Hey Spoopy, do you have any plans for evolve units?, i think a unit that goes from t1 to t4 would be a pretty cool idea, it should be sort of weak so its a challenge to get it to t4 and balance it.

Edit: im actually talking about a unit that is t1 and evolves to t2 then t3 and finally t4, not from t1 to t4 xD.

Cheers, keep up the good work!

It may take some time, but I love the idea of a four-tiered evolution, would be perfect for a Draconian unit if not an animal, pokémon style. Thanks!

I am planning of adding custom textures in the coming update. This is due to Grail Knight being a bit too hard to identify even though it got some very distinct visual effects going on, so it will be a whole lot more fancypants along with some other units. As I can use the texture sheet for multiple things, I am going to experiment a bit.

This will increase the filesize by 3-4mb, and as the mod progresses it will likely get bigger but I will try to use the textures to their fullest. Why is size an issue? At this point I don't think it's anything to worry about but see it as a heads-up for things to come, as I am putting a thing on your harddrive and you should be aware of it growing over time. I will try my best in avoiding it bloating like Skyrim save.

Next class to focus on will either by Rogue or Dreadnought, leaning Rogue. I could do both, but it means the update will take more time.

i don't think that's gonna be a problem, look at spider army mod that one is massive and i can tell you by experience it doesn't crash or anything weird.

Those are all wonderful news!, really glad to see a great and active modder for aow3.

Firstly, thanks for this mod! It seems very ambitious but you're doing a fantastic job. I love that all of the units you bring out already have good lore descriptions.

I only have a few suggestions for possible future units:

- High Elf Ranger for Archdruid, maybe t3. Can see them having a hood and a cloak. Just nothing camo please.

- Human Magus or Adept for Sorcerer, then Maybe a Mage Knight from the Magic Academy overland site. Humans always seem to be less magical but better at coming up with magical schools and organistions, so a mid level Mage unit to fill the role between Sorceror and Apprentice would make sense.

Sorcerors really just need some racial unit love across the board with all their generic summons.

- Human Swashbuckler for Rogue

- Draconian Brood Mother - Not sure which class this would fit into so maybe neither, but possibly a small dragon who lays hatchlings somehow. I imagine a high upkeep would make sense, got to keep her fed.

- Pity you can't make Centaurs as an extra Fairy Dwelling unit, or even Halfling Archdruids. I understand it's not easy to make custom models for this game.


You're doing a grat job so I'm sure I'd be happy with whatever you're bringing out :) Looking forward to the next update!

Ranger was an idea early. I put together the figure in the editor: Longbowman's model with a hood and it looked amazing... And then I turned it around and noticed how the helmet poked out of the hood which ruined the whole thing. I have tried some different approaches and will try some more. The closest right now is the Sentry, though it is merely an alternative to longbowman for warlords.

I would however try to use a different name as Ranger is used by a unit in the Empire Building mod. Same goes for Swashbuckler which I believe has been done by three different mods!
I have a unit planned that shares name with a Spider's Gift unit, but I really don't have a choice there (and the mod kind of lost me with the giant big-breasted barbarian ladies called dwarfs, sorry).

Human Sorcerors will get a spellcasting unit at one point that is planned and I had been thinking of a magic proof melee fighter of sorts in enchanted armor. Adding a tier 3 caster can be a little tricky with balance, as I don't want to make the apprentice redundant.

As far as I know it is possible to make custom animations and models and implement them, but it is far from my ability.

As far as i know, custom models have been made into the game but nobody has ever done custom animations, must be that insanely difficult.

Hey i've got a few suggestions i wanna share:

orc gladiatrix t3(maybe warlord): they have high attack and sprint but not so great defenses, they get one per battle use of steadfast ward at gold.

tigran yaka priestess t3(probably theocrat): make them use the nymph animations so as to make them like warrior monk ladies, they make some fire damage along their melee attack and maybe the fire/spirit ranged attack and learn resurgence at gold.

elf spellbreaker t3(sorceror): from warcraft 3 xD, a sturdy t3 foot knight that can steal buffs and take a beating give them brain rot too.

Are there any plans to give druid, sorceror or necro trainable t4 units?, or racial t4 units?( these would need the palace and the t3 barracks at least maybe arcane forge too).

I love the Spellbreaker, but something similar to this already exists in the form of the Mage Blade. It's an anti-spellcaster unit for High Elf Sorcerers, added by Spoopy.

Animations are possible, as someone achieved this in the game's forums. However, I can't animate and this is by far the hardest thing to learn.

Gladiatrix is an interesting idea, but I am unsure if the AI will know how to use steadfast as it isn't a default unit ability. I have had the idea of adding all types of gladiators across the factions for warlord, but as it's for warlord it will have to wait if I ever get to it.

The Yaka Priestess I like, and Tigran Theocrat requires some love because they are supposed to be religious fanatics according to lore, but Tigran Theocrat is considered a bad combination.

Spellbreaker, ah the memories, an old favorite of mine. Yeah, it is a bit similar to Mageblade in some regards, and I think the combination of it and the latter would be a bit too good counter versus non-elf sorcerors. The other thing is that I am trying to avoid making units from other franchises. I have long been thinking of a sister project to CI called "Familiar Armies" for this purpose, but I believe CI will take most of my modding time.
The Spellbreaker would be fairly easy to do though. The easiest way is a High Elf Swordsman with the tigran throwing blade.

Trainable tier4 units are tricky, as it is important that they display properly in the research menu and does not seriously break game balance. For the Bloodflow Colossus you need a specific mystical city upgrade in a dwarf city with the death bringer upgrade just to make it hard to get, and when you do... Well, you may notice the very distinct play style it requires. I will avoid racial T4 for now, but I have had an idea regarding tier 4 unit summons...

