Question and Answer

[ellydog]

Ok to avoid packing this forums with countless questions. I made this and I will post all my questions and hope you answer them .

Ok my first question...
Will you be able to change the terrian so that it would be dark and gloomy in the undeads territory, and peacful and green in the wood-elfs territory?

[Casuir]

Not sure what you mean, are you asking if the terrain change depending on which faction owns the region? if so the answers no thats not possible.

[ellydog]

No what im asking is can you make certain areas appear different regardless of which factions owns it. So like the middle east in M2TW is desert, can you make say a certain area different terrain from the M2TW Default terrain?

[Jargon]

A corrupted/wasteland terrain texture would have some good uses. The lands north of Praag and the Badlands south east of the Empire come to mind. Dry and lifeless for the badlands, and several notches higher in nastiness for the northerly areas (you could get very creative, with some interesting warped red and purple hues for the ground, it would set the atmosphere very nicely).

[Lordy]

Quick question from me, which team member will be working on the high elves?
Massive high elf fan boy here, if the person making the high elf army needs any help at all regarding stats, history, charcters, models etc i would love to help, feel free to msn me anyone.

[Casuir]

Nobodys working on them yet.

Elldog, change the map textures? yes we can, though its not a priority, the stock texture will do till more important things are out of the way.

[Dogman55]

I've not seen any basis or real decision on the topic, so I ask.

How will Magic, wizards, etc. be brought into the mod? Will it/they just be used as traits/anciliaries?

[DrZoidberg]

How will Magic, wizards, etc. be brought into the mod? Will it/they just be used as traits/anciliaries?

We're waiting for a stroke of genius. If you have an idea that's doable, it's very welcome. We don't know yet. There's a couple of ideas, like having them like artillery pieces but that has problems that need to be solved first. It needs more than just a new model.

[Bwian]

Here is the OFFICIAL line on magic.....

We will do what we can to implement magic..but it may very well end up as traits to support a general.

What I WILL NOT be doing, is fielding missile units where 100+mages launch barrages of fireballs across the battlefield like a glorified siege engine. It doesn't look right and can neer be made to look right. NO.

Magic can unbalance a gameso easily, and ruin the gameplay if it is not carefully anfd thoughtfully done. I would rather leave it out altogether than implement something that doesn't work well in a battle or would be badly misused by an AI army in a campaign.

The lack of responses on the topic is because we do not know yet to what extent it will be in the mod, nor how the thing would be implemented if we were to go beyond traits and ancillaries.

[Dead Guy]

I understand that you're opposed to making units of mages shooting all over the place. I remember the generals bodyguard of eastern factions in RTW had spears, sort of like jinetes. It would still be very far from ideal with a unit with a low number of projectiles, and i guess it would only fit for a few factions like VC where the general would be able to cast some kind of gaze of nagash or similiar multi-missile LoS magic... oh well, I'm not going to argue for this, just thought I'd throw it out there, you've probably thought about it already.

Cheers!

[Born in lust for blood]

I got a question. Will there be difference faction for each empire province and the Emperor to function as the Pope or no?

[DrZoidberg]

I got a question. Will there be difference faction for each empire province and the Emperor to function as the Pope or no?

This has probably been answered more than any other question so far. Religion as in MTW2 will be taken out of the game. No pope and no religious conversions. It's not yet decided exactly how we'll solve it, but it'll most probably simply be through buildings traits and ancilaries.

The Empire will be one faction. To represent the various provinces they'll have "colourful" shields, that represent their home cities.

[Krazysigmarite]

Zoidberg is right for the most part about how we are going about representing the Empire, however it hasn't exactly been set in stone. The Empire WILL be one faction, and most likely what will happen is we will have 'special' units for the Empire which will be recruitable only in their home provinces, and will wear the uniform of that province. The rest of the Empire army will be represented by the uniform of Altdorf, Red primary with blue secondary.

I have a question of my own concerning the Empire, actually. The area known as Sylvania is technically considered Imperial territory, however the hold the Empire has over the province is negligable. Graf Alberich Haupt-Anderssen, the Elector-count of Stirland, oversees the cursed territory, but not many bother venturing into it. The major town in Sylvania is Waldenhof, which is ruled by the count of Sylvania, Rudgar von Walden. Getting to the point - Will the Vampire Counts start with this province, or will it be a very weak Imperial province bordered by Vampire Counts?

A very similar situation is in Bretonnia. The province of Moussilon is notorious for Blood Dragon vampires, and has for years been a cursed land within Bretonnia, even though the Bretonnians consider this area part of the Realm.

My personal opinion is that Sylvania and Moussilon should both be given to Vampire Counts, as without them their starting position would be pathetic. Fluff-wise, it also makes perfect sense. I'm almost certain there are more walking dead in Moussilon and Sylvania then there are living there... What's the official word on this?

