1.05 information and Beta Testers

Mordor faction is going to grow big huh? =)

They will be growing until I split them into 2 factions - Evil Men/Mordor. They will be unbalanced until that point.

Anyway, can you please make some changes to Elves? In my opinion, Elves should be few but strong, while other races are strong in numbers.

- Lórien Warriors - 10 units (from 12), 2 columns of 5 units each.
- Lórien Archers - 10 units (from 12), 2 columns of 5 units each.
- Mithlond Sentries - 8 units (from 15), 2 columns of 4 units each.
- Mirkwood Archers - 6 units (from 10), one column of 6 units.
- Noldor Warriors - 5 units (from 6), one column of 5 units.
- Rivendell Lancers - 8 units (from 10), 2 columns of 4 units each.
- Lindon Horse Archers - 8 units (from 10), 2 columns of 4 units each.
- Ent - Increase size slightly.

For right now the values are more based on 1.06 of BFME2 - so they actually have 15 for the warriors, archers, sentries, 10 for the archers, cavalry. I will definitely be adjusting this, but I have not decided how I'm going to do this. I do like the idea of the elves and dwarves being fewer but stronger numbers. And I'm playing with some ideas that I won't announce until I know they will work the way I want them to.

I've been holding off on these changes until closer to the end of the mod. That way at the end I might have 2 finished versions of the mods - one balanced against 1.06 values and the second the way I would like. This might end up being too much work, but either way for now I really want to focus on getting some of the campaign maps completed and doing the work required for this. I'm going to make sure I take note of this so when I get to re-organizing factions/changing balance this will definitely be considered.

As for increasing the size of ents slightly, I'm nervous about doing things like this. While I do like change the size of some of the units to come closer to the books/movies I'm worried about SEE. I don't want anyone to think I'm copying another mod, but I'd like to play with the scales of some of the units.

Maybe addyng some dragon hero for Angmar &
I have idea about one.
Faraddar - bluee dragon of carn-dum. He is Witch-kings secret weapon
His stats must be stronger then drogoth stats
His Abilities
1. Freazing Breath - freathes and damages all units in the area(level1)
2. Aura of Frost - all enemies near Faraddar gets -50 % spead
3. Dragon Hipnoz - take control on targeteble horde
4 Summon Dragon - summons dragon

I'm thinking about Angmar in the back of my mind, they will be last in additions as they have very little to do with the campaign, well at least the campaign I'm currently working on. (There are a total of 4 maybe 5 campaigns that I'm looking at to include by the end, some future insane date. It would be interesting if anyone could gues them all.)

The idea of them having a dragon sounds very interesting and tempting. Scatha would be an interesting addition if not Faraddar as the dragon was still alive at that point. Frost/Ice dragons/drakes are slated for the campaign and may as well be added to the wild. This will be for a map in the north. I'll have more details as I get closer to that area, but it is one of the maps that I'm very excited to do.

For your dragon, the powers are along the lines that I was thinking of including in my frost dragon. The aura of frost might be a special weapon like the necros freeze instead of a aura of speed decrease. (The main reason due to having to use he debuff modifier. These don't stack like the other types and tend to cancel other types out. I'd to play with some of the paralyzing/immune affects again, maybe give the weapon a different spin.) But overall, your dragon is very close to what I've been considering. The level 10 power though will be summon ice drakes - similar to Gorkil's power but ice drakes instead of fire drakes.

Robert J.

Edited by robnkarla, 11 June 2007 - 09:24 PM.

Be careful when balancing those things. And yes Dwarves should also get a unit number reducement. Thanks!

Hey!
I wish I had time to help you with this release. I can't right now, but I'll have plenty of time in a month. I just cannot forget your help in the DC Patch mod.

Well, I don't agree about the cold-drake to be honest. Tolkien didn't mean them as the frost-counterpart of the fire breathing dragons, but just as dragons who weren't able to breath fire. The flying dragons who invaded Gondolin, were just drogoth-like creatures without a hot mouth, but that doesn't mean that they could freeze things, if you understand what I mean.

Scatha was a non-flying cold drake. He was still an extremely powerful being though; like all the dragons, he had the dragon curse: his eyes could "freeze" someone indeed, but only if he fixes his mind on 1 creature, so trapping a hero can be a fine power for him (the dragon hypnoz).

Actually, his special powers (except for the fighting) can be like wormtongue. My theory about Grima is that Wormtongue = Wyrmtongue = Dragontongue. Dragons were able to control the mind of many creatures a bit, but not in such a devastating way as the hypnoz power. Compare it to debuff/morgul blade: debuff affects lots of men, because an icy fear gets into their mind. For dragons, it's more some kind of doubt, which can make you think bad of your friends, etc. Saruman possesses this power as well. But to control a person completely, they need to fix their toughts on that person. Glaurung the Golden was only able to control 1, or maybe 2 persons at a time: Turin and Niniel. But just his words are enough to make people doubt, do you see what I mean?

Bilbo couldn't get frozen by Smaug, because Smaug couldn't fix his eye upon him. But his words made Bilbo doubt about the purposes of the Dwarves, that they were just little robbers who would kill Bilbo afterwards or refuse to pay him. Luckily, hobbits are strong and Bilbo's mind was strong enough to resist the poisonous words of Smaug and he didn't take off his ring.

