Mod: Ulm Reborn v.1.7b - Updated 14th June 2009

[Sombre]

The reason the summons got lvl 0 was to make them more like additional holy spells. I put them in the conjuration school rather than divine so that they'd be easier for people to spot. I could raise them up a couple of levels, but I'm not going to put them too high up because Ulm Reborn isn't exactly flash when it comes to researching and the summons aren't exactly superpowered (although the sternheld is a pretty impressive mage considering).

I really don't want to make an overpowered nation,.. at the moment I see the potential problems as the hoch-hammer, the sternheld and the domspawning. I don't want to swap the domspawning for #summon or call allies if I can help it, but the problem is I can only give the priests domsummon, domsummon2 (half as effective) or domsummon20 (a twentieth as effective). Domsummon20 is useless for penitent, but it seems domsummon2 might be too much (right now the white priests have domsummon2 and the blacks have domsummon2 and summon1. I think what I'll do for now is give the blacks domsummon2 with no extra summon and the whites summon1 or summon2.

I like to use summon or domsummon because the AI does better with it than call allies.

The hoch-hammer does initially seem like it might be overpowered, but for 400 it's not /that/ good. If you get a group of them together they can give low morale armies a real shock and of course they tear through undead like crazy,.. but I don't want to nerf em. They're a fun unit after all. I'm tempted to give them only one ammo for the spirit hammers and reduce their cost to 350 or so.

I'll sort some pretender options out in the next version for sure. Maybe even make a new one. That's probably a little while away though - I want to let the balance sit on this one for s bit, see what's what and work on the other two mods (both near final).

One thing that I've decided while making this mod and vaettihiem SE is that nations based on or replacing vanilla sides are just as interesting, if not more so, than completely new concept, art etc mod nations (like my first, Avernum).

[SlipperyJim]

I'm not calling it overpowered. Please don't think that!

Ulm Reborn v0.6 is powerful. It combines traditional Ulmish strength with some powerful priests and sacred units. Several of the recruitable commanders are very thuggy. Free Penitents can be very nice -- even though they're not great units -- because they're free. The additional Holy spells are just icing on the cake.

Then again, Ulm still has its limitations:

• Lack of magic flexibility. The White Priests are strong in Earth magic with a smattering of Astral. The Sternheld can use Air magic. And ... um ... that's it. Any other magic schools will have to come from the pretender and/or independents.
• Resource-heavy units. Those Reborn Guardians and Black Templars are really nice, but you can only crank out so many of them per turn.
• The best units are capitol-only.
• The almost-mandatory Drain dominion (to give you enough points for other cool stuff) will seriously hinder your magic research. No easy access to research boosters (especially Skull Mentors) will make your research even slower.
• Unless you're making an all-cavalry army (and how many resources would that need?), you'll be limited to a strategic move of one. All of that armour makes Ulm slow....

So, yeah, please take my posts as compliments. I really like Ulm Reborn, and I'm only trying to help. If I'm annoying you, please feel free to ignore me.

[Sombre]

No your responses have been very helpful. Far from annoying. In fact I'd like more people to chime in with opinions on mods, even if it's to say "This is horribly overpowered" or "This unit is thematically dodgy and not worth the gold". There's a perception that mod nations are all hugely overpowered and I think it's generally better to be cautious - after all if most people just use them for single player they probably wouldn't mind an extra bit of challenge.

Re: Drain. White priests are drain immune (I hope) which makes the drain scale less of a,.. well,.. a drain. Plus magic research isn't as important with UR as sheer priest and troops power. At least until late in the game.

One thing Ulm Reborn does do as advertised is crack unbeliever skulls. For a human nation they have really, really heavy guys, including thuggy commanders. There's nothing they like better than just slugging it out and slowly grinding through enemy territory. Free penitent (although they cost a lot of upkeep for spawns) and very survivable troops means once the juggernaut starts moving it's very hard to stop.

[BandarLover]

I like this mod, a lot Sombre. I don't really have anything to add or suggest to make it better. And I do like all the penitents, personally. Making more appear the stronger your dominion seems to fit as well. The stronger your god, the greater the pull to attract those who are fanatical for your cause.

Hoch-hammers are great too. Maybe make their hammer a one hit wonder, kinda like a lance maybe.

That's pretty much it. Keep up the good work.

[Sombre]

Thanks :]

Check out vaettihiem and Avernum if you have time. They'll get new versions fairly soon (minor update to vaetti, national summons for Avernum).