Mod: Warhammer "Chaos Undivided" race

[Panpiper]

'Chaos Undivided' is based upon the Warhammer fantasy miniatures game and universe. This race is intended to simulate reasonably accurately the flavor of the Warhammer Chaos armies, to be reasonably balanced when playing with the other standard races in the game and also, hopefully, to just be a lot of fun to play with.

There are still some graphics that need to be done, primarily among the summonable greater demons and the hero deamon princes (currently using appropriate placeholder graphics). And I expect I will still be tweaking other already included graphics as time goes on. Getting things balanced is always a tricky business and depends to a large degree upon player feedback. I believe things are reasonably well balanced already, but more tweaking is certainly likely.

On an older thread, this mod went through numerous version upgrades. More version upgrades no doubt will come. Due to new posting rules, I must continue the version notes in this first posting, so please excuse the odd number sequencing:

Version 0.52
"Chaos steed hoof and bite" damage reduced to 18 from 20. Enchanted Spear carried by Lords of Slaanesh is now a custom weapon that is one handed instead of two handed as is the normal enchanted spear. It has also been toned down somewhat doing slightly less damage and having both less attack and defense bonus, it is after all a one handed spear. This should have the effect of reducing further the ability of Lords of Slaanesh to solo independents (even though Lords are 400 point units, none of them should be able to 'solo' independents). Slaanesh warriors and chosen defense dropped by one, attack increased by one. Champion and Lords of Slaanesh defense dropped by one. Nurgle units being undead are now all encumbrance 0. Nurgle flail damage increased by one. Lord of Khorne HP dropped to 30, equal to Lord of Nurgle, fear effect also dropped to remove bonus. This should keep them from being able to solo independents. Nurgle and Khorne greater demons now have equal health. Lord of the End Times immortality removed and new path cost increased to 80, natural magic paths now: blood, water, astral and death magic, not fire.

Version 0.53
Chaos Warrior Chariot is now fully ambidextrous (that was a huge oversight on my part). They are crewed by two warriors, neither should suffer a two weapon penalty. Chosen of Tzeentch now carry a 'magic' halberd. It is identical to the non-magic halberd otherwise. They alone among the chosen come equipped with a magic weapon due to their greater inherent magical affinity.

Version 0.54
The "Spear of Slaanesh" was buggy somehow and not doing the expected job. It has been replaced with a standard one-hand enchanted spear and the Lord of Slaanesh stats balanced to remain constant despite the higher stats on this spear.

Version 0.55
Champion of Tzeentch is now guaranteed at least astral 1 with a diminishing chance of having up to astral 4! Champion of Tzeentch now has the same 'magic' halberd as does the chosen of Tzeentch. Champion of Tzeentch given #poormagicleader. Gold cost increased to 200. Lord of the End Times given Fear 0. More names. Daemon Prince of Nurgle has encumbrance of 0 being undead.

[Panpiper]

Read Me text / version notes:

"Chaos Undivided" is a race mod based on the Warhammer universe. It is a single mod that encompasses all four of the major chaos powers, as opposed to doing four separate race mods.

Chaos armor is fused to the body to whom it has been granted, it becomes part of their body. It cannot be taken off nor can other armor be worn over it. Hence in this mod it is considered the equivalent of very tough skin. Those units that do not have a torso item slot have had chaos armor granted unto them. It does not encumber and costs no resource points. You will however notice that chaos armor equipped units invariably have rather high gold costs.

Revision log:

Version 0.11
Fixed an issue with capital only units being available everywhere.

Version 0.12
Added nametypes for Demon names.

Version 0.13
Radically altered the pretender, Archaon, and gave him appropriate graphics.

Version 0.14
Reduced poison cloud on Nurgle heroes. Added banner bearer summonable troop with appropriate national spell.

Version 0.15
Numerous small tweakages. Removed priestly magic from all recruitable commanders except Chaos Cultist. Added level one priest magic to capital only Exalted Sorcerer. However also added Priest magic 3 to all five Daemon Prince heroes. Added Lesser Daemons of Slaanesh and spell to summon them.

Version 0.20
Added a lot of extra names and made them fit the respective powers that the unit is affiliated with. Increased the gold cost of the Lords by 50 to 250 as the increased combat power of their chaos steeds is worth at least that over the steedless champions. All Demons planned are now in the mod (Nurgle Plaguebearers, Nurglings, Daemonettes, Daemonettes on Steeds of Slannesh, Pink Horrors of Tzeentch, Blue Horrors, Screamers, Bloodletters, Bloodletter Champion, Flesh Hounds, Chaos Furies, Great Unclean One, Keeper of Secrets, Lord of Change & Bloodthirster). It is largely complete now except for graphics, tweaking and balancing. Some Tzeentch combat spells should still get designed.

