Modding Idea List

[DrPraetorious]

How to instantly generate inspiration for a mod. Match one or more nations from List A with a hook from List B. Optionally, choose a cute game mechanic from list C.

Okay, what is missing from Vanilla?

List A: -- Nations and Cultures --
Russians. Jotunheim is the closest match to Russia among the existing nations - the Hags are rather Baba-yaga like.
East Africans. Ethiopian (especially Coptic) culture has a rich body of folklore. There is some coptic influence in Machaka but it is mostly west african in character.
South Africans.
Tibetans.
Koreans. LE T'ien Ch'i is very Manchurian, and LE Jomon is Japanese, both of which are very similar to Koreans, but not the same.
South-east Asians. Present day Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand.
Central Asians. Present day Georgia, Armenia, Khazakhstan.
Mongols. Again, LE T'ien Ch'i has some kinda-Mongolian stuff.
Persians. The Abyssians and Caelumites both include some Persian folklore already (or a foreign perspective on Persia, in any case.)
Incan / Nazca. Think "cities of Gold".
Levantines (Arabs, Jews). There is some mention of Anakim and Nephilim in the flavor text of the reserved nation slots, so this might be remedied.
Note: I'm not suggesting a straight-jacket. You can replicate a historical nation fairly closely (as Ermor does Rome) or you can just draw inspiration from their folklore (as Caelum does Persia). Personally I think each nation should be thus-treated-twice.

List B: -- Fantasy Hooks --
Felines. There are no cat-people. You could go the anime root, or hardcore Kzin.
Insectoids. There are no insect-people. You could go for classic klackons, or the high fantasy route and have people with butterfly wings.
Frog-people. Deep ones are kinda like frog people, and frog people are not that different from lizard men. Still, there are no frog people, as such.
All Homonculi. How about a nation composed entirely of artificial people? Examples from fantasy literature: the Serviles from Geneforge are kinda neat. The Orcs from the Ultima games and the Trollocs from the wheel-of-endlessness are both explicitly artificial monsters. Make them all magic beings and give their enemies strong anti-magic-being spells to create a built-in rivalry.
Dwarves. There are some dwarves around but there's no nation of little people, or whatever.

List C; -- Cute Game Mechanics --
Resources Only. Your units (possibly all of them, possibly including heroes) cost resources only. This is a significant advantage (depending on how much they cost) since you can then spend your money on independents, fortresses, etc. This doesn't presently exist.
Free Spawn Units, Hire Leaders. You can't mod free spawn nations as yet. However, you could modify the leaders so that the leaders all have domsummon (and simply don't give any national units otherwise). This can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on how much you pay for your stuff. It will tend to make you strong later and weak early. This doesn't presently exist either.
All Mages Summoned. Your national mages are all national summons, you can't recruit them. This is a significant disadvantage, unless they are excruciatingly cheap, even in high magic resource games. You could combine this with Resources Only for the units, for example. LA Ermor has this disadvantage.

Please feel free to expand the list! Eventually I'll class mods according to how they fit into this scheme.

[Gandalf Parker]

Heehee We could probably come up with an online MadLibs generator for "Wouldnt it be fun if we had a mod that did (A)(B) with (C)?"

[HoneyBadger]

Actually, I'm working on a mod of Brazillian jungle people and frog-creatures.

[VedalkenBear]

I like the idea, Gandalf. I'm more of a refiner and tester of mods than a creator of them. (I have awful art skills.)

About the only one that I did for Dom2 that people seemed to like was the ArcoBlood mod.

As for a Dom3 mod, I'm rather annoyed that there isn't a Heian/'Classical period' Japanese nation. That is, a nation between the Mythical period and the Feudal period. It's a fascinating time period, and I know quite a bit about it. THe main question I have is if there is any way to create a unit that is recruitable everywhere _but_ the capital? You can't really do Heian period without the proto-samurai, but you should have a classically Chinese-style army coming from the capital (think ME Tien Chi) while the outlying lands have the proto-samurai.

[Sombre]

I was planning to do a Vietnam/indochina nation called Dai Gok, for the middle era. Even coded up some units, so we'll see, maybe I'll get that done in the future.

Vedalken: Have you tried out mods here then? All us mod makers are ravenous for feedback ;]

[VedalkenBear]

Most of you, Sombre, I don't think would appreciate my feedback. E.g., if you list something as 'compatible with vanilla', and yet you clearly show little-to-no concept as to the pricing or balancing of units/commanders, it's a bit... odd.

To be positive, I think the Insectoids are very original and fresh, though their sprites seem a bit... big. I thought the Sylvania mod was also quite beautifully done. Seemed a bit limited by its magics, but you can't have everything.

From a speculative standpoint... can anyone name a nation that specializes in Fire/Air? Tien Chi gets a smattering of it, as well as any others that get 'elemental' randoms, but it's quite aggravating that some magic combinations are quite well represented on both the spell side and the mage side, and yet others struggle to find either. (Air and almost anything seems the worst, off the top of my head.)

[Sombre]

Well it's very hard for people to balance to vanilla without the help of playtesters. Modders have less time to actually play the game and aren't as good at balance as people who play a ton of MP.

I can only speak for myself, but if I thought one of my mods was balanced (roughly) to vanilla and you thought there were some clear problems which could be pointed out and had some constructive criticism, however harsh,... well I know I'd really like to hear it.

The 'vanilla balance' bit in the mod list doesn't indicate that the mod has been tested to see if it's balanced against vanilla values, only that the modder intends it to be. With a lack of playtesters and testing time, that can be hard to get right.

So throw in your two cents ;]

Edit: As for fire/air, do you mean in mod nations? I know avernum gets Vahnatai mages that are randomly F2A2, F3A1 or F1A3.

[VedalkenBear]

Mainly it's in the pricing of mages, I've seen. There was _definitely_ a formula followed for it in Dom2, and there is almost certainly one in Dom3 (at least for the base game).

I feel like anything I have to say should be part of a test you should have to take before you're allowed to post a mod. A sample question would be:

1) What should the absolute minimum cost for a mage with a 3 path be? (An alternate form of the question: What is the cheapest mage in Dom3 with a 3 path?)

If you really want my input, I'll oblige you, but I tend towards brutal honesty.

[Sombre]

You sound like you could give some useful input and I know that I'd like to hear it. If you're worried other people will get upset you can just comment on my mods if you like ;]

However I think just referring to 'formula' of costing in Dom3 is a mistake. A mod nation could have very cheap or very expensive mages for a thematic reason without actually being over or underpowered in the game. For example if their starting city is awful, they're going to have a lot less money and resources in the early game. Or they might have very expensive mages but a site giving them a large amount of gold and resources in their start city.

[Gandalf Parker]

Lets not debate if a mod is balanced to vanilla or not. There is plenty of range in that term "balanced". If a mod maker had a balanced nation in mind then thats what it should be taggged. If they purposely created a super nation (for AI use) then they will say so. IMHO