TES : The Stormcloak Rebellion V1

[Dadais]

 

[Dadais]

Installation : Please unzip the base file in your Civ2ToT or Scenario folder, then unzip the sound file in the "TESStormcloakRebellion" folder.

This Scenario needs civ2ToTPP 15.1 or higher with Lua allowed to be played.

Files : You may find here the lastest files in two parts (considering weight limit),
or in the Download section (external DL from ModDB)

Current version : v1.0

 

[CurtSibling]

Good work, man. Looking forward to trying this out.

 

[tootall_2012]

Hi Dadais,

I’ll be honest, though there certainly have been exceptions, I’m not typically drawn to fantasy type scenarios. I also have to admit that I'm totally unfamiliar with the lore of Skyrim so in the case of ‘TES: Stormcloak Rebellion’ this is completely terra incognita for me.

All the same, I downloaded your scenario to have a first look and it’s clear from the start that you have put a lot of thought, time and effort into it. It appears you’ve also implemented some very cool concepts like the Quests and Exploration features. So from that perspective very well done indeed!

I have other commitments at this time so it may be a while before I can have a proper go at it but here a just a few preliminary observations:

It’s clear from the Game concepts that this is an objective based game, i.e. capture the 9 Holds capitals. In that case, shouldn’t you have set up the scenario to use the victory conditions board rather than the Empire based conditions?

The font color for the Barbarians cities is too dark and thus make it difficult to read them on the map and thus I would recommend using a lighter font. In addition, it appears that some of your labels are overlapping other text (example: the White River label is partially hidden underneath the Riverside Shack city name).

Finally, just as a test, I started the scenario as the Stormcloaks faction under the Emperor difficulty level and a third of my cities went straight into rebellion. Unless that was your intention, it’s best during the design process to test at the higher difficulties to avoid these kinds of situations.

Félicitations pour ton travail!

 

[Dadais]

First, much thanks for these observations tootall-2012 !

It’s clear from the Game concepts that this is an objective based game, i.e. capture the 9 Holds capitals. In that case, shouldn’t you have set up the scenario to use the victory conditions board rather than the Empire based conditions?

Imho, the victory condition sytem created difficulties to this scenario's objectives :
There's no clear expansionist agressor and other defenders like we have in, eg, wwII.
Both Imperials and Stormcloak have a strong legit base, (with an ancient split between ancient and recent Holds from another civil war centuries ago), and it thus seems hard to me to have one the two side beeing either winner or looser, with other only antagonizing him ?

Furthermore, while a common objective is shared by both imperial and stormcloak, reachmen (and even more the Thalmor) have a totally different one !
Indeed, one could imagine three or four différents scenarii files to figure this way this difference, yet ...
What with a multi player game then ?

This is why I decided not to use city objectives. That may not be a good choice. I guess I'm not experienced in scenario design enough to ponder correctly that choice, thus this proposition

The font color for the Barbarians cities is too dark and thus make it difficult to read them on the map and thus I would recommend using a lighter font. In addition, it appears that some of your labels are overlapping other text (example: the White River label is partially hidden underneath the Riverside Shack city name).

Noted for correction.
.

Finally, just as a test, I started the scenario as the Stormcloaks faction under the Emperor difficulty level and a third of my cities went straight into rebellion. Unless that was your intention, it’s best during the design process to test at the higher difficulties to avoid these kinds of situations.

I totally missed that.
While that's a good thing for some cities, that's not for others. Noted too for a slight correction.

 

[CurtSibling]

BTW - Typo with "Blackbriard" meadery, it should be "Blackbriar."

 

[Dadais]

BTW - Typo with "Blackbriard" meadery, it should be "Blackbriar."

Much thanks Curt. That's corrected, along with the barb color and a Lua error making Wanderer little bonus never happening, for the patch.

Scenario file modification, beeing the heaviest, will be done last before the patch release.

Here's a small fix, "bandage" before the patch.

 

[Patine]

Installation : Please unzip the base file in your Civ2ToT or Scenario folder, then unzip the sound file in the "TESStormcloakRebellion" folder.

This Scenario needs civ2ToTPP 15.1 or higher with Lua allowed to be played.

Files : You may find here the lastest files in two parts (considering weight limit),
or in the Download section (external DL from ModDB)

Current version : v1.0

View attachment 620348

I must confess to a lack of personal familiarity with the lore and material (except for Internet osmosis). How much of an impediment to enjoyment (if any) would you estimate playing the scenario completely, "uninitiated," would be?

 

[Dadais]

I must confess to a lack of personal familiarity with the lore and material (except for Internet osmosis). How much of an impediment to enjoyment (if any) would you estimate playing the scenario completely, "uninitiated," would be?

That's hard for me to answer you.

I'm no expert of that lore, yet I have some references to it, and tried to pour some of it in this scenario.

