PBEM & SP balance mod - development thread

[Rodmar18]

Hello, can you tell me please if the _Win.xml files in 2018_FR folder can be oppened with Excel? If so, you could remove the '_Win' termination and use them, and I could do some tidy in the folders, use the same protocole to process all the other files, and resume my testing. I still have a strong intuition about a weird one to dispel

 

[Zaskow]

Hi! They opened normally. However, formatting is messed up (size of columns and rows mostly).

 

[Rodmar18]

Thank you. It's time for some tidy then! I remove all the past versions to keep only 201812_FR folders.

I did only open the modified files with LO under Windows, erase all the direct formatting, and save as Excel 2003 xml format (all this thanks to Hiliadan). In some rare cases, for some reason, I had to activate "Optimal Line Height" before, though, or even to save back and forth as xls or ods formats before LO accept to save as xml without generating a write error...

 

[Rodmar18]

I read that Ziggurat is still WIP, and in case you don't have screenshots, here you are. Note that in the same game (Steam beta), other sites look ok.

 

[Fluksen]

Hei for some time now I'm contemplating about some "balance" concept about the "Strong defenders normal rewards" mod, which might or might not be incorporated in the PBEM and Single player balance mod. It is currently used in the 2v2 PBEM tournament. I can't quite get to a conclusion and also don't feel confident enough in PBEM to really decide so I hope some of the more accomplished players might read and tell me what they think about this:
I was really really happy when that mod came because the "clearing economy", meaning that you get so much resources from clearing sites, was (maybe still is) probably really too strong and that mod makes you "work more" for the same resources so it seems really good. It solves, or at least migitates, that problem.
But here are points that I'm pondering about for a bit now:
- Strong defenders (significantly?) boost conversion classes by placing much more valuable conversion targets on the map (e.g. on strong defenders destruction node can have warbreeds guarding). So in migitating the clearing economy the "mind control problem" has been made worse.
- Strong defenders mean that split stacking and other ways of exploiting the often rather dumb AI becomes pretty much a must at nearly every fight. With normal defenders it is pretty easy to clear a goldmine or mananode without exploiting AI behaviour. With strong defenders, especially in the beginning AI-abuse basically becomes a must to win without a loss. This leads to several unwelcome changes (compared to normal defenders):
-- Abusing/exploiting the AI has become much more important.
-- Weak players suffer the most with this change, the best players are hardly affected at all. Meaning it is a change that benefits those that are already the best and even increases the gap.
-- Turns take longer (or if you keep it constant -> less thinking about overall strategy, more tactical nitpicking against the AI)

So what I'm thinking about is: Wouldn't it maybe be better to keep visiting structures with the strong defender normal reward set, but change the defender set of everything else back to normal? If possible with even lower rewards. That way:
- Challenges on the map with high risk high reward would stay in game (visiting structures)
- Overall the number of "high impact conversion targets" (such as warbreed) would be reduced on the map and especially would be only obtainable in visiting structures, where it is much harder than on a structure that can be attacked with more than 1 stack.
- Weaker players would not suffer as much.
- Turns would be quicker

I might be wrong, I might ask for something not even possible and what I propose here maybe induces other problems that I'm not aware of. I am myself not sure about this whole thing, so please what do others think?

 

[Zaskow]

- Strong defenders (significantly?) boost conversion classes by placing much more valuable conversion targets on the map

As I said numerous time in chats with Hiliadan this problem will be ALWAYS present if community supports current variant of conversion abilities.

 

[Hiliadan]

2 issues:
- Earth Elemental can still be obtained in the Fallen Angel Forbidden Sanctum, should not (in any Sanctum)
- when an Engineer selects the Flash Bomb and clicks on an empty hex, he moves to that hex instead of doing nothing like for other ranged attacks

 

[Hiliadan]

Preliminary changelog for v1.27:


GC11c
Independent Trolls, Naga Slither and Naga Guardian units with
Regrowth get "Greedy": The unit costs +25% upkeep.

