Fantasy Empires Mod Discussion

[Alneyan]

"The Tales of the Alabaster Tower Nestled in the Evergreen Valley by the Sea Side, or ALastara in short.

Very little happened during the Last two cycles, and the newly-founded Alliance has yet to encounter any resistance. There have been rumours of other sapient life, roaming in the lands; beings called... orcs are said to dwell near our cities. Let it be known that there is no such thing as sapience lying therein. Any proper life form would have expressed interest in knowning about the Elvi'Thna, or at least polite curiosity; instead, these... things have expressed naught but contempt towards our people, and all that we hold dear in our hearts.

Let no doubt shroud your beliefs; saying that those orcs are primitive would be a marvel of understatement. The most courteous conversation we had with these creatures have been so enlightening that words fail me, for the meaning of "Scrumph, Gropmp, Trer" are hard to convey with mere sentences alone. All the richness of such a statement speaks figures about the cultural development of these beings, and for a surety it explains why they have no interest in establishing formal relationships with the Elvi'Thnis.

As of yet, their... diplomacy remained a mixture of threats, greetings and despite. One of us have been held prisoner for a couple of cycles, and served as translator. How craven one has to be for accepting slavery in the midst of those barbarians; taking his own life, and a few of his captors with them, was the path a proper Elvi'Thna was to follow. Nonetheless, we shall not delve into such matters. So, this renegade served as interpreter, or so we believe, for his knowledge of his own mothertongue was far from being irreproachable.

After having received one insult too many, the Elvi'Thnis have withdrawn from any formal negociation with such lifeforms. Ignoring was the most diplomatic answer at our disposal, and fate itself helped us by... removing the turncoat. Rumour has it that he overheard secrets belonging to the Elvi'Thnis; such is only gossip, and does not the slightest grain of truth in it. Likewise, a few dissidents consider that those orcs do not belong to the same group; some of them are said to follow one leader, while the other ones belong to another pack. Idle speculation regarding any creature shall not be tolerated; all mountains may be different from one another, but they remain mountains for all relevant purposes.

Lastly, a word of warning to all wardens of the Elvi'Thnis: treachery does not require civilization. Therefore, all soldiers are to remain ready to defend their city at a moment's notice. We shall not take any chance when dealing with these savage hordes, lest carelessness should herald the end of the days of the Elvi'Thnis.

Weaver Shahrizai, for the Elvi'Thna Alliance."

Now without all the propaganda from these arrogant, isolationist and sneaky Elves: we are at turn 20 or so, and two Orc tribes have already been encountered (one to the north, and the other one to the south). The current focus has been colonization, but a small standing army is being built for now. Besides this, not much is going on, save for the... ahem... tense relationships on the border between Elves and Orcs.

[madkillercat]

First, neat mod. And where can I find that patch?
Next are some patchables I noticed.


No results/useless:

Chaos Rift
Item Creation
Alchemy 4 & 5
Weaponcraft (for Undead)
Undead ferocity


Easy fixes:

Name := Ghost
Tonnage := 2900

Name := Wizard
Name := Mage
Name := Archmage
Ability 2 Descr := A wizard never travels without a shield spell: [%ShieldPointsGenerated] phased shield points.

Name := Mobility I
Restrictions := One Per Vehicle

Name := Vampire (Dire)
Tech Level Req 1 := 2

High commander
Commander General
Sorcerer General
Pic Num := 10


"Family" issues:

Fear is an armor like Undead Tenacity?
Family := 2222

Gringotts Vault & Mana Matrix's
Facility Family := 9

Cavalry Stables & Crossbowman Barracks
Family := 1304

Name := Conjurer's Tower I & II
Name := Dark Tower I & II
Name := Celestial Tower I & II
Family := 1306


Is it an engine? What is supposed to do?:

Name := Resistance I
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Standard Ship Movement
Ability 1 Descr :=
Ability 1 Val 1 := 0
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0


Inconsistent/Incomplete:

Name := Caravan I
Tonnage Space Taken := 4
Tonnage Structure := 40
Name := Caravan II
Tonnage Space Taken := 20
Tonnage Structure := 20
Name := Caravan III
Tonnage Space Taken := 20
Tonnage Structure := 20


Play balance:

Early game "trade kings" with "Marketplace cities" are decidely more advantageous than those waiting on long leadtime Miners/Farmers/Mana Guild researchers. The Marketplace with 1500 total resource generation rivals the long leadtime Capitol City Resources.


Undead seem...not-so-dead:

Things don't seem riht unless, "Undead" are actually necromatic humans. The undead have no cheap "Medical Bay." Since Undead do not have specialized facilities, how about every undead "ship" has built in medical bay? Also, some inherent "Boarding Defense" ability. Too bad an undead killing cleric "bridge" isn't possible.

[Alneyan]

The current patch is 1.1, but a 1.2 patch is in the plannings (some of the bugs you mentioned will be corrected; others slipped past my attention though, such as the size of the Caravan, not to mention the Ghost problem)

Mobility is the ship equivalent of Afterburners in the stock game, and not a proper engine (Movement is). So it is, and should indeed, be limited to one per vehicle.

The Resistance component works as an "armour" against Runes of Petrification (Engine Damage) and the various fear weapons (Weapon Damage). Resistance has a very high structure, which makes it much more likely to be hit when these special weapons make an appearance. But since it is also an engine, every Resistance component you put will lower your maximum speed; so you cannot use this component to become completely immune to Engine/Weapon damage, or to gain "cheap" hitpoints.

