The Great Steppe Era (1.16,1.18 add-on server)

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Atreides
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Re: The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by Atreides »

Just tried out 024 with the "fun" default faction option in a crazed match of Merkwürdigeliebe. 9 of 10 possible factions present (always have mirror off) and the missing one was: Bulls! No pillaging to turn the tiny map into a wasteland, oh well. ;) By unlikely chance I ended up steering a GS faction: Khaganate.

I'd say that the factions work well vs default. Balance seems good. Enslave, freeing, disloyal, curse of nature all worked fine even with the defaults.

I did lose though. But I hung on until turn 20 against 2 allies (dwarves and dunies). It was looking promising when I levelled a Tarhan to level 3 but it all was lost on one die roll. Had a chance to kill the dunie leader with that unit but failed and after that it was pointless. I played it out to the bitter end being curious whether chance might flip the other way. Note: Ulfserkers seem uncannily effective vs the Kaganate units...

Oh and a comment regarding Curse of Nature. Hadn't seen that before and was rather shocked that it never wears off unlike the other curse.
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ForestDragon
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Re: The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

Atreides wrote: May 9th, 2021, 1:19 am Just tried out 024 with the "fun" default faction option in a crazed match of Merkwürdigeliebe. 9 of 10 possible factions present (always have mirror off) and the missing one was: Bulls! No pillaging to turn the tiny map into a wasteland, oh well. ;) By unlikely chance I ended up steering a GS faction: Khaganate.

I'd say that the factions work well vs default. Balance seems good. Enslave, freeing, disloyal, curse of nature all worked fine even with the defaults.

I did lose though. But I hung on until turn 20 against 2 allies (dwarves and dunies). It was looking promising when I levelled a Tarhan to level 3 but it all was lost on one die roll. Had a chance to kill the dunie leader with that unit but failed and after that it was pointless. I played it out to the bitter end being curious whether chance might flip the other way. Note: Ulfserkers seem uncannily effective vs the Kaganate units...
Glad to see that GSE isn't as broken against default as I thought. Do you have a replay of that match saved? if so, would appreciate it if you posted it here.
Atreides wrote: May 9th, 2021, 1:19 amOh and a comment regarding Curse of Nature. Hadn't seen that before and was rather shocked that it never wears off unlike the other curse.
It's supposed to wear off after one turn, so it seems the ability is bugged again :/ I'd need to see a replay of the match to see under which specific conditions the bug happens.
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ForestDragon
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[Large Update] The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 0.2.5 update is out! It's the biggest update (besides 0.2.0) the era has seen! Changelog:
- slaves now have a 'Khaganate Citizenship' AMLA at max level, which makes the unit no longer a slave, gives a damage bonus, and makes the unit loyal (this is to reward people who heavily level up their slaves)
- added custom AMLA to Rodimistsa, and reduced her max exp from 100 to 70
- added custom AMLA to Serpent Khagan, and reduced his max exp from 150 to 100
- added custom AMLA to Battle Chariot, and reduced its max exp from 100 to 70
- added custom AMLA to Tribal Bull, and reduced its max exp from 100 to 70
- added custom AMLA to Naga Punisher, and reduced his max exp from 100 to 70
- added custom AMLA to Nuckelavee Blackspear/Bansheetaur, and reduced their max exp from 100 to 70
- units with oversight now gain exp whenever an adjacent slave kills an enemy equal to 33% of the exp gained by the slave
- increased naga overseer/bekh's max exp from 38/80 to 40/85
- destroying villages now gives 3 experience (to give more non-gold rewards for using the ability, and to make leveling up ogres a bit easier in pvp)
- reworked witch buffs: dark matron gives 10% magical resistances instead of 15%, but 15% hp bonus instead of 10%, grand witch gives 15% magic res. instead of 20%, but 25% hp bonus instead of 20%, mistress of the dead field gives 20% magical res. instead of 25%, but 35% hp bonus instead of 30%, and grand witch/mistress of dead field now give +1 movement
- nerfed lvl2/lvl3 tarbynn's ranged damage by 1
- buffed primal fury's base rampage damage from 27-1 to 28-1
- buffed dark matron's/grand witch's cold/fire resistances by 10%
- units already revived by the 'patriarch of unlife' ability now have a purple skull overlay, as otherwise it was impossible to tell them apart
- units revived by 'patriarch of unlife' ability can now be revived again if they level up
- the 'patriarch of unlife' ability now plays an animation when triggered
- if a unit is revived by 'patriarch of unlife' ability, the attacker will no longer get the exp they would get from a kill
- the 'enslave all enemies when enslaving the leader' feature no longer triggers if the enemy has multiple leaders on the field
- when freeing a slave who used to be an allied leader, that leader returns to their original side (as having one leader on each side is usually more useful than two leaders on one side)
- fixed curse of nature/evil eye not being removed when it's supposed to be
- fixed incinerate not working on drakes
- fixed enslave messages having the same text for both male/female units
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Tezereth
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Re: [Large Update] The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by Tezereth »

