Mod: Gem Valley - a SP MA mod

[Edratman]

New Mod - Gem Valley

9/11/08 Version 1.1 Added unleadership to all heroes.
9/16/08 Ver 1.11 - Changed slots Auger. modified start site
9/20/08 Ver. 1.2 - tweaked PD, cleaned up some spries
10/13/08 - some units altered for balance. 2 new gem mines added

Disclaimer: This mod probably is not balanced for MP. I am not sure that it is even balanced for SP. I am positive that Dom3 purists will not like it.

Credits: I want to thank Amos and Sombre who granted permission to borrow sprites to produce this mod. It is possible that sprites have been borrowed from others. If so, I will correct this unintentional omission for credit. These generous benefactors are otherwise free from blame for this mod.


Gem Valley:

In the beginning, the world was devoid of magic. The Prime Force, seeking to correct this deficiency, created the source of Mana and hid the source in the most inaccessible mountain valley in the world. Over the long ages the source spread its influence and distributed gems and Mana to the four corners of the world. During this early period of history, magic was pure and untainted by the evil blood magic of the Dark One.

But nothing good lasts forever. The Dark One finally discovered this world of goodness and pure magic, and desired to have it for his own. The lure of the easy power of blood magic soon brought many converts to the Dark Ones cause. A global war developed and the supporters of good battled the forces of tainted blood magic in every land for uncountable generations. The war finally ground to an end, unresolved, both sides exhausted and unable to continue any further. Thus ended the First Age of the world.

During the Second Age of the world, the Mana source became self aware, a by-product of its proximity to immeasurable Mana, and became The Source, ever so slowly gaining power and developing awareness. Eventually the fetid taste of the blood magic reached the isolated Gem valley and The Source was appalled. Immobile and powerless to battle the blood magic itself, The Source sent out a call summoning the users of pure magic to Gem Valley. Many answered the call; few successfully overcame the obstacles in the path. The descendents of these few survivors are the sole present day inhabitants of Gem Valley. A tribe of dwarves also answered the call. Reluctant to reside in the open air of Gem valley, these dwarves pledged to maintain the Mana channels deep beneath the earth to ensure a ready supply of Mana and gems to the mages of the world. These few inhabitants prospered and prepared for the next war.

Time beyond measure passed. The Powers of The Source had increased to the point where it was capable of creating a powerful physical manifestation of itself. The mages, the only humans in Gem Valley, also waxed in power, freed from the constraints of daily labor by virtuous demons drawn to the power of the Source and subsequently modified by The Source itself. The loyal tribe of dwarves grew in stature, an alteration attributed to their constant exposure to the Mana.

One day The Source announced to its loyal adherents, “Go forth in my name and rid the world of the blood.”


Gem Valley is a MA mod with some unique characteristics. There are only three weak demon units available to recruit. All commanders are mages and most are very powerful. However, there is a wild aspect that accompanies this power. And as the name of the mod implies, gems can be had in quantity. All forgeable items are also available to the nation.

The nation is a magical, research powerhouse. Early expansion is painfully slow, but with luck, by the middle game the nation should be able to expand rapidly. Invest in good PD to hold back the foe until research, gems and powerful summons can cleanse the world of the taint.

[Edratman]

[lch]

This is the full image you want to link. Right-click => Show image, then copy the URL. Don't trust what the site tells you, it only serves a thumbnail

[Edratman]

Well thank you very much.

How did you do that?

[Edratman]

Ver.1.2

Tweaked PD, cleaned up some sprites.

[Edratman]

Gem Valley also has the first known instance of linked magic boosts in a mod. The sorcery mages use the linked boosts.

[Edratman]

Ver 1.3. Some changes for balance. Two additional gem mines added.

[Loren]

I'm trying this out and it seems quite powerful. I didn't find expansion all that slow, with every merc offered I was taking 1/round and then added another fortress from which I built other forces. When the dust cleared I was in the middle of the pack on size.

Some questions:

1) The gem units have movement yet can't be moved other than by teleportation (or possibly the gate stone but I haven't tried that--it's in the hands of a raider.) This lack of movement is annoying as it means a ton of commanders in the capital. Is this deliberate or a bug?

2) Something is very strange with my upkeep. At this point most of my army consists of summons--mostly GORed Seraphs and Abominations. In recruitables I have only about 40 gem mines and a few odds and ends (most of which is captured enemies.) I've got about 180 gem mines and the seraphs, abominations and a bunch of royalty. How am I spending 20k on upkeep? I don't see even 2k worth!

3) What are the differences between the gem mines?

[Edratman]

1. The lack of movement of the gem mines and gem fountains is by design. They are immoble entities, although the mines do teleport because of the astral paths. Everything in the game will teleport if it has enough astral.

2. I have no idea why your upkeep is so high. It can't be the gem mines, with a gc of 250 each. The 2 summons you cite are also zero gold. I have not encountered that problem. The most likely possibility can be attributed to the fact that the mod incorporates the "Better Independents Mod" with unit costs of 2000 gold. Have you seduced some non magic independent commanders? Or have you had a milita event or other unit generating event?



3. There are 3 gems mines to balance gem generation of the mines. Each mine is limited to generating 5 types of gems, a game limition, not mine. So to get an even balance of all 7 gem types, all 3 mines, in total generate 15 gem types. Thus a complete set of all 3 mines will generate two of each gem type with the extra being a pearl. The 1.0 version had one mine and it was scripted to generate all 7 gems, but the game limited it to only 5 types. The only way I could figure out how to evenly circumvent that limitation was the 3 mine solution. I have always meant to include the types in the descriptions, but haven't gotten around to it. Just click on each mine after a turn and you will see which gems each produces.

The nation is not feeble. I am not a good enough player to play a feeble nation with any success. I made the nation so that I could cast every spell and forge every item, if the wild magic distributes paths usefully (doesn't always happen). But I don't recruit mercs, so that limits me in the early game. But once you research up and have about 5 castles, the nation becomes a lot of fun to play (IMHO).

It would probably get overwhelmed early in MP also. Unless you use PD 20+ and have some offensive research completed.

[Loren]

Originally Posted by Edratman

. I have no idea why your upkeep is so high. It can't be the gem mines, with a gc of 250 each. The 2 summons you cite are also zero gold. I have not encountered that problem. The most likely possibility can be attributed to the fact that the mod incorporates the "Better Independents Mod" with unit costs of 2000 gold. Have you seduced some non magic independent commanders? Or have you had a milita event or other unit generating event?

Not quite--I figured it out. It's not indie commanders, it's some random event monsters that got enslaved.

The nation is not feeble. I am not a good enough player to play a feeble nation with any success. I made the nation so that I could cast every spell and forge every item, if the wild magic distributes paths usefully (doesn't always happen). But I don't recruit mercs, so that limits me in the early game. But once you research up and have about 5 castles, the nation becomes a lot of fun to play (IMHO).

It's gone easier than Hinnom. Next game I'll try without the mercs. I haven't even needed the magic on the commanders. This game is easy enough I'm trying to win while basically at peace. I have one neighbor that's hitting me and I'm ignoring, beyond that I'm taking anything lost to monsters and using ghost riders to cause provinces to be lost. Once it's down to castles only I'll see if I can dream up anything else.

It would probably get overwhelmed early in MP also. Unless you use PD 20+ and have some offensive research completed.

Probably, although the only way to actually destroy it would be a dominion kill.