Is it possible to mod the arena challenge out?
 

Is it possible to mod out the arena challenge out of the game? It gets rid of a lot of the AI's strongest units and it would be nice to have this as an option...

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

I don't know for a fact this works. Just speculation. I have played games with no deathmatches. And games with lots of them. It seems to me the game always zooms in on a province when you replay a deathmatch battle. In some games it's always the same, in others it moves around. I got the impression it took place in provinces with the Arena site.

So if that's correct, you may be able to disable it by modding the Arena site to frequency 5 (or whatever the frequency is that doesn't show up randomly).

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

An official response would be great because removing the deathmatch would be very useful. The deathmatch definitely hurts the AI... especially its pretenders.

I would definitely use this mod if it became available.

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

"Correct" solution would be to make pretenders and prophet unable to enter the deathmatch: wouldn't take away something from the game entirely, but would remove the unfun options ... .
Shouldn't be too hard to do - both are flags on the units which should be easy to test for.

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

I think priests should be banned from the arena. It is always a priest casting smite that seems to win. And smite battles just don't hold the same appeal as one on one combat.

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

Preists only win if you don't have other decent fighters. Fliers with some mr wipe the floor with preists, as do decent mages.

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

Is the only award from the arena that 2h weapon? I won it for kicks once just to see and found that it forced my arch devil to unequip his lucky coin and weapon.... for a 2h spear that really wasn't that great.

He was doomed to killing everyone every arena event thereafter with no chance of unequipping the weapon http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

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

You get freakishly large amount of exp. IIRC a guy with no stars gets to three stars just by winning the Arena. The trident isn't bad actually. Many people just don't realize that it gives quickness (two actions per turn, +3 to att & def).

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

Yeah, the Trident is actually a kick-*** weapon. It does great damage and I think (with quickeness) 3 attacks a turn. If you have a good blessed Prophet, you can really turn him into a killing machine if you win it.

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

Yeah I know in the future to try and get it put on somebody who's primary role isn't casting firestorm http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

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....