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(2 edits)

So, first I played 2.08...

I actually skipped 2.10, going directly to this version (3.01). And I'm quite impressed by progress. I really like it and am looking forward for future releases. Trust me, I've never before spent 5+ hours on a flash game before :O

However, I've noticed numerous issues:

- 1) First off, there is a programming error - on Moth encounter, an Inuax is born (on second play Scrapper was, so there is definitely some bigger error). Also, When I reached 5x Dubois, further attempts produce Scrappers. Also, after "bonding" with Cirrus, another Scrapper spawned. I consider this to be a vitally major problem, because well... it's not like player breeds Lilith with a certain species to get a random one :D

- 2) And yes, an aforementioned food supply problem. Even as Dubois gets 3-5 food per hunt, usually 4, that means if we sacrifice an entire round for hunting, and if we are very lucky, the maximum potential food production per round is 25 – which is equal to monster number cap in this respect. However, every hunt costs 30 stamina, while a monster regenerates 20 stamina per round. This means that for every turn in a round we have to have 2 food gathering monsters, which will hunt interchangeably between rounds. The result is that player is forced to have 10x Dubois (after getting 5 of them I started getting Scrappers from breeding Lilith with Dubois [WTF?!]) in order to sustain a 25 unit strong population - and we assume you're getting 5 food from every hunt and spend all turns on hunting only. I comply with former suggestions about creating hunting parties, just like Royal Army is done. Or perhaps being able to add multiple monsters to a single hunt. Bottom line, food economy was a bit hard on economy even before, with added stamina it quickly makes you lose random monsters. Usually it's a freshly born one that is about to mature into the kind of monster you wanted. - really, at my second play, I just kept low pop, bred Dubois only and stockpiled a ton of food before I moved on to breed an army. Though I suspect it won't last for long. Generally, after like 12 units you get bottlenecked on supply.

Correction: With 12 units I'm generally able to keep a positive supply of food, having 4x Dubois. Still, this system could be better. As I consciously have to ommit hunting in order to get rid of monsters that no longer support the immediate tactics.

- 3) Also, dismissing monsters. That would be a major utility, to keep control of food drain, while keeping precisely the monsters you need. At the moment, the only way to get rid of monsters is to starve them. But again, it takes either a random one or „the least loyal one”. Usually a newborn if there is, which is bad. Couple this with point 1) and you're losing the whole strategy in this game, because you get a random monster which you have no way of getting rid of other than getting 0 food.

- 4) Then, I was pleasantly surprised with the addition of "Bonding" feature, but still, it has issues. Primarily, I don't see what monster level gives. I have a lv4 and lv3 Dubois and they seem to have actually lower stats than freshly matured ones. Perhaps level could give an increased stamina regen instead? That actually would make "bonding" feature worthwile. And would be a lot simplier in programming, and as such, less prone to bugs. Because, every monster has different stats so you have to manually set which ones are advanced (unless all are, though +1 for every level is... little, considering they usually have 40-70 points on a trait). Bonding with a certain monster is simply... not economical at all as it is now.

- 5) Also, the Royal Army problem I've seen in reviews on NG (where I originally found your artwork) and had it confirmed in-game – if a monster gets injured in combat, it retains „R” even though it's removed from army. Thus, if it heals, it can never be reassigned anymore.

- 6) Other thing, what I also saw mentioned on NG and support would be a button to immediately return to base without the need of clicking a lot.

- 7) Round counter. It counts from round 99 downward, eventually reaching negative values. The system from 2.08 was better, counting from round 1 upward (as far as I remember). Unless, well, this is a WIP time limit.

- 8) Army size. I've noticed that after conquering neighboring territories, the next ones have 9 or 10 enemy units, and further ones probably more and/or higher tier ones. It remains to be seen, but I suspect it's an unwinnable situation in current release. Seeing the combat „tutorial” above, I notice that this army size will probably increase (queen nest upgrade?)

And these are my thoughts and notes so far. Anyway, keep up the good job. It looks absolutely promising :)

Thank you so much for playing and offering detailed feedback. Many great insights. I am still putting out more features, there will be answers for many of these worries. And you are on point on the benefits from increased relationship level and traits. That one I am still tweaking a bit. But stay tune!

