Black Company Mod

[Uh-Nu-Buh]

I sent the mod to Illwinter as an Incomplete or Not Serious Mod. Hopefully they will post it for download soon.

Recent Changes:
--no more enlistable Taken
--got rid of Soulgatherers
--national summonings: Behemoth, Wraith Lord
--5 hero Taken Units
--Toadkiller Dog is not yet working
--new unit Black General (toned down Generic Taken)
--new unit Witch Men, powerful in their breadth, wise and experienced, spiteful and cruel, rainbow mages with curse shields (Goblin, One Eye, Silent, Tom Tom, etc.)
--Limper Infantry made more expensive
--decreased most units' armor, including the Taken heroes
--I finally got the Boomers right, I think

I have to thank everyone for their input. I added/changed a lot because you guys made so much sense. Hopefully I'll get a lot more suggestions with the Mod finally released.

Ideas for the next Version:
--national summons succubus
--new weapon poisoned crossbows
--new weapon poisoned short swords
--new unit Black Skirmisher with poisoned crossbows, poisoned short swords, and chain mail.

Thanks!

[Uh-Nu-Buh]

The Black Company Mod is available for download. It is blackempire.zip

[Sindai]

Moonbiter - Immensely Strong

That was Bonegnasher. Moonbiter died before Cook gave any real distinguishing characteristics about him, IIRC.

[ February 27, 2004, 00:32: Message edited by: Sindai ]

[Peter Ebbesen]

Thumbs up for the nice work. Still a lot of work to be done, but you are obviously getting there.

Since the Black General is now described as being basically a more powerful Black Captain, he should probably no longer be marked as undead.

The Black Witch is definitely underpriced at 200 gold. With 8 magic picks, FAWEDDN?, 15 MR, 10 basic precision, 10/10/10 st/at/def, and a built in Shield of the Accursed that gives her a basic 16 def, 4 prot (+earth bonus) she is the most accomplished magician that can be recruited in any race bar none. No one else even gets close.

Going by the modding guidelines, we notice that her basic stats probably makes for a 40g (no leadership, but all her stats are above average), with the Shield of the Accursed, a greater magic item, boosting it by at least, say, 40g. (I would tend to put it much higher, but that might be overreacting, but it is a VERY nice item)

Regarding magic, there is 1/8 chance that she will have 3D and 5 L1 paths, 5/8 chance that she will have 2D, a second L2 path, and 4 L1 paths, and 2/8 chance that she will have 2D and 6 L1 paths. The modding guidelines provide some useful pointers for magic cost:

Avg. Magic Cost: 1/8 * (150+20+4*10) + 5/8 * (90+60+4*10) + 2/8 * (90+20+4*10) = 182.5

So, a better price for her skills would probably be 260g (~40+40+182.5)

----------

As expected, the Taken heroes are powerful beyond belief, but then, we knew that. Their power just about guarantees that this mod is for SP only. They are, in fact, more powerful than most pretender gods, being comparable in power to a Prince of Darkness given immortality, regeneration, and morale boosting

I am not sure which one is the most powerful one, though.

The Shapeshifter? Extremely high regeneration and hitpoints, exceptionally good skills, fire 2, nature 2, unholy 4, immortal, and fear(9)!

The Limper? Fire 6, Death 2, Unholy 4, standard(20), regenerating, immortal, a base precision of 15!? and fear(16)

The Howler? Air 4, Fire 4, Unholy 4, standard(20), regenerating, immortal, flying, good stats and HP, AND FEAR(19)

[Bossemanden]

On the other hand the Limper-infantry, while powerfull is so slow as to be basically stationary. Played a game with the Black Empire (which I lost..curse them R�lyeh bastards) and I found that only by placing the Limper-inf at the extreme front (along with the reanimated fodder) and all others on hold and attack somewhere behind, could I get any real use out of these brutes.
They�ll probably do nice in a Thermopylae-style battle though.

Eventually I played with mostly Black inf and Forvalaka units. Backed up by a Black General, sometimes a Black Witch and/or Hero units.

