[OPEN BETA- DAC 3.0] Ered Luin- Dwarven Rings Choice Submod [NEW VERSION- SUPPORT FOR AI ERED LUIN]

[Lord Auerode]

I also hope to implement the Obsidian armour upgrade for elite Ered Luin units, and a new unit- the Nimphelos Guardians. The final tier of the Dwarven blacksmith line will now be exclusive to Evil Ered Luin, and will require you to sack Lindon to regain the treasures of Nogrod to build it. The Numphelos Guardians will come from the rebuilt Halls of Belegost.

Wow, I absolutely love that idea. Sacking a city for gaining a new unit is a completely new mechanic for DAC and it is a nice nod to the lore

I am a bit confused about the EL ring script in official releases, though. It was confirmed that it will be in the next release, wasn't it?

[jedi7000nathan]

• Those 'rabblerouser' events already exist in this mod- prior to the choice, you will receive events describing how Grindfarn is gaining support and some dwarves, emboldened by his leadership, are raiding the shire, and are plotting to attack Lindon itself

• I am not giving Ered Luin troll catapults- while I agree they make more sense from the perspective of the lore, they are very powerful. There have already been balance concerns over normal cave trolls- troll catapults are a catapult plus the trolls, so I feel they may be a bit unbalanced. However I may add them anyway, as I like the lore reason, but they would have very long replenishment rates (Think 50-60 turns)

• There are no free religion slots. The only way I could change their religion would be to change them to Followers of Melkor, and I think that may be a bridge too far. If people find the script too easy, I will spawn a stack from Erebor with a message saying your own people have taken up arms against you, and now fight under the banner of Erebor.

Those messages narrating the slow decline of the dwarves through greed now occur before the actual choice itself. When the messenger first shows up from Mordor, he flicks Grindfarn one of the dwarven rings, with the intent to use him to sow rebellion and dissent, and this is how those messages occur before the choice. They still exist, I just moved them before as I felt if you were playing the script for a second time, waiting for the effects to slowly trickle in could get tedious, and it would also make the script slightly more complex and open to exploitation or breakage, and I preferred a simpler script as there is less chance I will screw up writing it. I also like how in my version, the Free Peoples are threatening to declare war on you if you accept Mordor's offer- I think it makes the actual choice itself more tense and climatic.

• I appreciate how strongly you feel about this script, and I thank you for your feedback. Firstly, I am not changing the script to what you suggest- that would involve rewriting the whole thing, and I really don't feel like that, as it is a lot of work. Not only does it involve changing the script, it also involves rewriting events and creating new event pictures.

• Recruiting trolls and orcs is fine by the lore. As Jedi7000Nathan stated below, the hobbit makes it quite clear that Wicked Dwarves were willing go as far to make alliances with them- keeping in mind, the scenario in which Ered Luin is recruit them is not even an alliance. It is either breaking the wills of trolls with the rings to use them as mindless slaves or paying goblins to do the dying in battles for them, and to serve as cannon fodder. The reason why you will only be able to recruit low tier rubbish orcs is that they are the only ones stupid or desperate enough to die for Ered Luin in exchange for a few coins. IF you obey Sauron's orders and take the elven capitals (And maintain an alliance with him) you will get small armies from various orc nations spawning to support you, in which case you are being fully wicked and are actually allying with them. It will boil down to Lindon (BN Inquistor and ships from Umbar), Imladris (Goblin army), Thranduil's Halls (Gundabad), Lothlorien (Dol Guldur), Caras Sant (Mordor)

• Ered Luin will get boats, no matter which route, for the purpose of gameplay. Ered Luin is quite dull in vanilla DaC as they are a costal nation with no ships, which means they always have to go east. They are getting boats so that if this is your 3rd or 4th Ered Luin campaign, you have the freedom to go down south as well and do something different. I do acknowledge there are lore issues with this, but this is a game, so gameplay has to trump lore. Besides, Gimili was willing to sail aboard a corsair ship to Minas Tirth and sailed to Valinor, so there is some precedent, and I do acknowledge this lore issue in the events, justifying this decision by mentioning that is this submod, due to living by the coast, the dwarves of Ered Luin are more used to ships and are willing to sail as long as there is a battle at the end.