Version 0.21
Added ritual spells for summoning Bloodletter Champions and Unreasoned Champions (actually both just tougher troops with which to shore up the troop line).

Version 0.22
Corrected "Gift of Chaos" ritual spell. It was summoning the wrong unit.

Version 0.23
The "Gift of Khorne" summoning ritual now summons a bloodletter commander instead of a troop. Painted proper sprites for standard chaos warriors (x3), chosen chaos warriors, chaos knights, chosen chaos knight, unreasoned champion, and improved the

chaos chariot.

Version 0.24 *Save game breaker!*
There is no longer a 'Chosen Chaos Warrior' unit. Instead there are now four sacred, capital only chosen chaos warrior units, one for each of the powers. Appropriate sprites were painted. Collect the whole series! ;-)

Version 0.25
The four champion commander units for the four powers now have sprites that are vastly more appropriate (scaled up 'chosen warrior' sprites). These are still technically placeholders, as it would be nice for the actual champions to be even more thematic.

Version 0.26
Removed a useless shapechange ability from Champions of Tzeentch (a holdover from a previous experiment). Fixed a crash bug caused by a spelling error when the Sorcerer of Chaos Undivided hero showed up. Also improved the sprite. Added summoning spells for each of the four powers to summon a champion level 'troop' appropriate to their allegiance.

Version 0.27
Added proper sprites for Daemonettes and Daemonettes on Steeds of Slannesh. It took me hours to get them looking decent but when I saw their effect on the battlefield, it was as hypnotizing as they aught to be.

Version 0.30
Thank you Humakty for the crucial playbalance feedback. Lowered resource cost on Marauder infantry. Basic Chaos warrior gold cost increased to 30. Most all other Chaos troop gold cost increased by as much as 50%. Basic sorcerer gold cost reduced by 10. Exalted increased by 50. Commander champion costs increased by 50. Lords increased by 100! Reduced gem cost of "Lesser Summoning of Tzeentch" (Screamers) to 5 and it's research level by one. Increased attack rating of Screamers by 2.

Version 0.31
I'm not sure how it happened, I could have sworn it was working before, but somehow "Imbue Chaos' was summoning a Bloodthirster instead of doing the Gift of

Reason thing. Fixed.
Finalized sprites for Chaos marauders, marauder flails, and marauder horsemen.

Version 0.32
Added a basic recruit anywhere chaos warrior flail & shield unit. Now there are four basic chaos warriors to go along with the four 'chosen' capital only sacreds, the four champions and the four lords. Very appropriate. Four times four. Added a small chaos symbol to all units carrying shields.

Version 0.33
Tweaked the basic Chaos warrior recruitables to make them more thematic of the four powers. Slaanesh got a +1 defense, Tzeentch a +1 Magic Resist, Khorne a +1 strength and Nurgle got poison resistance, so now you can have regular troops along with your Nurgle commanders without your Nurgle commanders killing off your regular troops. Changed the Khorne regular Chaos Warrior to use a battleaxe instead of a greatsword (more appropriate for Khorne). Version 0.34 *Save Game Messer Upper. Won't break, but old Lords of Tzeentch will be downgraded.* All four Lords now have proper sprites. The Lord of Tzeentch curtesy of Valandil. The lords have been rather extensively tweaked and may in fact now be imbalanced. I could use comments on their current design and gold cost.

Version 0.40
Gold costs again increased, this time on all sacred units possessing chaos armor. However all sacred units now possess 'heal' (rids afflictions), this as opposed to giving everyone poison resistance. Previously it was effectively impractical to ever mix Nurgle commanders with any but Nurgle followers. Now at least the sacreds can cope with the after effects. Province defense beefed up a tad for 20+. Changed defending commanders to first cultist, then basic sorcerer. Banner Bearer fear effect reduced to 'fear +0'. Increased summoning (creation) cost to 10 bloodslaves. All 'Gift' spells now summon the same unit, a single strong mainline sacred troop with zero maintenance cost. They are essentially a way to use 'excess' gems to shore up the troops. Greater Demons and their summoning spells tweaked. Gave a +2 research bonus to Exalted Sorcerers, as their cost was otherwise too crippling to research. Lord of Tzeentch is now as good a caster as the Exalted Sorcerer but with emphases on Astral which the Sorcerer does not possess. (Sorcerers tend to have higher fire than Lords of Tzeentch, chances for water which Lords do not have and much better chances at blood magic.) First draft of the Tzeentch combat spells is done. ("Red Fire" also usable by sorcerers.) My thanks to Sombre.

Version 0.41
Thanks much in part to inspiration from DrPraetorious, I have tried to rebalance things to get Chaos more in line with being balanced with native races. Almost all units have been downrated somewhat, not drastically, but keeping them more in line with what one would expect from elite units in native. Also, the resource bonus which was previously available in the capital is no longer present. This will keep Chaos from fielding a large quantity of sacreds, forcing them to rely more on the more normal units. I now find it quite challenging to play in SP so I think I have hit on the right formula.

