New Mod - Griffins of Akkylannie

[cegorach]

Hi everyone - thought I'd introduce myself with a mod I have cooked up over the Last few days. The mod replaces Caelum with the Griffins of Akkylannie from Confrontation, a miniatures game with a great background. You can find more info at www.confrontation.fr.It's kind of rough, as I have no skill at graphics and am very new to Dom 2, so any feedback would be welcome. Feel free to pick through and suggest anything. Two questions I do have - I have managed to maintain the two Caelum heroes but how do I have their names show correctly as singular. Ie hero 1 is "Mira the reckless" - when she appears you get "<other name> mira the reckless". The other question is for any help regarding the pretender - I know he needs work, so advice would be very helpful. Balance is the big issue I am having - if nothing else, the fusiliers seem to tear through everything but their weapon stats are not that improved over the arbalest. If the balance masters would be able to have a look I would much appreciate it.

[Vicious Love]

Checking it out as we speak. Shall doubtless be bitter and passive-aggressive when respond, as was much, much too lazy to finish my own mod.
Welcome aboard, incidentally.

Update: In my defense, at least I had a perfectly feasible and not at all ambitious set of goals in mind. I mean, the whole mod was eminently doable, and I had a good sense of exactly how to bring about the desired results.
I was just too lazy even for that. But enough about me.

[cegorach]

Well, your bitterness and failure to achieve makes you well qualified to be a critic

[cegorach]

Well, 1 error spotted already. Attached is new .dm file with holy & heal removed from fusiliers

[Vicious Love]

Just a quick glance(Haven't chanced upon the heroes or set up more than a few battles yet), and here are my thoughts thus far.
Firstly, this definitely isn't a grotesquely overpowered mod. You seem to have put much thought into trying to balance things(Hence the not-quite-so-round numbers that are the units' gold costs?), and I applaud your efforts.
However, I do have my worries.

Firstly, although your pretender is no SC(Particularly with that high-encumbrance starting equipment), his starting paths of F4, W1 for a mere 50 points are impressive, to say the least, and the compensatory new path cost of 50 is little deterrent. He also has easier access than any existing chassis to the coveted W9 F9 blessing, and this should not be casually dismissed.

Secondly, when comparing your elite-but-not-as-elite-as-the-other-elite troops to those of Pythium(The Emerald Guard, for combat skill), Caelum(For precision), T'ien Chi(For morale) and Abysia(For everything else), one might be inclined to believe they're a bit underpriced.
However, this may be an unfair assertion, as Abysians and Caelians both have notable additional advantages, and all four nations seem far more versatile than your nation.
There are definitely no out-of-the-box SCs on your roster, and though your sacred troops are nothing to scoff at, they don't outshine those of Vanheim, Niefelheim, or Last of the Tuatha Man, either. Akkylannie's troops are phenomenal, but no more than a wee bit underpriced, if at all.
Furthermore, while a +7 standard seems like an awesome deal for no more than 26 gold(Particularly when combined with high base morale and superb priests, for nigh-unbreakability), we must keep in mind the aforementioned crippling lack of versatility. Honestly, without a well-rounded pretender, Akkylannie is more predictable than any nation out there.

I suppose the aptest balance-minded comparison in order is one between Akkylannie and Ulm-Marignon. On the one hand, your infantry necessitate a distinctly Ulmish fortress/productivity scale combo, and don't benefit from the Ulmish production bonus.
However, your (relatively)cheap units outdo Ulm's rank-and-file in skill, magic resistance, and morale, and are in turn outdone in HP and mobility(!). With a powerful blessing, your ultra-elites put Ulm's black knights to shame, but the same could be said of Mictlan, who can even afford a proper blessing, instead of spending points on a fortress and productivity. Your elites' equipment seems too good to be true, but that's more a question of immersion than of game balance.
Factoring in Akkylannie's complete lack of cavalry, or any troops with strategic move above 1, and I'd say this comparison favors Ulm, if anyone.
Although fire 3 and one true random is not half bad(Particularly the F3 bit. Abysia it ain't, but yowza, nonetheless), it is still not all that much better than Ulm's earth & fire combo. Couple said combo with that sweet, sweet forge bonus, and you've more than a match for Akkylannie's priest-power. I suppose fire-immune troops might have made it a closer call, but the mix of expensive, heavily armored infantry and wildly inaccurate fire magic is... a mixed blessing, at best. Also, no siege or castle defense bonus. The Griffin assassin vs. Ulm's spy is a debate for another thread, as is Griffin assassin vs. inferior Marignon assassin and Marignon spy.

The comparison with Marignon isn't all that favorable for these guys, either. Comparing non-sacred, non-mounted troops, Akkylannie's are superior in every conceivable way, and not all that prohibitive, gold- and resource-wise.
Once we bring knights and sacreds back into the picture, Marignon reigns supreme. The mix of dirt cheap, low-resource flagellants(With DEVASTATING fire-9 flail attack, near-cavalry sprint, and kung-fu grip) and ultra-elite sacred Knights of the Chalice leaves little room for doubt - Advantage Marignon.
Commander-wise, I assume your intent was for your inquisitors to actually have the presently unmoddable "inquisitor" ability, putting them nearly on par with Marignon's priests, and making for far superior mini-SCs even without the sacred/fire magic combo. Pretty sweet, but not as sweet as astral magic.
I could probably go on, but I'm a tad distracted, and I think I've said enough for a preliminary evaluation.
A few afterthoughts:

I'm not entirely sure why your fusiliers and darkness hunters recuperate. Does the board game explain this, or is it an oversight?

Your pretender's magic resistance is 3 points below the norm. And methinks the norm serves a purpose, in this case.

I DIG conscripts in full plate. I really do. What a world, what a world!

[Vicious Love]

Heh, didn't spot the sacred part.

[Vicious Love]

By the way, regarding sheer fun, rather than irrelevancies such as game balance, I doubt I'd play them much, myself. Of course, this holds true for each and every nation save C'tis, Caelum, Pangaea, R'lyeh, Atlantis, Mictlan, T'ien Ch'i and Machaka.
I just have a deep, abiding, and thoroughly personal aVersion to anything remotely generic in fantasy(And an unrelated dislike of Jotunheim).
It's only a matter of time, and not much time, before South America, Africa, China and Lovecraftia become as much the norm as quasi-medieval Europe, Arabia and, Steve Jackson help us all, Japan, and so I'm savoring these nations while I still can.

Update: Who am I kidding, Lovecraftia become mainstream ages ago. I guess I just like squid.

[cegorach]

Fantastic! Thanks so much for the feedback. Pretty much spot on where I was hoping to be heading. My aim was to shoot closer for immersion in the setting than razor-sharp game balance, and I hope that I have been relatively true to that. I fully understand your comments on generic settings - one of the things that drew me to the Confrontation setting was it's rather...french...take on what is a standard fantasy setting. There are just enough twists and depth to keep it from joining Warhammer et al on the pile of commercially recyclable settings.

[Vicious Love]

Say what you will of Warhammer, at least it has Skaven.
Honestly, I loathe Warhammer with every fibre of my well-toned body, but the point stands: Skaven!




Furthermore, bump.