[FACTION PREVIEW] East Empire

[Menumorut]

Excellent preview guys also, this unit Spurhawks, it really give the impression that flies in game? I would like to see her in action in a movie as soon as possible

[Squeaks]

You guys just made my day, im speechless. The Easten Empire is more elegant then I imgined, + rep.

Good...thanks

The Empire.


Everyone else.

Well, you have the West and Imperial Kadasandra to come yet.

Edit: Squeaks I gotta spread some rep before im able to rep you agian.

read it .. loved it

oh and when you release the full version i may have to move those angel bloods to other factions ... i just love them so much

Heh....well, you can if you like, of course. I imagine people will do all sorts very quickly.

hope you don't mind

Nah. Not worried by these things. Rewriting the setting and stuff, yes, making the mod more enjoyable nope. It's being made to be enjoyed.

the Ancillian Pitdogs are badasses. I don't think I've ever seen any unit with claws in TW.

Well, they have those and axes and daggers, but yep.

I wanted to redo them really, but if they look good then they can stay as they are. Wait until you see the Penal Battalions of the Federation....

Excellent!! Beautiful!! Can't wait!!

again...

Ha, yeah I just happened to be browsing through at the right time. I have one question though, are the Myr Addat part of the empire? But great preview, I got to say the variety of units is really appealing to me. Like a lot of you I don't usually like big factions, but these guys look really interesting and challenging to play.

The Myr Addat are a part of the EMpire, yes. They have a connection to the Bandit kingdom too, which has a Myr Addat embassy there....that may prove to be possible to gain by the Bandit Kings if played; the Myr Addat could possibly change sides there.

I think the Western Empire's forces will be better than the East in some ways...at least equal and as unique, but possibly cooler. They have dragons, and Nehemian Skybulls, and the Void Temple and the Daikini Royal Pathfinders, Harker's Damned, Valadir Kyrini, Taichondran Long Knives, the Heartland Legions...ALL sorts, and more.

excellent preview as usual dragondawn team
long live the empire!

I think I will take the advice given and play the empire first (even though im Dwarven at heart)
defend the south and throw everything at the nuagir .... ooo I cant wait

Bela loves Dwarves. They should meet your expectations happily.

The NAugiri will be tough to get rid of, and probably slow going.

Excellent preview, you guys!

Looks brilliant; cannae wait to have a go on it lads!

We can't either

Yet again I am blown away by the overall quality of the work put into this mod. Cant wait for it to be finished

Looks Beautiful .

Ta. Like the pony.

Ave Dragonborn! Thanks for the extra work in making this preview, guys! No one would have held you to doing both of them but we're all very pleased you did. And just in case it needs to be said, I'm eagerly anticipating the Dragondawn release. Stay awesome!

Well, we don't post a hell of a lot on here, so it kind of makes up for it. This is easier than posting a lot really, but that may be changed too.

Excellent preview guys also, this unit Spurhawks, it really give the impression that flies in game? I would like to see her in action in a movie as soon as possible

Yes, they do fly. Yep, I'm sure a video can be taken. None of it's perfect, of course; the flying anims are great though.

[sheba021]

Awesome preview and simply gorgeous units, great job team!

[knight of meh]

Nah. Not worried by these things. Rewriting the setting and stuff, yes, making the mod more enjoyable nope. It's being made to be enjoyed.

Angel bloods meet Ilien .. Ilien meet these Angel bloods that just appeared seemingly out of nowhere

[Squeaks]

Awesome preview and simply gorgeous units, great job team!

Thank you.

Angel bloods meet Ilien .. Ilien meet these Angel bloods that just appeared seemingly out of nowhere

Well, in theory every EMpire faction HAS access to the others' troops. There's a mechanism by which you can request aid from another part every X turns minimum.

Quick Videos...as asked, plus Telmior chariots...I have to fix the rider-captain. That comes later for now...

HAWKS



TELMIOR NOBLE SONS



Terrible videos, but that's REALLY not my thing...I had help with these!

[Daily]

Those eagles. I am blown away.

[deusvult6]

Stupid rep button isn't working for those videos, so I'll just say lovely models and very nice animations. Certain to liven up the battlefield gloriously.

