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Smaug, the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities

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AulëTheSmith:
Hello guys  :)
Under the guide of the great moderator Walküre, i managed to open this new thread which is completly devoted to Smaug The Terrible. The Misty Mountains faction is not around the corner yet, however it would be good to start the discussion about such a central figure as Smaug will be for MM.
As Walküre said to me: the sooner we start the better will be.
So, to begin with, here is my concept of Smaug as i would like to see him implemented. Feel yourself free to discuss/criticize about any detail you deem relevant. if you catch some mistake(s), please tell me and i'll correct it/them :).

P.s: graphical matters are not involved (for now) in my concept. Mainly because i have seen there are many different tastes about it in the forum. I also deem the design secondary with respect to the game mechanics and functions; even if i cannot hide the deep desire to see, one day, a movie-based model in game (classical 4 legs dragon):





SMAUG THE CHIEFEST AND GREATEST OF CALAMITIES
As a final note, i like also the "transparency" effect on the body of Smaug we have seen in the movies, such that is possible to see the light of the flames through his scales when he's preparing the next fire-attack. If it is possible, it would be cool to see a similar FX animation in game everytime he spits fire, whatever model of Smaug the team will choose.


Blazing breath (a Walküre'poem)

As the strongest wind, slashing the air,
Catastrophe, come out of his lair,
He seeks gold, the treasure inside the mountain-realm, whose gate is torn down by blazing breath,
Descending the skies, a dreadful dragon much havoc has wrought, willing to sow fire and reap death.



The core of my concept.
Initially the Greatest Calamity of Middle Earth will have a weakness against arrows while flying, but with an increasing of the armor along the path of power. Following the lore and films Smaug has an impenetrable armor, it is practically impossible to fear him with normal weapons. Since this interpretation would be unbalance in game, it is impossible to implementi it as it is.
Anyhow, the player must have (at least) more chances to survive against rains of arrows. Therefore i decided for that increasing of armor at level five. 
The dragon will have two different animation in flight and on the ground like in 3.8.1 (Drogoth+Summoned dragon).
As for the fire related abilities: i don’t think fireball and fireflies fit very well with a dragon.  These type of attack are more related to wizard, which are able to create such particular form of fire attack using magic. In particular we have these two abilities just implemented via Gandalf (Dwarves) and Saruman . I will explain better all the details below in the skill-set.

P.s: There are some parts that are denoted as Work In Progress (W.I.P.). These parts, because of lack of ideas or dissatisfaction, are still to be completed. There I need to know new ideas to fill in the gaps and/or change some particulars :).

SMAUG GAME IMPLEMENTATION
EARLY GAME: TRIBUTES SYSTEM
At the beginning of the game Smaug will be available in the Dragon Lair, with the summoning system showed below. Smaug is summoned at level 10 with the below mentioned stats.

With respect to old versions, i decided to remove from Smaug the traditional leveling up system. That's because it actually doesn't fit really well with such an ancient,experienced, huge dragon like he is. In his summon form he will appear at level 10 but with limited stats with respect to the maximum, mainly because balance reasons. Then in his permanent form he will directly gets the maximum stats. 

Summon statistic values :


* HP : 10000.
* No Population cost
* Melee attack value: 400.
* Type of melee attack: AOE.
Basic attack like fellbeast and eagles in flight, fire attack at land.

He unlocks abilites through the summoning system, and each tribute is the evolution of the tribute before so each offer can be used only once. Between one offer and the other, there will be a certain cooldown.

Level 1: "Small Treasure": at the cost of 750 resources you can temporary summon Smaug for some minutes. Smaug can now land and fly and he unlocks abilites "Incinerate" and "Dragon Breath".

Level 2: "Great Treasure": at the cost of 1500 resources you can temporary summon Smaug for some minutes. Smaug  unlocks abilites "Roar of the beast","Greediness","Impenetrable armor".

Level 3: "Immense Treasure": at the cost of 3000 resources you can temporary summon Smaug for some minutes. Smaug unlocks the abilites "My claws are spear","Wings like an hurricane", "Hypnotic Gaze" and "I'm Fire I'm Death".