Wow that's a pretty big update, I'll try the custom AMLA as soon as possible
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ForestDragon
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[Coven Rework] The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 0.2.6 update is out! Changelog:
- when selecting wild witch as leader, you now get two fear shadows in your recall list
- reworked witch attacks: chernava's shadow flare is now 7-2 instead of 6-2, curse is now 4-3 instead of 2-8 but the curse of decay deals 4 damage instead of 3, wild witch deals 8-4 damage instead of 7-4 (shadow flare is now the primary attack, while curse is more focused on the debuff)
- removed bow attack from barrow rider, but reduced price from 17 to 16 (reworking barrow rider to be a more spammable melee unit)
- reworked how the container of darkness ability works: instead of healing when damaged, it now heals adjacent units each turn depending on how low the primal spawn's hp is (lower hp = more healing)
- lvl2 demon now has lesser leadership, but the sword attack is changed from 7-4 to 8-3 and hp is reduced from 55 to 52 (demon is now less dps-focused and slightly more support-focused)
- nerfed barrow rider's pierce resistance from 30% to 20%
- vampires now have a blood blade arcane melee attack (this it to make the day form more viable, as the main appeal of vampires is their arcane damage)
- slave spearman now has firststrike
- reworked kanavar damage: melee is now 4-3 instead of 4-4, but ranged is 6-4 instead of 5-4
- nerfed kanavars' blade/impact resistances from 20%/30% to 15%/25%, cold resistance from 10% to 0%, and arcane resistance from 0% to -10% (kanavars were rather annoying to deal with for ogres)
- reduced tarbynn price from 20 to 19 (fun unit, but a bit overpriced)
- reduced kanavar price from 24 to 23 (under normal circumstances they are simply not worth recruiting. now at least they can be kinda worth it if you have a dark matron as your leader)
- nerfed primal spawn's impact resistance from 20% to 10% (this is to give hunter/chariot a better matchup against primals)
- nerfed demon's arcane resistance from -15% to -20%
- primal patriarch now has the container of darkness ability
- buffed primal fury's ram damage from 20-2 to 21-2 and base rampage damage from 28-1 to 29-1
- the patriarch of unlife ability now works on vampires too
- wild witch's evil eye attack is now hyperfocused instead of focused (this is to make her apply the debuff more reliably)
- buffed grand witch's max hp from 53 to 54, mistress of dead field's max hp from 63 to 65, and wild witch's max from 42 to 45
- reduced demon's max exp from 80 to 77 (they were a bit too hard to level up in my opinion)
- reduced primal spawn's max exp from 68 to 65 (they were a bit too hard to level up in my opinion)
- nerfed nuckelavee's blade/impact resistances from 20%/30% to 15%/25% (nuckelavee was a bit too tanky for a scout, especially against ogres)
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Atreides
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Re: [Coven Rework] The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by Atreides »

Heh, updates coming much faster than I can finish games. I think the game I have going now is several versions back. :) I've decided I ought to only update before I start a new game. I'm not worried about new versions breaking the old save game (I've fixed several old games for other eras, no big deal) but it makes sense.