Version 0.42
Many of DrPraetorious' suggestions have been implemented. The capital resource bonus is back. Chaos hounds have been removed from the recruitable list, they are now domsummon units only. Pretender magic, etc. toned down a tad, other adjustments made and point cost lowered to 150. Flails on all Nurgle units replaced with morningstars. Nurgle followers are now undead instead of having poison resistance and Nurgle champions and lords now have disease clouds instead of poison. 'Emerald Guards' are more elite than chaos warriors and cost only 25 gold, so the regular line chaos warrior gold cost has been dropped to 20. Regular knights of chaos gold cost dropped to 55 (their stats are comparable to regular knights yet they have no lance). Magic resistance for chosen, champions and lords increased slightly, slightly more for followers of Nurgle, significantly more for followers of Tzeentch. Slaanesh chosen, champions and lords got 'awe' and all Slaanesh followers got a significant morale boost. All Khorne followers now have berserk. Champion gold costs reduced somewhat, lord gold costs reduced quite a bit except for the Lord of Tzeentch. All summoned greater demon weapons are now magic.

Version 0.43
Chaos armor is now an armor 'item' though it cannot be removed or replaced. As it is a magical gift of the chaos powers, it has no resource cost. It also does not significantly encumber. Nurgle units are again equipped with flails, though it is a lighter one appropriate for wielding in one hand. 'Undead' Nurgle units got a small hit point and magic resistance boost. Enough for me to consider recruiting them again along side the other units. Nurgle and Slaanesh champions and lords are back up to their previous gold costs with Slaanesh getting a bit of a nerf. Now Slaanesh lords 'cannot' easily solo standard independents. Doh!

Version 0.44
Graphics change only. Sprites cleaned up to remove much of the black border residue. Regular, chosen and champion chaos warriors now have subtle but distinct differences in the look of their sprites, beyond simply different weapons. This to differentiate them by their chaos power alignment.

Version 0.45
Lazy_Perfectionist's spell descriptions are in. Corrected a typo that resulted in a 'no name' unit showing up in province defense beyond 20. The basic, recruit anywhere sorcerer was pretty useless and has been upgraded, getting now four magic picks. At the very least, either fire or death will wind up level two. Slaanesh got another nerf on their offensive combat, dropping strength and attack slightly. This to compensate for a basic 'awe' effect which was in but not working (now fixed). Slaanesh champions and lords also given seduction, which is mostly thematically decorative as they are not stealthy units (champions are male, lords are female). One could equip them to be stealthy however.

Version 0.46
Lord of Tzeentch given a foot slot. Daemon prince heroes given an extra miscellaneous slot. All Nurgle units (undead) now have poison resistance. Champion and lord of Khorne HP and protection boosted slightly (I was never recruiting them). Lord of Khorne given ambidextrous 8 and fear 5(!). Cost boosted to 400 gold, now equal to other lords. Lord of Khorne now domsummons flesh hounds instead of bloodletters. Flesh hound sprites painted. Slaanesh daemon princ'ess' hero tweaked and sprite painted. (I should have probably kept this for last, as desert.) All other daemon prince heroes tweaked. Chaos Cultist given a single random magic pick (fire, death or astral). Gold cost increased to 70. New 'holy' ritual spell added. Grants (mixed) blessing of Chaos upon some hapless person and transforms them into a 'foul spawn'. Chaos now has 'mutants'.

Version 0.47
The "Chaos Blessed" holy ritual spell has revealed a bug in the game. If you <shift> <M> to autocast each month this spell, the game will crash. (The problem is that it is a 'holy' ritual. The game engine does not like 'holy' ritual spells.) As this is most definitely a spell one would set to autocast, it had to be modified to work around this bug. When the bug is fixed, this will properly become a holy ritual again and chaos cultist will go back to a random single magic pick. For now however, "Chaos Blessed" is a level 0 thaumaturgy ritual requiring fire 1 to cast. Chaos cultists now all have fire 1. I have also bumped the cost of chaos cultists up a notch again, now at 80 gold, due to this additional functionality.

Version 0.48
After six months without a game computer, fixes have been a long time coming. Nurglings and Plaguebearers were reversed in their respective summonings, now corrected. Some minor text errors corrected. Added several more names for each of the powers.

Version 0.50
Lord of Tzeentch default weapons (meant as routine magics) are now bonus weapons, meaning they aren't lost if you equip them with a dwarven hammer or whatever. Added even more names. Warhounds are now 'animals' (don't know how I missed that) and should no longer help in sieges. Chaos Cultists now thematically have blood magic instead of fire. This makes them slightly less useful in province defense, but somewhat more useful for blood hunting. Chaos Cultists can now perform blood sacrifice to spread dominion. (This may be removed pending player feedback.)

