Modding tips and tricks

[Sombre]

There are a lot of differences. You can't really need them explained can you? I mean they're obvious. Enc reduction does nothing against existing fatigue, can't reduce below 0 etc

The most important difference is we can't mod reinvig onto items.

[Swan]

Originally Posted by Sombre

The most important difference is we can't mod reinvig onto items.

I always said you can't live a day without learning something new on this game

[Sombre]

Here's a modding trick that I think could have some use in making non mage commanders worth recruiting. I talked about this in the lizardman thread, but I thought it was also mentioning here, as it's a technical trick.

You have a recruitable commander, let's say a "Royal Guard Captain". The recruitable form of this commander comes with a summon5 and a domsummon of "Royal Guard Infantry". It also has a firstshape pointing to another instance of "Royal Guard Captain" which does not have these summons. Now when you buy the Captain, you get some free troops with him, in a limited supply, without the drawbacks of onebattlespell combat summons or endless streams of summon allies or autosummons.

I haven't tested this, so the method may need a couple tweaks, but it will definitely work. Of this I am entirely sure.

Of course it eats an extra unit slot, possibly two, per commander you use it on. But then you wouldn't use it on every non mage commander. Just some of them. The 'free' troops are a compensation for hiring a non mage commander.

To make this make more sense, the captain you buy could have a big banner, be immobile and have a description explaining how captains will rally troops for a month before setting out to lead them (and others) in battle. The second form (the regular guy you move around as normal) loses the big graphic of the banner (or horn, or whatever) and is no longer immobile.

[Stavis_L]

Originally Posted by Sombre

Here's a modding trick that I think could have some use in making non mage commanders worth recruiting. I talked about this in the lizardman thread, but I thought it was also mentioning here, as it's a technical trick.

You have a recruitable commander, let's say a "Royal Guard Captain". The recruitable form of this commander comes with a summon5 and a domsummon of "Royal Guard Infantry". It also has a firstshape pointing to another instance of "Royal Guard Captain" which does not have these summons. Now when you buy the Captain, you get some free troops with him, in a limited supply, without the drawbacks of onebattlespell combat summons or endless streams of summon allies or autosummons.

How do you make the recruited form only last for 1 month? Also, can domsummon and summon5 point to the same unit type (I thought there was a conflict, haven't tried...)

[Sombre]

You use #firstshape which will trigger at the end of any battle or the end of any turn. This can be used with multiple unit IDs to make something which changes slowly over time, like llamabeast's corpse eating wendigo, or an egg that takes 12 months to hatch (would require,.. 13 or 14 unit ids).

And yes they can point to the same thing. All the summons can.

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by Sombre

You have a recruitable commander, let's say a "Royal Guard Captain". The recruitable form of this commander comes with a summon5 and a domsummon of "Royal Guard Infantry". It also has a firstshape pointing to another instance of "Royal Guard Captain" which does not have these summons. Now when you buy the Captain, you get some free troops with him, in a limited supply, without the drawbacks of onebattlespell combat summons or endless streams of summon allies or autosummons.

That's simply awesome!

Major Bretonnia update, here I come!

[Sombre]

I've tested this with lizardmen and you don't even need to differentiate the summoning form from the normal form, because when you recruit them, this happens before EoT, as does the summoning of their troops, so they summon the troops, then they change shape and become normal. In other words, no delay between hiring them, them summoning and them turning into the normal version. So you can literally just put in the description that whe you buy them you get X free dudes.

[Ragnarok-X]

Originally Posted by Sombre

I've tested this with lizardmen and you don't even need to differentiate the summoning form from the normal form, because when you recruit them, this happens before EoT, as does the summoning of their troops, so they summon the troops, then they change shape and become normal. In other words, no delay between hiring them, them summoning and them turning into the normal version. So you can literally just put in the description that whe you buy them you get X free dudes.

Would you be kind of to post your #newunit entry on this ? I would like to use this, but im not sure how exactly you created the unit to come with warriors. Please post your .dm file entry.


On topic: Is it possible to alter or copy the Fires from Afar spell to hit more units and/or alter the message log entry into another text ?

[Sombre]

#newmonster 2305
#spr1 "./Warhammer Lizardmen/Slann Fifth.tga"
#spr2 "./Warhammer Lizardmen/Slann Fifth2.tga"
#name "Fifth Generation Slann"
#descr "Once the trusted servants of the Old Ones and architects of the world, the Slann now rule the Lizardmen as mage-priests. Large and bulbous, the alien Slann are uninterested in physical exertion and rely on their mental prowess instead; indeed they are prone to falling into long periods of deep contemplation, renewing their bodies and honing their minds. When they awake they will often declare an enigmatic proclamation that the Skink Priests do their best to implement. All Slann are linked in mind and their Priests are bound to this network, acting as conduits for their power. In their wisdom, the Old Ones decreed only five generations of Slann; the last of the most powerful First Generation died long ago in battle with Chaos and the weakest Fifth Generation was spawned thousands of years ago. When Slann wake from their slumber, so to do their lifelong guards; the more ancient the Slann and the stronger the dominion of the Old Ones, the more Temple Guard will awaken."
#hp 50
#size 5
#prot 13
#mor 16
#mr 18
#enc 5
#str 10
#att 10
#def 9
#prec 11
#mapmove 1
#ap 10
#gcost 750
#rcost 1
#weapon "fist"
#maxage 50000
#forestsurvival
#magicskill 8 3
#magicskill 4 3
#magicskill 6 1
#magicskill 0 1
#magicskill 1 1
#magicskill 2 1
#magicskill 3 1
#custommagic 8832 100
#custommagic 9472 100
#holy
#itemslots 12288
#poorleader
#onebattlespell "Communion Master"
#nametype 123
#magicboost 7 -3
#summon1 2318 -- Temple Guard
#domsummon 2318 -- Temple Guard
#firstshape 2296 -- normal fifth generation
#end

[kennydicke]

I just wanted to point out that having too many* tags on a shape will cause any #shape tag to fail for that shape.

*Too many being in the 40+ tags total range. It's hard to nail down as some of the tags are apparently not counted.

Though, this only affects the shape with too many tags and 40+ tags is probably more than any reasonable unit has.