Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

**Hapuga** · September 6th, 2014, 15:40

I have some minor free time window, so I will gladly play a couple of levels and give you feedback.

**Metal Gear Rex** · September 7th, 2014, 01:04

Here is a preview of the 3.0 patch. It's Levels 1 to 11. Level 11 is what needs testing.

There's still some polishing I haven't quite finished. Effect generators are not present in all the maps, I haven't checked up on the debriefing text if there needs additional updating, things like that.

DKII Patch 3.0 Preview.zip

Here is the change log, largely unorganized. I'll give it better format and explain reasoning behind a lot of the changes when I finish the real update.

General Changes

Fixed the Heal Spell so it never misses, can be self-cast, and also allows Healers to heal allies in the dungeon if the allies are in fleeing status
Modified Shot Delays and Offsets of All Units / Traps to Match the Animations as best they can (due to multiple melee animations for most units, it is literally impossible to make them match up perfectly)
Heal Effect Globally Changed to the Unused Resurrect Creature Effect, Resembles DK1 Heal with Pinkish Hearts
Removed Book Explosion Effect from Library
Fixed Error where Graveyard still had the original 1750 Gold cost, instead of the updated 1250 value
Fixed a bug where if you build a Sentry and a Slow Trap simultaneously, after one is crafted, the workers don't bother to manufacture the other
Decreased Odds of Casino Jackpot from 1 in 32767 to 1 in 999999999
Impentrable Rock no longer provides wall furniture
Casino now has a Fruit Machine that makes terrible fruitcakes (it doesn't actually produce fruitcakes)
Changed Order of Keeper Spells, Traps, and Doors
Changed Text file so that the Skirmish / Multiplayer menus can properly reflect the above (this effects non-patched files)
Tweaked Text files to reflect statistics of Creatures, Rooms, Traps, Doors, and Spells

-New Spell Order-
Create Imp
Thunderbolt
Possession
Heal
Sight-of-Evil
Call-to-Arms
Crystal Field
Chicken
Invulnerable
Tremor
Inferno

Impentrable Rock from R75 G40 B20 to R40 G30 B20
Dirt from ??? to R75 G40 B20 to R30 G20 B10
Water from R35 G130 G105 to R65 G90 B50
Lava from R300 G200 B100 to R360 G120 B0
Gold from R180 G140 B52 to R240 G200 B80 to R180 G160 B50
Gem from R218 G180 B76 to R360 G240 B200 to R180 G150 B240
Vault from R115 G97 B65 to R30 G20 B10
Claimed Vault from R115 G97 B65 to R150 G125 B100
Claimed Vault Added Ambient Light R40 G40 B40
Claimed Tile from R90 G75 B65 to R80 G65 B50
Reinforced Wall from R115 G97 B65 to R80 G65 B50

Goblins less annoyed from food / pay
Trolls more annoyed from Lair / food
Knights more annoyed about pay / slap
Mercenaries much less annoyed from held
Guards less annoyed about Pay / held
Elves less annoyed about food / pay

Imp Light Radius is higher (2.0 to 2.5)
Dwarf Light Radius is lower (2.0 to 1.25) but Lighting is higher (255 to 511)
Reapers have "Red Aura"
Dark Angels have "Blue Aura"
Templars, Lords, and Kings have white "aura"
Fairies, Monks, and Light Wardens have light "auras"
Removed Blade Master Lighting
Adjusted Possession Eye Height on the Salamander, Bile Demon, Reaper, Blade, Samurai, Templar, Lord, and King

Spell Books have light, Player Colored Auras
Call-to-Arms light is brighter with a slightly larger radius and is player colored
Dungeon Heart light is brighter with a slightly larger radius and is player colored
Portal Gem light is brighter
Specials now have a light aura that is Player Colored
Gold has a bit of a glowing shine

Magic Missile Effect's Light Radius changed from 2.5 to 2, Color set from R255 G0 B255 to R127 G127 B511 (effects Ice Missile projectile)
Fireball Shot Effect's Light Radius changed from 2.5 to 1.5
Cannon Ball Shot Effect's Light Radius changed from 2 to 1.5
Freeze Spell Effect Light Radius changed from 2 to 1.5, Color changed from ??? to R127 G127 B511
Frozen Subject Effect Light Radius changed from 1.5 to 1, Z Coordinate changed from 0 to 0.5, Color changed from R140 G190 B250 to R50 G50 B200
Inferno Data 1 Effect Light Color changed from R400 G320 B100 to R511 G320 B100
Lava Fireball Effect Light Radius changed from 1 to 1.5, Color changed from R200 G150 B100 to R400 G150 B75

Added Light to Frost Ball Effect, Radius of 2.5, Color set to R511 G511 B511 (effects Ice Missile creation and Light projectile)
Added Light to Charge up Effect spiral, Radius of 2.5, Color set to R30 G112 B30 (effects Blade Flurry, Tearing Cyclone, and Banishment of Evil)
Added Light to Special Box Idle Effect, Radius of 2, Color set to R112 G112 B112 (effects Specials, Blade Flurry, and the latters' variants)
Added Light to Firebomb Explosion Effect, Radius of 2.5, Color set to R300 G150 B20
Added Light to Fireburst Trap Effects, Radius of 2.5, Color set to R511 G320 B100
Added Light to Explosion sputter Effect, Radius of 2.5, Color set to R511 G320 B100
Added Light to Horny Birth Effect, Radius of 2, Color set to R511 G100 B60
Added Light to Lightning Bolt Strike, Radius of 2, Color set to R150 G50 B255
Added Light to Resurrect Creature Effect, Radius of 2.5, Color set to R511 G0 B255
Added Light to Portal Sacking Effect, Radius of 1.5, Color set to R255 G255 B255
Added Light to Special Activation Effect, Radius of 2.5, Color set to R511 G511 B511 & Player Colored
Added Light to Firering, Radius of 2.5, Color set to R300 G150 B20 & Player Colored