Version 0.51
Yet more names. Chaos Cultists (again with the Chaos Cultists) now domsummon20 their warhounds. Previously they were domsummon2. There should now be a LOT less warhounds just sitting around outside of province defense. Despite this reduction, upon much thought, the combination of a research capable, stealthy priest with domsummon, the previous cost was too low. Raised now to 100 gold. Daemonettes are now stealthy (basic) and their summoning cost has been slightly increased. Daemonettes on steeds are not stealthy. Steeds of Slannesh's 'paralyze' attack is now a bonus weapon. It is no longer lost if you equip a weapon on a Lord of Slannesh. Daemon Prince of Tzeentch precision increased to 13. Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided precision increased to 12. Daemon Prince of Nurgle now has death magic 3.

[Panpiper]

From the previous thread:

Noble713 said:
1. Greater Daemons. I've summoned all except for a Bloodthirster and have been rather disappointed. Why aren't they all commanders? I summoned them with the intention of having each leading its own daemon host, and instead I'm stuck trying to dig up a nature mage to give them the Gift of Reason. I don't even know what their combat performance is like (their stats are great) because they haven't left my capital.

2. Graphics tweaks for the chaos warriors/champions/lords would be greatly appreciated and flavorful.

3. Ooo, it would be nifty to have heroes from the actual Warhammer mythos. I might contribute on this, digging up the relevant fluff/stats and trying to find imagery. I've never done any Dom3 modding, maybe it's time I started.

Sorry to have been away for so long Noble.

The greater daemons are seriously powerful beasts and requiring a gift of reasoning was seen by me as an additional balancing feature. However you don't need to go searching for a nature mage to do this with Chaos. The Lord of Tzeentch can cast the spell; "Imbue Chaos", which is a slightly more expensive astral version of 'gift of reason'.

Graphic tweaks will still be coming and any aid towards fluff/stats for heroes is welcome as well.

[Calchet]

It appears the mod attached in the first post isn't meant for playing - "hack" is at the end of the name, and the starting units are a pair of sorcerers with 4+ in all magic paths.

Misupload of an internal testing version, perhaps?

[Panpiper]

Calchet said:
It appears the mod attached in the first post isn't meant for playing - "hack" is at the end of the name, and the starting units are a pair of sorcerers with 4+ in all magic paths.

Misupload of an internal testing version, perhaps?

ARGH! Oops.

Thank you Calchet, yes that was indeed a test mod. You are supposed to start with a Chaos Cultist and a Champion of Khorne. I've re-uploaded the mod. Sorry to you and whomever was the other person who downloaded it.

(That's the second time I have done that, uploaded a test file. I'll have to pay closer attention.)

[Zentar]

Now there are at least 5 Warhammer nation mods and we have a wonderful Warhammer map. [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/VikingHelm.gif[/img]

[WraithLord]

How 5?- We have Skaven, Ogre and Chaos.

[Sombre]

Skaven, Ogres, Tomb Kings, Chaos (though I haven't tried it), Dark Elves (though I haven't tried them).

[Humakty]

The dark elves mod is not finished (not even a beta), but we have a nice high/wood elves mod, even if it is not quite warhammerish to merge the two blend of elves.

[Panpiper]

Chaos Cultists, the priests for Chaos, now have a single magic pick in blood magic instead of fire magic.

I've noted a few things with regard to Chaos Cultists. One is that with their previous one pick in fire magic, they are rather more useful than the typical priest when they show up as the basic commander in province defense. Another thing is that their current "Chaos Blessed" starting ritual which is based on the ritual spell of "Cross Breeding" currently uses fire as it's path. The "Cross Breeding" ritual is actually a blood path. Finally, I find the idea of blood magic far more thematic than that of fire for Chaos Cultists.

I bring this up because it is with some reticence that I convert the cultists magic pick to blood as it would seem this would make Chaos much more effective with regard to blood hunting. That said, in my own test games with Chaos, I rarely blood hunt with a sorcerer that has only one pick in blood. I'll use the few sorcerers that pop up with two blood for that. (Though it is entirely possible that I don't know how to properly blood hunt.)

Finally a question. It would seem to me to be very thematic to allow Chaos Cultists to blood sacrifice, especially given how the priests now have blood magic. However I am unsure as to whether this might make Chaos too powerful. I don't want to turn Chaos into a Mictlan however with nopreach and dyingdom, as this seems both unthematic for Chaos (it's rather the opposite of dying) and looks to me like a lot of extra micromanagement. Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether giving Chaos sacrificedom would be unbalancing? (Balance in this mod is more important than being thematic.)

For the time being, blood sacrifice is in the mod, pending feedback.

Version 0.50 uploaded. (Half way there?)