readme_teutanion_dm.txt

Teutanion v1.11 Nation Mod for Dominions III 

-*- README FILE -*-

Art and Mod By Zepath the Philosopher

This mod adds a new playable nation to Dominions III in the Late Ages game era.

A few technical notes for fellow modders...

This mod uses nation number(s):		70
This mod uses monster number(s): 	2500-2529, 2546
This mod uses magic site number(s): 	800-802

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CHANGES FOR v1.11:

-Light cavalry fixed
-Slight adjustments to halberdier stats

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CHANGES FOR v1.1:

-New commander: 2546 Elementalist
-Blue Wizard has been given Poor Amphibian ability
-White Wizard has been given Shock Resistance 100
-Halberdier & Brown Wizard given decreased encumberance
-Halberdier & Foot Knight attack and defense skills adjusted
-Peasants & Footmen gold costs slightly reduced

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Teutanion, Age of Honor (Late Age)

When so many nations turned to devilry, inquisition, and vengeful magic, the kings of Teutanion stood rigid against what they saw as the debasing of essential values.  The virtues of the knightly gentleman (courage, justice, courtesy, and martial prowess among them) were exalted by the noble houses and a new order of vaunted warriors was created.  The Knights of the Crown embody the chivalric code and fight for the High King of Teutanion and his noble princes.  Chivalry came to be expected of magicians as well, and in the hope of spreading virtuous attitudes among the practitioners of magic an academy was created to train worthy applicants in the mysterious ways of the elements and the etiquette of the court.  Inspired by the revelation of the new god, the Teutan nobles and their knightly and wizardly orders are rallying as one to the banner of the High King and preparing to campaign against a backward and wicked world.

Example strategy: Try an oracle with at least Astral-5 and a high dominion.  Tilt your order and productivity scales toward the positive as much as possible.  This should provide for a large gold and resource income as well as the slots for recruiting sacred troops that you will need to recruit multiple Knights of the Crown every turn.  Recruit as many of these as possible as early as possible and use them with priests and an order to attack the rear while infantry hold the center to bring down indies.  Research evocation to level 3 and use your variety of mages as artillery, but keep in mind the elemental resistances of your opponents and the danger posed by cavalry and fliers.  It is possible to generate and sustain very high morale levels in battle with priests, standard-bearing commanders, and a high dominion pretender.  Use this to your advantage!

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A bit about Teutanion...

[First of all, to get a look at all the units in this mod at once, open the preview.bmp image file in the /mods/teutanion directory.]

The kernel of thought that became the idea for Teutanion was the reaction to my Dominions 2 mods "Necropolis" and "Halls of the Underkings".  Some of the message board responses to Underkings in particular got me thinking about making some nation mods based on armies from Warhammer Fantasy Battles.  This is the first of those mods (Underkings will return later).  The Elemental Academy that trains the Teutan wizards in one of four paths of magic is taken almost directly from the Warhammer Empire that (back when I played Fantasy Battles at least) has a catalogue of such specialized mages.  The knights, their decorated lances, and the blue nation color are inspired by Warhammer's Bretonnia.  The Teutan infantry is also inspired by the Empire and Bretonnia as well as the film "Braveheart".

Teutanion is a nation sandwiched between Ulm, Marignon, and Man and its troops and flavor reflect characteristics of all three.  Since the trend in the "official" histories of the Dominions nations is toward decline and tainted magic in the Late Ages (Ermor and R'lyeh become destructive dominions while many others (re)turn to death or blood magic) I wanted to set Teutanion apart from this by making it a "pure" nation that has retained much of the style of the Middle Ages.  I imagine the Teutans thinking of themselves as a "City on the Hill" surrounded by other kingdoms all going in the wrong direction.  They are evangelical, seeing themselves as the last bastion of righteousness, but not fanatical like Marignon was in the Middle Ages.

The slight color differences between the peasant infantry, the regular infantry, and the sacred troops is intentional.  Its meant to represent the idea that the nobles can aquire finer fabrics and dyes, resulting in the pastel blue whereas the lower classes make due with more crude supplies and have a deeper blue in their livery.

The name "Teutanion" is a derivation of "Teutonic" and "Britannia".

I've tried to include an "easter egg" in this mod that players will discover in time or that you can simply track down in the monster descriptions in the .dm file.  To get the joke, you'll need foreknowledge of a specific American musical duo, but the Dominions fan base seems to be by-and-large eccentric and witty enough to get it.  :)

In a few places I have taken in-game graphics from D3 and used them to build parts of the unit art (essentially just the bodies of the horses), but all other artwork in the mod is original.

Enjoy!

If you have comments or suggestions (especially if this nation seems very unbalanced in a particular area), find me on the official message boards at shrapnelcommunity.com or send me an email at evarmy98x@yahoo.com.