SpellForce 3 Versus Edition - Patch #7 - Spandauer AI & General Fixes

We want to start by saying thank you to our SpellForce 3 community. Your feedback has inspired many of the changes in this major patch. We’re grateful to those of you who stream, watch and talk about tournament games and theorycraft about the game - big shoutout to all of you involved!
In this patch, we have tweaked a whole bunch of values across all factions, plus we’ve made some changes to mechanics that require plenty of testing to make sure they deliver a great gameplay experience
Your feedback helped shape this patch, so we hope you’ll enjoy the changes. If you notice anything that seems a little out of balance, let us know - the SpellForce Discord is a great place to share your suggestions or report a bug, and also a great place to meet other SpellForce players
And we’re not done yet! You can look forward to more improvements in the future - in the meantime, keep sharing your feedback and streams with us. Thank you!

We have an additional surprise for you:
Inspired by the famous "Spandauer Squad", we sent our AI Commanders into a bootcamp to make them stronger than ever!
The "Spandau AI" not only learned how to play more optimal in general, it also studied the builds and playstyles from competitive players.
It will also spawn Titans, attack players more aggressively and put more pressure on. We hope that you have a lot fun playing against this new AI and are looking forward to your feedback!

Changelog

Bugfixes:

• Fixed players in skirmish games being unable to select any RTS faction not owned by the host
• Fixed a problem where healthbar size wasn't updated appropriately while the entity in question was selected
• Fixed a problem where allied entities where sometimes not recognized as visible (even though they actually were)
• Fixed crash when trying to launch game while the previously selected graphics adapter (GPU) is not available
• Fixed incorrect tooltip descriptions being displayed for a few settings in the options menu

Balance Patch Notes

These changes have the goal to increase both spell and unit variety for each faction. For some, this also includes some nerfs in certain stages of the game, while also including buffs at other stages.
Especially Trolls are in a good spot right now and see a good amount of unit variety. To balance their power while preserving this variety, the changes are a bit more subtle. The Plague Bringer got a couple of reworked abilities to see better spell variety, we hope you like them! For other factions, we wanted to address certain issues in specific stages of the game while also making more units more interesting. Some changes, such as the Dwarves' Earth Shaper, might need more drastical changes in the future. This test will serve as a foundation for future adjustments.

All Factions
Adjusted the repair cost to be 1 Resource / 400 HP (was 500 HP), while the effective repaired HP/s stays the same

Humans
Royal Mage
- Absorb the Elements: Increased duration from 20 to 25s
- Incinerate: Level 1 now deals 70 damage to adjacent targets, 50 damage to target
- Incinerate: Level 2 now deals 120 damage to adjacent targets, 50 damage to target
- Hailstorm: Increased range from 120 to 150
- Increased attack range from 140 to 150

Wolf Guard Commander
- Fatal Blow: Spell range now based on weapon range
- Hymns: Reduced focus cost from 12 to 10

Buildings
- Aria Distillery: Increased health from 1800 to 2400
- Barracks: Increased health from 2000 to 3000
- Upgraded Barracks: Increased health from 3200 to 3900
- Upgraded Barracks: Reduced cost from 6 Wood 6 Stone to 3 Wood 3 Stone
- Billet: Increased gained supply from 15 to 20
- Hunting Cabin: Reduced processing time from 8s to 5s
- Forge: Reduced construction cost from 20 Wood 20 Stone to 5 Wood 5 Stone
- Market: Fixed the icons not being in line - again.

Units
- Mentalist: Increased damage from 65 to 75
- Griffin: Reduced cost from 5 Wood 10 Food 3 Iron -> 4 Wood 8 Food 3 Iron
- Griffin: Increased damage from 75 to 85
- Griffin: Reduced health from 1700 to 1500
- Champion: Reduced cost from 8 Food 6 Iron to 8 Food 5 Iron
- Champion: Increased health from 1300 to 1400

Elves

Druid
- Treants Grasp: Impair effect reduced from 40% to 25%
- Treants Graps: Increased area of effect range from 90 to 120
- Elens Wrath, Natures Gift, Elens Fire: Increased area of effect range from 90/100 to 120

Ranger
- Hail of Arrows: Damage reverted back from 140 to 150
- Spectral Wolf: Reduced health from 1000 to 800

Buildings
- Farm: Reduced processing time from 21s to 18s
- Hunting Cabin: Reduced processing time from 8s to 5s
- Arcane Smithy: Reduced construction cost from 20 Wood 20 Stone to 5 Wood 5 Stone
- Iron Mine: Reduced build time from 60s to 50s

Units
- Druid: Double passive healing effectiveness

Orcs

Goblin Shaman
- Totemic Might: Halfed the healing effect from 15hp/s to 7.5hp/s
- Healing Totem: Reduced healing done from 30 to 28 per tick

Occultist
- Lacerate: Spell range now based on weapon range

Buildings
- Iron Mine: Increased building time from 15s to 30s
- Blood Forge: Reduced construction cost from 10 Wood 20 Stone to 5 Wood 5 Stone
- Shaman Hut: Increased cost from 20 Wood 20 Stone to 20 Wood 35 Stone
- Shaman Hut: Increased health from 4000 to 5000
- War Pit: "Wrath of the Horde" cost reduced from 5 Wood 30 Stone 15 food to 5 Wood 15 Stone 15 Food
- Goblins: "Strength in Numbers" cost increased from 25 Food to 25 Food 5 Iron
- Unlock: "Call of the Pack" cost reduced from 5 Wood 15 Stone 15 Food to 5 Wood 15 Food