Removed Elf Knifes Effect's Light (2 Radius, R150 G120 B120)
Removed Spot Hit 1 Effect's Light (2.5 Radius, R20 G250 B50)
Removed Disruption Shot Effect's Light (2.5 Radius, R20 G220 B50)
Removed Vampire Slow Shot Effect's Light (2 Radius, R240 G250 B120)

Revised Possession Mana Cost for all Creatures, following a formula to calculate potential danger of the creature under possession.
Melee Formula: (DPS * 5) * (1 + RunSpeed / 5)
Support Formula: Total DPS of All Spells + Melee DPS * X ; Doesn't Count Healing ; X = 1, 2, or 4 depending on the melee focus of the unit
Immunity to Chicken multiplies the cost by 1.5
Goblin: 90 to 326
Salamander: 90 to 243
Troll: 40 to 177
Bile Demon: 80 to 237
Black Knight: 90 to 324
Skeleton: 120 to 680
Rogue: 90 to 452
Dark Angel: 160 to 966
Reaper: 200 to 728
Warlock: 80 to 162
Firefly: 50 to 251
Mistress: 70 to 352
Dark Elf: 80 to 270
Vampire: 150 to 1053
Tunneller: 50 to 198
Guard: 175 to 345
Light Warden: 200 to 409
Knight: 210 to 414
Stone Knight: 100 to 336
Templar: 225 to 384
Mercenary: 250 to 611
Giant: 220 to 723
Samurai: 300 to 738
Blade Master: 300 to 382
Wizard: 100 to 321
Elven Archer: 80 to 214
Monk: 120 to 112
Fairy: 190 to 567
Lord of Land: 1250 to 2572
The King: 5568 to 6572

Revised Chicken HP calculations for all Creatures
Old System based on size
V.Small: 120 ; Small: 110 ; Average: 100 ; Large: 90 ; V.Large: 80
New System based on size + Max HP
V.Small: 100 + 5% ; Small: 85 + 4.5% ; Average: 70 + 4% ; Large: 55 + 3.5% ; V.Large: 50 + 3%
Total HP Gained from a Full Meal:
Goblin: 300 to 366
Salamander: 300 to 390
Troll: 300 to 498
Bile Demon: 480 to 1020
Black Knight: 450 to 765
Rogue: 300 to 306
Dark Angel: 300 to 330
Reaper: 450 to 485
Warlock: 220 to 214
Firefly: 120 to 137
Mistress: 220 to 246
Dark Elf: 300 to 378
Guard: 300 to 426
Light Warden: 220 to 296
Knight: 450 to 835
Templar: 450 to 885
Mercenary: 300 to 402
Giant: 480 to 570
Samurai: 300 to 378
Blade Master: 300 to 510
Wizard: 220 to 210
Elven Archer: 300 to 318
Monk: 300 to 282
Fairy: 120 to 117
Lord of Land: 480 to 1500
The King: 480 to 2220

Revised Slap Damage calculations for all Creatures
Old System based on size
V.Small: 30 ; Small: 80 ; Average: 150 ; Large: 240 ; V.Large: 350
New System based on size + Max HP
V.Small: 75 + 2% ; Small: 75 + 3.25% ; Average: 75 + 4.5% ; Large: 75 + 5.75% ; V.Large: 75 + 7%
Imp: 40 to 80
Goblin: 150 to 133
Salamander: 150 to 142
Troll: 150 to 183
Bile Demon: 350 to 355
Black Knight: 240 to 236
Rogue: 150 to 111
Dark Angel: 150 to 120
Reaper: 240 to 144
Warlock: 80 to 91
Firefly: 30 to 90
Mistress: 80 to 102
Dark Elf: 150 to 138
Tunneller: 80 to 107
Guard: 150 to 156
Light Warden: 80 to 120
Knight: 240 to 259
Templar: 240 to 276
Mercenary: 150 to 147
Giant: 350 to 180
Samurai: 150 to 138
Blade Master: 150 to 187
Wizard: 80 to 89
Elven Archer: 150 to 115
Monk: 150 to 102
Fairy: 30 to 82
Lord of Land: 350 to 395
The King: 350 to 715

Creature Changes

Hero Changes

Creature Spell Changes

Invulnerable
Added different creation effects depening on the Invulnerable variation

Meteor
Added FB0 Additive Alpha 'Mesh' to Projectile effect (Subtle difference, Flame / Fireball use this for example)
Changed projectile effect from Firebomb shot to Firebomb2 shot (Wizard's Super Firebomb in vanilla)
Increased projectile speed from 0.5 to 0.9

Guided Arrow to Piercing Arrow
DPS / Attack: 48 / 432 to 32 / 128
Recharge: 9 to 4
Pierce Effect
Changed Icon from Guided Arrow to Sureshot
Changed Hit Thing Effect: Hit Spot 2 to Physical Hit Effect

Piercing Arrow Shot Type
Health: 60 to 40
Speed: 0.7 to 1.25

Arrow
Changed Hit Thing Effect: Hit Spot 2 to Physical Hit Effect

Guided Bolt
Changed Hit Thing Effect: Hit Spot 4 to Physical Hit Effect

Lightning
DPS / Attack: 6 / 54 to 16 / 112
Recharge: 9 to 7

Ice Missle
Recharge: 30 to 34
Overall DPS: ~4.6 to ~3.77 Per Target
Total Damage: 70/140 to 128
Damage Per Second: 20/40 to 28
Damage Duration: 3.5 Seconds to 4.5 Seconds
Damage Radius: 2 to 1
Freeze Duration: 5 Seconds to 7 Seconds
Projectile Speed: 1.2 to 1.0
Projectile Radius: 0.2 to 0.25
Adjusted Effect to Easier Tell when the Damage AoE is still in effect and when it stops

