Hello guys,
I have this idea for Smaug as ring hero in my head for a while and I would like to share it. I thought it best to post it in this discussion rather than starting a new one.
I know that the Misty Mountains are not a priority in production as of this moment, but an epic creature like Smaug deserves a terrific concept worthy of its calamity.
Firstly, I want to give some details on how I imagine Smaug to be as a recruitable hero.
On Moddb in the thread section concerning the heroes of the Misty Mountains, I remember reading a comment in which his skills were like this:
Lvl 1. Toggle fly / land
Lvl 2. Dragon Breath (passive) / Fireball
Lvl 4. Fearsome Roar / Wing Blast
Lvl 7. Fire Flight
Lvl 10. Incinerate
A short explanation concerning the effects of these skills was as follows: the function of the toggle is very straightforward, Dragon Breath and Fearsome Roar for on the ground, Fireball and Wing Blast for in flight. Dragon Breath would be a passive power for Smaug, being able to open/destroy gates and empty garrisons at once. Fearsome Roar would be a regular skill that makes enemies run away in fear. I assume that the other skills were taken from Drogoth the Dragon Lord, therefore Fire Flight would be a fire in the shape of a dragon directed at the enemy, and Incinerate would be an attack with which the dragon covers a whole area in fire. However, I do not entirely understand how an attack like Fire Flight and Incinerate would differ from Smaug's standard attack when on ground, unless the latter would be like the Balrog's.
All these skills emphasize Smaug's role as a mass slayer and building destroyer at a higher level, but his standard attack should also contain these aspects in smaller amounts. On ground he is primarily a mass slayer / destroyer of resource buildings, and in the air a building destroyer with mass slayer abilities.
Whereas these skills are quite clear, I thought they were too simple and not so unique. I therefore propose to add skills that refer to other characteristics of a dragon (and especially one like Smaug), namely greed: dragons are attracted by wealth, gold and treasures of all kinds, and this should be connected to the Edain Mod as it strives to reach realism in accordance to the movies, books and other canon material.
Recruitable Smaug
First, his power is bound to the treasury of the player: with every 1000/2000 resources Smaug's damage and armour should be increased by 5/10%, with the limit to 5000/10000. The specific amounts could be altered for balancing reasons. This would be a passive skill that takes up the second slot in the palantir, after the toggle but both at level 1. An additional (active) effect could be that Smaug collects resources for a short time when he attacks buildings, although this might be obsolete as the Goblins of Goblin Town already fulfill the role of pillagers. The name could be 'Hoard the Treasure.'
Second, with one less slot available, Fire Flight should go. It has always seemed strange to me that a dragon is able to create a flame in a specific form (although it looks very cool), and this ability could be incorporated well in the Fireball skill: at level 7 the Fireball is blue fire and does 25% more damage and recharges 15% faster. Again, these levels can be altered for balance.
Third, the skill Dragon Breath seems rather obvious to me. I mean, isn't all dragon fire hot enough to burn through buildings? Why wait till level 2 for this passive skill? Therefore, I propose to have this skill already incorporated as Smaug is recruited and instead have a different passive skill take its place: Smaug's Presence *different name needed*, the area around Smaug is pressingly hot and therefore slightly damages surrounding enemy troops (very small effect radius), and the soil on which he treads catches fire for a short time (not too sure if the latter is fair in terms of balance, imagine endless Dwarven Oil Spill). This gives Smaug the ability to deal more efficiently with troops that are trying to surround him because dragons have a very slow rate of attack and are terrible at turning at the spot, due to game mechanics.
Fourth, Smaug's level 10 on ground is not Incinerate but Hypnotic Gaze/Speech. Remember Glauring fixing Túrin in place seeing his friends die, or Bilbo being enchanted by Smaug's words? I haven't yet found a perfect implementation of this in game, but my idea was to give Smaug the possibility to cripple heroes in a small/medium radius for 5/10 seconds (possibly stunning regular units too) in order for Smaug to retreat safely, to bring in hero killers like the Defiler, or simply to have an army of Goblins hindering those heroes.
