Download here:
Version 0.2 for FF 042; bug with champion model reference is fixed; new adept art (recolored unit by NakNaks93).
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=10878

There're a few major bugs caused by the modular loading. I can't fix them now until I release a version which overwrites some original FF xml files (this may be the only option).
1) Adaptive doesn't replace the current trait, it adds another.
2) Desert People is avaliable for other civs.
3) Workers start with Fire I instead of Sun I (FF feature), my bad.
I will make a few changes and release 0.3 soon.


Greetings, comrades.

I felt like I want to tweak Malakim so I made some little work.
For now they are a decent civ with nice abilities but they do not have enough unique units/features (in my opinion) and their racial should-be-a-power is underused.
So, let's look at them. They are supposed to be desert dwellers and have nice bonuses in deserts but they can't actually work deserts so their cities end somewhere in "casual" regions and their possible desert domination is wasted.

Kael promised to make them stronger in 0.34 so I'm going to wait till then but I will post my thoughts/research here after a few games.

The changes I've done:

Unique "Desert people" tech which allows Malakim an easy access to their bonuses.

New "Merchant" trait for Varn instead of previous "Financial"
+1 :), :health: in each city.
+15% :commerce:.

Bedouin unit:
http://i33.tinypic.com/fwopp5.png

Raider unit:
http://i38.tinypic.com/b64rhe.png

Bedouin Swordsman (graphics only):
http://i35.tinypic.com/10qaywg.png

Bedouin Champion, Knight and Immortal (graphics only):
http://i34.tinypic.com/2wmlyrk.png

Mercenary Musketman (graphics only; replaces Arquebuser)
http://i35.tinypic.com/15plaox.png

Adept (graphics only; recolored unit of NakNaks93; replaces current "alien woman" graphics):
http://i33.tinypic.com/2hqwg7o.png

Special actions for Bedouin:
Has Fire I (can turn plains into deserts).
Can establish caravan route (works like road but only for Malakim; +1 :commerce: on plot)
Can build Bedouin Sit (only in deserts):

Bedouin Sit (cost 15 :gold:) +1 :commerce: -> Bedouin Camp +1 :food: +2 :commerce: -> Bedouin Village +2 :food: +3 :commerce:
They grow slower than cottages.

A picture of a working desert country:
(smaller "tribal villages" are bedouin village graphics)
http://i36.tinypic.com/nbqic9.png

=============================


The overall picture is: Varn loses his financial trait -> he's not that good now at "grassland/whatever cottage spam". Instead he gets a possibility to "farm" deserts gaining nice profits (+2 :food: +4 :gold: from a desert square with bedouin village + caravan route). Also he doesn't need to build roads all over the desert so he is not an easy prey for "raiders" anymore on his sandy territory.

Any ideas/suggestions are welcome!

I really like this new idea of cottage-type desert upgrades. :goodjob: I think they definately need the +1 food at first level though otherwise his cities will grow very, very slowly especially if these develop slower than cottages. At 0 food every one of these would have to be balanced out by a farmed floodplain. That brings me to a question: Are these meant to work with floodplains too? I'm really not sure whether that would be too strong or not.

Overall great idea. It adds a good mechanic thats not used a lot and I bet this would make the Malakim very distinct from other civs.

Null food on the first one is good I think. Then either you have plenty of developed Bedouin's and you are growing, or you have some new ones and you are developing them while the city does not grow until the development is complete. End result is that your cities will be able to grow to larger sizes, but VERY slowly (you use a single Floodplain with 3 food to grow an extra population, then you place the new guy on a floodplain as well to build up spare food. Once you have enough food you move him to a fresh bedouin and the city starves for a while as he gets it up and running. At first rank the city stagnates while he has the floodplain's extra food keeping him alive, then at final rank he is self sufficient and the floodplain works on bringing a new population into the world.

The main reason I skipped +1 :food: on level 1 are flood plains. +4 :food: and +3 :gold: tile for a 1 scout? Too cheap for me. So if you find a nice desert river with Malakim there should be no problems with food there.