Smaug cannot pick up the ring in this form.
The cost values and time-interval involved can change.


SMAUG IN THE SPELLBOOK: CENTRAL SPELL FOR MM
"Usurper"
The term "Usurper" is general and refers to the infesting nature of goblins. They take possession of places and things that once own to the enemy, rather than build and produce (which is the main characterstic of other "industrial" evil faction, such as Isengard).
I chosen Smaug as a picture for the spell, because he's the greatest of the example of the usurping nature of the faction, with the climax of Erebor ruin.
Via this spell, advanced upgrades and/or elitè units will be provided to the most important military structures of MM:

- Dragon Lairs are filled with the "Treasure Of the Golden One" (in game the treasure will be graphically visible around the Lairs), Smaug is now recruitable at the cost of 3000 resources just at level 10 with improved stats:


* HP : 15000.
* Population cost: 60
* Melee attack value: 600.
* Type of melee attack: AOE.Basic attack like fellbeast and eagles in flight, fire attack at land.

 His initial set of ability is carried over from the tributes system. The lair give now passive leadership on drakes near it, since now they are more aggressive to defend the treasure (something like +30% of armor). 

Note: If the player don't make use of the tributing system before unlocking the central power, then he can upgrade smuag's skillset left-clicking on tribute button and then on Smaug.

If the Dragon Lair is destroyed, it drops a certain amount of resources (balancewise, equal at most to the cost of the building itself, in order to avoid extra-earnig via self-destruction of the Lair).
If the last Dragon Lair in game is shattered when Smaug is in game, the treasure of the Golden One is Lost , and Smaug has no more reasons to fight permanently on your side: immediately after the destruction, Smaug turns back in is temporary form, with a timer that has to be set properly in order to give the possibility to build again the Lair. The restoration of his treasure (via rebuilding) is the only way to stop the running out of the timer.


Influence on the other structures (W.I.P.)
I report here some ideas of the user Garlodur, feel freeto post new ideas or critiques about the implementation of the other caves  :)



* Warg/Wolf Lair (settlement):
Similar to Angmar's Wolf Den a small defensive point is built (perhaps producing few resources) surrounded by a few Warg/Wolf creeps. Before upgrading however it does not have the ability to recruit units. When the central spell is bought, the Lair recruits Wargs with a specialty as anti-cavalry.

* Settlement Troll Cave (settlement):
A simple Troll Lair with creeps that produces few resources and recruits Cave Trolls as they are currently known, useful for quick assaults on enemy buildings (performing the battering ram function). With Untamed Allegiance bought these Trolls can receive a weapon upgrade improving melee combat against units (mace/club), buildings (hammer), or cavalry/heroes (spear). Of course it also recruits the infamous Bill, Bert and Tom.

* Giant Cave/Hideout (outpost):
The Giants remain in this faction as long range siege weapons with high defensive capability. The upgrade unlocks a defensive boost to the Giants, making them more resistant to arrows and ranged siege. The Hideout itself provides a defensive leadership yet unspecified. I feel it should reflect Gandalf's thoughts in The Hobbit crossing the mountain passes, as he considered taking refuge in a Giant cave.

SMAUG'S SKILLSET
Smaug skill-set in flight
Rank 1 : "Landing" – as usual.

“Incinerate”(Requires "Small Treasure") – Smaug spits fire on the selected area, inflicting high damage to standard units and medium damage to siege weapons, but low damage against structures, heroes, heroic units and monsters (except fire-sensible ones like ent and mumakil).

The power is nerfed with respect to the original version, it will be something more effective against units, as a first mass-slayer area of effect ability, like for example is wizard blast for Gandalf and Saruman. The animation of course will remain the same of Drogoth. Personally i think Smaug deserves some more devasting power for the last level.

“Roar of the Beast”(Requires "Great Treasure") – the fearsome roar of the Golden one makes the enemy flee in terror.

“Impenetrable Armor (passive)”(Requires "Great Treasure") – quoting Tolkien, “my armor is like tenfold shields”. Smaug permanently gains +50% armour against arrows.

