Mod: The Hoburg Kingdom v0.91

[normalphil]

Version 0.6

Cleans up some sprites I wasn't satisfied with, makes appropriate starting age allocations, and adds nation-specific pretender god "Fallen Wizard".

[Sombre]

Ooh, nice. This is way up there on my list of stuff to try now. Late Era is /packed/ with great mods.

[Sombre]

I just gave the mod a very brief whirl and I've got to say I'm very impressed with how it's progressed/progressing. It fits perfectly as a dom3 hoburg nation and is still quirky and interesting in a unique way. Thematically I really like it.

Some things I noted in the five minutes or so I tried ;]

1. The name of the nation should probably be 'hoburg, crossbows and butter' rather than 'kingdom of hoburg, etc' so it fits with the dom3 naming conventions.

2. Similarly I think 'Hogrider Officer' sounds better than 'hoburg hogrider officer' and 'officer of the great kitchen' sounds better than 'officer of the great hoburg kitchen'.

3. The Riesenguard seem too cheap considering they're supposed to be very rare, they're a giant unit for a hoburg race (much like trolls for my vaetti) and they're sacred. Right now even with the steep resource cost I think I'd be relying on them rather than treating them as an expensive and rare option. I haven't tested to see if this is the case, it just feels like they should cost more or not be sacred.

4. The bannerman, as a regular unit, could perhaps do with having a slightly smaller banner graphic. The artwork is very nice, but slightly too big. This is purely personal taste though.

6. I think you should, ala zepath, make a flag that retains the Hoburg Alliance flavour yet shows they have changed. The crop could be a picture on the flag with the top-piece being something new, like a crossbow or something militaristic. You could also stripe the green with grey to show military influence.

Two other things I was just wondering about. Is the starting army too strong? And what does the note about the hogs not charging home mean? They still have the same gore attack as the old ones don't they?

[normalphil]

Sombre said:
I just gave the mod a very brief whirl and I've got to say I'm very impressed with how it's progressed/progressing. It fits perfectly as a dom3 hoburg nation and is still quirky and interesting in a unique way. Thematically I really like it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Sombre said:
Some things I noted in the five minutes or so I tried ;]

1. The name of the nation should probably be 'hoburg, crossbows and butter' rather than 'kingdom of hoburg, etc' so it fits with the dom3 naming conventions.

2. Similarly I think 'Hogrider Officer' sounds better than 'hoburg hogrider officer' and 'officer of the great kitchen' sounds better than 'officer of the great hoburg kitchen'.

I kind of like the overtone of ridiculous pomposity. Three-foot tall people with 10 foot tall names for everything. And Shakos, which is even worse.

Sombre said:
3. The Riesenguard seem too cheap considering they're supposed to be very rare, they're a giant unit for a hoburg race (much like trolls for my vaetti) and they're sacred. Right now even with the steep resource cost I think I'd be relying on them rather than treating them as an expensive and rare option. I haven't tested to see if this is the case, it just feels like they should cost more or not be sacred.

My initial reference point was taking a Jotun Longsword unit, and adding the obligatory +50% gold cost for sacredness. Their stats improved slightly since then (morale, particularly) but I figured it was a decent enough ballpark.

Oddly enough, a good way to make the Riesengarde as rare as rare can be is to improve their armor and equipment- giants take a lot of resources when they're decked out. Right now they've got longswords, Iron Caps, and Plate Hauberks, and that makes them more than 50 resources per. Full Helmets and Full Plate, towershields, Arbelests of their own (although I'd probably give them balistas), and the resource cost gets to the point that it doesn't matter how rich you are, you aren't adding more than 3 of them to your army per month, and that if you had a /good/ starting province placement.

Sombre said:
4. The bannerman, as a regular unit, could perhaps do with having a slightly smaller banner graphic. The artwork is very nice, but slightly too big. This is purely personal taste though.

This is a "we'd play faster if we could" thing. Banner is about as small as I can make it and still look decent. And again with the pomposity.