[spoon]

Thanks madkillercat. The most recent patch (1.01) is located on the PBW server (click here) in the mods library.

Like Alneyan pointed out, some of the bugs you mention are already fixed, but thanks for the input. I'll definitely mark and fix the new ones you found in the next Version. I also plan on posting all known bugs as soon as I get the chance.

Play balance:
Early game "trade kings" with "Marketplace cities" are decidely more advantageous than those waiting on long leadtime Miners/Farmers/Mana Guild researchers. The Marketplace with 1500 total resource generation rivals the long leadtime Capitol City Resources.

Good point, I'll either reduce or remove the resource generation for marketplaces.

Undead seem...not-so-dead:
Things don't seem riht unless, "Undead" are actually necromatic humans. The undead have no cheap "Medical Bay."

The undead have a unique Necromancer class that all their creatures can equip, that give them 1 repair each. Since I gave regeneration to Trolls (high level Orc character), I didn't want to do the same globally for the undead. I kind of picture them as D&D undead, which tend to not have any innate regeneration either.

Thanks again for your interest in the mod -- all comments and criticisms are welcome!

[ July 16, 2004, 18:22: Message edited by: spoon ]

[madkillercat]

Originally posted by spoon:
Like Alneyan pointed out, some of the bugs you mention are already fixed, but thanks for the input. I'll definitely mark and fix the new ones you found in the next Version. I also plan on posting all known bugs as soon as I get the chance.

quote:

---

Undead seem...not-so-dead:
Things don't seem riht unless, "Undead" are actually necromatic humans. The undead have no cheap "Medical Bay."

The undead have a unique Necromancer class that all their creatures can equip, that give them 1 repair each. Since I gave regeneration to Trolls (high level Orc character), I didn't want to do the same globally for the undead. I kind of picture them as D&D undead, which tend to not have any innate regeneration either.

---

Neat, I expected most of those problems to be fixed. I just didn't know where and how much. I'll check the PBW site later, thanks.

About the undead, I meant it seems strange for (a D&D) undead to get plagues. I assumed the undead are truly "dead" and not humans raising the dead. A special undead-only facility replacing a current facility might work. It would have a different picture and also w/plague preventation, etc.

By the way, walking dead only have room for Toughness or Undead Tenacity, but Undead Tenacity uses minerals/ore and radioactives/mana. I would expect UT not T in the undead, and UT is slightly better since it's not leaky, but the necromancer is organics-only.

[spoon]

Originally posted by madkillercat:
About the undead, I meant it seems strange for (a D&D) undead to get plagues. I assumed the undead are truly "dead" and not humans raising the dead. A special undead-only facility replacing a current facility might work. It would have a different picture and also w/plague preventation, etc.

By the way, walking dead only have room for Toughness or Undead Tenacity, but Undead Tenacity uses minerals/ore and radioactives/mana. I would expect UT not T in the undead, and UT is slightly better since it's not leaky, but the necromancer is organics-only.

Good points, I'll address them in the next Version...

[spoon]

Bugs/to do list

- Saboteur misspelled
- Water mastery has wrong description
- Glyph of Holy Bolt has wrong description
- Scroll of Holy Bolt has wrong description
- Metamagical Theory has wrong description
- Some intel attacks describe being able to destroy base supplies
- Colony Modules have no cost, which prevents retrofitting
- [%ShieldPointsGenerated] tag listed on hulls and facilities, which does not work
- Make different family numbers for:
= Base Commanders
= Base Towers
= Cavalry Stables
= Golems
= Glyphstones
= Mana Vault
= Resistance

- In hull descriptions, add amount of free space that would be available after the class weapon is added.
- Sorcerer General combat values don't match description.
- Imp combat values don't match description
- Minotaur combat values don't match description
- Berserker III Multiplex Tracking value wrong
- Tactics IV Multiplex Tracking value wrong
- Holy Aura VI and Holy Talisman cannot be researched, as they require Holy Aura VI and VII (only goes up to lvl V)
- Cyclops weapon description says their weapons can be enchanted, even though they cannot.
- Orcish Toughness should not apply to Mercenary Wizards
- List important changes to settings.txt in FAQ (-5% to hit per square, 500 mines per sector).
- List mine limit in wasp Hull description
- Allow Power Ritual mounts to work on Circle of Law, Circle of Banishment, and Unsummon
- Tech Area: Alchemy should only go to level 3
- WeaponCraft description should indicate that most undead characters cannot use it
- Undead Ferocity doesn't do anything (delete or add mounts)
- Mobility needs One Per Vehicle restriction
- Dire Vampires should require Vampire Recruitment 2
- Ghost tonnage should be 2900 (not zero -- sorry ghosts! Foul and Dire Ghost tonnage is correct, though)
- Pictures needed for: Chaos spawn, base generals
- reduce size of Resistance, raise hitpoint ratio
- Caravan II and III - fix tonnage and structure
- lower (remove?) resource generation of Marketplace
- increase effectiveness of toughness?
- Change Undead Tenacity into a mount, or change cost to be Organics only
- Add plague prevention facility for undead (?)
- tech level req for Unicorn Rider (elite) should be 2
- Tech level req for Cyclops (elite) should be 2
- Imp (elite) description does not match other imps (should use agility, not small size)
- Imp (regular) combat ability does not match description
- Ogre Spiked Club descriptions do not all match
- Doppleganger components generating Minerals instead of Intel Points (oops!)

edit: more bugs added 7/19

[ July 19, 2004, 18:06: Message edited by: spoon ]