“Wings like an hurricane”(Requires "Immense Treasure") – Smaug uses his massive wings to create an air blast that knock back units in a wide radius dealing also medium damage.

“I’m fire, I’m death”(Requires "Immense Treasure") – like we seen in the scenes of BOTFA during the attack of Lake Town, Smaug sets fire on the ground while flying, burning everything in a hell of fire.

The crucial point of this last ability is the animation. The most fitting to resamble what we have seen in the movie, is the Dragon Strike attack. Supposing the power will be removed from the spellbook of MM of course. Just imagine this beautiful animation given to Smaug:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTynrCcWYS0
The sequence from BOTFA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ijyEEd6XU
Smaug skill-set on the ground
Now the basic melee attack of Smaug is fire as in 3.8.1. Being on the ground, he will be weaker to revenge-damage of the pikes and hero-killers.
 
Rank 1 : “Flying “– as usual.

"Dragon Breath"(Requires "Small Treasure"): a fire attack very effective against gates. Smaug’s Firebreath opens Gates and even burns garrisoned units.

I simply copied the one presented so far by the team but i make it active and not passive. Same animation of the basic fire attack. Also the flames of Firedrakes from vanilla game are very good but probably is difficut to adapt such animation to a bigger model like the one of Smaug.

  “Roar of the Beast” (Requires "Great Treasure") – same as in flight.

“Greediness (passive)”(Requires "Great Treasure") – The desire of gold and treasures makes Smaug very greedy. ALL the productive buildings (both enemies and allies) in a wide area around Smaug get -30% of production.

“My Claws are Spears”(Requires "Immense Treasure") – Smaug uses his legs and claws to smash the enemy units. For 30 seconds he gets +30% armor against spearmen and he can trample the masses swatting all on his path (just think about the amazing scenes in which he enters into Erebor). It affects also cavalry-type units.

“Hypnotic Gaze”(Requires "Immense Treasure") – as the ancient fire-worms of the first age, Smaug can cast hypnotic spells using his eyes. The selected enemy hero can suffer three possible effetcs:

1) The enemy hero cannot withstand the dragon-spell and falls in an hypnotic state, Smaug takes control of him. The hero is temporary converted on your side but his ability cool-down timer are reset.

2) The magic gaze of Smaug stuns the enemy hero who temporary falls in an hypnotic state. Smaug forces the hero to reveal himself and all tell to the dragon all his plans. For 20 seconds the hero cannot move and you share the sight with all the enemy heroes. Also, as a consequence,  invisible heroes are revelated.

3) The enemy hero free himself from the dragon-spell but he's demoralized and outworn: he has -25% of attack,defence and speed for 10 seconds.

The first effect will mainly affect weak heroes like scout-heroes and, in minor way,
 also stronger heroes from 1000 to 2500 resources.
The three effect are in decreasing order of power. Apart of the esclusions indicated below, the more the hero is stronger the less will be hypnotized, so lower is the probability to fall in the hands (better to say claws  :D) of Smaug. For example, heroes like Aragorn, Gimli, Thranduil will be mostly stunned or debuffed.
For gameplay, balance, lore and possible bug-related reasons all the Ring-Heroes (if you prefer main leader of the factions, usually they coincide) cannot be affected by effect 1.
Sauron' servants (Nazgul and Mouth of Sauron) and Sauron himself are immune to all the three effect.
Here you can find the quote from the book about the dragon spell:

--- Zitat von: Smaug hypnosis ---Bilbo was now beginning to feel really uncomfortable. Whenever Smaug's roving eye, seeking for him in the shadows, flashed across him, he trembled, and an unaccountable desire seized hold of him to rush out and reveal himself and tell all the truth to Smaug. In fact he was in grievous danger of coming under the dragon-spell. But plucking up courage he spoke again.
--- Ende Zitat ---


Here's the article (MM Part 2),from moddb, where i get some of the abilities of Smaug.
The article also contains the description of the others most important heroes of MM.

Heroes Of Misty Mountains

THE RING FORM (W.I.P.)

