I never really realized that after Medieval 2 the engine changes sort of ended up doing away with the total conversion mods apparently? I find that really sad, I mean I understand why the Warhammer stuff isn't really moddable though I dislike it, but I really loved all the fantasy, magic, Legends of Zelda etc. mods there used to be for Total War games
I think a lot of it is unfortunately just a factor of time marching on. I also miss the old days of people doing quake 2 mods with space marines vs darth vader vs bart simpson but with any random modern engine its just going to be tough to keep that kind of versatility and accessibility for modders while also having a modern presentation.
I never really realized that after Medieval 2 the engine changes sort of ended up doing away with the total conversion mods apparently? I find that really sad, I mean I understand why the Warhammer stuff isn't really moddable though I dislike it, but I really loved all the fantasy, magic, Legends of Zelda etc. mods there used to be for Total War games
Yeah some of the very best mods in all of gaming were Medieval 2 total conversion mods. Sooooo many different ways to play (Middle Earth, Three Kingdoms, Completely new fantasy worlds)... Sigh....
But....but what if I need great and mighty Thanquol as a legendary lord in order to feel complete?
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Two powerful new Legendary Lords with new quest-chains, legendary items and skills trees
Play as Clan Skryre (Skaven) or the Cult of Sotek (Lizardmen) with unique new campaign mechanics
Two new additional Lord types
Nine new battlefield units and variants including the bullet-spewing Ratling Gun Weapon Teams and the fearsome Ripperdactyls
Unleash ultimate devastation with the Clan Skryre Doomrocket, or summon an aspect of the very serpent god himself into battle with the Invocation of Sotek!
New Regiments of Renown to unlock, recruit and field
Edit: HOLY FUCK. Skaven will get the Under-empire. And by Under-empire I mean the ability to build their own version of Pirate coves..
Fiendishrabbit on
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
So Brettonians will be getting a new Vow mechanic for their lords. They describe it as a mission based skill/quest chain that grants various perks depending on what path(s) you choose.
New technologies (they don't mention any at this time)
Free Upkeep for peasants as long as you are not over the peasant cap.
Green Knight gets more turns out in the field, and unlimited deployment when you hit the chivalry cap (this is HUGE)
It looks like they're hidden to the other faction unless you take steps to find them or the Skaven get greedy and build too much, which is an interesting mechanic.
Also all Lizardmen Legendary Lords will now get a quest to unlock Lord Kroak as a legendary hero.
here's the developer blog post about the patch for convenience:
Yes, there will be a new free Legendary Lord to play as, but also coming alongside this DLC will be the Doomsayers Update for all players. A refresh of the Skaven and Lizardmen factions with an overhaul of Bretonnia in the Mortal Empires Campaign, this update could easily be our most extensive yet.
We’ll be getting into all the details soon, but here’s a quick taster of what’s in store for both Bretonnia as well as an insidious new feature, the Skaven Under-Empire.
The Under-Empire is a new feature coming to all Skaven Legendary Lords on The Prophet & The Warlock release day.
Following the release of the Vampire Coast faction, we saw a lot of fans calling out for something similar for the Skaven – and we listened! The pirate coves mechanic in Curse of the Vampire Coast laid the foundations for this feature, but it’s much more in-depth and allows all Skaven factions to build a secret base of operations known as an Under-City deep beneath any settlement through conquest or the use of agent actions.
Once established, a whole host of building options will be available including wealth, resources, and corruption buildings. Under-Cities also support the ability to either summon a verminous army to rise up and attack the settlement above or (if you’re playing as Clan Skyre) to detonate a Doomsphere device which, if not detected, can blow the settlement above to ruins.
Remaining hidden is key to developing the Under-Empire to its fullest, but with each addition to the tunnels and warrens the risk of being spotted grows ever greater.
If spotted, Under-Cities can of course be destroyed (a little bit of rat poison goes a long way) by those that rule the settlements above ground. Discovering whether a verminous nest lies beneath a settlement can be achieved through the construction of specific buildings, deploying heroes in close proximity to search for the Ratmen, or for the Skaven to blow their cover by building too much.
This makes the Under-Empire a truly cat-and-mouse feature, where settlement owners above ground can be blissfully unaware of the activity below until it’s all too late…
Additionally, all Lizardmen Legendary Lords will be able to unlock a quest chain to seek out Lord Kroak – the last of the first generation Slann.
Although technically dead, his spirit remains, and still exerts its power over the living world.
Once Kroak is found he will join the player’s faction as an immortal hero, boasting a completely unique skill tree and devastating campaign map abilities.
