Dark Magic
Dark Magic is a faction began by the user Modman from the official Glest forums in July 2008. The faction is intended to be an addition to Magitech, the official Glest tech tree. The factions Tech and Magic are already included in the official Magitech tech tree. Dark Magic would be the third faction in Magitech.
History
Dark Magic was initially worked on in July 2008. Originally, the faction was smaller than a Magitech faction because of the lack of units. Eventually, a Magitech-sized version was made.
Many initial ideas for units and upgrades were thrown simply because they caused imbalance with Tech and Magic. Similarly, many of the units were renamed and redesigned from the initial concepts. Units such as the Tree Walker and the Griffin were disposed of for various reasons. Units were also renamed, like the Witch, renamed to the Sorceress.
The initial release of Dark Magic included no new 3D models. All models were re-textured Magitech models, so the initial release did not bring very much interest. New patches and releases continued to be created afterward, fixing various balance issues or including new re-texturings.
In June of 2009, Modman began a team of developers to efficiently create Glest factions. Gameboy, citing a previous attempt of his to create a similar team, proposed the name GLADE team. The name GLADE, an acronym for GLest Association of Development Enthusiasts, became official the next day. The head of the GLADE Team, John.d.h proposed that the initial project of the GLADE Team be Dark Magic.
Units in Dark Magic
There are two fields supported thus far by the Glest engine. The first, land, is the field in which most of the units in Glest are located. Ground units are attached to the ground and cannot travel through obstacles like trees or buildings. Air units are a more advanced type of unit. To date, there are only three air units in the default Magitech tech tree: the Airship, Ornithopter from Tech, and the Dragon from Magic. Dark Magic adds two more air units.
Workers
The acolyte is the worker unit for Dark Magic. It cannot attack, but it can build structures, harvest resources and heal troops. It is integral to someone playing Dark Magic, as it is the basic unit. The Acolyte builds the Sheol Temple, the Blood Fountain, the Sorcery Runes, the Divination Crystal, the Oblivion Portal. The Acolyte also repairs all of the buildings it builds, and heals much of the military. The Acolyte had previous names such as apprentice and acolythe, a slight spelling variation.
Ranged Military
Ranged military is an important part of any faction. They allow attacks to be carried out without being adjacent to the enemy unit, and also require that any melee units come to meet them. This adds at least one extra attack per ranged unit used than the enemy will have, and can thus be an important part of an assault. Ranged units is usually inclusive only of ground units, because all air units in Glest have ranged attacks.
Ranged units in Dark Magic are all mages. Units in this category for Dark Magic are the Dark Mage, the Sorceress, the Dark Elder, and the Alliyp. The Dark Mage is a middle game unit, promoted from the Acolyte, which can be formidable when in numbers. The Sorceress, another mage for Dark Magic, has a medium attack and can also produce military on the battlefield. The Sorceress produces the Morlock, the Shadow Walker, and the Harpy.
Dark Mage: A middle game unit similar to Magic's Battlemage. It has a good move speed and a moderately damaging attack. It is an all-around unit that, in sufficient numbers, can match its more powerful counterparts.
Sorceress: A surprisingly decent summoning unit that can conjure Morlocks, Shadow Walkers and Wyverns. (For additional Info see below.) It is comparable to Magic's Summoner, and shares many of its abilities.
Morlock: A cheap, weak unit that is best used as cannon fodder, or to distract or swarm an enemy army. It has a melee attack that is decent against structures, but bad against units.
Shadow Walker: A strong, slow unit that is a mid-game melee attacker. It is useful in conjunction with many units, but especially ones that travel at the same speed or slightly slower than it.
