No Independents - Modded Solution

MaxWilson · #1 May 14th, 2007, 06:32 AM

I haven't downloaded the gcost version, but the resource version is still working quite well for me. Actually the game seems a lot harder than ever before and I'm considering backing down from Impossible for a while. AI research is higher than mine, wonder of wonders, and I'm worrying about how to handle the army of illithids parked on my doorstep while I fight off an invasion of T'lan Imass and finish crushing LA Agartha. Lovin' it.

-Max

llamabeast · #2 May 14th, 2007, 07:17 AM

What's this T'lan Imass of yours Max? Have you posted them on the Mods forum? I've not seen them.

MaxWilson · #3 May 14th, 2007, 07:32 AM

I haven't posted them. They're really still just a sketch of a nation, one unit type and two commanders, probably not balanced against vanilla. They're taken from the Malazan books by Steven Erikson, though, and Kristoffer has said he is "quite fond" of the books and that the Imass are, in fact, alluded to in the Unfrozen spell description. 300,000-year-old Neanderthal zombies with a genocidal grudge against a magically powerful race of tyrants (who really weren't all that bad) that they've already mostly wiped out. The most interesting game features are that they have high natural Protection and can turn to dust at will (= flying, maybe stealth) as well as having high hit points but never healing. (They get cut to pieces in the books but just keep on going, missing limbs and all, until you damage them sufficiently to break their connection to the Ritual of Tellann. Then the other Imass bury them under a rock or something and forget about them while the damaged ones think dead thoughts about futility. Or you can dissolve them in the ocean, which really and truly kills them.)

Probably most interesting to those who are already fans of the Malazan books. If there is sufficient interest I will polish them up and release them, but for now it's just a bit of flavor for my SP games.

-Max

lch · #4 May 14th, 2007, 10:31 AM

Quote:

MaxWilson said:
The most interesting game features are that they have high natural Protection and can turn to dust at will (= flying, maybe stealth)

Sounds more like ethereal / mistform?

MaxWilson · #5 May 14th, 2007, 11:31 AM

No, they have to resolidify in order to fight. It's used as a mode of transportation, and quick retreat from battle when overwhelmed. It would be better if flying made them disappear for a turn before reappearing on the battle map, but that's just how flying works in Dom3.

BTW, with the NI mod I'm seeing LA Agartha build a fair number of Cave Knights and fair numbers of Umbrals (15+ umbrals vs. maybe 10 Cave Knights and 100 regular troops). I don't know how much of an improvement that is over the "regular" AI but supposedly the AI hasn't usually summoned large numbers of Umbrals.

-Max

Sir_Dr_D · #6 May 14th, 2007, 11:22 PM

Wouldn't getting rid of independents like that make it even harder for water nations to get on land and viceversa?

MaxWilson · #7 May 15th, 2007, 12:18 AM

One of the advantages of the modded solution over the map solution is that selected independents can be left in the game. Ichthyids are still in the game. Some kind of tritons are still in, and mermen are in. It's a little bit harder to get into the water because you have to hope that you get recruitable mermen in the first couple of provinces, but, well, the improvement in the AI's performance makes it worth it in my eyes.

-Max