agree with "get real" below, a much higher level requirement of influence would balance it out nicely- i always thought it would make more sense

haha, I totally did this myself for my cult of St. Hydra in my own game, so amused this is a mod

There has to be a way...some kind of flag in the files to edit to update this myself.

I think it'd be nice to set a required aspect slightly higher for Hydra's exalted follower as a payback for ability to promote everyone

No longer functional.

You still need to have something like 20 levels of power in that cultist's field to Exalt them. That remains as difficult as before. All I removed was the barrier to make that even possible.

Is this still working? I tried to upgrade a cultist to an Exalt and it told me something like "We have nothing to discuss"

While I share your sentiment towards St. Hydra, this way it becomes kinda overpowered... have you considered making these Exalts temporary? As in, you upgrade them, and they last for, say, 600 seconds before decaying back to Disciples. So you still get any Exalt you want to, but you have to set them up ahead of time, and get as much as you can out of them while they last.

Actually, st. Hydra CAN have exalts in the base game. They're still allowed to recruit Independents, and they can use any aspect to do it. So, corrupt a Hunter, then recruit them using a rank 10 lore and a useless rank12 tool from Edge/Moth/Heart, or any maxed out lore and a painting (which are extremely easy to make). Then, you have multidisciplinary exalts with a secondary rank7 aspect which can be boosted to a second 10 with the right scars or tools.

what do
Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul mean?

Why indeed?

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

so heres the thing. why have any other cult then?