Gnilbert

Join Date 03/2003

+36

[MOD] A few minor changes that just make the game more fun. (Elemental Disciples, Magic Staves, Mana Talents)

I mentioned some of these things in an earlier post HERE. I wasn't planning on releasing this until after SD's next patch, but based on the response I decided to do it anyway. First, the disclaimer:

UPDATE: version 0.6 is posted HERE.

I did this in my spare time. I'm not a developer for SD. I don't have a QA department. There are very likely some typos or bugs. I'll do my best to update this stuff with the next patch, but I can't swear it won't break a saved game when a new version comes out.

That out of the way, I've outlined below what I included in the game. Oddly enough, based on some icons I found in the gfx directories, it looks like they may have started down similar paths at one point.

General Themes:

I. I don't like Defense counting toward spells, and I don't like Damage=Random(1 to MAX). All the spell damage values (for abilities imparted by this mod) are simply direct damage based on the unit's stats and the number of shards you control. (Yes, the shards count correctly in my stuff. You can see my post HERE for details). When SD updates the damage for spells, I'll adjust this accordingly.

II. For this "release," I wanted to make the items as accessible as possible. To that end, the following "kind of odd" features are in effect:
- There are Sovereign abilities that cost 20pts each allowing your sovereign to count as a Fire, Earth, Air or Water shrine. These may or may not be grossly underpriced, but you really need a shard to test most of my changes.
- None of the items are tied to the tech tree. Instead, training units that have an elemental item requires you to have a shard of that type (but your can design with them whenever) More shards simply makes them more powerful.
- I'm not artistic, but I am resourceful. I didn't design any new effects, artwork, etc. Instead, I reused resources that already existed.
- The items aren't buyable in the shop,
- I've only included the "basics" of where I'm going. I have quite a bit more planned.

III. It seems like peasants have an Intelligence of 0 (in the xml, not in general). To make the magical ranged weapons work, I actually use INT + ATTACK when I say I'm using INT. Also, you can't initiate an attack unless your attack score is >= 1, so all the magical weapons grant +1 Attack.

What this mod includes:

Elemental Disciples. When you build your first shard, these are those little people that stand around all day staring at it. In game terms, I've provided 4 robes that represent the "profession" of Fire, Earth, Air, or Water "Priest/Monk/Cleric/Fanboy." They provide the unit (which can be your Sovereign) with a "Blessing of X" (tactical) ability that scales in power with the number of shards (of that element) you control.
The robes provide 2 Essence to the unit, and the blessings cost 1 mana per cast. They target a single friendly unit at any distance, and currently last 2 turns.

Fire Vestments granted spell: Target unit gains +5 Attack per Fire Shard
Earth Vestments granted spell: Target unit gains +5 Defense and + 3 attack per Earth Shard
Water Vestments granted spell: Target unit gains +5 Health Regen per Water Shard
Air Vestments granted spell: Target unit gains +15% Dodge chance per Air Shard

Magical Combat Staves. I hate giving my wizard lord a bow or sword to make him effective in combat. I want him to feel cool right from the get-go. To this end, I added 5 magical staves, each that gives the wielder a (tactical) ranged, INT based attack that costs 0 mana. The effects of each scale based on the number of shards of the appropriate element you control. Your sovereign can pick one when he's created, but you can only train units with them when you control at least one shard of the appropriate element type. (The Death staff is currently an exception to this)

Fire Staff: 50% INT damage, +25% per Fire Shard
Earth Staff: 30% INT damage +25% per Earth Shard, -5 Defense
Water Staff: 30% INT damage +25% per Water Shard, CombatSpeed set to 1 for 1 turn
Air Staff: 30% INT damage +25% per Air Shard, 60% chance to lose next turn
Death Staff: 30% INT Life Steal +25% per any Shard

You can download the zipped files HERE. Unzip the xml files into your Mod directory (You may need to create a Mod directory).

Gnilbert

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Raven X

ManiiNames

Join Date 03/2006

+27

NM, still looking at them.

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In the long run, no. I admit I simply neglected in the first pass to include all the city definitions to include my weapons in their shops. You can still train units with the weapons though. I'll upload another version with that stuff soon, plus a few other odds and ends.

Gnilbert

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Fantastic downloading now thanks for this, all my troops were either archers or knights. With this mod mage troops will now be both fun and viable.

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Good stuff. I'll be incorporating magical weapons into the Dragonlance Mod as well so this is a big help in seeing how it's done. I too noticed some of the icons that either were planed as magical wepaon icons from the start or were for something they started working on and didn't have time to impliment by release. Great work here, Gnilbert, keep it up!!!

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Are the special trainings still in ?

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oddrheia

Join Date 11/2007

This is awesome! Thanks!