The Golden One: the One ring amplify the greediness of Smaug, making him a more powerful and out of control beast.
Smaug unlocks all his abilities independetly to the tribute system.

Related Ring issue and solution
A problem related to the ring has been found while discussing here in the thread. While flyng, if smaug dies and the ring is dropped, it could be a problem if th One falls in not walkable terrain like rocks or water. In this case Gollum it would remain stuck on that point for all the match, avoiding the players to recover the ring.
For this reason i went to a new solution, presented as follow.
When Smaug pick up the ring, the One is stored in The Dragon Lair (if there are more than one at the same time, the one in which you recruited Smaug).
Beside resolving the aforementioned problem, also it fits even best for Smaug. Many in the forum raised the issue if Smaug can or cannot wear the ring. In my view, would be fitting to consider the ring as the most precious piece of Gold for him. As we all know, once the One recognize his new (temporary) keeper, it starts to cast his influence independently by the wearing or not. I deem this explanation sufficient to justify Smaug "storing" the ring instead of wearing it.
Anyway, coming back to the mechanic it self, the Lair storing the One it will be visible in some way by the other players. If it is destroyed, than Smaug Turns back on his normal form and the ring is available for the other players. If the destroyed Lair was the last in game, also the aforementioned timer start the runnig out.
I don't know about technical problems such as coding. If the storing is not allowed, then the Denethor idea of esperado could be very good imo, also making the ring more visible to the other players.


In flight
"The Golden Armor (passive)": when Smaug wears the Ring, his whole body is immediatly covered by a Golden Armor. His armor is improved to +100% against arrows but his Flying-speed is reduced to -25%.

On the ground
"Immeasurable Greediness" (passive)": through the whispers of the ring, the sickness of Smaug becomes an Immeasurable Greediness. The debuff on buldings (both enemies and allies) is -50%.

Note: the palantir is a tribute to The Professor, from his drawing "Conversation with Smaug".

“My Claws are Spears”: armor against spearmen is increased to +50% but  the trampling damage affects also your own unit.
This should give Smaug more chances to go through the masses without losing health too fast; especially against elitè and heroic pikemen, which usually have a massive revenge damage against monsters.

The Golden armor will be graphically visible during game through a golden tone texture (both in flight and on the ground).
The other powers remain the same but are more effective: the elemental damage (fire, wind) as well as the melee damage are increased. However, the madness of Smaug make him even more careless and cruel: his attack and abilities strike also allies if they are on his path.

IN FAVOUR

1. Aulë
2. Walküre
3. Dain@
4. dkbluewizard
5. Artificialis
6. Astapor
7. Fredius
8. TheDarkOne
9. Julio229
10. Gandalf7000
11. esparado87
12. OakenShield224
13. NoldorSithLordsShipwrigh t
14. FilipGeorg95
15. Spacetyrant93
16. The Witch-King of Angmar
17. Garlodur
18. Tiberius Ogden
19. tolgayurdal


AGAINST

Walküre:
I have no other words to add to the ones I have already written. This is a wonderful concept and you, Aulë, have proved yourself a great craftsman of ideas and proposals. Marvellously written and conceived ;)


--- Zitat von: Walküre am 29. Sep 2017, 16:47 ---Well, I fall short of words in the expression of my first impression regarding the concept: it is simply bloody brilliant and marvellous!

I literally fancy almost everything that your suggestion entails, Aulë of many skills. I must first congratulate you for the daunting efforts you poured in such structured proposal; it's clearly evident and visible from any passage of the construction. Also, it was certainly not a very obvious thing that something valuable would be the outcome of our thorough discussions. And it was really a very insightful and in-depth debate, yet hard and cause of fatigues. However, you have triumphed over difficulties, gentle Aulë, and the result of your striving is honourably sound. No doubts or second thoughts about that.

