So you will not modify any existing unit, or any spell, or anything else.
All you want to do is add several units meant to be independants.

Am I right ?

If so, I guess you can find a lot of units!
Powerful monsters such as the Balrog, or maybe also more animals (Bears, etc.).

Here's an idea:

A Powerful Ghost. That unit would have something like ATT=20, but Dam=1 with "Cause Fear"! And also all kinds of Protections and a high Res.
We could use it to guard Haunted Ruins, and he would almost never kill a powerful unit. His main use would be to make his enemies running away!
What do you think ?

Quote:

Yes!

Thanks for the suggestions!

Poltergeist(1,1,1,1)5,20 Physical immunity,lvl1 death summons
These intagible spirits were once thought to be mischevious pranksters,or a mage's subconcious fooling around while he was dreaming.Now,after several torturous deaths,it is known that they're all too real,and just as evil as their more substantial counterparts.

Shadow Demon Horror(10,8,4,8)16,34 Strangle,Double Strike,Poison Strike,Regeneration,Cause Fear
Sometimes a Shadow Demon is sucked into the "machinery" that supplies larvae with fresh souls,and that larva feeds on the "soul" of a fellow shadow demon.The result is the closest thing to inbreeding that can exist in a species with no sexes.Horrors are usually devoured,but some do escape

Shadow Demon Lurker(13,6,11,9)14,38 Concealment,First Strike,Blur,Phase,Death Strike,Shadow Shift
The Shadow Demons scouted the Blessed Continent extensively before their invasion,through the use of lurkers.Lurkers are able to camoflage themselves as a shadow,even in broad daylight,and were responsible for many instances of shadows being cast by nothing.Perplexed wizards would think it an invisible beast,and attack the spot which the shadow was cast from,and not the shadow itself.

Dark Elf Failed Spider Queen(5,10,12,16)16,30 Cave Crawler,Wall Climbing,Poison Strike,Double Strike,Night Vision,Death Strike,Smoky Haze,Spread Attack
A testament to Dark Elf sorcery is that even when they screw up,the mistake is still a viable entity.But since Darkelf sorcerers don't like to be reminded of their mistakes,the entity is usually cast out,left to fend for her/itself.

Dark Elf Heretic(7,5,6,8)12,36 Neutral,Drain Will,Energy Drain,Holy Weakness,Fire Protection If this unit dies in battle,all darkelves in battle get Willpower permanently.
Heretics are Dark Elves who believe the humans shouldn't be exterminated.They think the wars have done enough damage to the elves of both types,and wish to see the blood feud lifted.They believe the dark elves deserve divine judgement,and for this view are used to darkelf mobs chasing and trying to burn them.

Retired Orc Pitfighter(10,9,10,8)17,26 Regeneration,Block,First Strike,Lifestealing at silver,Doublestrike at gold
Pitfighters usually have short lives,especially in orc "society",so the smarter ones hoof it as soon as they have a little gold and are unsupervised.Orc commoners hate these ex-fighters for denying them entertainment,so pitfighters usually take to the open roads as brigands.All pitfighters are part of the Cult of War,and he will reward his chosen.

Orc Sniper(0,0,5,5)12,24 Fire Crossbow,Marksmanship IV,Vision III,Fire Pistol at silver
Orc leaders usually get to where they are by bashing everybody around them a little faster and a little harder.Things that bash from afar frighten and confuse orc leaders.Archers are laughed at and kept around as a necessary evil,but snipers are not tolerated at all.Yet a reinforcment of the notion that orcs were created stupid to give everyone else a fair chance.Snipers can usually muster enough money from a few murders to bribe a human into selling them a gun.

Goblin Conspirator(7,4,5,5)8,28 Sabotage,Leadership(lvls up)
Poison Darts
Goblin Conspirators would be more common,if most goblins could get past the homemade explosives part.While they may have more ambition than most,they still flee the city at the slightest hint of a raid.Some Goblin kings just send their troops out to rap on doors loud enough for the neighborhood to hear,then have darters at the gates to pick off anyone trying to flee.

