[MOD] Necromancy

[DukeLeto42]

Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3004358718
Paradox Mods: https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/mods/64910/Any
Last Update - 14/7/2023


Raising the dead since AUC 450!

This is version 1.1 of a mod to add in necromancy to Imperator:Rome. Why? It seemed like a good idea at the time.


How it works:

-Necromancy is decision-driven, and all its content emerges after converting to the Necromantic faith (you only need the PI and stab, not the usual conversion conditions).
-Make your capital into an undead city, the only place undead pops will survive. The living can't survive in undead cities for long, and have a 50% chance of being reanimated when they die as a result.
-Increase the strength of your nation's necromancy through a set of other decisions, building legions of the undead and founding undead cities until you can found an empire of undeath.

FAQs:

-Is it compatible with Invictus? No, not at this time. As it overwrites several files Invictus overwrites, it would have to be redone as an Invictus submod
-Is it compatible with 2.0.4? Yes, it has been made in the beta.
-Why doesn't my primary culture become undead? Undead pops outside an undead city die, meaning assimilation would kill all your pops.
-Other languages? Sorry, no, not at this time. I really don't have the fluency to localize to another language.


Your thoughts, ideas, and issues are more than welcome here. This is an early foray into I:R modding and I've much to learn and experiment with. The mod is finally feeling like it's in a decent place, but that by no means is to say that it couldn't do even more!

 

[DukeLeto42]

Dev diary #1: Next Steps

Ok, so what is next for the mod?

First, a small fix for the "Create a Necromantic Capital" decision, which was reappearing as you improved your country's Necromancy level.

Additionally, each level of necromancy gives +.01 monthly tyranny. This helps you maintain the high tyranny needed to burn off that extra AE you'll be gaining, and while it does pose some loyalty problems the solution to that is likely to be "more undead."

Next, as we move on to the bigger stuff, an image to show off a bit of what's coming:

You'll note the arrival of a new undead character, and his rather unhealthy look. This is now the standard for undead, and while I won't rule out the possibility of going further and giving us a more dramatic undead look, at least you'll no longer mistake undead characters in your nation as being just a bit pale. If they aren't assigned one at creation, undead characters will also be given a new trait in a yearly check. As a result, they shouldn't be dying of natural causes or having kids any time soon, and are also a good bit more loyal than their living counterparts.

You'll also note the dark blotches of more than one undead territory on the map. Once you reach Necromancy V, your armies will gain the ability to establish new undead cities. The army will give them the "Undead City" modifier, and just like your capital the living in those cities will either die or become undead. Keep in mind that each new city costs 300 gold and 50 province loyalty. Funnily enough, people aren't that happen when you convert the local city into a lair of the undead.

What's not on the screen is a new mechanic, the tithe. Every year, you will receive new undead pops equal to .5% of the non-undead pops in your country. The trade-off of Necromancy's lowered population growth is this new way to generate pops, and they will be dispersed to your various cities. This encourages you to keep around sizeable populations of the living, and my brief run here as Egypt saw me struggling to maintain enough pop cap in Alexandria to manage my burgeoning undead.

Next up: new military traditions!

 

[DukeLeto42]

Dev diary #2: Wars and Improvements

As promised, I'll pick up with military traditions:

Adopting the Necromantic faith opens up a special tradition tree for your nation. After an initial boost to levy size and reduction to legion maintenance, it splits into 3 branches:

• The left branch focuses on your armies, improving undead rabble defense, the offense of heavy cav / elephants / camels / horse archers (i.e., whichever unit you're using as a heavy hitter along your undead rabble mainstays), undead rabble movement speed, and their morale.
• The central branch focuses on your navies, giving reduced naval maintenance, improved ship capture chance, monthly ship repair at sea, and finally enslavement efficiency.
• The right branch is an urban focus, giving reduced city cost, better siege ability, reduced metropolis cost and increased building slots, and improved slave output and reduced construction time.

All in all, I hope it will feel on par with other tradition trees for strength but better suited to an undead army and empire.

Next, you can now raise your rank of Necromancy up to ten through another set of four decisions surrounding deifying your ruler, widespread conversion, expansion of rural buildings, and more production in your capital.

But what's improving your necromancy rank in aid of? Well, spells for one thing, which will be the subject of the next dev diary along with... wait, what's with that flag?

 

[DukeLeto42]

Dev diary #3: Rounding Things Out

Ok, so I promised a bit about that new flag. Welcome to the Imperium Mortis:

You didn't want to stay as whatever petty mortal tag you started as, did you?

This is for the most part trimming, although the permanent bonus you'll get for this capstone of undeath is rather hefty and will help you keep a tighter grip over your empire.

The other thing I mentioned last time was spells. Once you embrace the Necromantic faith, you'll gain access to the spellcasting menu (although I should note that you'll need to actually have the requisite level of Necromancy to actually cast anything). I won't run through everything, but here's a few samples:

The loyalty of undead makes them phenomenally useful, so this is a way to acquire the characters you'll need to administer an empire. Keep in mind that their long life means you can't just wait out a disloyal or corrupt one.

Some of the spells are maintained ones, with continuous costs. Here, offsetting the need to pay out to your governors and the costs of micromanaging, you'll need to invest a bit of your influence and taxes into keeping those undead clerks running. Sustained spells can be removed with the same option you activated them with (do note that the list of country modifiers will update for adding the spell immediately, but it will only be removed on the monthly tick).

What's the point of it all if you can't enjoy your power for eternity? Making your ruler a lich king won't change their appearance, but from now on they will be all but immortal, with even severe ailments that normal undead suffer from removed by their secondary trait.

Are we the baddies? The answer, if it somehow isn't obvious, is yes. While many nations might be able to manage the population loss thanks to Civilization values, techs, and the like, this will ensure the reduced population growth you suffer doesn't result in you falling behind, and your neighbors will struggle to muster the manpower needed to face your undead hordes. Do note that your subjects are unaffected, so you won't be undermining them.

Like I said, baddies. As long as it's maintained, the Necrostorm will target a random territory in a random country every month and depopulate it. Necromantic nations will avoid its wrath, but it won't spare OPMs, nor does it care how populous a territory is. Will it defeat your enemies for you? Probably not, at least until there isn't much left out there to kill, but if it happens to wipe Rome off the map...


This will probably be the last dev diary before I roll this out to all of you. You've seen most of what's in it, aside from a few events and some new deities. I'm looking forward to getting this to everyone!

 

[DukeLeto42]

And here we are, 1.1! The mod's updated on both Steam and through Paradox, so have at it!

Below, take a look at a test run of mine, beelining the Imperium Mortis as fast as I was able. In doing so, I didn't even come close to an impressive showing in the Diadochi Wars, as you can see, and as Rome grows the Seleukids are having a rough time of it:

Alexandria, and indeed all the cities in the Nile Delta, are doing quite well. Well, I say "well," but there's not a living soul in them...

Anyways, looking forward to seeing what others do with it!

 

[Vlad123]

This mod turn only the egypt in a undead country, or any country can do this?

 

[DukeLeto42]

This mod turn only the egypt in a undead country, or any country can do this?

Any country! I've just used Egypt as an example run, as it's a good country to run through the majority of the mod's content without expanding (aside from a bit of opportunistic conquering of the Antigonids) or necessarily having to fight off enemies.

 

[Vlad123]

Qualsiasi paese! Ho appena usato l'Egitto come esempio, poiché è un buon paese in cui percorrere la maggior parte dei contenuti della mod senza espandersi (a parte un po' di conquista opportunistica degli Antigonidi) o dover necessariamente combattere i nemici.

Thanks...