Let's see. Previous cottage system: 3 :food: 1 :gold: (floodplain) + 4 :gold: (big city) +1 :gold: (financial) = 3 :food: 6 :gold:
Now: 3 :food: 1 :gold: (floodplain) + 2 :food: 3 :gold: (bedouin village) +1 :gold: (caravan route) = 5 :food: 5:gold:, a bit better with food but less effective with gold.

The main problem here that the road is built 'atop' of the caravan and AI thus loses his +1 bonus building roads. Should I remove roads totally? Or there should be a way not to allow the caravan route to be destroyed by buildiung a road...

Another idea is to give them hidden "camel" resource for deserts (like pearls are for Lanun) and it would give production bonus with bedouin sits/camps/villages to allow Varn to get production in deep deserts and open a "camel riders" branch instead of horsmen branch.

Ok if they work on floodplains too I guess then no food at first level is only balanced.

On the roads question, could the Malakim's racial bonus be modified to prevent the construction of roads on desert squares? That way the AI won't destroy his caravans but Malakim can still build roads everywhere else.

I don't know how to make it yet, I'll dig into it.
I prefer to have caravans in desert only/roads everywhere but desert (it's a bit strange to have a road in a desert, isn't it? :)).

Also I started a game with Sto's "Full of resources" script and it gave me a lot of Scrubs! Scrubs + bedouins = food + small production (like forest). Now we need a tech/building/civic which gives +1 :hammers: to bedouin camps and we get a nice tile.

This is my starting position. The script is a bit insane so next time I'll lower the number of resources...
http://i34.tinypic.com/2dmfrtg.png

As you see, 1st level bedouin sit + flood plains = Oasis's yield.

This sounds great, although possibly a bit overpowered once the new version is out. May have to play with the yields a bit. Also, I love the idea of a camel resource only available to the Malakim... As far as I'm concerned, they should have been riding camels from the beginning. :)

So, the bedouin villages can be built in scrubs? That makes them actually really good tiles. 2 food 1 hammer and 4 commerce is great tile yield, especially for a square no one else wants!

I think the camel resource idea is great. Were you planning on making camels a resource similar to nightmares or only having it replace horses? The new camel mounted units sound great, the Malakim need more UU's to set them apart from the other civs.

Having camel's act like nightmares would be interesting. If that is added, I'd say it should change the unit's graphics, its name, add an attack and defense boost in deserts, a bonus vs mounted units, and be mutually exclusive with Nightmares. The Malakim might be the only ones who can harvest/domesticate them, but they could trade them their allies to help in desert warfare.


Actually, It might be better for Camels and Nightmares (and also deer for the elves and pigs and rhino's for the dwarves) to work more like the Crew Promotions. It might even be cool if you separated horses into different breeds, some of which would would make the unit stronger but slower and some of which would be quick but weaker. The Hippus' free horse resource could be changed to Maeras, which would combine the strength of the heaviest lightest breeds. Maybe a unique feature sacred to Tali could provide Pegasi.

This is probably taking things too far.

Yeah, Magister, you're as usually a nice suggester and dreamer :). Now I won't go too far to python crew promos (who knows, maybe in future... :)) but the idea of camels should be implemented IMO.

I played the game on emperor and was pretty screwed by dwarves. These cities are great GP nests but they can't build a thing if you compare them to my neighbour Luichuirp. He's got almost every wonder... Hills + dwarves = power :).

However as I tested Malakim + conquest in such situation are good warmongers.
You should be lucky to get a copper/iron in the desert near your cities to get them going nice still. Or a few of desert hills which work worse.