Goblin Morlock(4,10,8,5)14,30 No poison Immunity or Strike,Cave Crawling,Night Vision,Repair Machine,Life Stealing,Fire Weakness
Morlocks are thought to be related to Trolls,but are vastly more intelligent.Excellent machinists,they hamper themselves by refusing to use fire or anything "dwarven". Apparently they hate dwarves like darkelves hate humans.Hailing from deeper than the goblins they trade with,morlocks are almost blind,navigating mostly by scent.They can consume an opponents flesh while in combat.

Undead Ghoul(7,9,8,10)20,32 No Undead status,Death Strike,Cave Crawling,Poison Immunity,Night Vision,Lifestealing vs. Undead only,Death Protection,Death Immunity at Silver,Resurgence at gold
Coming from unknown crypts and boneyards,Ghouls are the only creature which can digest Undead flesh.Though evil,they are children of the nature goddess,who gives them their unholy vitality,and rewards for more Undead vanquished.They hound necropolii in packs,desiring to turn the legions of dead into steaming piles of dung.

Undead Wight(12,10,10,4)19,26 Block,Cold Immunity,Energy Drain,Cold Strike at silver,Cold breath at gold
Whether the result of a well-cast animate dead or just a very morbid person in life,the wight is a step forward for the undead.It is a fully conscious corpse,and due to this torment is immune to mere physical cold.With experience,
wights can turn their inner void outward.They are acutely aware of their reanimation,and this makes them easier to destroy by magical means.

[This message has been edited by Blind Thrall (edited 06-14-2004 @ 03:04 PM).]

Hope you like the evil ones.I was going for an outcast theme,with the idea that these units would be independents,guarding sites or as infidels in god quests.It would be great if you could set them to spawn around cities of the same race,so if you were assaulting the city you could persuade dissidents to join the fight.Since they're independents,alightment doesn't matter,right?Here's a listing of the other races' outcasts:

Human Anarchist(true neutral)
Human Gypsy
Tigran Thief(maybe too generic)
Tigran Swami
Draconian Komodo
Draconian Knightslayer
Nomad Scorpion Queen
Nomad Prophet
Frostling Pyromancer
Frostling Walrus Rider(Polar Bear probably better,but I couldn't resist)

Elven Hermit
Elven Thallid(Sentient fungus-neutral)
Dwarf Gremlin(evil Leprechaun!)
Dwarf Pacifist
Halfling Bully
Halfling Sorcerer
Archon Judge(Elf-hater)
Archon Fanatic
Syron Traitor(evil)
Syron Necrophage

Homunculus-lvl2 flying summons

Before I assign unit abilities and whatnot,I'd like to know what the editor can do.Can units affect city production in cities they're garrisoned in(could each peasant allow an extra crop hex?they are farmers)Can spells be made that can only be researched if you have at least one each of different spheres,like dominions?And can dead units be interacted with in any way beside ressurecting?Any specific units types you were looking for,like summons,cavalry, infantry,lvl4s,etc?Again,hope this is the kind of stuff you were looking for.Since I can't really do mods yet meself,I'll gladly help anyone else,especially in the ideas and unit descriptions department.

Forest Guardian (either Elves or Halflings).
High attack, medium damage, low resistatance, magic weakness, but holy immunity and blurred. Double strike (maybe).

Thanks for your help guys, keep 'em coming!

Blind Thrall -> You can't have units that affect cities or anything like that. All you have to play with are the abilities already in the game. At least that's the case for my mod, I wont change anything in the games code or anything like that. And I wont add spells (I don't think you can anyway). Btw, many good unit ideas there! Thanks!

Orc Skirmisher(10,9,4,5)13,30

First Strike,Round Attack,Wall Climbing at Silver,Self-Destruct at Gold

Some orcs just don't want to be orcs anymore,which is understandable.So enlistments for skirmisher suicide units are always high.Skirmishers are always on the front line,and are always the first ones in the defending city.Early experiments flinging skirmishers with catapults were unsuccessful,but they didn't let that stop them.Skirmishers aren't fitted with armor,just gargantuan swords,which give them the reach to clear space in melee.The more experienced(and thus more depressed)ones don't wait for the walls to be breached,and leap or scrabble up them with frenetic deathlust.Those who somehow make it through more than one battle are handed a bomb and told to get it over with.

