Here's what I have in mind for a New Campaign, but basically it generally reuses some levels from the original DK / DD Campaigns, others may be new or heavily edited. The idea however was to improve the Balance between the Creatures and pit you against Enemy Keepers who control.. gasp.. Heroes! Like Skybird Trill could well be very different when you're facing the Hero Keeper on 2 fronts as well as Scavenging by the Dungeon Keeper.
Each Creature that the Evil Keeper can have now has a fairly unique role, especially the Troll which is now not just a Worker, he can be used as a Sacrifice to "upgrade" your Creatures, some of which may not be present in the pool, or be there in very low numbers (eg. 1 Vampire, 2 Mistresses, 3 Trolls)
The Imp is also now a more precious Asset to be used with care, and possibly Trained up a bit.
Campaign Framework
- Enemy Dungeon Keepers are now often replaced by Hero Keepers. Naturally, they are allied with Heroes.
- Heroes have been tweaked to adjust their training cost / pay more competitively compared to the Dungeon Keeper. Some heroes have been given more Skills in some areas
- There will generally be max 1-2 Gem sides for the Player on each Map. No MORE.
- Training for "Conversion" is now more viable at level 10 instead of level 11 (God, that takes LONG!)
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The old Tweaks / Proposed changes have been replaced by the following notes from the Readme on the Creature & Hero Changes / Tweaks
Spoiler
Changes / Tweaks to the Player Dungeon Keeper
Most levels start you with the following Creatures in the pool with a Portal Max of 20-24. Changes to the portal availability will generally be reflected in the game.
"Starting" Creatures
- 8 Demonspawn
- 8 Bile Demons
- 8 Warlocks
- 8 Orcs (5x5 Training Room Reqd)
- 4 Trolls (max level 4)
Demonspawn have an improved Training Value of 3.
"Later" Creatures
- 2 Dragons ( 1x1 Barracks )
- 2 Dark Mistresses (3x3 Torture Chamber)
- 2 Vampires ( 4x4 Graveyard)
- 4 Tentacles ( 4x4 Temple reqd )
All of them have Training Value of 3, except Tentacles have a Training Value of 5.
NONE of the creatures above will train automatically.
All Levels will have 1 Increase Level Special.
Note that IMPS can now be trained more easily (they have a training value of 2 up from 1).
Remember that throwing a Creature out the Portal is as good as killing it - they will NEVER return. So you can use this info to manage your game.
I'm currently also considering whether to reduce the number of Bile Demons from the Pool.
In Some Detail
- Demonspawns now have Missile 3, Flame Breath 5, Heal 7, Speed 9. They also have 475 Life (up from 325) as adjusted to make them closer to Hellhounds. They take half the normal XP to advance from level 9 to 10, and the other half will turn them into level 5 Dragons
- Warlocks now have Rebound instead of Sight at level 8
- Trolls are now generally used for Sacrifice and max at level 4
- Dragons now match the Bile Demons in Movement Speed
- Dark Mistresses have lost their Haste spell
- Vampires now resurrect from level 8 onwards. Their pay has been reduced. Vampires now need more XP for levels 8-10 only. (in the original game, they have Training Value 4 but a lot more XP required for levels 4-10)
- Horned Reapers are now exactly as healthy and tough as Bile Demons, and about 25-30% more effective than Samurai. Their pay has been reduced.
Note that the Temple cannot be gained by Research, so Tentacles will come in very late (usually after you sacrifice your Trolls).
NOTE : you may wish to plan how to select your Creatures for each level. With fewer creatures, less margin for error (tossing a creature ou means it never returns), some planning is probably a very Good idea.
For example, you may wish to have 8 Demonspawn to become 8 Dragons, but...
- will you run out of Gold before then?
- Will the Enemy become very Strong if you leave him alone?
- Will you be attacked and find it difficult to defend yourself?
Changes / Tweaks to the Heroes & Enemy Keeper
Most of your Enemy Keepers will use Heroes as their units, and naturally they are allied to the Hero Player (white).
On the Hero Keepers side, they generally have
- Barbarians (vs Orcs)
- Wizards (vs Warlocks)
- Giants (vs Bile Demons)
- Fairies (vs Warlocks / Dark Mistress)
Like Demonspawn, Barbarians have an improved Training Value of 3.
