Warhammer Nations

[Theonlystd]

Valandil said:
Well, I'm sure playtesting will be a terrible chore, but someone has to do it...

I would sacrifice my precious time to do play testing.


Yes i am a saint

[llamabeast]

I for one may well take you guys up on your kind offers, once I get started.

[Sombre]

This is just something I was writing notes on in a break period between lessons. I typed it up exactly as I wrote it, so it's still sort of in note form :]

Anyway, it's my thoughts on the subject of the Imperial Colleges in Warhammer - basically the Empire has all kinds of magic available - too many schools to fit on the recruit screen, so I've decided to give them a completely new magic system based on summons.

---------------------------------------------


Schools

Fire - Bright - F+ - Evocation
Wizard - Higher precision, lower research
Lord - Strong fire shield


Metal - Gold - E (F) - Alteration and construction
Wizard - Alchemy (?), higher upkeep
Lord - Forgebonus


Shadow - Grey - AD - Enchantment, alteration
Wizard - Stealthy
Lord - Flight, spy


Beasts - Amber - N+ - Conjuration
Wizard - Forest survival, shapechange to wolf
Lord - Shapechange to giant bear, useful summon allies ability in this form


Heavens - Celestial - Equal AS - Evocation and thaum
Wizard - Research bonus, prevent bad events
Lord - Better bonuses


Light - Light - FS - Alteration and Evocation
Wizard - Heal?
Lord - Better heal?


Life - Jade - N EWA - Alteration, Evocation
Wizard - Decrease unrest? Heal?
Lord - Better versions of above?


Death - Amethyst - D (W) - Alteration, Enchantment
Wizard - Drain life attack
Lord - ?


Each school will have 2 summons available - one for a standard Wizard such as "Bright Wizard" and one for a college lord, "Bright Wizard Lord". The standard wizards will basically be 2 in one path then have some kind of secondary path, or a chance at lvl3 in their main path if from a focused school like Bright.

The Wizard Lords will be lvl 3 average, but some lvl 4. They will kick ***, but they will all be old.

The whole thing will be started off by the College Acolyte recruitable which has lvl 1 random in NEFADS.

N1 summons Amber, Jade
F1 summons Bright, Light
A1 summons Grey,
D1 summons Amethyst
S1 summons Celestial
E1 summons Gold

The summons will have to be researched and will be found with one version in each of the schools favoured by the mages, at level 3 and 6 perhaps?

[zepath]

On this very topic, three of my nations mods built last year were entirely inspired by Warhammer armies. Teutanion combined the Empire and Bretonnia, Sylvania combined the Wood and High Elves, and Sanguinia was a shot at the Vampire Counts. The intent here and now seems to be creating direct translations of the WH Fantasy nations so my previous work doesn't fit perfectly. Still, if y'all are curious how I portrayed those armies, take a look at my old mods. Also, feel free to swipe sprites or code from them if you think they apply to the current effort.

[Calchet]

Rather than create a new thread for (another) in-progress mod of mine, I figure I'd use this one until I have something worthy of release.

Zharr-Naggrund, Fire and Desolation.


Or, well, Chaos Dwarfs.


Overview:
- Capital-centric faction, accentuated by a sizeable production bonus on one of their capital sites.
- Very low numbers of actual dwarves - all of them, excepting a slaver commander, are capital-only and quite expensive. On the other hand, they all wear heavy armour, and are barely encumbered by it - not to mention their high health and innate magic resistance.
- Mighty blunderbusses able to turn hordes of unarmoured enemies into nothing but so much red paste and shrapnel.
- Casters ranging from cheap and solid battle-mages to powerful sorcerers with extreme encumbrace issues - they're gradually turning to stone!
- Sacred Bull Centaurs add a more mobile option than regular foot-slogging dwarves.
- Powerful siege weaponry, from the lowly hobgoblin-crewed bolt thrower up to the mighty Earthshaker Cannon - and beyond.
- Summonable sacred beasts like the Great Taurus, a winged red demonic bull, and the Lammasu, a manticorean monstrosity.
- Outside the capital, a good variety of greenskin slave chaff, from goblins all the way up to black orcs.
- Battle evocations that turn the skies dark with smoke from the great furnaces of Zharr-Naggrund.
- The massive crimson form of Hashut, the Great Red Bull, the Father of Darkness, joins the ranks of pretenders.
- Fancy hats.
- And more. Probably. If I get around to it.

