Ulm beefed up ...

Graeme Dice · #1 January 20th, 2005, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Morkilus said:
Trouble is, with the low luck scale my pretender keeps getting more and more cripples; to the point where he was completely blinded. Ooo scary, a blind Manticore.

That's from getting damaged, not from the luck scale.

Endoperez · #2 January 24th, 2005, 03:11 PM

This does not fix balance problems, but might still be quite a nice upgrade for Ulm... Check the screenshot, and look at the crescents. Haven't looked better since Dom:PPP!

And yes, the horses' legs are strange. I'm not a wizard, just someone copypasting. If there's interest, I might elt you have this. I have had it for some time myself, and it does enchance the game, a little.

PvK · #3 January 24th, 2005, 09:17 PM

Nice, Endro!

Arralen · #4 February 18th, 2005, 05:13 PM

Ok folks, as no-one said anything about testing the mod and finding everything f*** up, I did a test game myself and handed Ulm over to the AI.
It squashed everything flat, my Tuatha incl. . But it had a very good start, and got lots of castles to conquer.
Yeah, if you give the AI castles to conquer (it still can't build them by itself), you'll get some decent army from the AI, not only a bunch of LI ... here's a screenshot from the biggest army Ulm send against me: 23 commanders, 448 troops, 19 undead. And it would have been even bigger, if the AI would not have supply problems on 90% of all maps because a) it doesn't know how to forge supply items and b)prov size haven't been nerfed since Dom:PPP by 75% ...

note the big number of Black Plate Infantry ...

Saber Cherry · #5 February 19th, 2005, 03:28 AM

I don't know how true this is in the real game, but in the combat simulator, Ulm's biggest problem tends to be fatigue. The unit descriptions say they have "high endurance" but is seems to have no effect on their ability to fight in heavy armor

Giving all ulmish units +1 strength and +2 reinvigoration would be thematic and effective.

As for countering Ulm's magic weakness, here's a thematic possibility, the "Arcane Cripple" :

"More susceptable to magic than their brethren, some poor Ulmians have been twisted and scarred by its harsh energies even while yet unborn. While their presence reaffirms Ulm's long-held fear of magic power, Master Smiths sometimes harness their weakness to acquire the rare gems necessary in advanced forging, using a Cripple's pain like a lodestone to find sites of magic power."

Arcane Cripples are sacred, have rather low stats, are feebleminded, and have another random disability, and MR=6. They are leaders, with 0 leadership and no special actions. However, every turn they have a random chance of discovering a magic site in their province - any magic site, regardless of path or level. They would be quite cheap (maybe 30 gold, depending on the chance of finding a site each turn).

The other possiblity:

Master Jeweler.

"Though best known for forging tools of war, Ulm's metallurgical talents also encompass the area of fine jewelry. The reknowned Ulmish Master Jewelers will search far and wide for prized gemstones to endow upon their latest masterpiece."

Master Jewelers would also have no magic paths, but could use the special command "Look For Pretty Jewels" to find any gem-producing site up to level 1 in any path. Like a level-1 rainbow mage, but including holy/unholy, and unable to find sites like "Damned Merchant" which do not produce any gems. Master Jewelers should cost about 250g and get a random gem in their inventory every season (not every month) regardless of their activities.

Arralen · #6 February 19th, 2005, 04:44 AM

Reinvigoration may be too much, but I'm thinking about lowering the base encumbrance off all Ulmish units by 1 or even 2 ... ok, another test game due ...

And the other things will have to wait until Dom3 at least, don't think the dev will make them available for modding in Dom2 with the final patch ?!

Saber Cherry · #7 February 19th, 2005, 05:47 AM

Another possibility is an Ulm-only national spell, Earth Lore (or something like that) that is 2E and 8 Earth gems to cast, which reveals all level-1 sites in a (land) province, or a spell that reveals all elemental sites in a land province, like Tiamat's Something. Either would make sense for a race of earth-attuned miners. Although I like the special units better, because they seem fun=) But as you say none of this could be done through modding.