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This IrC discussion will explain everything:

So ehh. People intrested? Not that I care, I know that I'll have absolute blast while making this, but I'm just intrested on the fact if you're intrested. Besides, my metal-fu isn't perfect, I need some suggestion for cheesy references for those "famous" bands I don't really know.

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http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...1&d=1189688274

Have a free sprite to get started.

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And a bit more...

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:jam:

This might be the greatest thing I've heard all day.


:rock:

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Here's a really quick sprite for a death metal fan and a projectile sprite for one of his weapons. He is a drunk idiot (precision shouold be low atleast) who should probably be armed with Beer bottle (melee weapon with dmg 1, att -1, def -1, length 1), Beer bottle (throwing version!) and since he gives the finger to the enemies of the metal some sort of a fear attack would be cool.

Oh yeah, and he's pretty pale since he never sees sunlight. Should have darkvision 25 or something.

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If you come up with ideas, drop 'em in the thread. Chunks of mod code would be gratefully accepted too.

And many thanks, elmokki! That's a great sprite :D

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Here's two more.

First up is the mosher. I'd say he needs to have trample (and possibly size 3) since he is an adept of trampling people in a mosh pit. His only weapon is his long, greasy hair. If he can't get size 3 and trample, the hair should atleast be aoe or have multiple attacks. The attack sprite isn't too good, sadly. It's also awful to make the \,,/ -hand gesture when the width of most hands is two pixels.
EDIT: Yeah, scrap trample, hair should just have loads of low damage attacks.
EDIT2: The hair could entangle enemies instead of multiple attacks!

Second there's the norwegian black metal fan, kirkebrenner, he likes to burn churches. With a torch and hair like that, he should be really careful. His niche is probably too small.

Just by the way, all units should have some natural armor. More for more hardcore metal men.

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This nation definately needs a KISS, Knight In Satan's Service. A knight without a helmet with one of those KISS masks and an electric guitar instead of a lance.

Just look at KISS there if you aren't familiar with the acronym: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...me_etymologies

While I know what an iron maiden is, a literal iron maiden would be cool too.

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Yeah, I agree with Gregstrom. Those sprites are awesome. As for metal genres presented, here are my current ideas (This nation might end up of with contrubution from several different people, so I won't exercise too total control over it). But it might be good to give it some structure, like a singer and a fan to "major" metal genres.

Folk ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_metal ) - Singers have nature magic & their song attack is prepresented as national spell "Violin solo!" that forces you to dance (fatigue damage?). The fans wear capes and beer gegs and have forest survival.

Death ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Metal ) - Singers have death magic and their song attack causes fear (like the wail of the LA Ermor banshees), the fan troop as made by elmokki

Trash ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trash_metal ) - Singers have Earth and Death magic. Their song attack causes physical damage. The mosher from Elmokki is a perfect Trasher. Especially if you go with the trampling mosh pitter.

Hero ( also known as "power metal" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_metal ) - Singers have fire magic and high attack. Their song attack is "Dragon-Slaying" which causes more damage to bigger targets. Their fans have high morale and might have some sort of giant slaying attack too (with their boffer swords, of course :D ).

Progressive ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_metal ) - Singers have astral magic. Their song attack "seven minute whistle solo" causes insanity. The fans are insane and are size 6 because of their massive ego.

Heavy - Singers have earth magic. Generic fans, expect for the "die-hard fan" unit which has metallic skin and attidute.

Gore metal ( Won't link here, the stuffs pretty gruesome ) - Singers have blood magic and their song in reprensetd as a national spell "Grinding" that causes afflictions. The fans are creepy bunch (much like flagnellants) with open wounds and pillagebonus.

Gospel metal ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_metal ) - Singers have priestly magic and can "convert" people with their song attack. Fans are sacred and suprisingly clean for metal fans.

I still need a name for the nation, "Guitarroon" won't definately be it.

"Kingdom of the Damned" is a nice power metal song I know, but the reference might be too obscure (you heard of Dreamevil? Me neither) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Czbf...rom=PL&index=1

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But but but ... how can you omit Glam Metal? Singers should have glamour (obviously) and maybe air magic with a confusion-causing song attack.

Plus hordes of Maenad groupie fans!

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Yeah, like I said my metal-fu ain't perfect. Do not really know glam metal, can't even really name any bands.

