This message has been edited by Burncrisis (edited December 14, 2001).]

<i>imo, rangers *do* suck, but they are not as bad as everyone thinks. </i>

They are good, but nobody listens to the arguments so I won't make them again. As for the divine sight ability though--that's particularly suited for Persephone because of the gods she has the most to lose from a surprise attack. If you don't play pure Persephone, which you don't because you're not me, then you don't have a great need to avoid the enemy until you're ready (unless you're Stratos in which case you can just flee an unexpected attack), so you don't need this ability much.

The abilities I find most useless, on the other hand, are rockform, play dead, and stealth. These can save the lives of some creatures, so that you don't have to waste time resummoning them, but since the creatures can't attack while they are being protected, they may as well be dead anyway. They aren't bad abilities; I just haven't found much use for them in my own tactics. (One time I did find a very good opportunity to make my fallen play dead with good effect; it was the first time that had happened. Then they all surprised me by dying for real--turns out the enemy wizard had turned on fireform and stood on them.)

Run away is a good ability on any creature; even on flame minions it helps, by preventing them from ever falling behind you the way other ranged creatures often do, and turning them into medium-quality raiders (better than cogs at least).

I think the abilities that make the most difference are protector, life shield, cage pull, web pull, and run away (on frostwulves). Creatures with these abilities are primarily useful <i>because</i> of the abilities, whereas for other creatures, abilities are more of a secondary bonus.

Oops, I hadn't posted for a while and forgot there was such a thing as the UBB tag.

<poop> </poop>

Regarding those abilities, what if they were replaced into something more useful?

Would it be ok to do so? Would people get along with it?

how so? i think they're rather useful now.


here's my spell hotkeys:


lvl 1 attack: q
heal: e
speed up: z
lvl 3: r
lvl 4: f
lvl 5: v
phalanx formation: p
semicircle formatio: i
circle formation: o

and after that they're not bound; i never have had to http://www.ve3d.com:81/smile.gif