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by Calchet

- Fancy hats.

That does it. I love it.

Seems good, how do you plan on implementing the blunderbusses? Will they be like muskets (scary, but not that lethal)? We all know Sombre's stance on gunpowder weapons and I kinda agree with him. Gunpowder weapons don't really fit into dom3 world. Perhaps give some magical replacement thingmajig? Chaos dwarves really are so few in number that they shouldn't risk themselves in melee (exception: Bulltaurs). Granades could be sweet, thought.

My Warhammer lore comes from WRFP, so it might not be "canon", but didn't Black Orcs rebel and nearly destroy Chaos Dwarves? If I recall correctly The C.Dwarves won as the hobgoblins backstabbed the Black Orcs.

[Calchet]

At the moment, the blunderbusses are short-range projectiles with pretty good damage and a secondary physical 'shrapnel' random area-of-effect attack - they are frighteningly effective against unarmoured troops, but do little against heavy armour. (That's what the Earthshaker cannons and Death Rockets are for.)

Also, that's pretty much how it went down - they no longer keep Black Orcs among their regular slaves, but rather hunt some down and outfit them when they need them as soldiers. In-game, black orcs will basically be stronger, tougher and more skilled but more expensive in both gold and resources as compared to regular orcs. Orc and Goblin bosses with the exception of Hobgoblins will also likely have a leadership of 0 - they're not trusted to lead armies. (They'll get a standard ability instead, letting them keep the low-morale troops in line... more or less.)

[Burnsaber]

Sorry there. I kinda ninja edited my post before I saw your reply.

I'm kinda worried that you're going to add gunpowder weapons. I really think Sombre is on the right path as he is doing powderless replacements on the weapons (Leadbelcher -> Deathbelcher). You're free to do your own mod, but it just would be kinda nice if all Warhammer mods had same stance on the issue. Chaos Dwarves are just kind of problematic as they are too few in number to be willing to risk themselves in melee. Perhaps go for the cliche "A Wizard did it" explanation? Fire Staffs or something? Firebelchers? Granades are very low tech and easily explained by magic.

I'd just like to restate that you're free to do your mod like you want it, but (IMHO) it would kinda nice if all warhammer mods had the same stance.

[Calchet]

Hm, it would be sort of problematic to have all the rockets, cannons and whatnot the nation relies on without explosives - perhaps referring to the weapons as using unspecified alchemical compounds alongside magic might work, along the 'a wizard did it' lines, like so?


By combining alchemical compounds drawn from the wasteland around Zharr-Naggrond with runic magic, the alchemists and sorcerers beneath the city have created the blunderbuss - a fearful weapon wielded by these Chaos Dwarf warriors. The contraptions are capable of launching flaming metal shrapnel over short distances with a sound as of thunder, mowing down unarmoured enemies and allies alike. The weapons are reasonably accurate, but impossible to use effectively in melee combat and often fail when set against heavy armour.


The Death Rocket is a recent invention by the alchemists of Zharr-Naggrond, and a lethal one, at that. A heavily runed and enchanted metal tube is filled with a highly volatile compound , then pointed in the general direction of an force enemy and released, rushing screaming through the air before exploding. It is not a very fast weapon, as each projectile takes time to prepare, nor is it accurate in the least, but the exploding casing sends shrapnel ricocheting in all direction, mowing down lightly armoured soldiers with no regard for allegiance.


The Earthshaker cannon is the greatest battlefield weapon of Zharr-Naggrond, and the secrets of their construction are carefully guarded. Whether it is thanks to the alchemical compounds within or the arcane runes without, the thundering metal monstrosity is able to launch heavy projectiles long distances, crashing down inside enemy formations to disrupt and destroy any semblance of order. The great cannons are also able to bring down fortification gates with frightening ease.

[llamabeast]

Sounds very good to me! The sprites look good too. Definitely looking forward to seeing a playable version!