Just a quick heads up on where I'm at with MoM II. I got a lot done during the last week as I was recovering from minor surgery and couldn't really do much else than read books, watch telly or use a computer. I chose the latter as this was pretty much my only chance in the near future (read: this year) to concentrate on the mod.
I figured out a new unit system to replace the old one, added roughly 95% of the new units, reworked the tech tree to accommodate the changes I made and made tons of small modding work that makes up a lot of the whole workload. Right now the mod isn't too far from a first version that is whole enough for a rough playtest.
The new unit system is at the moment as follows:
1. You choose a mage from five different branches of magic with sorcery being the fifth choice. There are three mages in each branch. At least at the moment the sorcery mages aren't new faces, but old ones who have switched sides. To be exact:
Kali, Raven and
Lo Pan are the sorcery mages. Each of them had half of their spell books from sorcery in original Master of Magic. Life mage Galen was dropped off to even the sides.
2. Units that the mage can build normally, are decided by the race the mage is attached to. There are six races:
Men, Elves, Lizardmen, Ratmen, Orcs and
Beastmen. Each race has roughly 12 units available to it. Mage can acquire more units to build by capturing one or more of the four race resources. The race resources are:
Trolls, Dark Elves, Dwarves and
Ogres.
3. Mages can also summon units from their own magic branch. Units can be summoned only at the capital. This is handled with no-cost small wonders that produce units. Summoned units are much stronger than the units that can be built normally, but you won't get many of them.
I like this system especially because it's a lot like the old Master of Magic. It's also a refreshing change from the regular Master of Myrror. I mean to make the Fall of Arcanus a different playing experience - not a carbon copy of its prequel, even though the two mods will clearly be sisters. My only playtest so far went well, but I've got a million things to do with the new unit system.
Development is going to go slower from now on, but like I said, I got a lot done during the last week. The mod could well be done by summer, but don't bet on it. It's the tedious little things that are hardest to mod and there are loads of those waiting their turn.
Thanks for your interest, I need to hit the bed now. I've had trouble keeping my eyelids open for the last several paragraphs - hope it doesn't show too bad.
