Possibility of Brand-New Ages

[Potatoman]

It's really easy to mod up an all-nations game. I whipped one up for my SP enjoyment, though it lacks most nation descriptions.

[Gandalf Parker]

I have seen a couple of mods done for that but as far as I know they havent been publicly released.

[Sandman]

I like the Dawning Age a lot. Sounds very cool.

[HoneyBadger]

Cainehill, if early, middle, and late covered everything, then we wouldn't have early stoneage, late stoneage, new stoneage, ice age, copper age, bronze age, iron age, the Hellenistic era, the age of Rome, the Viking age, the middle ages, the late middle ages, the Cruisades, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the age of enlightenment, the industrial age, the silicon age, the space age, the modern age, 10,000 years of the future via "Orion's Belt" (neat site, try googling it)... And I tend to disagree about it not being thematic to expand on a theme.

There's nothing wrong per se with having a mod that includes all nations of all ages, just like there's nothing wrong per se with a wargame that includes Roman legionairres fighting Civil War units and Warhammer units on an Ridley Scott's Alien-infested Mars. I think though that time-periods of time and the passage of time, as well as the "timing" of particular movements/actions within a given battle-is indeed a very deciding factor where war and strategy are concerned.

And thanks, Sandman, I appreciate that.

[Agrajag]

Hey HoneyBadger, guess what, this is an idea I like
Though I do have some criticism (what did you expect? )

First I'd like to point something out, and then partly withdraw it:
Is it really important to get the ability to add new ages? You can already overwrite an existing age and "make do".
*Withdrawl* However, there are limits (which I think you shuold've mentioned in the original post, because they are good reasons to allow age modding, and show a few commands which will be important for it).
I. You can't control default starting conditions (income/resources/research etc.), this isn't very important since it can be changed manually, but still should be done if age modding is implemented.
II. You can't control what independants will appear [EA has very light indeps, while LA indeps are tough. You should have the same control over your modded ages]

Regarding your vision of the ages, I really liked the concept for the uber-early era, but the uber-late era just isn't to my liking. This is purely a matter of taste, so not really something to get heated about

My vision of an uber-late era would probably be some sort of escalation of the changes in Late Era.
I only have a limited amount of time right now, so I'll try to be concise:
Pangaea is almost destroyed and to save itself turns completely to the "Dark Side", and is permenantly under a "Carrion Woods"ish effect. Population dies very rapidly, and generates freespawn in bulk, while the core of their forces is led by crazed beast lords of death and blood. (I see them as getting a national spell which bleeds the trees and the earth for blood slaves to support a blood economy) Powerful summons for blood and death (dualpathing into each other and nature).
Or perhaps make it so (impossible to do currently) their dominion kills population, but at the same time revives it as vine-spawn-drone population that can still work the mines and generate resources and tax, but will not help the enemy when conquered. (Perhaps make it so any Pangaea province that gets conquered is reset to 0 population)
Ashen Empire Ermor turns completely to the shadows, it is ruled by coroporeal shadow lords, very dark and evil. The freespawn are rare strong creatures of the dark and a few weak longdeads and the like. Their dominion spreads darkness and kills population. They have strong units and very powerful national summons.
Ulm is also enveloped in evil, vampires take over completely and use the population as "blood farms", their dominion doesn't kill population. Their units will also be very expensive yet strong [thanks to lovely vampiric traits like immortality and lifedrain]. Magic is strong blood, weak death and earth.
Rlyeh, in its insanity, manages to open a rift to their home planet, and it turns out the original Rlyeh forces were merely a scouting party, as powerful Astral Lords move through the rift and strengthen it, but also eventually succumb to the madness as well, but not before becoming the ruling and controling force behind Rlyeh.
The Atlantian god makes good on his pact, but in his distorted vision desires to return Atlantis to the sea and does so by turning them all into Undeads. The Atlantians return to life under water, but living as skeletal undead in a fashion to is very similar to what their old lifestyles were, except their skeletal bodies turn it into a mockery.
---The rest will have to wait, I really have to go to sleep if I wish to live tomorrow. Suffice it to say that I presented only one side of the barricade---

[FrankTrollman]

Deleted

[Nix]

I also really like the idea for the Dawning Age. The other idea just doesn't work for me - it seems to mix and match nations around too much, and besides, screw Hoburgs.

