New Ulm Pretender ?

[PvK]

I haven't read the 2.08 modding doc yet - just the mod description on the patch page. However, it sounds like there may still be a bit of a bother trying to get this to work perfectly, if we can't add new pretenders nor get rid of old abilities. I think the Alchemist is the only Ulm-only pretender, so we sort of have to use him, and he has three misc slots and the super-alchemy ability, which may not be possible to remove. So it may still not be impossible to get this entirely right yet.

PvK

[Hawkmoon]

Well...definitely looks like there is enough interest to grab K and J's attention at least. I have no idea what a "fair" statline would be for such a Knight Commander nor would I have a clue as to what "powers" to give him, I just know that I want one dangit...heh heh heh. And again...not really interested in modding the game...I don't think we're out of line asking for a new Pretender in a future patch. Making a new Pretender has to be far less arduous than making a whole new theme, you think ? Then again, I'm sure they have better things to do other than modify their product for the sake of a few squeaky hinges...never hurts to ask though, right ?

[Wauthan]

Well considering this pretender will be part of a mod I personally think you might as well replace any suitable pretender. I would like this kind of unit available not just when I play Ulm. Couldn't the mounted archmage or the freaklord be replaced? As far as I've noticed they are pretenders that don't see much use anyways.

[PvK]

You could, though the one I made was specifically Ulmish, and one needs to watch out for abilities that can't be cleared, though I assume #clear works better in 2.08 than in 2.06, in which case there may be little or no difficulties.

Ideally one could add pretenders choices to a nation, so you could have a Warrior Kings of Ulm mod offering various options without removing any.

But now we have leadership and path cost, we can do pretty close. I'll see if I can steal time soon to finish my shot at it.

PvK

[PvK]

Ok, I'm working on it now.

The problem with unwanted abilities on the pretender appears to have been solved in 2.08, as well as the needed abilities to mod starting dominion, path cost, and leadership values. Thanks Illwinter!!

So, the only real drawbacks now are that you lose a pretender choice in order to gain this one, and you can't add varieties of Kings to Ulm in one mod without offering them to several other nations at the same time. Also, the pretender effect on hitpoint based on domain strength isn't really thematic with a mortal king.

I thought another way to mod this would be to have a pretender Pope, and give the warrior king as a starting commander to Ulm. This would make sense because you can always ressurrect a pope , but the King would be mortal and not subject to Domain effects on health. However, the warrior king unit would be a big advantage to Ulm even if they don't take the pope pretender, so it'd be unbalanced in that case, unless I chop down the number of starting military units Ulm has. Maybe that's the way to go.

Or, do all three - mods are easy enough to make, except for the graphics.

PvK

[Ctennyson]

Hey:

I have just completed a mod similar to this one. I am not going to publically release it, since it blatantly steals the graphical work of Sube, unless Sube specifically authorizes it, but I do have 1 slight snag.

1) #domstr # is not changing the starting dominion strength

Pretender stats go thusly:

Hp: 50
Prot: 24(Full plate, helm, shield)
att: 14
Def: 18
Move: 2/25
Leadership: 125
MR: 18
Str: 16
Prec: 10
Morale: 30
Dominion Strength 2 (if it worked)
Path cost: 20
Pretender cost: 50
No starting paths
Heal
Trample

I was going to make him immortal, but I decided on healing instead...might change to immortal and back depending on mood.

Here is the #desc "As Ermor fell from grace, some of its heroes took up quests to prevent its ultimate demise. The White Knight was one such questor. He found an elixir of life, and drank deep of it. By the time he returned, however, Ermor had fallen. Great was his anger, and he blamed the death cults and mages for its demise. Now, armed, and guarded by steel, He will cleanse all magic, save his own, from this world."

The elixir could easily be a sword, a dove, a banana, whatever, but the elixir, ie the grail/chalice, would allow for #heal, or #immortal depending on flavor. Arthur and Excalibur was said to be invincible(immortal) while he held the sword, so that would also work, for flavor.

Edit: Also, fors and against would be cool as well. I tried to keep the stats reasonable for the cost, if you think its undercosted(or over) please chime in.

[ February 22, 2004, 00:19: Message edited by: Ctennyson ]

[Ctennyson]

Specifically directed to PvK: They also apply to prophets, don't forget(the dominion hp bonus), so your Black Knight can end up with a boatload of hp now.

Just ignore the "Mortal King" thing. He's donning a "godly mantle" as the descriptions keep saying, and is no longer quite mortal.

If you consider a magicless Wyrm can become a God, why not a powerful knight? It's all about faith, once the populace believes in you, you gain strength. Take it in game context, and you'll be much happier.

[PvK]

I decided to make two different mods.

One turns the alchemist into an Avatar of Ulm, which is like yours, though with somewhat different stats. Every single other pretender has an MR of 18, and 18 is supposed to be the max for anything except certain otherworldlies, so I used 18. I didn't give either of them healing abilities. I did give them a 1000 path cost (practically impossible) to start with any magic paths.

The other is a Warrior King of Ulm, and he isn't the pretender. He's a starting commander, whose offsetting disadvantage is that while he's a great warrior, he can't be bothered with stately affairs, resulting in a 50 gold cost to Ulm's treasury while he is the king. Also the starting units are only him and ten maul infantry - this represents the expense and chaos of his recent coronation, and helps balance the advantage of having a supercombattant from turn 1. The Warrior king has lower stats that the Avatar Version, and is completely mortal (though he has a 15 MR), but he could of course be propheted (not the best idea, since then he'll be weak when attacking in enemy domain), and he'll most likely get a heroic ability, which the avatar Version can't since he's a pretender.

Anyway, I'm quite happy with it, though I haven't quite finished the attack graphic yet.

PvK

[Ctennyson]

The mr for mine is 18, 20 was a typo. Sorry =)

I dont think recuperation makes him a supercombattant, really. He's a fair fighter, but he isnt on par with very many of the real SCs. Course he is cheap, and his paths are 25, so while not an easy rainbow, he is kinda decent at both.

[PDF]

PvK
Without ANY possible path (if I understood correctly your proposal), the Ulm Avatar isn't going to be really playable unless he has much more fighting power than a Dragon (who incidentally "only" has path cost= 80...)!
IMHO the Avatar could have Ulmish magic path (F+E). So an Ulm player choosing it will have a potential SC but forfeit any magic versatility he could have had with a RB .