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

[ZombieKnight]

Hiii,
I'm "inspiring" by some of your abilities.
And I've noticed Ability AWE (in abilities_misc) is setup wrongly
You add a negative value, rather than sub positive value, resulting in the lower level of ability winning over a stronger one
(If you have a lvl0 unit adjacent to lvl1 and lvl3 Awe's, the lvl 0 unit gets only -15% damage).
Great work, by the way, I see a sixth race was added.

[ForestDragon]

Hiii,
I'm "inspiring" by some of your abilities.
And I've noticed Ability AWE (in abilities_misc) is setup wrongly
You add a negative value, rather than sub positive value, resulting in the lower level of ability winning over a stronger one
(If you have a lvl0 unit adjacent to lvl1 and lvl3 Awe's, the lvl 0 unit gets only -15% damage).
Great work, by the way, I see a sixth race was added.

Returned to steppe coding a bit, fixed this bug for the next update

[ForestDragon]

The 1.5.0 update for Great Steppe Era is finally out, bringing a massive rework to the Bull Tumen faction, and more moderate reworks to khaganate and triumvirate factions. Changelog:

General changes:
-updated credits.txt file to include kordov, catbegemot, hejnewar and igorbat/bolyarich
-some translation tweaks

Tumen changes:
-huge Tumen rework - pillage has been removed, most units are now chaotic, lots of stats got changed
-added a new modification - 'Steppe Pillage Mod', which allows to play with the now-removed mechanic (can be set to work only on Tumen, or work on all factions)
-added Ogre Grunt portrait

Khaganate changes:
-reworked slave mechanics - removed the calculator, and now slaves switch sides when they take enough damage
-added Nuckelavee portrait (contributed by Kordov)
-fixed an awe stacking bug

Coven changes:
-added Primal Spawn line portrait
-added Kanavar portrait (contributed by Kordov)

Triumvirate changes:
-building rebalance - buildings now have 0% defense but more HP, most have 0% resistances (no longer resistant to most damage types, but also no longer weak to fire), most buildings (except outposts) no longer have ZoC
-Bard's music now only changes music for his player, instead of for all players
-Bard's music now does not fully replace scenario music (scenario music continues after bard music ends)

Mandate changes:
-added Jorogumo portrait

Kingdom changes:
-Giant Beaver now cost 18 instead of 16
-Giant Beaver now has 20% (2 movecost) in deep water and 30% (2 movecost) in cave and fungus
-hopefully fixed penetrate armor ability sometimes not working in campaigns after a unit is recalled
-fixed a certain secret unit's portrait having the wrong size

New portraits introduced in this update:

[Mechanical]

Improved art of Triumvirate's militia line:

[Mechanical]

More Triumvirate updates:

[ForestDragon]

1.5.2 update is out! Changelog:
-removed some unused options
-faction-themed flags now disabled by default
-leader pvp nerfs are removed
Khaganate changes:
-fixed negative hp bug when freeing slaves
Mandate Changes
-added chukonu portrait (contributed by Kordov)
- Worms have no traits anymore
Triumvirate changes:
- all human units now have 20% cold res instead of arcane
- changed stats of militia line (nerfs to main branch, buffs to alt. lvl2s)
- changed stats of archer line (some nerfs)
- changed stats of horserman stats (lvl1 has impact melee bonus attack, jouster line got heavily rebalanced)

[Temuchin Khan]

I had an idea.

I agree that the original implementation of Pillage had to be removed. The ability to destroy villages permanently without needing to rely on them yourself puts everyone else at a severe disadvantage.

But maybe a modified version of it could work. For example, what if pillage only caused the village to be destroyed for two or three turns and then it recovered?

Just a thought, so with it as you will.

[Vlky]

Tumen changes:
-huge Tumen rework - pillage has been removed, most units are now chaotic, lots of stats got changed
-added a new modification - 'Steppe Pillage Mod', which allows to play with the now-removed mechanic (can be set to work only on Tumen, or work on all factions)
-added Ogre Grunt portrait

As someone who considers GSE to be their #1 addon, Bull Tumen favourite faction and is interested in game design, I am highly curious about the specific reasoning behind this rework.

[ForestDragon]

As someone who considers GSE to be their #1 addon, Bull Tumen favourite faction and is interested in game design, I am highly curious about the specific reasoning behind this rework.

One of the reasons was that the gold-per-kills mechanic was insanely OP in some modes like survivals for example, where there is a steady stream of enemies but not much normal income.

[Vlky]

One of the reasons was that the gold-per-kills mechanic was insanely OP in some modes like survivals for example, where there is a steady stream of enemies but not much normal income.

Thank you.

Could you please talk about the alignment change as well? I think neutral aligment made them more differentiated from orcs (even default ogres are neutral) and more distinct within GSE – 3/6 factions are now chaotic. Orcs may be imagined as insidious, cowardly or uncomfortable with sunlight. I would guess that Bull Tumen might be much more indifferent and relentless. Fearless trait might be now considered. It also made tarbynns, shamans, minotaurs and butchers little more unique within the faction.

On the other hand I understand that chaotic alignment might make them seem more wild, sinister, capable of a truly devastating strike or closer to their Bull God and also be a compensation or double down on the idea of being a rather extreme faction. I also completely respect if the reason is purely gameplay one.

While I understand pillage mod balance is most likely not going to be considered at all, I think at least Ogre Mancatcher should be buffed.

Anyway, thank you for your time and all the great work!

[ForestDragon]

Could you please talk about the alignment change as well? I think neutral aligment made them more differentiated from orcs (even default ogres are neutral) and more distinct within GSE – 3/6 factions are now chaotic. Orcs may be imagined as insidious, cowardly or uncomfortable with sunlight. I would guess that Bull Tumen might be much more indifferent and relentless. Fearless trait might be now considered. It also made tarbynns, shamans, minotaurs and butchers little more unique within the faction.

On the other hand I understand that chaotic alignment might make them seem more wild, sinister, capable of a truly devastating strike or closer to their Bull God and also be a compensation or double down on the idea of being a rather extreme faction. I also completely respect if the reason is purely gameplay one.

Chaotic alignment was mostly added for night-rushing. But I agree that chaotic is now quite common in the era.

While I understand pillage mod balance is most likely not going to be considered at all, I think at least Ogre Mancatcher should be buffed.

Having different gold percentages for mancatchers in the two modes could probably work, since having the same numbers on both versions would result in one of the two being severely unbalanced.

Anyway, thank you for your time and all the great work!

Glad to hear that