Max's Mekara Mod

MaxAstro

MaxAstro

Spiral Knight
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Messages
645
Scene: Inside Max's Head

Max: *thinking* Man, the Mekara sure are a cool civ, flavor-wise.
Max: I really like their mechanics, too.
Max: It's too bad they feel real unpolished and have some serious bugs.
Max: I wish someone would come along and fix them up.
Max: Waitaminute.
Max: I know Code Fu!

...And thus this mod was born.

Requirements: This mod is based off of Final Fixes 0.3, and so requires that and everything it requires. Also, this is NOT a modular mod, because my module-fu is weak.

Spoiler Changelog! :
--Bugfixes--
*The various Create Sluga spells all required a Mage Guild; they now correctly require a Shaper Cabal instead

*Create Battle Sluga now properly requires the Alteration technology

*Previously, Jamal and Zaria were able to build Iram's unique units. They have been reprimanded, and promise to be good in the future.

*Commented out a bit of code in CvScreenInferface.py that was causing a python exception ("OnClose does not exist") every time a window closed. Note that I'm not sure if this code is used by anything, but since it doesn't seem to work anyway...

--Militia Changes--
*Militia got their bonus vs Warriors back.

*Militia Crossbowmen and Sharpshooters (especially Sharpshooters!) got nerfed because they were much stronger than the units they replaced.

*Added a new Mounted Militia replacement for the Horseman (and Iram has the Skirmisher, a Horse Archer replacement).

*Iram can now upgrade Militia units into their Iram-only counterparts; should make Aspirants a bit more useful.

*The Mekara can no longer build Chariots, Fletchers, or Stables.

--Slave Changes--
*No form of Sluga can be built (not even for Jamal); the Mekara should already have plenty of sources of Slaves.

*Captured Workers can be taken to a Slave Pit and turned into Slaves (because what else are they good for? :) ).

*Way of the Wicked enables a city spell that turns unhappy population into Slaves (the spell causes unhappiness, of course, but you can always turn those guys into Slaves, too...).

*The Ruthless trait was removed because it felt redundant with the Slaver promotion; said promotion had it's capture rate boosted to 30% in exchange.

--Leader Changes--
*Jamal and Iram are no longer barred from adopting a religion. I don't see any good reason to restrict the Mekara this way, and IMO there are too many agnostic civs as-is.

*Iram is now Charismatic/Industrious/Humanist, but Humanist no longer does anything except enable Aspirants, Custodians, Sharpshooters, and Skirmishers.

*Zaria is now an Emergent leader with Caretaker as her only trait. In addition to allowing the creation of Agents, Adjuncts, and Caretaker Matrons, this trait gives +6 health, double production speed of Infirmaries, and grants the Medic I promotion to all Recon and Commander units (including Battle Overseers).

--Misc Changes--
*Slave Hunters and Combat Overseers no longer have a chance of being vampires. If you want vampires, play as Zaria.

*Zaria's vampires can now Feast, just like Calabim vampires. However, the Lifedrinker promotion has been removed as a counterbalance.

*Removed the two free Familiars at game start, as they seemed overpowering.


Disclaimer: This mod has not been heavily playtested. It will be, because I play the Mekara a lot, but currently there may be random, unknown bugs. Please let me know if you find any.
 

Attachments

  • MekaraMod.zip
    518.9 KB · Views: 137
that's awesome. It really is. How about including this changes in the Final Fixes?
 
Flame has my permission to use these changes if he likes them.

Also, update to version 1.1: Fixed the Enslave Dissidents spell not working, and fixed both that spell and the Enslave Workers spell requiring a Slave Pit when they should require Slave Pens. Oops...

I also commented out a bit of code in CvScreenInferface.py that was causing a python exception ("OnClose does not exist") every time a window closed. Note that I'm not sure if this code is used by anything, but since it doesn't seem to work anyway...

It's possible that this bug is only happening for me, though, so if someone without this mod installed could turn on python popups and tell me if you get that error, it would be awesome.

EDIT: Aaand update 1.2: Fixed Battle Sluga being available before Alteration (somewhat uselessly...) and made it so Zaria's vampires can Feast (but no longer have Lifedrinker).

EDIT2: Quick fix to a syntax error in the last version; 1.21 is now up.
 
I'm drooling over this! I had given up on the mekara!!!!! Development has been slow based off my lack of time, but I'm glad to see that people are building off of it :)

If it's ok with you I'd like to merge it in with mine when I release 0.4 and I'll add you as an author.
 
Heh, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who likes the Mekara. :)

Yeah, merging it in is fine with me. I might end up making another tweak or two, but I think I am basically happy with how the Mekara are right now.