GC25a
Summon Earth Elemental cannot be obtained as a reward in Sunken Cities any more

GC57
Shrine to the Skull Lord and Well of Souls are no longer "Treasure site" for the sake of Sanctified Sites, Animistic Knowledge and Magical Structures strategic spells (were Visit Structures but giving bonuses through these spells)

GC58
Floating does not give Cave Crawling any more (need 4 MP to move on Subterranean climate).

GC59
Pillar of the Stylite gives an additional +1 spirit damage against Flying units.Solar Spire gives +1 fire melee damage against Flying units.

GC62
Items can now be found in sites corresponding to their rarity level or the level just above:
- Mythical sites: Mythical + Legendary
- Legendary sites: Legendary + Epic
- Epic sites (including Haunted Boneyard): Epic + Strong
- Strong sites (Flowrock Quarry, Trading Post, Necromantic Circle, Crystal Tree, Oyster Reef, Raging Maelstrom, Spring of Life, Corrupted Spring, Animal's Den, other spawning sites): Strong + Common
- Common sites (Brigand Hideout): Common


GC63
Replenishing Bucket of Monkey Filth (use item, throw filth) is Strong (was Epic)


GC64
Silver Aegis Ring(jewel, 40% physical protection) is Mythical (was Legendary)


GC65
Dire Bear (mount +5 HP, devastating charge, bloodthirsty, inflict bleeding wounds) is Epic (was Legendary)


GC66
Accursed Helm of the Tower : legendary -> mythical | head dragon slayer, giant slayer, 20% blight weakness, +2 def, +1 res, +1 vision range
Arm Cuff of the Spirit Slayer : strong -> common | jewel +1 physical melee str, elemental slayer
Betrayer's Gift : mythical -> legendary | weapon backstab(2x), +1 physical melee str
Blessed Totem of Health : epic -> strong | usable +5hp, +12 hp recovery
Bone Wyvern : legendary -> mythical | mount flying, inflict brain rot
Boots of the Shocking Snake Slayer : epic -> legendary | leg 40% shock protection, +2 def
Buckler of the King's Guard : strong -> epic | shield shield, +1 def, +1 res
Choker of the Great Matriarch : legendary -> mythical | jewel 40% fire protection, 40% blight protection, +1 res, vision range upgrade
Cult of Storms Insignia : epic -> legendary | jewel 80% shock protection, cave concealment, +1 res
Darkbringer Gemstone : strong -> common | jewel urban concealment
Dragor's Swordcatcher : legendary -> epic | shield shield, +2 def
Eternal Fire Cape : mythical -> legendary | torso fire aura, +1 def
Fire Wyvern : legendary -> mythical | mount 40% fire protection, flying
Flametongue Sword : mythical -> legendary | weapon overwhelm, +3 fire melee str
Friendly Beggar's Shoes : strong -> epic | leg bringer of goodwill
Frost Wyvern : legendary -> mythical | mount 40% frost protection, flying
Grar's Plate Greaves : legendary -> mythical | leg +4 def
Halfling Trick Bauble : legendary -> epic | jewel invisibility
Horned Helmet of the Verbose Dragonslayer : epic -> strong | head dragon slayer, +2 def
Jack's Gift : common -> strong | jewel +10 hp
Jewel of Forgotten Revival : strong -> common | jewel +12 hp recovery
Lizard on a Stick : epic -> strong | usable poison spit
Locket of Lost Love : common -> strong | jewel strong will
Mana Powered Heavy Drill : epic -> strong | usable tunneling
Mesmerizing Necklace : common -> strong | jewel inflict dazzled
Mundane Traveler's Cloak of Divine Joy : strong -> legendary | torso 40% fire 40 frost 40 shock protection
Old Orcish Tower Shield : epic -> strong | shield projectile resist, shield
Pendant of the Lightworker : epic -> legendary | jewel true sight, +1 res, vision range upgrade
Pyromancer's Tinderbox : epic -> strong | usable immolating touch
Rod of Lightning Charge : legendary -> common | usable shocking bolts
Rusty Disk of Defense : epic -> strong | shield shield, +1 def
Serious Shield of Austerity : legendary -> epic | shield +1 def, +1 res
Shimmering Orb of Aldor : legendary -> epic | jewel +2 res
Smooth Shield of the Wayward Clans : legendary -> epic | shield shield, +2 def
Spear of the Jungle Dweller : strong -> epic | weapon inflict severely poisoned, +1 physical melee strength, +1 blight melee strength
Trinket of the Moongate : legendary -> epic | jewel phase
Wand of the Naga Mage : legendary -> epic | usable naga fire
Armor of Divine Regeneration : epic -> mythical | torso regrowth
Box of Blades : strong -> common | usable throw blades
Cape of Rot : mythical -> legendary | torso free movement, path of decay
Deathbringer's Medallion : legendary -> epic | jewel shadow step
Fallen Gurock's Warpants : strong -> common | leg +2 def, 20% blight weakness
Forged Frostling Shield : common -> strong | shield +1 def, 20% frost protection
Frost Witch Staff : legendary -> mythical | weapon castigate, grant frozen flame, 60% fire protection, 60% frost protection
Helmet of Primal Instinct : epic -> common | head predator
Ice Scaper Gloves : common -> strong | usable throw ice ball
Reaper's Hood : legendary -> epic | head gas breath
Ritual Knife of the Unholy Gutter : epic -> strong | weapon devour corpse
Shield of the Frosted Ark Raider : epic -> legendary | shield +2 def, 80% frost protection
Shield of the Unfazed Mercenary : strong -> common | shield shield
Sickle : strong -> common | weapon bloodthirsty
Slacks of Sorcery : legendary -> strong | leg +1 resistance, 20% shock protection
Spear of Justice : strong -> epic | weapon +1 physical melee str, first strike, polearm
Sun Spear : common -> strong | usable throw sun spear
Tigran Sandals of Speed : common -> legendary | leg +4 MP