And yeah, there will definately be maenad groupies. I was also thinking of this summon for "Yoko Ono" with seduction. :P

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Don't forget about Eddie (Iron Maiden).

He should be an undead lich-like hero, or maybe a summonnable.

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(snip)

Lucky you! :)

Examples: Poison, Ratt, Whitesnake :P, I'm not exactly a fan, it was just pretty much unavoidable in the 80's. If it wasn't for the lovely potential for some Maenads, I wouldn't have brought it up.

Hey, how about a Rob Zombie hero that freespawns soulless?

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I stumbled upon a page that might help you with the different genres of metal and what bands are considered the pioneers of said genres and what notable bands followed.

http://www.metalcrypt.com/genres.php

Hopefully the link works :D

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It works and is awesome. Thanks. This will help with those gatgories I'm not familiar with. I like the list of Grindcore bands, I need the hear if they're really as disgusting as their notorious reputation.

I was thinking of making a skeleton mod for this next-week, not really playable (only 1 Singer and the troops by Elmokki). But it'd work as base if people really want to add their own ideas (I'm not really expecting anything like that to happen, but I'm positively suprised by the intrest in this project).

Rock on.

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Ok, I made the skeletal version I promised before I go to update my other projects. It's not that playable really, only having 4 troops and 2 commanders, but it works as a sort of sign how the nation is going to look like. Here's a pic of the Death Metal Star

http://xs941.xs.to/xs941/09315/death..._star_1716.png

And in case someone is inkling to dip their toes into modding and has an idea for the nation, they can just add it to the mod below and then post the altered version back to this thread. Not that I practically expect anything, but getting 3 free sprites upon announcing this thing kind of suprised me. Just some simple rules on adding your own stuff

1) If the unit is monstreous (like Eddie the Lich, which I will make in due time, it's just too awesome of an idea) please make it either an pretender, hero or summon. The national recruits will mostly be humans.

2) Please follow the numering on the .dm file. All numbers start from a certain number and go down. So if you want to add a new monster, just find the lowest monster id on the .dm file and go from that.

3) Please try to make the stuff at least somewhat balanced. This nation is only half-serious, but balance is always nice.

4) Not really anything else to add, but that all contributions are greatly appreciated! Thanks to Elmokki for the sprites, got me started. Rock On!

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Here's a KISS, Knight in Satan's Service. I planned to make more of them, but I really cba making slightly different sprites to represent all band members of a band I really don't care much about, so it's just a generic knight. You could use him as a Gene Simmons hero too I reckon.

I'm lazy and didn't bother to add it to the mod.

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It's okay, I can add it once I've done the needed things to my other mods.

I don't care much for KISS either, but they're a legend, so what can you do?

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I have no graphics or data to add but since my work has been slow of late I have had some time to brainstorm a few ideas for this oh-so-awesome mod idea.

Is it possible to mod some of the greater demon summons as pretender choices? I'm sure it is, but balancing them might be an issue. But I feel like they MUST be available as pretender options, what with metal being the 'Devil's music' and all.

A few other pretender options-

Prince of Darkness- I believe there is something already similar in game, don't play with the dead nations all that often so I don't recall. But this PoD should be a human sized chassis, similar to a crone but male. He is an ancient rock star who has become so powerful that he seeks to don the mantle of godhood! Though his speech is muttered and often unintelligible, his message of metal in song form is unmistakable! Maybe make him start with Death and Astral magic, strong dominion though methinks.

The Led Zeppelin- A great iron dirigible that has been afloat since time immemorial. I honestly don't know what one could do to make this a viable pretender, I just know that a giant burning Zeppelin MUST be in here somewhere!!

A 20 inch replica of Stonehenge- What else is there to say.

I'm not familiar with some of the other genres of metal to offer any pretenders that could be based off them. I like my metal music, but once it becomes a shrill, double drum bass growl fest I generally lose interest. I'm more knowledgeable - if you wanna call it that - with 'Classic Rock' and late 80's early 90's 'grunge metal' than anything else. Speaking of, a Curt Cobain hero unit would be sweet. He should be a heretic though, since the advent of grunge killed 80's style metal as we know it, and he should freespawn grunge fans who could use the same mechanic as Pan revelers but they should increase sloth in a province as opposed to turmoil.

