With all the Necromancer posts you might think the upcoming DLC is just about dead things. But there is *lots* more to it. Today we take a look at one such other feature: Cosmic Events!

The great changes taking placing on Altha are sending ripples through the cosmos. Strange phenomena appear in the skies, causing dread amongst the population. The world’s great leaders need to learn to adjust their strategies to deal with these events. For some events it might mean a high state of alert, while other events can create the perfect opportunity to deliver a painful blow to one’s enemies.

These Cosmic phenomena are random events that change the world in some way for a number of turns. They can be toggled on or off when setting up a game. The events are of varying severity and duration, with the most cataclysmic ones happening in only the end game. When an event occurs, all players get an message, stating the type of event and duration. Here are a couple of the many Omens we are working on:

Falling Clouds: The Clouds have fallen to the earth. The thick mist means vision is reduced, while extreme humidity means armored and machine units gain a defensive penalty and shock weakness. Definitely bad news for Dreadnaughts and Dwarves.

Shooting Stars: The night sky erupts with into a spectacle of shooting stars. All units get Lucky, and unit who are Lucky get extra Luck. Of course players with high morale units benefit from this one. Halflings rejoice!

Night of the Angry Gods: When the gods fight, skies darken with thunder clouds and the mortals suffer. Each turn all armies on the map have a chance to be struck by lightning. Don’t go hiding under trees.

Rise of the Lich King: An ancient Lich King emerges to bring destruction. Multiple stacks of undead units spawn across the lands, amongst them a powerful Necromancer hero with his retinue. The Lich King is a specially designed high level hero that carries many powerful artifacts that can be taken by the player who slays him.

We are using the game’s dynamic lighting system to change the look of the world according to the type of event . Of course we ensure that the maps remain readable:

Comparison of the regular with the misty mountain environment Set



… and an atmospheric night-like environment.

Let us know what you think, maybe you have some cool ideas yourself?