Kolum Mod Project
 

I'm starting this thread largely as just a placemarker for a larger project that I'm going to be developing over the next year or so. I'm taking my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, a campaign influenced heavily by Glen Cook's "Black Company" books and George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, and converting its armies to Dominions II one step at a time. Given that my campaign world centered on about a dozen different armies going to war with one another for supremacy over a dying, cursed land, I'm thinking it's perfectly suited for a Dominions rebirth, especially while I'm trapped at law school and unable to get a consistent D&D game going.

It's my hope to develop 12 complete army mods, including their own army-specific Pretender, their gear, their units, and heroes. I'm also hoping to eventually develop a map (and accompanying scenario) to place them on, although that's my least favorite part of this process and will therefore wait until the end.

ETA for this completed project, I'm thinking, will be a year's time, just because of the sheer scope that it entails. An army a month is awfully ambitious, but I'm hoping to be able to take significant shortcuts with the sprite development process in order to make that work out.

I'm not necessarily looking for other people to develop, as I don't want to take any steam away from Calrea. However, I'll be posting stats here and possibly incomplete and eventually complete armies at IW's site. I'd love to have suggestions on balancing armies with the current ones in Dom2 so that you don't necessarily have to buy completely into my vision to use bits and pieces.

Thoughts or helpful tips as I start out are much appreciated! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ April 09, 2004, 16:57: Message edited by: Miguel Duran ]

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Oh please, do go ahead with this project!

But please: would you be so kind as to give ample background? I love a good campaign world and a good setting, but (in other games' mods) I continually have the problem that modders forget that the eventual players are not aquainted with "his" backrground. (From personal experience I call it the "why would red dragons and intelligent sword spiders form a military alliance" effect.)

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Absolutely. I plan on using as much room as possible in the flavor text areas of the army descriptions, unit descriptions, etc. I'm also likely to toss some developer's notes in along with the finished army .dm files to help explain my view on the theme of the army. Thankfully, my world's pretty low fantasy in most regards, so you're unlikely to find too much in the way of wacky pairings within the armies. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Awesome! Those series are amongst my Favorites (albeit I think Cook's "Dread Empire" series was better than the Black Company books), and, especially now that Illwinter has apparently made it possible to mod pretenders, would be perfect for Dominions. The Hanged Man, Howler, etc, all scheming and warring for Dominion.

And the ... critters from the far side of the Icewall certainly make an interesting nation, as do the Wildlings actually.

I'll be very interested in seeing how things go, and possibly willing / able to help out, as a near-scholar of those two milieus. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Well, keep in mind that my setting is just heavily influenced by those books and isn't in any way supposed to be representative of them. While there are a few characters you might see sort of re-embodied in new forms, the terrain should be pretty much brand new to you. I know that someone else here was working on a Black Company mod but was still in the early going. They've got an incomplete Version on the IW site.

As it stands, I'm now sitting about and educating myself in PhotoShop which is, well, rough and slowgoing, particularly with two bad mice. Making sprites is probably going to be the slowest part of this project, sadly. What I'd really like are some tips from the pros on how to cut into the time consumption that requires.

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Sounds great. I hope you will update this thread with news quite regular !

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Excellent! More mods, more playing. I hope you can finish the mod in the schelude and I hope it will be as good as u told. Maybe you could send/publish some alphas and betas so people don't have to wait so long time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Added to the Mod Projects Link in order to give better advertising. You might want to ask for specific jobs or things done or what you are looking for Miguel in order to have a better response.

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Thanks Zen!

As a sidenote, the description on the mod link should likely be altered as I'm converting a D&D campaign world to a set of mods and that world is only influenced by, not actually a direct translation of, the Martin and Cook books.

As for what I need in terms of help, nothing immediately. I'll likely post a sample .dm file for the first army in the near future and see if people have any comments on the play balance issues. Those sorts of suggestions would be the most help -- otherwise, it's largely a solo project unless someone just has a burning desire to take my designs and write up initial .dm files or (better) draw up some .tgas for the units (as that's likely to be the most time-consuming part)

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Here's a question that's arisen as I'm developing my Kolum mod. I've decided that in creating the nation belonging to my Matriarch, I'd like to work off the C'tis Desert Tombs theme as it's very much in keeping with what I want. I wonder, however, whether developing such a mod will work.

Question 1: I'm looking at simply rewriting all units pertinent to C'tis Desert Tombs, so the theme in theory would work just fine. It's important to me to give the nation its theme-specific summons which I'm revamping considerably. I'm just wondering if there are any difficulties (aside from having to tell players through the design notes/nation descrips that they HAVE to choose the Desert Tombs theme in order for the army to be properly balanced) that come with developing a nation mod with the use of a specific theme in mind, particularly since I plan on using it for my Ermor (Ashen Empire) and Pangaea (Carrion Woods) themes as well.

