Reducing movement time

[McSwan]

Are there any tips to reduce time lost from regenerating mana, or from just standing in same spot?

Ideally I'd like time to only pass if I move.

or Is there anything that slows the passage of time?

[DGDobrev]

Nothing, sadly :)

That's the major setback of being an offensive mage - you are pretty much forced to wait on the game field to pass the time and regain mana.

Alternatively, if the battle allows it, you can try the cheesy way of gaining mana - a few stacks of summoned thorns, poison cloud lvl 1 from glot over them and magic spring. Sadly, that doesn't always work... So if you can, use chargers when the battle allows it to regain at least some mana, that should also reduce the wating time.

[Vilk]

A design weak point, time pass only when you move would be a good choice with mana fully restored at end of battle. Wait or use tricks is very boring.

[McSwan]

Trying the beat the game in the fastest way, you have to find the most optimal path to kill monsters, with very minimal backtracking.

[Vilk]

Trying the beat the game in the fastest way, you have to find the most optimal path to kill monsters, with very minimal backtracking.

That is compatible with change in current game rules like full mana (and rage) restored at end of battle plus time that pass only when you move (I know it's not fully logical but would avoid those constant boring pausing and other weird stuff).

[DGDobrev]

If you want to beat the game in the fastest time, you should really try to utilize the various mana and rage filling options and tricks. It is imperative to end the battle with as much mana and rage as possible. However, the warrior has easier time maintaining that...

Still, do not think that this is a weak point in the design. There are tricks to fill up your mana, there are mana potions, there are various items, there are green dragons, there are mods, and there are cheat codes to fill your mana. I do agree cheating is bad, and if you're trying to beat the game as a mage, you have to live with that mana disadvantage (maybe that's why I don't like the mage that much). It is in the game, and if that is so, this is the proper way it should be played. Otherwise it would've been patched.

It's easy to point out design flaws, whether the claim is justified or not, it's another thing to try and deal with them. It's easy to stomp your foot and proclaim something's wrong when it doesn't suit you. The mage is undoubtedly the mass killer, that can easily reduce the enemy's army stacks equal or lower than his own in record time while losing few to no troops (geyser/fire rain, underground blades, time back), but he has to suffer some penalty for that - otherwise the game would just be way too easy for him when he gets up to the point where you have 150+ mana, 30+ intellect and a big boost to the damage of your spells.

In addition to that, beating the game in the fastest time requires a lot of effort and a lot of rounds dedicated to recovering troops (sometimes over 60 rounds worth making mana for resurrecting - with the paladin against Baal on impossible, the battle went up to round 143 before I can fix all my troops and get back to full mana + rage), rage (through the inquisitors) and mana (chargers, thorns + poison cloud + magic spring, etc). That's just the way it is done. If you're really striving for a quick victory, you should learn to live with that :)

EDIT: If you're complaining about that now, I wonder how will you feel when you get your hands on KBAP. Faster mana recovery (Meditation as we know it) is tier 4 skill with a lot of prerequisites and mana recovery in battle (Concentration as we know it) is a last tier skill, also with a lot of prerequisites. That usually means that you can't get lvl 1 in those before level 9-10, while in KBTL, you can get them in no time. And even if you do try to get them asap (say, lvl 7 - that's when you're on the second island with no easy access to archers, inquisitors and royal thorns), you deprive yourself of having Distortion magic in these levels (because they're in the order magic tier) - and by that time in impossible, you're already fighting "overpowering" and "impossible" enemies 80% of the time (where your fire arrow just doesn't cut it and you need chaos magic to get fireball, which often isn't enough as well), and of course, winning the battles with no losses is imperative for the Leadership awards. Suffice to say, a mage, striving for fast victory is having way easier time on impossible in KBTL than in KBAP. So once again, if you guys dislike it now, I wonder what kind of uproar there will be when you get KBAP.

[Stepsongrapes]

A design weak point, time pass only when you move would be a good choice with mana fully restored at end of battle. Wait or use tricks is very boring.

Mana fully restored after each battle is drastically different approach. Consider the game's tension between mana (which regenerates with time) and rage (which decreases with time). Also, time is a major part of the game's scoring system.

So, it's unfair to say that having mana regenerate over time is a "design weakness."

