Theme-specific nation mod questions

[JaydedOne]

Here's a question that's arisen as I'm developing my Kolum mod. I've decided that in creating the nation belonging to my Matriarch, I'd like to work off the C'tis Desert Tombs theme as it's very much in keeping with what I want. I wonder, however, whether developing such a mod will work.

Question 1: I'm looking at simply rewriting all units pertinent to C'tis Desert Tombs, so the theme in theory would work just fine. It's important to me to give the nation its theme-specific summons which I'm revamping considerably. I'm just wondering if there are any difficulties (aside from having to tell players through the design notes/nation descrips that they HAVE to choose the Desert Tombs theme in order for the army to be properly balanced) that come with developing a nation mod with the use of a specific theme in mind, particularly since I plan on using it for my Ermor (Ashen Empire) and Pangaea (Carrion Woods) themes as well.

(And yes, a game involving those three armies in my world WOULD lead to a great deal of bLasted territory. That's sort of part of its theme.)

Question 2: Let's say I include the Empoisoner's Guild as a starting site but rename the Empoisoner something like "The Matriarch's Hand" and restat it accordingly. Will including the site (assuming I mod the correct unit, as opposed to creating a new one) have any problems calling up my new Hand? I'd imagine not. Further, would it change the text on the site to read "Can recruit The Matriarch's Hand" or is that a defined bit of text as opposed to a "Can recruit X" variable?

Just checking. Will copy these starting questions over into my Kolum Mod Thread as well as dev notes.

[PDF]

Q1 : the problem you'll face is that the game does NOT permit theme modding for the time being.
So if you want to mod a theme you'll have to keep its name and effects... But you can change the special theme units (I think) by selecting the monsters and giving them new stats. No new monster can be made usable however. Overall using a theme as a basis for a mod is asking for trouble I suppose ...

Q2 : yes. What happens is that site X is hardcoded to allow recruiting of unit Y - whatever Y is... In my Arco Mod I used the Horse Vale site (normally allowing recruitment of Horse Brothers) to make the sacred Agema Cavalry capitol-only. I just used the HB slots and override them with my cav's stats and graphics.

BTW I'd be gald to help your mod project but have no clue about the background (I mean I've read your Posts but didn't read any of the fiction you're referring to). So I suppose I can only join as a (junior) mod consultant or tester !

[JaydedOne]

Originally posted by PDF:
Q1 : the problem you'll face is that the game does NOT permit theme modding for the time being.
So if you want to mod a theme you'll have to keep its name and effects... But you can change the special theme units (I think) by selecting the monsters and giving them new stats. No new monster can be made usable however. Overall using a theme as a basis for a mod is asking for trouble I suppose ...

Q2 : yes. What happens is that site X is hardcoded to allow recruiting of unit Y - whatever Y is... In my Arco Mod I used the Horse Vale site (normally allowing recruitment of Horse Brothers) to make the sacred Agema Cavalry capitol-only. I just used the HB slots and override them with my cav's stats and graphics.

BTW I'd be gald to help your mod project but have no clue about the background (I mean I've read your Posts but didn't read any of the fiction you're referring to). So I suppose I can only join as a (junior) mod consultant or tester !

Perfect. I pretty much figured that Q1 would turn out as you noted -- I am planning on changing the tomb summons for C'tis to something a little more insidious. Overall, the requirements for DT fit just fine, as do the national spells. I've posted a little bit of an update on what I'm doing there on the Kolum thread.

On Q2, that's also great. I'll have to check out your Arco mod, but it sounds like you've made it do just what I wanted.

As for the help, that'd be much appreciated. Like I said in my thread, discussion of play balance, testing, and even suggestions on how to more efficiently put together the mod files would be awesome. I'd also kill for people to handle parts of the sprite modelling, from character design to just pallette-swapping some of IW's units to give them a little more of a Kolum flavor.

Thanks for the tip and the offer!

[PDF]

Miguel,
I suppose I can help reviewing/testing your mod : after 6 months of (light) Dominions play I begin to have an idea of what's balanced or cool and what isn't .
Sorry though, I'm an *ss for graphic editing, just able to take screenshots and recolorize a couple pixels (but well, if you need that ... )
I'm also a retired veteran AD&Der, so any mention of it revivifies old memories