WHAT’S IN THE FREE OLD WORLD UPDATE THAT WILL BE RELEASED ALONGSIDE THE DLC?
Bretonnia will be getting a number of updated features.
One of these is the Vow system, available to all Bretonnian Legendary Lords, Lords, Prophetesses, and Paladins. Replacing the existing Vow skills, each character will need to pledge themselves to a Vow and undertake a task to demonstrate their devotion.
Upon taking up their pledge, the character will receive a trait linked to the conditions of the task, which could be anything from defeating enemies in battle to constructing certain buildings in their home region.
Upon completion of the task, the Vow will be granted and the character will be able to progress onto subsequent Vows. Once completed, each Vow will grant the character a selection of buffs and benefits, such as upkeep reduction for specific units, increased armour, or even immortality.
Beyond the brand-new Vows system, Bretonnia have also received a load of other updates which include:
New Technologies
A new Trident of Manann weapon for Alberic
A new confederation dilemma
All Bretonnian Lords start the game mounted in campaign by default
Free Peasant Mob upkeep when not exceeding the Peasant Economy cap
General Bretonnian garrison improvements
Increased turn duration for the Green Knight
Unlimited Green Knight uses when reaching level 5 of the Chivalry bar
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
The Under-Empire is a new feature coming to all Skaven Legendary Lords on The Prophet & The Warlock release day.
Following the release of the Vampire Coast faction, we saw a lot of fans calling out for something similar for the Skaven – and we listened! The pirate coves mechanic in Curse of the Vampire Coast laid the foundations for this feature, but it’s much more in-depth and allows all Skaven factions to build a secret base of operations known as an Under-City deep beneath any settlement through conquest or the use of agent actions.
Once established, a whole host of building options will be available including wealth, resources, and corruption buildings. Under-Cities also support the ability to either summon a verminous army to rise up and attack the settlement above or (if you’re playing as Clan Skyre) to detonate a Doomsphere device which, if not detected, can blow the settlement above to ruins.
Remaining hidden is key to developing the Under-Empire to its fullest, but with each addition to the tunnels and warrens the risk of being spotted grows ever greater.
If spotted, Under-Cities can of course be destroyed (a little bit of rat poison goes a long way) by those that rule the settlements above ground. Discovering whether a verminous nest lies beneath a settlement can be achieved through the construction of specific buildings, deploying heroes in close proximity to search for the Ratmen, or for the Skaven to blow their cover by building too much.
This makes the Under-Empire a truly cat-and-mouse feature, where settlement owners above ground can be blissfully unaware of the activity below until it’s all too late…
Also, much less importantly all lizardmen LL will get the ability to quest for Lord Kroak, who will be available as an immortal legendary hero.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Oh, so the new Skaven lord type is Master Engineers and they can get Doom Wheel mounts! Gonna be fun to have a Doom Wheel that can sling spells.
Plus it generally sounds like Skryer gets a ton of unique gimmicks. They have a workshop that lets them upgrade their units, unlock unique RoR, and construct special munitions including Doom Rockets for battle and Doom Spheres to detonate enemy cities (and presumably mire the land in corruption).
Oh, so the new Skaven lord type is Master Engineers and they can get Doom Wheel mounts! Gonna be fun to have a Doom Wheel that can sling spells.
Plus it generally sounds like Skryer gets a ton of unique gimmicks. They have a workshop that lets them upgrade their units, unlock unique RoR, and construct special munitions including Doom Rockets for battle and Doom Spheres to detonate enemy cities (and presumably mire the land in corruption).
With the exception of the Doom sphere all skaven get access to the new toys. No skaven clan is above selling their special stuff in exchange for sweet sweet green-glowing cocainewarpstone.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
I wonder where everyone starts in ME. Ikit probably in skavenblight, Tehenhauin in Chaqua(I guess that makes a lot of sense if Kroak isn't going to be a LL)? And then a FLC lizardman lord in Albion possibly?
I still think it would help Lustria a lot in ME to add in the Spine of Sotek dwarfs, even if they act as nothing but a speedbump for Pestilens.
Oh, so the new Skaven lord type is Master Engineers and they can get Doom Wheel mounts! Gonna be fun to have a Doom Wheel that can sling spells.
Plus it generally sounds like Skryer gets a ton of unique gimmicks. They have a workshop that lets them upgrade their units, unlock unique RoR, and construct special munitions including Doom Rockets for battle and Doom Spheres to detonate enemy cities (and presumably mire the land in corruption).
With the exception of the Doom sphere all skaven get access to the new toys. No skaven clan is above selling their special stuff in exchange for sweet sweet green-glowing cocainewarpstone.
