Hmm. I think you're right about halberds, it would probably suit them better as all purpose heavy infantry. So that'll be in the next update.
I think the vahn warriors are pretty fast already and you've got the nephilim warriors and braves who are capable of flanking. I'll have a look at it though, maybe speed them up. I like them more for their ranged attacks and ability to take down elites than for flanking duty though.
The 6 (Not 7 as it turns out) heroes are:
A Vahn High Shaper multihero.
An Avernite Archmage multihero.
A Nephil nature mage hero.
A Nephil/Rakshasa demonic hero.
A Slith gladiator.
An evil Vahn death mage who summons hraithes.
The race depends on it's archers to take out the enemies, only one force can take or even survive against an archer massed force. Race is rather good on points though, able to take sloth with no heavy penalties.
Varied warriors, able to pick and select what types needed based on resources/location/enemy. Need to fight an archer massed force? Take nephil archers with Avernum human guards. Longbowmen taking out your archers? Go with the avernite archers. Lots of flanking potential with the nephils and vahn warriors, able to take on heavy infantry with it's slith warriors.
Good researching potential, able to go down any research path thanks to avernum mages. Although heavily varied when it needs to get certain races, it can get any sort of combination of 1-2 paths, even some that really compliment each other, as always, the major mages are vulnerable to mind duel, but that's typical of Astral anyways.
The non-shaper vahns seem to be a bit powerful however in their picks, you may want to reduce it to 100% with maybe a 20-100% chance of an extra, you won't believe how many air 3's I've gotten so easily, able to teleport around the map air blasting, they just seem a bit to strong for their price, and as they are also sacred, they can be blessed with reinvigoration, making them stronger.
Havn't tried some of the higher level national summons, but the trog warriors seem good.
Nations sacreds scream Earth blessing, Reinvigoration and protection bonus seem to bless the entirity of the nation, the mages are incredible as stated, and the warriors with extra protection seem to survive a bit better, although they do better with air instead. Havn't tried any full bless paths with them, so I can't really state so far.
Nation so far seems to be pretty balanced along things, although some things could use a bit of resource changes and maybe a bit more gold costs.
If you have any parts of the nation you would want spell ideas or changes to. I'd be glad to provide some. I can't really think of any unit additions without changing part of the balance between the mages or commanders.
I'm glad you enjoyed the mod. I think Avernum is fairly well balanced, though it is certainly one of the strongest nations in MA due to its powerful battlemages and access to a great variety of paths.
I did suspect the Vahn mage is perhaps too strong. They were intended to give easy access to extremely potent midgame evocations and represent the raw magical ferocity of the race. If I were to change them I'd either make them more expensive or change them to something like A1F1 AF 150%. That way you'd have a quarter of them as F3s or A3s, rather than half.
I don't think the sacreds scream for an E9 at all. In fact the E9 added protection only works properly on the Trog Defender, since the others lack the armour to make use of it. The reinvig is certainly welcome though.
I think they're one of the few nations that actually benefit from an air bless of some sort, since archers can mess up your vahn very easily. On the other hand S9 also works well and you can bet they'll have a whole load of astral pearls to make use of that magic.
I tend to consider Avernum a finished mod, like Skaven. There are little bits and pieces that could be added, but for the most part they feel complete to me, so I just make tweaks every now and then.
This is one of my favorite mod Nations, and remains a great example for what I want in a new Nation: Something different/unique, with complex variation, beautiful graphics, interesting strategies, units, and playing style choices, and it serves as an introduction to something I wasn't previously aware of.
If I could request that anything be added, it'd be nice to see some indigenous "animal" type beasties. It's not necessary, but there's such a wide range of humanoids (not to mention the "crystal souls" themselves), that I'd love to see "more of the world". Even as just independents, or site recruitables.
__________________
You've sailed off the edge of the map--here there be badgers!
While I don't think he is really adding anything fully new..The vahns did have all sorts of animal creations they did make. The six legged alien beasts, the slimes, the cockroach plague. Not to mention hydra's and chitrichs.
I'm not sure if you'd want to add it into the mod, but I was just messing around learning how to do sprites, and turned one of the character portraits into one. I thought I'd put it up here for you in case you want to make her into a national hero or something. She took me a while, and I'm pretty happy with how she came out -- particularly the attack sprite.
If it's something you like, I was toying with the idea of making a few more. If not, that's okay. Let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Globu
Last edited by Globu; February 10th, 2010 at 08:21 AM..
If you'd like, you can update the Avernum mod with new stuff. I'm happy to relinquish it to anyone who is willing to keep it updated. I had no further plans to update it personally.
I think it does needs a bit of ID jiggling in order to be fully compatible with my other MA mod nations though.
Re: Avernum, Crystal Souls v1.5 UPDATE
Hybrid Mode
