Edain Mod 4.5 The Spellbook of Gondor news

Today we want to present to you the first overhauled spellbook:

Most of the spells in the spellbook of Gondor were already very fitting, which meant that only 3 spells fell away and 2 new spells were introduced.

The first spell that fell away was the healing from the first row, which had more than one reason. While the Horn is definetly offensiv and the Repair spell is definetly defensiv, the heal was something inbetween. The heal might be a long time lasting effect, but nonetheless it is a direct empowerment of the fighting troops and therefore it should be offensiv. Comparing the Heal with Horn, the Horn just fits Gondor much better, because the Heal is a spell that is particular strong if the playerer has fewer but stronger units, which isn't really the case for Gondor, especially at the start of the game. Therefore, we thought that the “Gondorian Archtecture” – spell and the “Horn of Gondor” – spell are much more very fitting for Gondor in the first row. Furthermore, Gondor already has a couple of healing possibilities, which should be able to compensate the removal of the Heal from the spellbook.

The arrowstorm spell also appeared in multiple spellbooks. We replaced it with a Barrage spell, because we thought it would be much more fitting for Gondor, considering the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
The arrow volley was a spell that did nothing but causing damage for a short time, which didn't fit Gondor's playstyle of slow but continous advance.
Furthermore, Gondor missed a good opportunity to attack enemy buildings early in the game, such that we created a completly new spell with a unique system.
The Barrage does not simply be summoned in the target area, but Gondor's siege engine fire the barrage in the direction of the nearest enemy building, such that the bombarded area slowly travels in that direction. Thus, a bigger area is affected, which the enemy should avoid, if he doesn't want to suffer damage. At the same time, buildings don't have the advantage to move and therefore there damage is certain.
The spell offers the player a huge potential, which can be fullfilled at the correct usage, and allows Gondor in the early game to act aggressively.

In addition the cloudbreak spell fell away. Just like the other 2 spells, this weather spell existed in more than one spellbook and we didn’t think it would be fitting for Gondor to have this spell.

The Fiefdom spell and the Gandalf the White spell were moved from the second row to the third row and had to bes strengthened in order to justify that:

1. The Fiefdom spell now has the passive ability which leads to them automatically having forged blades, heavy armor and fire arrows. Not only this spell but the whole system of signal fires have been changed too, thus making them more usefull and more intuitive.
2. Gandalf now becomes Gandalf the White and gains 100% bonus on magic attacks, -25% on recharge time for his spells and +1000 life points.

The Grey Company spell also got a rework, because the spell had some problems. The spell mainly did nothing but summon troops, but lacked a deeper concept or strategy. Through the spell three battalions of archers where summoned, which weren't any troops Gondor really needed, as Gondor already has good and usefull archers. Additional to the archers there were summoned to melee Heroes, which was another discomfort, because these heroes had hardly any possibilities to interact with the archers and they themselves were quite different, too. While Halbarad was more of a supporter, the Twins dealt high single target damage. In the end the player had one spell which summoned three different independent elements, which is just a sign of bad game design.
Therefore we decided to give the spell a deeper tactical meaning. Instead of 3 archers, the spell summons 1 Swordsmen, 1 Spearmen, and 1 Archer of the Grey Company, who grant defensive leaderships for Gondor units of the same type, thus highlighting Gondor's diverse units and supporting them. Furhtermore, this is a direct link to the books, as there was written that the Grey Company arrived armed with Bows, Swords and Spears. Halbarad and the Twins will support the endurance of nearby units, too. Halbarad regenerates fallen horde-members and the Twins have an active healing ability, which heals all nearby allies. Thus Gondor has at least a small compensation for the loss of the Heal. Heroes aren't affected, as they are already by Aragorn's healing.

Because there hasn't been any existing spell which fitted the role of a central spell of Gondor, we created a new one:

Formations of Gondor: Troops of Gondor gain +20% damage and armor , when they toggle to their specialized formation

We believe that this spell is perfect for the faction spell of Gondor, since Gondor was the only kingdom in Middleearth that had a well-trained and organized army. To symbolize that, one of their strengths should be their formations.
Moreover, the formations of the units of Gondor are an important characterisation of Gondor, because no other faction has as many formations. This spell should symbolize this.

Gondor has with theArmy of the Dead and the Rohirrim already two iconic spells with lots of feeling. Nonetheless, those two spells where a problem as they were obviously both offensiv.

Because we are the opinion that it fits better to make the Rohirrim the more defensive and long term effective spell, we significantly reworked the spell.
An inspiration for this was the Ride of the Rohirrim itself. When Gondor called for Aid, Rohan didn't immediantly had a full Army ready to ride, instead there was a mustering first. Theoden himself mentioned that he'd like to wait longer such that he might have commanded an even bigger army, which wasn't possibile due to urgency.
Therefore the player will have to decide himself in the future, how urgened the arrival of the Rohrrim is for him. If he needs help immediantly, Rohan will only be able to send a small number of Rohirrim, but if the player grants Theoden more time, more heroes and riders will appear.
In the game it was implemented in the way that the player can summon a Rallying Banner at the place where he needs the aid. As soon as the player commands the Ride of the Rohirrim in the Rallying Banner, the Army of Rohan will appear at the place of the Banner. Alternatively, the player can wait the maximal time then the whole army will appear on its own. Additionally to the units and heroes in 4.41, Grimbold and Elfhelm will appear each with a horde of riders, such that all important leaders of the battle of Minas Tirith are gathered.

Due to the fact that the delay between the activation of the spell and the arrival of the troops is definetly a weakening of a spell that wasn't one of the strongest already, all the Rohirrim will arrive with Horse Shields and the hero abilities are a bit different sorted, for example Theoden got his Glorious Charge.

In the video below, you can see some of the more complexe changes ingame:

We hope you are excited about the new spellbook and look forward to receive your feedback.

Your Edain Team