As kindly requested I'm sharing with the community my personal mod: FQM.
Unlike other mods, who needs to be rebuilt when a new patch is released, FQM can be applied to vanilla (1.31) and to all Insecticide Patch (up to 1.40n, but probably the future patch as well: FQM shouldn't interfere with fixed bugs, but I'll check it anyway )
Thanks to all people who gave me advice, suggestion and precious info, too many to list, but if you made a tool, a website, a patch or a mod, I'm speaking to you.
What's new:
1.01
- Changed Magic Bug (Stag Beetle) to Tornado Bug.
- Rised to 15 from 13 the maximum number of books you can obtain.
- Rised to 15 from 6 the maximum number of retorts you can obtain.
- Changed Dwarf race to allow Bank, Merchants guild and Mechanicians guild
- Changed Golem to make it immune to various attacks.
1.00
- Changed Stag Beetle to Magic Bug.
- Changed Dragon Turtle to increase damage resistance.
- Changed Wolf Riders to Wolf Totems to increase Nature affinity.
- Changed Pegasai name to Pegasi.
- Changed Troll, Lizardman, Klackon and Gnoll to allow Alchemist Guild
Also changed, but not released, some hero names and some magic items.
The logic behind the changes.
The goal is to make quick and small changes to help weaker races: Lizardman, Klackon and Gnoll.
Their top unit barely stands against the middle units of the other races; their advantage is their cost is lower so they can spread around.
The change increase the power, but also the cost of the top unit only, slowing the player in the start of the game, for this unit only, but giving a fair fight in the middle of the game.
The dragons have a very thick skin, the turtles also have a a very thick shell, the Dragon Turtle should be more protected than any dragon or turtle, so I'm giving it weapon immunity.
Gnoll are a nature bond race, but unlike elves they do not rely on powerful magician, instead they can have a totem in the form of a wolf pack to fight against their enemies.
Later I changed the Magic bug (a magic immune subdued bug, too similar to Paladin) to Tornado bug (a unique subdued bug able to control the air around it, allowing it to Wind walk and rendering it Missiles immune).
Also to give all the races the chance to get magic weapons with Mithril and Adamantium, since Alchemist skill is bugged, I've allowed all the races to build Alchemist guild.
Hope you can enjoy this mod, comments (and critics) are welcome.
I applaud the attempt. The fact remains, however, in a tournament setting, you would be crazy not to use halflings or high elves as your race, and possibly high men and nomads, to a lesser extent. They are just so much better than every other race, and it's not close.
It is my belief the races need a dramatic rebalancing - improving the top end unit of klackons, lizard men, and gnolls and will do little to change this. In fact, I would prefer a weakening of the stag beetle, dragon turtle, and wolf rider (respectively) if these races:
-could actually build some important buildings - klackons can't even build a lowly temple!
-had a decent mid-range unit (c.f., pikemen, priests, longbowmen, horsebowmen, etc.); the game is often won or lost long before paladins show up
-did not suffer from some other crippling misfortune- c.f., unrest penalty (klackons), no range attacks (gnolls), etc.
It is not as if the other races don't have major problems (Orcs, Barbarians; Dark Elves on Myrror) themselves.
The great thing about Master of Magic is that, even though it is woefully unbalanced, it is still fun. Imagine how much more fun it would be if more than 25% of the spells and 50% of the races were actually useable?
Aureustgo Wrote:I applaud the attempt. The fact remains, however, in a tournament setting, you would be crazy not to use halflings or high elves as your race, and possibly high men and nomads, to a lesser extent. They are just so much better than every other race, and it's not close.
It is my belief the races need a dramatic rebalancing - improving the top end unit of klackons, lizard men, and gnolls and will do little to change this. In fact, I would prefer a weakening of the stag beetle, dragon turtle, and wolf rider (respectively) if these races:
-could actually build some important buildings - klackons can't even build a lowly temple!
-had a decent mid-range unit (c.f., pikemen, priests, longbowmen, horsebowmen, etc.); the game is often won or lost long before paladins show up
-did not suffer from some other crippling misfortune- c.f., unrest penalty (klackons), no range attacks (gnolls), etc.
It is not as if the other races don't have major problems (Orcs, Barbarians; Dark Elves on Myrror) themselves.
The great thing about Master of Magic is that, even though it is woefully unbalanced, it is still fun. Imagine how much more fun it would be if more than 25% of the spells and 50% of the races were actually useable?
Thank you Aureus, I'm glad you appreciate.
Of course this quick mod is not an attempt to rebalance the whole game, but to give a fair chance to races doomed to razing without the mod (in my games, at least ).
Of course we all play to win, but winning is not all. Using some trick to get some overpowered wizard is like winning with the (name your sport) champions of the last year VersuS the retired champion of 1950 is too easy and boring. So having fun with a fair challenge is also important, IMNSHO.
I agree with you the races are unbalanced, but there are many factors to keep in mind.
A race like Klackon or Gnoll will try at first to win by quickly conquering nearby cities with more powerful races. This do not work well IMHO because:
1. The nearby cities could be Gnoll or Klackon as well.
2. If you have Klackon and conquer (I.E.) a High Man city you can be happy to "control" a more powerful city, but if you have High Man and conquer a Klackon City, probably you will destroy it sooner or later.