Flame
Changed Icon from Firebomb to unused Disruption
Increased projectile size by ~50%

Cleave
Changed effect from Spike Trap Blood Effect to a combination of Spot Hit 2 / Spot Hit 3
Adjusted Blade Master's Shot Offset to make Cleave trigger half a tile ahead of him, giving it noticably better range in normal circumstances

Greater Bash
Changed Icon from Stun Imp Special to Throw Mode

Knives
DPS / Attack: 90 / 1710 to 94 / 1786
Added Hit Thing Effect: Physical Hit Effect

Chaos Charm
Added Possession sound effect
Changed General Effect from cloud thing to Resurrect Creature
Set the Turncoat Effect as the Death Effect instead of Hit Thing Effect (still displays when hitting a creature)
Set Hit Thing Effect to Possession Chosen Creature

Inferno
DPS: 64 to 48
Damage: (1536/24) 64 to (1440/24) 60
Recharge: 24 to 30
Effect: Added small delay before Inferno casting, Inferno now sets off almost one tile ahead of the cast point
Added creation smoke effect and small flame to show where the Inferno will set off
Changed Icon from Firebomb to Keeper Inferno

Assassinate
DPS / Attack: ~74.6 / 6720 to 59.5 / 7140
Recharge: 90 to 120
Adjusted Effect to make it look more unique and removed sound
Rogue no longer casts it on Traps or Doors naturally

Chainfire
Adjusted Effect to make the Fireball / Explosion look really huge and significant
Changed Icon from Firebomb to unused Disruption
Increased projectile speed from 0.8 to 1.1

Darkness
DPS / Attack: 87.5 / 5250 to 150 / 10500
Recharge: 60 to 70
Added Creation Effect: Fear Trap Effect
Exchanged old Hit Thing Effect (Fear Trap) for Vampire Entrance data 3 effect (orbs of energy expanding out)
Increased size of projectile noticably

Light
DPS / Attack: 100-300 / 2000 to ??? / 1000
Recharge: 20 to 12
AoE Range: 4
Old Effect: Hits 3x
New Effect: Travels 2.5 Tiles, Forms Range from Origin AoE for 2.5 Seconds, Bonus damage to targets as a projectile (1k damage w/stun, Hits 2x)

Firestorm
Added FB0 Additive Alpha 'Mesh' to Projectile effect (Subtle difference, Flame / Fireball use this for example)
Changed Icon from Firebomb to Keeper Inferno

Drain
Added Creation Effect

Blade Flurry
Changed start up effect from Transfer Creature to charge up effect spiral
DPS / Attack: ~199 / 5568 (1392*4) to 188.5 / 1508*4 (6032)
Effect Range: 4 to 3 Tiles

Full Heal to Lord Heal
Recharge: 16 to 20
Heal: 48000 to 16000

Invisibility
Duration: 10 to 11
Recharge: 28 to 31
Invisibility Time: 35.7% to 35.4%

Chicken
Duration: 30 to 14
Recharge: 70 to 36
Chicken Time: 42.8% to 38.8%
Added "Hit Thing" Effect (same as creation effect)

-New Creature Spells-

Firespark
DPS / Attack: 52 / 104
Recharge: 2
Range: 4

Light Ward
DPS / Attack: 12 / (480 total / 240 hits) 2 damage
Recharge: 20
Range: 6
Effect: Creates a Light Ward 2 Tiles Forward, Deals 8 Damage Every Second for 60 Seconds to All Enemies in a 3 Tile Radius

Scorch
DPS / Attack: 150max / (3600 total / 30 hits) 120 damage
Recharge: 24
Range: 3
Effect: Creates a Short Line of Fire that Damages Targets Constantly as the Fire Passes Through Them

Thunder Strike
DPS / Attack: 81 / 324 (due to stun bonuses, damage is effectively 972)
Recharge: 12
Range: 5
Effect: Stun, Hits a second time almost immediately afterwards for guaranteed stun bonus damage

Critical Strike
DPS / Attack: 104 / 2496
Recharge: 24
Range: 6
Effect: Sends a Samurai Image Forward and it Deals Damage on 1 Tile, Samurai Level 10 Melee Damage * 2

Firebomb
DPS / Attack: 85 / 1360
Recharge: 16
Range: 5
Effect: Damage Ranges from Origin, 2 Tile Range

Flare
DPS / Attack: 112.5? / 120
Recharge: 32
Range: 3
Effect: Pierce, Creates 1/3 Scorch when hit thing, Explodes after 2 seconds / travels 5.2 tiles for 600 damage AoE over 1.25 sec in a 2 tile radius

Meteor Blast
DPS / Attack: 36 / (540/3) 180
Recharge: 15
Range: 3
Effect: Short range pierce projectile, Explodes into mini Inferno blast with every hit, +240 damage w/stun on target, Hits allies

Shining Spear
DPS / Attack: 248 / 496
Recharge 2
Range: 3
Effect: Pierce, Short Range

Banish
Recharge: 24
Range: 6
Effect: Stuns target 1.5 Seconds after impact, Stuns again after 6 Seconds

Tearing Cyclone
Effect: Delayed Summon, Creates Cyclone 3 Tiles Away, Stuns and Damages Simultaneously, 3 Tile Radius
DPS: 2.8-5.6
Damage: (6*14*2) 3
Range: 4
Recharge: 30