(1 edit) (+1)

Then again, I'll address a point made on the previous review by Untamed Brave Sophung about

- 9) tutorials. The game is a bit confusing initially after the end of prologue. Perhaps it would be good to expand "Knowledge" feature with another "Step by step" feature for players who prefer more detailed tutorials.  Also, at the start, after Lilith gets banished, perhaps a dialogue option to show or not show tips.

10) There is also a problem with Cirrus' special power. Every heart takes 3 sec to consume, while its' spawn time is 16 secs. 6x3=18, so player might not have time to feed a Cirrus enough before it spawns, unless it's coupled in a squad with another monster and/or at the back of a queue. I agree that it's power is quite strong, but definitely not worth 6 hearts, since it requires Cirrus to get damaged first and so, the speed buff is shorthanded. As far as I've seen, all enemies have 1 or 2 heart cost on their abilities and they are quite powerful for such a low cost. Which actually negates the player getting heart acquisition buff, because enemy can still arm all their units with specials (2 hearts for reflecting 60% of damage received is very, very powerful, just as complete invulnerability to intelligence class attacks).

- 11) Also, the encyclopedia: I suggest introducing a script that would update monster database as they are scouted and/or Lilith encounters and then knows more about them. The monsters present in Secret Garden would be vaguely described at start, but others would be "Unknown", then "Unidentified" once terrain is scouted, then a name and picture appears once Lilith encounters them. Then its lore and battle characteristics would be expanded upon bonding, as Lilith gains more insight about that particular species (perhaps bonding with certain species would actually unlock special power for the entire species?).  The ones not introduced yet into the game would better be named "Absent". For this, I propose expanding battle stats in Encyclopedia by "Prey" (enemy hard countered by a monster) and "Nemesis" (enemy that hard counters a monster) - which would be updated once that monster encounters its prey or nemesis in battle.

- 12) And speaking about outlines also mentioned by Untamed Brave Sophung I think it's also a good idea. I imagine it (coupling it with Encyclopedia idea above) as follows: Upon entering an unscouted region, you have no outliners - you have to scout it first. Then, after scouting, an outline appears where an unidentified (or identified if already encountered) was spotted with an overlaying text "Unidentified Tentacle Monster spotted in this area", then after identifying a monster, its image and name appears within the outline. If you scout when already having the monster encountered before, an image and name appears immediately, without the "unidentified" message.

- 13) It is also weird for me that Lilith can explore freely in an enemy-occupied region. Perhaps it would be better to restrict "Explore" feature to owned regions. I know that they contain more powerful monsters which actually are vital to defeating 7-8 numbered enemy armies, so perhaps those regions could have smaller enemy population to give player an easier start.

EDIT:

- 14) Automatic squad assignment is bad. The game usually couples one species with another that I want solo or moves a defensive unit into backline, making my offensive ones take the brunt of attack. It would be a lot better if player could assign monsters to squads manually. Perhaps an expansion upon Royal Army tab? Like you are at Royal Army and in the bottom left corner you have a "Squads" button. When you click on it, you have tabs like Squad T3, Squad T2, Squad T1, Squad B1, Squad B2, Squad B3, from top to bottom, each with "manage" button to the left and "Royal Army" button in the bottom left corner to return. Or if a player wants auto squad assignment, there'd be a toggle that would enable or gray out "Squads" tab.

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You are the first one who is willing to talk about the battle ^O^ I play quite a bit dota, getting people to talk about my balance feels excited!

9) I haz a mouse over knowledge section for each feature in the newer version.

10) Feeding a heart takes 2 secs, so 6 hearts in 16 secs is feasible but needs to be quick. The way I try to design it is bit inspired by dota, in terms of risk management. I want a species to be viable in only a certain situation. Some abilities are somewhat unstoppable when the condition is right. I need to make sure it costs a bit or else it would be a solution for everything. But I agree that the monster reflecting 60% is getting a good deal XD I will tweak it a bit once we have more challenging enemies. 

