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[Meph]

Warlock Tower

DevLog: Day1 - Day2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Day 5 - Day 6 - Day 7 - Day 8 - Day 9 - Day 10 - Day 11 - Day 12 (I took a break) - Day 13 - Day 14 - Day 15 - Day 16 - Day 17 - Day 18 - Day 19 - Day 20 - Day 21 - Day 22 - Day 23 - Day 24 - Day 25 - Day 26 -
Download: Alpha V.01 - The first test run. - (ONLY USE DEFAULT SETTINGS!)
Download: Alpha V.02 - The second test run. - (ONLY USE DEFAULT SETTINGS!)
Download: Beta V.03 - Should be playable now. (Cheat reaction in the still for testers)
Download: Beta V.04 - Pylons and lots more stuff.
Download: Beta V.05 - Raids and Prisoners and the Overlord.
Download: Beta V.06 - Portals and better Balancing

Collected suggestions from this thread and reddit (which are not already in my todo list):

Code: [Select]

  - Pylons needed to control population. (Necron/Protoss style)
 - Demon caste. Powerful, but tantrum/berserk possibility.
 - More fort-wide spells that have a recharge time, like "once a month I instakill an invader"
 - Magma Spawning (couldnt get magmasource to work relyably yet)
 - Broodlords/Broodmothers for breeding new civ members.
 - Evil Changlings: flilthlings, festerlings, puslings, bloodlings...
 - Academy - Mental-attribute/skill training.
 - Temporary Uber-Soldier transformation, which ends with the user dying/going berserk.
 - Research (Theology College, Observatory, Anatomy Lab) System.
 - Summon Balrog, Imps or Mephits.
 - More Torture Chambers and "Information-Gathering". Might spawn "escaped prisoner".
 - Expedition/Raid System. Kidnap villagers. Raiders Cabal or Warmongers.
 - The Black Spiral - Magical Warlock Spawning that can go wrong. Might use prisoners for conversion.
 - Homonculi
 - Voodoo
 - Ransom prisoners = Sell to caravans.
 - Permanent upgrade: Frost/Fire/Blight Skeletons. All skellies get this, but you can only chose one.
 - Good Ghosts: Take usage-hint away from interactions, use cannot-have-syn-class to make warlocks immune.
 - Skill-learning from souls, like the dwarven library system. Devour soul = Get a skill.
 - Attribute-boosts from souls. Devour soul = get more strength/agility/endurance.
 - Skull Throne = Turn one Warlock into the boss, with extra spells.
 - Alternative: Summon unique noble-caste, Sauron style. The evil Overlord.
 - Wyrd Weapons = AoE explosion one-time weapons/ammo for traps/suicide bombers.
 - Make drinks from souls that have noeat/nodrink/nosleep for a while.
 - Elysian Shades = Shearable pet-shade made from souls, can be sheared for souls.
 - Slave Pit/arena = Workshop using slave-tools for positive AoE buffs, like the Tavern.
 - Shell life for skeletons: MAXAGE:10.
 - Needs something for Fossils/Treasures/Relics
 - Needs something for Blood/Tear/Bone of Armok
 - Tentacle Monster
 - Enchantet items/ Rune-Robes
 - Extra spells from Staves/Auras for Warlock
 - Will-o'the-wisp, Jack'o'lantern, Burning Skulls, classical horror stuff.
 - Some sort of Religion. Lovecraft, anyone?
 - Cross-race secret reactions - Just adding this so I dont forget it.
 - Good adventurers that attack and siege.
Credits:
Image by Nicholas Vallée, ico-art.fr.
Skeleton creature file by IndigoFenix.

[Urist McTeellox]

I don't think anyone should be allied with HFS. That shit is meant to be dangerous. Reactions/workshops/syndromes which can enslave an HFS member if you're *very* careful and lucky seem fine.

I've always liked the idea of having to construct pylons to maintain troops and/or unlock buildings/technologies. Pylons are constructed from the totems of intelligent races, so advancement requires slaughter and death.  (I actually want to do a similar thing with the Orcish religious system.)

Huge nerf on certain warlock skills. Warlock cheesemakers and farmers don't seem thematic, but having slaves / minions with these skills seems just fine.

I love the idea of undead and demons as workforce and army.

[somebears]

For me a warlock is somewhat about sacifice. Everything comes with a prize

some random Ideas:

• most warlocks do not do any work (mb noble with the ignore work thing).
  
• Nether portal: a building that breaks after a while where a Warlock can go and get something awesome (eg a spell) for a short while. Problem is, it summons hostile nether beasts
  
• they absolutely need slaves!
  
• Undead are somewhat easy to access if you have corpses
  Deamons are expensive
  
• some sort of benefit for writing books and displaying them on a book-stand or a shelf.
  
• I agree with teellox that beeing allied with the HFS is wrong. Enslaving them could be great.
  

