Master of Myrror Fantasy Mod 2.0

[Drift]

@clearbeard & Cabbit

I'll look at those things you mentioned. I've already fixed the ocean/sea transitions for Beta3 though.

@wenz

This is due to game engine. You see, Skeleton Guards are meant to be only drafted, not built. (it's mentioned in their pedia entry, but many people don't look there) However, you can only draft units that you can build - therefore the Skeleton Guard has to be a buildable unit. For the same reason it upgrades to the other draft unit of the death mages, the Death Guard.

Working with a game engine that wasn't meant to do many of the things you want it to do can result in a little cumbersome systems from time to time.

 

[Cabbit]

@Drift and/or Clearbeard:

Do either of you plan to use any of Aaglo's now rather extensive collection of undead units in Master of Myrror 2.0 / future versions of "Sorcerers"?

 

[Drift]

@Cabbit

Yep, Death mages are getting a major overhaul for Beta 3. At the moment the update has 19 new unit graphics. Out of those, 11 are for the death mages. Total number of units will still rise with several new units (at least Rock Lobber, Pegasi Rider and some of Aaglo's new chaos units).

 

[clearbeard]

Ooh, first post on the new thread?!? I feel so special!

I also plan on incorporating many/most/all of aaglo's undead units. I think I'll wait and see what Drift does first, and then fold his changes into my expansion before changing things further, if necessary. I think most of said changes will actually fold in automatically, as my mod searches the MoM folder third (after MoM_sorc and MoM_interface) for any files it needs. So if, say, the animation files for the Skeleton Spearman change, but the directory and .ini file keep the same names, the new animation graphics will apply to BOTH MoM and to MoM:tS with no additional changes needed. As for other types of changes, I'll burn... I mean cross, those bridges when we come to them.

 

[tjedge1]

Can't wait to try out 2.0. I never got a chance to really get into 1.0 due to modding of my own. This time I'll set aside some time.

I noticed in the other thread you mentioned a pegasus rider. Do you have graphix for that unit already? If so, can I ge tthem from you or directions to where they're at?

 

[mrtn]

...I noticed in the other thread you mentioned a pegasus rider. Do you have graphix for that unit already? If so, can I ge tthem from you or directions to where they're at?

Grandraem won that in Kinboats latest lottery. AFAIK it's not finished yet.

 

[tjedge1]

I see, way to go Grandraem. I'm glad it will finally get done.

 

[Colonel Kraken]

Awaiting updates to this fantastic mod. Thanks a bunch Drift.

 

[Drift]

Thanks guys. Hopefully Beta3 is just a step away from the final 2.0.

One question: am I the only one who feels that production costs are too low in general? I haven't played for a while now, but when I did, I constantly felt like I could build pretty much anything, improvements came at an amazing rate and I was building more units than I wanted to handle. It could be just me, but I'm somewhat tempted to do something about it (Most logical solution would be to raise unit and improvement production costs with a certain percentage.)

 

[Drift]

Well, as you have probably noticed, the thread wasn't closed down after all. The limit is 3000 which will very likely remain unbreached by this thread - too bad about Rhye's though.

I'm glad though that I could keep my thread.

 

[nullspace]

One question: am I the only one who feels that production costs are too low in general? I haven't played for a while now, but when I did, I constantly felt like I could build pretty much anything, improvements came at an amazing rate and I was building more units than I wanted to handle. It could be just me, but I'm somewhat tempted to do something about it (Most logical solution would be to raise unit and improvement production costs with a certain percentage.)

I've noticed something like this. I've built some life mage empires that are capable of researching techs at maximum speed (6 turns) and still can build every improvement with time left over for building a huge army.

I think the "problem" is that with a big empire, I can get a tech in 6 turns with only 50%-80% of my budget going to science. This leaves lots of money for rushing buildings. Six turns per tech also assures that there's plenty of time to build improvements before new stuff becomes availible. Dropping the turns per tech and/or increasing the cost per tech might be the solution.

I don't think it's the actual building cost that's the problem. Compared to the unmodded game, units and improvements are more expensive, and towns are less productive (no railroads).

 

[clearbeard]

Well, as you have probably noticed, the thread wasn't closed down after all. The limit is 3000 which will very likely remain unbreached by this thread - too bad about Rhye's though.

I'm glad though that I could keep my thread.

Are we abandoning the new thread then? Or will that be the primary forum for version 2.0 issues, while this one languishes with 1.0 questions only?

