Attempted mod- Miscus, kings of chaos.

[Mithras]

I'm really new to dominions but I had this great idea and just couldn't let it go to nothing... So heres an attempt to put the idea into words:
Niscus was a land of chaos. There was no constant, nothing that stayed long enough to be recognised. Yet even in this most hostile of places life flourished, it learned to change with its environment, keeping pace with chaos never more than a second behind, until life evolved its ultimate weapon. Order. Suddenly the world stopped changing. Life no longer had to follow unpredictable patterns it was now free to become intelligent. Soon the intelligence came to fruition, united by war and engorged on the riches of static chaos the creators of this world began to worship. And a god answered their call but the call came from beyond their realm. The great minds of Niscus met and devised a solution. A gate between the realities was constructed between the two realities, and creatures who had tamed chaos stepped out onto mankind’s doorstep.
There are three Niscean tribes (or species), each tribe stopped time at a different points creating varied conditions. The tribes have long been united but have kept their separate identities. Ablaens are a winged race they control the air and temperatures around them to aid them in flight but are the physically weakest of the races. The Annonites are a strong, proud race born of flaming plains; they are the smiths of Niscus. The Isosuns are the nominal leaders of the coalition, they are the oldest and the wisest tribe, most are great leaders and mages but when they choose to be they make formidable warriors.


So I'm commited to doing something about this but I'm not really the most persistant person, and any obstacles will likely throw me off big time. One of these obstacles is likely to be pixel art... so if anyone wants to practice drawing wierd things with little focus on actual weapons then I'd apreciate the input, but not yet because I don't know if I can run with the baton.

This thread is mainly for my benifit. If I forget the idea I have a chance of finding it again in these wonderfully huge forumns...

Now a modding question- I want to create an obvious change in my units, to represent rapid evolution. My idea is too have all units with high recuperation but also have a way to cause afflictions reliably to my own troops... One idea was having comanders that cause disease or just a big gluttony value... Is any of this viable and if so how big should my rejuvination be to have a noticable affect on troops, but not cause troops to die in droves, (I'm going with low hp across the board btw)I do want there to be the risk of important things going pop though)

Thats about it.
Thanks for reading through that, I'll admit that some of its drivel :P

[Sombre]

If I could give someone looking to start modding any advice it would be this: Don't start too big.

The absolute best thing you can do is get in a bit of practice with some more minor modifications to basegame first. You don't have to jump right in with a new nation - you could just as easily add stuff to an existing nation, by modifying existing sprites. This would give you a feel for balancing, doing graphics, making units/spells etc and allow you to produce something and get feedback without it taking ages or becoming overwhelming.

[HoneyBadger]

My modding advice would be: "don't rely on other people to do what you expect or want them to do".

Getting feedback isn't always a quick or easy process, so it's also important to read the strategy guides carefully, and try to figure out what strategies your Nation will allow, even if they're not ones that you specifically intend.

It's also a good idea to read the .DM files from other mod Nations and see how they're set up-that can save you a lot of time and confusion.

Sprites really aren't hard to draw, it just takes time and practice.

[Gandalf Parker]

The description sounds like a mod I helped work on. Actually a program, which rewrote a mod. Every unit in the game got a random change to it. Everytime you played it was different.

It went well with my chaos maps.

[HoneyBadger]

That sounds really cool, Gandalf-doesn't sound like anything I'm familiar with, though-which mod was it?

[Mithras]

Hmm fidle around a bit, so I can do everything on my own the come back and find the thread so I can remember what I'm doing, sounds like a plan