OT: Master of Magic unofficial patch v1.40f

[B0rsuk]

Searching for "Master of Magic" is not trivial on this forum, but I believe this hasn't been posted yet.

Look what the cat dragged in:

changelog
---------
[credit to arablizzard for correction]

Changes (f_fixed):

Version 1.40h
-----------------------
AI ships
- AI transporting inability fixed (no stopping of full boats) + boats have full decks (AI ships leaving with capacity at least 6 units on board)
- all transporting capacity had to be put to 8 units
- triremes mvt 2, floating islands mvt 4, galleys mvt 6 (to keep FIs and galleys as an interesting option)
- Wind mastery +100 % bonus, penalty for other players removed (due to AI inability to deal with 1-mvt triremes
- forbidden AI ships creation in cities with lakes-with-river terrain

bugfixes
- max 3 vortex fix of previous bug
- wraithform correct MPs over water

other
- removed insane extra gold AI game diff bonuses - city building upkeep
- removed insane extra gold AI game diff bonuses - army upkeep

AI
- AI magic spirits bigger summon probability in later game
- reversed alternate setllers targetting (undecisiveness of AI settlers)
- reviewed the AI ships bulding decision
- more stress on AI objective in AI city building
- impass tower problem solved for AI settlers

-Includes fixed Wizards.exe
-Game now reports v1.40f in the intro and load screen from the main menu
-Main Menu->Load->Settings now shows options introduced by the patch instead of the old names
-"Strategic combat" renamed to "Automatic Combat" to avoid confusion with the v1.31 setting "Strategic Combat Only" (combat controlled by player)

Features
- "fixed" the bug from v.140e by removing Transmute, Change terrain fixes
- stable world creation (you have to wait 10-60 s, rarely even more)
- AI unit appraisal bug
- AI unit yoyo movement flaw removed
- slightly improved AI searching for better settlement
- added small chance fro settlers to seek other continent after turn 60
- enemy wizards may start with any race and neutral cities on the same continent have a more diverse racial composition (EDIT by Catwalk, not sure which version these were introduced in)


Version 1.40e
-------------
Combat fixes
- -to save from items now works for Life Drain, Holy Word, Death Spell
- Life Drain cannot be used against Death immune units anymore
- the confusion surrounding the Confusion (premature combat ending, AI dispelling unit and controlling it...) should be hopefully fixed
- AI shadow deamons (and other illusion immune shooters) now can shoot "invisible"
- AI tries more to kill off units in combat

Overland fixes
- AI units stopped action by attack bug fixed
- Windwalking should always work... like it should

AI fixes
- AI aggressivity against human player cities should now be corrected
- AI now transmutes / changes terrain always in city radius
- AI gets potentially very powerful items from lairs
- magic items are no more "lost" when AI defeats another AI's hero
- bug preventing AI's sneaky attacks (when two sides have no pact) lives no more
- rebuilt research choice is now in
- AI wizards will now summon Nagas... from time to time

Interface fixes
- Archmage now shows 50% bonus on Magic screen.


Version 1.40d
-------------

Combat fixes
- Word of Recall on regenerating unit now works (regenerated unit in your capital)
- Max 3 Vortexes can be summoned at once. You are now protected against data corruption by an error message.
- Animate Dead has received first partial correction. (Stability is unknown, use at your own risk.)

AI fixes
- Most notably, AI should use bigger stacks.
- AI should be actually able to target your fortress (bug removed).


version 1.40c
-------------
v.140c

This version tries to be everything that 1.40bb for some reason was not. Very important fixes (VIFs).