[Squeaks]

Those eagles. I am blown away.

Hi There's a lot of better stuff

Stupid rep button isn't working for those videos, so I'll just say lovely models and very nice animations. Certain to liven up the battlefield gloriously.

There are issues with 'flying' units...these guys land to attack, but they fly up when fighting, to launch themselves back in...not 100% perfect, but it's good enough

It remains to be seen about other stuff....I'm looking into a couple of things that haven't been done yet, and I haven't implemented stuff I have been allowed to use yet too. One thing about us lot is we're not BIG modders, or really very experienced. The amount of fiddling, tidying and things for my models is going to be huge, as I've learned a lot and need to go back and make old stuff better....tidier is an understatement...

I do wish I could show you some of the really, really cool stuff, but it'll have to wait. I imagine there will be more of these previews however

[Daily]

Ohh I am aware off all the awesome things that is the Dragonborn mod but the eagles just shocked me. Great preview and I am happy that you are making such great progress!

[deusvult6]

There are issues with 'flying' units...these guys land to attack, but they fly up when fighting, to launch themselves back in...not 100% perfect, but it's good enough

Just had a cool thought, a missile flying mount unit. With javelins or maybe arrows. Might make attacking animation less wonky. On the other hand it would likely be overpowered as they could only be hit by missile units. Or could they? Can the units attacking them only connect their attacks while they are landed or do they still hit them while flying? (i.e. is a soldier's hit box determined by his visual model or by the space he occupies on the surface of the map?)

Your stage of development is clearly far beyond the point of such conceptualization, though, so make of it what you will.

EDIT: Forgot to say it would also make tactical sense. If I could fly then why not stay up high and bombard the enemy from relative safety?

I don't mean to sound too pretentious with my suggestion (kinda looked that way in hindsight), it's just that in all the mods I've seen with flying units they were employed as melee and no missile versions exist and I don't know why. Probably OPness concerns. With the proclivity of magic in DB perhaps it will be less of an issue.

[Squeaks]

Ohh I am aware off all the awesome things that is the Dragonborn mod but the eagles just shocked me. Great preview and I am happy that you are making such great progress!

Ah well, yes of course, but that's good...nice shocks are always good!

Just had a cool thought, a missile flying mount unit. With javelins or maybe arrows. Might make attacking animation less wonky.

The Legion Spurhawks are mounted archers. They are a missile unit, but they have to land to fire. Obviously they'd be mean in combat, but you'd need to force them to do hand to hand fighting. The dragons are not exactly mounted missile, but are, as they will breathe fire. As they're based off the mount type they are, they're having to land and charge, although they fly up and then pounce constantly during combat.

On the other hand it would likely be overpowered as they could only be hit by missile units. Or could they? Can the units attacking them only connect their attacks while they are landed or do they still hit them while flying? (i.e. is a soldier's hit box determined by his visual model or by the space he occupies on the surface of the map?)

They CAN be charged or shot. However, charging them should be fairly hard at first, due to speed. They should be tough enough to encourage close combat. Dragons will certainly have only few missile attacks before running out of fire. The problem to avoid is having a unit that can run away constantly and is too fast to catch, and to avoid their wings flapping so quickly it's comical.

As far as everyone knows, you can't have a unit that cannot be engaged from the ground. Having said that, it's not actually desirable to HAVE unts that can just sit in the air, as if you have nothing that can hit them at some point in a battle, then they just sit there and slowly slaughter you. The space they take up is down to settings elsewhere.

Your stage of development is clearly far beyond the point of such conceptualization, though, so make of it what you will.

Well, it is, but that doesn't mean that outside input can't make a good difference and a good impact, as it may solve problems, or simply bring up points that are very useful. Really, ANY input is very good. It's harder to make this without the community's involvement.

EDIT: Forgot to say it would also make tactical sense. If I could fly then why not stay up high and bombard the enemy from relative safety?

Yep, but you do have to think about TOO safely. I really wish that you could have different armour vs missiles and vs melee...THAT would help a LOT. Then you could reduce the damage that flying units would take from archers.

