Mod questions

[Boron]

The first questions occured while starting my mod

1. Do i need to make a bow a bonus weapon ? Same for any ranged weapon ?
2. Can i only have 4 weapons per monster ?
I plan to make an oliphaunt with the following attacks :
1 trunk attack , 1 "trample" attack with feet , 10 shots per round from bowmen on the back .
Do i need to make 2 bowmen attacks with 5 shots each per round then ?
3. If i do that does this work at all : a bow with 5 or 10 shots per battleround ?
4. What is the sound of the elephant ? I would like to assign this sound to the trunk + trample attack .
5. Is there a limit for HP ? I plan to give the Oliphaunt 200 hp but my other idea is to give him 500 hp but make him lifeless to avoid abuse of regeneration spells
6. What happens with my units if i don't assign them weapon slots + commander abilities if they get GoRed ?
7. I plan to use a special area attack for my Oliphaunt and also a small one for the War troll club attack .

Atm i have the following as trunkattack :
-Oliphaunt Trunk-
#newweapon 806
#name "Spiked Trunk"
#damage 8
#att 3
#len 6
#aoe 3
#sound ??

Does this mean that if the Oliphaunt succeeds with his attack throw then all targets in an Aoe 3 get attacked by 8+str+2d6 damage ?
Can he damage himself ?

The attack should be that the Oliphaunt can hit about 5-10 Rohirrim with 1 big Trunk attack and kill most of them , similiar to the film .

8. Is there a "freespawn" command that i could give one Mordor leader the ability to get "freespawn" Orcs like Pangenea Pans get Maenads ?
Or is the only possibilty to achieve that to use the Pan and the Maenad units for this ?
I can't do this solution though because an Oliphaunt shall cost something between 500-1000 gold and a Wartroll probably around 200 gold .

Thanks for the answers .

I have so far done 11 weapons , 13 armors/helms/shields and 7 from 10 units , so about 10-20% i guess .
I already fear doing the sprites for my units then though .
If anyone knows some good LotR graphics that may fit please feel free to post them here or as links .

Finally S Sube and Weissi may i maybe use some of your unit graphics from your Black Moon + Orc Mods unaltered or only slightly altered ?
I would be very grateful

[Endoperez]

Boron said:
The first questions occured while starting my mod

1. Do i need to make a bow a bonus weapon ? Same for any ranged weapon ?

Only if you want it to stay even if other weapons are equipped. This shouldn't matter for most units.

2. Can i only have 4 weapons per monster ?
I plan to make an oliphaunt with the following attacks :
1 trunk attack , 1 "trample" attack with feet , 10 shots per round from bowmen on the back .
Do i need to make 2 bowmen attacks with 5 shots each per round then ?

It seems so. But trample isn't normal weapon, unless you plan to mod it, too.

3. If i do that does this work at all : a bow with 5 or 10 shots per battleround ?

See "Bow of War", the item or the weapon it uses. Game Engine allows atleast 15 it uses, and modding tools support this as well.

4. What is the sound of the elephant ? I would like to assign this sound to the trunk + trample attack .

You can try to find it by trying all, but other than that it's hard. It might be one of the first (1-6) as Pyhtium and Arco were the first nation, but also check numbers around 50 (serpent) and 78-83 (lion and bog beast, and hopefully more animals).

5. Is there a limit for HP ? I plan to give the Oliphaunt 200 hp but my other idea is to give him 500 hp but make him lifeless to avoid abuse of regeneration spells

500 is possible. I also tested 99999, it seems that going over the top gives you the base value (10).

6. What happens with my units if i don't assign them weapon slots + commander abilities if they get GoRed ?

They have base human slots.

7. I plan to use a special area attack for my Oliphaunt and also a small one for the War troll club attack .

Atm i have the following as trunkattack :
-Oliphaunt Trunk-
#newweapon 806
#name "Spiked Trunk"
#damage 8
#att 3
#len 6
#aoe 3
#sound ??

I think it would work... But I also think it would work too well. Damage 8 plus str of an elephant! AoE 3! Length 6! I think you should test it a little. That's more than spells before Falling Fires!

Does this mean that if the Oliphaunt succeeds with his attack throw then all targets in an Aoe 3 get attacked by 8+str+2d6 damage ?
Can he damage himself ?

The attack should be that the Oliphaunt can hit about 5-10 Rohirrim with 1 big Trunk attack and kill most of them , similiar to the film .

He can damage himself. And in the attack's AoE, everything will be hit. He will kill dozens of ANYTHING. That is, if he would use this instead of trample, which he does not, until you mod trample into a weapon. And that is awkward.

It's easier to test this if you give the weapon '#eplspr 10075', or any other. This will help you to see which area the attack hits. And it can be removed when your mod is nearing completion.

8. Is there a "freespawn" command that i could give one Mordor leader the ability to get "freespawn" Orcs like Pangenea Pans get Maenads ?
Or is the only possibilty to achieve that to use the Pan and the Maenad units for this ?
I can't do this solution though because an Oliphaunt shall cost something between 500-1000 gold and a Wartroll probably around 200 gold .

You can use Pan and Maenads, but also by replacing Broken Empire of Soul Gate Ermor. They get undead others don't (undead legionaires and velites / soul gate undead). Of course, be rehauling whole Death Magic to be "evil magic of Mordor", summoning Orcs (reanimation, banefire archers), Oliphaunts (Behemoth), trolls (bane, but up the price) etc. You could also replace Mictlan, do the former with Blood spells and change slaves to orcs and Mictlan's two slave-makers into Mordor commanders.

I have so far done 11 weapons , 13 armors/helms/shields and 7 from 10 units , so about 10-20% i guess .
I already fear doing the sprites for my units then though .
If anyone knows some good LotR graphics that may fit please feel free to post them here or as links .

That is lots, but also remember that just putting in numbers isn't enough. You also have to test things, or remake all nations in an attempt to rebalance everything - not something I would like to do.

Anyway, good luck on your mod! I might not like it, but it's good that people do what they are interested in. I wouldn't have liked the idea of Ashikaga before I tried it...

[Boron]

Thnx for your help Endoperez .

Especially the Oliphaunt will be really difficult to do because it should be like in the Films , very dangerous and powerful but not overpowered .

[Endoperez]

Boron said:
Thnx for your help Endoperez <img src="http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif" alt="" /> .

Especially the Oliphaunt will be really difficult to do because it should be like in the Films , very dangerous and powerful but not overpowered .

It's a joy to help.

I have not seen the last film (I hated ents/irongard(?) part that was so wonderful in the book), but have read LotR trilogy. I don't know how a combination of arrows and trample works, but atleast trample and weapons is a bad choice. I would just give the M�makil trample+berserk, high hits and prot, maybe Tusks(length 3) to give it possibility to repel short weapons like swords, and siege bonus/high strength.

[atul]

Endoperez said:
I don't know how a combination of arrows and trample works, but atleast trample and weapons is a bad choice.

In my first MP I had this TC S&A Noble (the chariot guy, trample and all) with heroic quickness around +150% and a missing eye affliction. I gave him jade armor, eye of precision and bow of war. In battle I expected him just to dish out 50+ arrows per turn...

...which he did. In addition to charging into enemy ranks, trampling all he could. My little hero trampled and shot arrows like there wouldn't be tomorrow (there wasn't - for him). I'm not sure, though, whether the combined shooting and trampling was working as it should or some strange bug due his 5+ actions per turn.

[Boron]

Endoperez said:
It's a joy to help.

I have not seen the last film (I hated ents/irongard(?) part that was so wonderful in the book), but have read LotR trilogy. I don't know how a combination of arrows and trample works, but atleast trample and weapons is a bad choice. I would just give the M�makil trample+berserk, high hits and prot, maybe Tusks(length 3) to give it possibility to repel short weapons like swords, and siege bonus/high strength.

Yeah i didn't like the 2nd film too much too . Imo the end was bad chosen with a almost totally happy end in part 2 with holding helms deep and then the ents finishing off saruman totally .
From a dramatic perspective this end was really bad chosen imo .

Part 3 is really good though the best of all 3 films . A worthy end .


Another question to the mod : Which good freeware graphic editing programs do exist with which i can easily do the finetuning of my unitgraphics ?

[Endoperez]

I used combination of MS Paint and Irfanview, but I would have loved to have filters and some more color options. I have heard a lot about Gimp. I know it has been suggested for making maps, but what about units? 64x64 (or 128x128) has a world of difference to 20 mb map.

[Kristoffer O]

I don't make sprites in GIMP, only maps. GIMP can be used to make good sprites as well. Personally I'm using 'spooky sprites', JK's sprite making program. It's probably the least userfriendly program he has made (hmm, actually it's not), but I'm used to it and it is designed for making dominions sprites.

GIMP has good filter and color options. You can do basically whatever you want. Might take some time to get into.