Homeless mod ideas (wishful thinking)

[fwoop]

While we're having unrealistic dreams, I say that it'd be nice if there were more domestic options for heroes. That is, similar to some of the heroes in MoO2, who might be better at improving food production or reducing unrest rather than (or in addition to) outright combat. Currently the only heroes that approach something like this are... ones with noble and legendary.

What do other people think of this? Would this just make the game boring, detracting from the exciting combat?

[b0rsuk]

kyrub:

Armsmaster heroes already work this way. To get the most out of them you need to park them in training centres, because in an offensive campaign units either gain experience pretty quickly or die (and there are no easy ways to reinforce an attacking army except for Lycantrophy spell).

In my current Dark Elf game I've found a prisoner - Shuri with Armsmaster and I was delighted, because I only have 1 city with adamantium on my big island. I rely on infantry and cavalry instead of warlocks.

In my mod I've given this ability to Baghtru because I've recognized its uniqueness. I want players (especially myself) to have a reasonable chance to get a hero with this ability. Currently it's very rare.
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Speaking of unrealistic ideas:

Summoner (Hero skill)

The hero gets "Summon Creature" spell-like ability, very similar to Summon Demon. It costs 0 mana, but takes priority before Healing spell, Web, Doom Bolt and regular spellcasting (just like Doom Bolt + Spellcasting currently works, no change needed).
The creature summoned would depend on level.

I would give this ability to Rakir the Beastmaster.

[Catwalk]

fwoop, I like econ abilities on heroes but I don't like requiring them to be passive in order to use it. Legendary works great as is, you're rewarded for levelling up your hero. Having to park your hero somewhere and do nothing in order to utilize him is generally a no-no to me personally. For that reason I want to reduce the casting benefit you get from magic heroes in your fortress from SP/2 to SP/5.

[b0rsuk]

Replacement for Cloud of Shadow or Eternal Night

Instead of duplicating the effect of Darkness, all creatures of Death (including created undead) gain Life Stealing melee attacks.

Now there's something that would put smile on your face, don't you think ? I prefer this to go for Eternal Night, it would make the spell feel quite ultimate, and a fun combo with Zombie Mastery.
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City Walls or Nightshade bonus

All units inside the walls get HP regeneration (in combat only, no resurrection effect). The most notable effect would be resistance to ranged attacks and attrition in general. And it's not far from realism - cityfolk, encouraged by the extra safety granted by walls, could be helping in defense and tending to wounds. There's a precedent - Heroes of Might and Magic 1-3 links population growth to fortification level. Or perhaps more interesting - make this an unique effect of cities with Nightshade, better flavour and makes Nightshade more useful !

[b0rsuk]

Stasis (modification)

The spell is very hard to use effectively. Usually you can't pull out 250 casting skill out of your hat. In late game where your skill is about 100, you don't need it. And when you finally manage to cast it, it's too late. I think I have a much better concept.

Make it work similar to Spell Blast. Low initial cost, but additional mana can be paid and no extra casting skill is needed. The cost could be 70 + (20 * k), where k is the number of units in the stack.

[I like Serena]

Stasis (modification)

The spell is very hard to use effectively. Usually you can't pull out 250 casting skill out of your hat. In late game where your skill is about 100, you don't need it. And when you finally manage to cast it, it's too late. I think I have a much better concept.

Make it work similar to Spell Blast. Low initial cost, but additional mana can be paid and no extra casting skill is needed. The cost could be 70 + (20 * k), where k is the number of units in the stack.

Your argument is reverse. Stasis is difficult for the human player to use. AI can use it just fine!
I remember that the hard way fondly (although not fondly at the time!).

I was peacefully building up my cities and my research, when suddenly time froze and I could only click Next turn. At first I thought it was a bug, but after a very long time it ceased - apparently the enemy wizard ran out of mana.
Anyway, it made me aware that you're on a clock: you can't just take your time and do your stuff. You need to be quick enough and/or alert enough to counter your enemies! It's not just SoM that's dangerous!

[robinh3123]

How about this:

Death magic: Dark Tribute +mana, combat only.
Randomly select a friendly victim unit (without death immunity or magic immunity) other than the selected benefical target, transfer some hearts to a selected beneficial death unit (fantastic and undead only).

The transfer rate is 2:1 rounding down (i.e. 2 hearts decrease of the victim converts to 1 heart of the beneficial). Exactly how many hearts are transfered is like casting a life drain on the victim unit. The +mana part is the same as life drain.

This is the only "healing" spell for death magic (regeneration is another story), and the beneficial can only be a death unit, not normal unit.

The victim unit may be killed by Dark Tribute, if all its remaining hearts are drained. However, it will not become an undead after battle. Yet zombie may be created via zombie mastery for units killed by Dark Tribute.

In this way, Death wizard can heal death units, but CANNOT heal living units (unless he has nature's cure).

Perhaps a better name for this spell is Dark Sacrifice.

[b0rsuk]

Your argument is reverse. Stasis is difficult for the human player to use. AI can use it just fine!
I remember that the hard way fondly (although not fondly at the time!).

And your argument misses the point by a mile :P. I'm talking about Stasis, you - about Time Stop. (Stasis is the spell that targets a stack and paralyses it for a minimum of 1 turn, with -5 saving throw each turn afterwards)

[Zephirus]

About healing undead, I think they should have a feed hability. When parked within a town, you could use feed. The local population would decrease by one, and replentish the undead unit to full health.

The unrest in the city also goes up by one, if the city population drops to zero, the city desapears. So, if you want to heal your undead units, you will be encouraged to conquer cities of undesired races, place your undead stack over then and canibalize the city to inexistence.

[Ari Rahikkala]

Fun thread, made me register.

Scattering planar travel about

There's really no reason for white to have all the spells related to planar travel. If there's any one colour they should belong to it's blue, but blue's powerful enough as it is. Arcane is an option, but I think it'd be more interesting to give every colour a planar travel ability of their own:

White, in the MtG tradition, gets to keep Planar Seal: Changing the rules of the game, but having the same rules for everyone.

Blue gets Planar Travel to put in its collection of wacky expensive buffs.

Red gets Plane Shift, the impulsive spell without regard for consequences.

The Astral Gate spell is removed, and green gets a cheaper and lesser-rarity Hidden Pathway to replace its Earth Gate, with an explicitly documented ability to pass between planes (unless Planar Sealed).

And finally, as for black... uh... here's one possibility: As eldritch creatures of the shadows, all black summons from uncommon and up get planar travel for free. That means night stalkers, shadow demons, wraiths, death knights and demon lords.

Come to think of it, I think these changes might even be mostly implementable with the current tools the community has. I'm still holding out for a proper open-source reimplementation of the game itself though