 

[Drift]

@nullspace

Dropping the turns per tech affects game length though... I'm a little reluctant to touch the tech system, balancing it was hard and it has been working relatively well lately. I think slight cost increase would be the way I would do it.

@clearbeard

The threads were merged - there's just this one. Which reminds me to re-enter the mention about your expansion on first page - it was lost in the merge.

 

[dottim]

I just played your mod (well I'm actually still playing it) and I think it's super neat! especially the whole extra races as resources thing is especially clever of you, anyway I've just conquered a continent (got rid of a pesky undead and life mage) and my chaos troops are now sailing towards the other mages ...

 

[Ranbir]

Please delete.

 

[Ulyaoth]

Drift you evil, evil man. I downloaded this last night, figuring, "what the hell, I'll give it a try." I played for about 5-6 hours until like 5AM, and had to force myself to stop playing. I love this. I haven't had this much fun with Civ3 in months. I love the terrain graphics, I love the units, the factions, the city graphics, it's balanced well, with tons of different units, leading to a very diverse game.

My only complaints don't affect the fun at all. A few of the civelopedia entries have typos making it a bit difficult to understand what you meant, but it's no big deal, I barely use it anyway. And while I love the unit models, I've found a few are missing some animations, such as the skeletal spearman's fortification animation. And I wish the cities would change a bit as they went through the ages, but I can see why they don't really need to.

Overall, a great mod, I can see myself playing for months on end. I found myself creating a little story as I went along playing the game(I'm such a loser). Now time to play it some more. I'm afraid to try the Warhammer mod for fear of losing touch with the real world.

 

[Drift]

@Ulyaoth

Thank you for your kind words. Writing pedia entries is tedious business and I've strapped for time so I've kept the civilopedia crude and simple. However, I've tried to maintain functionality over polish, so if the typos make the entries hard to understand, it's a problem. I'll try to go through them before releasing finished 2.0.

Unit animations are getting a big rehaul for Beta 3 of MoM 2.0. There are still several units with graphics that I'm not happy with, but I'm really excited about all the new graphics included in this update.

As for making the cities change over time... Hard to accomplish and with my limited time, I won't be doing it. It would be a nice touch though.


In other news:

Master of Myrror 2.0 Beta 3 (61MB)

• Before installing, make sure you have Master of Myrror 1.0 or 1.01 installed. This beta replaces all earlier betas.
• This is a self-extracting archive. Execute it, browse for Civ3\Conquests\Scenarios\ and hit "install". Overwrite existing files.
• After installing, also install the latest patch. Simply unzip to Civ3\Conquests\Scenarios\

Changelist is very, very extensive. I won't even try to cover everything, just main parts:
- race resource system redesigned completely. Race units aren't built, they are spawned by rally points.
- Roughly 25 new unit graphics added. Some replace old graphics and some are completely new units.
- Redesigned bombardment units, naval units and death mage units.
- Two new leaderhead animations - Tauron and Kali. Kali replaces Kharan as the new death mage.
- Ocean/Sea transitions made considerably clearer.
- Tech tree redesigned at parts (race resources) and a fourth, very short era added (just the runes required for Mastery, this was done to get rid of the bug that could freeze you to tech screen).
- All unit costs increased in same proportion. Upgrade cost dropped.
- Large number of small fixes and changes.


Here it is. The monster update that has haunted me for almost two months. I got sick and tired of modding when I wasn't very far at all from completing this. I wrapped it up in roughly 2-3 days when I just got myself to do it. It's just hard to keep modding when there's so much going on in your life. Studies require time, work requires time, social life requires time and today, I heard the heartbeat of our unborn child for the first time.

Master of Myrror is very close to being finished. I hope this will be the last beta. After I release the 2.0, it's done. No more development and no more changes. This has been a blast, but it's time sit back and do something else for a change. Like get ready for our world turning upside down.

Hopefully everyone enjoys the long prolonged update. If you are waiting for the finished 2.0 and have stayed off the beta, I hope your wait won't be a long one.

 

[mrtn]

... I heard the heartbeat of our unborn child for the first time.
...

Oh, I get all teary eyed, I'm happy for you.

Hopefully I'll get time to play 2.0 later, but now it's a bit much with both Magnamund and LOTM...

 

[Zurai]

Now if only the download would show up.... <taptaptap> long night ahead!

 

[clearbeard]

Drift,
I was thinking about changing city graphics as well for MoM:The Sorcerors. If/when I get around to compiling/making some, I'll let you know if you'd like to add them in. Mrtn's new medieval cities in this week's new posts announcement got me thinking....

And yeah, waiting for the file to show up.