Mod: Conceptual Balance Mod (and summary file) 1.1

[CUnknown]

Thanks for working to update this mod for the new patch, I eagerly await its completion!

But, you asked for the reasons why I dislike the item and nation mods, so I will comment on them. I really do like most of what you've done, so don't get the wrong idea.

Nation Mod:

My major beef with this one is the increased cost for indy commanders and scouts. It may be that they are actually worth that much (?) or you did it because things just work out better that way, I'm not sure, but I just don't care for it, and that's enough to prevent me from using this one. I do like just about everything else in it.

Perhaps, lower the indy commanders from 65 to maybe 40 or 45?

Item mod:

First thing off hand that I remember was the increased cost of the dwarven hammers. I pretty much hate that, lol. As far as other complaints, nothing really stands out except many of the things you've changed just don't seem to be necessary. Maybe for half the changes, I'm just not sure why they were made. Some of them seem good, but mostly I just don't get it.

Take for example the changes to research items. I mean.. weren't they perfectly fine before?

[quantum_mechani]

Ah, well, you've picked probably the two most popular major complaint's, I have to admit I was hoping for something more exotic.

With those (as with most anything in the mod), I'm willing to be convinced on them. The reasoning behind the indy change is very simple: everyone uses the indy scouts/troops leaders to the exclusion of national ones. The national ones could be made 0 gold and they would still not be chosen vs default priced indies, due to fort slots. That said, I have been playing with the idea of instead differentiating national commanders by giving them extra weapons, abilities and stats. This seems a fun idea, but it has a lot hurtles, among which is coming up with enough different boosts, making them all thematic (having magical weapons and HP is particularly tricky), and not undercutting heroes.

The reasoning for the hammer getting harder to get is simply that it's incredibly under priced. People complain about clams... it's not unusual for a hammer to pay off in one turn. The hammer was already an amazing deal in dom2, now it just so happens to be 25% off in base game. I can understand people being annoyed by the change when they first come across it, but I would argue it actually cuts down mm in addition to improving balance. As far as I can tell, no one really seems to think the base game price is particularly balanced, merely convenient since hammer abuse is so deeply ingrained in dominions players.

In the case of research items, I must admit I am quite astonished at the number of people who use them base game. I don't think I would ever use them other than perhaps the occasional lightless lantern binge. However, it seems lots of people swear by skull mentors and owl quills, so since the change seems to confuse some people I will likely reset it next version. Aside from that, I'm not sure what would be considered extraneous tweaks, apart from simply insufficient ones. There are a lot of items that are rather useless even at the very minimum cost and level, nonetheless I gave them what boosts I could on the slim chance someone might be able to come up with an off-the-wall tactic for them.

Again, I very much appreciate the feedback, if there is one lesson I have learned making CB it's that people are happy with almost any balance or imbalance, but make a change that inconveniences people and all hell breaks loose.

[Burnsaber]

AoE on weapons is moddable currently. Will you be changing the Star of Heroes like you said on IrC some time ago?

[quantum_mechani]

I strongly suspect even with the improved AoE modding it will still lose it's armor breaking power by making it AoE, but I suppose it might be worth testing.

[Edi]

Yes, it will, since Armor Dest is not an AoE effect. However, you could mod Armor Dest to also have AoE 1 and then set that as #secondaryeffectalways on Star of Heroes. That *should* work, but no guarantees.

[Endoperez]

You could #copyweapon the armor-breaking property itself, and make THAT #aoe 1, couldn't you?

[Sombre]

I wasn't aware there was a "Destroy armor" weapon. I thought that property was one of those that exists on items, not equipment. Like the properties on item-armour.


Edit: By the way there is no copy weapon command.

[Endoperez]

Weapon 174, "Armor Dest"

Most of the special weapon attributes, like Small Area Flame and Frost, or 1AN+MR, or Enslavement, are actually weapons.