Suggestion for new Cave Units.

[HoneyBadger]

Due to the success of the new Oceania units thread (namely that it's entertaining, and something might actually come of it), I thought I'd make a post for new cavern crawlers, and hope for some contributors.

[K]

War beetles. Nuff said.

[HoneyBadger]

I don't think war beetles live in caves. Don't you mean cave beatles?

[Gandalf Parker]

Cave Crickets, +luck.

[HoneyBadger]

That's excellent, Gandalf http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

[HoneyBadger]

How about hostile cave independents? With caves being so resource-rich, and valuable, any ideas for some new and nasty critters to inflict on various nations trying their hands at spelunking?

[HoneyBadger]

Here's a little inspiration:

http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave/index.html

[Gandalf Parker]

Are we really missing a reference to goblins in the game?
That would be something to build on.

[konming]

Beholders.

[HoneyBadger]

Here's a cave beetle graphic for K, just to get the ball rolling:

I did it in less than 15 mins, so it's not perfect, but hopefully useable.

Cavewars Beetle (independent only)
Stats: Hp. 30, Str. 30, Att 12, Def 10, Morale 20, Prot 20, Mv 12/2,
Res. Fire 50%, Cold 25%, Pois 100%. Size 4 Trample, weapon: Chitin Horn-armour piercing, Str.
Poison Spit. ammo 2, range 3, Damage 12, no str. area 1, weak poison. Darkvision (100) Mountainwalk, Animal.

Would make a good mount for an independent leader. It might need a lot of balancing, if anyone were to add it to a nation.

[HoneyBadger]

The combat form (not much different)

I'd go back and touch this one up, but I screwed up and my version is corrupted. The version here should be fine though, I just can't redownload it.

[JimMorrison]

It is majenta! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Giant Centipedes would be cool too. Ewwwwww..... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Also blind Albino Cave Snakes.

[Endoperez]

Gandalf Parker said:
Are we really missing a reference to goblins in the game?
That would be something to build on.



Both Vaetti and Bakemono build on the goblin myth.

[Tifone]

+1 for the giant centipede.
+1 for the beetle, what bout a fire spitting one http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I still think that would be cool a site you can enter and come out with a tamed random dinosaur from the Verne's "Voyage au centre de la Terre" underworld, +- like the void gate ^^ let my pure dreaming alone plz http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

As Endo said, we already have the goblinz, and they r enough ^^

I think the caves are already well served. Agarthans have magma children, cheaper earth elementals, Umbrals. We already have bats. We already have spiders. We have plenty of scorpions. We already have a giant salamander. I don't think there are more things left which live in caves ^^

[Agema]

HoneyBadger said:
I don't think war beetles live in caves. Don't you mean cave beatles?



No, The Beatles played in The Cavern. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Spendios]

We have cavemen already but what about the other prehistoric cave animals :
cave bear
cave lion
cave hyena
giant ground sloth

[Kuritza]

Kobolds may fill the cave-dwellers niche, I dont think there are kobolds in Dominions yet. Also, Ageless (and middle-aged) Olms theme in Dominions is still intriguing me.

[Ironhawk]

Worms!

Purple Worms could be size 6 and have a "swallow whole" attack or somethign like that.

[JimMorrison]

Can of Olms!

[Cor2]

kitty cats!

[HoneyBadger]

Spendios, that was a great idea, and I'm in a crafty mood, so here's what I did this afternoon:

(this post) Ground Sloth
Suggested stats: Hp. 24 Siz. 4 Str 24 Att. 14 (ambi), Def. 12, Prot. 6, Mor. 14 MR. 10 Mv. 9/1 Prec. 6. Forestwalk. Weapons: Claw/Claw. Poison cloud (weak). Animal.

Note, while the images themselves are not 100% original, some of them are free (from Wikipedia) and they have all been extensively modified, to the point where there should be no copyright worries.

The beetle posted earlier was all mine though http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Feel free to use them however you want. They're not game-ready, but they should give quite a head-start for anyone interested in adding prehistoric animals to the game.

[HoneyBadger]

Antique Bison

Suggested stats: Hp. 33 Siz. 4 Str 26 Att. 12, Def. 12, Prot. 4, Mor. 14 (Berserk 4) MR. 12 Mv. 15/2 Prec. 4. Weapons: Trample, Gore. Animal.

[HoneyBadger]

Andrewsarchus

Suggested stats: Hp. 40 Siz. 4 Str 25 Att. 15, Def. 14, Prot. 4, Mor. 18 MR. 14 Mv. 12/2 Prec. 6. Weapons: Massive Bite (5 + Str, armour piercing). Gluttony (1) Animal.

[HoneyBadger]

Cave Bear

Suggested stats: Hp. 30 Siz. 4 Str 24 Att. 15, Def. 14, Prot. 4, Mor. 20 MR. 15 Mv. 14/2 Prec. 5. Weapons: Claw/Claw Bite. Berserk (6) Cold Res. 100% Mountainwalk. Animal.

[HoneyBadger]

Glyptodon (Deodicurus)

Suggested stats: Hp. 20 Siz. 3 Str 20 Att. 12, Def. 12, Prot. 16 Mor. 12 MR. 12 Mv. 12/1 Prec. 6. Weapons: Spiked Tail (Str. Area 1) Animal.

[HoneyBadger]

Hyaenadon

Suggested stats: Hp. 22 Siz. 3 Str 18 Att. 12, Def. 12, Prot. 2, Mor. 13 MR. 12 Mv. 14/2 Prec. 4. Weapons: Crushing Bite (Str. Armour Piercing). Animal.