• This script, will not make Ered Luin into a 'a very radically different dwarf faction' (Although one could argue, this would be a good thing as it makes there more unique)- all it will do is make their roster a bit more interesting through AOR units, which I think is a good thing, as come V4, Ered Luin will likely have the smallest roster in the game, considering Lindon won't exist anymore as a faction in its own right. Making it interesting is why Evil Ered Luin will get trolls and the subjugation mechanic and Good Ered Luin gets Lindon stuff.

• I do like the idea of opening up the human mercs to an Evil Ered Luin and will adopt this idea. Thank you.

• What is the This is Total War submod?

• I hope that happens someday.

The this is Total War Submod is one of the official DAC Submods, it was made by Galu and sets all factions to neutral bar the rebels, it uses a custom campaign start up

[c.ryo]

-Choosing to side with Mordon, Grindfarn spawns again the turn after, with a full stack army and attacks Thorin's Halls.
-He has only 1 ring which you can't trade away.
-All of the trolls spawned by the event are Silver Surfers.

[Link12]

Well I'm glad you are working on it. I look forward to the version that works with the AI because it will add spice to the game that is needed by advanced players.

Regarding orc recruitment, like the human solution, why not just allow evil dwarf path to trigger the opening of orc merc pools? You said its about desperate "mercenary" orcs fighting for gold after all. This will keep the human and orc element in erud lun armies strictly limited and mercenary in nature, besides the spawned triggered armies Sauron sends to help the dwarves with.

• The rubbish low tier orcs will come from War Foundries in the mountains so there is always a non-random way of getting them. Since your reply, I have also decided to allow the War Foundries to recruit bandits from non-mountain regions, so if you build them, you always have a source of cheap bodies to throw into battle.

Wow, I absolutely love that idea. Sacking a city for gaining a new unit is a completely new mechanic for DAC and it is a nice nod to the lore

I am a bit confused about the EL ring script in official releases, though. It was confirmed that it will be in the next release, wasn't it?

• Who knows? I don't know if it will be in the next release. All I know is my submod exists, and offers a similar experience.

The this is Total War Submod is one of the official DAC Submods, it was made by Galu and sets all factions to neutral bar the rebels, it uses a custom campaign start up

• This probably won't be compatible with that. This script relies heavily on the 'normal' relations between factions that exists in a non-total war game, and it would behave oddly in a Total War. If there is enough demand however, I may work on a tweaked version for the Total War submod after the main submod is finished.

[Link12]

It is now my pleasure to announce the release of the Ered Luin Dwarven Rings Choice Submod, Open Beta Version 2!!!!

Download Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ap4...ew?usp=sharing
This new version adds the following:

• A fully featured version of the script for AI Ered Luin that shall decide whether they remain loyal to the Free Peoples or turn traitor and side with the Shadow. Now playing as Bree, the High Elves or the Northern Dunedain, you may find your ally turning against you....
• Unique Dwarven Rings of Power. Now, they are no longer generic and nameless with each ring now has a unique backstory and powers inspired by the Middle Earth Roleplaying Game (MERP)
• Bug fixes galore! Alenwe and Grindfarn now both have custom portraits and use fitting campaign models (They do not have unique campaign map models however...). Grindfarn now no longer attacks an Evil Ered Luin player, and he now spawns with all three Dwarven Rings of Power. The Rings are now transferable.

Full Changelog:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

New Features:
- Added Alenwe's custom portrait
- Added custom names and backstories to each of the Dwarven Rings of Power (Taking inspiration from MERP)- Angya's (Thrain's ring's) description has been cut down so it no longer reads like a wikapedia entry and is in a similar format to the other two
- Each of the Dwarven Rings now has unique powers in addition to their usual money bonuses. These powers tie into their new backstories.
- Added AI version of the Ring Script (No stacks spawn to attack AI Ered Luin) with full event text and event UIs. Mordor receives custom versions of these events that flesh out Mordor's true plan behind the decision to offer the rings to Ered Luin
- Allowed Grindfarn to spawn for a Mordor player, IF Ered Luin remains good, with a reduced army
- Updated Agundaur's and Ancantar's biographies to reflect the fact they are now 2nd and 1st Inquistor respectivly (Plus, added surprises to Agundaur's biography)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed some typos in historic events
- Fixed Grindfarn's clone attacking the player if they sided with Mordor
- Sauron no longer lies, and will now reward the player will all three dwarven rings
- Fixed Grindfarn's and Alenwe's campaign models and tooltips
- Dwarven Rings of Power are now transferable

Misc:
- Labelled the campaign script
- Updated Mordor's campaign description to mention the armies they get if Khand or Ered Luin choose good in their scripts
- Removed 2nd level of the War Foundry in preparation of larger changes to come...

