Summoning questions.

[KnTenshi]

I'm making a mod nation that nearly exclusively relies on Ritual Summoning and domsummon for units. I've hit a few snags because of this.

1. I want to have a unit domsummon a randomized assortment of units. I though just naming them all the same and having the command #domsummon "Xenomorph Warrior" would summon any units named Xenomorph Warrior, but this apparently isn't the case. Is there a way to do this, i.e. have a unit summon a random unit, such as Pangaea's Manikins?

2. Is there a way to have domsummon2/domsummon20 round down the number it rolls so that it does not always summon a unit? I'll admit to not truly testing out domsummon20, but domsummon2 always produces a unit, even in a one candle province.

3. In testing a stealthy summoner, I've found that summoning happens in this order: Summoned unit(s) appear and are placed in the garrison, if the summoner has any troops and can command more, the summoned unit is then placed in the first squad. The problem I have with this is that whenever a stealthed unit summons another in an enemy province, the unit is instantly spotted and likely killed. Is there any way around this?

[Foodstamp]

1. You can do this by using #copyspell to copy one of the spells that already do this (Such as Tartarian Gate). Then you have to overwrite the monster slots that the spell calls to. It's not elegant, but it is the only way I can think of to truly randomize what you get.

2. Domsummon20 won't produce units at lower dominions level.

3. You could give the unit #stealthy 0. I don't know of another way of doing this and it does make sense that a visible unit would be killed on sight in an enemy province.

Goodluck!

[KnTenshi]

1. Thanks but this won't work for what I need. I would like domsummon or summon to work in this way and I don't think I can string together those commands.

2. I think the only reason why #domesummon2 always rounds .5 to 1. I wonder if, supposing the command would even work, using #domsummon3 might get me closer to what I want.

3. That's the thing, the units being summonded have #stealthy 0.

Thanks!

Also, the command #popkill <#> does not seem to work for non-commander units.

[Foodstamp]

Oh I didn't know stealthy troops triggered an attack as well. That is good to know.

I've tried #domsummon(X) before, only the ones listed in the manual work.

You may already be aware of this, and if so I apologize, but it is possible to stack domsummons and summons to give a variety of units. Unfortunately they will not be random.

[KnTenshi]

Yep, I did know, but I'd rather you give out unnecessary info rather than withhold needed info. It's looks like I'll just have to fake what I want and use #domsummon20.

Oh, and does anyone know if there is a guide/rule-of-thumb/helpful hints to balancing mod units? Right now I'm using a glass cannon approach, but to be honest, I really have no idea on how to keep things fair.

[DrPraetorious]

I wrote a couple of half-baked, one-third finished guides on the topic.

Really, there's no way to balance new nations except by play-testing. This is especially true for any nation with a lot of freespawn.

[lch]

Originally Posted by KnTenshi

1. I want to have a unit domsummon a randomized assortment of units. I though just naming them all the same and having the command #domsummon "Xenomorph Warrior" would summon any units named Xenomorph Warrior, but this apparently isn't the case. Is there a way to do this, i.e. have a unit summon a random unit, such as Pangaea's Manikins?

That's not the way it works. When you supply a string then the game looks up for the first unit that matches it and stops, it doesn't look up all the other variants as well. That's exactly why KO ordered units in a way that famous heroes come after the generic units with the same name and introduced filler units like the Grigori with unit ID #1 to avoid that people can wish for those powerful units which come after him in the list.