readme_kharamdzu_dm.txt

Kharam Dzu v1.0 Nation Mod for Dominions III 

-*- README FILE -*-

Art and Mod By Zepath the Philosopher

This mod adds a new playable nation to Dominions III in the Late Ages game era.

A few technical notes for fellow modders...

This mod uses nation number(s):		73
This mod uses monster number(s): 	2582-2607
This mod uses magic site number(s): 	811-814
This mod uses weapon number(s): 	815-819
This mod uses armor number(s): 		314-317
This mod uses name list number(s):	141

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Kharam Dzu, Hoist the Black Flag (Late Age)

The dwarves once ruled vast subterranean kingdoms, rich with the wealth of the earth and the traditions of a thousand years.  Now the old Underkings exist only in legend and pressure from other races has cause many dwarves to seek their fortunes above ground.  The dwarves who settled in Kharam Dzu, a volcanic archipelago, have put their famous ingenuity to work in ship-building and have become the premier shipwrights in the world.  As a rising sea power, they soon found that robbing others of their gold by piracy and raids was much easier than mining it from the earth oneself.  From the Office of the Admiralty in the heart of Kharam Dzu, letters of mark are issued to aspiring dwarven privateers and the island markets bustle with the captured booty they return.  Nearly all coastal peoples have come to fear the black flag of Kharam Dzu, which can appear on the horizon without warning and means certain death or enslavement at the hands of the dwarves.

Example strategy:  Take a dormant Lord of the Waves with at least Water-4 and Earth-9 and good growth scales.  When fighting range-poor enemies, put net/spear-armed pirates in front of the rest of your troops and let them catch the brunt of cavalry and heavy infantry attacks.  Their nets will ruin any good knight's day.  Enemies with strong archers, like Man, will be a problem for you because your troops are poorly armored.  Try to out-shoot range-strong opponents with repeater crossbows while rushing your pirates into hand-to-hand combat as fast as possible.  Bombasts can cause sudden and devastating damage with their bombs, but may very well kill your dwarves at the same time.  Delvers under the command of a few water mages can take water provinces from weak to moderate indies, but you cannot use provice defense in those provinces so they may fall out of your hands just as quickly if you don't keep the delvers there.

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A bit about Kharam Dzu...

[First of all, to get a look at all the units in this mod at once, open the preview.bmp image file in the /mods/kharamdzu directory.]

Kharam Dzu is a Late Ages nation based on the dwarven nation from my Dominions 2 mod "Halls of the Underkings".  I didn't want to make a simple "port" of that mod to Dominions 3, but definitely wanted to bring dwarves back into play.  The old, gilded kingdoms of the dwarves that were entrenched in mines and tunnels deep beneath the mountains have been conquered by other races (read Agartha) and over time the dwarves found a new home and a new way of life.  A lot of inspiration came from general pirate fantasy as well as elements of history and fiction from the Age of Sail.

The Bombasts and their "dwarven fire" were of course inspired by greek fire.  Delvers are based on images of primitive diving equipment and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".  The Angel Killers were inspired by the banner art for the mod which shows a nasty-looking dwarf running through an angel.  The heroes don't have specific inspirations, but they are probably some of the more interesting units I've created for Dominions.  Those who use the Crusty Captain in battle may get a strange surprise.  The others were simply ideas that popped into my head when thinking about what a famous dwarf might be like.

The name "Kharam Dzu" is taken directly from the fictional world depicted in the Gemstone series of text-based MMORPGs (which used to be called MUDs).  I am an old Gemstone 3 fan, but haven't picked up the series in many years.
  I believe it is the longest-running persistent text-based world (almost twenty years now) and is now in it's fourth generation and still run by Simultronics.

All artwork in the mod is original.

Enjoy!

If you have comments or suggestions (especially if this nation seems very unbalanced in a particular area), find me on the official message boards at shrapnelcommunity.com or send me an email at evarmy98x@yahoo.com.