Super Restricted Pretender Mod

[Sombre]

I was just talking on IRC about how it would be cool if national pretenders were a bit more restricted, especially as several of the default ones, such as Wyrm and Cyclops, are superior to most national ones.

So I thought hey, I can make mods, so why don't I try and do one to restrict pretenders a bit more? I knew of a few issues already with pretenders:

1. If you select a pretender and add #restrictedgod (nation number) the pretender is removed from all other nations it was available to. Thus you need to copystats it to a new monster number and add that one instead.

2. If you copystats a pretender with a new monster without restricting it to a certain nation with #restrictedgod (nation number) then it will appear as a default choice for all nations. This is what causes the 'hornblower pretender' bug in Worthy Heroes 1.8.

3. If you #selectmonster one of the default pretenders and give it #restrictedgod 79 (a high unused nation number), it vanishes from the default pretender selection of all the basegame nations.

Knowing this, it is entirely possibly to make a mod which restricts pretender choice more, assigning the default pretenders only to nations which thematically should have them.


So the first thing I need to know is, which are the default pretenders? Secondly, which nations in which eras should get them?

Should EA Marverni get the wyrm, should anyone else? Let me know people.



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LIST OF RESTRICTED PRETENDERS

Monolith (NS, primitive, more EA than LA)
Oracle (S, civilised, water theme, 'good')
Blood Fountain (B, 'evil')
Sacred Statue (S, civilised, humanoid, 'good')
Sphinx (S, heat scale, egyptian)
Wyrm (Serpent or nordic)
Manticore (Scorpion trait, flying, possibly blood themed?)
Titan (male - TBC)
Cyclops
Forge Lord
Master Lich
Lich
Ghost King
Vampire Queen
Freak Lord
Arch Mage
Crone
Frost Father
Great Sage
Master Druid
Great Enchantress
Dragon (Red)
Dragon (Blue)
Dragon (Green)
Phoenix
Moloch
Prince of Death


- Wyrm -

EA Niefelheim (He's not cold blooded)
EA Vanheim
EA Helheim
EA Sauromatia
EA Oceania
EA Atlantis
EA Rlyeh
EA Ctis
MA Jotunheim
MA Mictlan (MA is more serpenty and less blessy)
MA Vanheim
MA Ctis (He has swamp survival, so it's ok)
MA Pythium
MA Oceania
MA Atlantis
MA Rlyeh
LA Utgard
LA Midgard
LA Ctis
LA Pythium

I currently think this is too many nations for the wyrm. I'm thinking I'll have to decide he's either a serpenty god or a nordic god.

- Cyclops -

EA Arcoscephale
EA Agartha
MA Arcoscephale
MA Agartha
LA Arcoscephale


- Titan -

EA Niefelheim
EA Arcoscephale

MA Arcoscephale
MA Jotunheim

LA Arcoscephale
LA Utgard


- Prince of Death -

EA Ctis

MA Ermor

LA Ermor
LA Ctis

[Burnsaber]

I started a game using my nation mod, the pretenders that come for all nations should show up then, right?

Oracle 158
Blood Fountain 656
Wyrm 269
Titan (Air/Earth one) 602
Prince of Death 383
Master Lich 180
Manticore 462
Cyclops 156
Phoenix 608
Lich 179
Ghost King 872
Dragon (red) 216
Dragon (blue) 265
Dragon (green) 266
Freak Lord 246
Arch Mage (mounted) 244
Crone 249
Frost Father 250
Great Sage 251
Master Druid 270
Great Enchantress 485
Vampire Queen 862

[Sombre]

Thanks Burn, that's exactly what I was after.

Of course UW nations are a whole other issue, but probably best to address all of these default pretenders first.

So where should they go? Should they all be restricted? The rainbow mages and dragons for instance feel very 'default' and can be used where the national selection of pretenders lacks a certain kind of magic.

I should point out this mod is primarily concerned with thematic restrictions, but will also consider balance and gameplay. It's really just something for people who are sick of seeing different cyclops or prince of death designs fighting each other.

[Sombre]

Hmm. Seems some nations don't get blood fountain or oracle as defaults. That's weird.

See LA Midgard for example. Monolith, but no fountains. They are also missing Prince of Death.

I wonder what that's about. Seems a couple of these defaults might not be so default as first thought.

[vfb]

Yeah, the set of available pretenders does have lots of restrictions. MA Mictlan lost Moloch as a pretender choice going from 308 to 310 . (Of course the other MA Mictlan changes helped to make up for it!)

Anyone know of a nation for which the Wrym is not available? Otherwise it's the only pretender available to all nations:

{LA Rlyeh pretenders} intersect {MA Marignon pretenders} = {Wyrm}

[Sombre]

Pretenders who aren't 'default' but appear a LOT:

Monolith
Moloch

More to come?

[vfb]

Here's the list of all pretenders which all the land nations have access to:

Wrym
Titan
Cyclops
Phoenix
Red Dragon
Green Dragon
Freak Lord
Arch Mage
Crone
Great Sage
Master Druid
Great Enchantress

(Blue Dragon and Frost Father are missing from several 'hot' nations; Manticore is missing from Agartha)

Edit: Whoops, forgot to mention ... I think your idea is pretty cool! Especially the bit about restricting the pretenders to the thematic ones.