Let us now, in the words of Saruman, examine what we have knowledge of: one of the stringent topics of the debate was the implementation of Smaug in a way that was worthy of the renowned smart mechanics of the Edain Mod. Not only should the very hero be included in the game via unique systems, but he needs be given more prominence in equal terms, were we to widen our sight and gaze until we consider the whole faction. This was not a very easy of a task, surely; Smaug does not partake in the common logic of the three realms (pardon the generalisation with the word realms), being him a solitary creature which prefers to act on his own and which is not much in tune with the idea of obedience either. A lone and deadly force of nature which is definitely used to lonesomeness. Therefore, in accordance with the insights that were thitherto presented to all, I really like how the concept evolved, revolving around the themes of greed, earned allegiance through tributes of gold and the special character of Smaug himself. Given the iconic importance and pervasiveness of any Edain feature, this proposal lives up to the aforementioned standards, because it devises something that complies with the lore, with the tone of the cinematographic adaptation and with that consistency at the root of faction mechanics (so that the feature is made relevant and significant for players, which is the most important goal we could set ourselves on). In conclusion, the conceptual characterisation would fare greatly, methinks. If it's possible to make it work, I feel we have eventually found a very proper solution for our needs. Although I am generally quite sceptical about tying a hero to the spellbook in such a manner, if not when it comes to exceptional cases (Sauron), I deem the concept necessary; simply said. Smaug boasts too much importance in the faction as a character and general iconic figure. Holistically, this is the system which hitherto fulfils our theories and speculations.

On a secondary note, but not lesser, I have very much appreciated that all sorts of available elements have been brought to the general attention, trying to provide in advance everything one may provide (advices, pictures, animations and so on), while leaving very little in the obscurity of doubts. Well done, indeed! I must particularly state my love for the art which has been proposed. The icons were thoughtfully conceived and that art just gives us those bits of the Hobbit trilogy that we are all fond of. Details do have their relevance! If the concept gets approved, I really hope that these images will be used for the purpose. And abilities I like too, of course. They encompass pretty much all sides of Smaug, without risking to be boring, redundant or mere replicas of the vanilla. Specifically, beside the references to the actual Hobbit, the hypnotising gaze retains the legacy of dragons in Arda and reminds us of the Elder Times of history, when the World used to have a different fashion, when foul foes would tread the ways of Middle-earth and when the immortal shires in which naught perishes were still part of the common world. The first dragons emerged from the pits of Angband during the wars between the Eldar and Morgoth, terrorising Elves, Men and Dwarves; their origin was unknown and they were equally said to have ghoulish capabilities. They appeared under a serpent-like guise and had magical powers as well, as many other demons and fell spirits in those years of agony. It is in fact reported that Glaurung, the most malicious and terrible of the Urulóki (the fire-breathing Worms of Morgoth, which are none else than the first wingless dragons) had the power to cast hypnotising spells with his wicked eyes. Moreover, Smaug is also portrayed as the deadly weapon he ought to be, for Winged Dragons appear in tales only at the last hour, amidst the utter mayhem of the War of Wrath; just to provide some facts, the arrival of such fleet of mighty beasts had even caused the Host of Valinor to retreat. The armies of Valinórë, led in battle by Eönwë, chief of the Maiar of Aman and herald of Manwë, Ancient King of Arda! As you may see, the antique lore of the past always manages to make some forays in the modernity of the Third Age. These are prime themes in the entirety of Tolkien's writings. Similarly to how we have suggested Narya being returned to Gandalf and Círdan being endowed with more lore-accurate features, connected with the ancient lore of the broad seas (Ulmo and Ossë).

Now, lest I be lost in the meanders of my narration, let us get to technicalities. Usually, new faction boards are opened after the release of said new factions. Thinking about the recent suggestions on Rivendell's spells, I truly believe that it would be wiser to start showcasing the concept at the present time, as we have enough time to leave feedback on it and perhaps polish some aspects which might need be polished. The Misty Mountains are probably still far on the horizon, yet time must be used wisely. Thus, I say this: the sooner, the better. So, dear Aulë, you have my authorisation to open an own thread in the General Suggestions. Everything is more or less finalised; nevertheless, prior to that, it would be wonderful if you managed to correct a couple of typos in the post and add Smaug's Ring form, comprising icons, abilities and the following suggestion (if you wish to include it). Speaking of which, what if Smaug were characterised by golden-toned textures, once he picks the One Ring up? An akin case to Saruman of Many Colours. We would thus have Smaug the Golden. Coming to the ending sentence: many thanks, Aulë, again. I do think that yours is a proposal worthy of being implemented :)


--- Ende Zitat ---

Thou shalt be given GREEN LIGHT from me.

