Expanded Alliances Mod

Advice needed

from Elemental Forums

I plan to introduce in this mod a number unique and flavorful ally resources. The units they make available will bring a significant tactical advantage to any battle. The plan is to have both neutral and Kingdom/Empire specific resource types. To avoid useless resources spawning in a faction's realm I plan to make several generic base resources that both Kingdoms and Empires can build their specific upgrades from. Here are my initial ideas on neutral resource types and the units they make available.

Netural, these resources and units can be used by Kingdoms or Empires.

1. Base Resource: Barbarian tribe.

Resource Building: Barbarian Camp

Units Unlocked: Berserker (Damage dealer) Huntress (scout/ranged)

Background: The barbarian peoples of the waste look on the rebuilding of civilization as pure folly. To them it was their ansestors' magics and industry that almost destroyed the world and they are not keen to see such a thing repeated. While barbariansdo not approve of the Kingdoms' or Empires' goals the are more then willing to sell their services in battle to either.

2.Base Resource: Ruined Fort

Resource Building: Mercenary Camp

Units Unlocked:Sellsword(heavy infantry) Freelance(light cavalry)

Background: Just as before the Cataclysm there are many willing to kill and die for the chance of riches. You just found a whole nest of them.

3. Base Resource: Arcane Ruins

Resource Building:Mage tower

Units Unlocked:Blue Mage(water) Red Mage(fire) Green Mage(earth) Grey Mage(air) (Each mage will be able to cast a single spell and be armed with the Mage Staff ranged weapon)

Background: Since the Cataclysm a secretive brotherhood know as the Mages has risen. They are dedicated to preserving and studying the ancient ways of magic. For most of their century long existence they did just that simply study and learn. Now however it seems that the Mages have found a way to what no normal human has been able to do since the coming of the Titans, they are actively practicing magic. Unlike the mighty channelers it seems that a mage must focus solely on the power of a single element. While they are no match for the god like powers of a channeler their simple but effective spells are of great worth on the battlefield.

 

While I don't have much experience modding I have started reading all the great tutorials on the forums. I feel confident that eventually I'll be able to get this up and running.  If you have any ideas or comments feel free to post them.

Right now I'm trying to figure out the best way to design the units. Most of them are going to be based off of human or fallen characters so it should be fairly easy. After that I'll make up the custom ablities for each unit.

 

 

4,377 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Sounds interesting :thumbsup: (sorry don't have much more to comment at this moment:P )

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

This sounds like a cool idea, though I am not sure how well it will work. I know that Heavenfall recently try to add prefab units to the game and ran into a whole slew of issues. That is not to say that it would not be possible. Here is a list of your biggest hurdles:

- The techs which spawn recruitables resources use the following modifier which appears to reference a hard coded spawn markers.

Code: xml
  3.         <GameModifier>
  4.             <ModType>Player</ModType>
  5.             <Attribute>UpdateRecruitables</Attribute>
  6.             <StrVal>DEMONS</StrVal>
  7.         </GameModifier>

- There is a modifier to spawn resources though I don't think it would work with a tech.

Code: xml
  3.             <GameModifier InternalName="C2_GM_CrystalHoard">
  4.                 <ModType>Map</ModType>
  5.                 <Attribute>CreateResourceHoard</Attribute>
  6.                 <Count>0.0000</Count>
  7.                 <Radius>0.0000</Radius>
  8.                 <StrVal>CrystalCragType01</StrVal>
  9.             </GameModifier>

- And lastly, even if you get the resource to spawn, I am not sure the AI would actually use them. Meaning you would have to balance them in such a way that they are no OP against the other units, which might make these new units fairly useless in general.

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

What you could do is have a world resource, right, and it actually upgrades as the closest city upgrades. So maybe you start with a level 1 city and you get to recruit trainees. Then at level 5 you're recruiting the elites. That's doable, I think. A bonus is that you only get one type of unit buildable at a time, which means the AI has an easier time knowing what to do.

Edit: Actually, I'm not sure if a world resource improvement can read the city level like that, you'll have to test it.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I'm going to try and spawn the resources without linking them to a tech. Hopefully I can make them spawn with the other initial resources. Although something I just thought of is linking each resource to a sovereign trait. For example the trait "Mage Friend" would cause an arcane ruin to spawn near your character's starting point. This would only work with custom sovs so the AI wouldn't have access to the new units. Though I could go through and add to a few of the existing Sovs. First thing I'm going to do though is make some place holder tiles and see if I can get them to spawn. Thanks a bunch for the help guys!