Unless it fixes a bug of course!
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ForestDragon
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Re: [Coven Rework] The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

Atreides wrote: May 19th, 2021, 9:32 pm Heh, updates coming much faster than I can finish games.
Indeed :)
Atreides wrote: May 19th, 2021, 9:32 pm I've decided I ought to only update before I start a new game. I'm not worried about new versions breaking the old save game (I've fixed several old games for other eras, no big deal) but it makes sense.
fair enough.

EDIT: oh, and released a tiny bugfix patch:

0.2.6b Changelog:
- added kanavar marskman to the leader list
- fixed vampires having backstab/drain on the ranged attack
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ForestDragon
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[New Survival Map] The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 0.2.7 update is out! Introducing the era's first scenario, and many smaller changes too. Changelog:
Major changes:
- new scenario: Steppe Fortress: a survival scenario where you must fend off waves of steppe units from three sides
Bull Tumen changes:
- ogre grand shaman now has a lightning storm aoe attack
- added portrait for bulls
- translated battle chariot description into english
Serpent Khaganate changes:
- removed backstab from vampires' bloody blade (arcane backstab was absolutely broken in the khaganate vs coven matchup)
- tweaked the slave overlay image
- translated lvl2/lvl3 vampires' descriptions (contributed by dwarftough)
- translated gnoll ripper description into english
- fixed slaves not having the slave overlay when spawned via debug or another non-recruit method
- fixed the khaganate citizenship AMLA not showing up in the unit panel, and showing a debug message
Dead Field Coven changes:
- added custom AMLA to Fear Incarnate, and reduced its max exp from 100 to 60
- added custom AMLA to Kanavar Shadowshot, and reduced his max exp from 150 to 100
- witches can now give birth from any allied demons, not just those from their side (this is to allow for more coven teamwork)
- curse of decay can now kill units, and on kill gives experience to the witch who allied the curse
- primal spawn's container of darkness is now returned to the original version
- removed the dextrous trait from kanavars
- reduced primal spawn's price from 28 to 25
- buffed kanavar marskman's arrow dance damage from 7-1 to 8-1
- buffed barrow rider pierce resistance from 20% back to 30%
- buffed kanavar's castle defense from 40% to 50%
- curse of decay is now removed if the witch who applied the curse is not on the map or petrified
- fixed primal spawn's rampage damage being reduced incorrectly, with damage being reduced more it's not supposed to when resetting
Misc changes:
- reduced max exp for some units: rodimitsa/tribal bull/naga punisher 70 > 55, wild witch 100 > 60, battle chariot/lvl2 nuckelavee 70 > 60, serpent khagan 100 > 90
- fixed area of effect attacks not giving exp
screenshot_survival2.png
screenshot_survival.png
Additionally, there is now a "The Great Steppe Music" add-on, which gives custom music for the new scenario (it's playable without it, but it's nicer in my opinion)
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ForestDragon
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Re: [New Survival Map] The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

seems I accidentally forgot to release the music add-on :| . Sorry for the inconvenience, the add-on is up on the server now.
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Atreides
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Re: [New Survival Map] The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by Atreides »

Augh, cool new stuff... must... finish... epic... comeback... game... so I can update. :-) I'm just holding off until I try and win an amazing comeback game.
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ForestDragon
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The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

