So here's an idea I had to try and experiment with involving the mana resource:
- Increase Max Mana from 200000 to 500000
- Increase Max Mana Gain from 600 to either 999 or 1000 (not sure if 4 digits looks good on the gui)
- Increase Mana Cost things to 1.75 to 2.0x their current amount (testing with 1.75x for now)
- Increase Base Mana count from 30 to 50
Basically, the idea is to further benefit expanding of dungeons with this larger potential mana gain, while also allowing more possibilities to "build up mana". Building up mana will take longer due to the higher cap, but also because it everything is more expensive so it takes more mana to have equal value to mana values before. Despite the increase in potential mana gain, mana will always be harder to replenish because the boost of like 50% mana gain doesn't equal the +75% of mana costs.
This I think will make a stronger element of strategy in managing the mana resource, as saving up mana for a big encounter will allow for much more spell casting than before. On the flip side, being wasteful is more punishing because it takes longer to regenerate that mana.
This also can create a better siege type situation and can be an advantage that an offensive player presses against a defensive player, since defensive players likely use up more mana due to traps. It also helps out AI Keepers in single player maps who have infinite mana because, while this change doesn't effect their mana resources, it does effect the player's in a longer and more drawn out battle.
These changes I think also makes it less likely to float mana needlessly once you reach the cap as reaching the cap is much less likely.
I'm slightly concerned about how this effects Imps, because it seems I can't actually up the mana drain of Imps since it seems to be hardcoded and I've never played with the mana cost of creating Imps so I don't know how this will impact that. There's also the situation where you drop Imps in the Dungeon Heart to return mana; I don't know how that is effected either.
It will all require testing regardless, of course. I'll likely first test this concept in Level 6a, whenever that is finished.