Shadow Realm Community Expansion: closed beta launched!

[Hiliadan]

(this is an old news article from June but nothing had not yet been posted about the SR expansion on this new forum so I think it might still provide new information to many people )

Following seven months of design, development and tests, the Shadow Realm Community Expansion is moving out of alpha phase and entering a more mature “closed beta” phase! The team grew further and now all areas are covered, from sound to icons to particle (FX) effects. If you can’t wait for the release any more, you can apply to join the closed beta right now!

[...]

Read the full article on the Battlefield.com, the community website for AoW3: https://www.the-battlefield.com/aow3/index.php?page=commnews&eingabenewsid=79

And check out this video made some time ago showcasing the expansion (at early alpha stage):

And this thread full of screenshots from a test game between the developping team: http://aow.triumph.net/forums/topic...ign-announced-for-the-shadow-realm-expansion/

 

[Hiliadan]

The Shadow Realm community expansion is now on open beta and has been updated mid-March. Some elements are still missing and the campaign is still under work (but map 1, and, to a lesser extent map 2, are well advanced and can be tested) but we're getting close to what the community expansion's development team wanted to achieve.

Check it out here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1566254031
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1566255077

Please read the Wikia about the expansion and in particular its FAQ section: http://age-of-wonders-3.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Hiliadan/Shadow_Realm_Community_Expansion_Content

 

[Marcus Pers]

Not sure if this is the right place, but for balance purposes I believe that Shadow Elf Shamans "control demons" (currently 12) should be nerfed, I had almost 100% conversion rate on the demons, a pack of 3 shamans have around 60% each to control a t3, meaning 3*60% gives a very good chance to control both t3 in a roaming army (on strong defenders). Then its just a matter of leaving the spawning alone and keep gathering demons.

 

[Hiliadan]

Thanks for the feedback! Here is a good place to report that kind of things. Or here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?posts/25435775/
I noted the issue for balance tweaking later on.

Anyone met the Elder Bone Dragon which got an updated model on the latest update of the Community Expansion?

 

[Mr.Lost]

Wow,Elder Bone Dragon so cool,but still not meet it...

 

[Hiliadan]

Elder Bone Dragon so cool,but still not meet it...

Yeah, they're quite rare as you need to clear the top site of the expansion to unlock them: clear a Nekron Forgotten Throne, then build the Mystical City Upgrade and your city will be able to produce Elder Bone Dragons!

The expansion got an update last week, still a lot of stuff to work on but we're getting closer to "official" release.

 

[Big J Money]

How does the Shadow Realm map layer work?

 

[Dr_K]

As in "how do you get it to show up in random maps" or "how does it behave in-game"?

The first is addressed in the description of both mods:

"In particular, when you switch the expansion ON or OFF, please use the "Restore default" option in the first screen when starting a new RMG map. Otherwise you'll probably experience crashes."

Since the UI isn't moddable, it seems like the game saves some of the details about the Shadow Layer settings for random map generation that cause issues when enabling/disabling the mod and starting a new game.


The short answer to the second is it behaves similarly to the Underground layer and is also created randomly by the map generator. Your armies can travel between the surface and Shadow Realm using the dark purple teleporter gates. The only big difference between the shadow realm and underground is that most units have a penalty that is active only when in the Shadow Realm.

Hopefully some of that is what you were looking for.

 

[Big J Money]

Yes "how does it function in game" was exactly it, thank you! I wasn't sure if it was a separate map or if it somehow mimicked the overland map or something.