(Sub Mod) Dwarven Overhaul Project - Download available 08/06/2018
All right, Galu briefly mention in one of his videos that he'd asked me to wait until after 2.2 to go ahead with a project I'd been working on, rather than rushing to meet the deadline for the patch itself. It's now after 2.2. So here we go.
This sub mod overhauls and updates all three of the Dwarven factions, to varying degrees, with the goal of making their styles in battle much more distinctive one another as well as a number of visual improvements and tweaks to certain units. It's often commented that Ered Luin is just "Erebor without crossbows", hopefully when this is complete they will instead feel very different.
Submod Information and Notes:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Dwarven Overhaul Project
Ered Luin
Complete top to bottom rebuild of the entire roster. New unit list on the main page.
Battlefield tactics largely based around crossbows and pikemen, with multiple tiers of each. Their unique Broadbeam Marksmen are easily the most damaging and longest range crossbowmen in the game.
In return their melee units are generally not quite as strong, offensively or defensively, as that of Erebor and Khazad-Dum (still pretty damned good though, they ARE Dwarves) and they have few AP melee units.
Two AOR units the Firebeard Warriors and Broadbeam Marksmen require any Blue Mountains region (plus a couple of nearby settlements) including Buszra-Dum.
Ered Luin Heir now has Broadbeam Marksmen as his bodyguard
Erebor
Erebor units typically have the highest Melee Attack and Charge of all three Dwarven factions. Several units' defense lowered slightly however.
Now has multiple units (3) with throwing axes.
King's Crossbows have been removed and replaced with King's Warriors; a T2 axe throwing unit that can still fight well in melee
Axeguard of Erebor now also have throwing axes. Still just as deadly in melee.
Can no longer train Dwarven Travellers. The Travelers are now a Khazad-Dum (and Bree, sort of) only unit.
The only "real" ranged units for Erebor now come from the Orocarni: The Stiffbeard Archers and Blacklock Engineers. Replenish rate of Orocarni units sped up slightly to compensate.
Iron Hills Mattocks can now be trained everywhere. Sightly weaker and cheaper than previously, however.
New look for un-upgrade T2 "King's" units.
New heavier armoured texture for Dragonslayers of Ered Mithrin, by 'Black Goldfish'.
Dragonslayers are now AP, but base damage reduced slightly.
Can no longer train Iron Fist Axes (now named Orocarni Warriors), which are now a Khand only unit. Let's face it they were just redundant for Erebor.
Khazad-Dum
Khazad-Dum units typically have the highest Armour and Shield of all three Dwarven factions but the worst Charge of all three. In particular their T2 and T3 units however...
... Zenith Guard (bg), Legion Axeguard, Hammerguard and Deeping Guard, First Legion, Khazad-Dum Reclaimers and Khazad-Dum Guardians Movement Speed has been reduced to 90% down from 95%.
Khazad Sentries now use a spear and shield instead of pikes.
Khazad-Dum's AP units now use hammers and mauls rather than axes. Just as an aesthetic quirk for the faction.
Legion Axeguard have been replaced by Legion Hammerguard. They still perform the same role.
Hithaeglir Beast Hunters and Dwarven Travellers movement speed increased to 100% up from 95%. If you need to chase or flank you're going to have to sacrifice your ranged fire to use these two!
Hithaeglir Beast Hunters unit size slightly increased but are no longer AP with their missiles. They can also now be trained anywhere.
Khazad-Dum Reclaimers appearance tweaked to match the Guardians. Reclaimers now also carry hammers instead of axes.
New look for un-upgraded Legion units
Khazad-Dum Guardians have a new, larger, shield
New look for Balin's Guard before it’s upgraded. A random mash up of parts from Ered Luin and Erebor elite units. They get their former uniform appearance when upgraded once (Blacksmith lv3 required).
New unique battle model for Balin.
"Misc"
New look for Orocarni units
New unique banner carrier's banner textures for all three Dwarven factions, plus Orocarni units for Khand, by 'Celtic Magister'.
Orocarni Nobles re-named to 'Iron Fist Hammers'
Iron Fist Axes re-named to 'Orocarni Warriors'
Removed two T3 units from Isengard's if-player-is-Rohan freebie units
Changed one of the Grey Company's shield variants; Gondor white tree switched with a more generic pattern.
Grey Company Attack, Shield and Defense Skill increased by +1 each.