Patch O - Download
1. Resolved issue with Feats/Options
2. Functionality of Nox Nocts/Chosen of Esus invisibility reworked - you may now choose to become visible at will whilst under the effect.
3. Ship crew mechanic switched to use Exclusive Promotions mechanic
4. Weapon Tier mechanic switched to use Exclusive Promotions mechanic
5. XP cap "removed" for fighting animals of other civilizations (100 XP cap still applies for barbarian animals)
6. "All Unique Features" game option added
7. Mana-Surge "Anti-ritual" ritual added
8. Default barbarian first-spawn time based on number of cities (as with base FfH)
9. "Barbarian World" game option ignores the number of player cities when spawning barbarians (Raging + Barbarian World is nasty)


Actually, in FF Crew Promotions don't use python. "Mount Promotions" wouldn't either, except maybe to have appropriate new names for each different type of mounted unit (assuming we don't want a seperate promotion for evey unit in the game).

It would probably be better to just make Camel-mounted units a seperate mounted line, requiring Camels instead of Horses. (I've tried to do this for my modmod before, but the camel resource graphics didn't look right, and I know noting of modding graphics.)


-------------------------
May I assume that all the builds for Bedouins work though spells? Units with both offensive strength and build orders really confuse the AI, leading to WoC errors.

That's good to know, it will allow a lot of funny things to be avaliable much easier.

Also I thought that since scouts are not mounted units I'd better use Chugginator's arabian worker unit. I've made buttons for new actions (caravan route/build bedouin sit) and for the Bedouin unit. I will remove the maul later :).

http://i34.tinypic.com/29lbatv.png

Also I managed to set it as a module without changing actual files so a few tweaks and I'll release the preview version.

For some weird reason when I've made new improvements to be modular they no longer upgrade in each other... Any ideas? :(

Is that still a scout UU, with combat strength and worker/adept-like build orders? Did you miss the part about this driving the AI crazy, leading to infinite loops and with an eternal "Waiting for Other Civilizations"s? (There is a block stopping barbarian adepts from building nodes, but letting workers build them, to stop this, but such a block was never added to stop WoCs from hunters building forts or Hammerfists building forts.)

It could work as a spell though.

Oh my, I'm unfamiliar with this. I should rework the idea then :).

can I be completely honest with you? :P

I think this is AWESOME. really. good mechanics, and those screenshots you posted? man, that's EXACTLY what Malakim territory should look like. well done, a much needed rework of this civ imho. :)

a couple suggestions: caravans should be the malakim substitute for roads, exactly like trails are for the lizardman. that will make things simplier and eliminate AI issues. and the idea about malakim-only camel resource is awesome as well.

so overall this is a great job, keep it up :goodjob:

I already replaced roads with caravan routes: AI messed things up without it.
Also I re-vamped the idea so Bedouin now is a worker replacement, thanks to Magister for pointing out the issue with non-worker units and buildings. I want to collect a "desert"-like unit set from different unit graphics for them to look more complete. For now they have "camel archer" from nowhere and other units has plain civ4 vanilla look. I want to change it flavour-wise. Also a bit of variation would be nice too.

I.e. Raider replaces Horseman: no bonus vs. archers (they do not experience a lot of horsemen vs. archers fights in deserts, they are more like bandits from "Ali Baba and 40 bandits") but they mastered hit-and-run tactics so they get 60% withdrawal instead of basic 25%.
I will update the 1st post.

The issue with the AI and build orders on combat units was actually an issue with having a build order but NOT being able to construct a route. So in your case it was perfectly fine because you COULD build a route with the unit.


Modular Mods cannot internally reference any file. So promotions cannot have prereqPromotions, or SummonPerks, or PromotionNextLevels. Improvements cannot have ImprovementUpgrades, ImprovementPillages. Techs cannot have TechPrereqs... And so on. In general Modular Mods don't work too well with references to other XML files, unless that XML file was already completely loaded, for which you would have to know the load order of "readpass1" or just guess and hope.


The workaround is that instead of being Modular "I only list what I changed" you can be Modular "I included the entire file, with my changes at the end" for each of the files which need to internally reference.

Uh, so the only way to make this feature working is to manually insert it into files? Sad :(.

