A Fantasy Mod Planning/Recruitment

[PawelS]

That's great, good luck

If you need a list of the most needed units, let me know.

 

[darkedone02]

You got a lot of work in your hands to make this mod come to reality, i expect great things in a fantasy mod to be as equal as fall from heaven, and i will hate to see it look half-ass and bug-riddled. if you can push yourself and take pride on making this mod be the best of the best, you will rise high, hell you might get yourself a job with a famous company like kael did.

 

[rocklikeafool]

You got a lot of work in your hands to make this mod come to reality, i expect great things in a fantasy mod to be as equal as fall from heaven, and i will hate to see it look half-ass and bug-riddled. if you can push yourself and take pride on making this mod be the best of the best, you will rise high, hell you might get yourself a job with a famous company like kael did.

Well, to be fair, don't expect it to be as good as FfH at the start. Kael worked on FfHI back in the Civ3 days, then he had years to do FfHII on Civ4. He also had an experienced (or at least, quite experienced by the time they released FfHII) team working on both. Now, I'm not saying our mod won't eventually get there, but we have a lot of work to do and time to put in before it gets there.

So, tbh, the alpha will be bug-riddled. The beta, same thing. The first full release, probably will have a few bugs; on the whole, it will run very well. It's an ambitious project. However, it's also very doable, I think. Just saying, don't expect "the next FfH" right away.

 

[rocklikeafool]

I received a PM from Irkalla. He has kindly offered to do some icons for our civilizations. (He has done some work on the ProjectCiv mod.)

He said, if we want him to do that, to just let him know details, such as (in his words) "background colour, logo colour, and what the logo should be".

I told him I'd ask the rest of you guys what you think.


Personally, I say that it's very generous of him to offer, and I'd recommend we take him up on it.

 

[PawelS]

Making icons for civs would be great, and Irkalla's icons I've seen so far are very high quality, not worse than the original ones made by Firaxis.

Actually I don't have any specific ideas how they should look, so we can leave it to Irkalla's imagination...

 

[rocklikeafool]

Making icons for civs would be great, and Irkalla's icons I've seen so far are very high quality, not worse than the original ones made by Firaxis.

Actually I don't have any specific ideas how they should look, so we can leave it to Irkalla's imagination...

Well, we probably should give him some vague ideas. For instance, "The Snobar color is (insert color), and they're somewhat inspired by the Vikings."

Then, he can come up with the rest.

 

[PawelS]

OK, here is my list of the civs that are going to be in the alpha, and my vague ideas about their icons:

(The colors listed mean the background, the colors of symbols are not determined. I mostly use colors similar to those used in Age of Wonders.)

Dreamers - dark blue, the symbol can be something related to seafaring, like a ship
Griffites - "dirty" blue, the existing Babylon icon with a Griffin is good (and it's included in a vanilla file, so we don't have to use the DLC for it), so I'm not sure if a new icon is needed
Archons - white, something related to Greco-Roman culture, or a "pseudo-Christian" religious symbol like a cross
Vodniks - blue, they are related to fresh water, rivers, marches, reeds etc.
Snobar - icy blue, something related to the Vikings or to ice
Azracs - orange, inspired by Arabs or Ancient Egypt
Lemuria/Beastmen - light green (a shade similar to China in vanilla game), tribes living in the jungle, the symbol can be a wild animal (I think a black panther on light green background would be good)
Elves - green (darker than Lemuria/Beastmen), a bow or something Celtic-like
Dwarves - tan color - axe/pickaxe/hammer or something like that
Orcs (Red Horde) - red, something related to warfare
Demons - dark red, something related to fire
??? (After combining Lemuria with Beastmen we have one slot open for another civ to be included in the alpha.)

 

[cardith_lorda]

Just a suggestion, FFH2 had the Kuriotates, and I always enjoyed playing them as a builder. With the way Civ5 is set up, would it be plausible to create a civ perfect for a one-city challenge, a group of scholars who have desire to expand their library not their land?

 

[S.O.T MAHak]

??? (After combining Lemuria with Beastmen we have one slot open for another civ to be included in the alpha.)

How about an "Undead race", with skeletons, zombies, necromancers, ghost... and so on.
Inspiration could be drawn from the undeads of the Heroes of might and magic series and Age of wonders, or any other fantasy settings!?

They dont have to be 'evil' and life hating as most other undead creature are in fantasy worlds. But could be spirits of honorabel men(elves, dwarves...) who dont see the destruction of all life as thier sole purpose of existing. That could explain why they wouldn't necessarily be at a constant state of war with all other 'living' races/civs.

Edited for typoes.

 

[rocklikeafool]

How about an "Undead race", with skeletons, zombies, necromancers, ghost... and so on.
Inspiration could be drawn from the undeads of the Heroes of might and magic series and Age of wonders, or any other fantasy settings!?