My next project I think, at my g/fs request, is going to be taking a swing at the Kuriotates. They are also pretty high on my "cool concept, poor implementation" list. xD

EDIT: The changelog included in the download should make merging fairly easy, BTW, as it gives an item-by-item file-by-file list of every change I made.
 
it's nice to see that some people are still modding the RifE

also, i like how Jheral is secretly raging over not keeping with his lore for Mekara :D :D - but keep modding :)
 
Wow, crazy to see you are still around, arctic. :)

Lore is all well and good, and I tried to keep to what I knew of the Mekara's lore... but srsly, they were all kinds of wonky and needed fixin'. :p

If Jheral would like to suggest lore-appropriate ways of making them not suck, I'm all ears. xD
 
np. I'm OCD when it comes to accurate changelogs. :)
 
Says you - the person who had no hand in either making them or testing them. :shifty: (one of many, sure, but still one of them)
 
It's kinda hard for them to be OP when their core spells don't work. :p

Although I have to say, Slave Hunters are such combat monsters that I rarely even need to use War Sluga to win my battles. I have considered nerfing Slave Hunters vs. City attack to encourage using Sluga for your actual armies...
 
Jheral said:
Says you - the person who had no hand in either making them or testing them. :shifty: (one of many, sure, but still one of them)
Click to expand...

i'm just repeating what has been already said ( and i'm quite sure it was you who said this one ) :p :D
 
Nope. Never claimed they were OP, or that that was involved with the concept. Only thing close to "OP by design" would be that would be the very early stuff I did with them, because back then they were more of an experiment to see what was possible to do within the engine (though I guess the entire civ could still be considered that, to some extent).

Anyway, @MaxAstro - I have completely left RifE behind me - mainly because none of us (RifE team, that is) are really interested in developing it anymore - and I won't tell you what to do and what not to do, because it's really none of my business.

I will, however, point out that if you insist on going against the lore and civ concept, as well as cutting away what unique mechanics and content that the civ has, then you might be better off moving on to one of the more vanilla civs instead - they might be more to your liking. Or alternatively, making an entirely new civ of your own.

Again, not saying that you shouldn't keep going, but my experience is that, while building on what someone else has made can be fun and a good way to learn to mod, doing your own thing tends to be more rewarding. Which is also a reason why I'm not interested in RifE anymore, I suppose.
 
You make a valid point, Jheral, and I may have gone a bit far with the Mekanos. What started out as a bug-fixing crusade kinda got away from me and turned into a major rebalance.

I don't really feel like I've taken away their unique mechanics, other than Lifedrinker. I have likely gone against their lore, but that's inevitable as I had limited lore to go off of. I tried to stay true to what lore I could find in the 'pedia, but that's not a whole lot. :p

Anyway, yeah, valid point, but kinda inevitable. I play way more than I mod, and I usually mod things to make them more fun for me to play. So my mod of the Mekara was more to make them better fit the playstyle I envisioned for them than anything else. I released it mostly as a lark. :)

And my upcoming mod of the Kuriotates is mostly gonna be the same - it'll be more true to lore (ish) because I know the Kurio lore better, but I care more about making them fun to play than staying true to lore.

tl;dr - I mod for ultimately selfish reasons. If anyone else enjoys my work is no difference to me. ^_^
 
This is (mechanically, Jheral! I speak only in terms of gameplay) completely awesome, and I'm really excited to see what you do with the Kuriotates. Any chance we'll see Herne as a hero, or lamia spellcasters (I believe the models for them are out there somewhere now)?
 
Those of who who study my post history very, very carefully might have some idea what I am going to do with the Kuriotates... but only some, because I came up for an (IMO) ~awesome~ idea for them that I'd never thought of before.

And the Lamia models are already in for the Kurio spellcasters (complete with partial nudity, apparently...), so I just have to add a race.

Herne... no idea. I don't really know if the Kurios need a Lucian or Karas style mini-hero, and that's the role I'd see him fitting in.
 
MaxAstro said:
Herne... no idea. I don't really know if the Kurios need a Lucian or Karas style mini-hero, and that's the role I'd see him fitting in.
Click to expand...

They have religion, which helps, but Eurabatres is the kind of thing where you've won long before you ever start construction, and while centaurs are awesome they're just kinda...flat, I guess? Compared to the gameplay of other late-game-hero civs like the Sheiam or the Mazatl or the Archos, you just don't have as much to do with your life.
 
Giving the Kuriotates unique and interesting gameplay, on the other hand, is ~exactly~ what I am planning. :p
 
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