Enraged

Gday and happy new years! Saw the stream after the fact, congrats on the 3rd anniversary! I rediscovered this a month or so ago and have gone back to my roots from the EA days by playing roots for most of my time! The sylvan gate really makes a difference, very useful and enables map wide networks! Have done every campaign map with roots including oceans (only 2 islands are unreachable by a single network if I remember right) and while I do take spore launcher in my deck, its advantages are fairly niche. The main difference it has positively is its damage is more 'spike' damage rather than over time. Only really useful on like bad harvest when trying to kill the shamans before their health jumps up, if you sync up enough spore launchers then they dont get that chance. The disadvantages when compared to razorleaf are significant, primarily the anti air capacity, and when fully supported they both do enough damage anyway. In order to separate them, you either nerf razorleaf (which id not suggest!) or buff spore launcher, but id say it needs to bring something different to the table as just slapping more damage on it might not be necessary when razorleaf fully supported kills most things in a shot! Ive got a few thoughts on potential options that might help! - Adding more range and potentially an artillery type arc that shoots over areas you normally cant (doubt thats viable though from the feel of those areas). Extra range is nice, opens up a few options on the offense, lets it counter other artillery type structures without being hit, but ultimately its not that much of an issue, can usually just tank thru it with forests vim. Increased radius would be nice too, but once again its just a luxury. - Adding a disable to its attack, say the spore causes a delayed cast of ensnaring roots to sprout, or is full of paralysing spores kind of like the gemeye. Something like parasite wouldnt be as good, as most things are dead, at least the delayed disable can catch the next wave, and stunning them lets the razorleaf hit them easier as it can struggle to hit moving targets. Unfortunately thanks to the damage of fully powered up roots, most of this is as irrelevant as its knockback small and medium, as they are just dead. Maybe if it can penetrate boss resistances it will have a more substantial niche? Could have 2 types, one with root spores one with paralysis spores I suppose, but root decks are already pretty packed, very hard to add things to them! - Delayed explosion spores, so there is the impact hit then afterwards the spores explode for a 2nd wave of damage. Could also cause the ground to quake and slow enemies, though I think the option above with roots bursting out of the ground from the spore seeds and entangling foes (and maybe bringing flying units to the ground if being really daring) would look cooler. - Having spore launcher add some kind of passive effect into the root network, perhaps when it kills units it absorbs them and restores void power or something, bit of a stretch there at long range but maybe the spores swiftly decompose them? Root decks main issue is energy, being the amount locked up by expensive units, supporters and repeaters, so a way to get power back is nice, though ways to return power from existing units/buildings or discount them are better. Dont really think spore launcher could do that though, and is too late to do a breeding grounds effect. Maybe if when it kills things it can leech stored power into the void pool from connected units, sort of like some shadow effects, but represented by decomposing its victims in the natural cycle. Once again, its probably a bit late for this kind of effect to work as you usually only need to add a couple of spores to the force at this point, having built the network at t3 and added the supporters and razorleaves, I find its just throwing in a few spores and extending said network for t4. I think if spore launcher can become the damage/disabler with razorleaf being the support that clears air it would become much more tempting. Given the damage of properly used root units, the better way to differentiate is if spores add alot of value to taking out bosses, as most well supported t2/t3 root units will clear out t4 comfortably, and if they cant 1 hit them then a 2nd unit with supporters just need to be added. As to rpve, ive tried roots, unfortunately its just too slow and expensive. At least in campaign mode you can settle in for a longer run! Not sure if it can be made to work, would need cheaper support and network costs (or increased power gain) to get it set up faster. As for forests vim, its pretty incredible being able to heal the entire network for that much over time, though the only one ive tried is shadow variant (havent got the other yet!). I tend to just put it on some unit in the back, a fortress or thornbark near healing wells which can take the damage rather than a front liner who might not survive with enemy damage + vim transferred damage. You could tweak the secondary buffs they provide, but as a healing spell its pretty solid. T1 roots is a bit weak, tree spirits take alot of preparation to be great, but do have a niche on empires when they have alot of shielding in the first attacks. The addition of more lost souls enemies with shielding would make them more tempting, but ive found archers with shamans tend to be faster and pretty much take you right up to t3 in most cases. Purple sylvan gates ability is also a bit unused, but with the addition of more shielding foes it might come into play more, but with current shielding I find its easier just to use the red ones damage buff and if they have shielding just brute force through it. Razorleaf could use 1m more range to avoid the annoying situation of other 50 m range units sometimes attacking while being safe! Not common but does happen! Other ideas could be a healing well variant that can link to the root network, a breeding grounds effect on a t3 root unit or support structure to free up a slot in the deck, spells or supporters that add interesting effects to linked units (like poisions or slows or whatnot), maybe upgradeable structures too (fountain of rebirth getting a bit stronger for higher tier upgrades, root nexus getting a larger range, living tower causing a root effect on impact, healing well adding some percentage regeneration) after the success of soulstone. This is getting a bit long so ill end it here. Congrats again on the 3rd anniversary, looking forward to the new content!