[HoneyBadger]

Arsinotherium

Suggested stats: Hp. 35 Siz. 4 Str 25 Att. 12, Def. 9, Prot. 8, Mor. 20 MR. 12 Mv. 15/2 Prec. 3. Weapons: Trample, Gore, Gore. Animal.

[JimMorrison]

Yes! Dinosaurs and cave beasts! We do need an Earth Gate. But make it a super rare and fun 4E magic site, not a national site (since it would likely go to Agartha, who is chock full of national summons). Just make it so any Earth mage can enter to summon creatures from the depths!

[HoneyBadger]

By the way, any comments on the graphics? Are they downloading alright?

[Lingchih]

Yes, graphics look fine.

Cave Bear needs more HP. They were huge.

[HoneyBadger]

Well, the stats should probably be balanced more scientifically than I'm currently capable of. I can't easily compare them to what's already in the game, which makes it hard. I just wanted to have something in place, incase any new people wanted to use them, and didn't know where to begin.

[JimMorrison]

Oh come on, you don't have a good working idea of how a Glyptodon compares to a Kraken? Pshhhh.....

[HoneyBadger]

Well, I'm sure a glyptodon would make a nice snack for the kraken...

[HoneyBadger]

I had the thought that it might be cool to have elemental versions of existing creatures, as Independents. Like a Hydra earth elemental, or giant ants of elemental fire.

[Wrana]

Probably would be too much. Prehistoric mammals are good enough, but right now I am not sure where to place them in the game context... But maybe some use will show itself - there was an idea about "prehistoric" mod with cavemen replacing humans as main race (Gandalf's, I believe)...

[HoneyBadger]

Mine too, I'm afraid...

I think prehistoric creatures-atleast in terms of within the last 30,000 years-ought to just show up occasionally as EA Independents-they'd just be survivors. If we ever get a magic system that's Age-specific, then maybe they can be generic summons, also.

Can we currently mod in generic (non national) spells? I think we can...if so, it could be worked around by creating an EA mod with those types of summons.

Maybe someone should just make a Caveman nation and give them prehistoric critter national summons and recruits?

[JimMorrison]

Mine too, I'm afraid...

I think prehistoric creatures-atleast in terms of within the last 30,000 years-ought to just show up occasionally as EA Independents-they'd just be survivors. If we ever get a magic system that's Age-specific, then maybe they can be generic summons, also.

Can we currently mod in generic (non national) spells? I think we can...if so, it could be worked around by creating an EA mod with those types of summons.

Maybe someone should just make a Caveman nation and give them prehistoric critter national summons and recruits?


That would be so awesome. "Cromagnia - Land of the Lost" ;)

Sloth riders, and 6 foot dragonflies, and Allosaurs covered in pungi sticks! :o

[HoneyBadger]

Land of the Lost, eh? Someday I'm gonna have to buy the original series on DVD. That show was freaky weird.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Lost_(1974_television_series)_characte rs_and_species#Altrusians

I'd recommend doing a mod nation combining cavemen with elements from Land of the Lost, except that I'm already working (not very hard) on a nation that summons creatures from the past and the future. It's Lovecraftian, though, based on the Fungi from Yuggoth.

Still, a Land of the Lost nation could be really interesting-with Sleestaks, Altrusians, those crystal matrixes they used sometimes, pylons, skylons, the Library of Skulls, dinosaur summons, invisible aliens, and other weirdness.

[Wrana]

What Allosaurs did to you??! :P
Considering initial question - iirc, generic spells can be modded in quite readily. It's adding them for only part of nations which can be tricky...

[HoneyBadger]

Would a moderator (or anybody else with a few minutes on their hands) mind posting the image of the Hyaenadon into my Aksum thread? I can't download it, and I've since lost the original. Preferrably as a .jpg. I don't seem to be able to retrieve other file types.

[TheMenacer]

Obviously what Dominions needs is Giant Cave Swallows. Also kobolds would make awesome cave dwellers/recruitables. It's really surprising that they're not already in considering that while D&D made them famous, they're actual mythological creatures representing veins of tainted metals and underground accidents. I'm not sure what they would look like (probably just sinister little men or whatever) or have as a power set though, certainly glamor because of the fact that they were basically gnomes/fairies, and I'm thinking possibly earth/death magic, but pretty much every subterranean species is all about earth/death, so there wouldn't be a lot to set them apart. Earth/Water could be interesting, giving them access to things like rust mist would go a ways toward representing their affinity towards metals.

[HoneyBadger]

Great idea!

I did a mod nation based in part on the Dero, which are similar-if more modern and much, much weirder-to kobolds. It needs an immense amount of work, but it atleast should show my support for kobold-types in Dom3. I've also considered creating a gnome nation based on the gnomes from "Diamonds are Forever" by Eric Flint-which is itself based in part on L. Frank Baum's Oz.

Ofcourse, there's already a superb kobold mod nation available from Saulot, but it's my-very limited!-understanding that they're more based on D&D Kobolds than mythological cave knockers. Not that there's anything wrong with that-it's a really beautiful mod-but from what I gather, it's not *quite* what you had in mind.

[HoneyBadger]

As far as the giant cave swallow goes, although it sounds fun, personally, I'd personally rather see a Deep Crow show up :)

[Trumanator]

What about a nation of mole-men? I am also suddenly thinking of those weird fungus-people from one of the Drizzt novels. Noone's mentioned the Dark elves either, though I guess part of what makes Dominions special is that it doesn't use those canned, overused fantasy standbys for the most part. Actually, what might be really interesting would be a prehistoric, UNDERWATER race. It could have stuff like giant crocadiles, pleiseiosaurs, ichthysaurs, the works.