Mod: New Nation: Kharam Dzu

[zepath]

Presented here is a new Late Ages nation for your game-time enjoyment:

Kharam Dzu

The dwarves once ruled vast subterranean kingdoms, rich with the wealth of the earth and the traditions of a thousand years. Now the old Underkings exist only in legend and pressure from other races has cause many dwarves to seek their fortunes above ground. The dwarves who settled in Kharam Dzu, a volcanic archipelago, have put their famous ingenuity [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon07.gif[/img] to work in ship-building and have become the premier shipwrights in the world. As a rising sea power [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Fish.gif[/img], they soon found that robbing others of their gold by piracy and raids was much easier than mining it from the earth oneself. From the Office of the Admiralty in the heart of Kharam Dzu, letters of mark are issued to aspiring dwarven privateers and the island markets bustle with the captured booty they return. Nearly all coastal peoples have come to fear the black flag of Kharam Dzu, which can appear on the horizon without warning and means certain death or enslavement at the hands of the dwarves.

This nation is an addition to the normal Late Ages nations (nation number 73) and will not replace any of the original nations. This mod is based on the concept for my Dominions 2 nation mod "Halls of the Underkings". Kharam Dzu reintroduces the dwarves as a nation of their own, but they've changed through the ages and now -- in the Late Age -- are not what they once were. These dwarves live above ground, indeed on the water, and are far from honorable. Of course, they still have all that great dwarven craftsmanship going for them. This nation is entirely sea-faring and invites strategies that capitalize on their great mobility. Load it up, check out the readme file, and give the dwarves a try. Please let me know your impressions and concerns so I can make this mod even better!

[DrPraetorious]

You're aware that putting sailing on non-commanders doesn't do anything ?

Delvers (specifically, Delver Armor) need to cost more resources - compare to an Ulm unit. You could reduce their cold cost, if you wish.

Perhaps the longbeard should be old?

You're going to be fielding a craptons-of-crap strategy as this nation, that being the biggest benefit of units that cost so few resources - consider making all of them slightly cheaper to compensate for the fact that none of them wear armor.

[DrPraetorious]

I just noticed what the Black Market does after several turns of marveling over my abundant heaps of money!

You can give them a capital site that generates money if you wish, but it shouldn't generate resources as well, and forget what I said about making the troops cheaper .

[zepath]

DrPraetorious, the sailing ability on the recruitables is there in the event a player wishes to use Gift of Reason on any of his/her troops. It's the same reason I include commands for leadership ability on all monsters including even the lowest tier troops.

The low resource costs are a result of all the units being Size 1. After I lost two hundred dwarves and their commander in three successively horrendous turns of one battle to trampling opponents I realized why its best they don't have the same resource costs as Size 2 units. It's also easier to nuke five dwarves in one square than three humans. And the Delvers, while having slightly stronger armor than Black Steel, are not as powerful fighters as Ulmic infantry or knights, nor are they well armed, and underwater -- where they belong -- they are even less-so. I tried to offset the overall cheap resource costs of the units with slightly higher gold costs and found that it balanced out alright in play-testing.

[DrPraetorious]

It's true that, in spite of the odd math, the nation does not seem unbalanced. The unit that presently worries me is the crossbowman - who will also do very bad things to elephants, by and by.

[HoneyBadger]

I was hoping the dwarves would come out from under the iron boot of the Vanir in a mod, and it's nice to see that they have. Even better, they're pirates, so what's not to like? great job! I'll definitely be downloading this one.

[zepath]

DrPraetorious, the repeater crossbowmen can still be shot to death just as easily as the other dwarves and decent flying troops could cause them serious trouble.

HoneyBadger, let me know what you like and dislike once you've loaded it up and played a bit.