Im still playing around with some twilight decks for pve so might make some mistakes, but had a few thoughts on how to punch up the twilight faction. Im not 100% sure on how the power works with transformation, its quite a fun mechanic, but does feel underused compared to other groups. Late game structures: Currently, cards like fleshbender and willzapper are really only usable in pvp, which is a shame as they are interesting buildings! My thought here would be to create an alternate card for pve, either using the same models as those or a different one. One could have a pair of affinities, its primary effect would be to provide damage reduction to units who are transforming (global range). One affinity, perhaps green, could make units that complete a transformation fully heal, while the other (blue perhaps) makes the unit immune to knockback or stun or any form of disable while transforming and/or temporary immunity on completion. Alternatively have the structure render units immune to disables/knockbacks by default, then provide heal for one affinity and extended immunity on the other. Incentivises more combat transformations! This could use the fleshbender model perhaps, or a variant of it. Another could be based off the willzapper and also have a global effect, this could reduce the cost of transform by a %, or return a fixed amount of it back to the power pool immediately. It would have to be global to really get use, as transform is often most effective in combat to trigger the transform abilities. You could also consider a building based off the basic twilight spawner building that functions similar to sunken temple, but spawning twilight minions/archers with timed life. This could be an interesting defensive structure with synergies with infected tower and some transform effects. Spells: Id like to see a spell that simulates the infection spreading, and if the victim gets weak enough they transform into a twilight equivalent. Im picturing an effect based on parasite, but without the damage and a much faster transfer speed (ie a unit is infected, and then it rapidly spreads to nearby units). Infected units get a debuff, and if they fall to below 50% health they transform to a twilight unit of similar type under the players control (small melee units become minions, small ranged to slayers, xls like colossus to abominations etc) at their previous health. If the debuff wears off, the unit becomes immune to the debuff for a while. Said units could have a timed life from the moment they transform. Ends up being similar to infect, but spreads differently and creates units differently more in theme with the twilight curse. What about a power that creates an area of effect, and if a twilight unit dies within said area it triggers its transform ability as if it had transformed (in the case of slaver, it explodes twice). This is probably best placed in tier 2, maybe 3 at a pinch, as t2 units have most of the on transform effects (minions, slavers, vileblood are all t2 transform effects, maniac and nightshade for t3, evil eye at t4). Upside is a reduced micro method of triggering transform effects in combat, downside being that the units have to die to trigger it, losing their card charge and needing to be resummoned. Units: Unless I havent found it yet, twilight dancer doesnt have a card yet. This could quite simply be a long range artillery unit in theme to take the place of fire dancer or fire stalker. If a unit transforms into her, this could create a temporary buff based on affinity (increased damage for a short time or damage reduction for a moderate time) to represent an inspiring dance! Abomination is great, a good unit I find. I would however like a transform effect for it, to try incentivise the ability. Perhaps when a unit transforms into abomination it triggers his roar for free? Twilight hulk doesnt have a card yet! How bout it has a stampede effect that leaves a trail of infection behind it, perhaps like the infected tower ability or the spell I described. If it transforms into another unit, it restores a charge to units of the same size as it perhaps? The hulk leads the charge of the twilight horde! Ive got a few other ideas, but they are fairly rough so might post them later. As a side note, twilight does seem quite strong as it stands for pvp with its flexibility and potent void power and summoning shenanigans, so maybe any additional cards are t4 which arent really used in pvp, or have an effect that works fairly on each mode (ie a twilight dancer wouldnt be out of place, as it would act much like a firedancer type unit just a bit different)

