Mod: Nosophoros - The Vampire Lords

[Burnsaber]

I tried this nation out. Intresting mechanics and nice backstory, it really shows that you have put up a lot effort into this. However, some nitpicks (especially on the balance department). As this mod stands now, I really wouldn't allow it for a MP game (however, I don't know if you care about that or not).

I'll start with a typo report on the nation description;

"Vampires likes cold" -> "Vampires like cold"

And some thematic stuff:

- The necromancers are odd. Why do they have forge bonus? I know that they are absolutely fantastic in supplying your Dark Summoner SC's (more about that later) with items, but I can't see the thematic justification behind it. I can kind of see why they'd have researchbonus (communing with spirits and all that) but it'd probably help to mention the reasoning in the description. Also the last line in the description "Hobby: Skull Bowling" is a real oddity. Is it a joke (if it is, I really don't know if it is really that thematical)? I'd guess that it is meant to be in a coherent sentence like "Necromancers are shunned because of their wierd practices and take up odd hobbies, like skull bowling".

- Why do Dark Mystics have healing? It's (IMHO) unthematic and not really useful, since you can't heal undead afflitions with regular healers. It's just unneccesary ability clutter.

- Dark Summoners are really good. Having a recruitable SC chassis is really powerful (especially for a MA nation) and your necromancers can easily feed them with many SC items. They really only need a "Girdle of Might" and some buffs to start SC'ing because of their natural regen and fear. I'd suggest that you nerf their combat stats a bit. Judging from the description, they are supposed to be mages, not front-line fighters.

- The Vampire King pretender is really really good. Compare it to Lich, which is quite good already. Vampire King is

+ Cheaper by 35 points!
+ Regenerates
+ Flies
+ Has a "Life Drain" attack
+ Has good summons
+ Higher att + def
+ Better starting paths

- The only negative is his lack of protection (but your necromancers can fix that easily)

I'm a strong advocate for national pretenders being a tad stronger than normal but too much is too much, since I really can't see a reason to ever select anything else but him. I'd suggest bumping his price a bit. I was able to afford him with D5B4 dom9 (fear + awe) and still manage pretty good scales. He can summon his very nice summons for the starting turns until you alchemize gems for a Black Steel Plate and go to town with him on turn 4.

I'm sorry if I sound a bit rash, but these things really stood out for me. Overall the nation is pretty fun to play.

[Thilock_Dominus]

Originally Posted by Burnsaber

I tried this nation out. Intresting mechanics and nice backstory, it really shows that you have put up a lot effort into this. However, some nitpicks (especially on the balance department). As this mod stands now, I really wouldn't allow it for a MP game (however, I don't know if you care about that or not).

Thanks for the testing and feedback. It's really appriciated

The mod itself is meant for single player style with Aggressive Impossible AIs (and with CBM (haven't tested compatibility yet)).
I have always been more a RPG player than Strategy player which might be the issue to make a MP balanced nation.

- The necromancers are odd. Why do they have forge bonus? I know that they are absolutely fantastic in supplying your Dark Summoner SC's (more about that later) with items, but I can't see the thematic justification behind it. I can kind of see why they'd have researchbonus (communing with spirits and all that) but it'd probably help to mention the reasoning in the description. Also the last line in the description "Hobby: Skull Bowling" is a real oddity. Is it a joke (if it is, I really don't know if it is really that thematical)? I'd guess that it is meant to be in a coherent sentence like "Necromancers are shunned because of their wierd practices and take up odd hobbies, like skull bowling".

Is already changed in the upcomming updates of Nosophoros to Astral instead. The previous discussion went on about Necromancers obsession with give life to lifeless objects (It's on the earlier pages of the thread). But have decided to change it to Astral to more conservative approach of the necromancers and as you said balance issues.

The Skull bowling was a joke :P. It will be removed.

- Why do Dark Mystics have healing? It's (IMHO) unthematic and not really useful, since you can't heal undead afflitions with regular healers. It's just unneccesary ability clutter.

Agreed.

- Dark Summoners are really good. Having a recruitable SC chassis is really powerful (especially for a MA nation) and your necromancers can easily feed them with many SC items. They really only need a "Girdle of Might" and some buffs to start SC'ing because of their natural regen and fear. I'd suggest that you nerf their combat stats a bit. Judging from the description, they are supposed to be mages, not front-line fighters.

