Nature Elemental

Disciple of Gaia & Servant of the Earth are but two of the many names this being is called. A pure coalescence of the very force of life itself, they are the embodiment of the planetary ecosystem, the Avatar of the Earth.

In times of ecological stress they manifest themselves in the afflicted area and start to mend the damage. Trees bud, plants flower, grasses grow and pure water gurgles wherever they go. They can move through the forest undetectable as a thought. When faced with the source of the disruption or harm, they can command the very plants themselves to trap the intruders and destroy the source of the infection. Powerful sorcerers can summon them forth and attempt to force them to do their will at their own peril.

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This is based on the little info I had. If the stats for this critter warrant, I can redo once I know what they are.

Addressing the Mastery Spells, I am not opposed to eliminating them, as I only see them in long multiplayer games. However, it's much easier to create a hard single player map with Mastery, as the ai can rush to the Mastery Spell and torment the player with domain spells. Athendore II is a good example of this. I'd like to see more discussion on this.

I'm still waiting to find out what new abilites I can make before I create any Dwarven Machines, but I agree with Kalindor, the blade thing seems more Goblinish

Joep, what I was thinking is that you could open the spell book ilb file, extract individual bitmaps from that into photo shop or something, then edit the picture with your drawing skills Do you have the ilb editor? And I got your picture finally! Where did you get those critters at the bottom?

On a more general note, I'll start posting mod progress in the main thread, as Swolte did for the 1.4 patch. I don't want people to drift away, tired of waiting, without knowing how much remains to be done

regards,

bj

[This message has been edited by The_Stranger (edited 12-11-2005 @ 08:30 PM).]

Joep, I forgot to mention that I liked your pyramid very much

Mitch, it seems that I can't change the Call of the Forest spell. I checked in the spell section of editor to see if I could replace the units, and there was no space to do so. Maybe what I could do is replace the units in their unit slots...if that is how the spell determines which units to summon. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Cheers,

bj

16. Demon Possessed unit (Fury, basic low level melee unit...unless someone gets some more creative ideas for it)

When a people should die, and with them should fall from memory all their achievements and history, what then of their forgotten gods who ruled them into ruin?
The answer lies in the tormented souls of possessed demons who’ve strayed to close to the eternal burning funeral pyre of the dead and dreaming ancient gods. Through their eyes can we see deep into the ethereal plainscape of existence. Within this maelstrom of madness lays the reverends of dementia, the sleeping minds of dead and ancient gods. So potent is the death of a god, that the residual force of their breaking still has the power to lay stake to the weak minded. Forcing those who hear even the echoes of their death, to become twisted servants to the memory of dead and forgotten gods. For those such possessed, death is the only fuel that feeds their demented hate. Their existence is destruction, such is the fury they bear in every strike, such is the bitterness they taste in ever kill.

Is this too long? I think this is the most I've written for any unit, is it worth the extra wrting? I really hate starting a paragraph with a retorical question should I cut that out? let me know what u think.

I'm working on this unit right now, Cenataur Hero for the Fey Folk (charge, Pole Arm, healing) poleArm+charge=heroe killer

[This message has been edited by Stillborn (edited 12-12-2005 @ 08:14 PM).]

Your profile is a bit sketchy, but the teacher in me says that English is not your first language. My hat's off to anyone that can communicate in more than one tongue, so please don't take offense.

I really like your demon possessed concept; it is comforting to know that I am not the only twisted individual in this Group. I used to be a magazine editor; if you would like help polishing your English writing, I will gladly give you a hand. I think we might all enjoy your work.

You can go to my profile and get my address if you are interested.

One concern I have, is that as heroes gain levels, they tend to get way more movement if you choose health for them (Health+2/Movement+4).

If their not mounted, it seems kinda silly that they can keep pace with horses, you think we should try to account for this?

For instance should alot of the non-mounted heroes start with less movement, or should they be fast creatures such as centaurs or some other four legged creature, so as to explain there sudden gains in speed?
Possibly can we lessen the amount of movement points the get as they level if their not mounted.
Or do u think this is over thinking it?

