Mod: CPCS -- CrossPath Combat Spells

[NTJedi]

What about some spells which can lower a specific resistance for a single target or perhaps a group?

One of the problems with SCs is once they have 100% resistance it's more difficult to take them down... which is why the Tartarians have been such a debated issue.

A few spells to drop resistance even by 25% could really make some difference.

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by NTJedi

What about some spells which can lower a specific resistance for a single target or perhaps a group?

One of the problems with SCs is once they have 100% resistance it's more difficult to take them down... which is why the Tartarians have been such a debated issue.

A few spells to drop resistance even by 25% could really make some difference.

Only effects that are in spells in vanilla can be modded. But there is haxor way to implement this. I already have the spell "Curse of the Salamander" in, which 'force feeds' the buff heat-aura on a enemy unit. I could make a spell that gives bark/stone/iron-skin (-25 fres,-50cres,-75sres, respectively) to the unit. Althought there is a problem with this. I tested this while developing CPCS and noticed that the unit only takes the malus from the "top" two spells in the chain. So that if the unit has invulnerability + stoneskin + barkskin he would only get -100poisonres and -50 frostres. If the unit received Ironskin after that, he'd have -100 poisonres and -75 shockres.

So, it's kinda doable, but I already have a very strong (IMHO) anti-sc spell in there. The "Traveller's Curse" which gives unresistable Curse of Stones

------ 2E1W - Traveller's Curse: This spell will turn the land beneath the target in to a muddy sludge, trapping him waistdeep in oozing mire. Only when he escapes, will the victim realize the full scale of his curse. With each step the victim takes, the land under his feet will turn into this thrice-damned sludge. The cursed will have to struggle fiercly just to manage move and will be greatly hampered in combat. Unless the victim is magically reinvograted, he will eventually pass out from exhaustion. Throughout the ages, numereous heroes have been found after battle, having faced the humiliating defeat, drowned in a feet-deep puddle of mud. (automatically Slimes, earth grips and curse of Stones the target)
Alt lev 5, R:20+, NoE: 1, Prec 10, Fat:50, UW-

[Zeldor]

Burnsaber:

Didn't follow the discussion here, but that mod looks interesting. I am tempted now to make some Enhanced Gameplay Mod, with some stuff, including your mod, banned spells, magic site pack, removal of gem-making items, some other summons [for F/W mostly, by Zlefin]. I have some doubts about balance on some spells though:
- Terrible Visage: it adds it on 3 units, right? If so, it may be not too big, but fear+0 is quite powerful if massed [will it work on archers too?]
- Blessing of the Desert Wind: that AoE+ won't be too strong? any nations can get over 1 AoE on that? it's really low and powerful spell, and sounds like quite easy to put on big groups of archers [don't know any A/F mages though]
- Soulfire: that sounds very very nasty, that will own enemy armies [even if you lose your troops too fast, I'd imagine hordes of militia with some nations that have mages to spam it [in communion to reduce fatigue]]
- Traveller's Curse: afaik Curse of Stones is bugged and affects both sides, so making minor version of that may be not a great idea [and will it work?]
- hield of Heavens: good spell, but AoE can make it too strong
- Brain Freeze: shouldn't be MR++ instead of MR+? especially with AoE... [imagine hordes of TC masters of the way spamming it, reverse communion]

Rest looks ok, I think

I could use it for Preponderance 2, to get some real-game testing. IT will be some time till it starts though.

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by Zeldor

Burnsaber:

Didn't follow the discussion here, but that mod looks interesting. I am tempted now to make some Enhanced Gameplay Mod, with some stuff, including your mod, banned spells, magic site pack, removal of gem-making items, some other summons [for F/W mostly, by Zlefin]. I have some doubts about balance on some spells though:

Sounds good.

Originally Posted by Zeldor

- Terrible Visage: it adds it on 3 units, right? If so, it may be not too big, but fear+0 is quite powerful if massed [will it work on archers too?]

Yeah three units, 1 more for each level of air past 2. It could be strong but that fatiguecost 50 is pretty high. It is just like regular fear, it reduces the morale of nearby units so it's not that effective on archers. Air/Death mages are pretty rare too.

