The Mechanos- suggestions

[MISER SVM]

I really like the Mechanos as a civ in RifE (haven't played them in other Modmods yet), they are quite unique and refreshingly non-FfH (not that I have anything against the classical FfH way to play, I do like it as much). Refined Mana, Handgunners, Dragoons, Power Plants etc... the only drawback is that if the gods really are backc on Erebus you ccan only trust on your machine spirits and bullets to stop them. But well, that surely is intended.

I only have one gripe (coding for civ still eludes me somewhat despite having read the tutorials and all that. HoI2 is way easier in that respect)- the late-game unit roster. Crossbowman, Druids and maybe Knights feel a bit out of place in this civ. Maybe knights are OK, given that the late game focuses a lot on heavy units (and the problem could be easily solved by providing unique Unitart, for which historical, "real" units should suffice- let's see what there is for the archer, warrior, worker and others too). Napoleonic-style melee cavalry doesn't make sense when you face heavily armoured and armed foes of all kinds- perhaps the conquistador from vanilla does the trick?

But Crossbowmen and Druids are more of a problem. The former would be ridiculously out of place, given that the MEchanos should have achieved an insanely high level of tech once they have researched it- maybe replace it with a sort of machine gun UU ('mitrailleuse' sounds like a good name). Perhaps something like the Austro-Hungarian Machine-Gun from seZereth would suffice? It could be unable to attack in melee, like the vanilla unit, but ranged attack should definitely be a possibility- a city defender. Alternatively, keep the crossbowman, but make it more steampunk/SF-ish, maybe with some sort of repeating/ superstrong crossbow.

The third and last issue, lore-wise are the Druids. Are they not servants of CErnunnos as well? And their focus on nature surely clashes with the Mechanos philosophy. MAybe give them Luonnotar instead? OR some sort of tier-3 cyborgy tech-priest, a scary marriage of machine-spirit and human flesh?

 

[Opera]

Well it could make sense to simply remove them the possibility to acquire druids.

 

[daveishere55]

If I recall correctly, the Mechanos cannot actually build Druid units. Also, they do get a tier 3 cleric unit, conveniently named "Techpriest". However, it has different tech requirements from the other tier 3 clerics, which might be causing your confusion here.

I do like your crossbowman/knight ideas, though .

 

[Opera]

Ah yeah, I forgot to answer to three-half of the OP...

We've got some plans concerning units, I think we're gonna do changes when we come to that. Keep the ideas going though.

 

[MISER SVM]

@daveishere55:
Last time I could upgrade my Adeptus (Adepti?) to Druids when I ran out of Techpriests. (are they really tier 3?)

True that, I didn't think they were that necessary anyway, but I did not wage too much war yet. And if there are the graphics, a sort of ascended machine-man thing as their top tier disciple sounds interesting, but not too sure if it works out balance-wise. In some respects they remind me of the Adeptus from WH40K, especially with htose creepy tech priests. My apologies for not posting this in the riight thread. Anyway, some of their unit art still seems to be out of place (Knight could be conquistador, as I mentioned above, their worker also lacks the build railroads animation).

Blocking some techs could also work (like the sorcery line), but I wonder if it wouldn't hurt them too much. Health can be a serious issue... but hey, that's the price you pay for real progress, I reckon.

 

[Jarwy]

Cavalry and horses in general don't really fit in well with a steam-punk tech civ in my honest opinion.

They should just covert all horse resources to glue resource automatically. That new resource would then be used on some nifty new unit. /joke

 

[daveishere55]

@MISER SVM:
I assume that by tier 3 cleric you mean the High Priest and equivalent units. If that is the case, then the Techpriest is in fact a tier 3. The Adeptus is actually a tier 2 cleric unit, as the Mechanos lack a tier 1 equivalent (since they don't have a religion to spread with their clerics).

Regarding blocking the Sorcery line: I think Valkrionn mentioned in the past that he had considered it, but it would block them from picking up Omniscience (and also Alchemy), so he didn't. If the tech tree was reconfigured, though, I could see a possibility of this happening.

 

[MISER SVM]

Ah, I see! THat explains why it is a national unit as well (I should know the High Priests' base strength by heart, but it eludes me now, so I coul d compare). THanks for the info, btw.

Well maybe there might be no need for a Druid replacement. But a steampunk-y cyborg in tune with machine spirit may be a bit too cliché anyway.

otherwise I thought about some hideous creature half-Frankenstein's Monster half Cyborg, made out of flesh and steel, whichh *yuck* reassembles itself using it's slain foes' equipment and... corpses (Cannibalise+Steal Promotions? too overpowered). The whole thing is fired by a mobile refined mana engine, which causes lightning and smoke to emanate from its "body". But that could actually be the Vulture. A bit bland, even sharing art with the Luchuirp atm.

The graphics of the clockwork soldier pikeman replacement might offer some material.

I see in orbis they had a Boris Karloff-homage Frankenstein's monster as another hero, and it fits their theme well, there certainly is something potentially dark and creepy about them. An evil leader would give a nice touch (demons hiding behind some machine spirits? maybe a big dragon residing on mars was behind all that after all j/k ).

To summarise the units discuss so far: Druid, Crossbowman, Knight, Vulture, various early units.

@Jarwy: Maybe, but it somehow shows they're still part of Erebus. I mean they could ride steam-powered horses or something like that, but barring their machines, they still have a somewhat early-renaissance-ish feel about them. They should not use machines for every last of their units- and they do have to adapt to the tactics of their enemies. Why should they not train a few riders to run down those pesky, superstitious savages' archers? Well, that'S just what I get from the unitart, but in my humble opinion, a 100% steampunk approach would be bit wrong. After all, in our world, cavalry was in use right into the mid-20th century, in some cases even beyond that...

 

[Jabie]

there certainly is something potentially dark and creepy about them. An evil leader would give a nice touch (demons hiding behind some machine spirits?

The Machine Spirits are expressions of the guilt felt by Baranaxus when he carved the Ice Golems for Mulcarn. As Baranaxus capacities were limitted he chose to remember how Erebus used to be, and discard the guilt he felt in carving the Ice Golems.

They have an agenda: to remove the influence of the Gods from Erebus. From their perspective the Gods abandoned Erebus during the Age of Ice. To this end, they are subtly manipulating Mechanos foreign policy. In many ways, the Mechanos are the inverse of the Grigori. Both reject the Gods, but one is actively trying to eliminate them, whilst the other focuses on self-reliance.

Should the Mechanos accomplish their goal, there is a philosophical question as to whether they have defeated the gods or merely replaced them with a new god: technology. In addition, at least one god has caught wind of their plot, and plans to exploit for his own ends.

 

[MISER SVM]

sounds like Mammon to me.