I think the silvan elves sould have more numbers on this one. I like how some battalions are small though. I can not wait to play this.

I'd love to have the beta... please? (Edited by robnkarla)

The above post = me...

Edited by robnkarla, 18 May 2007 - 05:40 AM.

hey i would like to be a beta tester for your mod.

Can you give us any idea for the date of the next release?

if your still looking for help i can help whether its testing or some other mindless task you have for me. This mod looks very intresting seeing as i want an actual good campaign for ROTWK with sonme decent siege missions.

Please tell me King of the Dead will be added because he is my favirote hero

if your still looking for help i can help whether its testing or some other mindless task you have for me. This mod looks very intresting seeing as i want an actual good campaign for ROTWK with sonme decent siege missions.

Please tell me King of the Dead will be added because he is my favirote hero

I definitely can use help as soon as 1.05 is ready. Until then everything is all jumbled together and it's hard currently to divide up tasks unless you can model/skin. I know it seems like it is taking forever, but there are soooo many changes in this release. (100s of .bse files, 100s of new combo horde objects, 6 BFME1 maps, 1.5 new factions with a large number of new units/heroes, complete re-work of the campaign to take into account horde sizes/balance and scripting for object groups to use the 100s of objects, dozen of bug fixes/enhancements, completely new complex inn systems, etc.)

So though I hate to say it, it will be ready when it is ready and right now I am mainly looking for skinner/modellers, but I will need testers as soon as I can get this thing out the door.

Alas, for now the King of the Dead has not been added, but I would not count anything out in the mod. (There are still many things left to do.)

Robert J.

well i don't know anything about modelling or skinning but i can make palantir and button art

I don't think that I'm good at skinning, PhotoShop is not my favourite program.

But I'm glad to search as much bugs as possible!

Hey there Rob! The changes are looking very nice, keep it up. I would like to be a tester if you need one.

I would definitly like to test this bad boy out

I would also like to be an Beta-Tester, please add my to your list.
thx PowaNoob

It's great to see so many of you from all over. Welcome.

I've added everyone to the list of testers. To give you an idea of timing, I really, really want to get everything ready by the end of June for a release. After that release I'll be uploading frequent releases with any bug fixes/balance changes as well as additions to building animations/textures/models etc.

One thing that is taking time to give an idea is the evil men faction. This will be included in the next release. I've been splitting Mordor and Evil, creating the heroes and units. Evil men and Mordor will not be 100% complete, but close enough to release. It will also give beta testers the opportunity to provide their desires on how the factions will be finalized.

Thank you all for the support.
Robert J.

i am officially signing up for this =D name = Thogrom

look forward to play the beta .... mabye that cauladan can help ya he,s very good with art

The following is the list of items that will be included in the next release - v1.05. This will coming in the 2-4 weeks depending on the amount of free time I have and how many campaign maps I will be including. I'm been focusing this release on game content that will be used in the campaign, not just campaign maps. I'll continue to add to this list as I get closer.

- Mod updated with the new patch - included bug fixes and relevant items
- Will now use the -mod command
- A number of bug fixes and other items (i.e Mumakil being boarded by haradrim, damagescalars all fixed for new units, ai fixes, object groups changed, etc.)
- Modified dwarven textures with a mithril mail look and less...colorful (Guardians, Phalanx, Axethrowers...) as well as slightly different randomized textures
- Slightly modified textures for Glorfindel, Gloin, Nazguls, Witchking, Fellbeast
- Higher quality Easterling skins
- New evil heroes (3 troll heroes, 9 different nazguls, Gothmog moutable, Dragon Hero Durmalug, and maybe 1 Rhun hero)
- Shellmap from BFME1 with new logo and BFME1 loadscreens
- 6 new BFME1 style maps - Dunharrow, Cair Andros, Anorien, Mouths of the Entwash, Belfalas, Brown Lands along with the AI for these maps - literally 100s of .bse files
- The new gameplay style will be near 100% complete with the capturable buildings and other items added.
- So far I have Ithilien (2 versions), Cair Andros, & Erebor slotted to be included. If I get more/less done by the release I'll include more/less.
- I'll make a few more of the maps "hero maps" similar to Minas Tirith now where all of the new hereos are available to play.

Well, those are the major items. There are a number of small items not listed above.

With so many changes I'm thinking of releasing a pre-release private beta first if I can find enough testers willing to play through and work out the bugs with me. Reply here if you are interested in joining a private test of the mod.

As always, thank you for playing,
Robert J.

Edit:
The list of who will be in the v1.05 test group: (If your name is not here and you want it to be - post, if you want it to be removed, post)

fehik
mumak_king
GrandMoffDima
pasiecaaL
D_bershevits
YodaWarrior
Angmarian Warrior
Catabre
Thomas of hunter's
Khamul91
lasman
Azrapse
Delta 57 Dash
My_Hour - BFME2 Heaven
el kevo
Digz
Kojho
PowaNoob
Dark Leaprechaun

lol-with this amount of testers im fairly certain all the bugs will be found within minutes