Nutcase tweaks [$196 awarded]

[DreadKnight]

Tentacle Bush - this ability is passive. Grabs hold of all the melee attackers, making them unable to move that turn. Becomes unmovable by most abilities. Upgrade: +5 energy to foe ability cost.

Units that attack Nutcase at melee range (no traps!) will have their movement restricted, both regular / flight / hover, as well as movement abilities, except teleportation (Abolished's Wild Fire). The restrictions to other units apply only while they're active. Nutcase becomes unmovable by most abilities, regardless if it has any foes nearby or not.

The upgrade will make the caught foe's ability cost 5 extra energy (provided it uses energy in the first place), but only while being caught.

Hammer Time - costs 24 energy pts. Nails a nearby unit using its hard head, making it take extra damage if moving. 10 crush + 10 pierce damage & pinning. Upgrade: Attacks up to 3 frontal foes.

Nutcase can target a nearby foe in the usual manner (near its head, inline and diagonals, as well as well as backwards). The target, if successfully hit, will get a debuff, which will trigger once, causing 10 more pierce damage if the unit moves. The buff itself lasts indefinitely (or until cured...).

The upgrade will cause multiple attacks, up to 3, to different targets, either frontal or from behind. The order is from Nutcase's left to right. Extra: can pick the left or right hexagon to prioritize that, otherwise attacks from left to right.

War Horn - costs 26 energy pts. Charges towards an inline foe, doing a bit of extra damage based on distance. 11 pierce damage + 1 bonus / hexagon. Upgrade: Can also push the target foe.

Will charge towards the first inline foe, doing bonus damage based on the distance traveled. It has unlimited range and it won't consume movement points. It will get affected by the traps along the way, so it can get stuck or killed, terminating the ability at the spot. It will move extra fast while charging.

The upgrade will display dashed hexagons after the target, until the first met obstacle. The player can select the path towards the foe or the foe itself to have Nutcase only charge to the unit, but if the player chooses hexagons beyond the foe, Nutcase will try pushing the target up to that empty spot if possible (target shouldn't be unmovable, should take damage from the hit and Nutcase shouldn't die along the way and it should still be able to move past the hitting point). The damage along with the bonus will be calculated and done at the impact point. Moving the foe won't cause any extra damage from the ability, but the foe can be moved over traps, having it receive damage or even get stuck, stopping the push charge. The push charge itself (after the impact point) should be performed at slower speed compared to regular movement (which should be rather fast).

Fishing Hook - costs 29 energy pts. Throws over a nearby foe, swapping places if it is small or medium sized. 12 pierce + 12 crush damage & swap. Upgrade: Can also swap large units.

Nutcases throws over an inline (back or forward) adjacent foe, that's one or two hexagons big, in order to swap places. The unit needs to not block the attack for the swap to succeed. If the foe dies in the process, it will do so after the swap, dropping the stuff at the new spot.

The upgrade won't have a size restriction anymore.

--- The **[$196 bounty](https://www.bountysource.com/issues/37605205-nutcase-tweaks?utm_campaign=plugin&utm_content=tracker%2F260151&utm_medium=issues&utm_source=github)** on this issue has been claimed at [Bountysource](https://www.bountysource.com/?utm_campaign=plugin&utm_content=tracker%2F260151&utm_medium=issues&utm_source=github).

[cxong]

With Tentacle Bush, is nutcase unmoveable all the time or only after being attacked at melee range? When does it become moveable again? When it's unmoveable, it can't move even during its own turn?

[cxong]

What does Hammer Time's upgrade targeting mean? If it can target either frontal or behind, then that's 6 hexes, like Battering Ram, but if you have to choose either frontal or behind only, what does "left to right" mean? Does the "Extra" part mean you can choose which order, and why does order matter?

[cxong]

War Horn inline = forward and backward correct?

[cxong]

When War Horn runs over mud bath, should it lose its normal movement points, or "special" movement points for the war horn, e.g. Nutcase stops short of its target?

What about Royal Seal, should it stop as soon as it steps onto the trap, or keep going and complete the ability, then lose all its movement points for the turn?

[cxong]

When upgraded War Horn is used, pushing a target, does Nutcase move forward as well, so that both the target and Nutcase end up next to each other?

What's the expected behaviour when upgraded War Horn is pushing and the target runs over a trap like Mud Bath? Does the push end sooner due to the loss of movement points?

[DreadKnight]

With Tentacle Bush, is nutcase unmoveable all the time or only after being attacked at melee range? When does it become moveable again? When it's unmoveable, it can't move even during its own turn?

Let's say it becomes unmovable when attacked at melee range. He can move as he pleases during his own turn, as he will no longer be holding nearby foes.

What does Hammer Time's upgrade targeting mean? If it can target either frontal or behind, then that's 6 hexes, like Battering Ram, but if you have to choose either frontal or behind only, what does "left to right" mean? Does the "Extra" part mean you can choose which order, and why does order matter?