[alexader]

I don't agree for having all the emoire the same colour,Bwian is iy possible for having its province her colour for the army that she make and for the colonies the colour of altdorf?I think it would be more intersted with having that.

[Meneldil]

My personal opinion is that Sylvania and Moussilon should both be given to Vampire Counts, as without them their starting position would be pathetic. Fluff-wise, it also makes perfect sense. I'm almost certain there are more walking dead in Moussilon and Sylvania then there are living there... What's the official word on this?

Well, since the VC counts faction represents the Von Carstein lineage (that's what I understood in the VC thread, at least), I don't see why they should get Moussillon, a province known mainly for its Blood Dragon Vampires. Furthermore, Moussillon is still part of Bretonnia.

It's cursed, yeah. Other bretonnians avoid this place, yeah. There are loads of undead, chaos cult and mutants, aswell as undead chaos mutants, but Louen LionHeart still see it as part of his kingdom.
What could be easily achieved is to make an event that spawn large undead armies in Moussillon from times to times, and to put a large rebel undead army here at the begining of the game (since rumors tells of a noble who is gathering a large army to reclaim the title of duke of Moussillon, we can safely bet he's a blood dragon vampire IMO).

As for Sylvania, it's now owned by the Empire. I'll have to have a look at Night's Dark Masters and Heirs of Sigmar, but I'm fairly sure the Empire is trying to maintain a strong garrison and administration there -despite its weakness after the SoC -, to prevent the return of Von Carstein vampires. On the other hand, it's hinted that most part of the newly established nobility is composed of VC vampires or humans loyal to Manfred, and that said Manfred will soon return in Sylvania to reclaim his throne.
I can see many solutions to this.
The first one would be to give the province to the VC faction, and have them allied with the Empire. It would basically means that the local nobility (either alive who undead) is acting as part of the Empire, until the return of Manfred, or until another Vampire gather enough power to reveal its true nature.
Another one is to give the province to the Empire, and have Manfred lurking around it with a large army. Once he invades Sylvania, a event would spawn some VC armies, simulating the betrayal of the local nobility.
Or, the game could start before SoC, and Sylvania would be owned by Manfred, at war with the empire (and well, everyone else).

[DrZoidberg]

I don't think Krazy meant that we give Mousilon to the Carsteins, but have them as rebels, but with vampire soldiers.

[Spankfurt]

Hey guys, great job so far

This has probably been brought up many a time, so im sorry if its getting annoying now.

How long untill the first release, and if everything goes smoothly, done? Also will the full campaign map include all continents and the far east such as cathay? Where could i find a complete list of the factions you are aiming to have in the finished campaign

[Dogman55]

Hey guys, great job so far

This has probably been brought up many a time, so im sorry if its getting annoying now.

How long untill the first release, and if everything goes smoothly, done? Also will the full campaign map include all continents and the far east such as cathay? Where could i find a complete list of the factions you are aiming to have in the finished campaign

Well, I don't know as for a time table, Bwian may not even of set one yet. The Campaign map (as far as I know) is shown under a topic known as "A world to play in" or something to that liking. A list for the factions are color coded a few posts down under the same topic.

Cheers,

[Bwian]

There is also a faction conversion thread, which lists which factions are being used for which Warhammer race.... which is a pretty clear guide also, as luck would have it, of which races are going to be in the initial release.

As we work up the units for each race, there is a stickied thread put up for discussion on the actual units to be made for each faction.

Now...you ask the million dollar question about release times.

For a mod, any attempt at giving a release time is....to be honest...pretty futile. I have a full time job, a wife and a family...and I fit modding in when I can. Some weeks I can do a lot...some virtually nothing...and the same is true for the rest of the team. We have other commitments to our time.

Professional software houses can rarely get a realistic release date right, and usually overrun...and they have the advantage of paid employees who have nothing else to do all day long... so there has been no discussion of release dates. When I feel we have something we can release...then we will let people know. That would imply we had a balanced set of races and were just doing the final bits to tidy it all up. Thats a while off yet.

We are making good progress, and have already got quite a bit done ... but there is a LOT more to go. It will be done when it's done, and we won't rush it. It must be quality, and it must be fun to play. Anything less than that would be failure.

[DrZoidberg]

That would imply we had a balanced set of races and were just doing the final bits to tidy it all up. Thats a while off yet.

And I have a feeling balancing will be a bitch, since most factions have a very assymetrical setup when it comes to strengths and weaknesses.

[Bwian]

Cost and upkeep are what balances unbalanced units in a campaign. If you have to spend 10 times the cost to maintain a unit of Bone Giants, but you could defeat the Giants with 10 units of spearmen, then there is the balance. That's a very simplified and unrealistic example, but it gives an idea of how this is achieved. You could expend a lot of gold in building and maintaining a super unit, but if you have to defend 5 cities, you need to spread your forces. If you reach the point where you could station a unit og super trosps in every territory you own, and still have enough money to keep the masses happy, then you are probably well on the way to winning anyway!