Sombre said:
6. I think you should, ala zepath, make a flag that retains the Hoburg Alliance flavour yet shows they have changed. The crop could be a picture on the flag with the top-piece being something new, like a crossbow or something militaristic. You could also stripe the green with grey to show military influence.

It's on the to-do list.

Sombre said:
Two other things I was just wondering about. Is the starting army too strong?

Yes.

Sombre said:
And what does the note about the hogs not charging home mean? They still have the same gore attack as the old ones don't they?

I took out their trample, which is admitedly not bloody relevant for a size '2' unit. I suppose I can make a new 'gore' attack with a reduced attack skill, though. I maintain hogs are dangerous, these ones aren't looking to be heros, though.

[Sombre]

Further testing seems to suggest that the PD is a bit over the top, although that might be because I'm playing against the AI. In any case, it is certainly very strong.

[normalphil]

PD is supposed to be very powerful, LE Tien Chi level. Literally an extremely large well-organized and outfitted national militia. But I've gone back and looked at it.

Province Defense
For the first twenty points you get 4 militia-grade per point and one strength 2 priest
3 Landwehr per point (morale nine with crossbows and leather cuirasses)
1 Landwehr Lancer per point (morale nine with light lances and leather cuirasses)

For twenty and over you get 4 normal-grade per point and one strength 2 mage
3 Line Infantry per point (morale twelve with crossbows and plate cuirasses)
1 Lancer per point (morale twelve with light lances and plate cuirasses)

55 gold (strength 10) 30 Landwehr, 10 Landwehr lancers, 1 chaplain (value 410)
210 gold (strength 20) 60 Landwehr, 20 Landwehr lancers, 1 chaplain, 1 chemist (value 840)
465 gold (strength 30) 90 Landwehr, 30 Landwher lancers, 30 Line Infantry, 10 Lancers, 1 chaplain, 1 chemist (value 1640)
820 gold (strength 40) 120 Landwehr, 40 Landwher lancers, 60 Line Infantry, 20 Lancers, 1 chaplain, 1 chemist (value 2480)


20- isn't much of a problem, for all that it's STRONG. The basic issue is that everybody has a crossbow (except the cavalry, and there aren't enough of them for everyone else to rout after they all die). You really can't hold that against them.

20+ /is/ a problem, though. Maxing provincial defense /should/ be a case of diminishing returns, and it just isn't right now to any significant degree. Also, that isn't a Landwehr force, its become a frickn' field army. I'll drop it down to 1 line-infantry per point, and nothing else.


Revised Province Defense
For the first twenty points you get 4 militia-grade per point and one strength 2 priest
3 Landwehr per point (morale nine with crossbows and leather cuirasses)
1 Landwehr Lancer per point (morale nine with light lances and leather cuirasses)

For twenty and over you get 1 normal-grade per point and one strength 2 mage
1 Line Infantry per point (morale twelve with crossbows and plate cuirasses)

[normalphil]

Version 0.8

Starting units and province defenses reduced. Non-hero cavalry given a new 'gore' attack at reduced attack skill. Adds a late-game unit summon. Some text changes.

[normalphil]

Version 0.91

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Well, I’ve kept at this intermittently and I think it’s pretty much done, barring tweaks.

I dropped the Officers of the Great Kitchen a few revisions ago, since I never could get them to be something other than quick to build mini-forts.

Lowered the castle production bonus. Dropped shields for all infantry- LA Man may have it, but these guys don’t.

Lowered the cost and size of the national summons, as well as the providence of their weapons.

Kept the insane pretender choice as a copied R’yleh insanity instead of giving it shattered soul, purely for in-game text reasons. For some reason his default name seems to always be “Azzo”.

I ran with the “Manufactories Endeavors” national summons concept to the point that there’s a potential mid-game faction internal change-over with Kleinstampfers, if you structure the side properly. Otherwise they’re welcome support units. Just don’t get them wet.

I dropped the Riesengarde, (sacred giants) and then later added the Riesengarde (capital-only Mournful with uniforms). I gave them traitor princes with uniforms as amphibious officers for synergy.