Let's Help the developers (ACHERON)

Hello.
The only and one purpose for this post is to discuss about ideas on how to improve this game and what I think about current gameplay.

First of all I want to say that this game rocks and I see some potential in it or I wouldn't even be here trying to help by sharing my point of view.

I want to speak about Acheron:
1) It does not allow you to win but at best to draw? (this is what i noted but it is possible i am using wrong tactics with them).
2) It is a problem of faction itself or just the gameplay does not suit the faction gamestyle?
3) Units too weak to their counterparts? (exept skull warrior).
4) Necromancer AP cost too high?

(I will argumentate later but now I dont have the time, feel free to argumentate or counter-argumentate these 4 points but please with numbers and valid arguments).

there is a post i made a bit below this one where we are discussing the same thing. As of today Ram isn't bad but just not in line with the others with few playable setups. Unfortunaly due to private life i didn't manage to play a lot the open beta but my first 8 matches (majority in 200 AP and 2-3 in 300 AP) were only victories with the Ram. Sure i might have faced players without experience but i got my share of PoB+hunter in those 8 matches. My friend Skydancer is using a very similar build as mine (i think he is playing at 400 AP now) and has something like 27 victories and 2 losses.

This however doesn't mean that is perfectly fine and balanced as the majority of players struggle with it. I think most unit it has are fine but they need to be reworked slightly especially their AP.

My favorite comparison is wolven lonewolf lvl 1 vs necro mancer lvl 1. The first one is few AP cheaper, has better stats, two attacks and can cast every 2 turns a decent damage spell...and 5 MOV. Necromancer offers more tactical opportunities but it has currently a very high AP (mind you, i love the necro as a unit!).

As i said in another topic the priest of saluel should also be reworked as Aura of crepuscular princes is useless (+2 fear for 1 turn kind of forces you to move the priest as one of the first units - tactically it is not good usually!) and it becomes an interesting unit only at lvl 4+...they should give to the priest a better option at level 2, probably Unavoidable destiny from closed beta might be more interesting if slightly reworked. Increasing also the base faithful area for the iconoclausts should be also important as a low level priest (ie: lvl 1-2) is absolutely unplayable because it has to expose himself quite a lot.

Ferocious should be raised to 7 points per hit instead of 6 (and its AP increased) in order to make more threatening the archers/skeleton warriors.

I also add that skills like occult erosion which are very good are suddenly not that well performing simply because the meta almost eliminated all mage classes (too expensive in general...)

buty guys - if Acheron is so weak - how the hell Skydancer managed to have his Win:Defeat ratio once again...

ok when i se Lions and Wolfens i feel that Acheron looks harder to play.. but then i look at Skydancers W:D ratio and im not so sure about that

buty guys - if Acheron is so weak - how the hell Skydancer managed to have his Win:Defeat ratio once again...

ok when i se Lions and Wolfens i feel that Acheron looks harder to play.. but then i look at Skydancers W:D ratio and im not so sure about that

Nerf Skydancer and buff Ram?

buty guys - if Acheron is so weak - how the hell Skydancer managed to have his Win:Defeat ratio once again...

ok when i se Lions and Wolfens i feel that Acheron looks harder to play.. but then i look at Skydancers W:D ratio and im not so sure about that

because he uses my list

Ferocious is really the only worthwhile skill to even taken on skeleton warriors aside from martyr if you need one. It's pretty potent too, even at 6 dmg. 3 skeleton warriors with ferocious for a total of 76 ap can take out one full health KoL by themselves pretty effortlessly. For the ap, they are definitely a bargain. If anything, the ap could gain a point or two (or drop the prices of the other skills they have as there is never a good time to take, ie., hard-boiled on a skeleton warrior for 14ap)

And skydancer isn't the only one.. I'm 21-0-0 so far so his success is very much repeatable

Ferocious is really the only worthwhile skill to even taken on skeleton warriors aside from martyr if you need one.

Problem of useless or weak skills is not only RAM problem (same as problem of prices bound to skill names instead of units - for example hard boiled on Crane is ok, while HB on skeleton should be cheaper) ... i made a full unit-skils thread back in closed beta... maybe this problem is worth of making another one up to date.

Ferocious is really the only worthwhile skill to even taken on skeleton warriors aside from martyr if you need one.

Problem of useless or weak skills is not only RAM problem (same as problem of prices bound to skill names instead of units - for example hard boiled on Crane is ok, while HB on skeleton should be cheaper) ... i made a full unit-skils thread back in closed beta... maybe this problem is worth of making another one up to date.

i did it as well, but things didnt really change from closed to open

between 0.10 and now - few things was changed

So my view on the Acheron army so far:

• Skeleton warrior: The cheap regular warrior. Its ok as long as it is lvl 1. But at lvl 2 anything but ferocious make him too expensive. Martyr at lvl 3 can also be nice for supporting your iconoclast priest and only cost 1 AP.


• Skeleton archer: Regular ranged dude. His lvl 2 is wonky too as ferocious is the only skill that make sense. Fierce is completly silly on an archer that want to avoid melee, and possessed could be good if it didn't cost 11 AP.


• Necromancer: This guy is interesting because he pack a lot power not in raw dammages, but in support. He can block a path with cheap puppets, he can heal your key soldiers, and at lvl 4 he can start do deal serious ranged dammages. The main issue with him is how quickly his AP cost rise compared to how vulnerable he is with a move of 3 and pitifull stats. Wolves have no problems making a beeline for him if they want to, and they will because he is so valuable.


• Gargoyle: The gargoyle is surprisingly good if you have the room to include it in your roster. The Ram army lack mobility, wich is the strongpoint of the gargoyle. Combined with its huge dammages its a very efficient assassin. The function of the gargoyle is to circle around the back of the enemy and threathen vulnerable units wich it does very well. However the gargoyle is kind of a luxury unit, as you may want more core units before fielding one.


• Priest of Salauël: This is a complicated one. On his own at lvl 1 with the Iconoclast trait he is almost useless. With a few lvl under his belt and with the right entourage he can perform decently and with spiritual aggression he become a very threatening nuker but at this point he run in the same issue of overcost/vulnerability as the necromancer. Occult erosion is not a very interesting choice for him as Black Paladins have earlier access to it and no problem casting it close to the enemy. Maybe something could be done to make is early levels less underwhelming and give him more meaningfull spell choices.


• Black Paladin: The best buddies of the Priest with Loyal. They don't really need to pick Exalted has their biggest miracle as a 5% chance of failure, and they can give themselve Possessed, so wound penalty is almost never an issue. They are also a serious threat to enemy mages thanks to occult erosion wich is the no brainer choice for lvl 2 spell. The aura cost too much and does to little to be an efficient choice. Touch of exhaustion and somatic transfer are both very interesting spells with touch being the straight obvious one but somatic transfer allowing interesting tricky plays.


• Skûll Warrior: What to say about him ? He his strong, tanky, and very very scary. Once he get Hard Boiled he become the pillar of your army really. The only complaints about him would be that Hard Boiled is a no brainer compared to Possessed, and that i'd like to have another choice than Master Strike for his lvl5 skill.


• Flesh Golem: Well sadly I don't have the ducats to toy with a flesh golem yet, but having faced one once I can only say he look very good at what he does.