Jan 19, 2012
The final 1.2 version has gone live

As always, you can get my mods in Pacov's excellent community mod compilation package.

What does this mod do?

The MOBA mod enables the meta game that is unrealized in Demigod. Mainly Priest and Angel reinforcements, and outrageous citadel upgrade costs.

Change Explanations (or you can skip right to section 6 for the change list)

1) The Priest and Angel problem:

Fielding these units early is a disaster, mainly because they provide an unprecedented gold income to the enemy team. They also provide the enemy with more XP per creep wave then your own XP Citadel upgrade can compensate for.

Priest Wave: +45 Gold, + 60XP
In a dead even game on Cataract, there are 33 waves between WaRank 3 and WaRank 8
That yields 2970 Potential Gold
That Yields 3960 Potential XP

Angel Wave: +50 Gold, +40 XP
In a dead even game on Cataract, there are 14 waves between WarRank 6 and WarRank 8
That Yields 1400 Potential Gold
That Yields 1120 Potential XP

You pay 1800 gold for the privilege of giving your enemy a 61% Gold increase per wave over 5 minotaurs and 2 archers.
You pay 3600 gold for the privilege of increasing this amount by 77%

Is it any wonder that nobody in their right mind fields Priests or Angels throughout the game?

Solution implemented in MOBA

Priest
Bounty: 10 each (down from 15)
XP: 10 each (down from 20)

Angel
Bounty: 25 each (down from 50)
XP: 15 each (down from 20)

2) The gold production problem

Originally in this game, gold production was +4 per citadel upgrade level, and this scaled properly to the upgrade costs. Eventually it was decided that this yielded too much gold through the game.

So now it is +4, +2, +2 throwing the benefit of the level 2 and level 3 upgrades right out the window.

It would have been better if the gold scale would have been balanced to remain in a linear cost vs payoff.

Solution implemented in MOBA: Gold yields +3 production per upgrade level to smooth out gold production in a more linear fashion throughout the course of a game.

3) The citadel cost problem

Most of the time, the cost of citadel upgrades is rarely worth it over equipment, and you must save for Catapultsauri and Giants. Generally spaking, in any given game you will see the same 2 upgrades before war rank 8, Fortified Structure 1, and Gold Production 1. Occassionally you will also see XP1.

Soluton implemented in MOBA: The cost of citadel upgrades looks more like the cost of items.

Note: Combining cheaper gold production upgrade costs with the +3 gold production yields a smoother gold scale climb.

4) Creep Behavior

Most units simply shoot at the 1st thing they see until it is dead. Or Worse, angels will kamikazi against demgiods. Behavior can be improved.

Now, priests and catapultasauri that reach enemy towers will concentrate their fire on the towers (every little bit accumulates), rather than pointlessly engage units protected by said towers, doing ineffective damage.

Now priests and catapulsauri that see demigods in range will open fire on the demigods. Running across the skirmish line once the creeps engage each other is far more dangerous now.

Angels with their mobility will be able to target and dive bomb cataputasauri, they will also target priests if catapultasauri have not been fielded yet.

5) Putting it all together summary

-Priests and Angels can be fielded early without penalty because of their low bounty and XP. As a result, you'll need to use XP and Gold citadel upgrades to compensate for missing XP and Gold from full waves at the end of the game.

-You'll notice that early priests empower Assassins more in the meta game. All assassins have some sort of meta hit (ability to one shot a small unit) and Priests at WR3 weaken the advantage of Idol priests that generals have.

-Citadel Upgrades are cheaper now, but this does not mean you need or can afford all of them when they become available. You'll have more decisions to make on how to save or spend your gold.

-In normal demigod, early Armory and Blacksmith upgrades can be detrimental without priests fielded. Basically if you get pushed back to your tower, an enemy demigod can sit back behind the creep battle, knowing that your creeps will win the fight and thus deny you XP and gold. (because his creep wave will not be moving towards your tower anymore) This cannot happen with priests on the field, the damage and healing they provide is significant enough that they cannot be ignored.

6) ChangeList

Citadel Costs

Fortified Structure 1 = 450 (normally 600)
Fortified Structure 2 = 1000 (normally 1800)
Fortified Structure 3 = 1750 (normally 3000)
Fortified Structure 4 = 2500 (normally 4800)

Building Firepower 1 = 400 (normally 500)
Building Firepower 2 = 750 (normally 1500)
Building Firepower 3 = 1500 (normally 2500)
Building Firepower 4 = 2000 (normally 3500)

Currency 1 = 1000 +3/tick (normally 1800 / +4)
Currency 2 = 1750 +3/tick (normally 3000 / +2)
Currency 3 = 2500 +3/tick (normally 4200 / +2)

Blacksmith 1 = 600 (normally 1200)
Blacksmith 2 = 1250 (normally 2400)
Blacksmith 3 = 2000 (normally 3000)
Blacksmith 4 = 2750 (normally 5400)

Armory 1 = 450 (normally 600)
Armory 2 = 1000 (normally 1800)
Armory 3 = 1750 (normally 3000)
Armory 4 = 2500 (normally 4800)

Priests     = 1000 (normally 1800)
Angels         = 1750 (normally 3600)
Catapultisauri     = 2500 (normally 4800)
Giants         = 3300 (normally 6000)

Graveyard 1 = 400 (normally 600)
Graveyard 2 = 1000 (normally 1800)
Graveyard 3 = 2000 (normally 5400)

Experience 1 = 750 (normally 1200)
Experience 2 = 1500 (normally 2400)
Experience 3 = 2000 (normally 3000)
Experience 4 = 2750 (normally 4800)

Trebuchet Fort = 2000 (normally 3200)
Finger of God  = 1000 (normally 4000)

Unit Changes

Priest
Gold: 10 (normally 15)
XP: 10 (normally 20)

Angels
Gold: 25 (normally 50)
XP: 15 (normally 20)

Behavior Changes

Priests
Target Priority = Defensive Structures, Demigods, Everything

Angels
Target Priority = Catapultasauri, Priests, Everything

Catapultasaurus
Target Priority = Defensive Structures, Demigods, Everything