Mod: Adept's Mod (weapon, magic and monster changes)

[Adept]

I guess I should put the head slots back for werewolves in the name of consistency. If a dragon has a head slot, I suppose a werewolf should keep his. Still gonna leave them with 2x claws instead of hands.

Re checking the pricing I did on Jomon. It fits the pattern of the pricing (most of these are from Late Age).

at/df mor gold
defender 11/12 13 15
t-guard 11/11 12 13
sweihand 11/11 12 14
man-at-arms 11/11 12 14
entrance guard 11/12 14 18
Iceclad 11/10 12 15 (prec 11)
Iron Crow 12/11 12 15
Raven Guard 13/11 13 17
hirdman 11/11 11 12
vanara swordsm 11/11 10(+1) 13
Ice Warrior 11/10 12 13
Ice Guard 12/11 13 16
Meteorite guard 11/10 12 13
milite 9/9 8 8
Limitane Prim 10/10 11 12 (guard)
Hastatus 10/10 11 12
principe 11/11 12 15
Emerald Guard 13/12 14 25

---

Ashigaru 9/9 10 9
samurai 10/11 11 11
O-ban 11/11 12 14
Go-hatamoto 12/11 13 17
Aka-Oni 12/12 14 20

[Adept]

The original values for Axes and such are bizarrely bad. The units haven't been built to compensate this with balance in mind. Kristoffer has talked about his creative process, and it definitely isn't to balance everything like that.

The original axe:
Damage 7 one point higher than a broadsword
Range 1 shorter reach, with all the problems that gives
Attack -1 hard to land a blow
Defence -1 Not only does it not give a defence bonus, it hinders you

Where as I compared it with a sword so it does a bit more damage (8 to the broadswords 6), has no special bonus or penalty for fighting and still has the harsh but fitting shortness of range.

It's hardly a miracle weapon. Actually it's still pretty bad in comparison to a sword except it can help you get through heavy armour... which btw was the point why knights quite often used axes as armour got better (and later warhammers).

[rdonj]

Originally Posted by Adept

It's hardly a miracle weapon. Actually it's still pretty bad in comparison to a sword except it can help you get through heavy armour... which btw was the point why knights quite often used axes as armour got better (and later warhammers).

But knights don't use axes in dominions, they use broadswords.

[Adept]

[quote=rdonj;785548]

Originally Posted by Adept

But knights don't use axes in dominions, they use broadswords.

This is true, but the weapons are the basis of nation mods as well. This makes it more fun, at least for me, to create nations with more varied weaponry.

I'm going to want to make a late age (and early age) version of the Independent Kingdom mod for instance, and now that you mention it, axe armed heavy cavalry sounds like something I should try ...not to mention anti-heavy-armour troops using hammers.

The Sonnenkinder mercs are quite interesting under this mod. Their effectiveness is mostly unchanged, but the anti armour weapons can come handy occasionally.

[Jiggymike]

What I don't understand is why people are so up in arms about this mod if they have no intention of using it when I think it became clear pretty early on that most people aren't particularly interested in it. Adept set about to make a mod that fixed problems he saw with Dominions, namely that weapons weren't accurately in line with their historical use. He also didn't think that werewolves should have hand slots because, traditionally (as in popular media and not necessarily in your backyard), you don't see werewolves fighting with shields or weapons. And finally, he had what I would personally consider a slightly strange obsession with nerfing Jomon, which is the game's version of feudal Japan, because he also wanted to make them more historically accurate. Does the lay population overrate the effectiveness and awesomeness of Japanese samurai? Maybe...but they have a cool name, wear awesome-looking armor, and thrust swords into their own stomach when they dishonor themselves, so I'm okay with people thinking they are bad asses. In fact, the addition of fear to those units was, in a way, the ultimate "eff you" towards Jomon/samurai warriors, because they're generating fear even though they've been weakened to the point where it would be ridiculous to fear them. His mod wasn't made with nation-wide balance in mind but was designed so that "historic" conflicts could be recreated in the game.

Some of his ideas are pretty good, in my opinion. Sometimes I think it would be cool for weapons to have slightly more niche uses, as opposed to basically different points on a sliding scale of attributes (damage vs. length vs. attack and defense bonuses/penalties). However, these are more necessary for balancing the game as a whole, which most people prefer. Adept's mod seems effective for what it was supposed to accomplish, but it's simply not for everyone, or possibly even most players of Dominions. I respect him for sharing it and I think people should be a little less critical/harsh; if you don't want to use the mod, then don't.

[Deathblob]

Well, it should be obvious that "training level" excludes giants, troglodytes, mounted units, units with glamor, elephants, sacred units, hydras, minotaurs, mammoths, shamblers, and demons. It's implicit!

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by Deathblob

Well, it should be obvious that "training level" excludes giants, troglodytes, mounted units, units with glamor, elephants, sacred units, hydras, minotaurs, mammoths, shamblers, and demons. It's implicit!

You forgot hobbitses!

[Scaramuccia]

There is only one problem with this mod - it's name. It isn't balance mod, it is "realistic" mod or something similar.

[Adept]

Originally Posted by Scaramuccia

There is only one problem with this mod - it's name. It isn't balance mod, it is "realistic" mod or something similar.

Thanks. I have to agree. I meant a slightly different thing with the name than let's say the CBM use of the word. I was also debating the name of the mod with myself until the very end of making the banner.

I'll fix that today and post that. Sorry about the confusion. I feel the not-quite-well-thought-out name caused much needless drama.

I guess "realism mod" in all it's pretentiousness will give people the right idea?

And thanks for the support

[Adept]

There we go. Name shortened to Adept's Mod to avoid confusion. v 1.10 should be definite now, unless somebody finds and reports a bug.

If somebody can tell mow how to change the name of the thread, I'll fix it there as well.