Re: Is it possible to mod the arena challenge out?
 

The death arena was a great feature, yet it's current state makes provides little interest in MP and provides pain in SP.

In singleplayer it's painful watching many AI blindly send their pretenders to the deathmatch.
In multiplayer the prize of 100 experience and the Trident is not worth risking the life of a good unit... especially not worth risking the life of a prophet. In multiplayer ususally one or more humans will enter opponents to cast curse, horror_mark, blindness and/or give cursed items such as slave collars. The trident and experience have little value for the winner when he/she/it is cursed and blind with a slave collar.

**Ideally the death match arena prize should provide winnings which would be worth risking the life of a good commander. During the days of Dominions_2 I suggested the prize provide gold and gems based on the current game turn since a fixed prize would make the death match arena less and less valuable as the game proceeds. Thus the winner on turn_10 would recieve 200_gold and 10_random_gems whereas the winner on turn_100 would recieve 2000_gold and 100_random_gems. (Few games reach 100 turns)

I really do like the idea of the death match arena... unfortunately the prize sucks.

Re: Is it possible to mod the arena challenge out?
 

Yeah a gold/gem reward would be pretty awesome. Never even thought of using the arena as a cheap way to screw enemy SCs foolish enough to enter though http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Is it possible to mod the arena challenge out?
 

To quote Terry Pratchett: "That's because you're not a bastard." http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

I normally skip the Deathmatches, but I decided to throw someone into the ring in my current game. I sent a Jotun Jarl (not a Niefel Jarl, even though I'm playing Niefelheim) with Chain Mail of Displacement and Boots of Quickness. He was scripted to cast Bless (E9N6 bless!) and then Attack Closest. I figured I had a decent chance at snagging the prize, but I wouldn't miss the guy too badly if he lost.

Next thing I know, my end-of-turn report has an angry message from Marverni: "Hello, my name is Chief Vitalstatistix. You killed my goddess. Prepare to die!"

(Well, words to that effect, anyway....)

The AI sent in a Lady of Love pretender with Nature and Water magic. Unfortunately, she was also equipped with Full Black Steel Plate and a Shield of Valor. Instead of being a sensible goddess and using her magic, she tried to beat my giant to death with her fist. Now, the Lady of Love isn't all that skilled in battle. I think she had an attack value of 13 or so. With his shiny gear, my Jarl had a defense value in the mid-20s. Yeah.

I think she hit my Jarl once before passing out from fatigue, thanks to her heavy armor. His regeneration healed the damage in one turn. Meanwhile, he just stood there and chopped away at her. Many (many!) turns later, she died. I got the Shield, and she got to sleep in Tartarus until her priests call her back to the mortal plane....

The next competitor was the C'tissian prophet, some silly lizard in a chariot who kept smiting my Jarl. He actually did more damage than the Marverni pretender did ... but the regeneration was up to the challenge. And a Jotun Jarl with Boots of Quickness can cover ground in a hurry, so the lizzie didn't have too many smiting opportunities before he was split open like a pumpkin on the day after Halloween.

End result:
My Jotun Jarl got three stars, instant membership in the Hall of Fame, and a spiffy trident.
One dead pretender.
One dead prophet.

Special bonus:
When he claimed the Champion's Trident, my hero thoughtfully put the Shield of Valor into my laboratory! So there's a free magic shield for one of my Niefel Jarls....