Pictures:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Wait... there is more!:

• Do not fear, for there is still more of this submod to come. Evil Ered Luin has still many new features planned such as new subscripts, units and flavour events and these will come soon.

[jedi7000nathan]

A new version great news; now all I need to do is fix that annoying CTD whenever I start a new Campaign in 3.0 before I install it

[jedi7000nathan]

Oh I'm enjoying this; this has got to be the most intense campaign and fun I've ever had in a Total War game; also I think there is a bug in the script I was allied to Enedwaith at the time of the script popping and siding with Mordor actually broke the allience with Enedwaith which makes no sense because well Enedwaith are neutral; I reallied them though; I'm rich enough to throw money at the problem and fix it

[c.ryo]

Perhaps because I simply used latest files and continued the campaign from before the "choice" moment, all of my War Foundaries give 0 income bonus.

Bug on my end and need to restart campaign, or just a bug?

[Universal Bum]

During the siege against Grindfarn, all of the dwarven units are silver surfers.

[Link12]

Oh I'm enjoying this; this has got to be the most intense campaign and fun I've ever had in a Total War game; also I think there is a bug in the script I was allied to Enedwaith at the time of the script popping and siding with Mordor actually broke the allience with Enedwaith which makes no sense because well Enedwaith are neutral; I reallied them though; I'm rich enough to throw money at the problem and fix it

The idea behind Enedwaith breaking an alliance is that if you are allied to them pre-choice, you are guiding them along a 'good' path and so are shocked when you turn against all of Eriador and your Dwarven kin, and break the alliance between you and them. However, as they are wildmen and the relations impact malus you get with them is the most minor out of the relation maluses you get with good nations (-0.4, whereas the malus you get with the ND is -1.0 as a comparison).
It is intended behavior.

Perhaps because I simply used latest files and continued the campaign from before the "choice" moment, all of my War Foundaries give 0 income bonus.

Bug on my end and need to restart campaign, or just a bug?

The War Foundries do not give a direct income bonus, they never have. Instead they boost the mining income and that will vary depending on the region. However, if you are using a save file from the first release on the second release, it is impossible to predict what weird bugs could occur so I would recommend starting a new game. New releases are not save compatible due to the files I have to edit.

During the siege against Grindfarn, all of the dwarven units are silver surfers.

Thank you! I will try to fix that for the next release.

[Universal Bum]

Also I would recommend checking the armor upgrades for the units to make sure that models are not silver surfers, for example, the trolls can receive tier 4 upgrades which may make them into silver surfers for the dwarves when they get the upgrade, and if mordor receives some of the dwarves, then the same may apply for them if the dwarf units get upgrades.

[jedi7000nathan]

Any updates?

[Steward Denethor II]

You should add an element where if Ered Luin accepts the three rings of power, Sauron has a chance of finding the One Ring much earlier. This is because according to the lore, the agreement the Nazgul offered was the three Rings in exchange for information on the One Ring.

Also instead of AOR units perhaps evil Ered Luin could get access to Privateer Axemen and Cavalry from high level markets, since those guys are mercenaries.

[Link12]

Any updates?

I'm sorry for the lack of updates. The past month has been really busy for me, and as I am doing all the non-unit work, it is taking a while to make sure the campaign script works. The release is getting closer- over the past day, I wrote the rest of the text for the new events for Evil Ered Luin.
I decided to cut the stack spawns of orcs for Evil Ered Luin as I felt that whole element of the script was unneeded, and did not make a lot of sense. If Ered Luin wants work with Orcs afterall, they can just ally with them. However, as a replacement for it, there is now small mini-scripts through which Ered Luin can obtain the Nimphelos itself and the Arkenstone.

Here is a small teaser of one of the new units you get if you restore Belegost- the Nimpehlos Champions:

You should add an element where if Ered Luin accepts the three rings of power, Sauron has a chance of finding the One Ring much earlier. This is because according to the lore, the agreement the Nazgul offered was the three Rings in exchange for information on the One Ring.

Also instead of AOR units perhaps evil Ered Luin could get access to Privateer Axemen and Cavalry from high level markets, since those guys are mercenaries.

