[kennydicke]

OK, so, I got *some* sleep; bear with me people.
And soon I'll have to reread everything posted; I may have a large memory but, when I'm winding down from a manic episode, I tend not to retain a lot. And as far as my strange sense of humor, I'll try to refrain from being specific, ok guys?

As far as the I do things, I've always been more of whittler than a bricklayer. What I mean is I start with a large unformed mass (read: too much stuff, uber stats) and carve it down into art; as opposed to a person to likes to set a solid foundation, and then build up until they have a monument.

I can't swim, but I've always been able to jump into the water and find my way out; when I try wading in slowly, that's when I drown.


Burnsaber

Yeah, I noticed that you mentioned it in your first post. Thanks for the compliment. If your brother likes to turtle, I assume that he likes it too .

I wish I could say that, but he's such a turtle that he's been playing the same SP game as Lanka for almost a month... and it's only 100+ provs. That being said, he WILL love all the warhammer mods. Funny, I never tried a turtle approach with them (or anyone else), I learned to be aggressive from my HOMM days, and it's served me well in other strategy games (especially dom3, galciv and ROTK).

Well, Ivylord is one of the weakest abilities around. I think that you could keep it. And yeah, the trick works for any commander.

And I still plan on using it, what I really meant was that I wanted to get him to a point where he's playable/balanced; a point where *I* can feel comfortable adding something like that... Would I be able to #copystats right below #newmonster, and leave the rest the same?

Some other cool things you can only copystat:
-> Construct lord
-> Research without being a mage (used for dwarf Clan Kings)
-> Lose paths when leaving home province (although you will get "#magicbeing" and "#ethereal" that you can't get rid of)

->I'm not sure what Construct lord is?
->That probably explains why just giving a #researchbonus never worked for me!
-> That could be interesting for Tengri as he already has those tags, and still seems strong.

You can have a nation that is its best in the early game, but you should let the nation have at least a shot in having decent late game. Although the nation as it now stands will likely have terrific endgame. Solid shot at S4 and being able to get S/N for Crystal Coins makes this nation a astral power.

Well, my idea of an endgame is probably different from yours as a whole. I meant having a *little* to *moderate* difficulty bootstrapping into two or more of S, D or B, I always feel weaker if I'm not strong into one of these; I didn't mean a nation that crumbles at the end, I'm honestly ignorant of a nation like that - I do reasonably well with all of them, no matter the national paths. Also, I'm not sure that the game ever transitions into a true *late* game against the AI. So, what I mean is, I've always had trouble with not being clear enough; and with expecting people to understand me and my intentions.

There is not much of a "modding etiquette", but reserving a bunch of spell slots really serves no purpose (they are tight as they are!).
Well, I didn't really plan on using them for *summons*, I just had extra space from where I started (3950?) and called it that.

But yeah, I think that the four gods would work better as unique summons. You have several paths you could take them;

Do others agree? My first pretender is the one *I* care about, Genghis. I just thought it would be fun to have a fair slice of different ones for different uses/strategies. By having them be summons, you get to have your cake and eat it too. Query: How would you propose I reconcile making these spells viable, while at the same time reducing the number of commanders?

1) Copy-over the Hinnom "Summon Lord of Civilization" spell and replace the Grigori with your own units. Then it would work like "Summon Spenta" for Caelum or like Arch devils.
Pros: No used spell slots
Cons: It would reduce compactibility in single-age games
2) Have each god have it's own summon spell
Pros: You could make each god it's own summon spell, like reguire air mage for Tengi, death for the death god and so forth.

This is an approach I never could get to work. My first attempt at modding was overwriting EA national spells with the Chaos Mods spells, because I was having trouble having it *and* all the other warhammer mods at once.

Cons: 4 spell slots, players will likely focus on the most powerful one.

I would have hoped that they would strong and different enough that the choice would be more situational/strategy-based.

But remember that not all summons have to be magical in nature. You could have a remote summon, for example, that summons a strike force lead by the "Qayan Warrior Woman", if you were to knock that out of the recruitment screen, but wanted to keep in for thematic reasons.

Yeah, but I figured eight spell slots was enough for now. Not that I'm at a loss for spells. I could probably think of eight more real fast. Plus, I wanted to start with the more magical-type summons and go from there.
Call of the Mastodon was a spell I made to check out what 'border summon' is; that could easily be a ritual, independent or otherwise. Although, something really gets me about the mage making the elefant sound, and then a bunch of mastodons show up.

I must say, you are really taking all of this like a champ. It really takes courage to bring something homebrewed for own use into light like this and take very heavy suggestion changes with so good attitude. Rock on, dude!

That's because I am a champ! But seriously, thanks, I saw a theme that wasn't explored fully by any nation, thought it would be fun, and went for it. Thanks.

Never played edieval: Total War, fun?
Yeah, it's fun until you learn the tricks to humiliate the AI in combat.

Many games are like that. Is it real-time or turn-based? Or possibly not a strategy at all? I'm always on the look out for new games to buy.


globu

Well, I can't promise fast work, but here is Mongol archer 1 for preliminary review. Feel free to make demands -- how does it match the concept? More armor? Change the whole shirt to metallic color? Hat too big? Want me to find a way to put a more prominent spike on top? I know you mentioned axe and buckler before, and I can tack those on, but here is a base unit. Again, most work done, but not yet finalized (i.e., I haven't looked at it in game and gotten rid of the inevitable dark edges and artifacts).

Looks good, probably for PD-only militia archer I will make soon. Fine for concept. They used very little metal in their armors, because they needed it for weapons and horse-related materials; metals in armor was more predominant in their helmet tops and binding areas of the body suit, although iron scale leggings was common on the heavier mounted troops. The spikes were actually more of a fear tactic used by their heaviest cavalry, and not by the lighter troops; but if you like spikes, go for it.

Thanks guys. Hopefully I will be done soon.