Now that I have your attention...Is there a way in the editor to make it so certain units spawn near cities of their own race,preferably as refugees?I think that would be the best use for the units I've given you.Independent guards would be fitting,and infidels in spirit quests would be even better.BTW,the unit in this post doesn't realy jive with that,I just thought the orcs needed a suicide bomber. Is the heretic's ability even possible?As for the neutral and good ones,I'll flesh out the neutrals next post,unless any of them caught your eye.Little burnt out right now,they wouldn't be as good.If you want me to give visual descriptions,it can be done,but you know what .ilbs you have to work with.

IDEAS:

Lions
Medusa or Gorgon
Lich
Devil or Arch Devil
Gelatinous Cube (easy to make)
Mummy
Ancient Dragon
Spider King
Rats
Farmer (or some other innocent citizen type)
Giant Python (or some other giant snake)

[This message has been edited by NTJedi (edited 06-21-2004 @ 12:42 PM).]

NTJedi -> Thanks! I've already made a Giant Viper btw...

Blind Thrall ->

Quote:

You can easily create events that spawn units in the editor. The modding tools also allows you to change what units you get from spirit quests etc, but I don't think I'll change that since I want the default rules to be left as is.

Quote:

I mainly work with recolored and/or resized .ilb's from the original game. I'll probably add some new ones as well, but they must look good and fit into the rest of the units.

I created your Orc Sniper btw, here he is to the left :

He's a recolored and resized Shadow Runner. You like?

... That's REALLY scary, Magog.

Your sniper looks EXACTLY like what I did for the Orc Assassin in the current version of my mod, hehehe. Right down to the red stripes on the body!

Eerie coincidence, or great minds... (Heh, or the similarities that will probably arise out of so many people working with the same limited resources... but that's not as poetic. )

[This message has been edited by Dwiggs (edited 06-15-2004 @ 04:38 AM).]

Hehe, weird.

I also noticed that Climber had a blue necromancer in his mod that looks exactly like another unit I made. Eerie indeed...

Quote:

For some strange reason, this reminds me of Alpha Centauri.

If you want to take the theme further, (I recognise sentient fungus, but have no idea what a thallid is), this could perhaps hate (non neutral-aligned) civilisation with a passion, raze artificial structures like mills and such, but defend stuff like nodes? It could also reproduce...

Of course, you probably meant something else, but this is my interpretation of "sentient fungus".

[This message has been edited by Natalinasmpf (edited 06-15-2004 @ 08:22 AM).]

I believe "Thallids" are a lift-off from Magic: the Gathering, heh.

I donno where those units could have place. However some ar epresent in my Mod too. I uploaded the beta version 0.2 receintly. I have there medusa, harpy, leach, wervolf etc. -most uniuts from Warlocks ruleset for AoW 1

Cool Sniper!I actually thought it would look like a green Musketeer,but that's nice and evil.Any others ya got lined up?I actually didn't mean reward units in the quests,but the units you have hunt+kill.Most of them have a history that wound piss off at least one god.

Dwiggs:Nail on the head.

Natalinasmpf:Why would a fungus hate civilization?It's an interesting idea.The cries of the mushrooms,Reverend Maynard.And Ronni Reagan was the evil emperor himself(but then Bush Sr. is Darth Vader,and the current Bush is no Luke)

(steps off soapbox)

[This message has been edited by Blind Thrall (edited 06-18-2004 @ 00:23 AM).]

Human Anarchist(9,9,4,3)10,28

Fury,Fire Protection,Fire Strike,Sabotage Doublestrike at silver,Hurl Firebomb,Fire Immunity at gold

Society isn't for everyone.In most cultures dissidents simply retreat to the hinterlands,but humans,being humans,feel they must do something about it.They work for their anti-cause with the bomb and the flame,but aren't inherently evil.The irony of all this is that anarchists have their own secret society(actually started by a dark elf)After successful operations,they attain the rank of Discordian,and its attendant fanaticism.A Knight of Chaos laughs at fire and throws grenades.