I'm not touching the ring script. It is far too complex for its own good, and so I feel no need to meddle with it. In my mod, Sauron has learnt from the fact Erebor rejected his deal, and so is offering a different one to Ered Luin.
Ered Luin won't get regular access to the Privateer Units as I believe that is a feature exclusive to Merc Bree, and so I wish for it to stay that way.

[jedi7000nathan]

Unless they go all the way to Rhovanian to recruit them, also you think you could change the victory conditions to match those of Khand where its just regions needed rather then regions and destroy the other factions, especially since the choice is very similier to Khand's choice

[Gaberking]

I have a question here. Is there a way to make this submod somehow compatible with version 2.2, which has Dwarven overhaul over it? I am asking because that version is way easier to play for me since without LAA, version 3 lags a lot more. I mean, I am going to play this submod on V3 anyway, because it is great, it is just if I could play it on V2.2, it would be a lot easier for me...thanks in advance for the answer!

[Link12]

I just wanted to let people know here that I don't know if I will release this for V3 afterall. I have a lot less free time at the moment than I was expecting which has complicated matters and certain events have occurred that mean that it may need to be a V4 release.

[Daft Mariner]

First off, hats off to you for your hard work! I wish I had the time to develop my own skills in modding, so I could do something of my own. Really liking the progress so far!
As much I do appreciate a very unique way of looking at what a faction can do, I'm not really convinced by some of the features here.

For one (though this might've been changed), I don't see dwarves recruiting/training orcs and trolls because of alliance. I'd suggest keeping to humans for something like that, such as mercs, bandits, maybe a few Angmar units, etc. Instead of 'Mordor and Ered Luin standing together', I'd be convinced that Sauron uses the rings to corrupt the dwarves in and of themselves, instead of pursuing an alliance. Because this is Sauron we're talking about, seeking an ally from the dwarven realms seems like a far-fetched plan. The main reason for trying to corrupt the dwarves *really*, would be to try to prevent them as an issue. Agandaur was sent to revoke Angmar and deal with the Dunedain and elves; to at least inhibit the Free Peoples in Eriador and have them turn on eachother, it would work in their favour.

There probably were dwarves that weren't 'good', at the very least they were neutral. However, this is the clans that we're talking about. I highly doubt the dwarves, that are not only are naturally stubborn, proud and easily hold grudges, they had a long and costly war against orcs. Granted, I don't know the full context behind this version, but it just seems weird. These aren't any wild, backyard wacky dwarves that have goblins as buddies. They would definitely try to pursue their own cause.

Orcs and trolls in dwarven armies would be slaves at best, instead of seeing orcs mingling with them, even if they're cannon fodder.
As for aligning with Sauron, I'd say ditch that idea. Instead, have Grindfarn act as a puppet of an Inquisitor. EL could be formed out of Clanlords and have Gor as the 'Highlord', as is the same deal with Balin, the 'Highlord of Khazad-dum' (Clanherald could be the title for the herald of the Highlord). Grindfarn would be one of these Clanlords, namely the lord of Dourhands. If the dwarves reject the rings, Grindfarn would get his clan (at least those who agree with him) to rebel and fight back. No matter what, the Inquisitor would then have formed a force out of Rhudaur units, Angmar troops and also some orcs to then attack the capital. This would happen after the BE, though.
If you accept the rings, you wouldn't have allied with Sauron, rather you sort of conform to the same sort of ideals. 'Evil', but still stubborn, as dwarves usually are. (The majority of these dwarves aren't the same as Dourhands)

[Jojo_Fr]

Hi. Thanks for this exciting submod!

I played it and picked to side with Mordor, with myself.

It's interesting but it still very easy. Ered Luin has tons of gold if well played. And even if you are surrounded, it's not that hard to defend your core settlements, because elves can't send you big stacks.

You can continue to push over the Angmar land, until taking his core provinces. It's easy to take city with all the heavy infantery you get.



I would like to see what the V3 will be.

[Steward Denethor II]

This is not directly related but if the Dwarven choice script should effect the Bree choice script. If the Dwarves choose good, the Breelanders should have their relations ruined and any alliance broken if they choose the Mercenary path, while choosing the Dunedain has the opposite effect. If the Dwarves choose bad, the Dunedain choice should cause Bree to declare war on them and the Mercenary choice should cause an alliance of convenience. This alliance would break down if Angmar the High Elves and the Northern Dunedain are destroyed since both sides are corrupted and want power and wealth above all else.