"Later" Creatures
- Samurai (req Barracks) (vs Horned Reaper, roughly 2:1)
- Knights (req Barracks) (vs Dragon)
- Monks (req Temple)
- Priestesses (req Temple)
The above 4 Creatures are all of Training Value 3.
To reduce AI inefficiency, all the Hero Creatures will Train automatically.
Note that when the Hero Keeper gains his Barracks, he loses access to Barbarians and Giants.
The Heroes do not research Prison, Torture Chamber, Graveyard. The Heroes can build Temple, and Scavenger Room. Left alone long enough, they will (theoretically) Scavenge the White Heroes (if any are present) to their side.
Unlike you, the Hero Keepers generally have a lot of creatures in their pool, more than enough for multiple, repeated skirmishes against you.
Most of the Heroes have not been changed much, except
- Barbarian now is closer to an Orc and has a faster movement rate. He gains Rebound at level 9.
- Giant has normal movement rate, 900 Life (up from 650), Armor at level 3 and Speed at level 8. They are less accurate than even Bile Demons, though.
- Wizards have their abilities adjusted to gain more useful ones at lower level. Their damage output still cannot match Warlocks at low levels, until they gain Hailstorm at level 7.
- Fairies now have similar Life to Priestesses but less Armor & Defence.
- Wizards & Fairies now get hungry less often. This addresses the "far-away Hatchery" AI problem
- Samurai have 800 Life (up from 700) and gain Haste at level 5. They have no Sight.
- Knights have their Defence adjusted to 50 (up from 30)
- Monks now have Rebound and are a ranged unit. They have similar Life as a Wizard but more Armor.
- Priestesses no longer use Poison Gas but use Drain. They gain Drain / Healing much earlier, and will still Wind when faced with Gas.
- Various Salaries and Training costs have been tweaked, generally using as reference the "vs" creature on the other side.
To account for the random portal attraction of the Heroes, Barbarians & Giants can now research, but poorly. They will still train on their own.
Overall, although initially they are not very strong, the Heroes are designed intentionally to OVERWHELM you if you should try and Turtle. They not only have a higher Portal Max (about 30-35) and significantly superior Ranged Firepower, they also have superior units in more numbers ( you can have 2 Dragons 2 Vampires 2 Mistresses, they can have potentially unlimited numbers of Knights, Samurai, etc)
from the Readme on other Changes to Rooms, Spells, Traps, Doors, Recipes
Spoiler
Room, Spell, Trap Changes
The following Rooms have been removed / changed
- Guardpost : only present on levels with little water and Bridges are not required
- Prison : removed
- Temple : you cannot research this, you can only find it. After finding it, you still CANNOT build it.
- Graveyard : you may no longer raise Vampires from it. Well actually you can, it just takes 100 bodies and each one takes a very very very very very long time to Decay.
- Scavenger Room : the Enemy may have it, but not you.
The following Spells have been removed / changed
- Speed Monster : removed. Your Enemies may have this spell.
- Must Obey : available on earlier levels (tentatively)
- Hold Audience : removed
- Conceal : removed. abusable as the AI can't handle it.
- Lightning : removed. Yes I've taken PAINS that not even your Enemies may use it
- Cave In : removed
- Chicken : removed. Your Enemies may have this spell.
- Disease : removed. On occasions, your enemies may have it
- Armageddon : removed
- Destroy Walls : removed. sometimes available on the Map
The following Doors / Traps are removed / changed
- Braced Doors : removed. You can use Wooden Doors for your own Dungeon, Steel Doors for defence.
- Magic Doors : generally not available to you. the enemy may have it.
- Alarm Traps : removed
- Boulder Traps : removed
- Lava Traps : removed
- Word of Power : sometimes present, sometimes not
Note that all Traps / Doors have been reduced to 10 Gold for selling, except Magic Door remains at 1500.
Temple Recipes
The following Recipes are notified to you in the first Campaign Level, but just for completeness.
- Troll + Orc : Dark Mistress
- Troll + Demonspawn : Vampire
You will probably NEED to use these Recipes, especially in the Tougher Levels.
The following Recipe has been Removed
- Imp Sacrifice : Cheaper Imps
Abusable to spam 255 Creature limit. However, Imps are now more easy to Train.
As a Note - for ALL the levels, there are ample "Information" drops that inform you what might be coming. The exact details may not be known, but you should have enough information to not have to refer back to this thread or any walkthrough while playing the Map.
Edit : also changed the Topic Title