Mod: Nation - Tomb Kings - v1.03 released (March 2009)!

[llamabeast]

Thanks Kristoffer Glad you like the shields. I've been trying hard to get an Egyptian feel to the nation.

The tomb kings was a WH nation I always wished I had had.

Yeah, me too. I even bought a box of them a couple of years after I stopped collecting, in the hope of some kind of revival. Never happened though sadly - they're still boxed up. It just takes so much time, I always feel daunted these days. Not that I don't spend a lot of time on Dominions now instead!

[HoneyBadger]

As per the Tomb Kings' armies just getting up and fighting wheneverr their commander wills them to, well-I don't have a solution for that, per se, but it did give me the idea that they might have some lowly, weak, mindless-but expensive-chaff that just happens to be immortal.

Maybe a summon. They'd be balanced by relatively high gem cost for a weak troop, and the facts that A: being mindless, no experience over time, B: being constructs, they wouldn't heal without a lab, and C: the accumulation of afflictions.

[llamabeast]

Interesting idea HB. I've actually got an immortal unit, and like you suggest it's a summon. I went for the idea that the Tomb Kings should fear reaching the afterlife without any protection, so a few of their most loyal guard were embalmed with extremely powerful magic which has made them immortal. They're quite good soldiers, but I've so far found they're not overpowered (you can only summon one at a time and they cost two death gems to wake up). All this kind of thing might need refining later though.

I should post more on here actually, the mod's coming along really nicely. I did the sprites for three commander units today, plus a whole load more tweaks to the code itself. Almost all the national units are done now. I still have to do most of the summons, and write all the descriptions.

[HoneyBadger]

I was thinking along the lines of "the pharaos' various lovers". The rose which never fades, willingly bound throughout eternity to always be with their king-The sales-pitch practically writes itself ...which they are-the catch is, because of shoddy spells cast by Ermorians who were more con-men than conjurers, they happen to be mindless skeletons.

Ofcourse, there's no reason in the world that there can't be more than one breed of immortal-no doubt in many cases the wizards in question were on the level, native, loyal, and powerful. It's just my conjecture that in a lot of cases the Tomb Kings were duped.

After all, who's going to care in a thousand years whether you replaced the saffron in a spell with tumeric? The guy you're casting it on is gonna be dead, and so are you.

Only he's going to be dead and pissed off about it, and you're going to have 30 more good years on *this* plane, and then go off to some afterlive your victim's never even heard of, where they reward who ever dies rich and clever.

[llamabeast]

I've just finished my first ever sprite-from-scratch. It's an Anubite - a servant of the ancient, long-banished god Anubis. I decided to add some units of a general Egyptian mythology theme, departing somewhat from the GW army list. The Anubite is a jackal-man carved from black granite (this is a little different from other Anubite myths - I made it up, based on a mis-recollection of the Anubites in Age of Mythology). When Anubis was banished they fell silent - now they are awoken to serve the new god. They are powerful and agile soldiers, and close the distance with their enemies quickly in leaps and bounds.

I'm reasonably pleased with the sprite. I think it looks a bit gawky, but can't quite put my finger on why. Still I think it is fairly nice.

I'll attach a sequence showing the steps he went through, just because I think it's interesting and you might too. Man, looking back on the early stages is hideous!

[llamabeast]

Thought I would do a similar thing with my cavalry sprite.

The top row is the normal sprite, the bottom is the attack sprite. On each row the first picture is the source pic, the next two are progressively altered versions, and the last one is the final Tomb Kings version with a rider.

[llamabeast]

Incidentally Sombre - I am getting increasingly impressed with your sprites as I realise the amount of work that goes into them. You've done an amazing number of really high quality sprites.

And Kristoffer - even more so!

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Since you're going with an Egyptian theme, how about making your scouts the Royal Cat? Could go with something like the Uba's shifted form. Though whether mummified or skeletal... hmm...

I'd think to do something with a Skeletal consort, but seduction doesn't seem likely, unless you've got a real 'boner'. Oooh.. painful pun. Well, I'll leave it in.

"Royal Court"? Ritual summon to awaken an army?
Skeletal Consorts were entombed against their wills when their king died. No longer beautiful or pampered, they are driven by _blank_. Perhaps they resurrect lesser skeletons? Have some haunting/terrifying wail? Cause paralysis, curses? No real good ideas atm.

[llamabeast]

Hmm, I've really been struggling with what to do for a scout. A royal cat might be an interesting idea actually, I will have a think about that. The question is, how did it get intelligent?

A consort sounds like an interesting idea as well, although I also can't immediately think of what to give her. I'll bear it in mind though, it's suitably creepy and tragic.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Well, it doesn't have to be intelligent like a human, some animals can be fairly smart, and a few centuries of death will give you some learning time. With training, and possibly the voices of the dead whispering commands in your ears, you to can do things. The tricky part is that its a cat, why would it obey YOU?

For an unusual twist, maybe you can make it an immortal scout and/or assassin recruitable only from the capital. Considering that opponents usually build dominion walls at their borders, there would be some limits to their utility. But if they're slow to get going in the early game, then it would be a way to assist expansion.

Considering that the egyptians held cats in high regard, maybe it could be permanently blessed?