I'm still in love with the idea of this mod, and if I actually get any time to sit and make some graphics I'll add them, since I know Burn has his hands full with other, more pressing mods at the moment. And of course, I'll post any other unit/ pretender ideas I can come up with.

Is it possible to add sound into a mod? Cause this is definitely one mod that SCREAMS for custom sound files.

EDIT- oh yes, almost forgot. A nation name, as Burn has already pointed out, can be a bit tricky to figure out. So here is my suggestion: Metallonia (pro.: "metal-OWN-ya")
A hero unit or 2 for each genre of music would be cool too. A flute playing Jethro Tull for Folk, a Ronnie James Dio hero (complete with leather armour and broadsword!!) for Hero (?) Metal.

One more thing, for one of the genres, progressive I think, you say the fans should be size 6 for their egos. I know this is a silly mod but we want it balanced so I thik instead of making prog fans literal giants, the unit pic should be a reg sized human unit, with an ethereal outline of a much larger representation of them around the reg size unit, the large ethereal part being the manifestation of their ego. :D

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You can modify sounds for the entire game,... but do so only with obscure sounds, then reference them from this mod. So yes, in that sense you can pack sounds in a mod.

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Yeah, I have few ideas rolling about on making a "corrupting" heavy metal star, with references to Black Sabbath. I know that they weren't actually the first to be blamed for hidden satanic messages, but their case is the most famous one. I mean, it's kinda funny, the controversy lead straight into the forming of first Black Metal bands (for those not in the known, Black Metal is "the" metal for church burning, the most hardcore genre.).

Eddie will fill the undead pretender niche, but there are basically unlimited slots for heroes and summons (or I could make the Eddie a hero). I really like the unintelligible speech, if we only knew how the make the guy mute from beginning..

Agreed.

I'm sorry, but I'm missing the reference. It's beyond mindnight here, so that might be the cause.

Man'o'War* (still alive, doing records and concerting around the world), might disagree with your assestment.

emphasis mine :P

Thanks, all ideas and tangible contributions are appreciated.

This is now officially the new nation name. Much better than "Rockon"

Right, almost forgot of him. Defiantely a hero (He basically started the genre). Nightwish hero or summon is also in the "fleshing out details" stage.

F*ck yeah. I'm actually listening to Dio as I type. Holy Diver? definately in top 5 metal albums of all time. But it's hard to truly confine the awesome man-beast that is Dio into a coherent dom3 unit. The tempatation to give him awe +100 might just prove too much. He will be definately riding a tiger (if you don't get the reference, you need to listen "Holy Diver" a couple times more).

Actually, this was my intention from the beginning. Gameplay wise, they'll be perfect anti-trampler units**. They'll also possess absolutely massive magic resistance and have a armor "Ego Shield". Their high size should also make them good decoys for enemy mages to pester.

*okay, Man'O'War was pretty marginal in the 80's, but anyways...

** There will be a lot of "playing with size" in this mod. There will be a "Frontliner" fan unit with size 1 (with size 2 body). You ever seen how thight people are pacced in the front of the stage? It simply defies geometry.

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For the mini-Stonehenge reference watch This is Spinal Tap! :D

If you don't have time for that, the run down is, Spinal Tap (Quasi-fictional 80's hair metal band) hires a prop artist to make a replica Stonehenge for their stage show, the manager didn't write the dimensions down correctly, they get a 20 inch Stonehenge model instead of the 20 foot tall one they wanted, midgets dance around mini model and hilarity ensues. It is a great movie and the perfect example of how a mock-umentary is suppose to work.

We need other people in the forums to post suggestions for hero units that correspond to a particular genre. I can name the BIG ONES only because they are indelibly printed into pop culture, regardless of their metal nature. But I know little to nothing about Grindcore, Black metal and Death metal.

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Played a quick game with the mod and it is ridiculously awesome how fun it is, even in it's bare bones state, to send throngs of metal fans rushing into armed soldiers while metal singers fling lyrical death from afar....though it helps to have a vivid imagination. :D

Love the band references in the unit description text. Nice flavor! And kudos on the unit pics, both Burn and elmokki.