Probably way too crazy:
Make Warlocks try to assassinate each other in an effort to be the most powerful warlock in the tower. some sort of violent master-apprentice thing. Powerful warlocks are difficult to kill

[Teneb]

Either NOT_LIVING or OPPOSED_TO_LIFE will cause regular undead to ignore warlocks, with OPPOSED_TO_LIFE causing perma-hostility with absolutely everything lacking either token, if I recall correctly.

As for the HFS, I know there are mods that add new creatures to the underworld that are not istantly attacked by the natives. Maybe AT_PEACE_WITH_WILDILIFE? Anyway, you'll still have the problem with the invasion wave that spawns when you breach the correct tube killing the player's FPS. I also agree that the HFS should be dangerous to everyone, even warlocks. "Playing with fire" seems to be their theme, so a way to backfire (the HFS invasion) would be nice.

[kamikazi1231]

If the warlocks don't actually do work I'm not sure what we will do with them in their tower.  Would it be caste based system like the guilds where some are called "lords" and others are called "skeletal worker"/"skeletal warrior" or something?  It could be that members of those castes will do manual labor.  When they reach a certain skill point they could change their sprite into a profession like dwarves do and have those sprites be skeletons or undead.

Demons could also be a caste.  They could be made expensive through summoning with live sacrifice.  A reaction similar to sacrificing a life for armok could be ran that spawns a "Demon soul fragment."  Then when you have say twenty soul fragments you could run a reaction that takes them and creates a "demon soul gem."  The demon soul gem could be used in a reaction to "sacrifice" a warlock to summon a demon.  It would actually be a transformation to join a guild similar to the high level tier 3 magic classes.  Have to sacrifice many lives but you get a demon class warlock with very high stats and access to many spells.

This could let HFS still be hostile.  I like the playing with fire idea of HFS.  Only demons summoned through study and massive sacrifice would ally with the warlocks.  While what pours out of the HFS is like the wildlife of HFS that is uncontrollable.  It'd be letting the fire get out of control.

The bone thralls of wizard liches might be a good addition. 

[IndigoFenix]

I have a 'megaspell' system made that uses a special workshop allowing each civ member to use one fortress-wide spell, but then forces them to recharge before they can use another.  Only problem is that it needs to be used by members with a rare caste to keep from being overpowered or over-micromanagey.

I also have a system for slowly charging a spell over the course of about a season, which could be useful for restricting the use of uber-powerful spells.

[mahrgell]

If the warlocks don't actually do work I'm not sure what we will do with them in their tower.  Would it be caste based system like the guilds where some are called "lords" and others are called "skeletal worker"/"skeletal warrior" or something?  It could be that members of those castes will do manual labor.  When they reach a certain skill point they could change their sprite into a profession like dwarves do and have those sprites be skeletons or undead.

I really like that idea. Limit their skillgrowth to something like 20% and if they reach lvl 6 at any skill they become a NoWork-Warlock.
So if we use a system which has 3 primary types:
- slaves: nonwarlock, pure workhorses, die faster then cutebolds, suck if they somehow get in combat, warlocks sacrifice them in batches for common everyday reactions
- apprentices: warlocks, can only do physical work, transform into lords once they reach lvl6 at any physical work skill, sacrificed for midtier reactions, useful as meleefighters, but still weaker then dwarves
- lords: warlocks, can only do magical work, core of the army and nobles, can learn spells, magical backbone of your army, while being weaker then apprentices to discourage weaponusage, sacrificed for the powerful rare reactions

This would require to skills split into a physical and a magical category. Magical would include all sacrifices, magical reactions, spells, research etc.
physical would be all real work and labor. mining, smithing, clothmaking, farming, crafting, weaponskills etc
I'm not sure, but i guess it is not possible to rename all the skills, when playing warlock? Because with the skills right now, that split would be a bit hard to do.

[Findulidas]

Wont opposed to life break adventure mode? The way I understand it during history creation opposed to life is not activated but when your adventurer walks into town it is, which means a town that was conquered by warlocks and integrated into the society will fall apart instantly. I realize adventure mode is not really a priority here but atleast its worth recognizing that fact.

[Dohon]

I just wanna throw in my Urist with regards to "hostile HFS". If the Warlock player has access to a torrent of demons for free (except of course for the digging), it feels a bit like a "I win" button. Warlocks being able to bind a demon to their will is a fine idea and it should be possible to do that if you are willing to pay the price. But having a whole horde of Clowns at your disposal without any real effort on the players part seems cheaty.

The key concept with Warlocks IMO is about big risks and big rewards. Truly dangerous demons should require a big investment and even then, it's not guaranteed that you'll actually be able to control the demon. Imagine a warlock summoning a lord from Hell, but instead of being the master of the creature, the Infernal Lord possesses the warlock and then goes absolutely postal on your fort.

Just my two Urists. Looking forward to seeing cackling warlocks with mindless underlings, dominating the battlefield with scary spells while screeching demons soar overhead, butchering dwarfs like it's nothing. Yes, looking forward to it indeed.

