Where are the Svaltifar and Illians??

[VladTepes]

Are they minor civs, because they are nor listed as a choice when starting.....

 

[Nikis-Knight]

They have not yet had anything special added. Svaltifar will be playable in the next version or two, few months off, probably. Illians possibly, they are listed as a minor civ.

 

[Kael]

Are they minor civs, because they are nor listed as a choice when starting.....

Neither of those civs aren't scheduled to be included until "Shadow".

 

[evanb]

Speaking of elves, I must say I like the names you gave the elven populations of Erebus: "Ljos-alfar" and "Svart-alfar", simple and traditional (Light vs. Dark), yet full of flavour because they're not in English!

 

[Bad Player]

What does it mean in whatever language?

 

[evanb]

Probably Ljosalfar=Light-elves and Svartalfar=Dark-elves, and I think it's in some northern language or dialect.

 

[Psychorg]

Actually, in Swedish, ljus means light, and svart means black. I believe something similar is true for other Scandinavian languages. Ergo, ljosalfar would mean light-elves, and svartavfar would mean black-elves.

 

[Kael]

Its just because I dislike the generic Elf, Dark Elf and Dwarf faction names that seem to show up in all fantasy games. I wanted something more flavorful. Ljosalfar and Svartalfaar aren't my creation, they are the names of the good and bad elves in Norse mythology (hence the scandanavian roots of the words). There were many elven civilizations in the FfH D&D world but they tended to be small and decentralized so nothing was really fitting for a full civilization.

The Khazad name I think is from Tolkien, I think Khazad-dum is the dwarven name for Moria. Again the dwarves are much smaller and more scattered than human nations so I didnt have any major civ to use.

I tended to have very few demi-humans in my D&D games. If the party met an elf or dwarf it was a pretty big deal. Probably one of the reasons I tend to attempt to retain the flavor of the various fantasy elements by using it sparingly (be it vampires, werewolves, dragons or whatever). Its also probably why the large portion of the civilizations are all human. Which just seems natural to me, but at least when the origional civ list was released seemed surprising to a lot of people.

 

[evanb]

In any case, it's a good thing you didn't use color-coded elves: light, dark, green, brown, tan, white and the like...

 

[VladTepes]

Neither of those civs aren't scheduled to be included until "Shadow".

What is Shadow? Why do I read about others encountering them?

 

[Silverkiss]

Shadow is a development phase. We are currently in the "Light" phase, when this is over it will come the "Fire" phase, after that the "Shadow" phase and finally the "Ice" phase. Not sure if Shadow or Ice comes first, tough.

 

[Kael]

Shadow is a development phase. We are currently in the "Light" phase, when this is over it will come the "Fire" phase, after that the "Shadow" phase and finally the "Ice" phase. Not sure if Shadow or Ice comes first, tough.

"Shadow" is scheduled before Ice.

 

[Silverkiss]

Yay then i was correct =P

 

[Chandrasekhar]

What is Shadow? Why do I read about others encountering them?

They can still be met as AI civs, you just can't play as them (yet).

 

[Kael]

What is Shadow? Why do I read about others encountering them?

It is a bit confusing. A Shadow is a unit in the mod (an upgrade from an assassin) as well as being a furture phase. When I talk about the upcoming phase I put it in quotes so its "Shadow".

People may also talk about the Svartalfar and the Sidar. Which are the 2 civs that are due to be added in "Shadow" and are currently in the mod as minor civs (civs the AI can play but players can't).

 

[VladTepes]

It is a bit confusing. A Shadow is a unit in the mod (an upgrade from an assassin) as well as being a furture phase. When I talk about the upcoming phase I put it in quotes so its "Shadow".

People may also talk about the Svartalfar and the Sidar. Which are the 2 civs that are due to be added in "Shadow" and are currently in the mod as minor civs (civs the AI can play but players can't).

So they would only appear if you leave "random" civ slots open, right?

 

[Chandrasekhar]

So they would only appear if you leave "random" civ slots open, right?

That is correct.

 

[Kael]

So they would only appear if you leave "random" civ slots open, right?

Yeap, you got it. The Mercurians, Infernals are also minor civs right now (scheduled to be added in "Fire") and the Illians are a minor civ (scheduled to be added in "Ice").

 

[Bad Player]

Kael you touched on the fact that most civs are humans. I have been wondering if it is unbalanced having orc/elf/dwarf-slaying abilities but nothing for human civs. Is this balanced in some other way that makes elf/dwarf/orc civs better for other reasons?

 

[QES]

Kael you touched on the fact that most civs are humans. I have been wondering if it is unbalanced having orc/elf/dwarf-slaying abilities but nothing for human civs. Is this balanced in some other way that makes elf/dwarf/orc civs better for other reasons?

As elves and dwarves and the like become more aclimated to their own environments (dwarves to hills, elves to forests, etc) It is my hope that the balance will be in that humans will have the versitility of using ANY land. But, the design team may go another route.

Still, this (since effort is going into flavor anyway) would be the easiest answer.
-Qes