He will be able to target the frontal of backwards 3 hexagons, it's basically a multi-hit attack, but done on different hexagons. Order matters in some cases, as some units will have retaliations when attacked or can trigger similar abilities. When I said "left to right", I meant the unit's own left / right (in 1st person view).

War Horn inline = forward and backward correct?

Indeed.

When War Horn runs over mud bath, should it lose its normal movement points, or "special" movement points for the war horn, e.g. Nutcase stops short of its target?

What about Royal Seal, should it stop as soon as it steps onto the trap, or keep going and complete the ability, then lose all its movement points for the turn?

Nutcase doesn't loses movement points when using this ability. Royal Seal or any other "full stop" abilities or scenarios will cause the War Horn ability to be interrupted. War Horn also stops when the target is killed. I did mention these in the description xD Anyway, it would be the target unit that will step over (get pushed over) and trigger the Royal Seal.

When upgraded War Horn is used, pushing a target, does Nutcase move forward as well, so that both the target and Nutcase end up next to each other?

What's the expected behaviour when upgraded War Horn is pushing and the target runs over a trap like Mud Bath? Does the push end sooner due to the loss of movement points?

Nutcase fully moves along with the target when this ability is used, did mention. Mud Bath won't affect the use of this ability, but Royal Seal would stop it earlier.

[cxong]

Does upgraded Tentacle Bush cause the current ability to cost more energy - and if so how does this work if this means it doesn't have enough energy to use this ability - or does it mean all subsequent abilities will cost more energy?

[DreadKnight]

Only subsequental ones will cost more.

[cxong]

Ok so is the default order for upgraded Hammer Time like this?

And how does the player pick the order for upgraded Hammer Time? If they click the "right" hex does it mean the attack will go right, mid, left instead? Or can they also pick e.g. right, left, mid, and if so how do they choose that order?

[DreadKnight]

Clicking on 2 will default like in your image. Clicking on 1 or 3 will start from that direction, like you said.

[cxong]

If an ally happens to be within the 3 hexes for Hammer Time, does it get attacked or not?

[DreadKnight]

It should get skipped. You shouldn't be able to use the ability if all the targets are skippable though.

On Sep 26, 2016 2:33 PM, "Cong" notifications@github.com wrote:

If an ally happens to be within the 3 hexes for Hammer Time, does it get attacked or not?

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/FreezingMoon/AncientBeast/issues/1077#issuecomment-249545970, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAj23z6H8ZyY8B5UXwK1b_XZX2tgF7klks5qt611gaJpZM4J1dmh .

[cxong]

With Fishing Hook, what does blocked mean? Is there an example of an ability that blocks attacks?

[DreadKnight]

Dark Priest's Plasma Field (passive ability) blocks attacks.

[cxong]

What happens if Fish Hook is used against an upgraded Plasma Field? Does Nutcase receive counter damage even if Fish Hook is blocked? Since the damage occurs after the swap, there's a bit of a sequence problem that needs to be solved.

[DreadKnight]

Nutcase will swap Dark Priest, which will either damage or lose one plasma point. If Plasma Field is upgraded, Nutcase takes 5 pure damage.

On Sep 28, 2016 2:03 PM, "Cong" notifications@github.com wrote:

What happens if Fish Hook is used against an upgraded Plasma Field? Does Nutcase receive counter damage even if Fish Hook is blocked? Since the damage occurs after the swap, there's a bit of a sequence problem that needs to be solved.

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/FreezingMoon/AncientBeast/issues/1077#issuecomment-250136876, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAj2328TFg60NJuIKkym1t7W4ZlbgmWMks5qukmfgaJpZM4J1dmh .

[cxong]

ok so just to confirm: fish hook always swaps, even if the target has plasma field, and plasma field just blocks the damage and deals counter damage if upgraded?

[DreadKnight]

Yeah, will have to see how it goes this way. If Dark Priest is thrown into a direct damage trap, it will also block that damage with the same plasma point that's being used to block the Fishing Hook ability itself.

[cxong]

in that case everything's done

[DreadKnight]

Alright, will start testing Nutcase. Meanwhile you can upgrade the invoice and I'll assign you more issues.

[DreadKnight]

Can't get logs, meh.

ancientbeast.js:3794 Uncaught TypeError: Converting circular structure to JSON at klass.get (http://localhost:8080/scripts/ancientbeast.js:3794:20) at :1:11

War Horn tends to do no damage if used at melee range. Using Hammer Time after won't damage as well.

Hammer Time targeting should be more consistent hexagon color/glow wise, like highlight the hovered hexagon's color, unless it's empty one (black), where highlighted colored of the active Nutcase should be used.

If Nutcase is killed, units shouldn't be affected by its Tentacle Bush anymore (well, the active unit at least).

Tentacle Bush shouldn't affect Nutcase itself, like in the case of using Fishing Hook against a Plasma Field protected Dark Priest, which is upgraded. Also, Dark Priests shouldn't get affected by Tentacle Bush at all when inactive.

