The Gladiator - One Battle Deal

[Sombre]

I thought there was a way of making that happen,....

Maybe I'm remembering wrong. I haven't messed around with the shapes for a while.

[Twan]

Sombre said:
The easiest way is just to give it a secondshape which is aquatic. Then it drowns after battle.

You wanted to say a #firstshape I guess.

Anyway it's not a good solution as it would allow to make the unit really aquatic (using some magical way to enter water and fight a first battle, then you have an aquatic not disappearing gladiator).

[Sombre]

Yeah, firstshape.

I think it's the best solution so far. It isn't very good though so I'd just give up on the idea.

[llamabeast]

It wouldn't work at all, because units also revert to their firstshape at the end of every turn, regardless of whether they've been in a battle (they do it at the end of battle as well, so they can go through several firstshape steps if they are involved in battles). So by this method the gladiator would die after one turn.

I think the #onebattlespell thing is a good idea (if I do say so myself ). I will flesh it out when I get a chance. There is lots of potential to do cool stuff with this kind of thing.

[Sombre]

But using #onebattlespell brings up a whole load of other problems. The chief one being that it doesn't work for non commanders.

[llamabeast]

Aaahh. Good point. I had forgotten that.

In that case I think perhaps we are stumped for non-commanders. Aquatic #firstshape won't work because they'll die anyway after one turn, and #onebattlespell won't work because it doesn't work for non-commanders. Are there any other options I've forgotten?

So I guess the only option is the 1hp thing (i.e. their first form only has 1hp, and their second form disappears after battle). You could say they agree to fight until their blood is first drawn, and then they will leave.

[Sombre]

That of course has the drawback of making them survive the first hit against them unscathed, sort of like a free twist fate.

[llamabeast]

Indeed, that isn't ideal either.

Surprisingly tricky problem, this one.

[Sombre]

I don't even think it's an interesting mechanic to have in the game. It definitely causes the AI trouble and it really just encourages more micro and economic calculations rather than strategy.

[Twan]

Sombre said:
That of course has the drawback of making them survive the first hit against them unscathed, sort of like a free twist fate.

Are you sure remaining dammage isn't transfered to next shape ?

It seem to be the case for some multi-shapes creatures.