GC67
Stick of the Frost Witch (usable, frost bolts) is Strong (was Legendary)
Wand of Fiery Doom (usable, fire bolts) is Strong (was Legendary)

Dr28
Engineers have 5 melee damage and Fire Blunderbuss for 7/8 physical/fire damage and cost 65 gold and 10 mana (was 6 melee damage, 8/8 ranged damage and 70 gold and 10 mana)

Dr29
The extra cost due to extra abilities for Engineers is now 5 gold for Projectile Resistance for Dwarves (was 11), 5 gold for Sprint for Tigrans (was 10), 5 gold for Inflict Immolation for Draconians (was 10).

Wt03
Rot gives Weakened to Machine and Undead it affects (was Deteriorated in the balance mod and Weakened in vanilla).



GC48b
18 descriptions and Tome of Wonders pages are updated to correct imprecise or incorrect descriptions. Full list.

 

[Hiliadan]

To investigate for v1.27:
- Feys' Easy Quest yields T3 whereas it shouldn't:

 

[Rodmar18]

Changing Nourishing/Fortifying Meal descriptions:
As requested, here are suggested texts for those abilities

BAL_ABILITIES.xml
NOUR_MEAL DESCRIPTION
Suggested text: replace current description with

Restaures 15 [hp/], increases maximum hitpoints" and gives +100 [happiness/] to target friendly unit.[br/][br/]Outside combat, this ability will heal 15 [hp/] among all valid units in the stack.[br/][br/]Undead units can be healed with this ability, but are unaffected by the morale bonus and the increase in maximum [hp/]. Incorporeal and Machine units are not affected.

LOCAL_BALANCE.xml
FORT_MEAL DESCRIPTION
Suggested text: replace current description with

Restaures 15 [hp/], increases maximum hitpoints", gives +100 [happiness/] and Bolster effect to target friendly unit.[br/][br/]Outside combat, this ability will heal 15 [hp/] among all valid units in the stack.[br/][br/]Undead units can be healed with this ability, but are unaffected by the morale bonus and the increase in maximum [hp/]. Incorporeal and Machine units are not affected.[br/][br/]If the target is a Halfling Farmer, its Throw Chicken ability is taken off cooldown and can be used again.

Reason: same phrasing as in Healing, Heal undead, Heal magical creatures, etc.
First one is for Arch Druids, second one for Halfling Brew Brothers (it adds Bolster and a Throw Chicken reload).

