SP Other The Gathering Storm - A Wheel of Time Mod (Beta) Latest Version: V0.2.7d

[mat2rivs]

We want patch! We want patch!

Yeah, you do need a patch because I accidently screwed up the computer channelers.  (Thanks a ton Malik Fel for tipping me off to this mistake.)  I changed the pierce damage done by the computer channelers power weapon from 1 to 0 because I thought that wouldn't matter.  But, now in V0.2.3 they run around with their fists up until they get close to an enemy.  Then they finally 'pull out' their channeling weapon and start doing something.

Downloaded and played for a few days but a few things have me going back to Feral's Shadow Rising at the moment, mostly to do with channeling.

One of my favorite things to do with Channelers in Shadow Rising was setting them up to hold some hill overlooking the battlefield, where they would blast hordes of trollocs with weaves while archers stood right next to them shooting arrows at the same targets. But in your mod the channelers seem to wait until the enemy is right in front of them to start using the one power, and even more frustration their weaves seem to kill more teammates then enemies.

Also the crossbow animation for channeling looks pretty bad, why not the one hand extended like in the other mod? Maybe a resource permission thing, not sure, just curious.

The world map is nice, it looks more accurate then Shadow Risings, but the sky box around the world map borders takes away from it, why not extend the ocean?

Besides that I love all the improvements you added, especially the weapons and armor. Thanks for all your effort in making this mod.

About channelers being morons at the moment:  See above.  That is a mistake that I fixed and will try to get a new patch to you guys ASAP.  Channeling will still have friendly fire enabled.  I don't think your channelers should be able to shoot like mad into clusters of your own troops and some enemies without paying the price.  In a later update, I might see if it's possible to make them a little more 'intelligent' about when they shoot.  Something like a quick check in a radius around their desired target.  (if they see allies, then don't shoot a damaging weave.  If not, then go ahead.)

The crossbow animation is the one that allows the computer channelers to hit what they are aiming at.  (I may investigate more at a later date.)

I'm not sure if I can edit the map after the fact to make it larger.  (and I don't want to redo it.)

Thanks for the feedback,
mat

 

[Malik Fel]

Cool man, thanks for replying. Looking foreword to updates, keep up the great work!

 

[mat2rivs]

I've released the V0.2.4 patch.  You can download it here:  http://www.mbrepository.com/file.php?id=2511

Release notes are here:

Spoiler

V0.2.4 Beta Patch
Fixes:
-Fixed ground level error that occurs when you siege Bandar Eban
-Fixed bandit lair troops (no longer only native troops)
-Fixed the 'all troops show up as archers' error
-Fixed error where channelers wouldn't use their weapons until they were up close to enemies (accidently created in V0.2.3)
Updated Features:
-Made it so Lord armies and castle/town garrisons will mainly be populated with the correct troops based on nationality (not just faction)
-Made bandits more diverse and powerful (You may feel very weak starting out, but it's much easier to recruit now.)
-Added recruiting from towns
-New recruiting option for trollocs (need prisoners)
-Added to the upgrade tree for women to include hunters of the horn, cha faile, village wisdoms and kinwomen
-Now have menu option to talk to village elder from village menu and guild master from town menu - credits HokieBT
-Revamped the village/town recruitment method. Can now ask for locals, outlanders, can bribe locals to get more volunteers
-New dialogs with Village elder / Guild master for recruiting channelers

This patch will change totally change the troop recruitment process.  It should be pretty self explanatory though.  Let me know if you find any lingering issues in the dialogs.  Other than that, the largest change is probably bandits.  They will be stronger and more diverse.  If you start out in Bandar Eban, try not to freak out when you see your first Dragonsworn Bandit party.  They aren't as strong as they look.  Enjoy...

 

[lore122]

Awesomeness, Mat. I'll check it out ASAP

 

[bgfan]

Perhaps having channelers as companions rather than troops would stick closer to the WoT Lore? Especially considering that they weren't exactly common, plus it would give them their own personality of sorts, and allow for them to become much more powerful without worrying overmuch with balance (seeing as the average hero would only have a few of them rather than a whole army) As for Aes Sedai, it is my personal belief that they should not participate in combat due to the lore of WoT, perhaps either making them unrecruitable or finding some way to modify their function to support (as in quicker heal times after a battle) would best stick with the lore. Just a bit of input, anyways gratz on actually getting a release out, contrary to the course of events most mods seem to follow.