It's not necessary to balance every unit to every other ..you need to have a scale that makes the best units cost a lot. That way, the player has to decide to spend a load on one army, knowing that he has nothing left to defend with. If you plan a destructive pillaging raid through the enemy, then go for it. If you plan on taking and holding the ground, you need to have the troops to garrison your new territories until they can start contributing.

[Born in lust for blood]

Will the vampires really stand out in the game in both looks and power?

[DrZoidberg]

Cost and upkeep are what balances unbalanced units in a campaign. If you have to spend 10 times the cost to maintain a unit of Bone Giants, but you could defeat the Giants with 10 units of spearmen, then there is the balance. That's a very simplified and unrealistic example, but it gives an idea of how this is achieved. You could expend a lot of gold in building and maintaining a super unit, but if you have to defend 5 cities, you need to spread your forces. If you reach the point where you could station a unit og super trosps in every territory you own, and still have enough money to keep the masses happy, then you are probably well on the way to winning anyway!

It's not necessary to balance every unit to every other ..you need to have a scale that makes the best units cost a lot. That way, the player has to decide to spend a load on one army, knowing that he has nothing left to defend with. If you plan a destructive pillaging raid through the enemy, then go for it. If you plan on taking and holding the ground, you need to have the troops to garrison your new territories until they can start contributing.

ha ha, you make it sound so easy :) I have a sneaking suspicion it won't be. It's not only a question of making it balanced, but also gearing a build path. We want the chaos player to mostly use Marauders, and we want the Orc player to use mostly Orc Warriors. To keep the spirit of WH. But we can't allow them to be too powerful, so the player will only fill his army with it. Similarily, we want Skaven Clan rats to suck monkey balls, but we still have to make them worthwhile to buy.

Anyhooo that's tomorrows headache, and it'll be a lot of fun tweaking to get right.

[dancingthemantaray]

Ok ,two questions:

1). Will all the balancing/stats work out the same as for the tabletop game (i.e if unit has 1/3 chance of hitting/wounding/beating other unit etc will be the same in the mod?


2). Would it be more sensible to have a world map just focused on the old world, with chaos wastes to north, undead to south and choas dwarf bit to east?
Would perhaps enable the game to be more focused, and reduce the workload, plus it would be easier to keep everything relevant and in context that way

[Krazysigmarite]

Ok ,two questions:

1). Will all the balancing/stats work out the same as for the tabletop game (i.e if unit has 1/3 chance of hitting/wounding/beating other unit etc will be the same in the mod?


2). Would it be more sensible to have a world map just focused on the old world, with chaos wastes to north, undead to south and choas dwarf bit to east?
Would perhaps enable the game to be more focused, and reduce the workload, plus it would be easier to keep everything relevant and in context that way

Answer 1.) - Most likely, no. Medieval's combat system is a lot different than the tabletop's, which is actually extremely simplified. I'll leave the balancing questions to the text-guys, but from what I can see so far, we will be basing the troops' abilities based on their actual rules as well as their fluff. For example. Orc choppas might hit a bit harder than Empire Free Company units because of the obvious size and muscle advantage orcs have, even though the tabletop has them listed with the same strength and attacks. The Free Companies might have better defensive skills to represent their martial prowess, as they are grizzled mercenaries and adventurers.

Answer 2.) If we focused the map on the Old World only, it would leave out the High Elves, Dark Elves, and Lizardmen, three very popular and interesting factions. It is better to have a larger scale map - the current early shot of it is in the "A world to play in!" thread, which displays Casuir's wonderfully detailed work.

To answer Blood's question - From what I've read in the Vampire Counts thread, Von Carstein vampires will be represented by the 'Family Member' Generals for the Vampire Counts. I'm sure the text guys can come up with some innovative ability that all Von Carstein generals have. Something like Vampirism, which gives them a bunch of hitpoints and dread. So, in short, yes, using a VC Family member will probably be a significant force on the battlefield - And we'll make sure the graphic for them is equally impressive. Bwain has the official say on all of this, of course.

[Casuir]

The decision to include the areas on the map was made after discussion 0on what factions were definitly to be included. Believe me it would be a lot easier to leave every thing outside the old world out, theres not much detail on most of it. Chaos dwarfs were left out because extending the map eastwards would have included a lot of dead ground, as much again as the old world with nobody present.

[dancingthemantaray]

could dark elves start offshore with a black ark or something?
Lizardmen are a rubbish race anyway :-p

[Dogman55]

Speak for yourself, Mr. Dance. I don't remember you Dark ones ever being a match for more Cold blooded Comrades.

[Born in lust for blood]

Speak for yourself, Mr. Dance. I don't remember you Dark ones ever being a match for more Cold blooded Comrades.

Agreed.

[Armand]

Agreed.

Disagreed
Dark Elves pwn