 

[Hiliadan]

Recap of bug fixing and other stuff for v1.27:
- Nourishing Meal description to update (still to add to the Description file), based on that https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...velopment-thread.1119915/page-4#post-25048654
- remove Nightshade from Easy Quest reward set and/or change their Recruit Cost so that they are no longer given as reward for Easy Quest (Reward value = 450 and multiplier = 0.4 i.e. 180 gold value; Nightshade Recruit cost = 240 i.e. a buy cost of 0.9*240/2=108), see https://age-of-wonders-3.wikia.com/wiki/Quests#Feys
- add a game flow setting remembering the settings of duel and 2vs2 tournament, cf. https://www.the-battlefield.com/aow3/index.php?page=rules&tourneyid=14
- display "(Partisan)" as origin of Wetland Concealment, Forest Concealment and Mountain Concealment for units benefiting from Partisan
- fix the issue with "Dwarf Protector Economic" not correctly being displayed next to the x3 gold in the city panel when hovering over gold in the balance mod (it works in vanilla)

- Inflict Despair: replace turn and spirit by their icons
- Inject mana Fuel: replace shock by its icon
- Domain of the Sun: add "damage" at the end of the sentence, to be symetric with Domain of Corruption
- Pandemonium: replace all the damage types by their icons
- Mighty Meek: double entry? in bal_abilities.xml (damage bonus is a replacer) and localbalance.xml (damage bonus is +1), or are they used for either a spell or a unit ability?
- Berserk: add the icon for turn
- Death March: add "Exhausted" in the list of unaffected units: "Does not affect Machine, Undead or Exhausted units."
- replace 20% by 15% in the ToW entry \"Race: Halfling":
- replace 20% by 15% in the Halfling requisite's description
- Falling Clouds apparently apply some weird vision range malus:
* Sphinx gets 3 hex vision range UG
* Dwarf Leader with Vision Range Upgrade gets 1 hex vision range UG
- in a team, if one player researches Produce Shadow Stalker and the other has Corrupter Killer, then the 2nd player can Evolve its Lesser Shadow Stalkers into Shadow Stalkers, even if he hasn't researched Produce Shadow Stalker himself
- Ziggurat can get 3 Phoenix (3*360), 1 Warbreed, (1*170), 1 Sphinx (1*170), 1 Mystic (1*100) defenders with Strong Defenders, which seems to exceed the gold value of 900*1.5=1350. 360*3+170+100+170=1520. 1520*0.9=1368. The 3 Phoenixes are because the Ziggurat Beholder and Henchmen set is the only one with 3 boss units. Should probably be reduced to 2. And the Tigran Warbreed Recruit Cost should probably be raised to 400.


I also need to discuss this with the core group: it it worth modifying the excess value multiplier because if you get 1 item, you get very few gold, compared to the value you get if you are lucky to get 2 items. And should we harmonize Ziggurat's 2 reward sets? One is in the /Title folder, one in the Structure_DLC2.rpk, called "Ziggurat default DUPLICATE" and it's not properly set. The excess gold reward multiplier is at 0.25 instead of 0.06 and it has a Gold Reward Multiplier of 0.2 instead of 0.

 

[Rodmar18]

Situation: Theocrat leader ; Fel Horse converted by Lesser Befriend from Archdruid hero.

There are lines in Abilities to describe the mind controlled effects. However, "Befriended Animal" status is described by a plain "Befriended Animal" (i.e. same string).

 

[Rodmar18]

Situation: Theocrat leader, turn 59 ; Train Evangelists no searched yet.

Theocrat hero still has the Lesser Convert ability, as expected.
Theocrat leader is proposed (in the next upgrade list) the Convert ability. Either this is correct because the game doesn't make the difference at this point, or he should be proposed Lesser Convert... so, is this a bug, or not?

 

[Hiliadan]

Regarding Convert/Lesser Convert, I'm not sure we can fix it because the implementation of the thing is quite complicate and it was cbower who did back in the days.
It's a display issue, after you select it, you'll get Lesser Convert.

I add the other one to the list:
- the description of the description of "Befriended animal" is not used in game. It is instead linked to the CONTROLLED_ANIMAL_NAME. https://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/public/429706/aow3_mindControlDescriptions.jpeg

Did you check if it was balance mod specific? Looks like an issue with the base game, so should rather be reported in the Imprecise description topic.