Any TES V player should link some easter eggs to their own past RPG playthrough, which you would miss then may find ... useless or senseless maybe ?
As exemple, "M'aiq the liar", while not that present, is one emblematic item of such occurence. Guess the discovery of a giant mudcrab or a Mamoth in Ice in the wilderness wouldn't touch you much too ?
On the other hand, the pressure from wilderness, falmers and others may still stimulate you, whatever they are after all ? Also, I do hope the exploration feature, appart from its benefit, could bring some refreshing liveliness to the game.

So, this scenario shall not need one to know the lore to understand its objectives, nor to guide playthrough.
About the quality of that playthrough ... I'm afraid I don't have the experience to turn hope and rough estimation into accurate evaluation with only tens of playtest sessions, while I believe to see few possible ajustments to think more about and eventually propose with the patch... if needed.

 

[Patine]

That's hard for me to answer you.

I'm no expert of that lore, yet I have some references to it, and tried to pour some of it in this scenario.

Any TES V player should link some easter eggs to their own past RPG playthrough, which you would miss then may find ... useless or senseless maybe ?
As exemple, "M'aiq the liar", while not that present, is one emblematic item of such occurence. Guess the discovery of a giant mudcrab or a Mamoth in Ice in the wilderness wouldn't touch you much too ?
On the other hand, the pressure from wilderness, falmers and others may still stimulate you, whatever they are after all ?

So, this scenario shall not need one toknow the lore to understand its objectives, nor to guide playthrough.
About the quality of that playthrough ... I'm afraid I don't have the experience to turn hope and rough estimation into accurate evaluation with only tens of playtest sessions, while I believe to see few possible ajustments to think more about and eventually propose with the patch... if needed.

Thank-you!

 

[Fairline]

Very nice Dadais! Hopefully, in true Bethesda fashion, you've included backwards-flying dragons and sword-attacks that launch your target into the stratosphere through Beth's dodgy Creation Engine physics?

Would be nice to play as the Imperials though as I really hate those Stormcloak Nord-supremacists

 

[Dadais]

Hopefully, in true Bethesda fashion, you've included backwards-flying dragons and sword-attacks that launch your target into the stratosphere through Beth's dodgy Creation Engine physics?

I hope Burning Oil Pots changing direction mid-air will be enough

 

[CurtSibling]

Very nice Dadais! Hopefully, in true Bethesda fashion, you've included backwards-flying dragons and sword-attacks that launch your target into the stratosphere through Beth's dodgy Creation Engine physics?

Would be nice to play as the Imperials though as I really hate those Stormcloak Nord-supremacists

"It just works!"

I too will play as the Imperials, never liked those racists in Windhelm.

 

[Dadais]

Little question about the "jagged corwn clues" policy from my playthroughts, while .scn file isn't corrected yet :

Do you think I should have given other tech goals to Stormcloak & Imperial, then tweak AI weight values for it so AI naturally goes for it ?
eg, a loop one ?

 

[Dadais]

Another little question :
While first batch of volunteers are well coming, I feel like their accumulation each turn is too much.

Shall I limit their number (counting NONE homecity units) in a way (per exemple to the total of city population) ?

 

[JPetroski]

Another little question :
While first batch of volunteers are well coming, I feel like their accumulation each turn is too much.

Shall I limit their number (counting NONE homecity units) in a way (per exemple to the total of city population) ?

Well, what triggers them now? A few options...

1. Decrease the chance they spawn;
2. Perhaps only allow them to look spawn when they "are needed." Consider using a counter system to see how many such units are in the world, and if it reaches a certain point, cut it off?

 

[Dadais]

Let's go for the v2 of this scenario.

Taking advantage of ToTpp18, we shall see there
more unit types (and most projectiles abandonned)
more pictures to enrich the lore of this experience
optimized and reworked lua code
more quests
daily turns (instead of monthly)
new Thalmor objectives

considering the reviews and experiences, we shall also have
less free units given
cities happiness adapted to deity difficulty

.

Sadly, Night&Day alternance won't be proposed yet, considering graphic limitations of totpp18 features.

If you see a missing point or have an interesting idea to implement, please propose it.

 

[Dadais]

I'm planning to make more discreet magical users (and got rid of horses).

Here are few exemple of the changes incoming on existing units :

Shall I leave a "shiny magic units" version of units.bmp for the players to personnalize their uses ?

 

[JPetroski]

I'd appreciate leaving the shiny one - I think it makes it easier to see that they're magic users but to each their own!

 

[Dadais]

I'd appreciate leaving the shiny one - I think it makes it easier to see that they're magic users but to each their own!

All right.

Howether, what if their magic abilities got personalized with each unit, and upgradable ?
(Check on each unit could be done recycling the key press previously used with projectiles)