Bedouin Swordsman graphics (I'm not sure about stats yet):
http://i35.tinypic.com/10qaywg.png

... another modification that needs to find its way into the main game, but tragically won't ... so far my pessimistic view on the things ;)

-----------

edit:
btw. i like the maul the workers wear. looks nice
dont remove it =)

edit:
ok, ignore my post, got the wrong stats ;)

Wow, this is looking great! I will defiantly be keeping an eye on this.

As far as traits go, is "Merchant" still going to be the trait he changes via adaptive?

As far as traits go, is "Merchant" still going to be the trait he changes via adaptive?

that's a good question. creative should be the switchable one I guess. btw, how is Decius gonna work with all these new mechanics when leading the Malakim ? :D

Really interesting ideas here, Deon, well done! Hope Kael takes a look and considers incorporating these into the base mod. Very flavorful.

Well, nothing new here.
Units are from Varietas Delectat and various modellers, cottage technique is not unique too.
However they need it IMO.

What about 15 :gold: sum to build a Bedouin Sit on a plot? You should pay some money to buy supplies to start a small settlement in desert I guess. Anyway it will pay for itself in 15 turns. I thought that having "cottage"-like improvements from the start would be too cheap so they should cost something.

If Vehem takes it into FF I won't have problems with modular loading and improvement growth. However if he doesn't I should find a way to fix it then. Any suggestions, Xienwolf? (I've noted that you're very familiar with FFH modular system)

the 15 gold cost seems fine to me. it works basically the same as a cottage, starting small but showing its worth as the turns go on. ;)

I've updated graphics for melee and mounted lines. Is the choice fine?

Also what do you think of Hashishin/Hashashiyyin as a UU replacement of Assassin?
He would lose +1 poison but would get Mind II (Charm). Also he would require spices/reagents/incense to be trained. I'm searching for appropriate graphics/reskin.

Sounds fine to me, the "Mummy Returns" graphics never suited well with me.

If possible, it might be good to do something with the musket men as well, since the Malakim get their hero at the same time (with blasting powder tech), and thus are more likely to be using musketeers than others.

Edit: I didn't think the Malakim were allowed to train assassins.

The only way around the modular loading issue is to include the entire Improvements.xml file and place all your new items at the very end. That or me finding the 8+ hours that it will take to integrate and debug the WoC modular control system, which has been on my plans list for almost a full year now. It is a VERY broad change to the SDK though which can easily go wrong, so I keep on putting it off in fear of breaking my code.

Sad to hear that it's such a major issue... But still there's a hope that you'll succeed someday :).

JeffSteel: then we can look at this from a new point of view (assassins). A glorious background in the Civilopedia and a charm spell turn them into holy warriors which burn away hidden ulcers on the body of the reality :).

Here's a very simple reskin I've done now of the immortal+musketman unit:
http://i35.tinypic.com/15plaox.png
I think it fits for them.

hashisin available at poison sound very very nice. it always bugs me that they have a tech that's 100% useless. definitely go for it, reagents would be fine for a resource prereq, that is if you choose not to add a desert resource "spice" that has been suggested many times already... and is still a good suggestion imho ;)

Great work there :goodjob: , this looks more and more like its going to be a must have.

One quick language suggestion: unless "sit" has a meaning of which I'm not aware, I think Bedouin Site is a more appropriate name than Bedouin Sit.

Concerning camels, you could do what they did in the Age of Empire series of games and give camels a bonus against mounted units.

speaking of camels, I think they should have everything horsemen have ( 1 first strike, withdrawal chance and bonus vs archers),
but with 2 movement points ( camels are fast, but not quite as fast as horses. also keep in mind that they'll move faster on deserts ) and an additional bonus against mounted ( horses get freaked out by camels, they hate the smell :lol: ) .

for camel archers, the same applies so they would be 2 MP, 1 first strike, immune from first strikes, withdrawal chance and bonus against mounted.

just my 2 cents of course ;)

Actually they won't move any faster in deserts. "Double Movement on ____" only works for units with a single movement point.

