[MOD] MagisterModmod

[MagisterCultuum]

Unlike the Mimic ability, Shape Shift is supposed to copy the bad as well as the good. (After all, in the lore Gibbon suffered from a shriveled and useless arm do to an early shapeshift.)

I'm thinking of changing all the Held promotions in scenarios to Lair Guardian, which prevents the unit from moving but does not prevent spellcasting (I forget whether it allows Ranged Attacks) and is removed if the unit is not in a city or a permanent improvement. I think the Held promotion is always used when those conditions are true, but I'd have to check.

edit: Maybe I should make an exception for Held though, as it could be used in a normal game to copy Held from a unit in a Cage, and not be able to have it removed because there is not a cage on his tile.


Gibbon is never able to copy any piece of equipment. He will also not copy a promotion with a negative AI Weight through his Mimic ability while in combat.

The game is set up to make heroes always loose in combat against the netherblade, even when they win according to the normal rules. The use of this blade as a blade is practically incidental. Its primary power is stealing souls to bind to the netherworld, and its ability in this is proportional to the strength of the soul being stolen. It does not need to strike a lethal blow to the body in order to do this, so long as it can make physical contact for an instant.

In your case Gibbon probably won the battle and slayed Rathus, but in the process was scratched by Laroth's enchanted weapon and had his soul stolen away and locked in the archmage's territory within Arawn's vault.

It should be possible to resurrect Rathus, but impossible to resurrect Gibbon without first Destroying the Nether Blade.

 

[youtien]

I've finished my Ph.D thesis, time to return to this overpowered modmod.

 

[TrippedOnACloud]

Hmm. Not sure if working as intended, or if it's a bug. Cities conquered by Decius, with the Arrogating trait (can build original civilization's UUs/UBs), appear to be losing their cultural identity and reverting to cities of your own civilization after some time. I'm not sure how it's meant to work in your modmod, I just recall that in RiFE/Ashes the original culture is permanent.

 

[Hightower]

Did the random spawning of Creation Mana change at some point? I haven't seen any spawn in any of my games recently. Right now, it seems to be available only from the Kuriotate and Luchuirp Palaces, which prevents anyone else from winning the Tower of Mastery victory (without vassalizing one of them, or at all if they're not in the game). Is that intended?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Creation mana can still be added to the map at the start.

A long time ago I made the Amathaon Sign event produce Creation mana on a random tile. There were complaints about this happening too often, so I added a limit making it not occur if the player has enough mana already.

I intended to change the event to make it provide a temporary creation node, which will disappear together with the mana it provides after a random number of turns. Such random luck is well in keeping with Amathaon's nature.

I wrote the code before Tholal got temporary improvements working, and commented it out. I forgot to uncomment it and comment out the other code with the release of this version. I think I needed to adjust it a bit to make the mana added by the node not be permanent. In the next version, the code will be like this:

def doSignAmathaon(argsList):
	kTriggeredData = argsList[0]
	pPlot = gc.getMap().plot(kTriggeredData.iPlotX, kTriggeredData.iPlotY)
	iTurns = 7 + gc.getGame().getSorenRand().get(100, "Amathaon")* gc.getGameSpeedInfo(CyGame().getGameSpeedType()).getVictoryDelayPercent() / 100
	pPlot.setTempImprovementType(gc.getInfoTypeForString('IMPROVEMENT_MANA_CREATION'), iTurns)
	pPlot.changeTempBonusTimer(iTurns)

 

[TrippedOnACloud]

Did the random spawning of Creation Mana change at some point? I haven't seen any spawn in any of my games recently. Right now, it seems to be available only from the Kuriotate and Luchuirp Palaces, which prevents anyone else from winning the Tower of Mastery victory (without vassalizing one of them, or at all if they're not in the game). Is that intended?

Don't forget that Dies Diei, the Empyrean shrine, gives Creation mana as well. Also, the Bones of Eurabatres.

 

[Calavente]

and maybe the sign of amathon event could be called a bit more once you get the divination ??

 

[Auric]

How about bringing back the old unit of Rantine? Perhaps as another orc hero or unit.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I'm not sure what you mean by "bringing back the old unit of Rantine."

Do you mean the graphics used in the newer versions of base FfH2?

I went back to graphics that earlier versions of the main mod used, because I thought the newer one looked too large and barbaric for the orc who more than any other is trying to make his people more civilized.

The newer Rantine graphics were the old Orc Champion graphics, from back when the Ogre replaced a mounted unit instead of being the champion equivalent. I believe I but the graphics back as the orc-race art for a champion unit. Such a unit may not normally be trainable, but could still occur for example from the upgrading and orc adventurer.

Rantine still has all the abilities that he does in the made mod.

I'm thinking of also giving him Fire Resistance, to emphasize his descent from Bhall's high priestess, and the ability to target his enemy Orthus in stacks.

 

[Nothrazim]

Unlike the Mimic ability, Shape Shift is supposed to copy the bad as well as the good. (After all, in the lore Gibbon suffered from a shriveled and useless arm do to an early shapeshift.)

