Mod: Caelis Immolatum ON HOLD

[Shovah32]

A flying crossbowman! I want it right now

[VedalkenBear]

Oh, I have something _much_ better than flying crossbowmen on the way.

Besides, this is looking a bit like Marignon as it is. No reason to make it even closer.

[Shovah32]

Fine *cries*

I think the caelians(is that right), after losing their mammoths, would have realised that they still needed some sort of 'tank' unit to hold off the ermorian hordes. I cant really think of one at the minute but i'll try.

[VedalkenBear]

That would be the Raptoran Legionnaires.

[Shovah32]

I know they will be tough but i meant some really big, really tough front line unit to replace the mammoths. I wouldnt think raptors, even well trained and armoured, would be that great at holding the line for an extended period of time. Maybe some sort of large ice creature from a national summon or some sort of construct made of ice and bone(seems a bit like LA atlantis but would fit with the caelian/raptor/ermorian thing the mod seems to be going with)?

[Sombre]

I know you mean palette shifts - those are easy, but extracting a perfect sprite from the game is HARD. So what you propose isn't simple at all.

Seriously, I just redraw most of this stuff from a screengrab rather than trying to extract it perfectly. And that takes time, effort and maybe even skill.

The best person at extracting sprites here is Singularity. He posted a method up a while back and you can see some damn near perfectly extracted sprites in his DominionsPlus mod. I suggest you search for the method. Every perfectly extracted sprite available to me is a big bonus, I just don't want to do it myself because the process is long and difficult :]

[VedalkenBear]

Shovah: I don't want this to feel very 'icy' at all. So no ice summons (necessarily). If I did go that route it would be something like an icefire elemental.

Personally, I don't think that this mod is going to _need_ a 'hp soak' unit, especially as a national unit. These guys have Fire/Air, Fire/Water, Death/Air, _and_ Death/Fire. Their combat magic is going to be brutal enough as it is. Therefore, they don't need to outlast the opponent, _per se_. They just need a bit of time to work their magic. Which is why standoff weapons like bows and (especially) the javelins will be so good for them.

Besides, it's not like they have the combat summon spam options closed to them either, y'know?

That brings up another point. Short of brute-forcing a Purgatory dominion, is there any way to pull these guys up short of exploiting the Undead themselves?

Sombre: Hm, I'll look into it. Maybe sometime this weekend, but there's something going on that might actually stall the mod for a while.

[Wyatt Hebert]

I've been playing this mod a bit, and although I've only played through the first 20-25 turns of the game, I have a few things I'd like to point out.

1) Mod succeeds at murdering Undead. In fact, if the Icefire Bow becomes a ranged banishment (and considering those are the, imo, best non-capital only troops), this is one country that would laugh at LA Ermor, even.

2) Raptor Legionnaire: _Very_ nice troop. In fact, used the way I do, it accomplishes something that most forum-goers have wanted for a long time: Acceptably few Friendly-Fire casualties, particularly in the pursuit stage for flying units. Reasons are as follows:

a) I have them on, I think, Hold/Attack Rear, without moving them from default location. Opponents have never been in range to fire the javelins, so the Legionnaires swoop in and melee. Funny enough, once the opponent breaks, they then start throwing javelins. This allows them to maintain separation.

b) Legionnaire stats on a flying chassis. I think most understand this, but it's still a very nice effect. High Defense, decent protection, and flying is always good.

3) Good battle magic. I can't say great, yet, as I have one army running around with my Prophet and two FFAAA Spire Horn Seraphs. They are quite useful to have, tho.

4) Minimal Friendly Fire problems. Ties into 2 and 3, but still important to state. I believe I have lost more units to enemy action than to Friendly Fire, even including my spellcasters. This is excellent, as Caelum infantry has been notorious for getting murdered by its own bowfire.

Suggestions:
I agree with Endo, really, that the High Seraphine seems to have little purpose. I think the problem is that she, honestly, is attempting to do TOO much. Rather than grabbing all the abilities of the other Seraphines, I would give her the best abilities of each, and then augment her to be personally unique.

As for costing of Seraphs, I couldn't really say, as I am not one to know balanced vs. not.

Now, to end this post, I'll let everyone know my pretender design (to best of memory) and game state, in a general way.

I have a F9 Solar Disc (just thought it was so appropriate), with Turmoil 3, Prod 2, Growth 1, Luck 3, Magic 1. I am playing on the Aran map, and I am situated in the northern end of the NW landmass. Jotunheim is to my south (capitaled on the SW peninsula, T'ien Chi is in the SE, and Agartha is to the East. I expect to have issues with Jotunheim, Agartha I expect to Fireball through pretty well (and the Tower Shield for the Legionnaire should help with their poor Attack values), and T'ien Chi might be an issue, as thier bows match my range, but by that time, I should have access to Arrow Fend, so I should be pretty safe there.

That's about it from my end so far...

Wyatt

P.S. Working on a group of the Sacreds, but I'm not sure they are better than the Legionnaires. We'll see, and I'll keep people posted on it.

[llamabeast]

Why do you say balance doesn't seem appreciated Vedalken? Pretty much everyone has been very interested and positive about the mod, and criticisms are intended constructively (e.g. I don't really mind if the wings are bright, just thought it was something worth considering). It's a real pity if you stop working on this mod, it's a really excellent concept and I was looking forward to it being finished.

[Endoperez]

I'm quite baffled as well. Could you at least tell us how this is to be rectified?