Great Banish
DPS / Attack: 140 / (3640 / 5) 728
Recharge: 26
Range: 6
Effect: Stuns target 4.5 seconds after impact, then stuns 4x after every 2.5 seconds, deals damage every stun

White Invulnerable (self invulnerable)
Duration: 17
Recharge: 50
Invulnerable Time: 34%

Lord Invulnerable (self invulnerable)
Duration: 18
Recharge: 30
Invulnerable Time: 60%

Keeper Spell Changes

Trap and Door Changes

Level Changes

General Levels

Added Difficulty Variance due to rebalancing of certain Creatures and Heroes
Certain Heroes have their levels adjusted (Guards and Royal Guards/Light Wardens) due to Spell Set Adjustments
Fireflies are Available
Altered edge terrain in various levels to ensure that an extra layer of Impentrable Rock is over the edge of the map (Edge of map rock is different from normal rock and I can't change it so it still has default rock settings)
Revised most mission briefing text and added an extra sub objective line to help explain things to new patch players

Level 3

Some Wizards from Hero Parties were replaced with Elves
Added more land to the west to make it easier to assault the traps on the western Hero Gate
Tweaked Trap Placement / Selection

Level 4

Made it possible to invade Lord's Keep "normally" and adjusted terrain to make it more obvious
Buffed Lord's Supporting Heroes and added a couple Sentries / Hail Traps in the Lord's Chambers as a result of the above
Lord now has one scripted retreat to his 'safe spot' when he's at 30% Health (just before summoning the third party of reinforcements)
Reduced Gold throughout the map, mostly at the beginning and slightly towards the end, to encourage more aggressive play

Level 5

Lord Wizards are Level 9, making them slightly more durable, compensating due to the Lord's lacking Heal spell
One of the Warlocks is replaced with a Firefly
Player can no longer attract through the Portal
The two Hero Gates at the Lord's waiting chambers are claimable after the Lord calls for reinforcements
The main Hero Gate (where Hero attack parties come from) is claimable when the Lord dies
Adjusted placement of Mikaelios' Dungeon Heart Traps and added a Hail Trap

Level 6a

Granted Level 2 Firefly at the beginning, but lowered levels of Goblins and 1 Warlock as a tradeoff
Win conditions are changed to wiping out the Lord's entire Party as opposed to just killing the Lord himself, regardless of playing defensively or offensively
Added more reward Gold to the Water Room
Added some more Heroes to the Eastern Side of the Hero Castle
Added another Hero Party to the Hero Script of the Eastern Side of the Hero Castle
Delayed respawn time of the Hero Parties of the Eastern Side of the Hero Castle by 30 seconds each
Added a couple Traps to empty rooms on the western side of the Hero Castle
Locked all the doors to the 'Water Room'
Expanded the starting Training Room to fit in two more Creatures
Removed an impentrable rock tile around the eastern starting Treasury to make it possible to open up to the water from that room

Level 6b

Granted Level 2 Firefly at the beginning, but lowered levels of other Creatures as a tradeoff
Added more Gold at the beginning
Increased Lord's Stay at the two main outposts by a few minutes total
Lowered the levels of the Knights at the second post of the Lord's escape route from Lv9 to Lv8
Increased the levels of the Wizards in the Lord's party from Lv7 to Lv9
Adjusted special Lord retreat conditions so that the Lord only flees at a lower percentage of Health
When the Lord is attacked, the Knights and support units of the Lord's party will attack the Player
Adjusted one of the mini Trap Rooms to make it better fortified
Added a new, small / hidden alternative path at the beginning
Made it possible for some of the northern Mercenary Heroes to wander closer to Player domain
Increased Creatures / Blue's Training Room to remain symmetrical with 6a's starting dungeon
Win condition changed to wiping out the Lord's entire party instead of just the Lord
When the Lord dies, the rest of his party will attack the Player
When the Lord is attacked, the Lord's Party (outside of its initial members) will now attack the Player
No longer zooms to the Heroes at the outpost at the end of the first bridge if they are killed before a fleeing Tunneller reaches them (also no longer zooms to the Tunneller in the same conditions)
Added five small Guard Rooms around the Lord's chambers to reveal those areas through interrogation

Level 7

Added some Light Wardens in a few areas, replacing other melee Heroes
Strengthened the room outside the Lord's Chambers and made it more difficult to lure the Heroes out
It is now possible to obtain the "Locate Hidden Land" special
If Gormagon is killed or the Lord is critically injured in the Gormagon fight and flees as a result, then the Gormagon Hero Gate will stop spawning Hero Parties
Gormagon now casts spells more frequently and makes a larger effort to save his Creatures, increasing his survival rate against the Heroes
Delayed the spawning of the northern Hero attack bridge
When fighting the Lord's at his chambers, win conditions are changed to wiping out the Lord's entire Party as opposed to just killing the Lord himself
Adjusted some of the Specials

