Mod Nation - Tomb Kings - v1.03 released (March 2009)! - Page 7

rdonj · #1 March 9th, 2009, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llamabeast

Never let it be said that I'm not easily swayed by comments rdonj.

The Ushabti should be worthwhile again now. They are super nasty against the AI, but I guess a player should still be able to bring them down fairly easily. I hope so anyway. Well, they are much less tough than Crushers, and I've never heard anyone say that they're overpowered.

I think I'm pleased with the gold cost increases though. It should be an expensive nation I think. And if you end up sometimes recruiting the cheaper priests, that's very good news for variety!

You have eased my panicked state of mind now as to the use of ushabti. I'm going to download the new, new, new! version and see about playing around with ushabti and ushabti avatars a bit if I get the chance. I especially enjoy the #stonebeing tag being placed on them, as it makes much sense. I still don't know how pleased I am with the gold changes, but I do understand why they're there. I suppose it's also very warhammery of them, with the small, commander-heavy armies the game tends to sprout.

Jazzepi · #2 March 9th, 2009, 08:37 PM

I hope you're updating the mod on llamaserver each time you make these changes

Jazzepi

Jazzepi · #3 March 9th, 2009, 08:43 PM

Bah! The priests and mages still have 3 resources instead of 1

Jazzepi

llamabeast · #4 March 10th, 2009, 03:22 AM

Yep, updated on the LlamaServer.

The resource cost is because of the difficulty of awakening them. See the flavour text for the ordinary spearmen - expensive incenses and balms are required, explaining both the gold and resource cost. Because few of the troops have much armour, I found that without this it was just too easy to suddenly mass armies, which didn't fit with my picture of the nation at all (the priests tirelessly working to reawaken the ancient armies over many months).

I hope the gold cost won't cause commander-heavy armies! The intention was to generally slightly nerf the nation without discouraging the recruitment of the national troops. I'm always wary of creating a super-nation (it's easy to do without realising), and Nehekhara has a number of national strengths. I think it has a number of weaknesses too though, so I'm content with the balance now, although if people think it's strong or weak I'd be glad to hear (I won't change it in the short term though, as stated, to provide some stability).

rdonj · #5 March 10th, 2009, 03:52 AM

Well, not commander-heavy for dominions really. But with the high upkeep you have to pay on most of your commanders, it will limit how many units you can buy, leading to smaller armies as people will almost always choose mages over armies when their cash is running low. They'll be more or less like any other dominions nation in that regard, just faster than most with the heavy reliance on tomb kings.

llamabeast · #6 March 10th, 2009, 05:18 AM

Well, most of the commanders are sacred, so the upkeep shouldn't be too bad. The change was an extra 1 gold/turn for the High Priest. So I think they'll be okay.

rdonj · #7 March 10th, 2009, 06:41 AM

Hmm... I'd always overlooked the Tomb Princes before, but with an e9/w9 bless they can be rather shockingly effective at expanding

Until it runs into an indy fire mage who casts fire darts once, gets lucky and nails you for 10 damage, and then the lingering fire damage kills him. Curse you, lucky indy fire mage!

Also, I guess I was overreacting a bit to the gold cost. I just am remembering back to warhammerama where I had like 1000 upkeep, with mostly just sacred commanders and my immortals.

llamabeast · #8 March 10th, 2009, 08:05 AM

Right! Madness! I appear to be gently cracking up and thinking about this mod too much. As such I'm just about to upload a v1.03. This time I promise I won't release any more for a bit, and sorry everyone for the ridiculous flurry.

- I was still feeling very uncomfortable about the Immortals. They are your best troops, sacred _and_ immortal. Being as you have many H3 priests and are likely to take high dominion, it might be very feasible to push your dominion and fight major battles with these unkillable troops. Not only are they immortal, they're also extremely hard to kill. Possibly more importantly, they were probably the most unfair _feeling_ part of the mod, even if they weren't too overpowered. With mod nations you have to be careful because people always wonder whether the balance was done properly. As such they now cost 3 death gems, and are mildly easier to kill (-1 def, 25% more fire vulnerability, a bit lower MR). Because of their high protection and tower shield killing them will still be a victory for your opponent, and will still be a hollow one because of their immortality. I think they are still worth going for.
- The Tomb Kings were adept at soloing with their AOE fire. That was never the intention, I just wanted them to be able to defend themselves from assassins. As such they now just have secondary effect fire, rather than small area fire. With the recent magic improvements you can easily forge them a fire brand if you want to.
- I was really struggling with the cost of the Ushabti and Ushabti avatars. Finally I thought I'd go for the cheaper option because I like them. That seems to be a common rule in Dominions, nicely thematic things are also affordable. The resulting change is a frankly undramatic one - Ushabti go back to 12 earth gems (from 14), and avatars to 35 earth gems (from 40). What a waste of llamabrainpower!

llamabeast · #9 March 10th, 2009, 08:08 AM

Yeah, the Tomb Princes are pretty awesome really. Try giving one two Black Steel Tower Shields!

llamabeast · #10 March 10th, 2009, 08:32 AM

Sorry, Kite Shields, they can't hold Tower Shields because they're mounted.