Never got the Limper

[Uh-Nu-Buh]

Peter--you just about read my mind. I have already made a lot of the adjustments you mention. Not the ones to The Taken, but I will ponder those (compared to the Tien Chi heroes, they don't look so bad. One of those suckers has 7 magic levels, a lot more HP, and flies....) I took unholy away from Everyone. It was nice for atmosphere, but it did nothing. Now I have no holy, unholy units at all. Much better--thematically, and truer to the books. Ermor will be a battle royale. Gotta find those neutral sages and priests early.

I took out most of the death magic, except on the Black Witches. "Battle" magic seems to be the theme. I will also tone down the fear effects; espec wrt the Taken.

Good comments on the Black Witches. I will revisit them. I will post the new Version of the mod tomorrow or Monday I think.

I have added two new units and one new commander. Very thematic. Stealthy assasins with new weapons: 1 shot, short range, poisoned crossbows; and poisoned short swords. First unit is Black Skirmishers. They are an elite anti-monster unit. Heavily armed, heavily armored, they exist to take care of magical beasties and sorcerors. Then there is the super elite Version: Black Takers. These super-troopers work under the new commander: the Black Sargent. The Black Sargent is a poor leader, stealthy, assassin. He leads small bands of Black Takers on assassination missions. These bands use pxbows, psswords, and full leather armor in order to be stealthy yet have a kick.

I am still working on the national summonings. Anybody have a clue?

[ February 29, 2004, 00:02: Message edited by: Uh-Nu-Buh ]

[Bossemanden]

Regarding national summons.
I still feel that my proposal regarding "normal" Taken as national summons bears thinking about.
In the books there was a clear qualitative difference between the "old" Taken (the Hero units) and your everyday two for a penny Taken. The new ones were under more direct control (Lady could "withdraw" their Taken status) and were generally both less powerfull and less skilled (Not or at least less true with Whisper).

A national Taken summons ala the Vampire count for Ulm Black Forest would be my proposal.

[ February 29, 2004, 00:35: Message edited by: Bossemanden ]

[Peter Ebbesen]

Originally posted by Uh-Nu-Buh:
Peter--you just about read my mind. I have already made a lot of the adjustments you mention. Not the ones to The Taken, but I will ponder those (compared to the Tien Chi heroes, they don't look so bad. One of those suckers has 7 magic levels, a lot more HP, and flies....)

Erhhmm. The immortal T'ien C'hi hero with most hitpoints has 11, that hardly qualifies as more hitpoints than the 50-80 hitpoint Taken. Of course, the T'ien C'hi hero does not regenerate, have a fear aura, or inspire morale either, and his precision is WAY lower than the outrageous base 15 you have used for several Taken. You will have to come up with better than that if you want to convince me, in the face of all evidence, that the Taken are not the most powerful units in the game.

...And there is a hell of a difference between FAWWSSS, which is max level 3 in a path, and AAAAFFFF and FFFFFFDD. Generally speaking, a mage is much more powerful from having high levels in single paths than low in multiple.

I took unholy away from Everyone. It was nice for atmosphere, but it did nothing. Now I have no holy, unholy units at all. Much better--thematically, and truer to the books.

Sounds good!

[Uh-Nu-Buh]

Originally posted by Bossemanden:
Regarding national summons.
I still feel that my proposal regarding "normal" Taken as national summons bears thinking about.
.
.
.
A national Taken summons ala the Vampire count for Ulm Black Forest would be my proposal.

I agree. One of the reasons I got rid of recruitable Taken was your idea and arguments. In fact, this is one of the two current national summons that I am trying to make happen. Right now, I have Summon Wraith Lord as a national summons; but, when I can get this stuff working, I intend to have "Awaken Undead Black General" which will be an experienced Black General who is still in the Dominator's mound.

[Uh-Nu-Buh]

Peter, I have only played Tien Chi once, but it was only a week ago. I hate to think I am whatever that thing is, the thing where you forget stuff all the time.

Anyways, I really thought that one hero had 110, not 11 hit points.... Oh well, I'm sure you are right. Ok, the Taken are Powerful!!! I was originally going for Tartarian Gates type units, then I thought--nah, that's too powerful, I will scale them back to super wraith lords. Heh heh.... This mod is supposed to be top-heavy for two reasons, my ideas on supplies, and to be true to the books. I keep nibbling away at these guys. Keep hitting me in the noggin with your points until they sink in.