One quick language suggestion: unless "sit" has a meaning of which I'm not aware, I think Bedouin Site is a more appropriate name than Bedouin Sit.

Concerning camels, you could do what they did in the Age of Empire series of games and give camels a bonus against mounted units.

As far as I'm aware, the word sit can be used to show that a meeting or assembly is in session. In this case, I'd assume it's being used to show that a nomad tribe gathering is occuring.

As far as I'm aware, the word sit can be used to show that a meeting or assembly is in session. In this case, I'd assume it's being used to show that a nomad tribe gathering is occuring.

Yeah, I think you're right. Using it as a noun isn't that common, I don't think, which is why it struck me as a bit odd, but I guess it works.

Threw me for a loop too until I thought about it.

Well, the "sit" here means "stopping", but I've read another dictionary now and it tells "archeological sit" as an example (where scientists put together their tents and work discovering our past), so this may be a bit inappropriate to a tribe. I think "site" is more understandable and still nice, isn't it?

About camels: they may be slower than horsemen (very understandable) but what if we give them an ability to transport 1 unit? They are more tough than horses and can carry more :).

I don't mind having land units transport other units, but the AI cannot understand it so it might not be such a good idea.

Does the AI use hawks? (I haven't seen it)


Another important question: which technologies/technology branches do you consider weak/useless in comparison to others (don't tell me about melee overpowered branch :) I mean other than that).

Well, the "sit" here means "stopping", but I've read another dictionary now and it tells "archeological sit" as an example (where scientists put together their tents and work discovering our past), so this may be a bit inappropriate to a tribe. I think "site" is more understandable and still nice, isn't it?

About camels: they may be slower than horsemen (very understandable) but what if we give them an ability to transport 1 unit? They are more tough than horses and can carry more :).

I also looked it up and I understand your meaning with "sit." Here's a few possibilities:

Tent --> Camp --> Village
Rest stop --> Camp --> Village
Trading post --> Camp --> Village
Watering hole --> Camp --> Village
Caravanserai --> Camp --> Village

watering holes? this could be a nice improvement that once built in a desert tile give the tile a % chance each turn to become an oasis, much the same like mines do with metal resources now. would be very cool and not overpowered methinks ( as it's just a slim chance and you'll use it just in a few select spots where you're desperate for some fresh water)

Another important question: which technologies/technology branches do you consider weak/useless in comparison to others (don't tell me about melee overpowered branch :) I mean other than that).

If your going in that direction, then really the only branch that comes to mind is the archery branch. Specifically, the marksman/flurry unit requires mithril, which makes the unit far too expensive to ever bother acquiring.

Hmm, are Malakim adepts still those disturbingly freakish alien women? I find it to be the scariest unit in the game, and might need replacing with, well anything really, time permitting.

I have an idea for Malakim adepts but before that I should learn how to rig models in 3ds Max or how to import nif right (without problems with a skeleton) in the blender where I know how to rig :).

Dude loving the concept keep up the good work! The commerce bump in vanilla FFH2 will be a good stop gap until you release your work.

come on, it's time for the first downloadable version of your ideas :D

I can release what I have but I wanted to add more... Ok, this evening :)

Dont worry, that's what patches are for ;) .
That and fixing any bugs potentially found with what is already included, it will make bug hunting for those features included presently easier if there's less in the mod to begin with.
..... or at least I would think it would.

I forgot to tell: swith the modular loading in your ini ON.

well done Deon. keep it up, this has tons of potential :)

btw, what more are you planning to add in the near future? ;)

I don't know how near it is but I'm going to try myself in modelling a new cityart.
Also I definitely want to change their adept view and to add a flying carpet UU. But I need to learn how to export from 3ds max right and how to animate (well, I already know "how to" but it's very hard for me now so I need practice; also I don't get a lot of things still: why are there duplicated weapons in NIFs, how to export alpha properly to make it a teamcolor instead of a transparency filter etc.).

