Fun little SP

[Managarm]

At this moment I'm also playing SP games and never used mods before... Now I've tried Sombre's mod setup (Concep Balance/Worthy Heroes/S'n'S) alongside with NI_Cradle_fix.map and I had plenty of fun with them!!

Definitively the No Indies (NI) map versions are a must! Yes, those are challenging but it's rewarding to live and die by your own troops without the help of external outsiders...
Like Max I'm also playing EA C'Tis (best Death/Nature Nation) and I wish I could recruit some archers for ranged support. Luckily, there's always light at the end of the tunnel: A small squad of summoned Firbolgs eqquiped with Black Bows Of Botulf will do the job.

I have no idea in map file scripting, but having a look to the NI versions of the maps I found that the only difference is the following lines for each province at the bottom of the map file:
#setland XX
#poptype 89

Is there anything else required for converting standard maps into NI equivalents?

I also processed some NI maps using Jack Trowell's Dominions Map validator and randomizer with default settings for an extra spicy touch.
Unfortunately the results were a bit confusing: one of the Nations started in a province crowded with Longdeads and a couple of Bane Lords replacing the Nation's starting default commanders...
Does somebody know if this interesting online tool works properly?

Forgive me if I'm not posting in the right place, although these comments (maybe) will be useful for other players whom tend to only read the main forum (like me)...

Extra thanks to Sombre for sharing his SP mod setup and also for the very handy and updated mod list. I quickly found all the required mods thanksgiving to it!

[Sombre]

No problem.

I almost always play on NI maps because I get sick of the AI sending armies made mostly of indy troops at me. I think they play better with no indies and the SP game is more challenging as well as interesting. You can still get some cool indy troops via special sites too and finding them is even more of a bonus.

As a point of interest I actually lost that game the screenshot was from. I eventually just got swamped by hordes of Tienchi cavalry archers - they killed off all my freespawn then outnumbered and broke down my elites. That's only the second time I've ever lost in SP dominions. I'm currently working to make Ulm Reborn a little less underpowered at the suggestion of others.

And to answer your question, yes that's all you need to do to make a map NI. If you set the poptype beyond the numbers in the game (like 89, 90 etc) then the province gets defenders but no recruitables. you just need to do it for every province, or at least the ones you don't want to be able to recruit in.