I'm thinking of changing all the Held promotions in scenarios to Lair Guardian, which prevents the unit from moving but does not prevent spellcasting (I forget whether it allows Ranged Attacks) and is removed if the unit is not in a city or a permanent improvement. I think the Held promotion is always used when those conditions are true, but I'd have to check.

edit: Maybe I should make an exception for Held though, as it could be used in a normal game to copy Held from a unit in a Cage, and not be able to have it removed because there is not a cage on his tile.


Gibbon is never able to copy any piece of equipment. He will also not copy a promotion with a negative AI Weight through his Mimic ability while in combat.

The game is set up to make heroes always loose in combat against the netherblade, even when they win according to the normal rules. The use of this blade as a blade is practically incidental. Its primary power is stealing souls to bind to the netherworld, and its ability in this is proportional to the strength of the soul being stolen. It does not need to strike a lethal blow to the body in order to do this, so long as it can make physical contact for an instant.

In your case Gibbon probably won the battle and slayed Rathus, but in the process was scratched by Laroth's enchanted weapon and had his soul stolen away and locked in the archmage's territory within Arawn's vault.

It should be possible to resurrect Rathus, but impossible to resurrect Gibbon without first Destroying the Nether Blade.

Alright, i see, that makes a lot of sense then. One thing to note though, was that Rathus' slaugh also had the promotion indicating he was slain by the Netherblade.

 

[Auric]

I'm not sure what you mean by "bringing back the old unit of Rantine."

Do you mean the graphics used in the newer versions of base FfH2?

I went back to graphics that earlier versions of the main mod used, because I thought the newer one looked too large and barbaric for the orc who more than any other is trying to make his people more civilized.

The newer Rantine graphics were the old Orc Champion graphics, from back when the Ogre replaced a mounted unit instead of being the champion equivalent. I believe I but the graphics back as the orc-race art for a champion unit. Such a unit may not normally be trainable, but could still occur for example from the upgrading and orc adventurer.

Rantine still has all the abilities that he does in the made mod.

I'm thinking of also giving him Fire Resistance, to emphasize his descent from Bhall's high priestess, and the ability to target his enemy Orthus in stacks.

Actually, I'm not sure myself what is the newer and the older version. I meant this one:
https://riadgameblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/2012-05-01_00005.jpg
My opinion is that the current Rantine looks too wimpy for an orcish hero that conquers entire tribes on his own. One way or the other, I think it would be nice to include him in the game in some way(not just as an upgraded adventurer).

Fire resistance would be IMO a good promotion option.

I also have another question, although not sure whether I'm in the correct thread.
Is 'KE Huge ICE Empires 1.1 for Magistermode' scenario in its final version now or is it still being worked on?

 

[Hightower]

Creation mana can still be added to the map at the start.

A long time ago I made the Amathaon Sign event produce Creation mana on a random tile. There were complaints about this happening too often, so I added a limit making it not occur if the player has enough mana already.

I intended to change the event to make it provide a temporary creation node, which will disappear together with the mana it provides after a random number of turns. Such random luck is well in keeping with Amathaon's nature.

I wrote the code before Tholal got temporary improvements working, and commented it out. I forgot to uncomment it and comment out the other code with the release of this version. I think I needed to adjust it a bit to make the mana added by the node not be permanent. In the next version, the code will be like this:

def doSignAmathaon(argsList):
	kTriggeredData = argsList[0]
	pPlot = gc.getMap().plot(kTriggeredData.iPlotX, kTriggeredData.iPlotY)
	iTurns = 7 + gc.getGame().getSorenRand().get(100, "Amathaon")* gc.getGameSpeedInfo(CyGame().getGameSpeedType()).getVictoryDelayPercent() / 100
	pPlot.setTempImprovementType(gc.getInfoTypeForString('IMPROVEMENT_MANA_CREATION'), iTurns)
	pPlot.changeTempBonusTimer(iTurns)

This sounds like a frustrating mechanic. I would just go with reducing the frequency of the Amathaon event (it's really strong regardless--the almost-free great prophet is game-breaking in the first hundred turns or so).

 

[Jecado]

I think I agree temporary mana is likely to be frustrating, gameplay-wise and it seems to me likely to lead to a series of bugs that'll take time to flush out. But I'll consider this a lore issue, and concede to Magister's thoughts, since the original didn't have ANY creation mana.

I'm thinking of adding the possibility of sacrificing Orthus's Axe at the Pyre of the Seraphic in order to restore the Matron Essendi. It is canon that Orthus desecrated this sacred scepter of the high priestess of Bhall, attaching a crude battle axe to it. He killed the priestess's whole family in the process, except for the young Rantine who escaped. Rantine canonically despises Orthus and wants to regain the holy relic for safekeeping. I'm thinking that when used properly the Matron Essendi would be even more powerful, granting Blitz, Fire Affinity, Fire Immunity, and the ability to cast Pillar of Fire (possibly only in the hands of a Bhall-Orc, one of the goddess's remaining priestesses). I'm also thinking of making the basic Orthus's Axe provide +2 fire damage instead of +1 (which is better than affinity if you don't have much Fire mana), and making Orthus himself bAlwaysHostile. That would allow Rantine and him to fight without braking peace with the barbarians.