While we're talking about mounts, do centaurs count as mounted, and thus subject to the +3att/+3dam of polearms. I think they should, any thoughts?

Yes, I think centuars should get "magical mount" as the would still have the same problem as horsemen against polearms.

And are there going to be new races for sure? I see in your update that you are working on the Fey Kingdom, Demons and Lizards.
Why don't you integrate the Lizards and Draconians?. If you remember, I told you I was playing Dragonshard and in that game, this feature has been built-in nicely. Low-level units are mostly lizard-like (or more specifically, reptilian in nature) and higher level units are descendants of the Dragons (dragon-fathers in that game) who come to aid in dire times of need - units like Fire Drake and Felldrake. This will also give us a nice unit hierarchy within the race - and the descriptions will be intuitive to write!

Nymph hero(ine):
Elvish diplomatic protocol can bore Ents, and envois of shorter lived (and shorter tempered) races have been known to resort to violence to escape it.
[Heroine´s name] stepped on the road to glory by being volunteered to "emphasize" with Bradnax the Bully, heir to his father´s land but not the late marquess´ wisdom and reluctance to take to the field of battle. Having found both a taste and the ability to mingle and meddle with the "primitives", she developped the means to infiltrate and extricate herself out of any tight spot should her natural charms fail, as Firlefonz the Florid learned the hard way.
[Heroine´s name] has somewhat of a mixed reputation in traditional elven circles, but her fame among the bards and troubadours continues to grow. After all, it´s a tough job - and someone has to do it.

EDIT: Can we PLEASE take path of ____ abilities off of neutral heros? I agree it is great flavor to have a frost shaman hero with path of frost for the frostlings, but then you play as the tigrans or draconians, get her, and have to disband her!

[This message has been edited by MitchK1989 (edited 12-13-2005 @ 02:52 PM).]

and I've finally got my broadband, so that I can start posting some screenshots soon!

In regards to Hero movements, I believe the amount of health and move points given is hard coded, though I would change it if I could. As it stands (or runs), I think that many non mounted heroes will start with 28 or so movepoints, which will take them a couple of upgrades to level up. After all, they should be penalized a bit for not being suceptible to polearms. In regards to Cenataurs, although they are not mounted, I agree that they would face the same perils that a horseman would. However, one could also argue that because they are the horse, so to speak, that they might have more control over their charge, etc. I'll have to think on this one

Jpinard, were you referring to the units in Joepo's post or in the editor?

On the Dragon/Lizard idea, I like Timelord's integration theme. It's very 20th century and...well, it lends itself to some ideas I already have. One of which is this: the Hatchling goes to a green Dragon Hatchling at gold, which of course can grow into a big papa or mama at gold. I'll try and post a screenshot of the Lizard/Draco race as I have it tonight. It is looking very good, I think.

Fluester, I am gonna edit that description ever so slightly and then use it. It will work very well...could you make some more? (I've updated the units that need descriptions list again at the top) And yes, I think the lovely lady deserves Bard's Skills.

If Kaskoid is lurking, I hope he'll write some more descriptions too

Quasi finally, in regards to the Path of Frost hero, I think I will make her a level 6 that can occasionally be purchased in Inns. She has great value for freezing water and getting troops across, but she also leaves a clear trail to follow and freezes crops. A double edged sword, I suppose, that most players would rather not deal with if they could avoid it. So, hire her, if you find her, at your own risk in the future!

I was also thinking of Tweaking the Tigrans a bit to make the more of a Priest/Shamanistic dominated society. After all, the Egyptians worshiped cats. I even had the crazy idea of making the Tigrans ruled by a pair of warrior mice...but I suppose that might be a bit too Tom and Jerry-sh .

I finished the magic conversion from 4.5 to 1.4 as well....