The forbidden workshop is listed as a unique faction feature for Clan Skryer, and it's where the Doom Rockets come from. And...
Five additional Regiments of Renown will become available upon completion of key projects in the Forbidden Workshop. These units are only available in campaign, not in custom and multiplayer battles:
Edit: Though the Master Engineers are available to everyone of course, and the new units and most of the new RoR are available to all Skaven, didn't mean to imply that with my post if I did.
I'm a little bummed out that this is coming so long after I got bored of Skaven. I only ever played Lizardmen once though so this is a good excuse to trot them out again.
I started playing this game on an older computer where the turn times were incredibly long anyway, so after cutting my teeth on that, Mortal Empires doesn't bother me at all. I really enjoy everything being mashed together, CKII style, where you may not encounter all the other factions, but the possibility exists.
What does bother me is that ME eventually starts to feel as directionless and arbitrary as TWWH 1's campaign did. Unfortunately I'm not big on the Vortex race either. I really think Bretonnia's chivalry system was more to my taste, though I'm excited for when I finally get around to trying out the Tomb Kings and Vampire Coast.
If you're bothered by ME turn times, there's a mod called the ME Turn-Time Destroyer. I've never used it myself, but my understanding is that it goes out a certain range beyond your starting position, and deletes a bunch of minor factions beyond that range. Supposedly it's a pretty marked improvement.
EDIT: Just watched that trailer. I am IN for that Skaven dude, Ikit Claw I guess?
Yes, Ikit Claw. He is pretty awesome, probably the most talented Skaven engineer to ever exist. He damaged his one arm pretty heavily and built the mechanical claw and high tech armor to supplement it and went nuts with upgrades including a miniature warp fire thrower. He's a Warlock Engineer of course (ie: Can use Lore of Ruin) and he also invented the Doomwheel so expect him to get grant buffs to those (they may even give him one as a mount like the generic Master Engineers they're adding).
SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
There's going to be so many cool toys to field in the Skaven army it's going to be really hard to choose which ones make the cut.
Maybe I'll swap to Doomwheel only for guards and go full ranged similar to how I kit Vampirates instead of still keeping a few Clanrats/Stormvermin around.
0
Options
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Skink lord was the obvious choice. Also people can stop asking for Kroak as the 4th lizard lord.
If you're bothered by ME turn times, there's a mod called the ME Turn-Time Destroyer. I've never used it myself, but my understanding is that it goes out a certain range beyond your starting position, and deletes a bunch of minor factions beyond that range. Supposedly it's a pretty marked improvement.
EDIT: Just watched that trailer. I am IN for that Skaven dude, Ikit Claw I guess?
The mod plus an SSD make turns pretty snappy. Late game does start to slow a bit, though, especially when the main Chaos invasion happens.
A duck! on
0
Options
That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
I really like the sound effect Total Warhammer uses for explosions. It's wholly different from what a REAL explosion sounds like but totally distinct and awesome sounding.
I really like the sound effect Total Warhammer uses for explosions. It's wholly different from what a REAL explosion sounds like but totally distinct and awesome sounding.
Yeah. The Warhammer explosion sound isn't so much "explosion" as "reality ripping".
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Tehenhauin, a Red Crested Skink, emerged as the charismatic Prophet of Sotek after a devastating plague was spread across Lustria by Clan Pestilens.
As he lead a migration out of the defiled city of Chaqua where the disease began, he prophesised the coming of the Serpent-God and rallied the surviving population of Lizardmen to join his counterattack. As Sotek’s cult grew, so too did the Prophet’s following, and for many years Tehenhauin led his apostles to many victories, slaughtering countless captives as sacrificial offerings in the hope that their spilt blood would bring forth the Serpent-God himself.
FACTION EFFECTS
Sacrificial offerings gained from winning battles can be offered to Sotek to receive a variety of powerful rewards.
Upkeep: +200% for Saurus Infantry and Temple Guard units until completing Stage 1 of the Prophecy of Sotek
Rite cost: -75% for Rite of Sotek
LORD EFFECTS
Physical resistance: 10% for Skink units (Lord’s army)
Leadership: +10 when fighting against Skaven (Lord’s army)
Untainted: +3 (local province)
MOUNT
Horned One
Ripperdactyl
Ancient Stegadon (Engine of the Gods)
UNIQUE ITEM
Blade of the Serpent’s Tongue (starting item)
Plaque of Sotek (quest item)
IKIT CLAW
Ikit Claw – like all of Skavenkind – is naturally suspicious, untrusting, untrustworthy and, well, downright treacherous.
