Hero Abilities / Details

**Taiji** · May 14, 2009, 07:45 AM

I am very interested in this... frankly it's awesome!

Can someone tell me what files are involved in implementing Hero Abilities?

**Warmaster Tibs** · June 21, 2009, 04:36 AM

I notice that the Nazgul and the first Steward of Gondor have what I think is an abilty. It is located where the horn would be but is the picture of a lion and when I click it they simply say " Yes my lord".

Does it do anything? I could imagen the Nazgull would lower enemy moral by this or something.

**MasterBigAb** · June 21, 2009, 04:39 AM

Originally Posted by Warmaster Tibs

I notice that the Nazgul and the first Steward of Gondor have what I think is an abilty. It is located where the horn would be but is the picture of a lion and when I click it they simply say " Yes my lord".

Does it do anything? I could imagen the Nazgull would lower enemy moral by this or something.

All fleeing troops are controllable again...

**Warmaster Tibs** · June 21, 2009, 04:44 AM

Originally Posted by MasterBigAb

All fleeing troops are controllable again...

Well ty, now I wont end up waisting it thinking it helped combat.

**Withwnar** · June 21, 2009, 05:06 AM

I think it was a special ability only of Richard the Lionheart in Kingdoms. Nice touch giving it to those generals.

**Warmaster Tibs** · June 21, 2009, 05:08 AM

Originally Posted by Withwnar

I think it was a special ability only of Richard the Lionheart in Kingdoms. Nice touch giving it to those generals.

That dies make sence because the icon is a lion. Would be nice to have a little description. However I dont think it is very usefull.

**Lordinquisitor** · June 21, 2009, 05:23 AM

I wonder why they gave that ability to an nazgul? Of course, this increases the stability of the moral weak orc units, but the original ability would suit the nazgul more.

(Since they were able to inspire great fear in anyone with just one cry, and the normal horn ability does the same IIRC. Though weaker than it should be in the case of an nazgul.)

**Withwnar** · June 21, 2009, 05:33 AM

Originally Posted by Lordinquisitor

the original ability would suit the nazgul more.

I'm pretty sure that the horn only boosts morale, not lessens it in the enemy.

EDIT: the chanting (druid) ability would do that, which would be a scary thing to see.

**Seleukos_I.** · June 21, 2009, 05:23 AM

it is really useful because if a unit is routing just klick on the button and they will stop

**Skeleton Of The West** · June 21, 2009, 07:39 AM

Originally Posted by Withwnar

I think it was a special ability only of Richard the Lionheart in Kingdoms. Nice touch giving it to those generals.

There were more then one general with a special ability, something like 5 generals I think, each with different ability. For example I think a bizantyne faction leader had an ability which he could bribe the enemy's units and make them join his army for a limited time.

**Seleukos_I.** · June 21, 2009, 07:43 AM

no they didn't join his army. they did just stand there and did nothing

**Skeleton Of The West** · June 21, 2009, 07:51 AM

Oh right, they did not attack your men and didnt move.

**Withwnar** · June 21, 2009, 05:21 AM

You don't think that the ability is useful? It's just like the horn but much better.

**axnsan** · June 21, 2009, 05:25 AM

just imagine you have an army of 10 units, and all have routed but your general.
now is it useful?

**axnsan** · June 21, 2009, 05:45 AM

can anyone provide me with a 16x16 pic of a nazgul?

**abbews** · June 21, 2009, 06:04 AM

Anxsan i will try to do that, just wait!

here you are, it's a small pic

**axnsan** · June 21, 2009, 06:10 AM

i found already, thanks

**Caml3** · June 21, 2009, 08:07 AM

I find it odd they used the Lionheart ability. The other heroes from the Crusades campaign had considerably better abilities (Richard's only brings back morale to the "steady" state.) I think Philip II's ability would be a better reflection of the motivational fear that Nazgul would inspire in their troops.