Level 8

Southwest Patrol and Invasion are Lowered in Level Due to Certain Statistical Changes
Northwest Main Patrol Party has 1 Lv6 Light Warden Swapped for a Lv7 Monk, Remaining Light Warden Buffed from Level 6 to 9
Northwest Side Party (Northern Most Room) has its Elves reduced from Level 2 to 1 and the Samurai leveled from 5 to 7, they all die instantly now
Two of the Elves Guarding the Northwest Wizard Have been replaced with Lv9 Monks
Terrain around the Northwest Gem is altered to make it so you can't make any big "shot-cuts" by shortening the bridge for Imps
Terrain around the Northeast Wizard is altered to avoid exploiting him
Invasion Party that appears for not killing the Southwest Wizard has its Elves buffed from Level 4 to 5
Invasion Party that appears for not killing the Northwest Wizard has changed from two Lv5 SKs / Lv6 RGs to three Lv5 Knights / one Lv9 Warden
Invasion Party that appears for not killing the Southeast Wizard has lost one Guard but its remaining Guard is buffed from Lv5 to Lv7
Invasion Party that appears for not killing the Northeast Wizard has changed from two Lv9 Fairies / Lv5 Giants to three Fairies (lv5-7) / 1 Lv9 Giant
Standard Invasion Party that appears regardless has its Fairy debuffed from Lv8 to Lv6, Samurai debuffed from Lv5 to Lv4, and Lv8 RG replaced with Lv9 Knight
Lord Invasion Party has its Giants buffed from Lv7 to Lv9-10 and it spawns a little bit faster (Every 270 seconds to every 240 seconds)
Lord Reinforcement Party is changed from Lv7 Samurai / Monk / Lv8 Royal Guard to two Lv10 Monks / one Lv9 Light Warden
Altered Terrain in the Southern Bonus Area to make the long bridge harder to claim due to Elven Archer / Sentry Trap fire
Buffed the Heroes Past the First Room in the Southern Bonus Area
Added two Guards to the Knight/Giant group in the Southern Bonus Area
The Knight/Giant/Guard group in the Southern Bonus Area now properly join together to attack the Player when attacked themselves
Added three Light Wardens to the Southern Bonus Area's special room
Wizards have a Threat Level of 250 instead of 60 (for music)
Wizard Fire Storm Recharge time reduced from 50 seconds to 10 seconds (Just for this map of course)
Wizards Gain Corruption instead of Chaos Charm at Level 10 (Corruption being a boss variant of Chaos Charm, only effects the fifth Wizard)
Altered the introduction scene so that skipping the opening will cancel out the camera zooms to each Wizard and the Rogue
Win conditions are changed to wiping out the Lord's entire Party as opposed to just killing the Lord himself
Altered terrain in the Southern Bonus Area to make it impossible to breach certain walls to make the section easier
Increased rewards from the Southern Bonus Area
Buffed the Wizards in the Lord's area and added a second Lv10 Knight
Wizard class is now named to 'Guardian Wizard' for this level only
Wizards have a light effect and a special death effect for this level only
Revised the terrain in the Lord's area to make the Lord fight more difficult (prevents him from being easily swarmed and bursted down or lured out)
Adjusted trap placement / usage in the Lord's area due to the above
Adjusted Lord's script so he spawns reinforcements at a steadier pace and only calls for reinforcement four times instead of six times
Removed Lightning Trap from Northwest Wizard's battle area
Wizard Stun Time dropped from 1 to 0 seconds
Southeast Wizard patrol party respawn time cut in half
Swapped Prison / Torture Chamber Locations
Added a neutral Firefly to the Hero Prison with the neutral Dark Elf
Revealed the Gem / Prison in the Northwest / Southeast Section of the map at the start of the level
Reveals the Specials in the Southern Bonus Area after killing the last Wizard
Altered Northwest Terrain to prevent easier access to Torture Chamber
Altered Southeast terrain to prevent easier access to the Prisons / Neutrals

Level 9

Light Wardens guarding the southern most Entry Gate are replaced with Samurai
Added three final attack parties that appear after the Lord's party is defeated
Win conditions are changed to wiping out the Lord's entire Party and the attack party after him as opposed to just killing the Lord himself
If the Lord dies, the rest of his party will attack the Player
Adjusted the script for Lord's spawn point to make it properly random as opposed to a more scripted randomness
Properly removes all of Jarquidos / Purple's creatures if the intro is skipped before they're killed
Reworked attacking Hero Parties so that the party itself is random between 1 to 4 possibilities (3rd attack party is still stronger than 1st / 2nd and has a different 4 possibilities)
Reworked attacking Hero Party spawn time so that it is more random (1st party 550 to 650 sec, 2nd party 1050 to 1350 sec, 3rd party 1550 to 2050 sec)
Set mentor's message 'Be wary of this Knight...' to be played after 10 minutes as opposed to 15 minutes
Added two unused mentor messages to be played after 5 and 15 minutes
Fixed an error where System Messages get turned off if the intro is skipped too fast

Level 10

Replaced two out of the four Guards west of the first bridge with Light Wardens
Replaced two out of the four Giants east of the second bridge with Knights
Elves west of the second / third bridge are swapped with the Wizards that are east of the first / third bridge
It is now possible to obtain the "Locate Hidden Land" special
The Mentor will only announces the Heroes' Attack if you claimed at least one of the main bridges (without that bridge, the Heroes don't attack the player)
The Elves guarding the first and third bridge will now delay their attack on either Keeper for 100 seconds (gives the main Hero invasion parties time to move ahead of them)
If the Lord dies, the Light Wardens that guard his chambers will attack one of the Keepers when the invasion begins, depending on bridges claimed
Hero Stone Bridges have triple Max Health on this map
Removed two of the Lightning Traps and adjusted trap placement on the two outposts on the third main bridge
Slightly tweaked Lord's Patrol route to make him travel one tile less on each of the second main bridges
Blade Master in Lord's Party lowered from Lv9 to Lv8, but the three Samurai's levels are increased by 1 (Blade Master doesn't have Blade Flurry but now there is a Lv10 Samurai with Critical Strike)
Fixed an error where a Knight / Guard from the Asmodeus Invasion Party did not have their objectives reassigned to patroling the Hero Fort after the Lord picks up the Portal Gem (Reinforcement party summoned if the Lord is still alive, the Knight is the leader)
Added rock around the northern Portal so that the Player isn't immediately exposed to the Hero Fort (Dwarf party will still eventually mine through to open the Player up)
Adjusted terrain around the northern Portal and added a trail of gold heading west to make the western gold section more obvious (also increases the western gold amount by five blocks)
Adjusted the water boarderline leading into the southern area as well as the trigger for the southern Hero Party script to prevent accidental triggering if the Player doesn't want to venture south / claim the southern Portal
Added six gold blocks to the southern area
When attacking one of the Lv4 convertable Knights down south, they'll all change their objective to Kill Player instead of just one of them
Added two Lv5 Elven Archers and a Lv5 Guard to guard the southeast Gate, all convertable
Northern invasions now stop some time before the final invasion (Southern invasions continue, however)

