Wizard's Hall/Cave of Ancestors free spells: Instead of the Cave of Ancestors replacing the free spell chance from the Wizard's Hall, it gives units a second chance at a spell promotion. If you are very lucky (or have a lot of mana) you might see some units born with two different spells. Also, Workers can now get free spells (Workers with Haste are awesome!).
Bladedancers: The Amurite Swordsman replacement, Bladedancers can't use Mithril weapons and get no city attack bonus. They do, however, start with the ability to cast Dance of Blades and Blur, giving them a magical edge in combat.
Firebows: Overhauled in a couple different ways. They are back to starting with Fire II instead of having a unique version of Fireball. They also lose the ability to use weapons, but start with Flaming Arrows. Additionally, they have Channeling II - which comes in handy if they get free spells from a Wizard's Hall - and can promote to Spell Extension I and II. Overall, they are a bit weaker in straight combat, but more effective with their magic. Might give Bronze and Iron weapons back to them, if it turns out they are nerfed too much.
Apprentices: the Amurite Adept replacement. Apprentices don't have any innate advantages, but they have much more potential than normal Adepts. In addition to upgrading to Wizards, they can choose to instead upgrade to a Spellsword (see below), Firebow, Horse Archer, or Ranger. Even more usefully, once Sorcery is researched, any unit that has upgraded from an Apprentice can promote to Channeling II at level 4 (although they must spend a level to do so).
The School of Govannon: The cornerstone of the Amurites' mid game. Replacing the Alchemy Lab and available at Arcane Lore, the School of Govannon provides all the functionality of an Alchemy Lab, enables training of Spellswords, ~and~ enhances the free spell providing abilities of the Wizard's Hall and Cave of Ancestors.
Spellswords: The Amurite Champion replacement, Spellswords are available at Arcane Lore instead of Iron Working. They have 1 less strength than Champion and can't use Mithril weapons, but are "demi-mages" in addition to being effective fighters. They start with Channeling I and II, and are allowed to learn new spells as if they were Arcane units. Best of all, their position on the tech tree means the Amurites can almost ignore the melee tech tree and still stay somewhat militarily competitive.
Fort Commanders - Haven't stolen any of this yet, may use a few of the UU's instead of what was suggested in my thread. I've already made the different Influence promos grant free xp... Enough to get Expanded Influence in 30(Well, 32.5) turns, and then it'll grant .2 xp a turn until you can take Legendary Influence.... At least a 100 turns, I believe, but I'm okay with that. In my version it's only for a few civs anyway.
Imported from Fall Further Plus, but modified to suit my own tastes, Fort Commanders greatly increase the usefulness of Forts, not only by providing more or less free defenders, but also by allowing them to generate culture.
The basic Fort Commander is a strength 3 unit with high bonuses against melee and mounted units and a potent, collateral damage-causing ranged attack. They can gain XP from combat and ranged attacks, but also gain free XP over time. At levels 3, 5, and 7, they gain +1 strength and an increase in ranged combat effectiveness. At level 4 they can promote to "Expanded Influence", spreading culture to the adjacent tiles. Should they get all the way to level 8, they can promote to "Legendary Influence", spreading culture over another ring of tiles beyond that (currently the influence is square-shaped; I am looking into code to make it BFC-shaped).
The following spoiler details the civs that currently have UU fort commanders, in no particular order:
Spoiler:
Ljosalfar: Saggitar - A potent archer, the elven Saggitar starts with Woodsman I and is allowed to promote to the Archery line of promotions. It is also the only unit in the game with a two-square ranged attack, allowing a well-placed Saggitar to strike at distant enemies. To make up for this potent (and potentially lethal) ranged attack, the Saggitar does not deal collateral damage.
Sheaim: Pyrelord - Comparing a Pyrelord to a Fort Commander is much like comparing a Pyre Zombie to an Axeman: The Pyrelord is undead, has some fire damage, and, oh yes, is a VERY sore loser. A defeated Pyrelord will not only do more explosion damage than a Pyre Zombie, but also completely destroy its former Fort, keeping it out of enemy hands.
Bannor: Garrison Captain - Halfway between a Fort Commander and a Great Commander, the Garrison Captain has a weaker ranged attack and smaller bonuses against melee and mounted units than a normal Fort Commander, but can lead up to three units and promote to most Great Commander promotions. In addition, all units under the Garrison Captain's commander are given the Guardsman promotion (mostly to protect the Captain).
Khazad/Luchuirp: Clanhold Cheiftan - Not terribly different from the average Fort Commander, the Clanhold Cheiftan's main advantages are that it starts with Guerrilla I and a higher raw strength. It does lose a little ranged strength in exchange, though.
Chislev: Windtalker - In exchange for a very small reduction in ranged strength, the Windtalker starts with Spirit Guide and can carry up to two Rock Ravens, providing an added edge to Fort defense.
Amurites: Field Mage - The Field Mage has a much lower damage limit than most Fort Commanders, but true to its name can promote to available spell promotions - and even Spell Extension or Twincast, if it meets the requirements. Field Mages cannot promote the Drill line, but are instead allowed to promote the Combat line to aid in their spellcasting. Although only starting with Channeling I, level 4 or higher Field Mages can promote to Channeling II once Sorcery is researched.