Excerpt from Frogbeastegg's Crusades guide:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Emperor Manual Comemnus has the ability ‘Byzantine Politics’. This ability can only be used once per battle; it does not recharge. It causes enemy units to succumb to infighting, which is a fancy way of saying that affected units will stand around and do nothing for a set period of time. The individual men do not actually fight each other, and no damage is done to the target unit. The effect will last for between 10 and 20 seconds, and enemy units have a 50% chance of resisting the effect. This is probably the hardest of the abilities to use to good benefit as it does not grant a straightforward stats boost to your men and it won’t always affect the units you want it to. My best recommendation is to trigger it when you have some fast, powerful units ready to swoop in and inflict heavy damage on any vulnerable affected units. Heavy cavalry with a solid charge value is perfectly suited to this. I say vulnerable because it is quite possible that affected units could be close to unaffected ones, and so your attackers could get badly mauled as they attempt to carry out your orders. Don’t play with fire in your rush to take advantage of the one-off bonus.

‘Light of the Faith’ belongs to Nur ad-Din, the Turkish hero. It grants +10 to morale and +2 to the combat effectiveness for a short period of time, and can be used more than once per battle. This is a very significant boost. The morale bonus can be used to make your line hold longer during those knife’s edge moments where both armies’ lines are being pressed hard but neither side’s flanking parties have managed to start a rout. Having your side hold on for a few more seconds can be the difference between victory and defeat. It can encourage your army to hold steady when fighting a numerically superior foe, or give them the edge they need to walk into intimidating situations such as castle assaults and fight instead of running away. In short +10 morale will make it very hard for the enemy to rout your army: use and abuse this. The boost to combat effectiveness is smaller than the boost to morale but no less valuable. Increased attack and defensive values will make your men hit harder and die slower, no more needs saying.

Saladin’s ability is ‘Righteousness of Faith’, and it is the most straightforward of the lot. It locks his army’s morale at a high level for 30 seconds. After a recharge time it may be used again in the same battle. That is all. All? Isn’t that enough?! The applications of high morale have been explored above in Nur ad-Din’s section; Saladin’s ability locks morale so it cannot go down at all. It is impossible for any unit to rout while this ability is active. The only units excluded from this are those already routing when the ability is triggered. This ability should be used frequently; if your line’s morale begins to dip, righteousness! If your key units begin to waver, righteousness! If you’re about to take a heavy charge which will cause lots of casualties, righteousness! If you’re sending units into a situation which will shake their morale, righteousness!

Richard I of England’s ability is named after him, ‘Heart of the Lion’. It’s the one I find least exciting. It rallies all routing units and returns their morale to the basic ‘steady’ level. Hurrah? Generally unless something has gone very wrong the only units of mine which rout are battered little 10 man remnants of neither use nor ornament. If something has gone sufficiently wrong that useful units are fleeing the field then I’ve done something so stupid defeat is well deserved.

In a blow to the traditional Anglo-French rivalry Philip II and his ‘Flower of Chivalry’ beats Richard and his Lionheartedness hollow. There’s no space for debate, no personal preference which may say red is a nicer colour than blue or knights more useful than longbows, just flat out boring victory. Being able to give your army a +2 boost to their combat effectiveness and refresh their fatigue is so much better than rallying multiple units at once. That the ability can be used more than once per battle is but the icing on the cake. Having your units’ attack and defensive values increased for a limited time is great, and can give them the edge to pull a tricky situation in their favour. Having your tired units recover their vigour so quickly I suspect a dubious potion is involved, well that can be invaluable. Fatigue impacts on fighting ability and, at greater levels, drags at morale. Having a couple of fresh units at the end of a battle can inflict all kinds of nastiness on your tied foe. Having an entire army of fresh units …! The benefit is greater still on those occasions where you must fight multiple armies at once. Dispose of one set of foes, refresh your men in a flash, and head off on almost equal terms to tackle the next set.

PS- I would like to change this, if anyone could direct me to the file that assigns the ability to the general I would be very grateful.

PPS- In the descr_hero_abilities.xml, there's a Super Banana Bomb ability.

**axnsan** · June 21, 2009, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by Caml3

I find it odd they used the Lionheart ability. The other heroes from the Crusades campaign had considerably better abilities (Richard's only brings back morale to the "steady" state.) I think Philip II's ability would be a better reflection of the motivational fear that Nazgul would inspire in their troops.

