Giant Stealthy Pig to defeat Vanheim

[Saxon]

One of the wonderful things about Dominions is the incredible range of units and spells available. Almost any thing you can think of is there. Usually, I think of an idea and then figure out how many gems I need for the spell or what paths are needed. However, I finally had an idea that could not be done, so I thought I would throw it out there for debate.

The Stealthy Pig!

I was watching the a big AI Vanheim army siege AI Ulm and wished there was something I could do to hurt Vanheim. With such a big army, I figured they might have supply issues, but there was nothing I could do about that. I thought about parking a Harvester Of Sorrow there, but did not have the gems. Then I thought about the supplies again. How can I hurt their supplies, starve them and eventually disease them?

Thus my idea. A mage is experimenting with pigs (probably the same mage who casts Iron Pigs) and things go a bit wrong. He creates a giant pig that eats half the supplies in a province. While of zero use in combat, this magic pig is very good at following enemy armies and eating their supplies. Unsurprisingly, soldiers don’t like this and try to kill the pig. Therefore, the pig is very good at sneaking around to steal the food and his magic background helps. Thus, the stealthy, supply eating, giant pig.

If the pig is caught, perhaps the army gets a supply bonus, as a giant pig would create a lot of bacon!

Oh, by the way I used Falling Frost and Destruction to take out Vanheim and then took the castle from Ulm. That was fun, but a giant pig would have been more fun…

[Wish]

I guess if you could find a stealthy and gluttonous unit, that might match what you are looking for.

dunno if they exist though.

can you mod units to be gluttonous? If so, that could be mod'ed in.

[Endoperez]

Gluttony is negative supply bonus. #supplybonus <value> exists. Summon spells can be modded, so this spell can be done.

Ideas about suitable gluttony level? 100? 50?

What school, how high, what paths? Just nature? Iron Pigs is high-level Alteration, E3N1 spell.

Should it be one huge big, or a herd of pigs?

If I #copystats Unfettered Eater of the Dead and edit it to the big (who would be undead, then), it might be able to move around on its own. Interesting.


EDIT: Forgot to mention:
Vanheim can recruit Fay Boars. They are magical, immortal pigs that can be slaughtered to food, and thus every pig provides 50 supply.

[HoneyBadger]

What about a giant stealthy were-pig that masquerades as a hoburg?

[Endoperez]

HoneyBadger said:
What about a giant stealthy were-pig that masquerades as a hoburg?

The spell would summon one form, and that form would have #shapechange and #secondshape commands to the other form. Easily doable. However, because there are no ready sprites, I made this simple version with just Fay Boar sprites. Copy the text below, save it as "something.dm" into \Dominions 3\mods\, enable and use. Very simple.
EDIT: fixed morale; replaced #mrl with #mor.
EDIT 2: added #itemslots 12288 to remove hand, body, foot and head slots.


#modname "Ravenous Boar"

#newmonster 2840
-- copy image and stats of Fay Boar of Vanheim
#copyspr 463
#copystats 463
-- remove immortality
#clearspec
#name "Ravenous Swine"
#descr "This huge boar was once an ordinary pig, but now it's eyes glimmer with malice, madness and unsatiable hunger. These poor beasts will eat everything they find, and they have been given a glimmer of intelligence which allows it to evade even the most cunning traps laid for it. These cursed swines are sometimes sent upon enemy armies to starve them."
#gcost 0
#stealthy 10
#pillagebonus 20
#supplybonus -150
#animal
-- 2 misc slots and nothing else
#itemslots 12288
#trample
#undead
-- The rest of the abilities don't really matter, but I added them because they fit. Boars will use the demon nametype.
--morale
#mor 9
#maxage 7
#forestsurvival
#wastesurvival
#mountainsurvival
#nametype 140
#noleader
#end


#newspell
#name "Curse of the Ravenous Swine"
#descr "This foul ritual curses an ordinary pig with unholy, unsatiable hunger. The animal is given a glimmer of intelligence which allows it to evade even the most cunning traps laid for it. These cursed swines are sometimes sent upon enemy armies to starve them."
-- Alteration 3
#school 1
#researchlevel 3
-- Nature 4, no secondary path
#path 0 6
#pathlevel 0 4
-- summons unit 2840 as a commander
#effect 10021
#damage 2840
-- costs 7 gems
#fatiguecost 700
#end

[HoneyBadger]

Thanks Endoperez! ...Now...what about a giant stealthy hoburg that masquerades as a were-pig?

[Saxon]

Endo, you ROCK! Now I need to learn about mods, I will play with this tonight at home. Expect newbie mod questions very soon. As for the Homburg Werepig, I think it might have a place in a game with a Troll named Bogus...

[PDF]

This is a real nice idea, but I think it won't work ! Or rather that your pig will only eat YOUR supplies !

AFAIK only the province owner's armies use supply, not the stealth units hidden - I've never seen stealthy troops consume anything or ever suffer from lack of supply...

BTW, else it would be possible to infer what stealthy units are in your territory by monitoring if your supplies change !!

[Endoperez]

PDF said:
This is a real nice idea, but I think it won't work ! Or rather that your pig will only eat YOUR supplies !

AFAIK only the province owner's armies use supply, not the stealth units hidden - I've never seen stealthy troops consume anything or ever suffer from lack of supply...

BTW, else it would be possible to infer what stealthy units are in your territory by monitoring if your supplies change !!

Supplies don't change, but the amount of supplies used. I'll perform a few tests. It'll be easy with these new stealthers.

[Gandalf Parker]

I like this idea.
If it works it would provide a nice tactic against large armies. Not a game crusher strategy, but a good option tactic.