(And yes, a game involving those three armies in my world WOULD lead to a great deal of bLasted territory. That's sort of part of its theme.)

Question 2: Let's say I include the Empoisoner's Guild as a starting site but rename the Empoisoner something like "The Matriarch's Hand" and restat it accordingly. Will including the site (assuming I mod the correct unit, as opposed to creating a new one) have any problems calling up my new Hand? I'd imagine not. Further, would it change the text on the site to read "Can recruit The Matriarch's Hand" or is that a defined bit of text as opposed to a "Can recruit X" variable?

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

I've designed much of the barebones of the first army which belongs to Jareleth Razael, the Matriarch of Kolum who comes out of hiding to reclaim her throne from her squabbling generals. The army is a replacement for C'tis, with the design of the army dependent on Users choosing the Desert Tombs theme (as there are three nation-specific summons which involve calling forth Razael's undead secret police.) I'm keeping the basic units with a few modifications (they'll likely get a slightly stronger cavalry unit to replace the runner, but that's offset somewhat by the drop in power of their priests from a 4 to a 3) and substantially reworking the command units, although they'll still get unholy priests as that's a key element of the army's concept. Magic will likely shift to Death 3, Earth 1, Astral 1, Random (non-sorcery) 2. Units theme are conscripted elves and hoburgs as slave races, humans serving a consortium of houses much like the Landsraat in Dune, a strong Thieves Guild, and corrupted dragon hatchlings (in place of the Serpents and Tomb Wyrms).

I'm working on a Pretender for Razael which will be close to the Saurolich in build (given that, in my campaign, she's a half-dragon lich coincidentally). The national heroes I think will be very much appreciated by players including a Master Assassin (Dom Vithral, the Matriarch's Hand) hero that should prove pretty tasty.

I'll try and get stats out here later this week, but I'm curious about opinions on balance -- does the magic combination seem to weaken C'tis -Desert Tombs overmuch? Does lowering Priests from 4 to 3 make up for a slightly better cavalry and PD? (I'm moving it from the largely useless militia to light infantry)

Thoughts?

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Miguel,
As for your questions :
1/ There's no issue that I know of if you're "just" modifying units, but as theme modding isn't really possible you'll have to test it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif !
2/ Changing the name (and everything else) of the site-specific unit works (I've done it), what's hardcoded is the link between site and unit #id

Now for balance I'm not at all a C'tis specialist, but I'd be interested in having a look at the mod http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

i could help balancing as well, just give me a shout per mail, icq or PN.

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Thanks Ragnarok and PDF for the offers. I'm a little swamped with studying for finals right now, but will see if I can't get new material out to you in the next two weeks. It may be as little as a Pretender or perhaps more. Don't expect any graphics yet, however. They're lowest on my priority list. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

As it turns out, finals are going to be pretty all-consuming this semester and I then have a cross-country move to deal with.

I will likely not have any material to post until late May or early June as a result. However, don't mistake the silence as a sign that the project is discontinued. I plan on fully supporting it once things settle down.

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

If you need help in any area, give me a shout, weither it be per ICQ, PN or Email. I will gladly help you out (whatever) !

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

I too will be willing to help.

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Hey there! More help is certainly welcome, although I'll be out of touch over the summer. I'll be putting together a full assortment of .dm files over the summer and then asking people to both examine them and consult on balance and also to help me render the sprites (which I want to keep simple, but hopefully aesthetically pleasing.) Playtesting when I get back will also be very welcome.

If you (and anyone else interested) could drop a line with what skills you'd be willing to contribute in August when I get back, I'd appreciate it. My first need is for model creators with an immediate second need for playtesters and balance advisors. But if you've got another skill you'd be willing to contribute, please let me know.

I'll be Online for another week and then quiet unitl @ August 1st or 2nd. Thanks again!

(btw, where in Texas are you? I was born, raised, and schooled there and have much love for my Lone Star home!)

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ok, will do.

I live in Dallas.

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

[Double post!]

[ May 10, 2004, 13:32: Message edited by: sachmo ]

Re: Kolum Mod Project
 

Woo, three cheers for A Song of Ice and Fire!

Talk about "pretender" being an appropriate term. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif Which ASOIAF factions are you planning to include? I can see Stark, Targaryen, and Dorne working, plus one generic faction meant to represent all the Andal houses.