Mod: Caelis Immolatum ON HOLD

[Shovah32]

Are they meant to have no temperature preference?

[VedalkenBear]

Yes, they are, Shovah, though that's a minor point. I could see Cold-1 or 2, but then I'd feel obligated to put Cold Resistance on almost all of their units almost by reflex.

It's kind of amusing the idiosyncrasies each of us have.

[Shovah32]

Yay . Also the anti-undead archers(cant think of the name) dont seem to have any projectile visual(they still do damage. just dont see any arrows). The mods looking nice, undead get demolished by W9 sacreds+anti undead archers(39 damage vrs undead with each shot ) and regular units dont do much better due to insane battle magic(the A2F2 100% FA random seraphs are amazing in combat) and tough raptors.

Im having fun with this mod but feel it may be a little bit overpowered.

[VedalkenBear]

Shovah: Yes, I know the 'no projectile' issue with the Icefire Archers. That should be fixed.

I am very interested in concrete (if at all possible, quantitative) discussion regarding the power level. Given my by-now rather notorious 'balance' bent, it would be the height of hypocrisy to turn around and hand out in finished form an overpowered mod.

The sacred unit is probably going to be a summon at some point (at least slightly buffed), with trying to find a happy medium for the elite-but-recruitable dual-weapon unit.

As far as undead are concerned, they are _supposed_ to keel over and die to this nation. As long as you use the proper tools, this nation shouldn't have a problem with undead of almost any type.

Having said that, this should be a magic-focused nation after the initial expansion. This is why almost all of their commanders are mages, and the Seraphs almost invariably fearsome battle mages. If I'm 'up to it', I will probably remove _every_ Undead summon from their spell list, though. Another thing I'd like to point out that they are not using what IMO are the best long-term magic paths (Earth, Astral, Nature, Blood). Discussion on this topic would be appreciated.

I'm also interested in hearing ideas how I can keep their ability to expand early while not overpowering their national troops.

[Shovah32]

Well their pretender can help with magical versatility and air is a decent lategame path(good army buffs, missile protection, air queens, battle magic ect) as is their fairly limited death magic.

[Wyatt Hebert]

I've been playing this mod a bit, and although I've only played through the first 20-25 turns of the game, I have a few things I'd like to point out.

1) Mod succeeds at murdering Undead. In fact, if the Icefire Bow becomes a ranged banishment (and considering those are the, imo, best non-capital only troops), this is one country that would laugh at LA Ermor, even.

2) Raptor Legionnaire: _Very_ nice troop. In fact, used the way I do, it accomplishes something that most forum-goers have wanted for a long time: Acceptably few Friendly-Fire casualties, particularly in the pursuit stage for flying units. Reasons are as follows:

a) I have them on, I think, Hold/Attack Rear, without moving them from default location. Opponents have never been in range to fire the javelins, so the Legionnaires swoop in and melee. Funny enough, once the opponent breaks, they then start throwing javelins. This allows them to maintain separation.

b) Legionnaire stats on a flying chassis. I think most understand this, but it's still a very nice effect. High Defense, decent protection, and flying is always good.

3) Good battle magic. I can't say great, yet, as I have one army running around with my Prophet and two FFAAA Spire Horn Seraphs. They are quite useful to have, tho.

4) Minimal Friendly Fire problems. Ties into 2 and 3, but still important to state. I believe I have lost more units to enemy action than to Friendly Fire, even including my spellcasters. This is excellent, as Caelum infantry has been notorious for getting murdered by its own bowfire.

Suggestions:
I agree with Endo, really, that the High Seraphine seems to have little purpose. I think the problem is that she, honestly, is attempting to do TOO much. Rather than grabbing all the abilities of the other Seraphines, I would give her the best abilities of each, and then augment her to be personally unique.

As for costing of Seraphs, I couldn't really say, as I am not one to know balanced vs. not.

Now, to end this post, I'll let everyone know my pretender design (to best of memory) and game state, in a general way.

I have a F9 Solar Disc (just thought it was so appropriate), with Turmoil 3, Prod 2, Growth 1, Luck 3, Magic 1. I am playing on the Aran map, and I am situated in the northern end of the NW landmass. Jotunheim is to my south (capitaled on the SW peninsula, T'ien Chi is in the SE, and Agartha is to the East. I expect to have issues with Jotunheim, Agartha I expect to Fireball through pretty well (and the Tower Shield for the Legionnaire should help with their poor Attack values), and T'ien Chi might be an issue, as thier bows match my range, but by that time, I should have access to Arrow Fend, so I should be pretty safe there.

That's about it from my end so far...

Wyatt

P.S. Working on a group of the Sacreds, but I'm not sure they are better than the Legionnaires. We'll see, and I'll keep people posted on it.

[llamabeast]

Why do you say balance doesn't seem appreciated Vedalken? Pretty much everyone has been very interested and positive about the mod, and criticisms are intended constructively (e.g. I don't really mind if the wings are bright, just thought it was something worth considering). It's a real pity if you stop working on this mod, it's a really excellent concept and I was looking forward to it being finished.

[Endoperez]

I'm quite baffled as well. Could you at least tell us how this is to be rectified?

[Sombre]

Strange. Maybe something going on in the world of PMs? I gave this thread a quick browse and didn't notice anything amounting to serious criticism.

I hope you decide to carry on. Sounded like a good mod (I don't have time to try it right now).

We're all talking about the edit to the first post, by the way.