Brainstorm

[Swan]

I'm taking a break from my agartha mod, as i'm running out of ideas(also i'm tired of working for a bunch of giant-grown depressed worms) so i was looking around for something else to work on...

Basicaly, there is a nation you would like to see enhanced?balance can be discussed too, ofc.
(machaka and agartha are excluded, jomon/ulm/tien'chi were improved some patches ago)
I was thinking about marignon, but if someone here have some request/ideas...

edit Here we go! ulm bonus here (EA only)

[Frozen Lama]

marignon sure doesn't need help.

how about oceania or man?

[Humakty]

MA Marignon isn't that hot early/mid game, but once you put your moisty hands on the angels, a world of pain starts for your ennemies.

MA Man surely is more in need of a boost : the only good thing about this nation is it's army ! Some forest themed summon being an able thug/SC would be fine. (the forest dragons of celtic legends would be great)

EDIT : It would be cool if all additions you make for nations were packed in one mod !

[rdonj]

Sleepers aren't that bad as thugs. Probably the biggest problem is man just has relatively crappy forging paths for weapons, requiring for example to manually search with crones to find water gems and forge frost brands.

[SlipperyJim]

EA Ulm? Perhaps there are some ferocious beasts lurking in Irminsul that could be tamed by the Antlered Shamans and used against Ulm's enemies....

My first game of Dom3 was with EA Ulm, and I still haven't gotten over my disappointment. Their troops are good -- but not spectacular -- and they get nothing in the mid-game and beyond. The nation has tremendous flavor, but the actual tools fall short of that flavor.

[Swan]

EDIT : It would be cool if all additions you make for nations were packed in one mod !

I modified only 1 nation so far, and the link is in my signature

EA ulm... just lemme check my stereotypes about deutschland

edit--
Which is the comand for auto aflliction on a weapon? i mean, like the chest wounding axe, only with affliction to arm and legs

[Swan]

ok, check this
coastal barbarians--> need name here
recruit only in coastal province
good atk/def, low prot, high damage
dualwielder, maybe armor piercer
use an affliction weapon-->britoła-->http://www.coltelleriacollini.it/community4/imma/up/britola.JPG

i only need a way to make weapon making automatic afflictions.
why coastal only? because britoła is a typical knife of where i live, which is a coastal province

[Swan]

oh, and i admit i am pretty lacking on beast living in ulmish wood: wolves, bears and what else lives there? no dragons!

[SlipperyJim]

Which is the comand for auto aflliction on a weapon? i mean, like the chest wounding axe, only with affliction to arm and legs

I think you'd just use #secondaryeffect with the weapon ID for the specific affliction you want to give:

Arm Loss (335)
Chest Wound (150)
Disease (143)
Disease with MR check (414)
Eyeloss (333)
Feeblemind (156)
Leg Chop (125)
Limp (421)

I haven't tried it myself, but it should work. Let me know if it does?

[SlipperyJim]

oh, and i admit i am pretty lacking on beast living in ulmish wood: wolves, bears and what else lives there? no dragons!

I am not an expert on German myths, but ... a casual search tells me that there was a fair amount of overlap between German myths and Scandinavian myths. Trolls, giants, goblins, etcetera....

White Women (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weisse_Frauen) could be a fun (and powerful!) caster summon.

Generally, I'd say just Google "german mythical creatures" and look for inspiration. The hardest part would be avoiding the overlap with the stuff that's already part of Jotunheim, Vanheim, and Helheim....

Alternately, you could opt for supernatural (and super-sized) versions of natural creatures. For example: EA Ulm already has bears. Well, how about The Black Bear of Irminsul? Super-tough, regenerating, berserking, fear-inducing Killer Bear! Nearly any European wildlife could be super-sized. Killer Wolves! Killer Moose! (Okay, maybe not the moose....)

Another idea: How about a Huntmaster summon (like a Sleeper, only a bit scarier) who domsummons Uber-Hounds as part of his hunting pack?