It seems like many of the "old races" (like Yakshas) that would be more prominent in such a scenario aren't really part of the Dom 3 timeline at all - they were part of the reign of the old Pantokrator. That's what makes them all mystical and stuff. Therefore if there are such nations, they definitely ought to be declining, as the Dominions war can't really begin unless the Pantokrator is gone.

[Teraswaerto]

FrankTrollman,

I like the way you think. A few comments:

The Black Coven is not as ancient as the others (or most of them).

Aren't the Shaded Lands more a place the dead go to than any kind of nation? A part of the Underworld or something like that.

I don't think titans in general ever had a nation, although the Aesir did, before they lost to the Rimtursar.

Abysians might be there as non-humanoid elemental beings.

[Sandman]

A final apocalyptic age, with entirely human nations, but powerful mages and priests would be good. Earth would be the dominant magic path, with around 50% of nations having it, whereas astral and blood would be relatively rare. Spies, assassins and maybe other indirect combatants (smugglers, pirates, thieves) would be common, even as indy recruitables. Sailing and inquisitors would also be common. Individual human mages and priests would be powerful, but sacred mage-priests and warrior-mages would not be common at all. Standard-bearer leaders and siege engineers would be plentiful.

[HoneyBadger]

Sorry, but, if I have anything to say about it, the Hoburgs stay in Late Late Age-especially since noone seems to like that the Hoburgs are taking over, because that's just telling me that I'm getting exactly the reaction I want to them, which is anger, disgust, and appaul.

They aren't there because I'm in love with them, they're present as an ENEMY-as a form of EVIL that doesn't happen to come in the form of a giant soul-sucking demon, but in the end is far worse.

Nobody I want to hang out with wants to live next door to Nazis either, but they do make excellent villains, because you don't have to morally justify killing them.

Not all the Hoburgs are that level of evil, (or evil at all, for that matter) mind you-but the other two nations should be interesting and different enough that they'll appeal to some players.

I really, really have no desire to see a humans-only age, Sandman. To me that's just not appealing in the least.

Agrajag, I'm happy to see you, I was getting lonely without you around to make my life more difficult I like your ideas for Pangaea a lot, but-considering FrankTrollman's post-I'll probably use a similar set-up for the Ivy Kingdom, as far as a widespread Carrion Woods effect is concerned. The reason for this is that several spell descriptions mention a "Dark Hungry Presence In The Woods" (sounds very 'Evil-Dead', don't you agree?) in past ages, which has been lying dormant-the Ivy Kingdom fits the bill perfectly as-on the surface-the bright, green, fresh-and-growing home of the Treelords, flowers, and hippies, and underneath, a dark, deep, powerful alien force (don't mess with Mother Nature). Ivy Kingdom's magic will be purely Nature and Blood (summercamp at Crystal Lake tchu-tchu-tchu, ahh ahh ahh). Pangaea I've decided will indeed appear in the Late, Late Age (Age of Wisdom!) as a swamp-related nation with bog-mummy units and summons. Magic will be nature, death, water, and quite possibly blood.

Frank, I need a little time to fully digest your post, but thank you very much! I'll do my best to fit in the The Black Coven, the Ivy Kingdom, the Celestial Symphony, the Realm of the Yazatas, the Sidhe Court, and a Vanheim-nation (which will probably boil down to the Aesir). Providing ofcourse I can shoe-horn them in, in an aesthetically pleasing way.

As a side-note, I do want to mod in non-player Nations, how feasable is this currently?

Agrajag, that's what I had in mind-making a mod is just making a mod, it wouldn't allow me to create a framework for others to add their ideas into, without having to be "in to my mod". Certain things should be globally different from one age to another, like the independents you mention.

R'lyeh I don't quite have a handle on yet (question: does anyone? C'thulu F'tagn?), but I do use a race called the Yoth (Nerfix came up with the name) in a mod who are to illithids what jotuns are to humans. That's a nation in my Lovecraftian Mod, though, which is mostly "Outside of Time and Space". Muahahahahahaha!

Anyway, thanks everybody. I'm really pleased to be getting lots of feedback on this thread.