[cxong]

Hammer Time targeting should be more consistent hexagon color/glow wise, like highlight the hovered hexagon's color, unless it's empty one (black), where highlighted colored of the active Nutcase should be used.

What does this mean? What should the hex color/glow be?

[cxong]

Tentacle Bush shouldn't affect Nutcase itself

So what does this mean?

Nutcase becomes unmovable by most abilities, regardless if it has any foes nearby or not.

[cxong]

Also, Dark Priests shouldn't get affected by Tentacle Bush at all when inactive.

Is this a special exception for Dark Priest? Or should Tentacle Bush never activate during Nutcase's phase, i.e. from abilities that damage Nutcase when the other creature is inactive?

[DreadKnight]

What does this mean? What should the hex color/glow be?

Seems this is a generic issue, so I'll open a new one just for this. For now you can make all the hexagons of the viable units be displayed and clickable, in order to make things a bit easier.

Another problem with Hammer Time (upgraded): clicking on an allied unit will also skip hitting viable foes.

So what does this mean?

When attacking a Dark Priest that has upgraded Plasma Field, the field retaliates, damaging Nutcase when active, causing him to get stuck in that spot. He should be able to control the tentacles and be free to move away as he pleases, as the tentacles should only be an inconvenience to other units, not himself.

Nutcase becomes unmovable by most abilities, regardless if it has any foes nearby or not.

This one means that Nutcase will have the tendency to anchor himself to the ground, so that other units won't be able to move him around. He's pesky and harder to manipulate / get rid of, making him a good counter to units that tend to push away (like Snow Bunny). So even if the tentacles wouldn't grab melee attackers, he would still not be affected by melee knockbacks from abilities such as Swine Thug's Baseball Baton or Uncle Fungus' upgraded Sabre Kick.

Is this a special exception for Dark Priest? Or should Tentacle Bush never activate during Nutcase's phase, i.e. from abilities that damage Nutcase when the other creature is inactive?

The thing is that he shouldn't be able to keep tentacle on a Dark Priest that can shield himself, but the Plasma Field pure damage retaliation triggering Tentacle Bush could be done with the last plasma point available. Tentacle Bush should considered a low priority non-damage retaliation, so that an active Nutcase could grab hold of recently depleted Dark Priests that had an upgraded shield.

[cxong]

The thing is that he shouldn't be able to keep tentacle on a Dark Priest that can shield himself, but the Plasma Field pure damage retaliation triggering Tentacle Bush could be done with the last plasma point available. Tentacle Bush should considered a low priority non-damage retaliation, so that an active Nutcase could grab hold of recently depleted Dark Priests that had an upgraded shield.

The plasma field depletion shouldn't be a problem; what I'm asking is, normally Tentacle Bush makes the target unmoveable until the end of their phase, so normally if they get hit by Tentacle Bush they can't move at all during their next phase. Are you saying this shouldn't apply for Dark Priest?

[DreadKnight]

@cxong Actually, disregard that plasma depletion thing and have Tentacle Bush affect Dark Priests too. Basically Tentacle Bush is not really a harmful ability, so it won't trigger/deplete the Plasma Field (risking a loop). If Dark Priest does get hit, it won't repel / severe the Tentacle Bush connection, as the field could form around the tentacle itself. It's an interaction that gets ignored by parameters, kinda like touching the ground.

[cxong]

retaliation loops should be easy to solve; plasma shield itself never retaliates against "counter" damage, although the only counter damage currently defined is... plasma field retaliation.

plasma shield already protects dark priest against damage buffs/debuffs, so if Tentacle Bush was redefined as a damage=0 with a debuff as you suggested, then plasma shield will protect against the debuff.

[DreadKnight]

Thought we're going for the stuff from my last comment, oh well, leave it like this for now, but it's kinda OP, especially for a level 1 creature; Nutcase will eventually become lvl 2 or 3 at least, as an Envy unit, but we'll have to add support for extra unit sets first. Will consider tweak for the next version regarding Tentacle Bush... I did more testing in HoMM3 and it's pretty funny how it handles things with this kind of situations, especially with units like (Royal) Griffins and (Sultan) Efreeti. Basically it seems that a retaliation won't trigger against another retaliation, so in the case of AB, this scenario would mean that upgraded Plasma Field retaliation won't cause Tentacle Bush to retaliate, as basically Dark Priest was the defender and Nutcase itself was the attacker xD but will make issue for the next version regarding this. Basically the passive would become disabled when Nutcase is active. Will do more testing, anyway, besides this, the unit looks alright, still considering if to swap position of Fishing Hook and War Horn abilities, as the later one might be the better one. Update the bounty for this issue. The new issue for the next version is #1089

[DreadKnight]

@cxong Don't forget to patch the other issues assigned for you for the 0.3 milestone, the sooner, the better.

[DreadKnight]

@cxong update bounty, include tooltip thingy