Ask Your Questions Here!

[Aradan]

There is no way to "turn off distance penalty".

[Jagmodo]

Oh, I thought you have done it for non-mannish factions (along with unrest)... Guess I was wrong about it.

[acci_dent]

In RTW yes, in FATW no.

without using the unbreakable alliance thing? I'm intrigued...

There is no way to "turn off distance penalty".

You could just give the hidden bonuses to all the cities, though again it isn't really ideal. Will the Arnor bonus be given to the AI? Their choice of capital placement always tends to baffle me.

[Aradan]

without using the unbreakable alliance thing? I'm intrigued...

It relies on the same core mechanic.

You could just give the hidden bonuses to all the cities, though again it isn't really ideal. Will the Arnor bonus be given to the AI? Their choice of capital placement always tends to baffle me.

Giving bonuses to every city is the same as giving them to no city at all, and it would also make RK's life easier by reducing the chance of unrest.
Yes, the bonus is also for the AI, otherwise it would have a hard time holding on to Arnor.

[Wambat]

Also, will engine let you simulate dual capitals for RK and will Adûnabâr also have one in the north.

I am no lore expert, but isn't the whole point of the "Reunited Kingdom" that it is no longer separated into northern and southern kingdoms?

Hmm, but player can lose Minas Tirith (Ok, I admit hard, but very much possible ) or Gondor completely after that. That would automatically move capital to Arnor; i.e. second largest city – Annúminas, I guess.

It doesn't seem likely to me that any of the "cities" of the north should be any larger than large towns, even if their government building is more advanced. I am surprised that a happiness bonus is even necessary given the, likely, small populations in the north. Should Minas Tirith fall, I would imagine one of the large southern port cities as the next most likely seat of government.

And why are we talking about where the capital is as though this was outside the player's control? Is DoM going to remove the option to set the capital's location?

Another thought: Why make it easier for RK to manage a large empire? Isn't that why the kingdom was split in the first place? So it's hard for RK to manage its northern provinces; that's why RK has so many good ancillaries and traits. It should just force the player lower taxes in the north and race against the rising populations to get good governors to the area before they start rebelling.

There isn't an unbreakable alliance between them at the moment, because that would cause the Shire to join in any of RK's wars, which would not work well. The two factions start off as allies and like each other very much. It's extremely unlikely they'll attack each other (especially Shire attacking RK).

I am curious as to why it is so important that the Shire not participate in RK's wars. It would not be the first time, according to Shire records. To keep the participation low you might place a ridiculously long build time on Shire combat units, so that the shire could never field an army capable to taking another settlement by itself.

[Wambat]

Oh, I thought you have done it for non-mannish factions (along with unrest)... Guess I was wrong about it.

I think what DoM does for Elves and Dwarves is make their cities never rebel, but they would still have a happiness attribute which can and will drop below 75%. This was done based on the, in my opinion spurious, argument that neither Dwarves nor Elves should be allowed to fight their kindred, which would occupy any province that had rebelled; despite the numerous instances of this occurring, at least, among the Elves.

[Aradan]

The player's ability to change capitals or the population density in some area don't matter. The issue is simple: If we accept the premise of the double capital, settlements in Arnor should use the north-capital to measure 'distance to capital' and settlements in Gondor should use the south-capital. Since that isn't possible, the difference between reality and desired effect needs to be be compensated somehow.


With RK and Rohan sharing a permanent alliance, if Shire had one with RK, it would automatically share one with Rohan too. That would result in the Shire being at war with half of the factions on the map. And even though they won't send soldiers, it doesn't seem right that the most peace-loving faction would be engaged in so many wars - plus, being at war with them would put the Shire in the crosshairs of other factions and increase the likelihood of them being destroyed, which we'd also like to delay.


You have mixed a couple of things up. That non-mannish factions shouldn't fight members of their own race is the reason why there are no non-mannish rebel units. The inability of non-mannish factions to have revolts (which would anyway happen only outside their homelands, where the rebels would be Men) has nothing to do with that. It's a result of their particular mechanics, which we would happily change if we knew how.

[Jagmodo]

I am no lore expert, but isn't the whole point of the "Reunited Kingdom" that it is no longer separated into northern and southern kingdoms?