...What about making them sometimes summon variants? For example, the Horned God sometimes becomes a Lord of the Hunt, and Eldritch Horror becomes Starspawn. This allows the summons to be more versatile at the cost of unpredictability. However, it may annoy some that the spell does not summon exactly what it says it should. I can modify spawn rate for variants, but I believe some would like them pure.

Hell, I could probably make the Eldritch Horror spell have a tiny chance to summon a massive creature that hates you and proceeds in destroying the world for the sake of realism when it comes to messing with Lovecraftian horrors. Would be hilarious once, but after that you never play sorceror again.

Variant summons are a pretty neat idea, as long as they're still useful t4 i don't think anyone will complain about them.

More secret spells would be neat, the horror thing would be cool as hell but may also make people don't wanna use it xD.

T4 are indeed hard to balance, hell i personally don't like the t4 fest in the endgame, wish there was a real way to balance them out so endgame armies only had one or two of these in each stack at most, t3 and lower units usually have much more variety and are more fun to use.

i once thought about adding another research to every class that goes after their current t3 and before their t4 and making the t4 research the highest tier of research( the one that takes more than a 1000 points of research) and making the new t3 research sort of a 3.5 units.

gladiatrix for the warlord example could be one, they have to research warbreed(untouched) and then gladiatrix( would take the current value of manticore research) and finally manticore which would cost more than a 1000 points of research.

Explosive goblin bomb carriers for dreadnoughts ! *nostalgia*

Yes! That is something I will experiment for sure! Been thinking of doing it for a good while, I will see what is the best option visually.

Speaking of visuals, I experimented moments ago with a cavalry unit the frostlings have, a neutral unit related to it, and putting a saddle on it. It appears to work. I will remain vaguely cryptic for now, but if I get this unit to work it's probably time to update the mod images. Holy crap. This opens up so many possibilites!

Talking about a tier3 caster, why not make it an evolution of apprentices? That way it would encourage people to use apprentices even more, not at all diminish their significance.

Variant summons are an awesome idea, and as CapChang said as long as they are all kinda good its fine.

For the Starspawn idea that would attempt to destroy its summoner I have a suggestion. Why not create an Avatar strategic spell called something like Unstable Realm, that is let's say t5. What it does is make ever summoning on the map "unstable", giving them a chance to result in catastrophic failure or a whopping success. Maybe if its possible make the chance greater with spell integrity. I am not sure if such a thing can actually be done, but if it is possible I think it might be incredibly fun.

Maybe not even make it hunt for its summoner directly, it just stands where it was summoned and destroys its immediate surroundings. This way you can even use its randomness strategically, you use it next to an army that is overwhelmed anyway, or a city that your enemy is attacking, and even if it goes awry, it's now your enemy's problem xD

Anyway, I wanted to say that the mod is amazing, I am having a blast with it, awesome job! Keep up the awesome work! :D

Thanks!

I avoid adding evolutions to apprentice as it opens up incompatibility if another mod touches them, which includes purely cosmetic ones. I would love to do it, but I might add mages and mancers instead, which unlike the apprentices, are not trying to be sorcerors and have single magical subject to follow.

The Unstable Realm spell idea is awesome, but far beyond my capabilities. I have not touched on making research, events or the like and if I ever do I will see what could be done. No promises however, just making creatures is taking a lot of my time.

The update is coming very close! Not to spoil too much, but the high elves are getting an overhaul to make them easier to distinguish with a flair of silver instead of gold here and there. The Tigrans will also get a core cavalry unit I have wanted to make ever since I first booted up the editor. This and much more.

I m enjoying your mod so much, glad to hear there is more content coming.
Ok here goes some random thoughts:

- I know this is from spider's gift, but what about a t3 (or 4) general which main purpose is to boost nearby units? There could be melee and ranged variants and have different abilities depending on race.
- A racial version of the engineer for the dwarves with a long range musket and fire bombs, or maybe have a 1 use per battle ability to summon a robot.
- A t3 lion or unicorn charriot for the elves with a ranged attack.
- Maybe a t3 giant salamander/brute for the draconians
- More vampires? Going back to the first idea, maybe a vampire lord that could rise cheap skeletons during battle or mass inflict ghoul disease.

I think that's it for the moment, can't wait for the next update.

-Halfling Dreadnought just got the Officer which is a sort of support command unit, but is tier 2. I have some ideas considering I just learned the magic of mammoth/elephant riding, as such mounts seem perfect as a command platform. We'll see, it really comes down to what idea I think is cool.
-Dwarves will get more love soon. The problem I am facing with the dwarfs is that the core models have too many clipping issues with animation sets and the class models have too thin legs. The idea is interesting though, I have been thinking of giving them a Mechanic who would be far better at repairing vehicles than the Engineer, but only use his wrench as a weapon. Unlike the Engineer, they would probably be a Support unit, the first tier 1 support, though I am not sure why he then would be able to see invisible units.
-Unfortunatly, the chariot models are limited to bears and tigers respectively. I have been thinking of a white tiger chariot for the elves though, I just need to figure out normal mapping to make the chariot less Tigranish and more resemble the style seen on elven armor.
-A giant lizard or warbreed-type lizardman? I need some more details on what you mean. I had been thinking of giving them a sort of T-Rex rider if I can make it look good though.
-I really want to make Vampires for human necromancers (the others will get other undead types) but I want to give them the stereotypical regal vampire look: long black hair, white skin. I am going to see what I can do with the content editor, otherwise maybe I can make creepy vampires with bat-like features using the high elf martyr as a base, we'll see.

Cornucopia Update is live!