1143 replies to this topic

[Dalf32]

ok, ill try to hit all of this stuff. thanks for your suggestions, they are much appreciated; now to get you up to speed on the goings on 'round the RJ forums...

there is already a plan for the ring heros taht will totally rework the system. this is partially in place now (not in your version) but is not really even close to being done. that link was the only thing i oculd find on short notice that explains it, but it replaces the need to choose faction-specific ring heros.

much of the art that is not in your version is filled in with the private beta and there is some more still to be added. we have some great guys who do palantir images and icons and whatnot for us so we're using their work.

ugluk has 2 powers (i think) in the private beta and one of them includes a speed boost leadership and another armor power (not positive here).

angmar easterling captain is in fact not an easterling captain at all but is just there to show off a model we want to use at some point. dont really expect any powers for him any time soon.

im assuming youre speaking about hte hobbit heros' toggle button? in that case im sure it will be fixed (if its not already).

as far as speech goes, we are trying to get some speeches done (perhaps forming a speech team) and we hope to start filling things like that in, but i wouldnt expect anything in the next release.

ai's are not done for mote, rohan, or arnor (or elves in our version) and i dont really think we will get to doing them until they are a bit closer to finished. this is jsut my guess however so im not positive about this one.

new colors are an interesting thought, i dont know if we have any control over that (although you did in bfme1) but it may be worth consideration down the road.

the new faction icons will also probably not be done (if they can in fact be done) until later in the mod's life as we get on to doing finishing touches.

i hope i hit enough of your stuff to get you up to speed. and welcome to the RJ forums!

[Devon]

Ah crap...found your email in junk today I guess you figured it out?

[Brenn]

Radagast's level doesn't increase.

However, fantastic mod !

Edited by Brenn, 06 September 2008 - 04:21 PM.

[Hasfusel]

Thanks. I hope I can contribute to this.

The one thing I really love about this mod is the new Inn system. I had some ideas and stuff about how to fill it up.

- For a start, the Inn upgrades don't work for any ally faction except Southern Fiefdoms, and the buttons for the Evil allies are a bit wrong - the Hero button accesses upgrades and the upgrade button has nothing, although this is pretty minor.

- Another thing is the faction heroes. If you purchase a hero from an Inn, (say, if it were possible to recruit Eomer from the Rohan allegiance) it should not be possible to have the same hero twice. In other words, imagine you are playing as Gondor against Rohan. You take over an Inn and purchase the Rohan allegiance. You improve your allegiance, and recruit an ally hero (Eomer). However, Rohan also recruits Eomer from their fortress, meaning that there are two...?
It seems a bit ridiculous, so I was thinking that if a race recruits a hero, it is impossible for the same hero to be recruited by someone else (via Inn, or if there are two of the same faction playing) until said hero is killed.
Another thing is to have at least one hero per ally faction is only recruitable through the inn. I thought maybe Prince Imrahil, for a start, could be removed from the Gondor hero list and placed in the Inn, because he isn't really a Gondor hero. If you gave him some more powers, he could be the lvl.VI (legend hero) allegiance hero for the Southern Fiefdoms. The same applies to Radagast, making him the Rohan lvl.VI hero (legend hero) for the inn. The rest of the ally Rohan heroes could be bought through the Inn, for instance, Hama, Gamling and Eomer, although if one side purchases them, nobody else can unless they are killed. The same could be done for the other races, although you could invent your own heroes for Legend Hero status, heroes only purchasable through the Inn system. I had some ideas myself.

Dwarves: Grimbeorn, son of Beorn, a strong hero who has a Rampage ability, can transform into a bear (some other modder did it) and a Groundshaker ability. He could even toggle from Melée to throwing rocks or Dwalin, brother of Balin, with many strong Sage abilities. You could make him via CAH, and add your own powers.

Elves: Gildor Inglorien, an Elf-Lord. He has Leadership, Toggle Weapon, and a few abilities such as Athelas and Whirlwind. He could also be made using CAH.

Rohan: Radagast, as I said.

Southern Fiefdoms: Prince Imrahil. Give him Leadership, and a Glorious Charge ability, and he'll be a perfect Legend Status hero. The other Southern Fiefdom heroes you'll have to make up yourself, although Damrod could be used (as a Morthond Bowman hero) as well as being a Gondor hero.

Harad: Prince Aram of Harad, with Leadership, Toggle Weapon, and strong Dominate abilities. I made him using CAH - give him a turban, one of those round maces, and royal Haradrim clothing.

Isengard: The wizard Voniel, ally and apprentice to Saruman. Give him black Avatar clothing, with purple sleeves, normal hair, and an Orthanc staff (like Saruman). He has strong Wizard Blast, Lightning, Summon Crebain, and strong Convert Allegiance.

Goblins: Bolg, son of Azog. He can ride a warg, and has leadership, Beserk Rage, Firebomb, and summon Reinforcements.