**Metal Gear Rex** · October 22nd, 2014, 00:34

So after taking some time away from the patch, I started working on it again some time ago.

I began playing through the start of the campaign again and felt there were some things that could be done to significantly better the first few levels, so I decided to get back into level designing with some tweaks / revisions to the first five maps. I ended up devoting a lot more to these revisions than I initially expected; for example I playtested the first two levels six to eight times each to make sure their changes are just right, which is a lot considering their simplistic design.

For the third to fifth levels, I felt that they had problems that were more fundamental in their design, as I tried to make them resemble the original maps more than I should have. So, I decided to redesign those maps from complete scratch. With the new designs, they do a much better job of teaching the player certain things; the third level is now a complete Hero Invasion map to express more defensive combat and the use of traps, while also getting the player used to dealing with multiple Hero Parties at once.

In general, the level revisions make the maps far more interesting by boosting the challenge and feeling of pressure while also increasing the pacing of the map and making it so there's less time when the player is 'doing nothing', even in the first level. They feel much less tedious to play through, even as a more experienced player like myself, and also provide the player with new features / abilities sooner as opposed to later. I intend to keep this approach as I go through the campaign again to make revisions.

As for how far along I am with these revisions, the first four levels are complete and the fifth level is in progress. The new fifth level's basic map is near complete; I just need to perform a bit more polishing on the terrain. Afterwards, I can move onto adding objects, Heroes, scripts, and revisions for the Keeper AI. Lastly, there is the testing, of course.

With these level revisions, I also have some experimental balance changes that I'm working with. They mostly involve Creature side Support units, as the addition of the Firefly does make a lot of impact. I want to make sure that not only is the Firefly good to go, but that other Support units are properly carrying their own weight and stand out as being unique by comparison.

I plan to release these level revisions and experimental balance changes once I finish up the fifth level. I don't know when that'll be considering the extent at which I've been playtesting the maps and everything going on around me as I work, but it'll be some time within the near future.

**Metal Gear Rex** · November 1st, 2014, 08:02

Minor update. First five levels are coming along fine. I think I'll have them ready by this weekend by the latest. Additionally, I'll be including a multiplayer map for additional testing... called 'Multiplayer'. Here are some thumbnails of the maps I did complete revisions of.

Level 3:

Level 4:

Level 5:

Multiplayer Map:

**Hapuga** · November 1st, 2014, 21:39

verynice

**Metal Gear Rex** · November 16th, 2014, 06:18

Minor update. The next release will be soon™.

I would have released it last weekend, however, I decided to do some last minute changes to the Hero Side after feeling that some of them felt a little too 'plain' when they shouldn't. The biggest Hero change involved some rebalancing done to the Guard, as he's a common Hero so this naturally has a fairly significant impact on all levels being released. There are some other changes relating to Traps that also have a significant impact on level 3 and onward.

So, during this week, I've been replaytesting the maps and tweaking again to properly adjust them to these latest revisions while also testing said revisions for their general balance. I'm currently on Level 4 and almost done. Level 5 shouldn't take too much more of my time, although I don't think I can accurately estimate how long it'll be.

Overall there's a much larger list of balance changes than I initially expected there to be. Some of said changes are with units / other unavailable within the first five levels, so they'll only be usable / testable in that Multiplayer (and Skirmish, although the AI probably can't handle the terrain) map. The balance on such things may not be spot on due to much more limited test information, but there should be a clearly defined direction as to where I'm taking the balance direction, much like how each map highlights the kind of approach I want for future maps.

Update over.

**Metal Gear Rex** · November 17th, 2014, 19:28

So for those that saw / remember the change log of the last demo release, I've been attempting to create some sort of Spiked Door (renamed to Blade Door to match its new effect) to replace the Secret Door. I've noticed some weirdness with its attack range vs its firing range, so I attempted to try and fix it.

screw you dkii

Didn't work. There's some more weirdness with DKII because, for some unfathomable reason, doors have one tile extra range towards the North and West of it when it comes to the 'attack doors', or at least with the Blade Door's AoE. This is a big deal because, as the picture shows, you can place a super strong door on one side and a Blade Door behind it, effectively making a simple but super combo door if you put them in the right position. In other words, it's abusable as hell and I have no way to fix it because DKII is ignoring the shot offset settings for some other absurd reason.

The faces there express my current mood.

**Metal Gear Rex** · November 29th, 2014, 11:22

New patch is finally here! The reason why this took so much longer is relating to me constantly finding things to tweak and thus requiring more time to properly playtest to see how it effects the campaign. I wrote the majority of this change log late at night. I hope it doesn't show too much ^^

This update includes the first five levels of the campaign and a bonus Multiplayer / Skirmish map. The latter three campaign maps have been revised from scratch.