Rather, the arguable design weakness is not having a "wait" or "accelarated time" button, to make conciously accepting a wait (with the loss of rage and score) less of a chore.

[Vilk]

I see not all people share the same opinion and that's fine.

I understand the initial purpose of the game could have been the opposition between mana and rage, but this goal fails because the game gives trick to restore fully at end of time and because time go fast and you can't give you the time to wait for mana restore.

The whole is, for me, a clear design weakness because it generates the boring gameplay of loosing time to restore mana and rage at max at end of each battle. Not doing it is a huge penalty to the score and in fact to the efficiency too, that's all the problem.


EDIT: If you're complaining about that now, I wonder how will you feel when you get your hands on KBAP. Faster mana recovery (Meditation as we know it) is tier 4 skill with a lot of prerequisites and mana recovery in battle (Concentration as we know it) is a last tier skill, also with a lot of prerequisites. That usually means that you can't get lvl 1 in those before level 9-10, while in KBTL, you can get them in no time. And even if you do try to get them asap (say, lvl 7 - that's when you're on the second island with no easy access to archers, inquisitors and royal thorns), you deprive yourself of having Distortion magic in these levels (because they're in the order magic tier) - and by that time in impossible, you're already fighting "overpowering" and "impossible" enemies 80% of the time (where your fire arrow just doesn't cut it and you need chaos magic to get fireball, which often isn't enough as well), and of course, winning the battles with no losses is imperative for the Leadership awards. Suffice to say, a mage, striving for fast victory is having way easier time on impossible in KBTL than in KBAP. So once again, if you guys dislike it now, I wonder what kind of uproar there will be when you get KBAP.
I'll try the demo before buying KBAP but one part of the problem is KBTL allowing a whole set features involving boring gameplay. Remove all possibilities to restore mana and rage at end of a battle and that can change all. Another more simple possibility is just to restore them at max automatically at end of battle.

EDIT: Quote that auto restore of max still keep the time pressure on rage, something that make sense when you know that time is major for the score. That deletes the mana restore but what's the point about this? Train max restore speed? That's still a lot too slow. Don't use mana too much during a battle? That makes no sense.

[DGDobrev]

It makes perfect sense in my eyes. First of all, higher difficulties put the player through more peril and the rage income is lower - the description in the game says so. Second, a quick victory is a difficult challenge. If one wants to complete that challenge, he/she must dedicate a lot of time and energy to that goal with the resources he/she has at hand.

As for the restoring rage/mana to full, that looks way too unbalancing in my eyes. That sounds as if you run a 42km marathon, cross the finish line and suddenly be ready to run another 42km? You are supposed to feel weakened after a battle - although the game itself gives plenty of options to be ready for the next one...

If rage/mana was to be at max after each battle, that would benefit the mage the most. This means you can start the next battle with 2x fire rain/geyser + underground blades and lay waste to most of the enemy troops, leaving half of them burning (or frozen) for even more damage, making the battle easy to win even on impossible. That would be way too unbalancing in my eyes and everyone will play the mage, rendering all other classes useless.

So why not make King's Bounty: Ruled by the Mage and be done with it :)

[Vilk]

Fully wrong, it's quite easy to finish any battle with full rage and mana, boring but easy anyway, but that doesn't make the mage superior to warrior, the reverse is still true.

For the time we don't see it in a same way, for me it's a base element of the game, it's not a matter of high challenge but in the basic game. If not it's quite easy to just wait for mana restore, boring but easy anyway, so if time doesn't count just wait and you get full mana, that's that simple. If it count you end to restore mana at end of battle and that's tedious and worse.

[DGDobrev]

In that case the argument is sort of pointless - we both agree that the mage suffers a certain handicap that can easily be compensated with a few more rounds in battle, provided the battle allows it :)

I do not argue that it is boring to wait around, but that's a part of the gameplay as a mage. The game allows for unique gameplays for all 3 chars and that's what makes it fun. And besides - if the mage is handicaped by that - what do we say about the paladin, who neither gets enough rage in combat, nor gets enough mana for decent spellcasting other than buffing? :)

[Vilk]

The game flow which is very fast doesn't match mana restore along exploration, a bit of design originality here would be quite better and wouldn't break any balance. That's not a perfect game, it has other points much better design.