11, 12) Those are great suggestions. I am seriously considering them.

13) That was the original design. I still intend to do it after we have enough features introduced.

14) Yes, managing our own squads would be the most ideal. I want to keep it as an unlockable feature though.

Thank you for the awesome suggestions and feedback again.

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Actually, I thought about a little expansion to 12): after scouting, outliners would not be shown as well. However, on a strategic map, you'd get an "Unidentified monster spotted". Then, you could explore the region (since only Secret Garden monsters would initially be in encyclopedia, Lilith does not know which part of the region a monster inhabits), thus no outliners - or perhaps just outliners without any information. Once Lilith found a skin an outliner would show up with text "Unidentified Tentacle Monster confirmed in this area". If she experienced an encounter first, the image and name would immediately appear.

About 10): yes, it is feasible. However, for a monster that does show up late and has a tendency to match other monsters in squad (at least in my playthroughs), which prolongs its appearance even more, and the cost of 6 hearts... its special power is far too weak. Especially considering its basic combat value which is at comparable level with enemy tier 1 monsters - as far as I remember, an arthropod locust-looking monster, which is T1, still beats Cirrus, which is not only T4, but also of the same class. I don't play dota... though I play a lot of LoL and I agree that low-risk high-power characters area menace, still if they are high-risk low-power, nobody uses them. I once or twice managed to feed that Cirrus all 6 hearts, but they turned up to be a waste of resource, since well - the bonus is not only costly, but (like I wrote before) also short-handed. I think there are stronger rewards that cost less, like atk speed debuff on Scrapper that costs mere 2 hearts. Does almost the same, but doesn't need your monster to be low on health. Actually, there is a champion in LoL, Olaf, that has a passive very similar to Cirrus (atk speed based on missing health) - trust me, if they added a highly risky timed quest to activate it, he'd be completely unplayable. In my opinion, an ability like this is worth 4 hearts tops. Bottom line, this monster is highly risky with a far too weak reward to back up the risk. I would understand such risk on a nuker (that tier 4 unit of silvans - costs 4 hearts (+50% movement speed and 3x damage on hit [60, which can almost instantly kill some monsters])), but not really on a berserker - a single ranged unit on the backline is enough to put a stop to it quickly. If it also decreased damage received based on missing health, now that would be worth... 5 hearts. Still not 6. Remember that software already has an advantage over player in terms of reacting to the fact that it already has an another heart to feed the army. Tell you what. Try to add a unit with the same characteristics and power (and cost) in an enemy army. And let's see if the computer actually uses it (and, as it would be forced to play at least some of these units, if it can win). Because in terms of economy and stats comparison, the machine will always be better - we can only estimate, they work on exact values (Ok, if I sit down, and write the stats down before I hit "Battle", I can probably do the same, but that would take another 30-60 minutes to calculate, which I'd much rather spend watching some tentacle making love to Lilith :D ). Bottom line, the machine will always take the most efficient way to use its units. In other way, it will have already tested all possible combinations and chosen the one that takes it closest to victory. Since, if it does not arm a Cirrus-like unit with heart upgrade, it means it's not worth the resource.

- 15) Give some early ranged unit to Silvans. My 8-strong army is destroying their 10-strong armies at first attempt XD

BTW: What does actually Agility stand for? Because in current release, though attack and HP are self explanatory, agility is not explained. Atk speed? Chance to dodge an attack?

EDIT:

- 16) Garrisons: Since every time I use "Rest" feature, I get message saying that enemies might make their move, I conclude that in future versions enemies will be able to reconquer territories, right? If so, then I suggest allowing player to garrison regions with monsters from the pool, with max capacity equal to max capacity of Royal Army (or perhaps a different cap based on nest upgrades?). Garrisons would fend for themselves (eg, would not constitute a drain upon player's food supply) and if territory is invaded, a battle between AIs would occur in the background (player will only get notified of result). If there is no garrison, enemy attack would automatically trigger a manual battle between invaders and Royal Army (monsters in Royal Army would not lose stamina during defense).