Ahh..., I just wanted to find out is it possible to have two capitals or simulate it somehow because Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor after reunion de facto had two capitals- Annúminas, from where king Aragorn II Elessar ruled (and may be considered chief one) and Minas Tirith (that Aragorn visited from time to time and eventually was buried there). Second reason was if possible to redistribute distance from capital to count from each, and so decrease penalty; decreasing possible high unrest (Answered by Aradan it is impossible that way...). Reason for that was I don’t think that northern part of Reunited Kingdom would be burning with unrest because there is no real reason for that and most of Eriador welcomed new king or was simply indifferent.

It doesn't seem likely to me that any of the "cities" of the north should be any larger than large towns, even if their government building is more advanced. I am surprised that a happiness bonus is even necessary given the, likely, small populations in the north. Should Minas Tirith fall, I would imagine one of the large southern port cities as the next most likely seat of government.

It is entirely possible that in almost 300 years Arnor was quite repopulated and Annúminas significantly with it because it was administrative center of the kingdom. I think that something along these lines is even stated in LOTR appendixes, but that it never reached population of Minas Tirith. Correct me if I’m wrong (again).

Another thought: Why make it easier for RK to manage a large empire? Isn't that why the kingdom was split in the first place? So it's hard for RK to manage its northern provinces; that's why RK has so many good ancillaries and traits. It should just force the player lower taxes in the north and race against the rising populations to get good governors to the area before they start rebelling.

I thought that kingdom was split for the first time because of Isildur’s death and every kingdom after that gone separate ways?

I am curious as to why it is so important that the Shire not participate in RK's wars. It would not be the first time, according to Shire records. To keep the participation low you might place a ridiculously long build time on Shire combat units, so that the shire could never field an army capable to taking another settlement by itself.

I thought that Shire only once send one small group of archers and in situation of Arnor’s direst need, basically when it was faced with destruction.

I think what DoM does for Elves and Dwarves is make their cities never rebel, but they would still have a happiness attribute which can and will drop below 75%. This was done based on the, in my opinion spurious, argument that neither Dwarves nor Elves should be allowed to fight their kindred, which would occupy any province that had rebelled; despite the numerous instances of this occurring, at least, among the Elves.

Yes, infighting occurred among Elves and Dwarves too. In Silmarillion is stated that dwarven clans occasionally fight among themselves before some of them came to Ered Luin. But this mod is set in the Fourth Age and with their diminishing numbers threat of complete annihilation is much greater; so they are much closer to each other. Also from the end of the First Age there is no recorded conflict among themselves by those species.

Question... (I know I’m boring everyone...) Will greater public order in Arnorian regions only apply for RK and Adûnabâr or will other factions experience the same?

[Aradan]

Question... (I know I’m boring everyone...) Will greater public order in Arnorian regions only apply for RK and Adûnabâr or will other factions experience the same?

Only RK and Adunabar.

[Gonras]

Two questions: Will there be more items available for all the factions (like Anduril and the Palantiri)?

Also, I've read somewhere (I think it was in one of Tolkiens letter) that the blue Istari (AFAIK Alatar and Pallando) might have fallen to darkness and founded cults surrounding them. Could or would that be implemented?

[Aradan]

Unique ancillaries like those have been converted to traits, because they shouldn't be transferable (it would make no sense if someone except the king held the crown or Anduril), but yes, other factions also have such heirlooms now.

We haven't done anything about the Blue WIzards, no. Whether something could be done or not depends on what that something would be.

[Jagmodo]

We haven't done anything about the Blue WIzards, no. Whether something could be done or not depends on what that something would be.

Only ways to make reference to Blue Wizards in the mod that I can see as plausible enough would be with some kind of unique (diversification) temple building or eventually an ancillary- priest of a magic cult that they allegedly started.

However, I’m not sure that’s a good idea as it’s quite a moot theme; Tolkien himself was changing his mind about them. In his late writings it’s written that they greatly contributed in “weakening and disarraying the forces of East ... who would both in the Second Age and Third Age otherwise have ... outnumbered the West”.

But, you have probably used your final building slot on something far better than this and I at the moment don’t see how mentioning them would contribute to the mod.

I assume Harondor and Far Harad will use Harad’s diversification buildings and Khand that of Rhûn. Will Tharbad have its own diversification buildings or will use that of one major faction (RK?)?