Units
- Goblin Pesterer: Reduced cost from 6 Food 3 Stone to 5 Food 2 Stone
- Goblin Pesterer: Increased base damage from 16 to 20
- Goblin Scoundrel: Added unique icon for the unit
- Drummer: Reduced cost from 6 Food 4 Wood to 5 Food 3 Wood
- Wyvern: Adjusted attack animation to allow faster attack windup
- Wyvern: Added unique icon for the unit
- Brute: Reduced health from 1500 to 1400
- Ravager: Changed resistances from 0% Strike 0% Pierce 75% Siege 0% Magic to 25% Strike 25% Pierce 75% Siege -25% Magic
- Ravager: "Thrill of the hunt" upgrade cost changed from 5 Iron 5 Black Ash to 10 Iron

Dark Elves

Guardian of Nor
- Debilitating Blow: Spell range now based on weapon range
- Soul Catharsis, Plague Field, Soul Charge: Increased Area of Effect radius from 100 to 120

Buildings
- Hunting Cabin: Reduced food processing time from 8 to 5 seconds
- Forge: Reduced construction cost from 20 Wood 20 Stone to 5 Wood 5 Stone

Units
- Infiltrator: "Blitz Attack" cost changed from 10 Souls to 10 Wood, 10 Food
- Strider: "Aim for the wounds" cost increased from 10 Iron 5 Souls to 15 Iron 10 Souls
- Plague Beetle: Reduced production cost from 12 Food 3 Iron to 10 Food 3 Iron
- Sleeper: Adjusted resistances from 0% Strike 25% Pierce 75% Siege 0% Magic to 25% Strike 25% Pierce 75% Siege 0% Magic
- Spectre: "Wail" radius increased from 100 to 150
- Broodfather: Reduced summoning cost from 75 Food, 75 Iron, 125 Souls to 75 Food, 75 Iron 100 Souls
- Broodfather: Increased damage dealt per attack from 100 to 150

Dwarves

High-Hierophant
- Totem of Silence: Duration decreased from 30s to 20s, Cooldown decreased from 30s to 30s
- Totem of Silence: Increased infused radius from 10 to 20
- Totem of Flames: Duration decreased from 30s to 20s, Cooldown decreased from 30s to 30s
- Totem of Flames: Base damage increased from 25 to 35
- Totem of Healing: Increased radius from 30 to 70
- Totem of Healing: Reduced healing per cycle from 30 to 15
- Totem of Healing: Cleansing now standard on level 2. Infusion increases healing per cycle from 15 to 25 HP/s.
- Totem Infusion: Range increased from 120 to 140

Warrior of the Depths
- Headsplitter: Spell range now based on weapon range
- Disruptor: Spell range now based on weapon range

Buildings
- Charburner: Now processes wood in batches of 2(was 3)
- Stonecutter: Worker efficiency reduced by 25%
- Stonecutter: Carry capacity reduced from 2 to 1
- Stonecutter: Changed processing rate from 2->3 to 1->2; Thus achieving same stone/minute in smaller batches
- Farm: Reduced processing time from 28s to 24s
- Hunting Cabin: Reduced processing time from 8s to 5s
- Workshop: Reduced construction cost from 20 Charcoal 20 Stone to 5 Charcoal 5 Stone

Units
- Earth Shaper: "Protective Shield" cost changed from 15 Charcoal 5 Iron to 10 Charcoal 5 Stone 5 Food
- Earth Shaper: Proctective Shield now increases resistances by 20% (was 25%)
- Earth Shaper: Increased damage dealt from 60 to 80
- Fire Golem: Added 25% Pierce Resistance

Trolls

Plaguebringer
- Plague Disease: Increased area of effect radius from 15 to 22
- Corpse Explosion: Mechanically adjusted. Each affected corpse now generates a single projectile targeting the nearest enemy for 150 damage.
- Infected Orb: Mechanically adjusted. Targets around the selected target are now infected by individual orbs. Deal 100 base damage, +100 additional damage for Plague Disease I and +200 additional damage for Plague Disease II on the target.

Chieftain
- Train Spells: Now have 2 seconds cast time
- Slam: Reduced area of effect radius of level 2 from 120 to 100

Units
- All: Each killed troll unit now grants 10 more experience points (most: from 40 to 50)
- Wall Breaker: Reduced movement speed from 50 to 45
- Thrower: Damage dealt on additional targets changed from 20 to 10
- Smasher: Health changed from 1350 to 1250
- Spike Flinger: Reduced attack range from 180 to 170
- Bone Hexer: Changed damage from 115 Magic 35 Leech to 120 Magic 25 Leech

Map Changes

We hear your feedback on various issues on ladder maps. We are actively working on adding new maps to the map pool, but in the meantime are improving the current maps in the pool!

Windwall Forest
- Increased food amount in some sectors: 100 -> 150 in capital sectors. 75 -> 100 in surrounding and mid sectors.
- Decreased T3 amount mid sector: 700 -> 500

Greykeep Gardens
- Swapped eastern and southern creep corridors to equalize creeping paths
- Increased iron amount in the outer (Wyvern) sectors from 200 to 400
- Equalized iron distribution in the middle sectors to 350/350 in both sectors
- Adjusted scrap pile placement based on community feedback (3 on each side, placed in sectors)

Old Battlegrounds
- Removed the Wyvern in the middle
- Hard group of skeletons (aggressive) has been moved to Wyvern's position

Fortress Stoneguard
- Removed misplaced stone depot in north-eastern main base

Mystic Valley
- Added Food to the Middle Sector (300) and to the middle sectors with Wyverns in them (100)

Wasteland of Xu
- Middle sectors now have 150 food
- All middle sector creeps are now medusae
- Adjusted south-western creeps to be in line with others (1 zombie spawn -> 1 bandit spawn)
- The main base skeleton creeps spawns have been removed