Re: Moby Pretender
 

Good point, further consideration is obviously needed.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Is there any way to make a province that works as both Land and Water-basically an amphibious province? I could definitely see this as being the reasonable quality of a given province-type.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

How about a whale in a magical water sphere? At the very least it would be an interesting looking unit http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Like a hamster ball?

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Yup, a gi-normous hamster ball.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

That's a possibility, and get rid of some misc slots, but I'm looking into the possibility of a province which would allow both land only and water only beings to travel across it. Then maybe a special map that uses such a province as Haida's starting province. How does that sound?

Re: Moby Pretender
 

How about a gi-normous hamster god...er no, nevermind.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

How about a magic Killer Whale that loses its fins and gains short stubby legs on land, like the mer people of Oceana?

Re: Moby Pretender
 

That's probably the way it will be implemented if I include a 3rd pretender. A shapeshifting killer whale with a land form and a water form. Although the air whales in "The Maxx" were pretty wicked http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Moby Pretender
 

A good (and thematic) solution for the whale Pretender is to set it up as a shapeshifter (like dragons) with a weak human form on land, and SC whale form in the water. The animal/people distinction is very blurry in Haida myths, and most animals show up in human form fairly regularly.

If you can force the transform based on location, it'd be cool -- if not, having the human form amphibious, and the whale water-only should work fine.

I'd also suggest using the Grey Whale, as that is more culturally appropriate (though a grey spermwhale definatly will LOOK more "SCish")

Re: Moby Pretender
 

I considered other whales, including the grey whale and the Narwhal, but as the Moby might show up in other nations as a SC, I'd rather it be an "iconic" figure, which the distinctive spermwhale definitely is. Besides, I like the name "Moby" and it's nice to slip a Melville reference into Dom3.
I'll probably use your shapeshifter idea though, danm, thank you.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

If you end up calling him "Moby", then the human form has to be a geeky little bald vegetarian musician-type.

hehe

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Actually, I'm thinking of calling him "Frog". In certain Aboriginal American legends, it was Frog who, at the behest of Raven, swam to the bottom of the ocean to recover land which Raven then put onto the back of a giant turtle to form the land portion of the World. I'm thinking that being able to transform into a spermwhale would be an appropriate and fitting reward, because ofcourse spermwhales are known for deep diving.

Frog would have three forms, the first would be a human shaman, the second would be a giant aquatic frog, and the third would be the Moby.

Speaking of Pretenders: is there any way we could get Raven to have an extra form or two? Since he's known for changing his shape, and I don't believe he currently has more than one form.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

I think shapechanging is definitely the way to go with the moby. Even if haida started with a land+water province how would the aquatic whale move?

Re: Moby Pretender
 

What kind of form would you want for the Raven?

Re: Moby Pretender
 

How about something similar to a Caelum Eagle King?

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Ok, how about the alternate form of a stealthy human shaman with rejuvenation who's able to assassinate-that when hurt transforms into a part-raven "birdman" of approximately the same power level as a Caelum Eagle King?

Possibly the "Raven King" form would be immortal.

I kind of like the idea of Haida having Pretenders with several different forms, since that follows pretty well the abilities and legends of the various animal spirits and shamen from Aboriginal myth, and it also adds to their complexity and gives them something of a "theme".

What do you think?

Re: Moby Pretender
 

I don't think it's possible, a province is either land or water.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

It's not possible, as of now. I'm hoping someday it becomes possible, however.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

A progress update for the Haida Gwaii mod.

-All graphics have been changed to existing ingame graphics except for the Crest Pole Pretender, the nation flag and banner. This is to make it easier to incorporate Haida Gwaii into games with other modules without busting the 220 graphic cap.

-A new summon has been added to the Conjuration line for Haida Gwaii. It is called "Great Feast of the Forest"

-Haida Gwaii has access to the "Monster Toad" summon and the "Contact Couatl" summon. The latter would require a pretender geared towards casting the spell, an independent mage, or astral empowerment on a national mage.

-Coyote is sacred once again. Gold cost has been decreased on coyote as well.

-100% random a/w/n added to the "Voice of the Killer Whales" and the "Eagle Talon".

-Research bonus increased on "The Voice of the Killer Whales".

-Kachina has become more of an air spirit, complete with a lightning attack and etherealness. Kachina can now use the "Summon Allies" command to summon 1 thunderbird a turn.

-Thunderbirds received lightning attack

-Frenzied Moksgmol has been merged with the standard Moksgmol creating a more formidable sacred unit recruitable only at capital.

-Spell "Summon Frenzied Moksgmol" has been removed.

-Haida Gwaii commanders can wear shoes!

-Pretender "Crest Pole" path cost lowered to 40.

-Regular unit costs lowered.

-Mage costs increased.

-Non mage commander costs decreased.

-Toad Tribe Warrior added as a regular amphibious unit. (Similar stats to the indy version, with a Haida specific description)

-Toad Tribe Shaman added as a low level amphibious mage/ priest. (Similar to the indy version, but with 1 holy and updated description to fit Haida Gwaii theme).

-National Heroes updated to be a bit more interesting.

-Haida Gwaii can now choose from a wider variety of existing pretenders including the Colossal Head, The Lord of Rebirth, The Dagon, and the Lady of Springs, amongst others.

-Starting magic site changed to produce 2 air, 2 water and 2 nature gems.

---------------------------------------------------------

Left to do before next beta release...

-Add another recruitable unit or two.

-One more commander

-Aquatic summon.

-Testing of the Frenzied Moksgmol against heavy hitters of common EA bless strategy nations.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Sounds like this is coming along very nicely.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Foodstamp - the best bet, I think, would be to have a "suggested" in-game sprite associated with each unit, and then commented out (i.e. replace the # at the begining with a -).

That way, people can pick and choose which custom graphics to enable. It should be possible for each player to have custom graphics for *their* nation, if I handle the commenting properly, with a simple find-and-replace on the local version of the mod.

Of course, doing MP games with mods is a fair amount of logistical work anyway, so it may not be possible to get people to open their version of the mod locally and swap graphics on and off.

The pixel art you've done so far looks quite nice and I certainly don't want you not to use it just to save me coding hassle.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Foodstamp- this mod sounds amazing and now I wish I had been around the forums to sign up for your beta. I eagerly await the time when you finish so I can download this.

I'm equally impressed by the amount of research into this subject not only by you but by the other posters as well. This sounds like a real labor of love and judging by the few pics in this thread it looks very fun to play.

Damn, I I can't wait for you to release this thing already! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Update!

-King of the Forest summon added

-Frenzy of the Deep aquatic summon added

-A few stat adjustments on existing commanders

-Descriptions checked and revised.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

But still no release? Awwwwwwww.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rant.gif

Re: Moby Pretender
 

Poor, poor Bandarlover -shakes head sadly-

You'll get a vaetiihiem/Avernum update in the next couple of days though. Something to tide you over until this gets released. I'm looking forward to this one myself.

Re: Moby Pretender
 

True. I've never played the game that you said Avernum is based on but I like the way the nation plays. And 6 new national spells to look foward too? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif