Modding independent difficulty?

[Zargen]

Had a question for modders. Is there a way to mod Dom so that Independent provinces can be more difficult to take? Independent strength of 9 seems a bit tame and wanted to see if I can make it so each province has hordes of enemies in it to fight for single player games to make things more interesting

[Stavis_L]

Yes, via map modding. For a semi-automated way to do this, see Ballbarian's excellent Semi-Random program. This program also has the benefit of potentially making AI opponents (somewhat) more challenging, or at least less likely to self-implode due to bad scales.

[Gandalf Parker]

Stavis_L beat me to the punch. Yes Map commands rather than Mod commands can do most of it. And the SemiRandom program is a fantastic example of what can be done.

Modding better AIs has been discussed in the past. There are multiple directions. You can change the units that are used as independents. You can add magic sites to the game that are more helpful for AIs than for human players. You can mod OUT the pretenders that AIs use badly, and mod IN some it can use better.

Also you can create completely new nations which are meant specifically for AI play. Design them around the things that the AI does well and remove the temptations it tends to use badly. A nation created for AI does not have to worry about balance. It can be be just to kick @$$.

[HoneyBadger]

I'm very interested in this particular subject. I've created a handful of units that are specifically meant to be tougher independents, and I plan to continue to do so. There literally must be hundreds of tribes and minor powers in Europe alone that were "washed away" by the spread of the major recogniseable powers we think of as European. Expanding on the concept of the European-style Barbarian alone is enough for a very major mod, let alone fleshing out the concepts of "bear tribe, wolf tribe, deer tribe, lion tribe", etc. There's little if any limit on what can be done to fairly easily improve Independent power, and what I've mentioned is just a tiny percentage of what could be done with historical human tribes.

Just to give you a for-instance: How about a tiger tribe, based on Indians? You could give them some of the enormous range of exotic weaponry that came from the Indian subcontinent, and perhaps a low-level healer unit with access to nature and holy magic. Considering that there's atleast a half-dozen Indian subgroups that were particularly famous for their warrior traditions, it would be an easily expandable idea.

I remember reading Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword", and in one chapter it discusses the heroes landing on an island where a group of strange gods lived. The gods were starved and had gone insane because all of their worshippers had died out, but they were still extremely dangerous. Coming across such an area where a group of "failed Pretenders" had gathered would be quite an interesting encounter, I think.

Some provinces might have such powerful guardians that they remain difficult to conquer even unto the end of the game. I think having a few of those around, with the mystery and secrets of such places undisturbed but always tempting, would really add to the theme of the game. In a game like Dominions, the power of the concepts of Wilderness and Unknown and Here There Be Dragons should be preserved as much as possible.

[Burnsaber]

If you play with no indy maps, you could make a custom mod that improves the stats and paths of indy troops and mages.

Make Wolf Tribe shamans cast "howl" at the start of battle. Give Barbarian Chiefs +10 hp or make them cast some "berseking" spell at the start of combat to prevent the barbarians from running away too easily. Possibilities are nearly endless.

[HoneyBadger]

Bear tribe could definitely be benefited by berserker units.

You could always give Wolf tribes actual wolves, as well. Not to mention the possibility of werewolves, and even their own type of berserker, the Ulfheonar (wolf coated, mentioned in various Viking sagas).

The only big challenge with that, ofcourse, is the inevitability of the players getting their hands on those special units, and the balancing issues that would then arise.