 

[Negro of Serbia]

Hey mat, it's much better now, the localization of troops was a bullseye. 
I played a singleplayer, and there are still mentions of Calradia, in one menu (speak with guild master in a castle southeast of Cairhien) it changed as if I'm speaking with myself...minor bug... And in Cairhien in one of the menus (either when recruiting or speaking with guild master) the dialog box couldn't be closed with left click and it just displayed me saying something, so I couldn't get out of it...
Anyway, it's awesome, this mod ROCKS! 

 

[lore122]

Very solid. I'm loving the new stuff, Mat.

 

[Kingy]

Have you considered toning down the amount of channellers in the AI parties?

From what I've read an army of Seanchan 200,000 strong would have little more than perhaps 500 damane. I like the fact that you made channellers more difficult to recruit but they still seem far too common for me. Perhaps out of a party of 200 men/women 15-25 channelers? When almost 1/4 of each aiel, seanchan or legion of the dragon party are channelers it makes it virtually useless to go up against them without equal measure of your own. Factions are heavily unbalanced because of the channeling problem at the moment joining the borderlands/southlander coalitions is very difficult to win a battle with few losses against a heavy channeling enemy party.

It's only a suggestion but I feel more along the lines that a channeling soldier in my party should be something of a rarity, the elite of the elite and behave so, few in number, high in cost with a long training time. (High up in the troop tree to access)

It's your mod and as such it is up to you, the rest of the mod is great the retextured armors although only small changes make all the difference and the campaign map is very detailed and well done. It would be nice to see some more colour and variation brought to the trollocs but this is only a minor thing. I think the best thing you can do now with a stable release is sit back and play your own mod for a while, see where you think you can improve things.

 

[mat2rivs]

Perhaps having channelers as companions rather than troops would stick closer to the WoT Lore? Especially considering that they weren't exactly common, plus it would give them their own personality of sorts, and allow for them to become much more powerful without worrying overmuch with balance (seeing as the average hero would only have a few of them rather than a whole army) As for Aes Sedai, it is my personal belief that they should not participate in combat due to the lore of WoT, perhaps either making them unrecruitable or finding some way to modify their function to support (as in quicker heal times after a battle) would best stick with the lore. Just a bit of input, anyways gratz on actually getting a release out, contrary to the course of events most mods seem to follow.

I'm hoping to get companions updated at some point.  I agree that in theory, Aes Sedai aren't supposed to fight.  But, in the books, if they want to, they will just put themselves in a situation where they feel in danger.  It would be possible to take away their offensive abilities unless they were fighting shadowspawn or maybe seanchan.

I might have to lower the numbers in the Aes Sedai portion of the White Tower's ai party recruitment party_template.  I think the number of channelers should be smaller in the latest version of the mod.  But, I haven't fought many channelers yet during my testing, so I might be wrong.  I think it will vary from party to party.

Hey mat, it's much better now, the localization of troops was a bullseye. 
I played a singleplayer, and there are still mentions of Calradia, in one menu (speak with guild master in a castle southeast of Cairhien) it changed as if I'm speaking with myself...minor bug... And in Cairhien in one of the menus (either when recruiting or speaking with guild master) the dialog box couldn't be closed with left click and it just displayed me saying something, so I couldn't get out of it...
Anyway, it's awesome, this mod ROCKS! 

I fixed the 'speak with guild master in castle' error.  A fresh download of the V0.2.4 patch will fix that.  (that little update is save compatible.)
If you can track down at what point the recruiting dialog breaks in Cairhien, that would be great.  I remembered once when showing some of the stuff to my brother, it froze in one recruiting menu.  But we started doing something else and when I tried to re-create the error, I couldn't make it happen.  If it happens again, try to remember stuff like, what dialogs you did previously.  (recruit outlanders, or bribing, or just normal volunteers.)  Also, a screenshot or just the text that you character is saying when it locks up would be awesome.  I hope for the most part, things are working pretty well.  I'm glad you are having fun.

Have you considered toning down the amount of channellers in the AI parties?

From what I've read an army of Seanchan 200,000 strong would have little more than perhaps 500 damane. I like the fact that you made channellers more difficult to recruit but they still seem far too common for me. Perhaps out of a party of 200 men/women 15-25 channelers? When almost 1/4 of each aiel, seanchan or legion of the dragon party are channelers it makes it virtually useless to go up against them without equal measure of your own. Factions are heavily unbalanced because of the channeling problem at the moment joining the borderlands/southlander coalitions is very difficult to win a battle with few losses against a heavy channeling enemy party.