Human Gypsy(0,0,6,12)13,24

Throw Blade,Dark Gift,Enchanted Weapon,Marksmanship I,Healing,Control Animal,Concealment
Steal Enchantment,MarksmanshipII at silver
Doom Gaze,MarksIII at gold

Not all Witches became Herbalists with Phobius's ascension.Some were too dedicated(or addicted)to give up magic completely.While they cannot wield their old powers due to a lack of proper diet,they have augmented them with natural powers learned from palavers with Druids and seances with Syrons.Masters of the casting and removal of curses,some can even use the Evil Eye.

Tigran Thief(11,4,10,4)12,30

Throw Blade,Block,Poison Strike,Wall Climbing,Night Vision,MarksI,Concealment Blur at silver,Invisibility at gold

Tigrans are easily the most agile of all races.And with cat nations being as rich as they are,one would think thievery would be rampant.But death penalties,magic surveilance,and cutthroat competition between them have thinned the thieving ranks to an elite few.While they're too slim to have the muscle mass needed for heavy combat,they are accomplished fighters,and nearly impossible to hit when prepared.All thieves can blend with the shadows,it is said their coat can react with light after awhile,and paranoid bankers and jewelers swear there are completely invisible breeds.

Tigran Swami(6,4,5,14)10,26

Fire,Poison,Magic,Physical Protection,Floating,True Seeing,Fire Breath
Lightning Strike at silver,Dominate at gold

Many Tigrans,with their mystical bent,attempted to become wizards.Very few succeeded,due to short attention spans,but many picked up considerable skill.Swamis use these powers as tricks to entertain the populace,and also to preach their own visions of what Tigran society should be.Regardless of their agenda,Swamis have weathered all kinds of punishment due to their training,and can dish out a fair amount on their own.Invisibility and gravity mean nothing to Swamis.Some can conduct electricity,and others have worked the crowd so long they've mastered the subtle art of hypnotism.

Draconian Komodo(5,6,5,4)15,24

Poison Strike,Death Strike,Regeneration,Charge,Dragon Round Attack at silver

Much like the cat people,Draconians care for their reptilian kin.Mostly it amounts to a snake or lizard running around,but some outposts use the larger beasts for patrols.Alligators are common for the sheer capacity of their stomachs,but strike squads use komodos for their ferocity and the fact that in addition to their saliva's debilitating effect,komodo wounds won't heal for several days.Some can be trained to swing their tail in an arc.

[This message has been edited by Blind Thrall (edited 06-18-2004 @ 00:19 AM).]

Great suggestions! I'll get to work right away...

This is mod is going to be so cool I just have to suggest something.

Arch Angel - More Powerful Angel

Greater Daemon - Evil's counterpart to the arch angel.

Griffons - Damn hard to do, but would be really cool.

Fallen Paladin - An evil knight who is very good at killing holy units.

Great Wyrm - Not a sea serpent. Could have tunneling (phase), Poison attacks, cave crawling, tunneling.

Lightning Dragon - Dragon who uses lightning breath attacks

One thing I just realised that AoW doesn't have. Golems. If you make golems you can just change the colour and you would have heaps of new independant units. Stone, Iron, Fire, Earth, Magic Golems for example.

[This message has been edited by Scorpi0 (edited 06-19-2004 @ 05:58 PM).]

Scorpi0 -> There will be a huge demon of some sort, plus some other "boss" units. All sorts of dragons are coming up as well. An Arch angel is a good idea....

Her are some new ones :

Two Gypsies and an Anarchist are engaged in combat with a bunch of Giant Ticks...

There are 37 new units so far, I aim at getting about 100 before releasing the mod.
Keep the ideas coming, I need them, or I'll just make more stupid giant insect units.

[This message has been edited by Magog (edited 06-19-2004 @ 07:15 PM).]

Giant Ticks...that's a good one They of course must have "poison strike" and "infect". What else do they have?

Not infect, but they have Walking, Strike, Poison Strike, Poison Immunity, Venemous Spit, Life Stealing, Animal, Concealment, and very low stats (Att:5, Def:2, Res:2, Dam:4, Hits:6, Move:34). If they come in a bunch, they can be dangerous for low level units.

I'm not sure how infect works really, isn't it bound to the Parasite unit so that a Parasite will emerge when the unit dies?

2 more stupid insect ideas:
Little (black ?) Scorpions (lvl-1 unit) and the Giant (red ?) Scorpion (lvl-3 unit)...