Halbarad:
1. No fireball and no fireflies - I totaly agree with you in that point
2. “I’m fire, I’m death” - I would like to see him with a skill like that, but only if it's not in slow motion. Maybe he could fly faster and near to the ground while he spits fire, then fly high again. Maybe he could repeat that a few times.

Tribute System
I like your idea of leveling him with money, but by using this system you can get Smaug way too early. Especially factions Imladris would have really big problems against a 500 ress Smaug in the early game. His first appearance should be in the lategame like Drogoth did in Edain 3.8.1. Smaug and other dragons shouldn't be the center of Misty Mountains. It should stay focused on Orcs, Wargs, and trolls. And the most important effect of Misty Mountains central spell should not be related to an outpost building.

Dain@:
Dear AulëTheSmith . It's just brilliant and insanely good work. Your proposal deserves praise. Great ideas and very beautiful icons for abilities. Truly a worthy offer. As for the abilities of Smaug, I give you my voice +1. But I would like to clarify a few points.
1) What is the essence of the Dragon's disease ability?
2) For the ability "My claws are spears" only suggest adding + 25/30% armor against spearmen. This will give the best effect for a breakthrough through the ranks of enemies.
3) How the ability of the "Hypnotic Gaze" works. I support your vision of the essence of this ability, but how do you propose to implement it? It will be an analog of a powerful fear ability that will also spread to heroes (passive ability as nazgul, only more powerful), or on the contrary it will be an active ability that will weaken an individual hero ???
But I am categorically opposed to the fact that Smaug was central to the book of spells. I believe that the best place for Smaug is the last attacking ability for 10 points. The reason is simple, Despite the fact that even for me Smaug is one of the most beloved heroes, and thanks to you AulëTheSmith and your proposal, so also the most beautiful along with the Necromancer, but nevertheless my answer is simple: the central ability should reflect the essence of the faction, and in this case the specific character of the orcs of the Misty Mountains. I personally lean towards a raid. The essence of it in the following: receiving money, and updating the armor and weapons at the expense of dead enemies. (update armor and weapons only apply to goblins, for trolls and others will have to buy). Also, despite the confluence of circumstances, since the goblins and dragons fought against the dwarves, Smaug was not once in league with the goblins. But if this argument may seem a little I offer a few more nuances for discussion:
1) Smaug too strong for a stationary hero
2) Smaug as a stationary hero leads to an imbalance, the Misty Mountains already have Bolg (a very strong tank / leader), Azog, the Great Goblin, the leader of the goblins of Moria, Tom, Beal and Burt. Well, do not forget about the Super Balrog;
3) What ability can be offered for 10 points ??? if it's not Smaug.
So, if we summarize all of the above, then I propose the following: What would Smaug be a recruiting hero for 10 points. But thanks to your proposal dear AulëTheSmith with the tribute system you can adjust the time of the call of Smaug. I do not know about you, but it seems to me that this will be the best compromise for the Misty Mountains.
I apologize AulëTheSmith for my criticism. But you definitely get my vote +1. Bravo !!! And yes, I almost forgot the ring system just super, which is only gold armor !!! Elegant work AulëTheSmith !!!

Walküre:
It is very legitimate to wonder whether Smaug would be a too destructive of a feature in the early game. Moreover, as it's stated above, Smaug is also supposed to be an ultimate feature himself, which you would normally purchase/recruit in the late phase of the game. That is the additional fun and particularity of ultimate heroes of his ilk. So, I guess it would be right to increase the amount of resources needed, in order to make the tribute system function wisely.

On the other hand, Smaug is equally portrayed as a sudden calamity, which has suddenly devastated a mighty realm and taken possession of anything under the erstwhile rule. We can thus consider him being playable earlier as an interesting reference to this aspect. Smaug will nonetheless remain limited until the spell is made active.

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