Mod: Kaleva, Songs of Sorcery - 0.87 released

[VedalkenBear]

Yes, I know about the Gnomes, and I guess they're okay, except you have to get 16 Earth gems somehow to get the first one.

The Crossbowman is about the only decent unit they have, IMO.

[Endoperez]

My current list of Things To Do:

Give them a second, more armored version of the Axeman, similar to Vanheim's hirdman. Hopefully that will give them some staying power in the battlefield, outside of bears.

I've considered whether or not the human cavalry deserves a magical attack for a long time. I think I'll add it (few points of fire damage from the horses' hooves) again.

I'll drop the bears' protection and remove the (1 point) research penalty from Bear Shamans. I might also change leadership values slightly, so that Bear Shamans get ldr 40 and Hiisi Sorcerer's ldr goes from 40 to 10.

I'll try comparing them to CB spells instead of vanilla spells. Perhaps that will be more useful.

I'll drop away at least one of the Bear Tribe warriors, since they're just there to make the unit roster look bigger than it really is.

I'll add castles and PD.

There are also several sites I should add to the Magic Site Mod.

[VedalkenBear]

Looking forward to seeing the new version, Endo.

[Lingchih]

Thanks for the great feedback Bear, and thanks for working on it again Endo. I look forward to playing it again.

[VedalkenBear]

Ling: Not sure I agree with 'great' there. Besides, I only give feedback when it is specifically requested. I've seen some not very congenial discussions here when that rule isn't followed.

[Endoperez]

Initial reaction to my suggestion that I get extra grades for finishing this mod was positive. I still have other schoolwork to do first, but perhaps in a month or so... Sorry for taking so long in getting back to this.

[Endoperez]

I'm working on this again. During this week and the following two, I have five days of school, total. I'm writing up some documents, and I'll have to take screenshots from the game and that kind of boring stuff, but pretty soon I'll get to making new sprites and other interesting stuff. I also went to see a Kalevala-themed exhibition in Helsinki (to get some inspiration), and have been reading about early Finnish shamanism again.

I read about a really interesting Scandinavian shamanistic tradition that was also found in Finland: rage-trance. A shaman has a strong "luonto" or "haltija". When you say that something is "in his nature", well, that's the nature where it's in. These shamans rise their spirits high ('olla haltijoissaan', 'nostaa luontoaan'), and then shout and spit and rage and hit things, and may do traditional trance-trickery such as walking through fire, and the book I've been reading compares it to berserkers. Must've been a sight, a wizard running after spirits with an axe in hand, pausing to stomp the ground when his other hand starts shaking on its own!

For some reason, reading the book also reminded me of a talk I had with my father when I was younger. I wondered what I could've been if I didn't live in modern times, what with my poor eyesight and introverted nature and poor physique. Matter-of-factly, he told me that I would have been a shaman.

[Lingchih]

Indeed, I think you would have been a Shaman, Endo.

Good luck with finishing the mod.

[Humakty]

You never know what you could have been in medieval ages, as in a melee being big and strong is rather a disadvantage, and not that much of an advantage in a duel (speaking about weapon fighting). As for eyesight, as long as you can identify the color schemes on a shield, you see clearly enougth to go in a melee.

Thanks for getting back to that mod, we're missing a good aligned scandinavian faction.

[Endoperez]

Originally Posted by Humakty

You never know what you could have been in medieval ages, as in a melee being big and strong is rather a disadvantage, and not that much of an advantage in a duel (speaking about weapon fighting). As for eyesight, as long as you can identify the color schemes on a shield, you see clearly enougth to go in a melee.

I don't agree with your logic for two reasons. First, most types of modern combat sports have weight classes, so that smaller guys won't lose to as good but bigger guys. Second, combat is the last thing I'd wish for anyone when knowledge of medicine was as poor as it was, and color-coded shields certainly wouldn't appear in the kinds of raids ancient Finns would have partaken.


I've reworked some descriptions, and wrote a new one for Väinämöinen. It seems I'll have to rework all of them, since they're currently pretty bad.