 

[Rodmar18]

I didn't check. I edited my posts. Those strings about mind controlled status are in Abilities.xml from the beginning.

Also, can you check if in your game, you have two Path of Life, two Path of Decay, and two Path of Frost in the ToW?
Second screenshot is about the BAL_ABILITY.xml line, whereas first screenshot is about the Ability.xml line! (with wrong icon, btw)

 

[Rodmar18]

Have you ever thought about including more mods besides Racial Watchtower and Racial Reskin into the PBEM & SP Balance mod?

Here a list of some "small" mods I play with. Most of them have very few followers on Steam. I think that Balance Mod could slightly shift toward a communauty mod, not only correcting what's wrong or unbalanced in the game, but also adding or changing content so as to make the game experience more fun (that's subjective). Three of them are purely cosmetic.

What if the team examine them (if not already well known) and vote? Would you like that PBEM & SP Balance mod include these mods, or duplicate some changes, in order that:
- they are more compatible with the Balance mod;
- perhaps the authors would agree to upgrade them (more polish, more features);
- we have less mods to activate in the launcher;

There are some other mods I'd think about, but let's start with these:

1. Preferred Terrain Mod by Outis / https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=567273447 320 followers
   
2. Boars and Wargs by Akinaba / https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=658803198 230 followers
   
3. More Ancestral Spirits by Akinaba / https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=656658213 358 followers
   
4. Dwarven Heavy Bolt by BBB / https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=672940919 150 followers
   
5. Ballista by Gloweye / https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=515809049 687 followers
   
6. Weapon Resize PBEM by Goldfinch / https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1555900865 704 followers (original mod included)
   
7. Actual Scythe Mod by Wind / https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=720127925 2363 followers
   
8. Pike Square - Directionnal Defense by Motasa / https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=720127925 41 followers
9. Houses B-Gone by Charlatan / https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=578055790 432 followers

Preferred Terrain Mod:

All Animals like Dense Vegetation; in addition:
- Elephant likes Plains; dislikes Artic
- Dire Penguin likes Water
- Gryphon likes Mountains
- Mammoth likes Plains; dislikes Tropical; hates Volcanic
- Nightmare likes Lava Pool and Subterranean
- All Reed Serpents like Wetlands
- All Shock Serpents like Water and Subterranean Water
- All Spiders like Subterranean
- Polar Bear likes Water
- Zephyr Bird likes Mountains

Horned God likes Dense Vegetation
Kolbold likes Subterranean
Lord of the Deep likes Water
Lost mariner has Undead Morale since they are mindless
All Sea Creatures like Water (All Krakens, Mermaid, Sirens); in addition:
- All Krakens like Subterranean Water

Alternatively, there's "Animal Like Forest" by Akinaba:
All animals like Dense Vegetation. (319 followers)​

Boars and Wargs:

This mod aim at making T1 units more in-line with their description (fierce, hard to kill), and consistent with their T2 cousins.

All boars have Armour Piercing.
Blight Tusk Boar has 50 HP (from 45) and 11 DEF (from 10), and has Fast Healing.
It has also a slightly higher recruit price.

All wargs have Wetlands Foraging.
Bleak Warg has First Strike and Wetlands Walking, likes Arctic, dislikes Tropical, hates Volcanic. It has also a slightly higher recruit price.

Hell Hound has First Strike.

Someone in the comments suggest that wargs get Devour Corpse, but it's a DLC2 ability!​

More Ancestral Spirits:

Changes some spawn sets so that Ancestral Spirits get a little more common:
all Hearts, Spring of Life, Creation Node, Shrine of Earth Mother.​

Changes one treasure reward to have a chance to receive an Ancestral Spirit: Spring of Life.​

As a note, remember that on elite, Ancestral spirits have 100% Physical Resistance, on top of their inherent spirit immunity.​

Dwarven Heavy Bolt:

Dwarven Crossbowmen now have a second heavy crossbow ability. It's a short range, more powerful attack, meaning that it is superior to the vanilla heavy crossbow attack only at 3 hex or less from the target.
The mod doesn't change any other unit using the heavy crossbow, nor does it change any item.