They dont have to be 'evil' and life hating as most other undead creature are you fantasy worlds. But could be spirits of honorabel men(elvs, dwarves...) who dont see the destruction of all life as thier sole purpose of existing. That could explain why they wouldn't necessarily be at a constant state of war with all other 'living' races/civs.

Well, we do have plans for an Undead civ. Right now, the plans are basically making them evil. (Scroll down this post.) Problem is, they'd require a fair amount of lua to get working. So, they won't be included in the alpha.

Um...that is a good idea though. Sounds kind of like the Scions from Fall Further.

 

[Genghis.Khan]

I would take somw ideas from Heroes of Might and Magic...

 

[PawelS]

Just a suggestion, FFH2 had the Kuriotates, and I always enjoyed playing them as a builder. With the way Civ5 is set up, would it be plausible to create a civ perfect for a one-city challenge, a group of scholars who have desire to expand their library not their land?

Hmm, I think the Neutrium civ would be good for this purpose, maybe not one city but less of them and better quality... it would be hard to balance though.

How about an "Undead race", with skeletons, zombies, necromancers, ghost... and so on.
Inspiration could be drawn from the undeads of the Heroes of might and magic series and Age of wonders, or any other fantasy settings!?

They dont have to be 'evil' and life hating as most other undead creature are in fantasy worlds. But could be spirits of honorabel men(elves, dwarves...) who dont see the destruction of all life as thier sole purpose of existing. That could explain why they wouldn't necessarily be at a constant state of war with all other 'living' races/civs.

Edited for typoes.

Well, we do have plans for an Undead civ. Right now, the plans are basically making them evil. (Scroll down this post.) Problem is, they'd require a fair amount of lua to get working. So, they won't be included in the alpha.

Um...that is a good idea though. Sounds kind of like the Scions from Fall Further.

For now (and in the alpha) there is no such thing as alignment. I have some ideas how to introduce it later, in my plans it won't be determined from the start of the game, you'll be able to choose one at some point. Perhaps there will be some civ-based restrictions though, so, for example, when playing as Undead you'll be able to choose Neutral or Evil, but not Good.

Basically my idea about the Undead is that they should create new Undead units when killing enemy units. This will require some Lua code, and perhaps DLL changes, so I'd prefer not to introduce them in the alpha.

I would take somw ideas from Heroes of Might and Magic...

Well, perhaps I'll use a few ideas from this game, but generally my main sources of inspiration are Master of Magic and Age of Wonders, and for rocklikeafool it's the Elder Scrolls series, I think. If you have any specific ideas of things from HoMM that can be used in this mod, go on and tell us

 

[trystero49]

Hey, I'm back. I'm ready to do some modding. How are we doing it now? Github? My github username is the same as this one on CFC. Can you authorize me, please?

 

[rocklikeafool]

Hmm, I think the Neutrium civ would be good for this purpose, maybe not one city but less of them and better quality... it would be hard to balance though.

Hmmm...we could make them stronger on defense than offense maybe. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything else. I'll have to think on it.

For now (and in the alpha) there is no such thing as alignment. I have some ideas how to introduce it later, in my plans it won't be determined from the start of the game, you'll be able to choose one at some point. Perhaps there will be some civ-based restrictions though, so, for example, when playing as Undead you'll be able to choose Neutral or Evil, but not Good.

Ah, I really like this idea. It'd make it more immersive and fun, having the player decide whether they're good, evil, or neutral. Of course, it sounds mostly Lua-based. So, it may be awhile before we can work on it.

Basically my idea about the Undead is that they should create new Undead units when killing enemy units. This will require some Lua code, and perhaps DLL changes, so I'd prefer not to introduce them in the alpha.

That's what I thought you were thinking, yeah. For anyone who's played Fall Further (FfH2 modmod), a similar civ would the Legion of D'Tesh. Of course, we'll be doing it differently mechanics-wise and lore-wise.

Well, perhaps I'll use a few ideas from this game, but generally my main sources of inspiration are Master of Magic and Age of Wonders, and for rocklikeafool it's the Elder Scrolls series, I think. If you have any specific ideas of things from HoMM that can be used in this mod, go on and tell us

I've been meaning to play HoMM. Never seem to get around to it.

Anyway, yeah, the Elder Scrolls and less so the Warhammer game (an old table-top game [never really played tabletop games, but Warhammer make great inspiration at times], which can be found here). But, as PawelS said, feel free to suggest ideas.

 

[Genghis.Khan]

For HoMM 1. The Factions. Really Balanced and Unique. Some factions can just have Magi as a minor issue
2. Magic System. Different specializations for Magic Types
3. Heroes. Being able to recrute Heroes, wich themselves have Mana and are able to cast spells

 

[Calavente]

For now (and in the alpha) there is no such thing as alignment. I have some ideas how to introduce it later, in my plans it won't be determined from the start of the game, you'll be able to choose one at some point. Perhaps there will be some civ-based restrictions though, so, for example, when playing as Undead you'll be able to choose Neutral or Evil, but not Good.

