how modable ?

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by Chris Byler:
It would be nice to be able to add new summonable units, which inherently requires adding a new spell to summon them (for example, the Japanese theme that was being discussed on another thread could get to summon kitsune, yuki no onna, tengu, etc.). Some national themes rely on national summons (especially Ashen Empire, Soul Gates, Carrion Woods and Desert Tombs).

Do you have any plans to add spell editing in later releases?

Also, you didn't specifically mention: can you add a new special theme to a nation, without having to modify or replace an existing special theme of that nation?

I have some ideas for a "Black Widows" theme for Machaka where the queens have taken over the government and priesthood and no king reigns for more than a year before he is sacrificed to make way for his replacement. (Obviously they don't get the King Triumphant as a national hero!) The God Forest has been corrupted, and the Shadow Queens raise undead Hunter Spiders to fight for their cause (this would require either a national summon or an "enter to summon" site, since undead Hunter Spiders are too powerful to be available as a special reanimate like lictors and tomb wyrms - I'm thinking they should still be sacred; almost every nation and theme has some sacred non-commander, and Black Widows will lose the living Black Hunter). Some queens are normal and some unholy priests (replacing all the usual priesthood), and the Black Sorcerer is replaced with a Black Sorceress with a heavier emphasis on death magic.

I haven't decided yet if there should be any change to the basic military, witchdoctors or sorcerers. They may need a scout since they lose the Ear along with all the other standard Machakan priests - but on the other hand, they would still have Bane Spiders. Forcing them to rely on Bane Spiders or indy scouts for stealth could be an interesting counterbalance to the new stuff they get.

Can I do all that without having to make it the only theme for Machaka in my mod? Can I do it at all given that I want to add a unit that isn't recruited normally? Adding new themes requires adding new capitol sites that enable the new theme's capitol-only units and have the appropriate gem income for the new theme. Can the existing mod tools do this?

Also, if people do design their own themes, is there a chance they could be incorporated as official themes in a future Version of Dom II?

Currently you replace the default units of the default theme of a nation with units of your creation or altered units from the game. You can also disable other themes. Name, flag, scoregraph color, heat preference can be altered. Home sites can be removed and added. The sites themselves cannot be altered yet (you will have to use existing ones), but if you change the sprite and statistics of a site specific unit there are no problems with recruiting new units from a site.

We will probably not incorporate themes from players in the game, but mods we like might become recommended and put on our website (when it is more representable).