One idea, and feel free to dismiss it, was to have the nation play similar to LA Ermor or Foodstamp's wonderful Cradle of Gaia mod: Have no recruitable units, save for the singers, who can then autosummon or be set to summon their respective fans, denoting the inherent charisma of the singers. It would be an interesting way to set this nation even more apart, though I imagine it could become micro-management hell.

That's all for now, getting late. Rock on everyone!! :rock:

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Here's a rough work-up for St. Anger - probably a unique summon or hero.

"When people first come across St. Anger, they're likely to dismiss him as just another invisible kid. After a while in his vicinity, they soon come to the conclusion that he is some kind of monster. Of course, he's always gone by the time the pitchfork-wielding mob arrives. While descriptions of him are vague at best, almost as if witnesses only saw him through a dirty window, they all recall his catchphrase "I have the unnamed feeling that this is my world". In combat arrows always seem to miss him, and are met with the jeer "shoot me again!"

Stat-wise...
Size 1
Assassin
Stealth +20?
Weapons: Strangle, fist
Air Shield - 80%
Ethereal
Berserker, maybe.

The unit sprite could be a slightly blurred, misty-looking figure with no distinct details - just a greyish figure.

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Bit of a shameless bump, with a modding question thrown in for good measure.

Is it at all possible to copy the 'Call god' mechanic? I pretty much know the answer is NO but was curious because I thought it would be cool, instead of doing the same old summons, have the singer commanders 'Call' varying monsters of metal, each progressively stronger than the last.

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No.

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Boo!

:(

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Death Singer (eventually Hero or costy Commander)
well just my 2 cent, as im not the real modding nature, but this idea sounds somewhat cool ^^

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Have been playing a bit of Brutal Legend...have been letting the awesomeness of it percolate in my brain...some great ideas in that game that could translate over to this 'mod that will not be'.

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The Kirkebrenner commander should have heretic and pillager traits, possibly with D1 and a chance for B1 ;)

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Yeah, the Dwarf mod kind of managed to creep over this one in my "to-do-list". My current "scheducle" of sorts is to blitz Dwarfs into completion by this sunday. Then I'll spend couple of weeks studying to exams. I'll start working on this mod after the exams are over. I can promise the first playable version to manifest before December.

The game looks pretty good. It's a shame that I don't have any platforms to play it on.

In my bare-bones mod (can be found in the thread). I made kirkebinners cap-only troops and they have a hefty pillagebonus. Hefty heretic ability would be great for black metal singners, thanks for the idea. Here's a quick mock-up of the recruitable signers.

-Folk Metal (n2)
-Hero(Power) Metal (f2) --done (see the bare-bone version)
-Death Metal (d2) --done
-Black Metal (d1 with 100% E/B)
-Proge Metal (s2)
-Gore Metal (b2)
-Gospel Metal (h2)
-Heavy Metal (e2)

-the more "hardcore" the genre, the better stats (and harder skin) will the signer have. However, the more hardcore, the greater researchpenalties tought. Example: Black metal/ Gore Metal will get just 1 researchpoint but have metallic skin (prot 20), while Gospel Singers will be the best researchers but have wimpy stats.

I'm a bit on the edge if to count Glam Metal signer in there somewhere. Because, you know, Glam Metal just blows.

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How can you not have KISS in there? Whether or not they blow they had a game in the form of KISS: Psycho Circus that had some nice ideas in it.

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Wouldn't these be the priests?

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I'm pretty sure that KISS will make it in. Yes, I believe they are vastly over-rated but there is no denying the impact they've had on metal music.

I almost feel like Glam rockers should be included and they should be the heretics. Their metal-riffage set to songs about parting and gettin chicks and more partying was very different from the vibe of most (ok, pretty much ALL) metal bands at the time, so metal 'purists' might see them as heretical in nature. Before I had to reinstall Windows a month or so back, I had a badly mocked up sprite of a Glam Rock Singer using the Sybil (I think? Whichever is the Arco EA mage that looks like she is floating) and the Deer Warrior legs (they are so thin, paint em black and you have tights). Maybe I'll try to make it again soon while I wait on progress with the Greenskin mod.

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I already have KISS sprite by Elmokki, so KISS is certainly going in.

Yea, I'm not one hundred percent sure if I can make it work (I'll probably try to copystat that Gath recruitable that has research, but isn't a real mage). I'll probably crack some lame joke about them scouring the lyrics of other signers for heretical messages.