Rhun: The Eastern Serpent. A top-class assassin with good stealth and assassin abilities. Also toggle weapon, and a strong poison attack.

Oh, and I love those new elf units, the mage ones. They could have a special elemental ability each such as strong fireball, whirlwind and flood, stronger when you have all three mage units in a group.

Edited by Hasfusel, 07 September 2008 - 02:55 PM.

[Hasfusel]

Hey, two more things.

1) You should have more Builplot maps. The only one I have is Fords of Isen, and for some reason capturing farm plots doesn't work.

2) In the RJ maps where you start with walls, the MotE faction resource collectors are much weaker on account of thicker walls, or something, so it's harder to get started.

3) Winning games as Arnor, Rohan and MotE don't add to your profile. You should make Arnor and Rohan wins add to Men, and MotE wins add to Mordor. It would reward playing games as the new factions.

Thanks. Hope this helps.

Edited by Hasfusel, 07 September 2008 - 03:57 PM.

[Hasfusel]

- "New" heroes such as Damrod don't appear to provide experience when killed. I'm not sure whether this applies to the new units too.

[Dalf32]

okey dokey, as for the inn that is going to be a repository for unused skins/campaign only units that jsut dont fit in the normal factions and all of the inn factions are planned to eventually work just like the southern fiefdoms inn faction. so basically, its just not done yet.

you pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as the noledhel go (elven mages).

i think there is a lack of buildplot maps because only rob (the mod leader) knows how to do them atm and they are not quite working correctly as you stated. im sure with time we will get more, but i wouldnt expect any soon.

the stats for the new factions cant really be messed around with because i believe that stuff is hardcoded in (meaning we cant touch it), however a solution may be forthcoming...

[Puppeteer]

Elves: Gildor Inglorien, an Elf-Lord. He has Leadership, Toggle Weapon, and a few abilities such as Athelas and Whirlwind. He could also be made using CAH.

There's enough heroes for Elves as it is IMO

[Hasfusel]

(I meant, as a Legendary Inn hero only recruitable at an Inn.)

One thing you could do for heroes like Celeborn and Bilbo who have no speech is to do what Nazgul did in the S.E.E mod - record small clips from the movies that are fitting.
Frodo is currently unused - he should be a dwarven hero, or an elven one.
I have many good ideas for some of the unfinished heroes and some improvements for others, to add more depth to the game-

Mahúd Chieftain:

Name: Suladan's too common, but I can't come up with anything else so let's stick with Mahúd Chieftain for now.
Powers:

Lvl 1: Toggle Weapon
Lvl 2: Cripple Shot
Lvl 5: Pillage (passive, nearby units loot resources from enemy buildings)
Lvl 7: Iron Fist (passive, grants nearby units resistance to fear)
Lvl 10: Call of the Serpent (temporary, nearby enemies suffer penalties to Armour and Damage)

Easterling Captain:

Name: Vorgel
Extra Powers:

Lvl 4: Disguise (becomes invisible when amongst Easterlings)
Lvl 10: Eastern Might (strong mélee attack that deals excellent poison damage)

Eowyn:
Has a faster rate of attack
Extra Powers:

Lvl 4: Beacon of Hope (passive, grants nearby units resistance to fear)

Boromir:
Cost increased to 1500
Extra Powers:

Lvl 6: Glorious Speech (nearby units temporarily gain a major boost to armour and damage)
Lvl 8: Last Stand (passive, becomes invunerable and gains a major boost to damage and attack strength when killed and fights on for 10 seconds)

Damrod:
Cost increased to 1200
Extra Powers:

Lvl 1: Toggle Weapon
Lvl 5: Arrow Volley (like Ranger unit's Longshot ability)

Mouth of Sauron:
Extra Power:

Lvl 7: War Speech (nearby units temporarily gain +50% damage)

Pippin:
Cost increased to 500
Can ride on Shadowfax with Gandalf (EA provided the model and the speech, I believe)
Can ride on Treebeard in the Campaign
Extra Power (for balance- now each hobbit has two extra powers, for instance Sam with Lembas and Frying Pan bash):

Lvl 5: Slayer (passive, deals extra damage to monsters, especially trolls)

Merry:
Cost increased to 500
Can ride with Eowyn (again, I think there was a model and a speech clip for this)
Can ride on Treebeard in the Campaign
Extra Powers:

Lvl 1: Hobbit Leadership (passive, grants leadership bonus for hobbits)
Lvl 5: Arnor Dagger (cripple attack that does excellent damage to Wights, Nazgul and the Witch-King)

Sam:
Cost increased to 500.
Frying Pan attack spelt correctly.
Lembas ability moved to Lvl 5.

Frodo:
Dwarven or Elven hero. Costs 500.
Extra Power:

Lvl 5: Resilience (passive, grants nearby units resistance to fear)

Bilbo:
Given new model with red cloak.
Given speech clip (not the one from Sam ;[ ).
Cost inreased to 500.

