Celticpred said:
*Foams at the mouth at screenshot* AWESOME
Thanks, I am also trying to get some proper body armour too.
Vangar said:
I really like this mod and I'm following the development from the beginning. The current build is already pretty impressive and its cool to see you are making progress. The new snake outfits look good on the one hand but very strange on the other. I will explain:
I have to admit, its not every day I see such a constructive post like this come my way.
Regarding "cavemen" - I think most tribes look too primitive and deserve some kind of overhaul. For instance the Karkans: When I was visiting Mountaintop, I noticed that they prefer to run around there "naked" and prefer crude weapons made of sticks and stones. Additionally, they use huge natural caves. The latter is cool but I think the whole Karkan design is a bit too "stone-age". Considering that they probably sit on the biggest ore stash on the island and managed to settle in such harsh conditions should lead them probably to a stage of development where they develop basic or even advanced metalworking skills. I would imagine them more like the Barbarians portrayed in Blizzard's Diablo universe (http://www.beepworld.de/memberdateien/members55/headhunters_clan/barbarian.jpg ). Fur-wearing "civilians" and lightly armoured warriors with more or less advanced kind of iron axes and swords and the chieftain even able to provide hardy partial-plate armour (http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/3661/1637592-barbarian_3.jpg). As a culture strongly relying on hunting they also have to develop some kind of ranged weaponry, maybe make them at least experts in throwing spears or basic crossbows. No shields or some kind of "prestige" heavy shields for nobles instead of these crude tree bark "shields".
I do understand what you mean in regards to the advancement of the Karkans and if you compare the first Karkans that were implemented in the mod they were far more primitive than what they are now; thanks to Angry Newbies research development in the area. As you say, some of the tribes kind of overlap (particularly between Arlen and Karkan) and while this is being looked into, such as developing some Iroquois type weapons for the arlenmen and branching into more celtic influences for the Karkans, it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Often tribes in a particular area were very similar in their culture and look, at least to the uneducated colonists.
But sometimes a logical approach like that, such as whether they are advanced enough to settle in rough conditions aren't entirely applicable in a fictional landscape like New Elgante, since an explanation can come up no matter what aspect I take, such as their isolation on a fairly small island, than the continents the traditional early man started on.
The naked "civilians" is more of a placeholder for a lack of non-native furs at the moment. Obviously they are not so resistant to the cold (that really only lasts for winter and in the mountains) that they can wear a fur loincloth as their only protection, so that is being developed. They are gaining a few bronze items for the high tier units, but I do really like the primitive look to them, they are sort of the tribe that occupy the least desirable part of New Elgante and are rarely contended for their property. Unlike tribes like the "Ichites", who lived along the coast now occupied by the empire, which aren't even featured as a faction since they have been wiped out (they are planned to be used in quests and artifact raiding however)
One issue with the mod is that the different tribes don't differ visually. They all seem to use the same model (Nords?) and having the more Indian-inspired cultures having white, bearded people running around resembles cavemen more than the cultures they draw their inspiration from. This is definitely hard to change but maybe the Native American themed tribes should get the khergit visuals so they don't feature the big, viking like beards anymore (EDIT: I think they actually already are Khergits, sorry about that that... ^^)
Faces is starting to be approached and thought about, but up until now not much has been done on the area, apart from maybe the chiefs.
The North-America-inspired Tribe (Lundmen?) should maybe on the highest tier feature gunpowder units. Through trading and scout/mercenary duty for the colonists some Lundmen could be in possesion of guns, wearing them as a sign of rank and skill. To not being able to outgun the actual gun wielding colonists, they could have only 4 shots and wield a heavy close combat weapon in addition to that.
Well there has been a lot of discussion on whether or not to give guns to the native factions or not. Generally I see it that the colonists barely have enough themselves and don't actively produce them, preferring the crossbows which can be developed locally, that they would actually consider trading them with the Lundmen on any significant scale. However, taking your idea here, I think some Lundic chiefs wielding some would be a nice touch. This may be developed more as the Lundmen get a third review in the future.
Just a few things that came to my mind, I bet you have already thought about similiar things
Really looking forward to the new Aztecs ^^
You have my gratitude for taking the time to post this. I suppose you have Angry Newbie to thank for the more historical referenced approach to the factions and not just the stuff that flies out of my head onto the screen. But I'm really getting into the snakes development and as always I make sure I develop them in a creative way.