Nation suggestions

[brxbrx]

I hope this is the right place to put this.

First, a Native American nation should be implemented. Nearly every human civilization is in Dominions, but not the Native Americans of the Southwest. The Hohokam, Anasazi, or even the Apache tribes would make great bases for new nations.
Anasazi and Hohokam culture have a very rich mythological background. National summons could be Kokopelli, or totem animals like coyotes and crows.
For continuity, the American Indian civilizations interacted frequently with the Aztecs, Toltecs, and Mayans, the genitor of Mictlan. Thus, some sort of link between the two could be mentioned. There were also some religious similiraties between the two culture groups: gods such as Quetzalcoatl were shared.
Unit wise, the nation would probably be centered on light infantry (very light- remeber the clothes those redskins wore in the ole Westerns) with lots of unique abilities, like etheral, berserk, or transforming. The nation would also be heavy on magic, with powerful priests (as one would expect any shamanist culture).
It should be noted, however, that this nation would not be Mictlan without swamps and jungles.
Firstly, the Natives had knowledge of archery, so they wouldn't be using slings. Also, they had a strong spirit and totem based religion- the Aztec deities were much more physical, more present. Blood sacrifice would also be omitted. Finally, combat style would be different. The tribes aforementioned did not use macanas, nor did they use the hardened cotton armor of the Meso-Americans. The prospective nation would probably be more sneak, hit, and run as opposed to swarm.

My next idea would be for a post-colonial Machaka. The late age saw Marignon expandind and colonizing and evangelizing. Machaka must surely have been found by them, and their disappearance from that era to me is disappointing.
It would probably be similar to Machaka, but with limited sailing, iron weapons, and a ruling caste of either mulattos or colonists. There would also be a heretic aspect of Voodoo cults, that, while magically powerful, corrupt the converted Machakans back to the old ways.

Just my ideas. If the modders or devs like them, don't hesitate to implement them!

[Endoperez]

Dominions II had an Oglala mod. You could try upgrading it for Dom3 if you're interested in seeing an American Indian nation. Making it work shouldn't be that difficult, but rebalancing might be hard.

[Sombre]

Dr Praetorius made an LA machaka mod I believe, with features very similar to those you propose.

The Haida Gwaii mod by Foodstamp represents native,... canadians I guess you'd call them. The tribes to the north of the plains who mostly lived their lives around fishing.

[legowarrior]

There are the LA Atlantians, with a far north american feel to them.

[Spendios]

I'm still hoping for a Muspelheim nation :D

[Renojustin]

Mictlan is very much drawn from the Aztec it seems to me.

[vfb]

Dr Praetorius made an LA machaka mod I believe, with features very similar to those you propose.

The Haida Gwaii mod by Foodstamp represents native,... canadians I guess you'd call them. The tribes to the north of the plains who mostly lived their lives around fishing.

Oh jeez, all this time I've been thinking Canadians live their lives around hockey and beer.

[Gregstrom]

I hear there's a strong link between fishing and beer :)

[brxbrx]

I'm still hoping for a Muspelheim nation :D
You mean like Abysia?

[Edi]

Abysia is different from Muspelheim thematically and in terms of history. It's an original creation of the devs, not based on any mythology as such. Besides, KO has made some comments about a Muspelheim nation but AFAIK that's just conceptual stuff, nothing that has been done or is currently in the works.

[Aezeal]

Well, Muspelheim wouldn't be that hard to make really.

Change color on the Niefelgiants would go a long way, some other troops would probably be similar to other heim troops, though I'm not sure what you'd add in there, probably Jotuns too since they seem to be between fire and ice giants, though generally more linked with Niefels I think.

Some special chars as heroes, Muspel, Surt?

Hellheim troops for summons? Loki as summon too maybe?
Highlevel unique summons (not for this nation but for all) could be Jormungandr and Fenrir and others which fight on their side durign Ragnarok.

A ragnarok spell identical to armageddon would be easily created for thematic purposes.

All in all very easy to make I think (though more contect would be needed and I know not enough about it) but probably all in all very similar to Niefelheim too (which is not very surprising but might not add that much) just mirroring it to a fire nation with some astral (fire creating stars n stuff)

[brxbrx]

Wouldn't Fenrir be more appropriate for Niefelheim? He's kind of Dire Wolf-ie.
And my comparison to Abysia was just to point out how little a Muspelheim nation would add to the game. Fire Jotuns wouldn't be the pinnacle of creative thinking, and strategically they'd only be so little different.
I don't know very much about Norse mythology (I'm more of a Judeo-Christian man, myself), but a cool idea for this nation would be a fire centered people living in a cold environment. In Dominions, people adapt to their climates naturally. What if this nation did so magically, with fire and whatnot (though I suppose fire composes most of whatnot...). And honestly, enough nations have the Herse/Jarl/Huskarl/Hirdmen hierarchy. What would be cool is a more dwarf-centered Scandinavian region, with some kind of thane-ocracy instead.
Finally, this thread seems to be fertile soil for suggesting new nations, so I'll toss in another idea.
Pre-Islam Arabia.
In fact, Arabia seems very left out in this game. Helenists, Romans, Egyptians, and Persians all have their representative nations (or at least units). I think Arabs would make a great addition.
For instance, camel based cavalry would have more movement, less defence, and less morale, and maybe greater size. Like C'tis, combat would be with falchions and sabres, but armor would be much lighter. National summons would be djinns and efreeti, and magic would be fire, maybe water, and air (I don't see enough fire/air). They could also have national evocation spells that do something along the lines of a sandstorm, in fact, they could have a small sand-based theme. Ultimately such a nation would be very refreshing (in a 'where's that oasis' kind of way) for its new magic focus, reattribution to relevancy for that djinni lamp guy, and new tactics.
Just my 6 million Zimbabwe-bucks.

[Sombre]

There was an arabian mod being made iirc as a sort of community effort, but it is probably abandoned now. However a couple of sprites and some .dm code can be found in its thread through searching.

But you don't seem interested in mod nations?

[Aezeal]

yeah me and some others where busy with that, me more the mythological stuff with djinni's and someone else started on the ages after it more based on real historical arab nations. I think even before that there where attempts though. My mod was Djinnibad, there is probably something uploaded with that thread so he could look there, someone was doing some unit sprites for me that looked decent.

[Endoperez]

yeah me and some others where busy with that, me more the mythological stuff with djinni's and someone else started on the ages after it more based on real historical arab nations. I think even before that there where attempts though. My mod was Djinnibad, there is probably something uploaded with that thread so he could look there, someone was doing some unit sprites for me that looked decent.

It was me. :( If I didn't have so many projects of my own to finish I'd feel sorry about abandoning it, but as it is, it's just one of the many things I couldn't finish.

Brxbrx:
"Son of Fenrer" is a pretender choice available for several "northern" nations.

[brxbrx]

But you don't seem interested in mod nations?

If you mean me modding, then no, I'm not interested in doing that. My programming and artistic skills are very limited.

But I've used mods in the past, and I'm about to look into the LA Machaka mod.

[Sombre]

I meant using mod nations. I assumed you weren't when you didn't respond to my pointing out two mod nations that did what you were after.

As an aside, actual modding requires no artistic or programming skills.

[brxbrx]

Well, I'll certainly give it a try, then.
Sorry for not responding to the mods you suggested. The Machaka one I'm definitely going after, but I'm not so sure about bringing a Dominions 2 mod into Dominions 3. Like I said, i'll give it a try.

[Aezeal]

Well Endo no need to feel guilty, I dropped the project too :D

[Endoperez]

Well, I'll certainly give it a try, then.
Sorry for not responding to the mods you suggested. The Machaka one I'm definitely going after, but I'm not so sure about bringing a Dominions 2 mod into Dominions 3. Like I said, i'll give it a try.

Doing new sprites for a mod might take some work, but updating old Dom2 mods for Dom3 shouldn't be too hard.

I have attached a version of the Oglala mod. It needs unique capital-only site(s), costs and armors are probably weird, and the mages with randoms need to have them restricted to just 4 paths. It will also need better mages (or a really good capital-only mage) and perhaps a capital-only sacred unit as well. I didn't check the sacred summons though, they might be good.

It uses Tien Chi sprites which have been upgraded since then. LA Tien Chi might have some sprites that fit better than the ones it currently uses.

__________________
Listen to me, for I'm not mad but blessed with a Vision: I saw the brothers gold and blue! A golden being was born in the Void. It was an empty shape, without light or shadow. I saw it take Form! It grew golden legs, each ending in three golden talons! It grew crimson hair in its back, and crimson hair marked its forelegs and tail! When you see it, you will know it, and praise me for my Vision!

[Aezeal]

and the mages with randoms need to have them restricted to just 4

why?

[Endoperez]

and the mages with randoms need to have them restricted to just 4

why?

200 gold for sacred mage with Astral 2, Nature 1 and Holy 3 + full random is too good. There's other things to change as well, but no national mages and only few independent mages have full randoms in Dom3. Lore Masters are the only ones, I think.

[Sombre]

Well, I'll certainly give it a try, then.
Sorry for not responding to the mods you suggested. The Machaka one I'm definitely going after, but I'm not so sure about bringing a Dominions 2 mod into Dominions 3. Like I said, i'll give it a try.

I didn't mention any dom2 mods. I think you should try Haida Gwaii, personally. I wouldn't bother with LA Machaka because it has no new graphics (though that's better than awful resized rips), never got much feedback and wasn't updated from the very first release, which was definitely a beta. But I only tried it briefly, so maybe I'm wrong.

Haida Gwaii is actually good though. Other than the flag :]