Guide to Dungeon Design |
by SocialRipple |
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Topics Covered: Single Color Dungeons Two Color Dungeons Drylands (Yellow) Flatlands (White) Woodlands (Green) Wetlands (Blue) Highlands (Black) Balancing Spirit Types |
Introduction: First off, I am not going to give you specific numbers on how many
of each type of spirit you should have in a dungeon. It all depends on your playing style,
dungeon To start building a dungeon, you don’t need to have a plan regarding the type of dungeon you are going to build. If you do, then great, you have a foundation for your dungeon. If you don’t have a clue, don’t worry, there are a lot of spirits to choose from. If you don’t know what kind of dungeon you want to have, simply start sifting through the spirits, looking for specific spirits or types of spirits that seem interesting. If you find that you like fast spirits (those with movement range of 2 or 3) then search for the color that has a large number of those types of spirits. Woodlands or Wetlands (Green or Blue) work well for dungeons based around spirits with weaker combat power but the ability to move faster. If you like combat spirits that are slower or more expensive, you may look into Highlands or Darklands (Brown or Black). Highlands has a number of combat spirits, more than any other color, and has a good variety of them. Darklands has, in general, spirits with better attack powers but few that can move quickly. If you don’t find anything that fits your style then look through each color’s combat spirits and see which has the most that seem useful to you (look for those with abilities, attack / defense combinations, or any other attribute that you feel is important). |
Single Color Dungeons: Single color dungeons have their strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side, you can set both your Primary and Secondary energy to the same color, which gives you an advantage. You also don’t have to do as much balancing between colors, and it makes it easier to actually build your dungeon (but a lot of the time harder to play it well). With a single color dungeon, you can use many spirits to their full extent, and get
more powerful spirits out early. With an all-green dungeon, you can cast and move Spotted
Leopards on the first turn, giving There are a number of hindrances to playing a single color as opposed to a multi-color dungeon. The main problem is shielding. If your opponent has a spirit shielded from your color, it can do a lot of damage to your combat spirits, and if you don’t get lucky enough to destroy it with a spell, that one spirit could easily cost you the game. The second problem single color dungeons run into is the lack of terrain. With multiple colors, you have twice the chance of having terrain on your side. When playing a single color dungeon, if the map lacks your kind of terrain, you have nothing to fall back on, and so you must be even more cautious. Lastly, no color has everything. An all-black dungeon lacks speed, white or yellow lacks the big powerful spirits (Hercules, Thor, etc.). When building a single color dungeon, you must take into account that your dungeon may very well be lacking in a certain aspect. All in all, single color dungeons can be very powerful when played correctly, although there are a number of things that can thwart them. It is definitely something to try, at least once, although many people may not find it to their liking. |
Two Color Dungeons: The most common type of dungeon has two colors, a Primary color and a Secondary color. This has many strengths and bonuses, but that does not mean it is the best type of dungeon, or that you shouldn’t feel free to experiment with other possibilities. The main bonus of playing a two-color dungeon is that the colors have natural allies. By using two colors that are allies you can find many spells that enhance the other color, energy that produces both colors, and spirits with abilities that aid the other color. This shows each color and it’s allies: Highlands – Darklands Wetlands – Woodlands Drylands – Flatlands When building a two color dungeon, look for spirits that augment the other color, but try to avoid making every spirit in the dungeon one that helps the other color or your dungeon will lack any body. Sometimes it helps to make your primary color your main offense and use your secondary color for spells that aid it, as well as the most helpful spirits of that color (archers, or other spirits that are extremely useful). After building a dungeon out first, I always check the dungeon analysis screen to see how the two colors are balanced (number of spirits) and to see which has the highest associated maintenance costs. The other bonus to playing two colors is the increased chance of having the map terrain in your favor. If one color lacks available terrain, you still have a second color that may provide a strategic advantage in that particular game. The main thing to watch when playing two colors is energy placement. With two colors in your dungeon and only one new energy piece allowed into play each turn, you must be careful which energy pieces you cast. This is not a major problem, but can still cause problems if overlooked. |