Fixed a projectile sound error with Udege Marines, Shieldmaidens of Rohan and Orthanc Sentries
When playing as Mordor Gondor starts with East Osgiliath and the spawned troops inside West Osgiliath have been moved inside. No more having to fight "rebel" Mordor Uruks.
(Arkay) - Fixed deployment issue in Osgiliath/Tharbad. Minor fixes to pathfinding in Helm's Deep.
Update 15/05/2018
Fix for Upgraded King’s Warriors
Fix for Khazad-Dum Guardians UIs
Ered Luin Scouts now have the ‘very_hardy’ trait as they should
Some minor stats and cost tweaks
Typo fixes
Bree now starts with 5000 Gold in their treasury, up from 2000
Update 16/05/2018
Downgraded pre-built Paved Roads from town east of Thorin's Halls to Dirt Roads, curbing Ered Luin's early wealth a little.
More stats tweaks (last ones promise!)
Crossbow bolts should be a lot more visible now
Made early game crossbow projectiles a little more effective, partially offset by most taking a small nerf to raw damage (sans Ered Luin as it is their 'specialty')
Tweaks to several large UI images
Updated Legion Hammerguard's description
Added all the files governing religion to the download after report of broken religions for Dwarves and Men of the East. They're identical to those in v2.2, but just in case.
Update 17/05/2018
Ar-Adunaim can no longer recruit Isenmach Raiders before the barracks event; they now require the level 2 conscription building
Slightly increased the unit size of Khazad Sentries, slightly reduced the unit size of Ered Luin Pikemen and Clan Guard Phalanx
Update 20/05/2018
Actually included new textures for un-upgraded Legion units. Their chest armour won't be glitched out anymore
Update 27/05/2018
Erebor can now (rarely) recruit Dalian Woodsmen out of Erebor's unique building
Khazad-Dum Guardians and Khazad-Dum Reclaimers have their original gold armour again for KD (still have their new weapons and shields however)
Hithaeglir Beast Hunters, Clan Guard Crossbowmen and King's Warriors now have a maximum unit pool of 2, up from 1
Fixed an animation glitch on EL crossbow units (they were using the human animations in melee causing them to 'float' when they take out their axes)
Khazad Volunteers' Shield reduced by -1 and Attack increased by +1 (for a better contrast to the more defensive Sentries)
Erebor Infantry can no longer be hired as mercs
Dwarven Travellers can now be hired as mercs near the Blue Mountains, Dale (north-west Rhovanion) and the Misty Mountains
Visual add-on 02/06/2018 (now part of the main download)
Aesthetic bags and bedroll added to Dwarven Travellers and un-upgraded Khazad Volunteers and Khazad Sentries (for some extra character)
Legion Shieldguard have a more ornate lance
Bonus: Visual tweaks to Grey Company; more weapon and helmet variation.
Update 08/06/2018
Added unit UIs for Dalian Woodsmen for Erebor
Increased Isengard's KP and starting treasury a little
Some of the Grey Company now wear cloth masks
A few small cost tweaks to a few Dwarven units
The above 'visual add-on' now part of the main download
(Arkay) Moria East: minor changes to terrain texture
(Arkay) Added missing light effect (used in dwarven custom settlements at night)
(Arkay) Wildmen Village: fixed pathfinding, the AI can now sally out.
(Arkay) Wildmen Town, Large Town and Castle: minor fixes.
(Arkay) Blocked the terrain south and west of Dol Amroth and Methrast. This fixes the AI's issue with units getting 'stuck' inside Dol Amroth.
Oin of Khazad-Dum now has the "Stubbornness of Dwarves" special ability and the "hero" hidden trait (which prevents negative traits).
Credit to: Celtic Magister for new banners Black Goldfish for textures for Azaghal's Tomb Protectors and Dragonslayers Firedragon for 'big' unit UIs Lord of Links for new Ered Luin unit descriptions
Installation
REQUIRES DIVIDE AND CONQUER V2.2. Drop the included "data" folder into the Third Age mod’s directory (Third_Age_3) and overwrite all files. Delete map.rwm (mods/third_age_3/data/world/maps/base/map.rwm) or run the Cleaner.
T2.5. AOR (Requires Blue Mountains region): Broadbeam Marksmen (Yes, these are a real 'Dwarven Ranger' unit).