Originally Posted by Zeldor

- Blessing of the Desert Wind: that AoE+ won't be too strong? any nations can get over 1 AoE on that? it's really low and powerful spell, and sounds like quite easy to put on big groups of archers [don't know any A/F mages though]

The AoE is 1 for each level of fire. MA marignon has 25% chance get F3A1 grand master, but I can't think of any else. Fire/Air is the suckiest path combo in dominions, ever. This spells highest cost is one of opportunity. You need to have a lot of high power mages to cover large amounts (50+) archers. The buffing is not instantaneous (you can't cover your whole army in turn 1, like with Flaming arrows + wind guide) and costs scripted mage turns. No forgeable items, and just 1 medicore combat spell.

Originally Posted by Zeldor

- Soulfire: that sounds very very nasty, that will own enemy armies [even if you lose your troops too fast, I'd imagine hordes of militia with some nations that have mages to spam it [in communion to reduce fatigue]]

Yeah, it's nasty. Althought militia isn't probably the best option for buffing (weakness to missiles, combat spells). This spell mostly makes your chaff beat yuor opponents chaff. They'll be just as weak to mages as before. Fire resistant and medicore mr thugs can basically ignore the buffs.(astral shield is just plain mr roll, so mr >15 is basically immunity)

Originally Posted by Zeldor

- Traveller's Curse: afaik Curse of Stones is bugged and affects both sides, so making minor version of that may be not a great idea [and will it work?]

It works. I have tested every spell manually. The spell Curse of Stones might be bugged (is it really? I could easily fix it by modding, could be a good addition to cbm), but effect isn't.

Originally Posted by Zeldor

- Shield of Heavens: good spell, but AoE can make it too strong

Remember that shock body also does damage to you when it activates! This spell basically creates kamikaze soldiers, so you're basically just trading your troops to your opponent's on 1 to 1 basis. (unless they have shock res. Caelum? But it lacks S/A mages). This reminds me that I need to state this in the in-game description.

Originally Posted by Zeldor

- Brain Freeze: shouldn't be MR++ instead of MR+? especially with AoE... [imagine hordes of TC masters of the way spamming it, reverse communion]

You're probably right. Not that effective, but good to force spam insane amounts of mr-checks. (It really doesn't matter if the guy fails the feeblemind or paralyze check, he's boned anyways, especially with feeblemind ).

Originally Posted by Zeldor

I could use it for Preponderance 2, to get some real-game testing. IT will be some time till it starts though.

Oh, sweet. I'm also starting a small (8players) game by the end of the month.

[Burnsaber]

I gave this some more thought (I posted the above text in 15 minutes before I had to go to work, which shows in the grammar) and you raise some very good concerns. Since the "too weak" option is always better that "too strong", I'm probably going to these changes:

Terrible Visage -> targets eiter AoE:1 (non-scaling, makes this better on humans) or NoE:2+ (1 less than before)

Blessing of the Desert Wind: I seriously think that this is fine. Air/Fire is just so sucky that it deserves some goodies. (see also: Winds of Summer)

Soulfire -> I thought about this and it would probably be thematical if the targets were somehow fatigued by their burning soul flame. I'll probably remove the fire resistance effect so that: 1) the targets will fatigue out eventually from the heat aura, 2) then the spell won't give any more resistance to combat magic, which is the best way to deal with something with damage auras.

Traveller's Curse -> I admit, I was babying this a bit. I just find the idea of a supercombanant defeated by mud extremely funny. But why should a tartarian get defeated by the curse, since they don't get tired by anything? It doesn't make sense. I'll probably make it E1W1, with AoE:1+, lower level spell which causes Earth Grip + Slime. Should be nice against elite/sacred troops (halved att & def? Congratulations, you're now chaff!)

Shield of Heavens: I think that this is fine. I'll have to alter the theme thought. It's not really a "shield", more like "walking disposable lighting dispenser"

Brain Freeze -> I'll go with Zeldor's suggestion about making both effects mr easily negates.

I'm probably making a new version this weekend after I see if this discussion bears any more fruit. I'm worried about some spells being too weak. Any thoughts on these?

----- 2A1E Fall Winds - Fall is the time of harvest and labour and marks the need to prepare both physically and mentally for the long hard winter. Str boost + some frost resistance
Ench lev 4, R:20+, AoE:5+, NoE:1, Fat:50, Prec:5, UW-,UD-,ML-,IA-

---> This is kind of random. Str boost + frost res? Where is the synergy? I remeber having hard time figuring out what the "Fall" wind should do.