Two suggestions, though, if I may

I noticed with elemental disciples you only made the vestments available to males. I made my own workaround to enable female outfits by making a copy of all of 'em, slapping +_female to internal name, adding all the female units to supported model and assigning the model to ArielleBody Brestplate. It looks nice

For reference: <IconFile>ArielleBody.png</IconFile>

<GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_shoulder_Mesh_01.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Attachment>shoulder_right_lcf</Attachment>
      <Texture_Metal>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_texture_01.png</Texture_Metal>
    </GameItemTypeModel>
    <GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_shoulder_Mesh_01.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Attachment>shoulder_left_lcf</Attachment>
      <Texture_Metal>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_texture_01.png</Texture_Metal>
    </GameItemTypeModel>
    <GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_Chest_Mesh_01.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Attachment>chest_center_lcf</Attachment>
      <Texture_Metal>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_texture_01.png</Texture_Metal>
    </GameItemTypeModel>
    <GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Arming_Doublet_Mesh_01.hkb</ModelFile>
      <AttachmentType>Skinned</AttachmentType>
      <Texture_Metal>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Arming_Doublet_Texture_01.png</Texture_Metal>
    </GameItemTypeModel>
    <GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_Rear_Mesh_01.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Attachment>rear_skirting_lcf</Attachment>
      <Texture_Metal>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_texture_01.png</Texture_Metal>
    </GameItemTypeModel>
    <GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_Right_Mesh_01.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Attachment>skirting_right_lcf</Attachment>
      <Texture_Metal>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_texture_01.png</Texture_Metal>
    </GameItemTypeModel>
    <GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_Right_Mesh_01.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Attachment>skirting_left_lcf</Attachment>
      <Texture_Metal>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_texture_01.png</Texture_Metal>
    </GameItemTypeModel>
    <GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_Front_Mesh_01.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Attachment>skirting_center_lcf</Attachment>
      <Texture_Clothing1>Gfx\Hkb\Armor\K_Female_Armor_Plate_texture_01.png</Texture_Clothing1>
    </GameItemTypeModel>

2) Making staves look different: there are a few staff's appearances in CoreSpecialWeapons that you could use:

Queen's staff icon and model:

<IconFile>Pariden_Staff_Icon.png</IconFile>

<GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\HKB\Items\pariden_Staff.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Texture_All>Gfx\HKB\Items\K_Accessories_Texture_02.png</Texture_All>
      <Attachment>hand_right_Lcf</Attachment>
    </GameItemTypeModel>

Magnar's staff icon and model:

<IconFile>Magnar_Staff_Icon.png</IconFile>

<GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\HKB\Items\magnar_staff.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Texture_All>Gfx\HKB\Items\F_Accessories_Texture_01.png</Texture_All>
      <Attachment>hand_right_Lcf</Attachment>
    </GameItemTypeModel>

Ceresa's staff icon and model:

<IconFile>Ceresa_Staff_Icon.png</IconFile>

<GameItemTypeModel>
      <ModelFile>Gfx\HKB\Weapons\F_Staff_01.hkb</ModelFile>
      <Texture_All>Gfx\HKB\Items\F_Accessories_Texture_01.png</Texture_All>
      <Attachment>hand_right_Lcf</Attachment>
    </GameItemTypeModel>

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@oddrheia:

"You caught me!" I admit that in the earliest version, I'd just slapped the male robes on everyone. It wasn't flattering, trust me. I removed the "apply this to females" part, then just forgot to create the female versions. I'll put them in for the next version!

Gnilbert

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oddrheia

Join Date 11/2007

Was just trying to help . Cosmetic stuff is easy comparing to what you've done. Will definitely use every incarnation of this mod

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Gnilbert, played with your mod this evening, its quite a bit of fun. Are you planning on keeping it updated?

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Quoting SoonerToucan,

reply 9

Gnilbert, played with your mod this evening, its quite a bit of fun. Are you planning on keeping it updated?

Thank you! As a matter of fact, I posted a new version this evening (v0.6). It doesn't have a ton of updates, but some of them were kinda important. I added a link to that thread in the original post.

Gnilbert

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Some playthrough feedback Gnil...

The staves are very powerful. I didn't realize how powerful at first... are they all true damage? I think thats a mistake, since then it reliably does more than casting. Remember, you can do it twice a round, that's 18 true damage every round for free. The staves should DEFINITELY be a sovereign only item, and they really should not ignore defense. The vestments however, are great fun and balanced pretty well. Water might need to get toned down to 2 or 3 per round, but other than that, this is really my favorite mod so far!

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ManiiNames

Join Date 03/2006

+27

I agree on the staves being too powerful. I made some which do ((Int/4)+1) damage, +1 per shard. For mana free true damage at range, that's still pretty powerful. I then introduced better versions, running through Apprentice, Journeyman, Wizard and Archmage.

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Is there any way to make the staffs into queen staff type, i remember from beta that those staffs looked good, and there is a champion female creature (in red) that uses one, so it should be in the data somewhere

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I changed the staves to deal defendable damage, and that helped a bit... but they still really need to be sovereign only. That would be thematic. I'm not sure how to enable the hero only option like that sword of kazakstan.

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I think there is a hero only option in the xml...

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