Edit: Regarding traits, if there will be Thranduil in the mod he should have some “greedy” negative trait.

[Aradan]

Minor factions don't get Specialization Buildings. Not enough building slots and it's also another point of difference between them and the major ones.

We've not yet decided on starting characters. If any 'historical' ones are included, they'll be properly depicted.

[Jagmodo]

Finally I connected...

I’m not sure is it possible but could you use some of Specialization Buildings from a major faction that is appropriate for a minor one that share similar culture. That way they would not get all or none but one or two. For example, it doesn’t seem wrong if Khand could build Temple of the Dragon's breath; on the contrary it feels like they should have it since that building is restricted to Khand and train their elite units. Same way Tharbad could have Foundry of Gondor, Harondor and Far Harad Ivory Trademaster and so on. No new buildings are needed, of course. I'm not trying to force something, I'm asking is it possible and your opinion about it.

You know a mod is more than great when after a year of playing it you can find out new things. I encountered that some of my faction members died by the “Will of Ilúvatar”. Can you say what exactly this cause of death is?

[Aradan]

I’m not sure is it possible but could you use some of Specialization Buildings from a major faction that is appropriate for a minor one that share similar culture. That way they would not get all or none but one or two. For example, it doesn’t seem wrong if Khand could build Temple of the Dragon's breath; on the contrary it feels like they should have it since that building is restricted to Khand and train their elite units. Same way Tharbad could have Foundry of Gondor, Harondor and Far Harad Ivory Trademaster and so on. No new buildings are needed, of course. I'm not trying to force something, I'm asking is it possible and your opinion about it.

It's not that simple. If we do what you suggest, then a minor faction should be able to build an SB in some provinces and under specific circumstances. So the first level of the SB (the 'city development' level) would need to be available everywhere for the major faction, but only in some provinces for the minor faction, which means its construction conditional would need to look like this:

building X requires factions { major_faction, } and some_requirements or other_requirements or factions { minor_faction, } and requirements_specific_to_one_SB or requirements_specific_to_another_SB

The EDB cannot handle conditionals of such complexity.

A way around would be to have the first level available everywhere and then make some upgrades available for the minor factions and only in specific provinces, but that would leave us with a useless 'city development' that can't be upgraded to anything in all other provinces, which looks sloppy.

An alternative would be to make sure minor factions have SBs everywhere, but that's not as easy as it sounds either, because the SBs would need to cover every possible combo of province/policy. For example, Mûmakil Training Grounds are only available in provinces with the ivory resource and require Lord's Barracks, which in turn require military policy. So, if you have this SB, you also need one or more other SBs that will be available without the ivory resource and/or with other policies, so that no matter where the City Development is constructed and no matter which policy has been pursued, something is always available as an upgrade.

I wouldn't mind having SBs for all factions, not at all actually, but coming up with a solid plan of what and how can be complicated, if it is to be done properly.

You know a mod is more than great when after a year of playing it you can find out new things. I encountered that some of my faction members died by the “Will of Ilúvatar”. Can you say what exactly this cause of death is?

That's our 'death by natural disaster' message; floods, eartquakes, etc.

[Basileos Predator]

So no activity lately so i thought i should pop up and ask you guys :What have you worked on lately in the mod?

[Aradan]

Traits mostly and reviewing some settlement names. Unit/building text is also completed (barring last-minute changes). And of course thinking and rethinking gameplay mechanics...

[Basileos Predator]

Awesome.Well good luck with that and i'll keep popping up here once in a while to check for updates on your work and the mod itself.
Cheers Predator!

[Jagmodo]

Last- minute changes? Sounds promising. Actually, if you completed unit’s description I dare to conclude you also have all units’ rosters worked out (concepts, not actually finished units). I still hope there will be Sindar/Elven axmen.

[Aradan]

Ah yes, forgot to mention that the above doesn't include Elves. The roster and the unit concepts are done and everything (axes will be featured, but not as primary weapons), but their descriptions are not done yet, they'll be done as soon as the models/textures are. Last-minute changes will probably not anything very dramatic; probably representation of cultural groups like the fisher-folk of Enedwaith or the Druedain of Andrast, etc.


By the by, the "what features would you like to see in DoM" question remains constantly open. If you have played another mod/game, read a book or whatever and have an idea you'd like to propose, I'm all ears.