I don't mean to sound too pretentious with my suggestion (kinda looked that way in hindsight),

Not at all. The reason we work as a team is that we don't have egos to upset all the time. We say what we feel, and it's mostly taken on board...there would be some TRAGIC units if not for criticism. It's not easy to be criticised, of course, but then what happens if you can't take that, especially from friends, or when well intentioned?

it's just that in all the mods I've seen with flying units they were employed as melee and no missile versions exist and I don't know why. Probably OPness concerns. With the proclivity of magic in DB perhaps it will be less of an issue.

I think 'over-powered' units are not really a problem if handled right. We will have some REALLY solid units that can toast lesser ones. They may seem over-powered; yes, they are, as they are designed to be, but there are many other limits on them. I don't think a unit of rat infantry should be able to take a charge by SLaughterstars at all (you'll learn to really fear them full stop, but a player fearing them as well as an army is GREAT). I also think that one or two NASTY units is great...if one faction had 10 and others none, then yes, not good. The limits come in MANY other forms, and it's also a good point to have to learn how to deal with the best your enemies have. I really expect a lot of people will initially feel that some stuff's too nasty, especially magic, but it's just a case of knowing that serious care will have gone into being sensible at our end. If you face two or three nasties in one army, then at least you know they're not in another one. In the first battle we did, there were Godslayers in the Wolfborn (several), and Wyndlin Firs...they proved to be troublesome, but it didn't mean you couldn't win. Even if a faction has heavy magical use, they won't have tons of units with magic, or at least the lesser units won't have excessively damaging stuff.

If you take a normal archer unit with say 120 men, then the best archers (the Lindiri) will only have small units...say 40, which will make them still better, but each death has more impact. Of course, if you have 250 rat archers, they're still pretty bad. When supported by Skitiskin and Devourer Brood, then you see the balancing, as they will rip a lot of people to shreds, and over time, the little archers WILL have an impact, even if they're not very good. Throw in some of their weirder stuff and their big artillery, and they are horrible, yet they have many weak units. I would really hope people have a lot of fun working out how to win with the huge diversity of factional armies, despite some over-powered units, or actually because of those units.

Sorry about the rant

[Menumorut]

Thank you.
Quick Videos...as asked, plus Telmior chariots...I have to fix the rider-captain. That comes later for now...
HAWKS

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Terrible videos, but that's REALLY not my thing...I had help with these!

Indeed, they even look like flying, good job, well done guys, pretty bad I didn't see them into a fight

[deusvult6]

@Squeaks Thanks for the detailed response. Glad to hear you guys foster and encourage a constructively critical environment.

When I mentioned over-powered I meant to the point of being insurmountably game-breaking. So long as a challenge is surmountable, then I agree with you that it's just good gaming fun (particularly with the handicapped AI in this engine).

[feanor2345]

RELEASE DATE?

[Kaiser Leonidas]

RELEASE DATE?

27/12/11

[Squeaks]

@Squeaks Thanks for the detailed response. Glad to hear you guys foster and encourage a constructively critical environment.

It'd be tragic otherwise Hissy fits flying everywhere tend to be somewhat unproductive.

When I mentioned over-powered I meant to the point of being insurmountably game-breaking.

Ahh. I was warned that magic would be moaned about and be seen as over-powered whatever I did with it It's not, but it will be very effective. Saying that, the nastier ones only need to be hit with something nasty in return for them to die...just adds a different need for tactics in battle really.

So long as a challenge is surmountable, then I agree with you that it's just good gaming fun (particularly with the handicapped AI in this engine).[/QUOTE]

RELEASE DATE?

Ask Boris. I don't think we can honestly say; there's stuff being done somewhere all the time, but that doesn't mean we can give any form of date. I suspect we'll have to choose at what degree of 'perfection' (or slightly or more less so) we release the mini-mod at, so we can then work out whether the mini-mod is a demo of what's to come, which is what I'd like it to be....nowhere near as good as the biggie, but still good.

I do think that once the mini-version is out, the rest will rapidly happen (comparatively), as the main work will have been done. If you look at the stuff that's been shown, then add the LOT you haven't, then you'll have a vague idea. Really, a lot of the hard work is going to be 2d and text stuff - file replacement, which aren't going to be done by me so much.