Cool, I'll give it a spin as soon as I win my current game (meaning hopefully tonight, as victory is near).

OMG wait!!! I've uploaded the test version where I played with spy animations! I will reupload soon!!!

First off, I love the changes. Makes desert worthwhile :). One thing, though.... In you start on a desert plain, you're basically screwed. No hammers... Would it be unbalancing to give maybe 1 hammer to the camp?

I believe there's a "mercenary camp" improvement in FF already which gives +1 :food: +1 :hammers: +1 :commerce:

Also I've changed the "alien woman" malakim adept graphics to this:
http://i33.tinypic.com/2hqwg7o.png
It's a recolored NakiNaks93's arabian explorer unit.

I'm reuploading the working version.

Here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=10878&act=down

Hmm... I thought the workers were supposed to be able to turn plains into deserts? If so, they need Sun 1, not Fire 1.

OMG wait!!! I've uploaded the test version where I played with spy animations! I will reupload soon!!!

Hmmm, maybe that's why the Champion looked like a funky spy in the civilopedia, with weird jagged lines coming off him. Will try the newer version. Nice work on the adept, btw.

The "jagged lines" is the problem I experience when I try to export units from 3ds max. If someone could help me with that I'd start to make changes to unit models :).

Hmm... I thought the workers were supposed to be able to turn plains into deserts? If so, they need Sun 1, not Fire 1.

Uh... Right. You'll never know how stupid mistakes a man can make...

It's easy to fix for those who knows XML and who does not ... I will fix it in the next "release" where I add something real :).

What about another "neutral" raider leader who represents desert people before Varn "adopted" them?

Lol, it was a mistake I didn't even notice until I tried to terraform.. It actually used to be a fire spell, back before Sun was introduced.

Ah, there's the problem :). I tried at in vanilla FFH2 before making the unit here and it worked there :). My bad.

Uh... Right. You'll never know how stupid mistakes a man can make...


Mistakes are essential - if it were perfect, why would you need a new release? :D

(that's my excuse for having so many patches and I'm sticking to it :D)

Well, since there's a .34 out and there'll be a lot of time to patch .34 up and even more to get FF to the FFH version... I guess I have some time to play with new Malakim mechanics. 15 min. to download .34 :).

umh I'm not sure I like the flying carpet idea... it's kinda funny but I don't think it fits FFH ;)

But there're djinni! Why don't we add a carpet-like mount for the desert civ? :)
However it's in the far future anyway, I've just started to make my buildings.

Played a tad bit this morning after changing the bedouin's fire I to Sun I, works great so far. When the first leader trait change came up, I noticed it added the trait I picked rather than changing one of the existing traits. Somehow the adaptive trait is blank or something, so when you choose a trait it gets filled in, or something. Nice feature for Varn, but is it WAD or bug?

It would be most helpful if the first posting (and download screen) would give the version of FF needed.

This may be a bug with the modular loading.

Another bug I've noticed is that Desert People tech is avaliable for everyone :). Another Modular loading bug, I'll have to release a version which overwrites some original FF files to make it work.

charleswatkins: 042, I will add it now, thanks.

the leader traits bug is actually because of the fact that the new trait is not one on the adaptive trait list. if you set merchant as the permanent trait, instead of creative it works just fine.

i think this was implemented so that kurotates wouldn't lose sprawling when they changed traits with adaptive.

also, and i hope you don't mind at all, i made a port of your mod for FFH2 .34, since i really like it, and i wanted to play with the new game :)

the only two things i changed were to change varn from creative to spiritual, to match the new ffh2 version, and turned off caravans cause the graphics weren't working right for me.

i thought i should ask for permission first, since it's your mod, but if you don't mind at all, i'll post my port when i get out of work tonight :)

Any chance of an update on this? Made the Malakim much more interesting, both to play as and against.

Concerning adaptive, I always thought it gave me an additional trait but left what I started with alone. Until I found out the hard way.