(other news)

Features taken back - because of instability
- chopped POP
- hotkeys on Game screen
- Alchemy tool correction

New tweaks
- Alt+RVL now gives Detect Magic along with Nature Awarness (for testing purposes only)
- Up and Down arrows on City screen now working


version 1.40bb
--------------
v1.40bb

Overland fixes
- "Monsters Gone Wild" extra difficulty setting is fixed, no more bugs
- the settings help info is now adjusted
- City defenders now receive help from City walls / Walls of fire, only when the city has built them up (strategic combat bug; this will make AI players much better at taking over neutral cities)
- AI declaring war on demand without any regards to its treaties - bug
- default Tauron now has the correct number of books [Lydon]

Combat fixes
- AI settlers (or other units) are now unable to flee during your first turn
- data instability issue with Counter Magic was solved

Altered game features
- excess city population is no more 'chopped away' when a city grows by 1,000

Interface changes
- incessant city growth messages are now limited by POP < 10,000
- you may now "Escape" from Item Creation screen without creating anything
- "SPACE" now works on most screens as a simple "proceed, go back, go to the next position, I have seen the message". It also works as "Wait" command for units overland. On Change production screen it pushes OK. In combat it has the function of "Done".
- you may now use Left and Right cursors to browse through Spellbook on the Spells and Research screens, Up and Down on Armies and Cities screens
- L should Patrol unit, but for some mysterious reason, you have to push it twice.
- Q quits the game from the game screen

Non-visible features
- hopeless computer wizards will no longer spend half the game researching Hydras, only to never summon them afterwards...
..and some other limited attempts to make the I from AI better


version 1.40a
-------------
Overland fixes
- famine bug & problems based on city food should be fixed [based on work of TRAC]
- AIs create items for their heroes
- the Chosen can be summoned by AIs
- Suppress magic now does not suppress Spell of Return
- AI will not cast heroism & co. on summoned units
- Diplomacy should no more be broken (+ anything involved, Charismatic trait, Subversion, Aura of Majesty). Note: I tried to make the diplomatic activity as troublesome as possible to maintain the continuity with the original. Still, your diplomatic actions now matter!
- items received from lairs should now be weighed correctly (weak from weak, strong from strong) [Lydon]
- Chaos channels will now never "destroy" thrown attacks with fire breath
- more engineers at the same place trick (only one building, all counting) should not work (other engineer tricks probably will)
- AI strategy combat has been freed from several hidden bugs, as a result, AIs should be able to collect Fame and sometimes able to overcome their AI opponent
- during the end of Next turn phase, your units will never start moving on other plane (when at a tower, this fixes several bugs, like engineers on water etc.)
- you can't throw "normal units only" type of spells on chaos channeled units; you cannot even "black channel" them
- chaos channeled units now actually gain experience from combat
- Charismatic trait now allows you to get merchant offers when low on money
- Rampaging monsters now never appear later than should
- lairs, keeps, dungeons now have 50% chance of having Nature and Chaotic creatures inside (was only Nature, a bug). I decided to omit Death completely, since it has so many other places already!

Combat fixes
- Raise dead hopefully fixed [Asfex's work]
- attackers won't suddenly lose movement [another one]
- Spell lock works in combat
- Call lightning "working" on magically immune units fixed
- all human player's and the AI's heroes now can use their spells (Morgana, Ravashack, Torin...)
- demon skin now should give only +3 defense in combat
- weapon immunity bonus (+10) will never override missile immunity (+50), see Demon creature as an example
- items give invisibility
- fear attacks fixed (and anything involved)
- AI will not cast possession on your heroes
- axes now actually give their to hit bonus
- AI is now always capable to cast spells in its own fortress (was frozen when having too much mana)
- City walls now give protection to all units stationed in
- heroes now should never Disenchant spells belonging to their master

Altered game features
- units with merging are now immune to Cracks call (AI believes they should be immune, therefore I made them so)
- the fortresses of all players are now much better placed. Note: the fix makes the game almost "freeze" during the world creation, please be patient. Rarely (with an unfavourable setup, like "Small lands" + 4 opponents), the game may freeze completely. It will be corrected in the next version. Restart in this case, please.
- when scouting a lair, you can now estimate the number of opposition (either 1-3, normal text, or 4-9, text with "many")
- neutral cities now actually can sometimes build a building (was badly implemented)
- in the Game settings screen there are 2 new options in Extra difficulty departement: "Revolting raiders" and "Mosters gone wild". Be careful - the stability is unknown & it can be quite powerful, sometimes

Non-visible features
- AI changes (most of them straight bug fixes)
- simply play the game to experience them (or cast the disassembling True sight)

Sadly the developer has abandoned it due to lack of time. So there might be a few bugs left (like Flying Fortress not working; not mentioned above). But many things work properly for the first time, such as Cloak of Fear spell. Take Gnolls, build Granary, Stables, Wolf Rider. Attack a city and cast Cloak of Fear. I've just killed 4 High Men swordsmen with barely a scratch.

