New Civ idea: Djavlig Khazad

[Lemminkäinen]

I was kinda thinking of trying my hand with the modding stuff. For that I'd need something simple that I could build mostly out of components that are already available as I'm no artist. Also, nothing super complicated. I do code for a living, but I'm lazy

So the idea of infernalist dwarves was born. Using Khazad and Infernalist art I was thinking that I could make something pretty interesting.

The basic idea is of evil dwarves who are on a quest to enslave hell. They have full access to the Arcane line, but won't be building advanced dwarven military units. Rather, they have Infernal Machine building, which allows them to produce enslaved demons. These would have the Crazed promotion or perhaps a similar promotion which would somehow be tied to the AC. A higher AC means that the demons are harder to control. To make them playable, the uncontrollable state should wear off really quickly, though. OTOH even producing the higher tier demons might require a pretty high AC so it would be a balancing act of sorts.

Another idea is that they would be able to build Arcane Wards, which would use the railroad graphic and would keep hell terrain away from the tile. Getting the hellish resources like Sheut Stones, Nightmares and Toads would give the Infernal Machine production bonuses, so Arcane Warding shouldn't be done over all of their territory. It should also be a pretty long process to build the Wards and they should be available relatively late (Sorcery?).

As for religious aspects, I'm not sure. Agnostic would fit from a background POV I think, but there are quite a few Agnostic civs already. Also, Ashen Veil allows for easy raising of the AC - if that is unavailable to them, they might need an UB or something which would raise the AC. If Agnostic, then their hero should have Medic promotions so perhaps an evil doctor kinda deal.

Does the basic idea sound good? Any obvious flaws? Any really hard things to mod (the Arcane Wards?)?

Now I need to find out how to make a modular mod and how I can copy the Khazad over there and how this whole modding stuff works. The XML seems simple enough and I was kinda hoping that all of the stuff I was thinking about would be doable through that.

 

[Valkrionn]

Hmm... Sounds interesting.

There have been quite a few civ ideas lately, haven't there?

Arcane Wards shouldn't be hard to accomplish... I'm assuming they're a route, not an improvement? The easy way would be to go into the python in charge of hell terrain spread, and include a check for the route. The GOOD way, however, would be to import the <iBasePlotCounterModify> tag from ImprovementInfos, and set that to a very low value. Would prevent hell from spreading, without a python check each turn. That would require DLL work, however, which is way beyond a modular mod... Unless you can talk Xienwolf into doing it for you.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

sounds cool, I support evil dwarves

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Dwarf- Dwarves dwell in the underhome, the depths beneath Erebus. They claim to not be descended from men, but born from the clay statues of Kheldon Ki and given life by Kilmorph herself. Scholars argue that the dwarven use of magic (though limited) and the fact that dwarves can ascend as both angels and demons proves that they are children of Nemed and descended from men.

• Duergar- Dwarves who have fallen to Mammon&#8217;s greed become Duergar. Though once this title meant the dwarf was exiled from the dwarven community (and the community no longer thought of the person as a dwarf) it became so common that eventually entire Duergar cities were formed.
• Luchuirp- The Luchuirp were a clan of dwarves who venerate Nantosuelta and chose to remain on the surface during the Age of Magic. They are expert golem crafters and more mechanically minded and more magically talented than their deeper cousins.
• Redcaps- Once a dwarven mercenary company in the Age of Magic, the redcaps were so well known for their brutal nature that the term has been applied to any dwarf that venerates Aeron, the god of murder. Thankfully it is rare for dwarves to succumb to Aeron, but when they do they are usually very dangerous and well equipped.

If you are going to have evil dwarves, I think the Duergar would be most appropriate. They would probably follow the Stewards of Inequity if it were present in the game, but since it isn't they might as well have a preference towards the Council Esus (I tend to think that Esus and Mammon are close allies), the Octopus Overlords (which are created largely by the interference of Mammon's archangel Hastur), or AV.

The Redcaps could also be included as part of the Duergar civilization. (I'm pretty sure venerating Aeron would be a really good reason to get banished from the Underhome, so the Redcaps are almost certainly a subcategory of Duergar anyway.) While the Khazad shy away from Mercenaries as they don't want to waste gold on them, these dwarves could be as mercurial as the Khazad.



I don't really care for the idea of them trying to "enslave hell," but I could see them seeking out Sheut Stones and buried vanes of mana crystals for dark purposes. In general I think they should still be focused on the common dwarven vices of greed and gluttony, but should be ideologically opposed to earning an honest living. I wouldn't say they should have no advanced dwarven units (I could see them as having some very dedicated Redcap units that relish the opportunity to kill, and quite possibly be cannibals or at least enjoy the blood of their victims, who would never want to leave that up to a machine or demon to do for them), but a magically powered war machine with Sheut Stone affinity could be interesting.

I just got to thinking that since these dwarves were cast out largely for hating honest labor, it could be interesting if they could not build workers, but had to rely on slavery. That may be going too far though.

 

[Tarquelne]

I like concept quite a bit.

I don't really care for the idea of them trying to "enslave hell,"

Does sound more like an ideal than a practical goal. (OTOH, maybe their intel. service is tell them it'll be a cakewalk...)

I wouldn't say they should have no advanced dwarven units

I think that's a good idea. Art-wise, re-skinning existing units should work and would be pretty easy.

And "mixed units" wouldn't be much harder - some demon models + some dwarf models. (Like Ranger units with their animals.)

I think it'd also be a good idea to keep the demonic units special, and an easy way to do that its to reduce the # of purely demonic units.

honest labor, it could be interesting if they could not build workers, but had to rely on slavery. That may be going too far though.

How about they use some sort of very low-level demon (Manes?) as workers? That could be the initial, fundamental breakthrough that changed their society. (Could they start with an Adept who Summons their first "workers"?)

 

[deadliver]

What about tech level? Would they get hellish engines? Evil Dwarves for the win!