Mod: Grey Elf Mod

[RedRover]

As a fan of fantasy RPGs and generic fantasy in general, I thought I’d try my hand at setting up a mod based on the Grey Elves. They are generally considered to be the most civilized, most intelligent, and most magical of the elf races. Fans of Tolkien would probably call them Sindar.

Like many modders, I don’t do graphics well (even success in capturing existing sprites has eluded me so far). It would be useful if a list of tga file names for existing sprite 1s was available, so I could cobble together a functional alpha, but barring this, I’m approaching the head-wall-banging stage of the graphics learning curve.

Translating the Grey Elves into the Dominions 2 Game: Since Grey Elves are a mountain-dwelling race, allied with aerial creatures such as giant eagles/hippogriffs/griffins, the Grey Elf mod would replace Caelum in the general nation lineup.

Since this may be the first of several connected mods (including other elf races—there was a Greyhawk mod thread some time back with which this would be compatible), the first step is to make a baseline elf race. Grey Elves would be a specific variant of that base, Wood Elves would be another, and so on. To make the elves compatible with Dominions 2, the baseline elf race should be a variation of the base human race.

In this post, I will develop a baseline elf race and sketch out Grey Elf national troops. Next time, I’ll have specific values for Dominions 2 Grey Elf units.

Developing a Grey Elf Baseline

Key to Abbreviations: hp=hit points, sz=size, prot=protection, mor=morale, mr=magic resistance, enc=encumbrance, str=strength, att=attack, def=defence, prec=precision, move=strategic move, ap=action points/tactical move. The unit’s protection value depends on the armor assigned, and some weapons modify it as well. Equipment often causes variation in protection, encumbrance and defense values.

Baseline Man:
hp=10, sz=2, prot=0, mor=10, mr=10, enc=3, str=10, att=10, def=10, prec=10, move=2, ap=12
Special Abilities=none

In comparison to men, elves are generally considered to be more magical (+1 mr), have lesser strength and slighter build (-1 str, -1 hp), have greater dexterity (+1 def, +1 prec), and have about the same move (2mv/12ap). They also have more class (which I’ll translate as +1 mor). While many elves are forest dwellers, not all are, so I’ll hold off on giving them forest survival or stealth ability for now. Thus, we have:

Baseline Elf:
hp=9, sz=2, prot=0, mor=11, mr=11, enc=3, str=9, att=10, def=11, prec=11, move=2, ap=12
Special Abilities=none

Baseline Grey Elf:
hp=9, sz=2, prot=0, mor=11, mr=12, enc=3, str=9, att=10, def=11, prec=11, move=2, ap=12
Special Abilities=Elf Chain, Hippogriff Mounts, Mountain Survival, Mage Research Bonus +1

Special Notes:
-The increase in magic resistance and the mage research bonus are a function of the superior intelligence and magical nature of Grey Elves in comparison to other elves. Other elf races in general won’t have these bonuses.

-Grey Elves are mountain dwellers, so they receive mountain survival.

-Grey Elves ride hippogriffs or griffins according to RPG sources. Since the the Amazons already have a griffin-rider, I’ll use hippogriffs, and consider griffins as possible guard beasts.

-Grey Elves are least stealthy of the elves, so any scouts or raiders would be allies, not Grey Elves.

-Grey Elves tend to be taller than other elves, closer to human size. My call on that is that it’s not enough to overcome the base elf penalties to hp and str.

-Of all the elf races, Grey Elves are most likely to have cities/mountain citadels and developed technology. Thus, they have better armor than other elf races. In particular, most of their fighting strength wears special elf chain mail.

-Since we are placing Grey Elves into Caelum’s niche, magic weapons for the Grey Elves should be considered. There is evidence from the tabletop wargame origins of RPGs that elves on the battlefield should be armed with magic weapons. After careful consideration, I add a weapon, the Elf Blade, which will be a magic Broad Sword, basically.

My translation of elf chain mail into Dominions 2 terms looks something like this:

Elf Chain modifiers: prot=+1, def=+1, enc= -1

The good news is that this modifies the Chain Cuirass, Chain Hauberk, and Full Chain Mail armors, making them better than the standard.
The bad news is that this is as heavy as national elf armor gets. Other elf races may have elf chain for their elite units, but only the Grey Elves can make it in sufficient quantity for an entire army.

A few other translation notes are needed when going from RPG sources to Dominions 2.

Longsword => Broad Sword
Bastard Sword => Falchion

What I mean is that a translation of the RPG weapon into Dominions 2 terms would give game stats so close to the listed Dominions 2 weapon as to be functionally the same.

Setting Up the Grey Elf Nation
The core Grey Elf unit is a mailed archer with a composite bow mounted on a hippogriff. Elite units are hippogriff-mounted knights armed with lances. The hippogriffs are exceptionally fierce and loyal, and will continue to fight if the rider is slain.