If you'd like, I could even try to peck out a bit of the code for you. I don't have any shortage of ideas, and I'm willing to put some time into those ideas. I do lack the artistic SKEELZ for graphics..... ;)

On the other hand, this is your mod, and I don't want to intrude. :)

[Swan]

Ok, i found the way for "random" affliction: 2 weapons, same name different afflictions.
code done, just need sprite, this lead me to:

a) there is in this game a dual wielding human bare chested?
b) how the heck can i make them only recruitable on coastal province? i tried #copystats from the reef dweller, but then i have to use #clear to remove armor/darkvision/poison armor
c)where i can found weapons sprite? i need the "hunting knife", is perfect.
d)game description does not recognize ł, there is a way to force the game to show it?

to Slipperyjim
Well, tbh i thought this mod wasn't "my" mod, i see it as a "forum" mod.
you can make what you want, post here and i'll blend it with what was already done.
Now, for mod work itself, i was thinking two "routes"
1) the barbarian clans one, with specialized units
2)animals summons, good for late game--> the bear is a nice idea, as soon as i finish the wenetoi (coastal barbarians) i'll start it

edit
ehi, the wolpertinger is pretty scary! i'll use it

[Burnsaber]

I like Slipperyjim's "Huntmaster" idea. I think it could work very well combined with having him autosummon his "hunting pack" in each battle (you can see the code for that knid of stuff in the Breton mod). If he just summons them, the player will just dump them to some castle with eternal "Summon Allies" command (boooring..)


a) there is in this game a dual wielding human bare chested?


You should really consider using spritedumps (search the forums or download from the first post of the "Sprite Editing Tutorial" sitcky thread.). They are big blank image files with the unit sprites on them. Very, very, very useful for this kind of stuff. You could pretty easily copy-paste two swords into the Maverni Hornblower guy.


b) how the heck can i make them only recruitable on coastal province? i tried #copystats from the reef dweller, but then i have to use #clear to remove armor/darkvision/poison armor


Eh, not possible, unless you want to overwrite nations & national units (see UWGIM).


c)where i can found weapons sprite? i need the "hunting knife", is perfect.


Erhm.. what? If you mean the ranged flysprite, see modding manual. If you mean sprite (as in sprite), try the sprite dumps.


d)game description does not recognize ł, there is a way to force the game to show it?


Not any that I know of.

[Swan]

c)where i can found weapons sprite? i need the "hunting knife", is perfect.


Erhm.. what? If you mean the ranged flysprite, see modding manual. If you mean sprite (as in sprite), try the sprite dumps.



I mean the magical weapon hunting knife, i need the sprite of how it look in the forge magic item panel. i tryed to look in the spritedump, but i couldn't find it

[Swan]

I made the sprite for the weneteu; weneteu chief will be done later and it will have a 25%W + 25%A ,both level 1, and sailor.
I have another problem:
here there is the code

#newmonster 2290
#name "weneteu"
#descr "The weneteu are a barbarian people, one of the most southern tribes under the banner of ulm. Proud sailor, merchants and pirates, their weapon of choice is the brito£a, a recurved knife, inspired by the thracian rhomphaya."
#size 2
#prot 2
#mor 11
#mr 10
#enc 3
#str 10
#att 10
#def 10
#prec 9
#mapmove 2
#ap 12
#gcost 11
#rcost 12
#maxage 70
#startage 18
#noitem
#ambidextrous 2
#swampsurvival
#weapon 600
#weapon 601
#end

#selectnation 2
#addrecunit 2290
#end

but when i recruit weneteu, i dont see the sprite, but a red/blue chinese style dragon, someone have an idea about what's going on?

[Stavis_L]

but when i recruit weneteu, i dont see the sprite, but a red/blue chinese style dragon, someone have an idea about what's going on?

Nothing in your posted code specifies a graphic file for the unit sprite, or a pointer to an existing unit to use a base sprite. If I had to guess, it would be that the game is using the highest value sprite in the base game (as a default) since your unit number is > largest vanilla unit number.

[Swan]

shame on me

[Gandalf Parker]

Im still looking for major AI opponents. Im considering a mega game with an AI nation fully entrenched already. There are many suggestions on what the AI does right and wrong which could be built on (such as, not allowing it anything but non-moving gods) and it would seem that it would be easier to create such a nation without worrying about balance.

