Mod: Urdheim, The Infinite Horde

[Saulot]

Thanks for the response Endoperez, I was expecting as much.

So no one has any suggestions/opinions about darkvision? (Have to say I'm a bit dissapointed about that.)
Well, I'm going to backup the .dm file and make a go for it.
Then another quick game to see how the balance works.

Progress:
Removed a province defense commander not previously mentioned (who is otherwise cool) for 'not feeling right'.
Removed a summon for same reason.
Rewrote many spell descriptions. (I'm quite happy with the farsummons now.)
Summoner can now use strength boosting items/heroic abilities to improve it's attack.
Added traps. (2 in weapon form/1 in spell form).
Tweaked down startunits.
Upgraded Kobold Strider.
Created mod banner.

Overall, I feel like I'm quite close to a release. We'll see how the darkvision/cavefort goes.

Prediction:
There will be a download by friday.

Question:
Does anyone know how to add more than heat 3 to a creature without adding fire magic on it?

[llamabeast]

Copystats EA Abysia's Burning Ones?

[Saulot]

That unfortunately adds fireshield and berserker +3 along with waste survival and darkvision 50%. I suppose I will make do with not having higher heat.

[llamabeast]

Ah, fair point.

Very much looking forward to the download.

[llamabeast]

Oh, for a darkvision opinion - I'd say yes. Thematic considerations should come first I reckon, and besides it's a very niche and rarely used ability, it's not really going to make them overpowered.

[Sombre]

Seconded on the darkvision -thumbsup-

Lots of DV 50 floating around makes the game more interesting.

[llamabeast]

Saulot, does your username have a Vampire: The Masquerade connection? I knew it rung a bell, it's just occurred to me that perhaps Saulot was the antediluvian who founded the Salubri.

[Saulot]

Thanks for the responses.

Ok, partial (50%) darkvision is now implemented.

Results:
Everyone has partial darkvision except for blind/undead units, and except for the ranger, waterborn, and ash wyvern. The Ash wyvern may be subject to change.

Issue 1: (Ranger)
Unfortunately the ranger is already copystatting to acquire patrol bonus, and while I could get rid of that, I feel that the kobolds aren't just good spies, they are good counterspies as well. With (a) small size, (b) good stealth, (c) good perception, (d) innate organization and coordination with other kobolds, (e) good memories about their territories, and of course (f) strong paranoia, they should be quite able at finding brigands causing trouble, or enemy scouts/spies/preachers/raiders running amok in their territory. In fact, if the opportunity presents itself in a patch later, I would feel very comfortable giving all kobolds a patrol bonus of 1, and then using the copystat to give the ranger darkvision.

Issue 2 (Scions):
I feel like the stronger units should have full darkvision. Unfortunately, despite spending some time poring through the unit database (Btw, Thank you very much Edi) I'm pretty sure all 100% darkvision units have a host of other qualities that are undesired. Closest I noticed was the troglodyte, which only has extra trample. Interesting sidenote; Demonbreds and Misbreds are both demons, AND possess 100% darkvision.

Issue 3 (Miners):
Same as above, instead for the miners. (The mining caste spend almost all their time underground).


Cave City/Castle/Fort implemented, similarly to Agartha. With 3 underground and 3 above ground forts, you generally have some options with what to go with. This of course gives an advantage to the Urdheim forces against most conventional armies, but presents a disadvantage against both Agartha and Lanka, as well as other undead and demon armies. This seems perfectly fine to me.

Hopes for today's testing:

1. One quick game against both Neifelheim and Agartha.
2. One quick game AGAINST Urdheim using no-indep mod. Nation to be played yet undecided.

Things I've been thinking about adding before beta release:

1. One additional new pretender. (Total of 2)
2. One additional new hero. Probably a master summoner. (Total of 4)

Edit:
@llamabeast: Yes, that's right. Back in '03 I played a Salubri character in a nice tabletop game. It was the first name that came to mind when making this user. Despite living in NYC, it's ridiculously hard to find a decent game for DND without powergamers/non-roleplayers/people-without-attendance-issues, or a decent game of Vampire without powergamers/crazy people, or for that matter, ANY game whatsoever of Alternity.

[Saulot]

Alright, after several months(!) of development, the Urdheim beta (v0.1) is finally here for download as promised. (Check first post)

Inside you get:
1 new nation
60 national sprites
30 national units
15 national spells
2 national pretenders
1 small thematic gui change (fully optional)

Now, despite this being my first real mod, don't be gentle. Be brutal. I welcome and embrace criticism. I prefer constructive criticism naturally, but I imagine anything can help me improve the mod for the next release.

I am committed to seeing this through and will be releasing new updates with added content, more balance, and less bugs in the coming weeks.

If I may suggest some music to go with the nation (for those of you who enjoy the fantasy gaming music genre but have heard the EA dom music a thousand times), this leads to the free to download knights of honor soundtrack:
http://www.sunflowers.de/english/support/dlkohmusic.php

Nothing else to add except,... Enjoy!

Edit:
In the music link provided, the track "vulture's lair" has a broken link. It is fixed simply by copying/pasting and then changing vulture's to vultures.

[Sombre]

Based on playing a quick 15 turns or so, I really like the nation - there are lots of interesting units, lots of colourful spells. It's like a cross between an Amos nation and a regular dom3 one. That's mostly a good thing (although I don't like Amos' nations that much, I think the quality there is excellent).

But to be honest they do seem overpowered. Just as an example - the Kobold warchiefs autosummon 5 light infantry a turn and they only cost just over 100 gold. They pay back the investment very quickly and do it without having to sit still and summon allies.

The poison doubleshot I'm also not too sure about. This is the early era and they have a missile weapon (one-shot, true) which is basically better than a crossbow. I think I'd prefer if it were slightly less good and the mediums were slightly cheaper.

I like the fire-breathing units a lot - there are some strong similarities between this nation and my skaven, although your 'flamethrowers' have higer prec so don't tend to toast your own guys as much. I also really like the idea of the traps used by the casters/commanders. Very nice.

I haven't played them long enough to say much more - they do seem a bit good, that's all. Early game size 1 swarming and facehugging combined with national thugs, great magic etc.