Excerpt from Frogbeastegg's Crusades guide:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Emperor Manual Comemnus has the ability ‘Byzantine Politics’. This ability can only be used once per battle; it does not recharge. It causes enemy units to succumb to infighting, which is a fancy way of saying that affected units will stand around and do nothing for a set period of time. The individual men do not actually fight each other, and no damage is done to the target unit. The effect will last for between 10 and 20 seconds, and enemy units have a 50% chance of resisting the effect. This is probably the hardest of the abilities to use to good benefit as it does not grant a straightforward stats boost to your men and it won’t always affect the units you want it to. My best recommendation is to trigger it when you have some fast, powerful units ready to swoop in and inflict heavy damage on any vulnerable affected units. Heavy cavalry with a solid charge value is perfectly suited to this. I say vulnerable because it is quite possible that affected units could be close to unaffected ones, and so your attackers could get badly mauled as they attempt to carry out your orders. Don’t play with fire in your rush to take advantage of the one-off bonus.

‘Light of the Faith’ belongs to Nur ad-Din, the Turkish hero. It grants +10 to morale and +2 to the combat effectiveness for a short period of time, and can be used more than once per battle. This is a very significant boost. The morale bonus can be used to make your line hold longer during those knife’s edge moments where both armies’ lines are being pressed hard but neither side’s flanking parties have managed to start a rout. Having your side hold on for a few more seconds can be the difference between victory and defeat. It can encourage your army to hold steady when fighting a numerically superior foe, or give them the edge they need to walk into intimidating situations such as castle assaults and fight instead of running away. In short +10 morale will make it very hard for the enemy to rout your army: use and abuse this. The boost to combat effectiveness is smaller than the boost to morale but no less valuable. Increased attack and defensive values will make your men hit harder and die slower, no more needs saying.

Saladin’s ability is ‘Righteousness of Faith’, and it is the most straightforward of the lot. It locks his army’s morale at a high level for 30 seconds. After a recharge time it may be used again in the same battle. That is all. All? Isn’t that enough?! The applications of high morale have been explored above in Nur ad-Din’s section; Saladin’s ability locks morale so it cannot go down at all. It is impossible for any unit to rout while this ability is active. The only units excluded from this are those already routing when the ability is triggered. This ability should be used frequently; if your line’s morale begins to dip, righteousness! If your key units begin to waver, righteousness! If you’re about to take a heavy charge which will cause lots of casualties, righteousness! If you’re sending units into a situation which will shake their morale, righteousness!

Richard I of England’s ability is named after him, ‘Heart of the Lion’. It’s the one I find least exciting. It rallies all routing units and returns their morale to the basic ‘steady’ level. Hurrah? Generally unless something has gone very wrong the only units of mine which rout are battered little 10 man remnants of neither use nor ornament. If something has gone sufficiently wrong that useful units are fleeing the field then I’ve done something so stupid defeat is well deserved.

In a blow to the traditional Anglo-French rivalry Philip II and his ‘Flower of Chivalry’ beats Richard and his Lionheartedness hollow. There’s no space for debate, no personal preference which may say red is a nicer colour than blue or knights more useful than longbows, just flat out boring victory. Being able to give your army a +2 boost to their combat effectiveness and refresh their fatigue is so much better than rallying multiple units at once. That the ability can be used more than once per battle is but the icing on the cake. Having your units’ attack and defensive values increased for a limited time is great, and can give them the edge to pull a tricky situation in their favour. Having your tired units recover their vigour so quickly I suspect a dubious potion is involved, well that can be invaluable. Fatigue impacts on fighting ability and, at greater levels, drags at morale. Having a couple of fresh units at the end of a battle can inflict all kinds of nastiness on your tied foe. Having an entire army of fresh units …! The benefit is greater still on those occasions where you must fight multiple armies at once. Dispose of one set of foes, refresh your men in a flash, and head off on almost equal terms to tackle the next set.

PS- I would like to change this, if anyone could direct me to the file that assigns the ability to the general I would be very grateful.

PPS- In the descr_hero_abilities.xml, there's a Super Banana Bomb ability.

yeah, i saw that ability too. there's a super_banana projectile in descr_projectiles too.
i tought of giving the super_banana ability to King Kong in the TWC faction submod