Map: World of Warhammer - Released!

[zepath]

Sombre: Will do. My plan was to use Pangaean troops to represent the beastmen tribes and barbarians/tribal humans to fit the role of the uncivilized human Chaos-worshipers in the far north and south. Cavemen would be a nice supplement to those and I'll use them in the east as well for ogres. Of course, there are a number of troll troop types in Dom3 already and I could use them to fulfill the role of the ogres in some places. There is at least more variety among the trolls than the cavemen. My biggest unknown at the moment is how to properly represent the dwarfs. There are not nearly enough svartalf-like beings in the otherwise comprehensive stock creature list to fairly recreate the dwarven holds.

[Panpiper]

I am super excited about the prospect of your adventure map, Zepath. I expect I will be weeks exploring it from the perspective of numerous races. Here follows random thoughts;

While I have little experience with the Warhammer Role Playing Game (I read much of the book, just never played), I have some experience with Warhammer Fantasy Battle and vast experience (albeit, ten years out of date now) with their figurine line (I sold them for ten years). I am not a fan of their battle rules system, however the mythology they've created for their universe is nothing short of fantastic. I am especially enamoured of 'Chaos'.

I would really like to see the north and south poles truly representative of the horror of the chaos spilling from the vortices. I expect this is likely not possible without someone building some race mods, either one each for the four chaos powers; Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, & Slaanesh or perhaps just two, one for each pole, each representing two of the powers, Khorne & Nurgle sharing one vortex and Tzeentch & Slaanesh sharing the other. If they share the poles, their starting positions could be the vortex itself with appropriate startsites. If they are four separate races, then they would effectively be fighting over possession of the vortices and so their positioning should reflect their natural hostilities; Nurgle vs. Tzeentch, and Khorne vs. Slaanesh. In this case the vortices need to be something truly worth fighting over and yet, terrible places to actually be. Combine for instance "The Vale of Infinite Horror" with "Throne of the World" and a couple other powerful thematic sites.

Of course this would need the attention of a talented race modder. Sombre has been building some Warhammer races. I wonder if he has given any thought to Chaos and how such races might be handled. Amos released a couple of interesting mods "Horror Scourge" and "Chaos Wars" that are at least somewhat evocative of Warhammer chaos. (All of Amos' mods are interesting, these two are just closest to actual Warhammer Chaos.) I wonder if Amos is following this thread and whether he would be interested. My guess is Sombre has so many other Warhammer races to tackle... ;-) Of course Zepath himself is no slouch as a race modder, but he's likely already overwhelmed by the adventure map work.

The question of how to deal with chaos mutations and chaos artifacts is also rather daunting. I do not know if there is any provision within the game engine for random (or otherwise) changes in units. Then there is the problem of the current engine having a rather restrictive number of new races and graphics that can be included in any game. I wonder if Kristoffer O. is still following this and if he could give us any indication if these current limits will be lifted or relaxed any time soon.

I am tempted to volunteer myself to help with mod work, but my skills haven't progressed much further than hacking other people's mods. I do have at least one potentially interesting idea for a race mod that might some day see fruition, but I am waiting on DrPraetorious' "Custom Army Design System" to be a bit more fleshed out, as I am notoriously incapable of creating balance without some system to guide me.

Hmm... Maybe I could release a race mod and let the more experienced folks out there vote on what the gold/resource costs should be for the units? I venture off topic. Thanks for putting up with my musings. And huge thanks to all those named in this post for everything they do and have done to make my life more enjoyable.

[Aezeal]

Now the map is finished I'd have no objection to help fill in a few provinces for the adventure map.. I'm fairly familiar with warhammer fantasy and I'm getting more and more familiar with map editing and basic modding (just not creating race) so filling in thematic provinces is what I can do and like to do.

Of course I can understand ti completely if Zepath prevers to keep it all in his own hands... but if he needs a hand.. the offer stands.

PS IMHO this map should come with a few mods so the thematic provinces can be better "themed"

anyway if you want a few extra hands on the job.. just message me and tell me which province you would like filled and I'll send you a message with the modlines I'd use

[Wokeye]

Sweet Work Zepath - A scenario like this would definitely bring more players to Dom3.

[Sombre]

There's already been a warhammer chaos nation mod started up, by,... someone beginning with V. I forget the exact name. I'm bad with names.

I've actually started work on Chaos Dwarfs as well as Empire and Dogs of War, but my plate is full and right now I'm working very slowly. I'll see what I can get done for Empire this weekend.

[Xietor]

I am looking forward to your adventure map as well. Good work!

[zepath]

Panpiper: I'm glad you're so interested in the adventure map! With regards to the Chaos Wastes and the actual vortices themselves, rest assured they will be in no way wanting for demonic/horrific presences. Taking the vortex provinces will be incredibly difficult but will net great rewards in magic items, magic sites, and daemonic recruitables. However, at the present time I do not intend to incorporate a supplementary creature/item mod with the adventure map. It will be built with the stock library of creatures from Dominions 3. While not absolutely perfect representations of the Warhammer races, the stock Dom3 creatures are so varied that I am confident I can recreate the feel of the Warhammer fiction without a supplementary mod.

Getting the mutations and oddities of Chaos just right in Dominions will not be simple. Although I'm certain we could achieve a decent approximation. I'd highly encourage you to try your hand at a Beasts of Chaos nation mod or perhaps get on board with the Hordes of Chaos nation mod already in production. If you haven't discovered them yet, I actually designed four pretender gods based on the Chaos gods. They are included in my Nova Deus mod http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...=&fpart=1&vc=1 Feel free to use them as the foundation for your own Chaos nation mod.

Aezeal: Thanks very much for the offer to help! I'd like to see how you'd use the satyrs/minotaurs/panii to represent beastmen. If you want to write up a few mid-level indy provinces using those sorts of creatures with the Beasts of Chaos in mind, that would be great. As well, try your hand at any of the dwarf/skaven cave provinces. I'm still not sure how to represent them. Vaetti are my backup cave-dwellers, but I'd prefer to not populate all the Underempire with goblinoids.

I'll keep final editorial privileges, but would love to have your help.

Wokeye: Thank you, I sure hope it does!

Sombre: I'm still very psyched for your Empire mod(s). All of your work so far has been exemplary.

Xietor: Thanks!