This patch is considered experimental. While any unit, trap, etc included in the five campaign maps is very much tested, there are a lot of changes to units beyond that (seen in the Multiplayer map) that aren't as confidently tested.

General Changes

Unit Changes

Payday values have been rebalanced, lowered in the case of most Heroes, after re-evaluating that unit's strength.

Manufacture values rebalanced, mostly lowered, due to a general workshop movement (see trap section)

Goblin

Salamander

Troll

Bile Demon

Black Knight

Skeleton

Rogue

Dark Angel

Warlock

Firefly

Mistress

Mistress
Health: 850 to 900
DPS / Attack: 52 / 104 to 70 / 140
Lightning: Lv3 to Lv5
Chicken: Lv6 to Lv7
Replaced Thunder (9) with Frost Wave (9)
Train EXP: 50 to 65 to 70
Pay: 1320 to 1120

Lightning
DPS / Attack: 16 / 112 to 24 / 168
Range: 3 to 4
Effect: Weakened effect to symbolize it's lower damage compared to and to better differentiate it from Thunder

Chicken
Recharge: 36 to 32
Chicken Time: 38.8% to 43.75%

Frost Wave
Recharge: 28
Range: 4
Distance: Travels 4 Tiles at 0.5 Tile Speed
Effect: Freezes for 4 Seconds, Pierce
Effect2: Every time it hits a target, it produces a 2 tile damage radius that deals 20 damage over 0.75 seconds
Effect3: At max distance, it produces a 'Crystal Wall' which can freeze a unit for up to 9 seconds, dealing 400 damage over time

The Mistress is a unit of whom I've struggled to balance compared to other support units, so I'm trying again with a bit of a different approach.

Stun support isn't as useful earlier on as the bigger threats are usually in the form of ligher creatures like Goblins, and they're resistant to stunning. There's also less burst to benifit from stun damage due to everything being low leveled. Therefore, the Mistress in the early game will now act as a blitzer to help take down smaller units, basically being a mini Skeleton without the instant death penalty. Her upgraded stats will help support her in this role.

The damage increase in Lightning gives the Mistress a slight water advantage, but the biggest difference is the increase of range from 3 to 4 tiles. This makes it so the Mistress stays consistently behind the Dark Elf, but in front of the Warlock, thus increasing her survivability. Mistresses will now combo very well with Dark Elves due to changes done to the latter, thus this change with Lightning's range is even more significant.

The loss of Thunder does cause the Mistress to lose her late game damage and surpreme water advantage, but the Mistress isn't supposed to be doing direct damage anyhow. Dark Elves and Fireflies have that role covered already. Instead, they now have Frost Wave, which gives them area control similar to Wizard Ice Missile. While Frost Wave isn't damage focused (although the light damage is still a bonus) and can't stack as crazily, it does have the unique trait of causing a super freeze if it catches an enemy at the end of the projectile's life.

Dark Elf

Vampire

Dwarf

Guard

Light Warden

Knight

Stone Knight

Mercenary

Samurai

Blade Master

Wizard

Elven Archer

Monk

Fairy

Templar

Lord of the Land

Lord of the Land
Health: 8000 to 10000
DPS / Attack: 160 / 480 to 200 / 600
Regen: 250 to 300
Attack Range: 0.65 to 0.75
Walk Speed: 0.7 to 0.6
Run Speed: 1.8 to 1.5
Lord Invulnerable: Lv9 to Lv7
Replaced Lord Heal with Lord Slice (still Lv8)
Replaced Blade Flurry (Lv7) with Lord Blade Flurry (Lv7)

Lord Invulnerable (self invulnerable)
Duration: 18
Recharge: 30
Invulnerable Time: 60%

Lord Slice
DPS / Attack: 166.67 / (2000 total) 400*5
Recharge: 12
Range: 3
Distance: Travels 7.2 Tiles at 0.6 Tile Speed
Effect: Pierce
Effect2: Whenever Slice hits a target, it will produce a second projectile that stys for another second and deals an additional 400*4 (1600 total) damage if an enemy is standing there

Lord Blade Flurry
DPS / Attack: 400 / (6400 total) 1600*4
Recharge: 16
Radius: 3 Tiles
Effect: Range-from-Origin AoE that hits 3 times then finishes with a Constant AoE

With the revised levels 3-5, I noticed a bit of an issue with how high the Lords were being leveled at in order to provide a decent challenge. This is due to the maps being longer and thus player armies would level up, but it was still concerning as there would then be a lack of variety in lord levels as they'll all be levels 7-9 for the majority of the campaign for an 'average' threat level. With increased stats, it allows me to have more variety with levels while still keeping the Lord at a decent level. He can scale up better as a boss throughout the campaign.

Lord Slice acts similarly to Blade Master Slice, but it's naturally much better. It's faster and travels farther. It's special bonus damage isn't at the peak of the projectile distance, but for every target it hits, which is quite crazy. Fast moving units will be resistant to it but then they're likely to have difficulty dealing with Lord Blade Flurry and then just normal Lord attacking.

Lord Blade Flurry, damage wise, is just above that of the old Blade Flurry. It is, however, much more powerful due to its halving of recharge time compared to the old Blade Flurry, which is why it's a Lv9 spell.

King Reginald

Room Changes

Keeper Spell Changes

Trap and Door Changes

Manufacturing cost for Traps / Doors increased from 2000 to 3000
Reverted the 25% increase in Trap Gold Cost
Removed Mana Drain from all Traps
Increased Mana-to-Fire for all Traps based on certain systematic calculations

The more I try to balance Traps, the more I realize they're imbalanced in some way, thus inspiring this new movement to hopefully fix certain fundamental problems when it comes to using traps.