I love the idea of upgrading the weapon to something more appropriate for late-game, but I believe that as it is it is plenty powerful. I'll grant that in my experience Orthus is usually easier to kill than he pry should be, but a unit with the axe under tactical human control is usually perfectly deadly.

Would it be too much to add various one time use spell scrolls, which could be passed form unit to unit and then used one when one of them decided to use it to cast something like Escape without needing the usual spell sphere promotions?

Probably. I imagine there wouldn't be enough to ever make them that useful, and it sounds like item clutter Kael wouldn't approve of. I think I read somewhere that he hoped modders wouldn't overdo that mechanic. :/

What about a relic which acts like the Immortal promotion for whatever unit holds it?

Yes, I like that idea - but only if dying still makes you drop the item, so your rival has a chance to claim it. I don't recall if that happens with immortal units or not. In point of fact, would there by any way to get EVERY item to drop onto the stack of the unit who won the battle? That would certainly change assault strategies using Orthus's axe, and it would make *so* much more sense...


I've been meaning to ask: does anyone else feel all the element-resistances should be buffed a great deal? 15% resistance to 1 poison strength against goblins really doesn't mean anything at all. It *barely* means anything against a fully decked-out Svartalfar assassin! And I sort of feel the specific resistance promotions should be changed to immunities; they're fairly useless otherwise.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I just tested and an immortal unit who dies and return to the capital city does seem to keep his equipment. He does not keep an immorality-granting piece of equipment though. Any promotion that grants immortality is automatically removed when the unit passes away and returns. Even if a unit has more than one promotion that does this, it looses all of them in the process.

 

[Calavente]

Hi,
I must have missed the propositions on orthus' axe.
IMO the Orthus axe at +1fire is good enough. (but maybe with +2 fire, Orthus would be more resilient to early death)
Maybe the Matron Essendi, which is no more an axe should not be more powerful in attack str, but different, and in the end, more powerful :

An idea would be for it to give "dominion over fire" : but no more attack str:
+1 fire def str
+ immunity to fire
+ unit with chaneling 2/3 can cast : pillar of flames and/or Ring Of Fire and/or fireball and/or meteor (the old Fire 3 spell). (maybe limit it to Disciple units with chan 2-3)
Or maybe the Matron Essendi allow once a spell "convert the caster to Bhall worship"... which becomes a further micro-religion... and only disciples of Bhall can use the Matron Essendi for dominion over fire.
... I'm rambling, I know

 

[zldrago1000]

I just tested and an immortal unit who dies and return to the capital city does seem to keep his equipment. He does not keep an immorality-granting piece of equipment though. Any promotion that grants immortality is automatically removed when the unit passes away and returns. Even if a unit has more than one promotion that does this, it looses all of them in the process.

Could this item flag the unit as immortal similar to how regular immortal units have immortality without a promotion?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I'm thinking that the Amathaon sign will give a permanent creation mana if the player has none, and a temporary node if he already has some.

You cannot have separate attach and defense strengths of the Fire type. Only the standard "physical" damage is divided up like that.

I have no intention to implement another religion.

I believe that I could make


It is possible to make a unit immortal in python separate from any promotion. I don't recall whether that immortality is permanent or if it expires at the end of the turn. It would be possible to make a separate take equipment python result that handles applying immortality to the new unit and removing it from the old, and also possible to add a per turn effect to make the unit immortal. I don't really think it is worth the hassle though.

 

[A Moon]

I believe that I could make

I'm guess when you suddenly realised what it was you could make you had to drop your forum post to go make it.

You could effectively give a unit +1 fire defense by making the item give +1 fire strength and -1 attack. Not exactly the same, but close.

 

[Calavente]

A_Moon +1 : I didn't know the limitation at first, but as soon as I read your comment Magister, I thought of that : +1fire -1attackstr.

What I meant is that Orthus axe should still be better at something than the Matron Essendi, otherwise ORthus wouldn't have needed to put a blade on it to use it.
Otherwise he could have used it as a huge blungeon for fire affinity+blitz...

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I don't really like the idea of equipment that subtracts strength. I don't remember the details and am not sure if it is still true anyway, but I remember there used to be a pretty major bug caused by giving a strength-subtracting promotion to a unit with zero strength. I'm not sure if adding fire strength at the same time would help or not.

I'm thinking I will instead make Orthus's Axe provide +1 Attack Strength in addition to +1 Fire Strength, +2 First Strikes, and Blitz.

I'm thinking I'll make the Matron Essendi act as a combination of the Blitz, Fire Immunity, and March promotions, plus adding +1 Fire Strength and allowing any unit that also has Fire II to cast Pillar of Fire.