- 17) Battle experience: In addition to relationship level, I suggest putting up a battle level. Every battle would give a monster a certain amount of XP, with levels from 0 to 3 (like in C&C Generals - Veteran, Elite, Heroic). Every level would result in 10% increase of base battle stats. Tentacles would gain 1.5x XP if they win against enemy with one more unit and 2x if 2+ more units.

- 18) Monster suggestion:
Name: Membra
Tier 4
In terms of traits, a slightly upgraded Dubois, but with ability to forage for 6-8 food instead of 3-5.
Class: Speed
Habitat: Mountains (also considering something new: Adaptive-Migrational)
Appearance: Slightly resembles a lizard-cat hybrid, silvery or dark-gray hue and emerald-green eyes. Membranous tail and lots of small tentacles and one big on its back. (can draw if you approve actually did draw it [don't mind lack of light-shade, it's still wip]: http://tinypic.com/r/23lld93/9)
HP: 90
ATK: 15
AGI: 105 (until I know just how and what Agility affects, hard to extrapolate an accurate value)
Special: On attack, causes enemy to bleed for 5 HP/sec over 10 seconds (renewable but not stackable).  Cost: 3 hearts.
Spawn time: 9 sec
Mating behavior:  Vaginal. Methodical, distrustful attitude (changes along the course of bonding). Ties Lilith back-to-back with small tentacles across belly and neck, then mates her with the big one. Its mating tendril secretes endodermal absorbing euphoric, granting females an intense sensual experience.

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Haha thank you for the awesome suggestions. Allow me to keep it short so I can rush out the new update.

12) I will expand on your suggestion and polish the feature in the future.

10) Keep in mind that we will have more monsters in the future that could benefit greatly with each other. Some could provide crazy sustain and render some situation difficult to balance. Tiers represent mainly their strength in battle effects.

15) Haha thank you for reminding me to explain Agi. It is used for calculating miss chance. Each 1% difference indicates a percent of miss chance. I will put this in battle tips.

16,17,18) Interesting suggestions! I will keep them in mind. What I wish more is some mating pose ideas. We have like 50~60 species, and it is sometimes difficult to come up with some creative motion and pose for everyone, that is also fitting of their respective themes.

Well, already bursting with a lot of new suggestions, but since you stated you're quite busy bringing up a new version, I'll just expand upon 18) and partly on 17).

You probably noticed that Adaptive-Migratory habitat suggestion. What I meant there is that there might be a certain number of monsters that in terms of stats/powers/power strength to cost ratio would be a cut above the ordinary ones, but acquiring them would be trickier, because every time you rest, they would have quite a high chance of migrating to another region. So actually encountering them would be quite much based on luck. Owned and garrisoned territories would help a bit in that regard, as you would get a message about a previously not encountered species having been spotted in the region. In that term there could be a typical habitat followed by Migratory flag - if a monster preferred certain habitats. Or Adaptive if a monster could be encountered in any habitat in the region. When you rest, an Adaptive-Migratory monster might just as well switch region as habitat within a region.

Also, perhaps instead of encounter=100% pregnancy and 3xbonding=pregnancy I think it would be better to issue some kind of percentage chance to both with a slightly higher chance on bonding (except for the very first encounter during Prologue which would be 100%). This percentage would vary upon monster species which would help make more powerful monsters more rare. Also... well... I really like that picture of Lilith laying on the ground, cum-covered after the encounter in Prologue. Perhaps you could include it to every encounter? Plus a bit expanded version with Lilith laying alongside the monster for the final line of further bondings. That would be... tasty. I'm also a little disappointed with no narrative for first encounters with other species - they definitely should be there. For what I've seen the first bonding narrative actually has "encounter" flag where text is not applied yet, so maybe there's an error causing it to appear on bonding instead of first encounter.

And well, about that:
What I wish more is some mating pose ideas.

I could definitely help out with this, being a think tank kind of person. Also with narratives and graphics. Perhaps I could join the team? ;)

What about a feature that tells us the creatures we made by bonding and how to create them so we won't create them again like for instance Myrmidon+Myrmidon+Myrmidon=Myrmidon something like that would be nice.