Mages-New class of bricktron fighter

But alas it remains a pointless mechanic.

I had not thought of them as a support unit, I think the solution is that.

The first time I talked about this idea I was thinking about create a difference (the only one) between the bricktrons, with it would be possible to send them to a training ground, a wooden doll to the swordsman training or some targets to archers, but the topic is not about that.

When I said it I was not expecting so many questions . was just a tiny idea.

I've created a separate discussion about magic and mages here: http://castlestoryonline.com/threads/magic-how-will-it-work-your-opinion.724/

GUYS CHILL OUT!
Mages, should not have a bunch of attacks, but just one attack, just like how an archer only has one attack (shooting arrows)
Mages are NOT upgraded archers, they are their own class entirely, something that could be used to fill the gap between knight and archer.

There is no gap between a soldier and an archer...

To me magic feels a bit more special than just some basic attack mechanism.

Perhaps not a normal mage, that we usually see (I.E. Casting spells), but perhaps this would work:
From magical resources (crystals?) you would refine the magic crystal (Let's call it"magium", until a better name is found) usable substance. The refined magium powder would be used with other materials to create spherical "shots" that would have specific properties. And using slingshots the "mages" would throw these magium for chosen effect. Like utility/ status inducing effects? Or perhaps a useful firewall or weakening effect, or a quick heal?
In this way: the "mages" aren't really casting spells, the ammo is finite, so it wouldn't be spammed-overused.
It would probably create a micro-management mechanic, which about I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think further discussion, thinking would be needed for this idea.

Just a weird idea, where the point of it is: We don't have to think about mages in a conventional way.

I'd like it if mages were conventional like the knights and archer or eles it would just be too annoying for me.
I was never fond of "support" type units.

I think Mages could be a good addition to the Knight and Bowman. Let it have mana which he can regenerate at the crystals.

I swear I read something about that there won't be a mage-class, but you will be able to use magic..

Ya, they did say that they weren't going to have a mage-class.. but there really aren't any classes to begin with really. In the last video they demonstrated that if you give a bricktron a sword, they'll use that, a hammer - that and so on. I don't see whats stopping them from putting a crystal on a stick and using that to shoot corruptrons/rocktrons/evil dudes

in my opionion The meage (just one, the king's mage) should be a non-combat unit, totally defenceless, non a magic-man but just a magic researcher who know how to manipulate crystal for create ...landmine ?...healing tools, catapult's explosive ammo, mixing explosive barrel content, and... manipulate the island hearth.

It should be obtained finding a magical rod in the mage tower, maybe buying it or winning a challenge to prove the value of your kingdom. If it die you also loose the rod and should buy it again. (but you can have just one at time)

It's not a mage that is missing.
It's a dwarf throwing Molotov cocktails ;-D

I much prefer the idea of a support mage than a combat mage.

With knight, you have melee offense
With archer, you have ranged offense
With the OP's mage suggestion, you have... ranged offense again.

If you look at any classic RTS, pretty much every unit can be categorized as one of the following:
melee offense
ranged offense
defense
support

Thus, if there is going to be an equipment loadout that makes a bricktron into any sort of mage, it should be filling the defense and/or support role (perhaps both?)

Why not have a "mage bricktron" have three passive AOE abilities: "shield", "heal", and "boost"? Each mage would have a "mana reserve" (which might be represented by the intensity of the glow of their staff -- bright blue glow means full up, very faint glow means almost gone, and no glow means tapped out) to power these abilities. The mana would regenerate slowly when all the abilities are off.

• Shield would create a force field around the mage in a certain diameter that would block ranged attacks; units can go in and out of the shield at will (so a shielded group would still be vulnerable to melee attacks), but it would protect melee units near the mage from ranged fire. Each ranged "hit" against the shield would drain the mage's mana a bit, so that a huge lineup of archers would still be able to take down the shield with sustained fire, and then be able to pick off the unprotected units.
• Heal would heal allied units within a certain range of the mage. Each friendly unit could only be healed at a certain rate (say 25% of their health per second), so under heavy attack it still wouldn't be enough to make them "invulnerable", but offers a tactical edge in an otherwise even match. Of course each heal tick expended on a wounded ally drains the mage's mana, so you can't have one mage sustaining a massive legion of knight bricktrons (not for very long anyways).
• Boost would, well... boost allied units within a certain range, increasing either their attack speed (how often they shoot/swing) or their attack power (each hit dealing more damage). The boost would drain the mage's mana at a constant rate, based on how many units are within range (so maybe 2% mana per second per unit -- giving you ~10 seconds of boost on five units). This would make the activation of the boost a very time-critical decision, rather than just leaving it on and marching around with bricktrons on steroids.

If it's determined that having three mages together each running a different ability would be too overpowered, maybe make it so that mages using different powers "short circuit" in close proximity to one another (perhaps represented by a blue energy arc between them), draining their mana at 2x-3x the normal rate. You could perhaps allow mages using the same power to stack; it wouldn't increase the effectiveness of their ability, but rather the duration (as though one is channeling its mana into the other, or they're taking turns using their ability).


P.S.: This is just something I cooked up off the top of my head at work, and could probably use refinement. However, if any sort of magic-using equipment were available to bricktrons, I would prefer something along these lines rather than a bricktron that throws fireballs or energy bolts or whatever.

P.P.S.: I know bricktrons don't have "HP", and accordingly they wouldn't have "MP"; however, they do have a fixed amount of health, as seen by how many hits it takes for a corruptron to kill one. I imagine that somewhere internally to the game they have a number representing how healthy they are, it just doesn't have a concrete visual representation. This is why I suggested using the glow of the staff to subtly and immersively indicate mana reserve... so you're not totally clueless as to how well-powered your mage is, but you don't have some little intrusive number or bar floating around it either.