Trap power level is about the way I would want it, but the problem is that they're too strong in the early game while becoming noticably less relevant in the late game. The increase in manufacturing cost, along with the overall decrease in unit manufacturing rates, delays Traps in the early game and causes players to sacrifice something else (such as training time) to get an early lead in traps.

Mana drain is actually quite bad as it punishes players for their investment and for having foresight / proper planning while also limiting the placement of traps. The limitation in placement makes traps more easily avoided, which then ruins the time, gold, and mana invested in Traps. The removal of mana drain allows Traps to be placed all over the dungeon. This is a Trap's way of scaling up into the late game with constantly leveling creatures. Traps still cost gold and the increased manufacture time makes it so a dungeon full of traps is still a heavy investment. Too many traps in one place can also eat up loads of mana fast.

Doors

Traps

Level Changes

Revised most mission debriefing text again
Possession is removed from campaign maps (still obtainable via cheats)
Added Lava fireball effects, Portal mist effects, and Special mist / sparkle effects
Revised Lv3 through Lv5 from scratch

-Level 1-
Adjusted terrain to discourage heading north for gold first
Added 8 Goblin Limit
Adjusted and expanded trigger for Hero attack script;
Original, Gold Mined >= 9000 + 5 Goblins
New, 1 of 3 Conditions
Gold Mined >= 9000 + 5 Goblins
6 Goblins
Killed 6 Heroes
First Party has one of its Lv1 Dwarves boosted to Lv2, Lv4 Dwarf is now Lv5
First Dwarf Party attacks 15 Seconds sooner
Second Party has its Lv2 Dwarves boosted to Lv3, with one of them boosted to Lv4, Lv4 Guard is now Lv5
Second Dwarf Party attacks 5 Seconds sooner (in addition to the above 15 second drop)
Knight Party attacks 12 Seconds sooner (in addition to the above 20 second drop)
Changed Knight's Party from 7 Dwarves (3,2,2,1+) to 2 Guards (3) and 4 Dwarves (4,2+) (Total Power = From 8000 HP + 256 DPS to 10900 HP + 338 DPS)
Changed Knight's Party so that it no longer destroys rooms
Adjusted Knight's attack script so that his position relative to his party is consistent
Knight's speech is now played when he calls his party forth and begins to attack the player, also zooms to the Knight
Adjusted Knight's script so that, when attacked, he calls his party and will attack the Player earlier
When the Knight attacks the player, any remaining Heroes will also attack the player
Win conditions changed so that all Heroes must be defeated
Camera zooms to the Knight when he's defeated

-Level 2-
Added 4 starting Imps, all Imps are now lv3
Guards patrolling the fort are now Lv5 from Lv3
Altered some of the terrain around the starting area
Limited to 6 Goblins and 4 Warlocks
Added 2 Lv5 Guards to the Bonus Wizard group
Changed 1st Hero Party from 5 Dwarves (2,1+) to 6 Dwarves (4,3,2 even)
Changed 2nd Hero Party from 7 Dwarves (2,1+) to 3 Dwarves (4,3+) & 3 Wizards (3,2+)
Changed 3rd Hero Party from 1 Dwarf (2), 2 Guards (2,1), & 3 Wizards (3,2,1) to 6 Dwarves (5,3,3,2+), 3 Guards (4,3+), & 3 Wizards (5,4+)
Changed Hero Party Attack conditions
1st Party: 1 Lv2 unit to 2 Lv3 units
2nd Party: 2 Lv4 units to Researching Create Imp
3rd Party: Researching Thunderbolt & 2 Lv3 units to Researching Thunderbolt & 2 Lv5 units
Added a minimum 60 second separater between 1st to 3rd Hero Parties to prevent overlapping parties
Changed Lord Party from 11 Wizards (5,4,4,3,3,3,2,2,2,2,1) to 8 Dwarves (5,5,4/3+ even), 4 Guards (4,3+), & 4 Wizards (5,3,3,2)
Changed Lord's script so that he retreats when at 75% HP instead of 60% and he no longer has any 'force run' commands
Once the Lord's retreat condition is met, he will attack the player naturally when at 100% HP instead of 90%, Removed the additional requirement of the leading member in the Lord Party needing to be attacked
If the Lord hits 45% HP before he can safely retreat, he will initiate his attack immediately instead of waiting to heal up.
The 3rd and Lord Party in addition to the bonus Wizards no longer destroy rooms
Win conditions changed so that the Lord Party must also be defeated

**Ocelot60** · February 7th, 2015, 10:00

Uhm, I can't be the only one unable to open spoiler tags, right?
I want to read the patch notes to see if it's worth a download, but I genuinely don't know how to open them.

Also replaying DK2 for like the 5th time, never grows old.

**YourMaster** · February 7th, 2015, 10:09

See this topic: https://keeperklan.com/threads/4865-...m-on-the-forum

Thread: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

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Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

General Changes

Creature Changes

Hero Changes

Creature Spell Changes

Keeper Spell Changes

Trap and Door Changes

Level Changes

Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

screw you dkii

Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

General Changes

Unit Changes

Goblin

Salamander

Troll

Bile Demon

Black Knight

Skeleton

Rogue

Dark Angel

Warlock

Firefly

Mistress

Dark Elf

Vampire

Dwarf

Guard

Light Warden

Knight

Stone Knight

Mercenary

Samurai

Blade Master

Wizard

Elven Archer

Monk

Fairy

Templar

Lord of the Land

King Reginald

Room Changes

Keeper Spell Changes

Trap and Door Changes

Doors

Traps

Level Changes

Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

Re: Dungeon Keeper 2 Patch - DK2 with Better Balance (And Pie)

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