Basically my idea about the Undead is that they should create new Undead units when killing enemy units. This will require some Lua code, and perhaps DLL changes, so I'd prefer not to introduce them in the alpha.

I think that the point of S.O.T MaHak was not about "evil alignement" but an "evil feeling/lore/theme".
and I kinda agree with him. it would be nice to have undead that are not evil per se.
kinda like the Scions in FFH modmods.
Not That I propose you use the same "lore" or even something close. Only that the Scions are undead, but they don't have an evil aspect in their lore.
they are even mostly "good" or "neutral". as any civ in dark fantasy they also have some dark points but are not "evil" at all

 

[S.O.T MAHak]

I think that the point of S.O.T MaHak was not about "evil alignement" but an "evil feeling/lore/theme"./QUOTE]

Well what i meant was that it would fill awkward if "an ultimate evil, all life most die" undead race made a DoF with the Archon civ or the elves.

But you should definitely come up with some undead lore that fits into the game mechanic. Like that normal people/creatures need food in their cities to grow, but i'm having trouble seeing a skeleton digest an apple. So instead you could make it so that the undead need "life force" in order to still exist. This "life force" can be drained from crops and cattle, this way undead cities would still need to work tiles for food.

 

[rocklikeafool]

For HoMM
1. The Factions. Really Balanced and Unique. Some factions can just have Magi as a minor issue
2. Magic System. Different specializations for Magic Types
3. Heroes. Being able to recrute Heroes, wich themselves have Mana and are able to cast spells

The bolded is very specific; can't really take all of that. We may look at the ideas of the factions though (such as "this faction is dwarvish and has blah blah", etc.).

However, we will have different types of magic, and there will be heroes. There's posts on both of those concepts.

 

[PawelS]

Hey, I'm back. I'm ready to do some modding. How are we doing it now? Github? My github username is the same as this one on CFC. Can you authorize me, please?

Done

Hmmm...we could make them stronger on defense than offense maybe. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything else. I'll have to think on it.

If they have less cities, then they should be able to produce more science, support a bigger army etc. with the cities they have. That's what I meant by balancing.

For HoMM 1. The Factions. Really Balanced and Unique. Some factions can just have Magi as a minor issue
2. Magic System. Different specializations for Magic Types
3. Heroes. Being able to recrute Heroes, wich themselves have Mana and are able to cast spells

1. The factions (at least some of them) are already determined, I think they are pretty good, but we'll see how they work in the game. Some faction ideas in HoMM seem strange to me, like combining Dwarves and Elves in one faction.

2. This is not yet determined, we have some ideas about it, like connecting it to the religion, so different beliefs will give access to different spells. I never liked the magic system in HoMM, only in HoMM1 I think it's quite interesting (with memorizing a number of spells instead of using mana points). In HoMM3 the magic schools are very unbalanced - Earth rules, while Fire is quite useless.

3. My plans for heroes are that they will be a type of Great People (so they appear when you gather enough points), that can be used in combat and have some random promotions to make them more different for each other (of course they will also have unique names). Also different factions will have different hero types.

I think that the point of S.O.T MaHak was not about "evil alignement" but an "evil feeling/lore/theme".
and I kinda agree with him. it would be nice to have undead that are not evil per se.
kinda like the Scions in FFH modmods.
Not That I propose you use the same "lore" or even something close. Only that the Scions are undead, but they don't have an evil aspect in their lore.
they are even mostly "good" or "neutral". as any civ in dark fantasy they also have some dark points but are not "evil" at all

Well what i meant was that it would fill awkward if "an ultimate evil, all life most die" undead race made a DoF with the Archon civ or the elves.

But you should definitely come up with some undead lore that fits into the game mechanic. Like that normal people/creatures need food in their cities to grow, but i'm having trouble seeing a skeleton digest an apple. So instead you could make it so that the undead need "life force" in order to still exist. This "life force" can be drained from crops and cattle, this way undead cities would still need to work tiles for food.

I thought about making this civ "Death cultists" instead of Undead per se, so they are just Humans that practice necromancy, and have normal units in addition to Undead ones (the same with the Demon civ, they can be "Demon Worshippers" that get random mutations for their units as their trait). Of course it's nice to have civs that use completely different game mechanics, but it's also hard to code and balance, so, at least in early phases of development, we won't do such things, hopefully we'll be able to make the civs different enough to make a fun game using "conventional" means, like traits, UUs and UBs.

I don't have any specific plans about the lore, this is one of the things we will work on later, hopefully there is someone with good writing skills in the team. Of course the selction of UUs, UBs etc. partially determines the lore, but we can change them later if they don't fit.

 

[rocklikeafool]

If they have less cities, then they should be able to produce more science, support a bigger army etc. with the cities they have. That's what I meant by balancing.

Mmm...that makes sense. I don't know why I didn't think of that last night. Maybe we could do it via UAs?