[llamabeast]

Thanks for all the comments everyone, and for the kind compliments.

rdonj: I'd be interested if you still reckon the grendelkin is overpowered after playtesting. He's undoubtedly ridiculously fearsome, but then again he has no magic. Is he really better than a Tartarian? I could be persuaded to make him more expensive, but probably not to make him weaker. I want them to be the kind of thing where you think "Oh, no, my opponent's got a grendelkin! How on earth am I going to take him down?", but where the opponent has had to make some effort to get there. Same for the Ember Lord. So maybe he should be more expensive. Opinions welcome.

Raiel: Wild Ettin being cheaper - seems sensible actually. I wouldn't mind if they became common, they're not desperately powerful without kit. Maybe 18 gems or something. The shishis were originally 0 enc, but I got rid of it on thematic grounds in the end - I wanted to emphasise that they're not really statues, they are living spirits which just happen to be aligned to air and made of stone. I don't think the firebird should have phoenix pyre - he just happens to look like a phoenix. The Russian myth was very bright and very lucky, but not immortal.

Jarkko: I can't understand your comment unfortunately. Are you saying they should be cheaper or more expensive?

Gandalf: Yes, dragons would be cool. It was that thought that led me to put the Zmey in actually, since I thought it would be a bit less generic than just sticking the other dragons in. I'm not sure whether I really want to add many more units though. I mean, at a stroke we've gone from just Tartarians to quite a few choices, it might be a bit much to have too many more choices in. Or at least, let's see how MP goes with these choices first. Though it would be very exciting to have all sorts of weird, wonderful and powerful beasties around in the late game, fighting each other.

LDiCesare: The trouble with the Shedu is I think it looks funny.

Gandalf again: I think that thing with #unique would probably work actually.

LDiCesare again: It'll be interesting to see what people do with the Mechanical Giant. On the one hand he's kind of feeble in some ways. On the other hand he has high protection and immunity to all elements, so you're free to use his other slots quite creatively. I think they may never be true SCs but I bet people can make very nasty thugs out of them.

Frozen Lama: Good suggestion.

Amonchakad: Good thought.

Stavis_L: Well spotted! That's the first bug report. Doubtless they'll be countless more. Yes, he's meant to start at size 2 and increase to size 6.

LDiCesare: This is a helpful post, thanks.

I think comparing the Treant to the Treelord is not quite right, because the Treelord is absolutely awful. I think the better approach would be: are nature nations going to be overpowered versus death nations now? Will Tartarians be able to kill these Treants? I think the Treant is still probably weaker than a decent Tartarian, but I could be wrong.

Do you really think the Asnyja and Cyclops are better than Tartarians? Maybe I've inflated how powerful Tartarians are in my head. I actually thought the Asynja and Cyclops were a bit underwhelming. I certainly don't want to obsolete Tartarians. Tartarians should still be basically the most powerful SCs in the game, with the possible exception of Ember Lords and Grendelkin (I hope those three are roughly equal in power).

I'll have a look at the Ember Lord's attack.

Grendelkin were originally poor amphibians. But I imagine them living a Gollum-like life - they're in the dark, crouching in pools, always in the water - but they can't actually breathe in the sea.