Re: Black Company Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I am sure I had it on the tip of my... Whaddya call it.. thing in the mouth... Not teeth... A moment ago. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hey, so long as nobody plays MP with it, but it is just for fun and giggles, there is little reason to scale down the Taken. If you go by the books, they ARE more powerful than most pretender gods in Dominions 2 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif It is only if you want your mod to be used competitively that you should really attempt to scale it down.

[ February 29, 2004, 03:11: Message edited by: Peter Ebbesen ]

Re: Black Company Mod
 

I'm not sure of your intentions. If it's SP then it's OK, but if it's MP I reccomend taking a look at the following easily missed fact:

Black infantry has two javelins. This is very powerful at normal gold/resource cost. You could make new light javelins with lower dmg and give them two to represent a higher rate of fire.

Just got a hilarious picture in my mind. Imagine an olympics game champion with one spear in each hand running a couple of yards and throwing them at the same time http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Black Company Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Perhaps give them precision 2?

Re: Black Company Mod
 

I do want this to be an MP nation. The Taken are slowly sliding into DomII acceptability. I compare them to Wraith Lords, Tartarian Gates dead pretenders, and Tarasques and do not find them that bad. It is part of this nation for them to have small numbers of very powerful units, just as some nations depend on masses and masses of incredibly cheap weak units (e.g. Ermor). I don't mind if it turns out they are the most powerful Heroes in the game, and in the top two tiers of the most powerful units. It is still possible for the mod to be balanced, the way it was designed.

Javelins cost res=1 I believe. This is in line with the cost of Black Infantry. Their armor is worse than militia, they have no shields, they get torn to shreds by missile fire, or even militia up close. They are pretty weak units really, with the one saving grace of two Javelins. I like the idea of scaling their damage back. I will look into a new Version of the Javelin. I see them going into battle with two slender javelins in one hand, and throwing them into the thick of battle. This is a weak unit, with the one saving grace of an oomph at the very beginning of most battles.

What do you guys think of the forvalaka and boomers?

Re: Black Company Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Okay, check the stats of the Taken again, will you? Wraith Lords have NOTHING on these guys - and Wraith Lords require Conjuration 7 and 40 deah gems, whereas a nation with luck 3 has a decent chance of getting a Taken within 10-15 rounds - and might get it on round 2.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Conjuration 9. Not seen before round 25-30 (and usually only much later), and that is only if you go straight for conjuration with a magic heavy nation, and have mages specifically boosted to meet the path requirements or have researched construction as well.

Re: Black Company Mod
 

I like the mod's flavour.

That said, I have a leetle wishlist:

1) The icons need transparent backgrounds; dark or very pale units are ok, but coloured backgrounds make it difficult to count troops - and look awful on the battlefield.

2) Lighter infantry grunts with only one javelin, weaker armour and appallingly cheap: the BC books have lots of 'fake Black Company' soldiers around to take the heat, get killed, etc... they don't have to be very tough - they only need black cloaks... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif maybe even camp followers (like slave units) to act as cannon fodder.

3) Still feel uneasy with forvalaka armies... If they were to be an assassin alternative to scouts (with berserk?), I'd feel better.

4) I got Soulcatcher on turn 2 as someone prophesied earlier. Hmmm. Still reasonably susceptible to missile fire, and hence balanced. But she looks like a Black Witch! Argh, could you please give her a nice dark background at least?

Thanks for giving it such a good try. I'm looking forward to Version 2... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Black Company Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">....until you give here a L2 construction Shield of Valor, Robe of Missile Protection, or Amulet of Missile Protection http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif (Probably go for the Shield. Any Black Witch can make such one)

Re: Black Company Mod
 

Got a lot of changes porposed in the Last day or so. I'm going to apply them and get the new Version uploaded. Some of the changes

--witch doctor: costs more, shld of accursed-->totem shield.
--fear for all units dampened
--new stealth units
--forvalaka made a stealth unit
--assorted others

Re: Black Company Mod
 

I sent Illwinter the new Version of the Black Empire Mod. It should be in the Incomplete section, due to the graphics, soon. Some of the Major Changes:

2 new infantry units
forvalaka made stealthy assassins
1 new leader unit
1 new hero unit, Bonegnasher
3 new weapons
the Taken have been pared down in numerous ways:
--up to 2/3rd hit points gone
--some magic levels gone
--unholy priest powers gone
--armour reduced drastically
Black Witches cost more

Additionally, lots of small changes made for game balance--more or less ST, ATT, Cost in gold and resources, etc.

Enjoy!

Re: Black Company Mod
 

It's up, but the zip has the same name so you wont noyice the difference unless you play it.

Re: Black Company Mod
 

I will change the name of the Mod filename to reflect the Version, starting with the next upload. The next Version should be 1.0 (e.g. blackempirev1.zip). It should have compliant graphics, a mobile infantry unit, working national spells, and whatever changes people convince me need making.

It was mentioned a while back that the Mod could use a cheap militia type unit. That if the Black Infantry had it's javelins taken away and some lesser armor it would be extremely cheap and imitate the masses of faceless foreign and local troops that die in all the battles in the books. I thought about this, and decided that these foreign and local militia are already a part of the game via the independant militia and lt infantry that are available almost immediately from most conquered provinces. It struck me as redundant to add them.... I didn't want you to think I was ignoring the idea. I really did think about it. Thanks!

Re: Black Company Mod
 

Is that mod still downloadable ? Which name ?

Liga

Re: Black Company Mod
 

might be kinda late now, but the second generation taken (i.e. whisper) could have been an option, they'd fill the gap between goblin/one eye/silent and the real taken. Don't forget the Shadowmasters too. All this Black Company talk brings a tear to my eye. For all you D&D players, the Black Company campaign world is set to be released this fall, I think by Green Ronin Games.

vig

Re: Black Company Mod
 

hrmmm... how do you make more national heroes without simply replacing other ones? I can't find a tag that makes a unit a national hero, are you just using nations that have alot of hero's due to special dominions?