[SlipperyJim]

Okay, so here's a rough draft of the Huntmaster....

Disclaimer: I have no MP experience, so I probably stink at figuring out game balance. Please feel free to suggest anything that would make the Huntmaster more (or less!) balanced.

Disclaimer #2: Note the use of #copysr to give them sprites. As I said, I have no art SKEELZ, so that's about the best that I can do.

First, the Man Himself:
#newmonster 2295
#copyspr 559 -- Sleeper
#name "Huntmaster"
#descr "Huge and vicious creatures prowl the Ulmish woods. The Ulmish people know that these predators are a blessing from the gods, part of the divine plan to craft the people into fierce warriors. Yet, sometimes a beast will get out of hand and pose a serious danger to the people beyond what the gods had in mind. When that happens, the Shamans call upon the Huntmaster. The Huntmaster is a god-sent champion of the Wald who will is more than a match for any animal. When the Huntmaster enters combat, his hunting horn summons a pack of thirteen formidable hounds to help him take down any creature."
#weapon 120 -- enchanted spear
#weapon 152 -- longbow of accuracy
#armor "Leather Hauberk"
#onebattlespell 814 -- 13 Hounds from Heck
#hp 36
#str 18
#prot 5
#mor 18
#mr 14
#att 16
#def 16
#ap 12
#prec 18
#enc 2
#gcost 0
#rcost 1
#okleader
#okmagicleader
#animalawe 1
#heal
#magicbeing
#mapmove 3
#forestsurvival
#mountainsurvival
#coldres 50
#poisonres 50
#darkvision 50
#stealthy 10
#heal
#size 3
#startage 150
#maxage 750
#itemslots 31878 -- head, hands, body, feet, and three misc
#end
My goal was to make him a formidable thug, but not a full-fledged SC. I also gave him a few cool powers because I couldn't help myself. :) (Hunters should be stealthy, right?)

And his Hounds:
#newmonster 2296
#copyspr 1769 -- Black Dog
#name "Hound of the Hunt"
#descr "The Huntmaster is accompanied by a pack of otherworldly hounds. These hounds are faster than any horse and strong enough to tear a great bear into pieces. The hounds appear whenever the Huntmaster needs them, and they will only follow his commands. The hounds are only halfway present in this world, which makes them difficult to damage with normal means. The Huntmaster has trained his hounds to attack a creature's legs so that -- even if the hounds do not tear it to shreds -- he will be able to track down the creature and kill it easily."
#weapon 715 -- Rending Bite
#str 16
#prot 8
#animal
#hp 22
#mor 14
#mr 14
#att 13
#def 12
#ap 30
#prec 8
#enc 2
#gcost 0
#rcost 1
#noleader
#noitem
#magicbeing
#mapmove 3
#forestsurvival
#mountainsurvival
#coldres 50
#poisonres 50
#darkvision 50
#stealthy 10
#ethereal
#size 3
#startage 30
#maxage 60
#end

#newweapon 715
#name "Rending Bite"
#rcost 0
#bonus
#dmg 2
#att 0
#def -1
#len 0
#magic
#secondaryeffect 421 -- Limp
#end
Considering that the Hounds only appear during combat, some of their powers are a bit useless. (Stealthy? Map Move 3?) I wanted them to match the Huntmaster for thematic reasons.

The ritual to summon the Huntmaster:
#newspell
#name "Call the Huntmaster"
#descr "The Shaman enters a deep trance, aided by fasting and the expenditure of a great amount of magical energy. He begs and pleads with the gods to send a champion to rescue his people. At the end of the month, the Huntmaster arrives. The Huntmaster is a legendary, semi-divine hunter who is always accompanied by his thirteen hunting hounds."
#school 0
#restricted 2
#researchlevel 5
#path 0 6
#path 1 8
#pathlevel 0 4
#pathlevel 1 1
#fatiguecost 2500
#effect 10021
#damage 2295
#nreff 1
#end
A Conj-5 ritual that requires N4H1 to cast and costs 25 Nature gems.