His aptitude for science and invention is unrivalled, but as well as being the greatest Skaven Warlock of all time, Ikit Claw has also developed an awesome command of the Winds of Magic. His exceptional scientific knowledge and magical powers have made him indispensable to the Council of Thirteen. In his quest for mass destruction, Ikit created the Doomsphere, the first Atomic Bomb, and he will stop at nothing to unleash it upon the world.
FACTION EFFECTS
Gain access to the Clan Skryre Forbidden Workshop
Research rate: +20%
Loyalty: +2 for new recruits
Construction cost: -40% for Engineering buildings
LORD EFFECTS
Starts the campaign with a Warpstorm Doomrocket
Upkeep: -50% for Warplock Jezzails, Ratling Gun and Warpfire Thrower Weapons Team units (Lord’s army)
Recruit rank: +2 for all Skaven Weapons Team units
MOUNT
Doom-flayer
Doomwheel
UNIQUE ITEM
Iron Frame (starting item)
Storm Daemon (quest item)
Most likely it's going to be Gor-Rok and he'll be based in Itza.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Currently it's classified as Chaos Wastes, but that wouldn't be hard to change. It's not really accurate to Albion lore-wise, which is covered in marshy bogs and moors. There are civilizations of humans there, both chaos and not, as well as Fimir.
When it was added to ME people assumed that was in preperation for the new LM LL, but we'll probably find out next week either way.
Albion is a barren shithole on the border of Norsca (with all that means in terms of invasions, corruption and reality-warping).
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Posts
I think a lot of it is unfortunately just a factor of time marching on. I also miss the old days of people doing quake 2 mods with space marines vs darth vader vs bart simpson but with any random modern engine its just going to be tough to keep that kind of versatility and accessibility for modders while also having a modern presentation.
Hmm!
Yeah some of the very best mods in all of gaming were Medieval 2 total conversion mods. Sooooo many different ways to play (Middle Earth, Three Kingdoms, Completely new fantasy worlds)... Sigh....
Edit: Or rather, my big impetus for posting it.
Ikit Claw has to be the new Skaven LL.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
From the Steam page:
Also. JEZZAILS!
Edit: HOLY FUCK. Skaven will get the Under-empire. And by Under-empire I mean the ability to build their own version of Pirate coves..
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
New technologies (they don't mention any at this time)
Free Upkeep for peasants as long as you are not over the peasant cap.
Green Knight gets more turns out in the field, and unlimited deployment when you hit the chivalry cap (this is HUGE)
THIS IS SPECIFICALLY WHAT I WANTED
Also all Lizardmen Legendary Lords will now get a quest to unlock Lord Kroak as a legendary hero.
Also, much less importantly all lizardmen LL will get the ability to quest for Lord Kroak, who will be available as an immortal legendary hero.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Plus it generally sounds like Skryer gets a ton of unique gimmicks. They have a workshop that lets them upgrade their units, unlock unique RoR, and construct special munitions including Doom Rockets for battle and Doom Spheres to detonate enemy cities (and presumably mire the land in corruption).
With the exception of the Doom sphere all skaven get access to the new toys. No skaven clan is above selling their special stuff in exchange for sweet sweet green-glowing cocainewarpstone.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
I still think it would help Lustria a lot in ME to add in the Spine of Sotek dwarfs, even if they act as nothing but a speedbump for Pestilens.
The forbidden workshop is listed as a unique faction feature for Clan Skryer, and it's where the Doom Rockets come from. And...
Edit: Though the Master Engineers are available to everyone of course, and the new units and most of the new RoR are available to all Skaven, didn't mean to imply that with my post if I did.
What does bother me is that ME eventually starts to feel as directionless and arbitrary as TWWH 1's campaign did. Unfortunately I'm not big on the Vortex race either. I really think Bretonnia's chivalry system was more to my taste, though I'm excited for when I finally get around to trying out the Tomb Kings and Vampire Coast.
EDIT: Just watched that trailer. I am IN for that Skaven dude, Ikit Claw I guess?
Maybe I'll swap to Doomwheel only for guards and go full ranged similar to how I kit Vampirates instead of still keeping a few Clanrats/Stormvermin around.
The mod plus an SSD make turns pretty snappy. Late game does start to slow a bit, though, especially when the main Chaos invasion happens.
Yeah. The Warhammer explosion sound isn't so much "explosion" as "reality ripping".
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
I mean I could be wrong but it's likely to be a lizardman lord as stated. Ikit makes skaven have 4 lord whilst Skinky boy is only #3 for lizards.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
In the game too
When it was added to ME people assumed that was in preperation for the new LM LL, but we'll probably find out next week either way.
Albion is a barren shithole on the border of Norsca (with all that means in terms of invasions, corruption and reality-warping).
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden