Mod: EA Alchera - now ver. 2.0!

[the Vanishag]

Originally Posted by Radio_Star

Is the mod intended to be CBM compatible?

I wasn't thinking about that when I started, but now that you mention it, that'd be good. If you find any incompatibilities, please let me know (at some point, I may revise the mod to use rarely-used unit & item numbers [etc.] to increase general compatibility).

[HoneyBadger]

The pics look good! I especially like how you've some of them in non-generic poses. I know that's harder to do, and you did it well.

[BandarLover]

Been meaning to say this earlier but better late than never.

Great job on this mod Vanishag!! Absolutely love the inclusion of Aborigine and Maori flavor to Dominions. Your sprites are top notch and fit in well with the other nations of the game. These guys will def hold me over until KO works out his ideas for Machaka or DaveCG finishes his EA Machaka idea.

I sadly can't give you any input as far as balance goes as I get trounced in any MP games I play and prefer solo play anyways, but everything FEELS right with your units that I've tried so far.

Hope we get to see more of your work soon?

[the Vanishag]

Hopefully. I'm finishing up my doctoral dissertation (in visual media studies, focus on comics and graphic novels - I love my life) this summer, but I'll be making further additions to EA Alchera and hope to get a draft of MA Alchera out.

I also want to make a map from a hand-drawn original (sepia ink on light-brown recycled paper), e.g., to look like an old map.

Thank you BandarLover and HoneyBadger for the complements on my sprites: I've been sketching in a semi-disciplined way for years (part of my study of comics, line art, and printmaking), but Alchera gave me an excuse to force myself to learn to use GIMP (how's that for a convoluted phrase?). Burnsaber's tutorial was REALLY helpful.

BTW, HoneyBadger, I was reading the thread on Stardock's forthcoming Elemental, and I liked what you had to say about fantasy's black-and-white morality v.s. the complexity of myth, but I have a further argument to make:

"Fantasy" as we know it today is heavily indebted to Tolkein, who drew on myth and folklore, as is directly responsible for adding absolute supernatural good and evil into the mix. I don't think Tolkien was intentionally "colonialist" in his writing, but I do think that the legacy of European, and perhaps especially British, colonial rule has been and still is part of "generic" and/or "High" fantasy.

Fantasy is a bit like the jungle king/queen genre, e.g. Tarzan (though there were many others), except that its assumptions have remained largely unquestioned because it is "fantasy" and thus not "real." (As if James Bond or Tarzan are any more real than Aragorn or Samwise) In Fantasy, Orcs are inherently evil and inferior - and therefore it is OK to exterminate them... if we accept that assumption - and with it, the idea than an intelligent (or sentient, or language-using) race can be inherently evil (an idea that strikes me as either childish or chilling).

I wrote an article about this for Gameology, in terms of a campaign for Battle for Wesnoth which deals with slavery and makes Wesnoth's "High Fantasy" setting morally complex.

(I should note that I love The Lord of the Rings - but that doesn't keep me from picking it apart: the "normal" bit of me can simply enjoy something even as the obsessive academic tears it to shreds.)

...sorry, everyone - I didn't mean to turn this into a rant.

[Lavaere]

You know if you did make a map. I'd really love based somewhat on the real world. Bandar Log, Lanka, Tien Chi, Yomi and Alchera scenario would make for a really nice game.

[HoneyBadger]

I never really liked the idea of inherant evil. It's reminiscent of the concept of original sin, which has been a carrier for some of the worst sorts of human behavior.

In Tolkien's case, the orcs were furthermore originally elves, who had been twisted and tortured into "evil beings", so in that case, there's the doubled permission to not only kill the different, but by killing them, to put them out of their supposed misery.

I do find, however, that the Aboleths in the game are as close to broadly and objectively evil as anything I've ever encountered. Ofcourse, this is from the point of view of a human, looking upon a society of highly intelligent and extremely alien creatures (who still seem to share our own motivations, oddly enough).

[llamabeast]

Lavaere, have you tried Pasha's Asia Twist map?

[the Vanishag]

I really like Asia Twist - haven't seriously played it yet, but it looks perfect for a mix of underwater, amphibious and sailing nations. I plan on using it to test Alchera.

Also: MAJOR update today! I've completed two pretenders for Alchera, as well as two random heroes. More is planned, but I need to get back to dissertating.

[Burnsaber]

"""
1. Rainbow Serpent should be 20% insane, and hero Alinda should be 10% insane, but aren't (command used: "#insane 20")
"""

That's not a real command, you need to copystats a LA R'lyeh dreamer unit to get someone to start with insanity.

[Sombre]

Nice looking mod. I'll stick it on my list of mods to try out.