And the onebattlespell that calls his Hounds:
#selectspell 814
#school -1
#researchlevel 0
#damage 2296
#nreff 13
#range 1
#effect 1
#end

Thirteen fast, ethereal, limp-causing Hounds from Heck is certainly enough to add some firepower. As with the Huntmaster himself, my hope is that the Hounds would allow him to raid some backline provinces and/or add to an army for a pitched battle. I really don't want the Huntmaster and his doggies to conquer the countryside all by themselves. Think "raider" and "thug" ... not "supercombatant".

[Swan]

Ok, tomorrow morning i'll release the first incarnation of this mod, with all the stuff slippery did.
in the meantime, here there is the wenetoi chieftain.
The main use of the weneteu is to afflict thug/sc/pretender, as 2 attacks, armor piercer should be enough to let 41 soldier land at least 1-2 shot on an enemy, defacto greatly decreasing enemy power( especcialy when you lose an arm, as you lose a slot).
The release is in the first post.

@ slippery

a)what does fasting means?
b)i modified his thirteen hunting hounds--> thirteen of his hunting hounds
c)which spell is 814? can't find it in the spell database
d)as select spell override another spell, and i dont know 814 what spell is, i changed to it to
#selectspell 87
#copyspell 814
87 is a blank spell so it should work
e)added a spell to battle summon one of his puppies

[SlipperyJim]

@ slippery

a)what does fasting means?
b)i modified his thirteen hunting hounds--> thirteen of his hunting hounds
c)which spell is 814? can't find it in the spell database
d)as select spell override another spell, and i dont know 814 what spell is, i changed to it to
#selectspell 87
#copyspell 814
87 is a blank spell so it should work
e)added a spell to battle summon one of his puppies

A) "Fasting" means to go without food for a time. It's a spiritual discipline that is common to many religious traditions. Wikipedia has more details about fasting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting).

B) "his thirteen hunting hounds" versus "thirteen of his hunting hounds" -- Fine with me. :)

C) I think spell #814 is a LA Bogarus spell. I lifted that code straight from Burnsaber's excellent MA Bretonnia mod. He uses it to auto-summon three halberdiers at the beginning of combat. I know it works, so I just hacked it up for auto-summoning thirteen killer dogs.

D) Are you sure that spell #87 is blank? My old copy of the Spell DB (from v3.20) says spell #87 summons "6 Maenads"....

E) Who's summoning the puppy? Is the Huntmaster a mage, or is an Ulmish shaman summoning the puppy? A bunch of shamans spamming Hounds could seriously wreck an enemy army. :D

Thanks for your work! When this is done, I'll have to take EA Ulm for another game.

[Swan]

c)my spell database says is blank, but it saysa there is no 6 maenads spell...
e)the shamans can summon the puppy, 2N1H, level 0, 1+ for 20 fatigue

[SlipperyJim]

Okay, I tested the Huntmaster last night, and all of the code works. However, I noticed a typo in his description. It should be:
#descr "Huge and vicious creatures prowl the Ulmish woods. The Ulmish people know that these predators are a blessing from the gods, part of the divine plan to craft the people into fierce warriors. Yet, sometimes a beast will get out of hand and pose a serious danger to the people beyond what the gods had in mind. When that happens, the Shamans call upon the Huntmaster. The Huntmaster is a god-sent champion of the Wald who is more than a match for any animal. When the Huntmaster enters combat, his hunting horn summons a pack of thirteen formidable hounds to help him take down any creature."
FYI: "Wald" is a German word for forest. I thought it added just a touch of atmosphere to the description.

Anyway, the Huntmaster and his Hounds all seem to work as designed. The Hounds are very dangerous, and their bites do indeed cause Limps. (Yay, #secondaryeffect!) A couple of Huntmasters working together could probably take on a smallish army....

[Swan]

Ok, i've corrected the description

[lch]

Please, it's "Ulm", not "Ülm". Not every U carries the Umlaut in German, and no, it doesn't make it cooler, either. :rolleyes:

[Swan]

oh. i thought it was a nice stereotype touch...
I'll remove it, but I'll die a little inside.