The abilities per level become like this:
Lvl 1. Toggle fly / land
Lvl 2. Smaug's Presence (passive) / Fireball (turns blue at lvl 7)
Lvl 4. Hoard the Treasure (passive/active)
Lvl 7. Fearsome Roar / Wing Blast
Lvl 10. Hypnotic Speech / Incinerate
Smaug as Ring hero
The basis for Smaug as Ring hero is that he turns more greedy and he will more actively search for ways to increase his wealth and internalize it. The reason for this line of thought comes from the theory that every creature in Middle Earth is affected differently by the Ring, in a way that certain characteristics are extremified (e.g. Dwarves dig deeper in their greed and are even sturdier; Men become corrupted by its power and are poisoned by it, like Boromir in Edain and the Nazgul; Hobbits become even more stealthy). Check out this website for the full theory: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/ringfaq.htm (http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/ringfaq.htm)
Smaug's abilities would turn into the following, many of which are improved versions:
Lvl 1. Toggle fly / land
Lvl 2. Presence of a Calamity (passive) / Fireball (turns blue at lvl 7)
Lvl 4. Golden Armour (active)
Lvl 7. Fearsome Roar / Wing Blast
Lvl 10. Hypnotic Gaze / Incinerate
The first clear difference is the passive skill 'Presence of a Calamity'. This is the improved version of Smaug's Presence that adds a passive decrease in speed and damage to standard units. The Fireball ability could also be improved but I don't yet know how. It could change into the removed Fire Flight ability with the argument that with Smaug under the influence of the Ring, he could actually conjure fires in different shapes.
The second difference is the 'Golden Armour' ability that replaces the 'Hoard the Treasure' ability. This is mostly inspired by the scene at the end of "The Desolation of Smaug" and it would include some new textures for Smaug. Basically it can be interpreted in two ways: either Smaug actually starts eating gold due to his lust for it the gold melts and internalizes in his blood and scales, which coats them with a golden layer; or he melts his mounts of gold and rolls in it to create a golden armour. In-game it doesn't matter how it is interpreted as his stats will be increased: first, it increases his armour permanently; second, it increases his damage for a short while (it hurst him so much that he starts raging); third, his health instantly decreases (due to the pain of liquid gold solidifying). Also, these changes will cost you resources, obviously as he eats/melts them. This changes can be intensified in several steps that have to be 'bought' one by one:
-The first upgrade costs 500 resources and subtracts 500 hit point from the total, and it increases his armour permanently and damage temporarily by 5%, and he gets a golden helmet;
-The second costs 1000 resources and hit points, increases armour permanently and damage temporarily by 15%, he gets wing protection;
-The third costs 2000 resources and hit points, increases armour permanently and damage temporarily by 30%, he gets leg and tail protection;
-The fourth and final costs 4000 resources and hit points, increases armour permanently and damage temporarily by 50%, and his full body gets a golden armour.
The main idea was to make the player pay a lot for improving Smaug's statistics, and thus increasing the risk of dying plus the fact that less money is available to recruit other units. This can all be balanced out, of course. Regarding the visual adjustments, if the team decides that it is too much work to make four new textures, I propose that the texture body armour only remains and is simply 'reforged' by Smaug.
The last difference is with the 'Hypnotic Gaze' ability: the target radius is improved to medium/large and the duration of the cripple effect is 10/15 seconds rather than 5/10.
The other high level abilities are dependent on the increased statistics that come with the 'Golden Armour' ability, therefore improving each skill as Smaug pays with his life (and your money). The exact statistics for 'Wind Blast' and 'Incinerate' are linked to the temporary damage boost and for 'Fearsome Roar' the duration of the fear effect.
To conclude, Smaug becomes a greedy dragon that still fulfills the role of mass slayer and building destroyer, whilst also hindering heroes and debuffing enemies.
I hope you will like this extensive idea and you are free to improve on it. ;)
Lastly, as a direct contribution on this topic I had another small idea: the outpost for the Misty Mountains could be a large dragon cave where Smaug can be recruited along with some small drakes. When Smaug gets the Ring, the production of these other dragon types (I am unfamiliar with their use in 3.8), is allowed.