Files (check the readme first):
http://koti.mbnet.fi/ton_hur/files/mom/

The newest version 1.40h:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?x3nzvpjcr5ng4cf

Enjoy !

Update 17/10/2010 Plight - New patch from another person, compatible with the above. It fixes ingame information, race, item, spell, building, dialog box descriptions to make them complete and accurate.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=391983

[NTJedi]

Where's the multiplayer component??
I've heard discussions about multiplayer hacks for MoM, but how balanced and stable does it work?

[B0rsuk]

Originally Posted by NTJedi

Where's the multiplayer component??
I've heard discussions about multiplayer hacks for MoM, but how balanced and stable does it work?

The main limitation of the multiplayer hack (Called Multiplayer Shell) is that it simply switches players between AI and back. As a consequence it is impossible to have a tactical battle where both players can issue orders.

ftp://users.aol.com/mmoms/mmom42s.zip

The Shell requires Master of Magic v1.2, v1.3, or v.131. I doubt it works with the unnoficial patch.

[NTJedi]

Will the multiplayer work for a game where multiple humans are allied against the AI opponents? Sounds like it should.

[B0rsuk]

Originally Posted by NTJedi

Will the multiplayer work for a game where multiple humans are allied against the AI opponents? Sounds like it should.

It should. But (unchecked) rumour has it that AI has been purposedly made (even more) moronic in the multiplayer patch. Expands very slowly. Sounds true - if I wanted to transform MOM into a 1v1 game, and were unable to remove other players outright, that's what I would do.

[Foodstamp]

I've been playing with this patch for a while and I love it. I recommend going into the settings and changing the random monsters setting to spawn more frequently.

The AI plays more intelligently. You really notice it in their city placement.

For an added challenge, I modded this patch and gave all the settlers swimming. It makes a tremendous difference in how good the AI plays.

[NooBliss]

Btw. How do you deal with the impossible AIs?

So far, I've found four tricks that work more or less reliably.
1) Take all Death picks, rush enemy wizards with wraiths, then research death knights and get these you couldnt reach.
2) Take all Nature picks, rush with Gorgons. Not as reliable tho, but Nature gets some cool stuff later.
3) Take halflings and some Life books. Pick Warlord if you feel really mean, rest is optional. Halfling swordsmen with Heroism and some Healing conquer indie cities eaily, then you get Slingers and kill all enemy Wizards you can reach. Then research some big guns and win.
4) Take Sorcery, probably High elves (for extra mana), allocate everything to casting skill until you can cast Air elemental. Then kill everything.

Any other ideas? Other than 'start the game again and again until you spawn on a big island'?

[Finalgenesis]

Human Paladins > All, it's pretty easy to survive (or prosper even, with a little luck) until you can produce them in impossible difficulty. Throw in warlord and/or life magic if you enjoy even more overkill.

[WraithLord]

I've played MOM with the patch after years of not touching it.
I took Freya+Elves and tried summoning those bears/sprite but I'm getting stomped by the neighboring wizard (on hardest level). I don't recall MOM being so challenging...

[B0rsuk]

Originally Posted by Foodstamp

I've been playing with this patch for a while and I love it. I recommend going into the settings and changing the random monsters setting to spawn more frequently.

Can you enlighten me what the two extra difficulty options do ? Monsters Gone Wild - is that spawning frequency ? How about the other one ?

The AI plays more intelligently. You really notice it in their city placement.

The developer tried to make it even better, but it turned out to be harder than expected. In particular he spent 2 weeks trying to make AI understand "tiny islands with towers" are no good places to send settlers to. He also tried to make AI stop sending empty ships.

For an added challenge, I modded this patch and gave all the settlers swimming. It makes a tremendous difference in how good the AI plays.

HOW have you done it ? Do you know assembly ? One thing I would love to see is bowmen having strenght 2 missile attack by default. They're so pitiful otherwise, and considering swordsmen come earlier it shouldn't cause balance problems.