Modding Question: Is this possible?

With what we call background unit stats, you can indeed tell if a unit has been injured. Stormworld does this and uses it to calculate other functions. But you can't initiate a quest based on that. There are only a few triggers for quests. Population level, turn number, goodiehut and item. So, you could have a building that unlocks an item in the shop. Using that item could start the quest. But you can't have a quest pop up when someone is injured.

But you could check to see if a sovereign was killed, then give him/her a dummy invisible item, correct?  And with that item in the sovereign's inventory, then a quest could be triggered?

How would you give the item? How would having an item trigger a quest? You actually have to use the item to get a quest as in Relias' treasure map. Sov and hero deaths don't have alot of modding potential. I don't see a way to give an item.

As to how an item in an inventory would trigger a quest: you mentioned this being one of the methods in your last post.  But if I understand you correctly, you're saying there's no flag to note when a sovereign dies.  (I was hoping there was a variable in case the game incremented a check on how often a sovereign died--something Stardock might want to pass along to players in a future summary screen.)  Too bad; I was hoping that was a way around the problem coldsteel mentioned.

Too bad. It sounds like FE modding is far more limited than I ever thought it was if you can't even check the game state of important objects like sovereigns to see if they are alive or dead and trigger scripts or events based on that.

What I had wanted to do was create a new, custom tile that looks like a grave marker and use that for a custom quest (or goodie hut) that would be spawned at the location of a sovereign upon their final death (faction killed). When you move onto the grave marker with a champion or sovereign you would get some text "Here lies {sovereign name] blah blah blah] and it would spawn a random item. This would emulate the sovereign dropping an item on death.

I really thought this would be a doable workaround that could be implemented but it sounds like FE modding mainly consists of setting game constants in the XML and there is little to no condition checking or event spawning based on conditions or game variables. That's really too bad because based on all of Brad's posts over the years, I really thought FE modding was going to be pretty robust.

You are basically correct, there is no way to script stuff outside of what we have in the game already. At least not for sandbox gameplay.

It is possible to create new mechanics, but only using what we have in different ways. Sometimes you can figure out clever stuff. Sometimes you can't.

I've been watching over time the ease of use Brad demonstrated in FE's modding tools.  They're very good for basic modding, but I think you're right: the next level, the ability to create scripts based on many conditionals, isn't there.  And that's too bad.  I worked for an MMORPG for several years, back over a decade ago, and having those conditionals made for a great deal of ease in producing a wealth of effects.  We could (for example) see if a player character was flagged for the thieving profession, female, below a certain age, and above a certain prestige level, with a variable set for a series of completed quests, and then make an NPC respond with a specific degree of physical and verbal respect, as well as a reference to gender, youth, and a few of those quests by name.  For sheer flavor and making this personal, it was great.  Or we could simply look to see if a character had died, and then put something in their inventory, move them elsewhere, etc.  Tracking flags and variables was essential, and having them available for change on the fly made for a very robust system of results.

This is disappointing.  Not reason for me to ignore modding once the game goes gold, but it does put a low ceiling on what can be achieved, in some respects.

There is so much to be done just within the current XML, I am not too concerned with not having advanced scripting. To me, the modding is incredibly robust and user friendly.

Be happy with what you have and learn how to wield it.

The modding potential here beats any fantasy TBS game I have attempted to mod, except maybe Dominions, and I think it beats it in certain areas as well.

I think coldsteel has raised a valid point.  What you write has merit in so far as it suits a specific player's modding needs.  But it doesn't address his concerns, or mine.  Nor could it, since this is a matter where we're making our opinions known, here, to the developers.  Do I intend to mod?  Yes, that hasn't changed.  Am I happy about the lack of modding depth?  No.  Let it stand at that, please.

Crusader Kings II also have very robust modding capabilities, but it's a very different kind of TBS game.  It also lacks the ease of use of Stardock's tools.  You just change code and write script within many dozens of files.

Perhaps a "Wish List" thread for modding for either a future patch or an expansion pack could be started. Could be something are impossible with this engine, and could be they just didn't think of them, or think of them in time. If the game does well, I'd be Stardock would love to add some more modding ability to the game.

Started one here: https://forums.elementalgame.com/433089

I would imagine they would add scripting possibilites as they work on the officail scenarios, quest, campaigns etc. Now that they have a set system in place, i hope they can add to it.

Don't get me wrong, it would of course be great to get more modding capabilities. I just don't think anyone over at Stardock is planning on doing that. I didn't mean to seem as if I was trying to invalidate anyone's opinions. 

The campaign... er, uh  "scenario" was created with the current modding tools, or at least was to said to be used, and that users would be able to create their own scenarios.  But without any type of scripting, how exactly is that possible?  How could you build complex, branching scenarios with only entries in an XML file?

I'll let you know in a day...

I've been wonderng exactly that all day and it's the only thing that's got me clinging to a bit of remaining hope that Stardock has been holding out a bit on us. Maybe there is a campaign builder tool that allows us to do scripting for these scenarios. Also, you'd need some way to pass Champions and their equipment and levels between campaign maps. Surely there must be some more to this than they have revealed so far? 

I hate to say it, but I wouldn't hold my breath. In the '3 days to release' thread you could see the four tools in the workshop, the same ones that came with EWoM. And from what I could tell from Brad's video the tile editor had not been improved beyond giving it a FE-ified UI.

I like Crusader Kings, but it is night and day different from Fallen Enchantress, and I don't really consider it to be a Fantasy TBS.