The 0.2.8 update is out! Changelog:
Bull Tumen changes:
- caged units are no longer sold if there are more freers than slavers next to the cage (otherwise it was nearly impossible to free caged units in normal circumstances)
- buffed ogre shallow water defense from 10% to 20%
- reduced ogre shaman's max exp from 45 to 42
- fixed the thunderstrike not triggering properly when there is more than 1 unit with the ability
- translated Tarbynn description (contributed by dwarftough)
Serpent Khaganate changes:
- added portrait to the gnoll line (contributed by zhora)
- added custom AMLA to Khaganate Sentinel, and reduced his max exp from 100 to 60
- added custom AMLA to Khaganate Marksman, and reduced his max exp from 100 to 60
- khaganate sentinel's melee attack is now changed from spear to pike
- fixed the khaganate citizenship AMLA not giving the loyal trait
- translated serpenthead race description (contributed by dwarftough)
Dead Field Coven changes:
- added custom AMLA to Mistress of Dead Field, and reduced her max exp from 200 to 125
- added portraits to the fear shadow line
- added a '+1 damage' AMLA to fear incarnate, and the pack alpha AMLA now also gives skirmisher
- nerfed primal spawn hp from 66 to 62
- nerfed primal spawn max exp from 65 to 70
- nerfed primal spawn price from 25 to 28
- container of darkness' healing is now rounded down instead of up
- removed fearless trait from primal spawn
- changed demon knyaz's spear icon to the pike icon
Misc changes:
- aoe attacks now trigger more types of events
- aoe attacks now show their chance to hit in the weapon special name
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ThroneGame
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Re: The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ThroneGame »

Hi. I was pleasantly surprised to see such high-quality mod that came out just this year. I already played a few scenarios and found each faction to be quite interesting (both artistic- and gameplay-wise) and it seems unique that they possess mechanics more of strategical nature than tactical as most eras don't usually go that far from the base game.
Although I have a few problems with the mod, I express my points to support it so it can improve and develop in the future.
I am not a pro-level player (honestly, I barely played with someone aside from AI and my friends) and I have no experience in modding (at least, on the level to create something complex rather than just fix a bunch of stats) but I believe my criticism will be sort of useful.
Some issues I see:
1) Some units look too big which makes them clunky and work inapproprietly with some textures (especially in castle tiles or next to other units). I mostly noticed that with Tumen's chariot and Coven's demons. Demons (and Snake Khagans) also have healthbar noticeably tilted to the side and it often "covers" units next to them. Other units may also have this problem as I haven't played with 3-level units that much.
2) Other people already said this but I believe Khaganate remains relatively weak. Tumen's pillage mechanic makes the faction very attack/rush-strong (but weak in the long run) and Coven's "marriage" makes a pretty constant flow of really strong 1 level units in the late game. At the same time Khaganate's mechanic does not feel to "add" anything conceptually and acts more like a limitation. The only few advantages I see is that they have relatively strong 0 level units + leader units and potentially powerful hypnosis (but they have no healers so it is difficult to manage unless you convert one).
3) Again, Khaganate but this time it is more about AI. It often poorly manages Khaganate and leaves slave and disloyal units without overseers so my match-ups against them result in my army consisting 50% of gnolls and slave archers/spearmen. I also speculate that it would be too hard for Khaganate to fight against Coven as they have two level 2 units available (demons and rhinos) so they easily convert slaves.
4) Not really an issue but I didn't see any units with poison (although ogres and witches have similar mechanic). Maybe some Khaganate's units can receive poison so it would be easier for them to hypnotize units? It would also be thematically matching (as Khaganate is ruled by snake people).
That is all by now. I played with Russian translation so some names I possibly butchered.
Also, I was thinking about giving a small support to the mod, like further translation from Russian to English and making unit portraits. Unfortunately, I am busy with exams so I cannot really promise anything massive until the start of July.
Co-developer of the Great Steppe Era (GSE): viewtopic.php?t=53932
My deviantart account: https://www.deviantart.com/coredove
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ForestDragon
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Re: The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

ThroneGame wrote: June 16th, 2021, 9:15 pm Hi. I was pleasantly surprised to see such high-quality mod that came out just this year. I already played a few scenarios and found each faction to be quite interesting (both artistic- and gameplay-wise) and it seems unique that they possess mechanics more of strategical nature than tactical as most eras don't usually go that far from the base game.