I've just thought it could be cool to add Familiars.
Maybe use a recolored Fairy's pic and reduce its size.
I see it as a really weak animal (really easy to kill), but also really useful as a spy, with VisionI and True Seeing. (VisionII at silver and VisionIII at gold, but this unit must be hard to level-up. Even a Glade Runner is easier to level-up, so it's not important).
Give it Invisibility and Magic Relay (Partially negates the Invisibility skill, unless you move your wizard 1 hex out of his tower. But if you do that, you can for exemple cast City Plague and see your enemy cry because he doesn't understand how in the hell you could cast that spell at that place!)
With Willpower, it's even harder to capture the animal, but maybe it's not a good idea because every race need to be able to capture it. A High Resistance is maybe better.
Give it also decent movement and maybe a high upkeep... It's maybe possible to make it with mana upkeep, and with the Summoned ability. With Willpower and Drain Will, I guess the only way to capture it would be "Bind Summoned", but then: First I don't know if the unit is still interesting, and second I don't know if my guess is correct.

If you are going to make just indies, I say make them strong - will make the structures more interesting.

Some ideas -

Guardian - (12,3,20,20,25,4).Strike,Holy strike,Death strike,holy immunity,death immunity,magic immunity,regeneration.
This will be like a true guardian. No movement but you have to defeat it to explore the structure - and it is pretty good at defending.
Edit: I guess you need some movement to retaliate.

Myrdraal - (15,12,14,18,30,36).Strike,mounted,cause fear,physical protection,blurred,pass wall,concealment,wasteland concealment,death strike,death immunity,life stealing,smoky haze,true seeing.
The ultimate summons for death sphere - can be a 4th level summons.

Flag-bearer - (5,5,12,8,15,32). Strike,leadershipIII,bard's skills,magic relay.
Just like the flagbearer in any game. Will announce the arrival of your wizard through his magic relay and a good support unit.

Tantric - (0,1,12,20,25,24).flying,magic bolts,MM1,magic immunity.
This limited ranged attack on flyers makes them really less powerful. So, here's one with an unlimited ranged attack. Good for guarding sites.

[This message has been edited by Timelord (edited 06-19-2004 @ 10:52 PM).]

Quote:

Yes, you could always switch the parasite unit slot with something else, but that unit and that unit only will emerge when an infected victim dies (and the emerging unit will die at the end of that combat). For a while I had a mod in which a demon lord emerged from an infected victim (I also upped the cost of the infect spell).

You want more ideas. I just raided the Master of Magic spell book and stole the better ones.

Behemoth - Basically like a basalisk but with a cooler name.

Chimera - Fire breathing creature, part crocodile, lion and a few other creatures.

Colossus - Huge stone throwing giant, could be related to the gargoyle in the fact that it was create by the Dwarves.

Fire/Stone/Storm Giant - pretty self explanatory

Personal favorite - Drakes. Known to be a smaller kind of Dragon. Although I think it would be cool if you only ever got Hatchlings, they grow to Drakes on silver, then Dragons at gold. I don't know if this is possible so.

Night Stalker - Invisible assassin.

Phantom Beasts/Warriors - Phantasmic beasts of ice. Thats probably not what they really are, but they sorta look like they are made out of ice.

Quote:

Yes, except for the Sky Drake, strongest of all Dragons.

Quote:

You could probably apply swolte's switch-around suggestion.

I would hate to fight giant ticks!Ugh...that's like giant leeches.I don't know what their stats are like,but I'd give em a high Defense,but very low health points.Everybody knows how hard it is to kill the suckers,but do give them fire weakness.Here's the rest of the neutrals:

Draconian Knightslayer(14,10,10,11)Evil
Charge,Flying,Mounted?,Firestrike,Dark Gift,Polearm
Unholy Champion at silver

The Draconian Elders preach messages of peace and reconciliation concerning the Humans which hunted their ancestors.Most Draconians see this as nothing more than lip service,designed to foster trade alliances.Most humans are friendly with the saurian race,but Knights still look to slay dragons to make a name for themselves.There is a sect of Draconians,called the Knightslayers,determined to stop this practice,and extract blood payment for those dragons killed in the past.They weren't always evil,but many a Keeper and Archon fell while sheperding their human charges.They began to be hounded by the good races,so they appealed to the Dark Elves for help,in light of their common enemy.The darkelves placed enchantments upon them,and gave them fiery glaives to cook knights in their armor.Condemned by even their own kind,Knightslayers are a bitter and dangerous foe.