- The Vampire King pretender is really really good. Compare it to Lich, which is quite good already. Vampire King is

+ Cheaper by 35 points!
+ Regenerates
+ Flies
+ Has a "Life Drain" attack
+ Has good summons
+ Higher att + def
+ Better starting paths

- The only negative is his lack of protection (but your necromancers can fix that easily)

I'll take an extra look at it and see how to nerf it/them.



Also in the next update:
Changelog 1.01

--- CHANGES ---
• Blood Gift changed to: A Vampire's Instinct.
• Power of Blood changed to: The Scents of Blood.
• Greater Power of Blood changed to: Blood of Kings.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Ancient Vampire Lord.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Vampire Lord.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Black Rose Lord.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Black Rose Guard.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Pureblood Vampire.
• Removed "Standard" from The Chosen One.
• Removed "Standard" from The Chosen One - Wolf form.
• Skeleton Guard: Addded Iron Cap Helmet
• Skeleton Warrior: Added Iron Cap Helmet
• Ancient Vampire Lord: Dark Power 2 ---> 3
• Ancient Vampire Lord: Random Magic 3 ---> 4
• Ancient Vampire Lord: Removed Standard.
• Vampire Lord (Hero): Removed "ambidextrous".
• Child of the Night Wolf Shape: Morale 12 ---> 8
• Snow Demon Wolf: Defense 14 ---> 10
• Snow Demon Wolf: Morale 30 ---> 20


--- FIXES ---
• The Oracle (hero) was not enabled in Nation hero list.
• Night Blessing desription changed.
• Soulless bite doesn't affect mindless beings.

[HoneyBadger]

Thilock_Dominus: I was thinking today that, considering how professional looking your OP is, the only things this Mod seems to lack are "concept art" (as in, detailed drawings of what the sprites are intended to represent), and a soundtrack/mixtape (violin music?).


Also, I was wondering why the Vamp Nobles get Fire on their greatswords? Cold would seem more appropriate (these guys seem to be somewhat cold-oriented), unless the Nobles are intended to be killing their own.

[Thilock_Dominus]

Originally Posted by HoneyBadger

Thilock_Dominus: I was thinking today that, considering how professional looking your OP is, the only things this Mod seems to lack are "concept art" (as in, detailed drawings of what the sprites are intended to represent), and a soundtrack/mixtape (violin music?).

Thanks

Yep, it need that ^_^

Also, I was wondering why the Vamp Nobles get Fire on their greatswords? Cold would seem more appropriate (these guys seem to be somewhat cold-oriented), unless the Nobles are intended to be killing their own.

It's because of the rivalry with the Pureblood Vampire Lords. There's an internt fight among the Pureblood Lords and the Non-Pureblood Lords. So the Non-Pureblood Lords have used fire weapons to fight the Purebloods.

[Thilock_Dominus]

New Patch (1.01)

• The Nosophoros GUI for Dominions 3 have been greatly improved (screenshots updated in that event).
• A new Nosophoros Icon are made (can been found in the first post).
• Ivan the Vampire King (premade pretender) have been reworked to fit the new changes in v.1.01

Biggest changes in this patch is that the Vampire King and Dark Summoner have been balanced (in hope that the mod will be used for MP purpose).
The Necromancer and Shadow Necromancer (Hero) have been reworked for that matter.

Also Nosophoros: The Vampire Lords Wiki site is almost complete. You can find every bit of information, everything from unit stats to weapon stats etc. http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Nosop..._Vampire_Lords