Although I have a few problems with the mod, I express my points to support it so it can improve and develop in the future.
Thanks :)
ThroneGame wrote: June 16th, 2021, 9:15 pm 1) Some units look too big which makes them clunky and work inapproprietly with some textures (especially in castle tiles or next to other units). I mostly noticed that with Tumen's chariot and Coven's demons. Demons (and Snake Khagans) also have healthbar noticeably tilted to the side and it often "covers" units next to them. Other units may also have this problem as I haven't played with 3-level units that much.
Well, the big sprites are part of the era's artstyle, helps make it stand out from mainline. as for the castle clipping/healthbars, , it is unfortunate, but I don't really know a good technical solution at the moment, and having the sprite redrawn to be smaller would make it look less good in my opinion.
ThroneGame wrote: June 16th, 2021, 9:15 pm 2) Other people already said this but I believe Khaganate remains relatively weak. Tumen's pillage mechanic makes the faction very attack/rush-strong (but weak in the long run) and Coven's "marriage" makes a pretty constant flow of really strong 1 level units in the late game.
Yeah, the khaganate-ogre matchup (and khaganate-coven matchup too for that matter) will need some tweaking. If you want to participate in the balance discussions, I recommend joining the GSE discord server (link in one of the previous posts)
ThroneGame wrote: June 16th, 2021, 9:15 pmAt the same time Khaganate's mechanic does not feel to "add" anything conceptually and acts more like a limitation.
Well, not being able to easily capture villages for ogres is a limitation too, but yeah, you do make a good point.
ThroneGame wrote: June 16th, 2021, 9:15 pm3) Again, Khaganate but this time it is more about AI. It often poorly manages Khaganate and leaves slave and disloyal units without overseers so my match-ups against them result in my army consisting 50% of gnolls and slave archers/spearmen. I also speculate that it would be too hard for Khaganate to fight against Coven as they have two level 2 units available (demons and rhinos) so they easily convert slaves.
Making AI work properly is no easy task. I try to make it somewhat decent, but I'm still fairly inexperienced with Lua and mostly just copy and edit others' code. But will try to improve the AI as I get more skilled.
ThroneGame wrote: June 16th, 2021, 9:15 pm4) Not really an issue but I didn't see any units with poison (although ogres and witches have similar mechanic). Maybe some Khaganate's units can receive poison so it would be easier for them to hypnotize units? It would also be thematically matching (as Khaganate is ruled by snake people).
Rodimitsa and Shadowshot have an AMLA that gives poison, and the fourth faction will have a bit of poison when it comes out. As for giving the khaganate some poison, might consider it but no guarantees.
ThroneGame wrote: June 16th, 2021, 9:15 pm Also, I was thinking about giving a small support to the mod, like further translation from Russian to English and making unit portraits.
Portraits would be very much appreciated. As for translations, we already have several people who can do them (me and dwarftough), so portraits are higher priority.

ThroneGame wrote: June 16th, 2021, 9:15 pm am busy with exams so I cannot really promise anything massive until the start of July.
Understandable.
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ForestDragon
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Re: The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by ForestDragon »

Been a while since I last released a patch (been working a bit on the fourth faction, and then taking a small break from the era for a week or so), but the 0.2.9 update is out! Changelog (it's mostly just a small balance patch to be honest):

Bull Tumen changes:
- fixed the antisocial ability being nullified by leadership
Serpent Khaganate changes:
- vampires now transform at the start of the turn, instead of side turn
- buffed slave archer's price from 10 to 9
- nerfed gnoll ripper/shredder's bear trap damage from 7-2/8-3 to 6-2/7-3
Dead Field Coven changes:
- witches' birth timer now only starts when in a 3-tile radius from a demon
- added the option (in match settings) to enable halo for demon that visually shows the above change's radius
- nerfed kanavar's flat/sand/castle defense from 50% to 40%
- increased witch price from 20 gold to 21
- reduced primal spawn price from 28 to 27
- recalling kanavars now costs 7 gold instead of 5
- recalling wolves given at the start by wild witch now costs 0 gold instead of 5
Major_Swampy
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Re: The Great Steppe Era (1.14 add-on server)

Post by Major_Swampy »

ForestDragon wrote: June 28th, 2021, 1:40 pm
I hope you're going make new campaign related to this era... :)
Sorry for my english, I'm not english native.
Regards, Swampy.

(Already mastered the LotI as 4 times until the end, so wanna me to play it again!?)
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