3. You can't conquer all the cities in both worlds and sooner or later you will get a well developed city with units too powerful for you Turtle/Wolf and you have to rely on other races.
Maybe this initial rush is not a war strategy that everyone likes (I don't, but I've seen it is quite popular here on the board) and so you never tried it, but this another variant of the game.
They do not have a "real" middle range unit and their top unit is cheap and not very powerful to comply to the rush and conquer strategy tied to their race.
The Lizard Man works more or less the same way (rush conquest, etc.), but they have a big advantage (water walking) when there are a lot of small island.
However if you play on Huge landmass (like I often do) they have little or no advantage.
Quote:It is not as if the other races don't have major problems (Orcs, Barbarians; Dark Elves on Myrror) themselves.
Major problem?
I do not usually choose Orcs or Barbarians, but Dark Elves (with Draconians and Trolls) are among the races I prefer on Myrror. What major problem do they have IYO?
Most of the races are actually usable (but the three we have just wrote about) and only need a slight change, IMHO, of course we have to use different strategies for each race and this not something everyone likes.
Only the people crazy enough to think they can change the world of Arcanus and Myrror can do it.
FrancoK Wrote:Maybe this initial rush is not a war strategy that everyone likes (I don't, but I've seen it is quite popular here on the board) and so you never tried it, but this another variant of the game.
You can rush with all races, and it seems, the other races do it about as well. In some situations rushing with High Elves or Nomads is even superior to Gnolls. I'd be curious what others feel.
Rush or not, these races are bad.
FrancoK Wrote:Major problem?
I do not usually choose Orcs or Barbarians, but Dark Elves (with Draconians and Trolls) are among the races I prefer on Myrror. What major problem do they have IYO?
Orcs are identical to High Men except they can't make Pikemen and Priests, and Wyverns are terrible. In light of this, why would one ever choose to play Orcs?
Dark Elves have a magical ranged attack that is (a) very weak (b) can't be easily improved (lion heart, giant strength, etc. have no impact). Their units are incredibly expensive for what you get. Given the way regeneration and flying can be abused by the human player, and the insane power of hammerhands, it makes little sense to use other Myrran races.
It is my view that one can make the races balanced, yet still provide different tactics and strategies that lend themselves to each race. Right now you'd be a fool to use most races, except to make for a ridiculous challenge in an already very challenging game (i.e., large/huge land mass, impossible).
If you'd like to collaborate going forward, feel free to let me know. I hope to convert (the best of) 2.0 using the 1.40 engine at some point. Of course, it sounds like a lot of that work has been done already.
Aureustgo Wrote:You can rush with all races, and it seems, the other races do it about as well. In some situations rushing with High Elves or Nomads is even superior to Gnolls. I'd be curious what others feel.
I assume you're thinking of a Wolf Riders rush, as tier 2 units (Armory, Stables) is the only area where Gnolls are significantly superior; in tier 1 units (Spearmen, Swordsmen) they lose to Barbarians, Halflings, Lizardmen, and Klackons, though they may win for cost. Other than slingers and arguably longbowmen, no tier 2 arcanan unit is comparably powerful.
Aureustgo Wrote:Orcs are identical to High Men except they can't make Pikemen and Priests, and Wyverns are terrible. In light of this, why would one ever choose to play Orcs?
Agree that Orcs are aggressively mediocre.
Aureustgo Wrote:Dark Elves have a magical ranged attack that is (a) very weak (b) can't be easily improved (lion heart, giant strength, etc. have no impact). Their units are incredibly expensive for what you get. Given the way regeneration and flying can be abused by the human player, and the insane power of hammerhands, it makes little sense to use other Myrran races.
Elite dark elf spearmen get 8x3(+1), which is plenty dangerous (there's no reason to ever make swordsmen or halberdiers, they're actually inferior to spearmen because they have a lower unit count); however, elite draconian spearmen can easily capture early game cities, and get the wonderful power of flight (see twice as far, move twice as far, cross water...). If you don't have the Heroism spell, why are you playing a Myrran race? Beastmen, Dwarves, and Trolls are rather mediocre.
Anthony Wrote:Elite dark elf spearmen get 8x3(+1), which is plenty dangerous (there's no reason to ever make swordsmen or halberdiers, they're actually inferior to spearmen because they have a lower unit count); however, elite draconian spearmen can easily capture early game cities, and get the wonderful power of flight (see twice as far, move twice as far, cross water...).
Great point. Swordsmen, Halberdiers, and Bowmen, in the base game, are too weak. I adjusted the latter two, but swordsmen probably need a boost.
My sentries are exclusively spearmen, for the figures and cost, and summoned units [I don't typically play with "good" races]. Moreover, spearmen require no buildings to produce [i.e., one can focus instead on mana producing buildings rather than military].
Aureustgo Wrote:Great point. Swordsmen, Halberdiers, and Bowmen, in the base game, are too weak. I adjusted the latter two, but swordsmen probably need a boost.
I was actually considering making spearmen 6 counters, cost 20 -- meaning their only advantage over swordsmen is an upkeep of 1f/0g instead of 1f/1g. That's not negligible.
)