Extra powers:

Lvl 1: Master Thief (steals resouces from enemy resource building. Power's effect increased at Lvl 5 and Lvl 10)
Lvl 5: Slayer (passive, deals extra damage to monsters, especially spiderlings)

Glorfindel:
Cost increased to 2500
Trim colour changed to white

Extra powers:

Lvl 8: Light of the Havens (Istari Light attack, but stronger)

Saruman:
Cost increased to 4000
Attack does splash damage as well as knockback
Dominate ability moved to Lvl 7, changes enemy allegiance permanantly, not temporarily
Lightning Bolt ability does increased damage to buildings, recharges faster, and has a larger damage radius

Sharku:
Can dismount Warg, but when dismounted cannot use Eat ability. Use the Gothmog or an CAH Orc Raider model when dismounted.
Extra power:

Lvl 4: Pillage (passive, nearby units loot enemy buildings for resources)

Wormtoungue:
Timer for Dominate Hero increased

Arwen:
Athelas ability moved to Lvl 4
Flood ability moved to Lvl 8
Extra Power:

Lvl 10: Mount Eagle

Elrond:
Rate of attack increased
+2000 Health points

-----------------------------------

All of these would really make a difference for the better. You really should go ahead with these, although I understand that making these excellent changes would take some time.

One more idea - add your own Credits page to the mod, listing all the modders who made the game.

Edited by Hasfusel, 13 January 2009 - 08:30 PM.

[mike_]

Please don't double-post.

I'll give ideas a more thorough look-through when I have more time.

[Rafv Nin IV]

Frodo and Gollum are not in any faction because they are involved in the forthcoming Ring Hero system.

I would argue against raising the cost of the Hobbit heroes because their primary functions are as very early game heroes and as spies with the Elven Cloak ability later in game.

Bilbo's passive should grant great damage to all spiders; not just spiderlings e.g. Spider Riders from the inn and Shelob. Although this means that the ability is really only any good vs. Goblins, so I suggest that the general power (not the anti-spider boost) is more powerful than Merry's.

I don't like the idea of mounts for the hobbit heroes but I can't come up with any good reasons why

Care to explain why Arwen gets to ride an Eagle?

[Scryer]

The only hobbit hero that should have the ability to mount with another hero, should be Merry because he just can't catch up with the other riders.

[Argeleb]

I'd say there are too many Pillages in your hero list

[Hasfusel]

Arwen rides an eagle, because there's a model of this already. When you play the soundtrack using the Collector's Edition C.D2, it shows a little video loop of some places in BFME2, and one of the scenes shows Arwen riding an eagle down to the Grey Havens. This means that there's a model for it. And the mountable hobbits, it's because there's also a model and speech clip for them - Pippin riding with Gandalf, as he did to get to Minas Tirith, and Merry riding with Eowyn to the Pelennor Fields. It adds more detail.
Perhaps the Hobbit prices should just be moved to 200, to compensate for the extra powers. Reasoning behind the extra powers for hobbits - gives hobbit heroes an increased role, and an actual reason for wanting to level them up.
Uh, and I only made two pillage powers, and only where fitting. *does not understand*

I only added powers as were fitting with both the books and the film. There is a special reasoning behind each one.

How does Frodo work with the Ring system? Please explain, I think my idea for the Ring mechanic is much better I'm interested.

Edited by Hasfusel, 08 September 2008 - 06:39 PM.

[Puppeteer]

Glad you crossed out that last part.

Arwen rides an eagle, because there's a model of this already. When you play the soundtrack using the Collector's Edition C.D2, it shows a little video loop of some places in BFME2, and one of the scenes shows Arwen riding an eagle down to the Grey Havens. This means that there's a model for it. And the mountable hobbits, it's because there's also a model and speech clip for them - Pippin riding with Gandalf, as he did to get to Minas Tirith, and Merry riding with Eowyn to the Pelennor Fields. It adds more detail.

So basically your reasoning is because it's there it should be used. Bravissimo.

[Pasidon]

If the Russians went by that ideology we would all have giant squids jammed into our eye sockets.

Mountng with other heroes seems dumb. It's just an easier way to get a 2'fer kill and how would the health system work? Sam has that stupid horse Bill so he wouldn't need pony help though. Would be cool to see though. But hobits mounting on ents... now that would be sweet.

[Hasfusel]

So basically your reasoning is because it's there it should be used. Bravissimo.

Pretty much. Congradulations on your sound reasoning.

[Dalf32]

yea, he wasnt complimenting you methinks. the model existing is not quite a solid enough reason (for me at least) to put it in the game. is there some way we can back this up with the lore?

[{IP} Aridor]

No. It makes no sense. The eagles aren't some Middle Earth Rapid Transit system.

[Dalf32]

i didnt think i remembered anything about arwen riding an eagle.

hehe, gwaihir airlines