Nomad Prophet(0,0,6,14)16,24
Dominate,Blessed,Drain Will,Willpower,Block,True Seeing

Nomads are a pragmatic bunch by necessity,and openly laugh at the beliefs of the other races.Their Azrac ancestry and far roaming make them quick to doubt most holy men,but they respect their Prophets.Prophets are afflicted with a strange disorder,one which takes their normal sight and gives them powers of precognition.It is said they can see where an infidel will try to strike them,or when the world will end.No magic is used in this forcasting;as far as anyone can tell,the Prophets are literally seeing things as they will unfold.The strength and truth of their visions can make even non-nomads follow them,entranced by their power.Prophets roam the desert wastes,claiming that the conflicting thoughts of a city muddies their clairvoyance.

Nomad Scorpion Queen(10,9,12,10)22,36
Poison Strike,Poison,Fire Immunity,Extra Strike
Venemous Spit at silver,Seduce at gold

Trading and traveling are a Nomad's two main occupations,and they've traded with many races.From the darkelves,they learned the secret of transmutation,the same dark art the elves use to make their spider queens.A curious sultan decided to punish a smart-mouthed slave girl by merging her with a scorpion.The resulting abomination was a natural for the arena,and after besting two Pit Guards at once,the sultan released his champion from bondage.She immediately impaled him on her stinger.After that,Scorpion Queens were created less often,as the idea of a powerful female creature in their midst unnerves most nomads.They can be strike both with a weapon and their pincers,and with time will build up enough venom to be able to eject it short distances.Older ones have learned the art of seduction,although what this says for nomad standards is open to interpretation.

Frostling Pyromancer(6,3,6,10)10,24
Fire Bolts,Fire,Cold Protection,Seeker,Firestrike
Fire Breath at silver,Hurl Firebomb at gold

Frostlings hate and fear fire above anything else.They don't even cook their food,and would wage a war of extermination if they knew what race discovered it.Some brave Frostlings try to harness this power,and most end up as puddles of mush.Those that succeed are persecuted with a terrified zeal most other races reserve for necromancy.The common punishment for practicing fire magic is to have water pumped into an incision,and then that water is frozen.Some wizards are familiar with the power which opposing elements produce,and use pyromancers for their wide range of destructive powers.

Frostling Polar Bear Rider(12,11,11,12)20,36
Fire Weakness,Cold Immunity,Swimming,Forestry,Charge,Fury
Snow Concealment,Cause Fear
Swallow Whole at silver

On the surface,Polar Bears seem like a better mount than Mammoths.Yes,mammoths are larger,and would usually win in one-on-one combat,but bears are more mobile and naturally blend in with the tundra.They also don't need to be provoked into battle;the bears are some of the most ferocious animals in the world,and have been known to devour foes while the battle was still raging.That is precisely the problem,their appetite.Bears are impossible to domesticate,let alone train,without their favorite food:Frostlings.Bears evolved fairly recently,and they are the frostling's natural predator.Frostlings who ride Polar Bears are either desperate,or have no qualms about feeding the flesh of their own to a slavering beast.

BTW,I like Timelord's suggestions,but what's a Myrdraal?

Myrdraal are creatures from The wheel of time. They do not give up life even if they lost their head. They often do not die before in the morning after they were "killed". They are innvisible in shadows and a wall cannot hold them out. They are eyeless, but their gaze will cause fear even to the bravest warrior.

[This message has been edited by Rainbowdragon (edited 06-21-2004 @ 05:45 PM).]

47 units so far. Here are some new ones (made from Jamies suggestions) :

Big guy in upper right is a High Lord, smaller blue guy in the middle is a void master. The tiny blue fellow is a Void Walker, and the blood stained machines are called Soul Slayers. The red guys can hurl fireballs and are called.... hehe guess! (think HoMM).

It would be nice if someone could come up with ideas for what abilities different dragons and drakes have (green dragons = poison breath etc).