Alternatively, this ability could be granted on ranking as the Crossbowman gets only Armor Piercing on elite.​

Ballista:

Trebuchet is made more effective against walls and machines, while less effective against small target (read small defense target, which lets but a few inconsistencies). It's moved to the Guild of Masters.

Ballista is added, as in AoW1/AoW2. It helps defending early cities when no good archers are availables.

Currently, AI Trebuchets kill every single heavily wounded unit trying to flee the battlefield. I fell that it's overpowered for heavy siege machines. As a side effect, this mod makes Dreadnought heroes more useful in the early game, as they can tend ballistae.
​

Weapon Resize PBEM:

As the title tells, this mod reduces the shaft and general size of many weapons (sometimes it's just a slight adjustement). Given that some size are quite ridiculous, it's a visual must have, imho.

Personnaly, I'd like if an artist could work on some units' weapon settings, such as having a Dwarven Berserker with dual axes back.
​

Actual Scythe Mod:

Changes the axe displayed on heroes that should wield a scythe to an actual scythe.
It's purely cosmetic.​

Pike Square - Directionnal Defense:

The Pike Square ability now works like the Shield ability: it grants +3 DEF bonus versus Mounted and Flying units only when not flanked.

Like the author, I find it makes little sense that when he's attacked from behind, a shielded Pikeman has no time to reoriente himself to not be flanked and use his shield, and still has time enough to use his polearm to fend off/discourage attacks.

If this mod makes the flying units too powerful, or the pikemen too useless, perhaps an ability playing with the guard mod could restaure the balance and still have sense (if the pikeman is on guard, then the Pike Square ability works as before, of course). For instance, grant all Pikemen units the Defensive Strike ability (+3 ATT, consumes all AP, let the unit on guard, one use per battle), or rather, a like ability that would do same damage as a normal Melee Strike, require 2 or 3 AP (so that the Pikeman has to keep his ground), let the unit on guard, and be usable at will (or every other turn).
​

House B-Gone:

Changes the chance to display a little house on fertile plain hexes down to 30%.
It's purely cosmetic. Note that, however, there's no necromancer version, and this class will still have tombstones all over the fertile parts of their domain.​

 

[Hiliadan]

Have you ever thought about including more mods besides Racial Watchtower and Racial Reskin into the PBEM & SP Balance mod?

Yes but it needs to be mods a very large majority of players want to be integrated. So far, none has met that criteria and the ones you list won't given their very low number of subscribers.
Basically, to be integrated, a mod would need to be selected in the Best 20 mods of AoW3 https://www.the-battlefield.com/aow3/index.php?page=commnews&eingabenewsid=77 and rank quite high.

 

[Zaskow]

Have you ever thought about including more mods besides Racial Watchtower and Racial Reskin into the PBEM & SP Balance mod?

Yes, I thought. However, it's pretty difficult to integrate mod. And some other difficulties: for example Watchtower mod was visually bugged, so I had to fix this mess. I wasn't very happy about that.

- perhaps the authors would agree to upgrade them (more polish, more features);

In most cases I know what to do myself to mod this and that, so I don't need a permission.

Preferred Terrain Mod:

Nice mod, we something similar definitely.

Boars and Wargs:

Pretty primitive mod. I'd make it differently.

More Ancestral Spirits:

100% physical res on elite? Won't happen.

Dwarven Heavy Bolt:

So-so...

Ballista:

Don't know...

Weapon Resize PBEM:

Is Tibble's visual mod not enough?

Actual Scythe Mod:

I'm planning something bigger, than this...

Pike Square - Directionnal Defense:

Good idea.

House B-Gone:

So-so...

Yes but it needs to be mods a very large majority of players want to be integrated. So far, none has met that criteria and the ones you list won't given their very low number of subscribers.

Some mods are very good. For example, additional colors.

 

[Hiliadan]

Some mods are very good. For example, additional colors.

Yes but this one is in the top 20 and I think it would make sense to implement it. I could add a proposal about it.

 

[Hiliadan]

Issue fixed on v1.27:
- Beacon of Faith can not longer be cast on allied Ghoul cities (could be cast but had no effect so was a waste of mana)