Regards,

BJ

p.s. Swolte, I hope you are taking a long deserved break! But if you do get back soon, what about those Smoky Haze conversions mentioned about 8 posts up? And I don't suppose we could make path of swamp?

[This message has been edited by The_Stranger (edited 12-13-2005 @ 07:07 PM).]

I do not lurk; I pass by from time to time as I cruise the aether...

I'll take a stab at Giant Tortoise and Deep Lurker; I have an idea on how to link them together from the same mutations.

Here's an idea I've never seen addressed: Can heroes be paired? Can the synergy of that pairing be greater than the sum of the parts? If we can build events that combine items or actions, why not link heroes? As a sterling example of what I'm driving at, take your Tigrans. You could pair a cat hero with a giant barbarian. The cat hero has sneaky abilities, the barbarian enormous, tough and strong. What a pair--wait! It's been done before, in Fritz Leiber's seminal sword & sorcery series about Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser... What a tribute to a great series and a great fantasy writer. There are other pairs from literature we could fool with as well.

The first one was bounced back, evidently the mail server I used was on a spam list, the other was from my hotmail, I assume that got through.

let me know
thanks
PK

I'm not going to speculate as to what magical potion allows you to "cruise the aether."

On a related note, those screenshots will have to wait until tommorrow, as I've been trying to convert some graphics--with mixed success.

bj

Stranger- Yesh, pleeshe make shome "ratling" heroeshesh!

Has anyone here happened to read "The Borribles"? While in that trilogy the ratlings are clearly meant to be the villains, they are really good at it.

Btw, are the skills a hero-class may aqquire hard-coded or are these moddable templates?

Is it ok to add a name to the hero-descriptions? IMO it very much helps to visualize them, and the names could, if necessiated by scenario requirements, be changed again (or couldn´t they?). I am a complete computer barbarian.

Eta: There is a link by Webusver(sp?) where he announces a scenario in which he promises to do some very interresting things, eg. transforming mana to gold and vice versa. Can this be part of this mod also?

Etfa: The Goblin Bomber Hero
Whichever quality enables an individual to rise out of the squirming, expendable mass that forms the bulk of goblin society, Rumbak Firefeaster embodies it. During the siege of Killigut he started as replacement in a bombsquad. When the dwarves had to discontinue their effort to reduce Killigut because their siegetrain was all but obliterated, Rumbak was the only surviving bomber and, by default, leader of the corps(e) of engineers.
Sorethroat, as he is known among orks, since has become a bane for guildmasters and artisans having yet to meet a war machine he doesn´t like to destroy.
This remarkable carreer has even sparked inquiries into whether goblin bombers are really supposed to blow themselves up or are just incredibly bad at leaving their charges.

[This message has been edited by Fluesterwitz (edited 12-14-2005 @ 08:35 AM).]

Is there any way you could make a hero NOT able to get attack or damage upgrades on level up? I was thinking we could make a pure sniper hero with no melee attack, but extremely good with either a crossbow or gun (maybe rename fire pistol to fire gun so we can have some rifle guys as well?)

Is this something anyone else has noticed?

I'll be aethering for the next several hours and will keep checking.

Now to go back to the Rift in the Sea....

I found a graphic for that Goblin shredding Dwarf unit that you suggested I'm not sure how I could use it, though.

When an entire people dies, and with them dies the memories of all that they have done and been, what becomes of the gods they once worshipped in vain?
The answer lies in the tormented souls of possessed demons who’ve strayed too close to the eternal funeral pyre of the dead and dreaming ancient gods. Through their eyes we can see deep into the ethereal plane of existence. Within this maelstrom of madness lays the revenants of dementia, the sleeping minds of dead and ancient gods. So potent is the death of a god, that the residual force of their passing still has the power to lay claim to the weak minded, forcing those who hear even the echoes of their death to become twisted servants to the memory of dead and forgotten gods. For those so possessed, death is the only food that feeds their demented hatred. Their existence betokens destruction; such is the fury they bear in every strike, such is the bitterness they taste in every kill.