Ive had this effect several times though havent remembered to save a replay of it. Most of the time it involves me beginning a transformation, the unit being paralyzed or interrupted somehow, then dying, and the card being locked/no cooldown started. I suspect its in the process when it locks the card its transforming to (to prevent triggering it more than there are charges most likely), but not unlocking upon interruption/failure. Not sure what happens to the power spent there, if it gets refunded or just dropped into void, but the charge locking can be crippling, specially if its one of the t4 units! If you wanted to replicate it, I would imagine the simplest way is to walk a twilight unit towards units that paralyze, begin transformation before getting hit by paralysis (but before transformation completes) and then having enough damage to kill the unit before the paralysis wears off. Not sure how to make a map though, sorry! Id also be curious to know if the power from twilight transformation acts, as in is it 100% or 90% returned, or locked in as the new unit card, and what happens to the reserved energy from the previous unit (I assume that power is unlocked and returned to the void), or what happens when you convert a unit multiple times (say vileblood to slaver to vileblood to slaver), havent had much luck finding that kind of info!

As a bit of a followup, I havent encountered any lag like before since perhaps the day after we talked, and only one crash late in the mission. I think the crash might be related to one of two things: A structure accidentally overlapping the twilight teleporter at the bottom, or triggering events out of order (ie clearing the slavemaster and his camp before mo has even arrived). Havent encountered a crash (touch wood) since moving a bit further back from the portal, or leaving the slave camp til after mo arrives.

Ah, well thanks for trying and so quickly too! I might see if the issue persists in other maps and situations before jumping into testing levels of investigation, perhaps try it with another player and see if they suffer the same sort of issue.

There were still lag spikes of varying degrees, both in the unexplored corner and in high activity areas. They might be a bit fewer and some less severe but hard to tell. Could it be something to do with the root network? It would be unusual, as its only one spot at a time being activated and ive been using more complex root networks in the days before these incidents.

MT rendering is set to Off, and during the game some of these lag spikes occurred while watching another area with very mild combat and low unit density. Can confirm this in the replay, even looking in an unexplored corner still has the same sort of incidents.

I just had a look through it and yes, they made it to the replay. The first was around the 31 minute mark, then again at 32.47, 34.39, 36.22, 38.02, 39.49, 40.39, 42.24, and 45 mins, usually for 5-10 seconds. I thought maybe it was related to twilight spawns but only some of those coincided with lag spikes, and it was after the spawns when they were mostly dead.

Hello. Yesterday I started noticing significant lag spikes of varying duration and intensity, sometimes lasting a few seconds, sometimes more, sometimes leading to the game 'freezing', yet chat functions and menus still work. Twice this occurred during slave master expert (both which resulted in the game freezing or crashing), again in rPvE 9 (which did recover), and again in slave master expert today, though there was only 1 major spike at the 36 minute mark which lasted for around 10-15 seconds, but during which I had no control. After which the game went through at a rapid pace to catch up to actual time. While today has so far proven alot smoother ive only done one game so far. Ill attach the replay in case it might be of help. Ive only rediscovered this game from about a week ago and prior to these events have not experienced such incidents, so figured it might be a new issue. Enraged Enraged_Solo_Slavemaster_Expert 2.pmv