Changelog 1.01

--- CHANGES ---
• Nosophoros GUI Updated
• Blood Gift changed to: A Vampire's Instinct.
• Power of Blood changed to: The Scents of Blood.
• Greater Power of Blood changed to: Blood of Kings.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Ancient Vampire Lord.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Vampire Lord.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Black Rose Lord.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Black Rose Guard.
• Removed "ambidextrous" from Pureblood Vampire.
• Removed "Standard" from The Chosen One.
• Removed "Standard" from The Chosen One - Wolf form.
• Ancient Vampire Lord: Dark Power 2 ---> 3
• Ancient Vampire Lord: Random Magic 3 ---> 4
• Ancient Vampire Lord: Removed Standard.
• Vampire Lord (Hero): Removed "ambidextrous".
• Child of the Night Wolf Shape: Morale 12 ---> 8
• Snow Demon Wolf: Defense 14 ---> 10
• Snow Demon Wolf: Morale 30 ---> 20
• Necromancer: 2 earth ---> 2 astral.
• Necromancer: Change in unit description.
• Necromancer: Forge bonus removed.
• Necromancer: Darkvision 25 ---> 50
• Shadow Necromancer: 1 astral ---> 2 astral
• Shadow Necromancer: 3 earth ---> 3 random
• Shadow Necromancer: Darkvision 50 ---> 75
• Shadow Necromancer: One Shade will join each month.
• Mystic: Healer ability removed.
• Dark Mystic: Healer ability removed.
• The Judge: Healer ability removed.
• Dark Summoner: HP. 25 ---> HP. 20
• Dark Summoner: Def. 12 ---> Def 8
• Dark Summoner: Att. 12 ---> Def 10
• Dark Summoner: Str. 14 ---> Str 12
• Vampire King: cost 75 ---> 100
• Vampire King: Path cost 40 ---> 60
• The Chosen One - Wolf Shape: -4 in all Magic Path ---> -2
• Soulless Bite: -2 Damage ---> 1
• Soulless Bite: -1 Attack ---> 1

--- FIXES ---
• The Oracle (hero) was not enabled in Nation hero list.
• Night Blessing desription changed.
• Soulless bite doesn't affect mindless beings.

[Globu]

Heya Thilock. Just thought I'd note that your preview image appears to be the thumbnail only -- I was trying to find a preview image to put in my little archive of Dom3 mods and couldn't get it to come up full-sized. So, dinking with the URL, I found the real one, if you want to update it on the OP:

www.imageviper.com/displayimage/146634/0/Nosophoros.jpg

(The one you have up is image # 146633. I just tried incrementing it up by one and lucked out. Apparently, the following filename doesn't matter to this image host as long as it's present in the URL. Also, as a side note, your other in-game screenshots suffer from the same problem, but I didn't hunt down the full-size images as they were available on your wiki page.)

Cheers, and I look forward to trying it out when I get the chance.

[WraithLord]

I noticed something strange when playing this mod. So, I took a w9 bless for the black rose order and setup 2 armies for expansion. The first is commanded by a prophetized black rose lord + 15 black rose guards + 30 children of the night. The second is commanded by a dark mystic and a skeleton commander and consists of 15 black rose guards and a few skeleton guards.

Now lo and behold the first army does alright expanding, however the 2nd army also gets free soulless every time the battle ends (supposedly from the vampiric great sword fatalities). Is that a bug, a mod conflict or WAD?- If WAD why only in 2nd army?

[Swan]

Imho, fire on noble sword is a good idea, thematicaly wise
1)fire, in a cold land, means you have to power to defeat nature
2)fire is one of the best way to kill vampires
actually point 2 tell me maybe they should have some fire protection item as standard

[militarist]

Ok, I tried it.

Expressions:
0. Perfect graphics, content, etc.. looks like A LOT of time and passion was invested. Thanks.

1. I expected more from ancient vampire lord - as a mage he just repeats regular dark summoners, as a thug he has too mall amount of HP. I'm not sure I would research Blood 9 to get him.
2. all national summons are not so powerful as expected... standard vampire commander is better then in this race. That's strange.
3. Black rose lord..perfect idea. But it took all provinces on it's way...I can imagine how he works with soul vortex..i don't know if yuo can do it in all castles, but if yes - it's overkill.
4. dark summoners.. not sacred, so expensive in support.
5. Mystics.. why 110 gold? Should be 80 or even 60.Nobody really needs their priest 1 level which makes him more expensive probably.
6. shadow dragon is way overpowered. He killed all armies he has met, without any casting. With soul vortex would be unstoppable.
5. The chosen one.. his awe will not work against most units he will meet at the stage of the game he was summoned.AWE is cool for expansion. Later he is just ok, compare it with Kailasa sacreds. He will be killed immidiately even in melee. Not mentioning arrows.And he has very strange paths.

[Thilock_Dominus]

Thanks for the input.

@Globu

I'll fix this.

@Wraithlord

It's a ingame bug in Dominions 3. The soulless should die.


@militarist

A completely balance is nearly impossible. Some people think the the units are underpowered and others overpowered - it depends how your playstyle is I guess.