[EVIL_CACKLE]

[Meph]

I GOT IT. Just raided a tomb, no one cared. Embarked on a tower, has 10 friendly necromancers and 130 undead running around (killing the two aurochs that pulled the wagon). I then walked into the tower, no problem. I killed an osprey (wildlife), reanimated it, no problem. Warlocks not even afraid of anything. They dont care.

The opposed to life civ-members (skeletons) wont do labors, which is another thing to look at. But all in all I am quite happy with the result. Tombs, Towers and evil biomes are certainly allied with you.

Another funny thing: The opposed to life civ-members ignore my pets, but the normal undead attack them. Maybe I need special pets, which are undeadish as well for this race. Havent tested turning pets into not_living or opposed_to_life things yet.

[Meph]

Idea for the nobles: Since Warlocks dont like to share power, there are only three kinds of nobles:

Militia captians, unlimited, can lead up to 5 soldiers, but can only be skeletons. (the captian, I cant restrict the soldiers to skeletons-only, sadly)

A doctor.

The boss dude. Each time he goes from exped leader to mayor to baron to count to duke, he gets a new ability. The normal things like broker, bookkeeper, manager, sheriff, hammerer, and so on. Essentially you have one noble who is elected and gets new abilities the bigger your fort gets. At some point he will lead a military group of 13 acolytes.

Feedback?

[moseythepirate]

Idea for the nobles: Since Warlocks dont like to share power, there are only three kinds of nobles:

Militia captians, unlimited, can lead up to 5 soldiers, but can only be skeletons. (the captian, I cant restrict the soldiers to skeletons-only, sadly)

A doctor.

The boss dude. Each time he goes from exped leader to mayor to baron to count to duke, he gets a new ability. The normal things like broker, bookkeeper, manager, sheriff, hammerer, and so on. Essentially you have one noble who is elected and gets new abilities the bigger your fort gets. At some point he will lead a military group of 13 acolytes.

Feedback?

I like the ideas, though your ideas for the doctor are a little sparse. Militia Captain needs a different title, though. One more in keeping with the rustic aesthetic. Is there some way of having a special noble able to lead a squad of demons?

I'm not all that up to date with noble modding stuff...you can make the 'leveled up' noble class re-electable, right? If your hard-earned Dark Lord bites the dust to an unusually lucky Kobold, it would be nice to get another one with all the bells and whistles intact. Do you suppose the Boss Dude should be elected or appointed?

One potential problem is that he might just have too many hats. If he's broker(no trading, so it wouldn't take up any time), bookkeeper, manager, sheriff, husband, father, mother, daughter, mustache, cabbage, potato and executioner, he would have trouble doing everything that needs doing. Hell, I try to avoid giving dwarves two noble positions, let alone five.

He should certainly be the executioner, though. It would fit in delightfully with the aesthetic.

Just tossing thoughts out there.

[Meph]

Appointed. Otherwise he leads a military group, and meanwhile someone else is elected mayor. The names will all change, it was just for people to understand what I am talking about. I just used the dwarven names as example.

And one dude being fulltime noble that has to do everything is the basic idea. "Damn you to hell, I cant even do my books, because I have to imprison this rowdy tantruming werewolf, execute the useless worker who dropped my drink, and scare away this pesky goblin ambush. Cant I have one quite minute?"

Does anyone know if the military weapon conflicts with executioner weapon? I can do any weapon, but only one. So if the "hammerer" uses a hammer, and the military commander use an axe, and they are both the same person, will he punish people with an axe, or will he go and get a hammer?

[Repseki]

For "Hammerings", I believe they go find an acceptable "Hammer" weapon to hit the criminal with. If there isn't one to use I'm pretty sure they just wont hit them. As opposed to using whatever they have around.

If you have the Hammerer in a squad, with their own weapon, I think they still need a different Hammer to use that isn't assigned.

I'm not sure if having both the Sheriff and Hammerer duties assigned to the same dwarf causes issues though.

[Uloldodok]

What if you can choose which path your Warlock will take, between a magical being and a demonic being?

For example;

You start with 4 warlocks on embark, "acolytes" if you will. These 4 bug about until they reach their next "level" in a lack of better words, at which point they become eligible to choose to either fuse their body with magic, or with a demon.

Fusing with Magic would give your warlock the ability to spawn workers for the fort and perform the tasks of the nobles and access to the "Magic" caste system. Gathering more Acolytes and whatnot - these guys have a social side to them.

Fusing with a Demon on the other hand would give your warlock the ability to regenerate broken limbs and recover from wounds over time instead of any spells, and it will give him a significant bonus to his base stats and access to the Demon caste system. The drawback could be that being fused with a Demon has a chance to backfire and have the warlock go berserk after making a kill and attacking allies for a short while or something similar, meaning that having the Warlock-Demon engage in combat is always risky. These guys do not have a good social side.

Terrible idea?