[Wesnoth-dev] Drake Additions

[Richard Kettering]

Now that I'm free for the summer, I've begun work on animating neo's 
level-3 drakes.

The burner line is the only line that is really "finished" right now, 
and many of the others could stand to have some minor rebalancing.

Those subscribed to the commit message mailing list will have already 
seen that I've added a level-3 flyer - moreover, I have added marksman 
to the flyer line.
This would normally overpower the faction, but this is part of a larger 
change at work.

Sometime within the next week, I am going to completely remake the 
saurian tribalist line - graphics and all.  A number of people, Sanna 
especially, have complained about factions being or becoming too 
similar, a sentiment which I agree with.  The tribalist is having his 
magic attack replaced with a drain attack (along with the rest of his 
line).  The level-2 branch is also being collapsed, since it had little 
utility.  Hitpoints are being increased, slightly.  The unit's stats 
were originally created NOT under the aegis of "every faction needs a 
unit with a magic attack," but rather under the more destructive "every 
faction needs a 'mage'."  This is quite nearly the antithesis of 
faction differentiation.


Besides all of this, it has never seemed right to me that in a faction 
with _fire_breathing_dragons, a primary ranged offensive unit was 
something else.  If nothing else, the tribalist should really be 
de-emphasized as a combat unit, and formed into what it was originally 
intended to be - a support unit.  Almost all players right now hire the 
tribalist for his attack capability, not his healing.

By having a ranged drain attack, several things are accomplished:
a]  It is a unique configuration which no other faction has.  
+faction_differentiation
b]  It removes the cliché "mage" unit from the saurians.  
+faction_differentiation
c]  It fits better with the "voodoo/witch doctor/serpentine/jungle" 
flavor of the unit's magic style  +flavor
d]  It makes the unit less volatile - harder to kill with, harder to 
get killed  +gameplay
e]  It makes the unit MUCH less common on the battlefield - fitting 
with the idea of magic being rare and powerful.  +flavor

The unit will remain effective on the attack, when pitted against units 
with bad defense and cold weakness, such as heavy infantry and drakes.


A side benefit of this is that the sky drake, which is currently of 
questionable use when compared with saurian skirmishers, will become a 
much more generally useful unit.  Drake players will have a choice of 
attacking with a unit that can help to ensure a hit, or a unit that can 
do a lot of damage.  Additionally, by having marksman, the drake flyer 
will still be vulnerable to retaliation during the opponents turn - 
marksman activates only on the offense, not during retaliation.