-Storm Riders: Mounted on hippogriffs, armed with composite bows, wearing elf chain.

-Storm Knights: Mounted on hippogriffs, armed with lances and kite shields, wearing elf chain.

Most other Grey Elf units guard the homeland. In addition to a few generic elf militia units for province defense, three types of foot units should cover the Grey Elf ground forces.

-Grey Elf Warders. Spear-and-javelin infantry in elf chain. Regular, steady, close formation troops.

-Grey Elf Archers. These carry composite bows, wear elf chain, and fight in regular formations. Most other types of elves use short bows or long bows, the composite bow is a specific national weapon for the Grey Elves.

-Citadel Guards. Capital-only elite heavy infantry, comparable to the Emerald Guard of Pythium or the Heart Guard of Arcoscephale (elfophiles note: I did not say “superior to”).

And special units, three of them:

-Guard Griffin. Sacred, capital-only guard beast.

-Wind Dancers. Winged Elf female warriors. Sacred, twin scimitars, shock resistant=50, and can fly during storms. Lots of fun, but fragile. Consider making this capital only, depending on national balance and how effective the unit specials are.

-Large Eagles. These allies scout and raid for the Grey Elves. They operate with low-order stealth that is not typical of the base animal type. They are nearly human size, but too small for human-sized creatures to use as mounts.

Winged Elf baseline:
hp=9, sz=3, prot=0, mor=11, mr=11, enc=4, str=9, att=10, def=9, prec=11, move=3, ap=8
Special Abilities: Fly, Mountain Survival

The wings give +1 sz, +1 enc, –2 def. The low ap represents their mobility when grounded. In addition, because the Winged Elves are not Grey Elves, their MR is only 11, and any Winged Elf mages would not get a research bonus.

The Grey Elf leader line-up looks something like this:

-Winged Elf Scout. Scimitar and Buckler, Elf Chain, but noleader. Slight stealth boost.

-Storm Rider Captain. An ok leader for normal patrols and forays. Storm Rider equipment.

-Storm Knight Lord. A good leader for large punitive expeditions. Storm Knight equipment.

-Storm Mage. A powerful Air/Water mage, she is mounted on a hippogriff.

-Storm Mage Initiate. A weak Air/? apprentice mage, she walks.

-Wind Temple Priestess. Winged Elf average priest with a little Air magic. Consider making this capital only, depending on national balance and how effective the unit specials are.

-War Eagle. Stealth leader for eagles.

Note the absence of a standard. If there was a Citadel Guard commander, I could see building a standard into him, but I don’t think it’s necessary or particularly desirable to have a special unit for the main Grey Elf forces.

And…

-Windships. One Last leader I’m still thinking about how to mod. The Grey Elves (as I’m translating them) would have, as a Dominions 2 nation, giant Windships that they would use for major wars. These would be huge barge-like ships that sail through the air. Very expensive and somewhat fragile, they would ferry the ground troops to distant battles. (This has specific impact on how unit stats are configured, as will be seen next time). While this mod would probably be ok without Windships, I really want to put them in, since they are such a striking thematic unit. In the World of Greyhawk setting, a Windship equivalent might be a unit built following the introduction of Spelljamming ships.

Even though the mod tools don’t exist to do this yet, my preliminary workaround idea is to add a third miscellaneous magic slot to a commander and lock the Airship artifact into it, modding that item so it’s not unique anymore. This is second best for a number of reasons, one of which is that I’d rather Windship capacity be capped at 75 units (or say 150 size-units) and not be open-ended.

Thoughts anyone?

Thus, Windship Captain. Aerial transport commander. Around 75-unit capacity, plus some supplies. Count on taking several turns to construct, maybe something on the order of 600 g/550 res. Captain has minimal Air magic (thematic, only a spell caster can helm a Windship), and has no research capacity at all. I considered capital-only status, but rejected it—the building time is going to make this a large opportunity cost no matter where you build it, and making it capital only would create too much of a production log jam with other capital-only units.

Last Note:
Aside from the Windship unit, modding commands I’d like to see:

#capital—Unit can be built only in capital (yes, I know the standard workaround for this). It would be highly useful not to be bound by that. It’s going to cause compatibility issues down the road.

#fortdef—Unit receives a bonus when defending a fortress (like C’tis City Guard).

#flyinstorm—Unit is not grounded during storms (I realize this is hugely powerful, but it is also highly thematic for one unit in this particular mod).


Next time: Stats. Stats. Stats. I tentatively scribble in new weapon 610, new armors 256-258 and new units 2350-2357 (most of the units actually overwrite Caelum, but some don’t).