Archos: Nesting Spider - By far the most unique Fort Commander. The Nesting Spider lacks a ranged attack entirely, but has much higher base strength and additional first strikes. It can also cast Venomous Web, damaging and possibly immobilizing units that stray too close. At level 3, instead of the normal ranged attack boosts, Nesting Spiders gain the ability to summon Baby Spiders to defend the Fort. These spiders are temporary, but gain bonus duration from combat. Should a summoned Baby Spider be lucky enough to grow into a Giant Spider before its duration expires, it will become permanent. Al level 4, the Nesting Spider can promote to Expanded Influence just like a normal Fort Commander. At level 5, the Nesting Spider gains a ranged attack identical to that of the Greater Venenum Spider and its summoned Baby Spiders become Strong. Finally, at level 7, the Nesting Spider gains Twincast. Unlike normal Fort Commanders, the Nesting Spider can never reach Legendary Influence.
Graphical Fort Commander replacements - the following civs have UU Fort Commanders, but do not currently have special abilities associated with them:
Clan of Embers/Barbarians - Orc Warboss
Mazatl/Cualli - Jungle Sentinel
Infernals/Demons - Hell's Lieutenant
New Unique Features
Credit for graphics and inspiration for these goes entirely to Psychic Llamas.
Spoiler:
The Blair of Lacuna - A source of Dimensional mana, only units of level 6 or higher can enter the Blair (it automatically generates a road beneath itself to allow its mana to be connected). Once inside, however, a unit can take advantage of the "out of reality" nature of the Blair to teleport itself up to ten tiles in any direction.
The Tower of Eyes - Technically called the Palus, but more commonly referred to as the Tower of Eyes, it is a source of Mind mana. It also provides a vision range boost and a massive tile defense boost to units inside - a great place to hole up in an emergency.
The former Tower of Eyes wonder is now called the Cathedral of Tali, and provides free Lighthouses instead of free Dungeons.
Additionally, the base unique feature spawn rate has been increased to 60% (up from 30%). To compensate, however, map size now greatly affects unique feature spawn rate, bringing it as low as 15% for duel maps and as high as 80% for huge maps.
Worker Tools
Builder civs eat your heart out. Certain resources and technologies will now give worker units access to "tool" promotions. Functionally very similar to weapons for melee units, tools give considerable work rate bonuses if you put the effort into earning them. Most workers, along with the Jotnar hero Egrass the Founder, can use all three types of tools. Gretchins, however, being the pathetic things that they are, can only use the two weaker types of tools.
Spoiler:
Stone Tools: +20 work rate, granted by having access to Stone.
Obsidian Tools: +40 work rate, granted by having access to Obsidian and the Construction technology.
Masterwork Tools: +70 work rate, and very hard to get. Requires a city with a Forge or Master Smith, Enchantment Mana, and the Engineering technology (I can hear the Luchuirp players cheering right now; don't worry, Mud Golems are going to be rebalanced with respect to Tools in a later version ).
Miscellaneous Changes
Spoiler:
Naval changes: Sea Serpents are weaker but faster; Giant Tortoises can transport up to two units... very... slowly. Naval units can promote to Subdue Animal (and eventually Subdue Beast) to allow capturing of sea creatures.
The Sidar have a new scout, the Trackless. In exchange for being invisible and able to explore rival territory, it loses its bonuses vs animals and even the ability to see invisible animals.
Most High Priest-type units gained Medic III, since no unit seems to actually have it at the moment.
New promotion: First Aid. Available to most units at Combat 2, it gives +10% friendly and neutral healing rate. In exchange, March is now back to only giving enemy healing rate.
Orthus now has March and a new promotion call Beserker. Berserker has a 50% chance of applying Haste each turn, giving Orthus a chance of being able to make use of his axe. Berserker is also now a valid mutation.
Lizard Shapers: Once Sanitation is researched, Mazatl workers with Aptitude 2 can promote to Deep Shaper, allowing them to cast a couple spells that allow manual spreading of Jungle. Lizard Shapers can no longer cast Scorch, mostly due to an unthematic exploit discovered by RogueThunder. In exchange, they have a unique spell for removing Swamps.
Fort Conversion: Exploring a Goblin Fort will no longer destroy it; it will instead leave behind an empty Goblin Fort. Empty Goblin Forts can be garrisoned with Fort Commanders, and will naturally upgrade to a regular Fort over time.
Alchemy Labs and their UUs are ~considerably~ less hammer-intensive; Mary Morbus might actually show up every now and then now!
Sheaim palace gives Dimensional mana instead of Chaos mana; they are the Dimensional civ, after all.
New production resource: Stone. Connected via Quarries, and can show up pretty much anywhere. Should make the hammer bonus from Slavery a bit more useful. Marble is now a luxury resource revealed by Masonry.
New luxury resource: Obsidian. Automatically generated by Volcanoes... but not available any other way. If you aren't lucky enough to get some yourself, better find someone who is and take it from them.
Swamps gain +1 food from irrigation, and carry irrigation, but have 1 less base food; they gain an additional +1 food at Feral Bond.
Event tweaks: Dedicating a Monument to Sucellus gives +1 happy in addition to +1 health; Dedicating a Monument to Ohgma gives +3 research instead of +2.
Lair tweaks: There is now a Neutral-specific "party of adventurers" lair result. The Good-specific version now gives slightly more XP. Also, the Famous Adventure lair result now gives an impressive amount of XP, because having an adventure worthy of the bards singing about it and still being level 1 doesn't make much sense.
Possibly. Quite a few things to work on though... Need to finish the Fort Commanders, and need to change the Minor Leader setup, and quite a few other things... Not sure how long.
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