----- 2E1N - Shield of Gaia: The mother of all truly loves her children, and this spell manifests that love as visible protection against the natural elements (fire/frost/shcok/poison resistance 50). Undead and inanimated constructs are not her children and will not be protected.(thanks to redeyes)
Ench lev 3, R:10, Prec:5, Fat:40, AoE:2+, UW+, UD-, IA-

----- 3E2N - Gaia's Caress: The mother of all truly loves her children, and this spell manifests that love as visible protection against the natural elements (fire/frost/shcok/poison resistance 50). Undead and inanimated constructs are not her children and will not be protected.(thanks to redeyes)
Ench lev 7, R:10, Prec:5, Fat:200, NoE:3+, AoE:3+, UW+, UD-, IA-

---------> These two are made completely void by the enchanment level 9 spell (Gaia's Blessing) that has this effect as battlefield wide. On the same path combo! I really had no idea that there even was this spell in the game. These are the only spell that directly duplicate a excisting effect on a vanilla spell. I feel like I should scrap the other and try something different with the other. But what?

------- 1D1W - Baptism of Hades: In the underworld lies the stream of dead, the infamous river styx, the line between life and death. Using his dark art, the Necromancer conjures some water from this stream on his undead troops, healing them (10AP). The water will cover quite large area and any mortals struck by the water (defense resists) will wither away in mere minutes. This spell makes no difference between friend or foe, and might heal opposing undead or destroy friendly mortals if it misses.
Conj lev3, R:25+, Prec:5, Fat:30, AoE:3+, Dam:10, UW-, UD+

-------> Uber Niche?

Any ideas?

[darloth]

I know that the cloud-variant tangle or earthgrip proved too strong, but how about a cloud-variant slime spell? You could do just about anything with the flavour text, anything from timeslow to lesser-entanglement, as well as just clouds of slime ^_^

I'm not too sure about the name or path combo, but if you need ideas, there's one.

Otherwise, I too have been enjoying using this mod and the HolyWar mod, I think they both add a nice chunk of diversity. Actually, I wished that NvV2 had HolyWar on just recently turn, as I had a H2 priest I wasn't entirely sure how to use for best effect.

Anyway - I agree with you on Blessing of the Desert Wind. I tried it out with Jomon, who can (with the right combination) manage F2A1 semi-often, and while I thought it was going to be utterly amazing, it wasn't. It was nice, and added a good chunk of damage, but the AoEs are still small enough to make it niche, where it should be.

Perhaps if you custom built a pretender to cast it, it would be powerful, but people -usually- have better things to do with their pretender than F9 A1

[Burnsaber]

Alright, new version. I've added the in-game descriptions to the spell-list in http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=42113 and improved its readability.

Major changes in 0.4 -> 0.6

- Balancing changes to following: Terrible Visage, Steam Clouds, Soulfire

- Removed following spells: Traveller's Curse (Due to basic unthematicness), Call of the Herd (why use this when there are the shark spells?), Gaia's Caress (due to doupling in-game effect)

- New Spells: E/W Grip of the Marhslands, N Surge of Algae (UW only), E/N Warriors of Gaia

- Imprved grammar and spelling on numereous spells. As a example, see the new and improved description for the "Call Drowned" spell, which summons ghosts underwater.

"There is a ancient legend about a fickle trickster god who was imprisoned to underworld by Pantakrator in the early days. But there is prophecy stating that he will free himself from his prison of torment and sail against the Pantakrator on the final days. He will be sailing with a ship made from the nails of all of the men who have drowned on seas and the ship will be crewed by the same men. This means that men drowned on sea are unable to pass on to afterlife, bound to the sea till end days. None know if the legend is true, but necromancers know that underwater is especially favourable place to summon ghosts. This spell can only be cast underwater.”

EDIT: Also I'm going to start recruting for the CPCS (about 10 players) game this weekend. If you absolutely want to be in, send me an PM and I'll reserve a spot.

[Burnsaber]

You guys see the description for the "Call Drowned" spell in the above post? Apparently it caused a major bug since the last epiteth is somehow different, rending some UW-only combat spells useless.

Hence the new version.

[llamabeast]

I just had a play with "Chaotic Currents". Very fun. However, the description indicates that the currents will continue to blink people who step on the affected square. In fact that doesn't happen, although people do continue to take damage by stepping on the square.

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by llamabeast

I just had a play with "Chaotic Currents". Very fun. However, the description indicates that the currents will continue to blink people who step on the affected square. In fact that doesn't happen, although people do continue to take damage by stepping on the square.

Intresting. So apparently nextspell effects only happen on the first turn of the spells effect. I'll have to add this to the "modding tips" thread

I'll probably make the Chaotic currents non-cloud for the next version.