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
T3: Gabilgathol Guard
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
T3: Azaghal's Tomb Protectors (Note, in the future these will require the player to have rejected the rings, but obviously that won't be a feature for the submod). Credit to Black Goldfish for the skin here.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Bodyguard: Tumunzahar Nobles
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Khazad-Dum (I'll only be showing the units that have had visual changes; a lot of KD changes will be stat-based, see document for details)
New: Dwarven Travellers and un-upgraded Khazad Volunteers/Sentries
(I admit these were somewhat inspired by the screens of the upcoming DCI mod's Orocarni units!)
Bonus!
Northern Dunedain: Grey Company (experimental; included in add-on)
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
'Celtic Magister' has made unique banner carrier textures for all three Dwarven factions plus one for the Orocarni units as Khand. These will also be included in the mod.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Last edited by Hummingbird; June 08, 2018 at 11:25 AM.
Amazing work on the units Hummingbird, as usual. I also like the idea of making the dwarven faction a bit more different.
Do the Broadbeam Marksmen have bigger crossbows? As big as a dwarf (or is that just me)?
I like the idea. Will the Obsidian guard be cut again? Are Dwarfen Laborors no longer available as well? What will be your reward if you accept the rings, to balance not having the unit?
These all look really nice, very excited to see what you've done with Erebor and KD. I'm also glad to see the Ered Luin roster being modified/nerfed somewhat. Late game they are an absolute bastard to grind down and conquer since they make so much money and can afford to send an endless stream of high-tier, armour piercing units at you. Currently all their late-game infantry are AP (Gabilgathol Hammers, Azaghal's, Bronzeguard as well as the bodyguard unit), which personally I think is overkill. Also they're the only dwarf faction that basically gets a free ride at the start with only Angmar to contend with.
Obsidian Guard and Labourers are still there yes. I just didn't mention them as they're unchanged.
The Broadbeam Marksmen do use slightly bigger crossbows than the other two units, it may look a bit silly however so I might scale it back again.
It's a deliberate weakness of the Ered Luin design that they're very lacking when it comes to melee AP units. Fortunately they have three tiers of AP crossbowmen, and the Broadbeams will be, by a significant margin, the best crossbowmen in the game when it comes to range and damage (albeit they will be rather rare, compared to the Nogrod Crossbowmen).
Last edited by Hummingbird; May 01, 2018 at 11:22 AM.
Obsidian Guard and Labourers are still there yes. I just didn't mention them as they're unchanged.
The Broadbeam Marksmen do use slightly bigger crossbows than the other two units, it may look a bit silly however so I might scale it back again.
It's a deliberate weakness of the Ered Luin design that they're very lacking when it comes to melee AP units. Fortunately they have three tiers of AP crossbowmen, and the Broadbeams will be, by a significant margin, the best crossbowmen in the game when it comes to range and damage (albeit they will be rather rare, compared to the Nogrod Crossbowmen).
I like the large crossbow, as it fits the larger range. I am excited for Ered Luin. Mybe you should add the Obsidian Guard and Labourers to the dropbox, as it would give a better overview of the new faction. I am excited for it, especially for Ered Luin. The look like a interesting faction to play with their crossbow.
This is absolutely wonderful work Hummingbird! I assume that these changes will be in the next major update? Normally I tend to avoid dwarves because they're so damn *S L O W* but these changes look to be enough for a new experience
As the names of Khazad Dûm units are inspired by the roman legion (legion and zenit), I though maybe it might be nice to base Ered Luins units names on greek as the large array of pikemen would fit, so I might suggest the following name changes:
Ered Luin Scouts -> Ered Luin Woodwalkers
Ered Luin Militia -> Ered Luin Young Worriors
Ered Luin Pikemen -> Ered Luin Citizen Militia OR Ered Luin Citizen Hoplites OR Ered Luin Hoplites
Nogrod Swordsmen -> Nogrod Defenders
I personally prefer if the names of the units are not "Perfix" WeaponUsed-men.
Why woodwalkers? Dwarfs are known to prefer mountains, so te woodwalkers are the once that are outside and explore more areas, which would make them ideal for scouts.
It is just a suggestion and the current names do fit well too.
The only minor nitpick is some of the armor pieces look too smooth and rounded. A big part of Weta's dwarf designs even back when Gimli was the sole representative in the films was that the Dwarves are always using corners and has a more jagged design. They don't really have much in smooth curvature in their architecture, weapons and armor. That and I never liked horned "viking" helmets.
Otherwise, great upgrades. Looking forward to see how you further differentiate the other 2 factions
(Sub Mod) Dwarven Overhaul Project - Download available 08/06/2018
Originally Posted by Hummingbird