Drylands:  Drylands are rarely used as a primary color, most commonly used to backup Flatlands. However, there are quite a few useful spirits, such as Ramses, Weapon Master, Fixed Catapult and Parthian Archers. Flame Strike, Fortify Defenders, and Pacifism are all good Drylands spells. This is an overlooked color that can be very dangerous. |
Flatlands:  Flatlands has a mixture of spirits, although mainly human. They have those with good move (lancers and cavalry), range (Catapult and Ballista), and abilities (Priest of Mars and Cartographer). It is a well-balanced color, with a number of useful spirits. |
Woodlands:  Woodlands has a number of fast spirits, as well as a few moderately-powerful ones. They don’t have a large number of ranged spirits, but the few they do have are quite powerful. Their spells are good, and have a fair variety, although they work with healing for the most part. As for specific spirits, Numerian Badgers, Giant Hedgehog, Spotted Leopards, Hesperides Garden, Eye of the Tiger, and Oaken Ward are all favorites of experienced players. |
Wetlands:   Wetlands has big powerful spirits, such as Thor, mixed with
quicker spirits like War Dogs and Barbarian Raiders. You’ll find some wonderful
magical abilities on spirits like Thor, Savarian Wizard, and Saxon Armorer. War Chant and
Battle Frenzy are good spells, and they have many other spells that can enhance the power
of your dungeon. |
Highlands:  Highlands is a good color for combat spirits. It has ranged spirits, such as Spartan Archers and Centaurs, as well as a horde of combat spirits, ranging from heroes and deities to scouts and militia. Highlands doesn’t have many spells, but they do have some useful ones, one of the best being Achilles Heel. Lastly, they have many good energy pieces (Augean Stables, Minotaurs Cave, etc.). |
Darklands:  Darklands is another color with many combat spirits. They are based around undead, giving an advantage against many spells (Cupids Arrow, Animal Friendship, etc.), and many Darklands spirits have either healing or resurrection. Some of the more powerful Darklands spirits, however, are fairly expensive to activate, move, heal, and resurrect. It also suffers from a very decided lack of speed. They have many good spells for doing damage or weakening enemy spirits, as well as spells that effect the entire map (Acid Rain, Anthrax, and Black Death), as well as the useful spell Warped Terrain which changes the entire map. |
Balancing Spirit Types: There is no set dungeon size. They can be anywhere from 30 to 120 spirits. The ideal dungeon (on average) is between 30 and 35 spirits, with extremes up to 38 or 40. This will keep your dungeon trim and give you a better chance of getting your good spirits into play. Usually, I would use between 4 and 5 energy pieces per color, or between 8 and 10 in a dungeon (depending on the dungeon, you may even want as much as a third of your dungeon energy pieces). Next, look through your combat spirits. Just because a spirit has a big attack, or a
cool special ability, does not mean it is a good spirit! There are many great spirits
that get overlooked, as well as fairly useless spirits that seem to creep into most
people’s dungeons. When you see that really powerful spirit, check the cost of
it’s magical ability, it’s movement and Scouts are useful, but too many of them can leave you with no offensive force. Be sure to use a number of spirits with ranged attacks, as they give a large advantage in combat. A few expensive spirits are okay, but on average most games are won by playing smart and moving your cheaper spirits wisely, as opposed to stomping across the map with one massive spirit (not that this is a moot strategy!). Defenders are useful, but too many of them will use up your map space while offering no offensive power. Depending on the dungeon, 3 to 5 is plenty, although it depends heavily on the type of dungeon. Spells are good to put in last, but they must be considered carefully. When looking at a spell, ask yourself "will this help me win the game?" Avoid spells that will help your opponent more than you. Those that grant bonuses to both your spirits and your opponents can be harmful if not used properly do. At the same time, having the ability to destroy a large number of things on the map (Acid Rain, Black Death etc.) can be very useful, especially if you are fighting a loosing battle. Try putting your dungeon together in the order the categories are listed (Energy, Combat, Defenders, Spells). On average, this will give you a balanced dungeon. |
design or theme, and sometimes who you are playing against. I
will, however, give general tips and ideas on what to look for in a spirit before filling
dungeon space with it, as well as a few basic guidelines on dungeon building.
you a head start
in exploring the map. The same idea works for Barbarian Raiders (Blue). With this extra
energy on the first turn, you can utilize many scouts much faster than when using a
traditional two-color dungeon.
maintenance costs, as well as cost to activate the
piece. Many of the times, these are so outrageously high that the spirit wouldn’t get
into play early enough to be helpful, or would drain your energy so badly that you could
cast 2 or 3 useful spirits for the cost simply to maintain and use the ability of the
"super-spirit".