Fanstratics – Update #31 – Mandrill Berserker

Author: Liso1 March 7, 2023 0 Comments

Fanstratics Troop: Mandrill Berserker

Small, quick, and deadly, few Troops relish melee combat as much as the Mandrill Berserker. Quick to leap into a skirmish, their lack of fortitude is easily offset by their high lethality. When surrounded by multiple Enemy Divisions, Mandrills become more dangerous. Couple this elevated savagery with an ability to Bleed their enemies, these Berserkers are the personification of frightening.

This one went relatively smooth, and Justin nailed the aggressive personality of the Troop. In the thumbnail stage, my only genuine concern was seeing enough of the Troop’s colorful face, but after a minor adjustment, my apprehensions were dispelled.

Fanstratics – Update #30 – Reaper

Fanstratics Question: Do you consider adding real life animal units? I think it would be a good idea to add some real-life animals like bears, bisons, lions, wolves or maybe deers. I think they would add climate to some forest or desert maps and are great, easy to make (there are many photos, descriptions etc of them) neutral units. I imagine they would be used a lot by map makers for some nature, history or adventure themed maps.

While I do have notes to ‘add more animal life‘ to the Adventure Map (i.e. birds flying overhead, rabbits along the ground, etc.), there are no plans to have ‘real-life animal units’. Doing so would definitely make the Adventure Map more ‘alive’ and interesting, but I suspect it would create confusion, controversy, or both. If players could not attack and kill these animals on the Battlefield, they would wonder, “Why not?” If players could attack and kill these animals, on the Battlefield, I could easily imagine a portion of the fandom calling me a heartless monster for advocating the murder of innocent (virtual) animals. However, where lions, tigers, and bears might be off limits, I must admit… I do like the idea of Dinosaurs.

Fanstratics Question: Do you consider adding historical units? If you don’t plan on making historically inspired/themed maps like “Viking We Shall Go!”, then these ones would probably not spawn on normal maps, but would be available in the map editor. I think it would be good to have like a few of them. Here are some examples: Conquistador, Redcoat, Jaguar Warrior, Roman Legionary or maybe even a Soviet soldier.

Back when I was working on HoMM3, I do remember one fan suggestion for a ‘historical’ version of the game. As you point out, it would make little sense for historical troops to appear in a fantasy game, but there is no reason why a ‘historical’ mod couldn’t be crafted by the community. Truthfully, if the art was appropriate, a ‘historical’ conversion could work. I don’t know how successful it would be, but it would definitely be interesting. At this stage, I can’t say how far I plan to open up Fanstratics to customization. Still, giving the community the tools they need to create complete conversions is tempting. We’ll see.

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