Cohen Mod 0.2

[Cohen]

About items I had already my mind, as I said in someone else post "What this game really needs", where there was a exaustive discussion about Life Drain, and another post about Clams and Gem Generating item.
For Items I took nothing from Zen.

National armies will be revalued by:
1: Better production scale.
2: Some easier access troop boosting spells (more access to some spells affecting troops).

True, making easier to get some summon improves magic too, but troops can deal with Wyverns, Drakes and such.
The thing that make troops worthless are SCs with drain life. Without drain life (or regeneration + reinvigoration, but they're 2 items instead of 1), even troops could kill an SC.

For your opinion regarding Human Mages, personally I like to them usable. And for Usable I mean they could be taken without letting you know this will make you lose.
Moloch is effectively good now. I'm going to transfer it to Marignon in 0.2, becoming a choice for a fire only bless.
About Alchemist, I've already answered before ... however picking this, means you renounce to your SC from turn 1.
Thx for the advices PDF. Even if you want to help not to ruin the game, want to do some testing?

[Edi]

Cohen, yes, HBH is now more like Enslave Mind. No question about that. The problem with it is that with the changed Sabbath spells (10 fatigue, no slaves), HBH spamming becomes a viable tactic. Sabbath boosts magic levels, and getting +1 or +2 is laughably easy, especially if you find sages or lizards, astral sages and shamans can use communion slave to power a sabbath circle.

As for Caelum, have you taken a look at the nation as a whole? Yes, they have good mages. They also have incredibly crappy troops, which means that until they get a decent level of evocation, they and some other spells, their expansion options are rather limited. There is the SC option, but in and of itself that does not mean much. Caelum is not invincible, and its current strengths do not warrant such a serious nerf when its weaknesses are taken into account. Nor does Caelum being strong in certain areas mean that Abysia needs such a huge boost.

A lot of things depend on luck, especially early on (what indeps and how large provinces around you etc), and a lot more on smart use of resources at hand. The objective is not to cut every nation down to the same size, rather it is to find a balance that allows them to be different and play to their unique strengths. Your modified Abysia has only a single weakness: no missile troops, which is easily remedied by independents.

There is a general trend throughout your mod that pushes balance out the window, which is why nobody is going to like it. Yes, some low level summons need improvement (the drakes most of all), but your sweeping changes wreakmore havoc than anything else.

Edi

[Cohen]

Personally I find Caelum troops good.

Archers with precision 12 + wind guide.
All troops with defaul magic weapon.
Armors that get increased protection in cold provinces.
Flying army (they can swarm early rush pretenders before they buff, and they strike first).
They've Mammooths. Stompa Stompa of indies. (but they usually have better ways to conquer indies).

I'm playing Caelum in a game, and I'm facing Ermor by myself all alone. AE Ermor, so not so easy to cut down with lightnings and false horror (they don't rout, they're so many to lightning them all) and I cannot wind ride their better commander (ouch they're ethereal), but dunno why I've stripped them of every non castled province except one where there're a concentration of dusk elders (well however a Wrathful Skies raid had killed some of them and of the minor D2 leaders) ...
Yes now I've to siege ... uh oh ... wall shakers coming in, with some Harbingers thx to the massive clam I can forge with Caelum. CrushaCrusha. Not to say cold+sloth points = uber GK, + ring of wiz, +ring of sorc, +some death item = Death10 Undead Mastery (with +2 Penetration due to rings!).
Well this was is depriving me of many resources, so probably if someone attacks me later could have upper hand ... but it's easy and common for a third party to get over someone that has just finished an exausting war.

However, even if they've a not so good army, what matter, armyes become useless after turn 20-30 more or less.

Abysya has many more other weaknesses (costy troops/mages for what you obtain, problems in researching and blood hunting at the same time, are 2 of the most clear examples), not only the missing of fire troops.

[Karacan]

Cohen said:
Personally I find Caelum troops good.
I'm playing Caelum in a game, and I'm facing Ermor by myself all alone.

MP or SP? And if MP, what experience level does your opponent have? And your priests have nothing to do with this easy win, just your troops?

By the way, would you really like to play against this new Abysia of yours? With something other than the great new alchemist of Ulm or the Marignon Moloch.

And for the record, I actually play more or less competitively with human pretenders. They suit my style very well, and I actually managed a win or two. On bigger maps, though, with more than one opponent nation.

And anyway, what's the point of continuing to argue? You won't be budged from your position, and the community (at least indicated by the general sentiment) is unlikely to accept your consideration of balance, and thus equally unlikely to ever use it. I nevertheless admire people who can muster the energy to make massive mods, so I wish you good luck with it. It's satisfying finishing something you put some work in, even if it'll never be used outside SP or a few friends.