Quote:
Sombre said:
No problem. I wouldn't go for a long drawn out game with the nation because they're still going through balancing changes, getting new units etc. Of course a lot of those will work with a saved game from an old version, but some of it might well require you to start over.
Thanks for playtesting. I look forward to your comments.
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Okay, here's the quick-and-dirty review of v0.35....
I created a quick game on the Silent Seas (wraparound) map. For speed & simplicity, I selected one Easy Defensive AI opponent: Desert Tombs C'tis. I wasn't looking for a challenge here; I just wanted to try out the mod.
Pretender Design: Since I have all of these yummy sacred units, I wanted a good bless. But Ulm also requires good scales.
I chose an imprisoned N9E5 Great Mother. Regenerating Berserker Guardians? Yes, please! Scales were Order 3, Productivity 3, Growth 1, and Drain 3. Extra points went into dominion strength.
(No, I haven't even attempted any magical research yet. Black steel all the way!)
In no particular order, here are my thoughts:
- Sacred Guardians and Black Knights rock hard. Oh, yes....
- As usual, Ulm is resource-starved. This problem is made even worse by the lousy 5-Admin fort that you get at the capital. Building up a decent Ulmish army takes a long time with 5 Admin and only three border provinces.
- The killer priest-power is very very nice. White Priests are very good, indeed.
- But they're old. I guess that's thematic -- it seems that nearly every LA nation has old mages & priests -- but it sure is inconvenient.
- The freespawn Penitents aren't killer, but they can still be quite useful. And they're free! What's not to like?
- Oh, that's what. For some reason, all of my Penitents appeared with a random affliction. Is there any particular reason for that?
- The Black Acolyte doesn't seem to be very useful. I might as well recruit a Black Priest instead.
So, with that in mind, here are a few things I'd change:
- Maybe add some random F1 to some of the mages? Fire works very well with the theme. Just look at Marignon....
- Please give Ulm a decent fort, especially at the capitol. Massive resource costs + low Admin values = very very slow recruiting.
- Maybe the Black Acolyte could be stealthy? Stealth preaching seems thematic, and it would give me a reason to recruit them.
- Take away the Penitents' afflictions, unless there's a particular reason to have them. If so, please explain it to the player.
- Speaking about the Penitents: Stop the freespawning. Instead, how about a Summon Allies command?
- Finally, maybe some (or all) of the mages could be Drain-immune like the MA Ulm smiths? Drain seems very thematic for Iron Faith Ulm, and it gives the player a way to recover some of the insane points that he'll spend on Productivity and blessings...
My overall impression of the theme is very positive. Iron Faith Ulm looks like it could be a lot more fun than Black Forest Ulm. Please take all of my ideas as
suggestions, not complaints.
Thanks for doing this!
I've attached my save file, just in case anyone else wants to look at it.