It's only a suggestion but I feel more along the lines that a channeling soldier in my party should be something of a rarity, the elite of the elite and behave so, few in number, high in cost with a long training time. (High up in the troop tree to access)

It's your mod and as such it is up to you, the rest of the mod is great the retextured armors although only small changes make all the difference and the campaign map is very detailed and well done. It would be nice to see some more colour and variation brought to the trollocs but this is only a minor thing. I think the best thing you can do now with a stable release is sit back and play your own mod for a while, see where you think you can improve things.

Kingy, are you using V0.2.4 of the mod?  I'm just curious.  (not saying that will fix it, but for sure legion armies should be different.  (some will just have two rivers folks, other band of the red hand, and then legion/ashaman armies))  White Tower, Seanchan, Aiel, and Shadowspawn might need some more tweaking in order to get the channelers down a little.

 

[Raistlain]

I love the Wheel of Time mod, Ive been looking for a good one for awhile. Also, is it possible to add the diplomacy mod by Waihti? Its a mod which adds a number of additional features for fief management as vassal and as king. Its obviously not directly related to WOT but its a lot of fun and has had great reviews from the community. It should fit the world fairly well though because the lords and ladies in the series have a lot of responsabilites. Here is a copy of the features and a link to the mod:

As vassal

•Persuasion attempts to convince your king to start a war
•Appoint a chamberlain, who will decrease tax inefficiency by 10% and gives you the ability to set tax rates.  Taxes also have an effect on center relation and prosperity. In addition he will take care of paying wages and collecting income as well as giving you the possibility to secure your money
•Let your companions pick items from the chamberlain item pool (autoloot)
•Appoint a constable who recruits and trains troops and provides information about garrisons and troops of lords
•Send patrols to important locations
•Appoint a chancellor who sends gifts and messengers to other lords
•Village and town riots may occure if the people hate you and have to pay high tax rates. Counter them or negotiate with the leader.
•Let your spouse buy some food (I know, it has nothing to do with diplomacy but it's fun  )
•Pay staff salary (you knew that a woman will cost money before you married her  )
•Troops will start running away if you go into debts (this also applies to garrisons)
•Return fiefs to your king, he won't like this, though
•Move your residence (via spouse)
•Negotiate Mid-siege surrender/walk-out terms if defending your own keeps and towns
•Affiliate to families
•Send scouts to settlements  (since 3.0)
•Pay to avoid defeat  (since 3.3)

As king

•Threaten other kingdoms with war and try to squeeze money out of them
•If a faction sues for peace you will have the option to set terms
•Possiblity to send a gift to another faction (fief or money)
•Send a spy to another kingdom
•Form an alliance, conclude a defensive pact, sign a trade agreement or conclude a non-aggression treaty with another faction.
•Change the domnestic policy of your kingdom. Choose between Centralization/Decentralization, Aristocracy/Plutocracy, Serfdom/Free subjects, Quality/Quantity which affects trade income, vassals armies size, AI army strength, relation between king and vassals as well as tax inefficiency
•When asking for a truce you will get the option to pay and/or give fiefs to conclude a truce.
•If another faction recognizes you as king you will have the option to ask for help against your enemy and in certain circumstances support the decision by paying money
•Choose your faction culture so all your lords will recruit the same type of troops
•Exchange or release your (own) prisoners
•Distribute spoils of war after you conquered a town or castle
•Send emissaries to persuade lords to join your kingdom (since 3.0)

http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,116424.0.html

Also, is there anyway to recruit shadowspawn units? I dont see a village near Shadol Ghul. I would love to play as the shadowspawn for awhile, using an army of trollocs and myadrall to attack other nations, it would be a fun way to play the other side of the story. Maybe just making a village near there to recruit some would be  a good idea. Maybe call it Thakan'dar (the place where the myraddral make their crazy weapons by killing humans) Its a fitting place and there are obviously some shadowspawn there in the books. Final question: do villages recruitment options change with the faction who controls them - i.e., does the capture of maradon by the shadowspawn mean that I  an recruit trollocs from those villages? Sorry for all the questions 

 

[Tumetsu]

I am now in day ~50 and no major bugs detected.
Only few minor ones

Spoiler: Shol Arbela doesn't have Guild Master option for some reason

Spoiler: Only One Face

I was doing the Prisoner Release -quest in Illian but failed because after killing the guard the door was still closed. When I returned I saw this

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler: Some error reports

Spoiler: Dragonsworns, annoying as ever

Well, not really. Bandits still don't join each other's battles and tend to stick together (tactics ) but otherwise I think they are good. Because of pitchfork-cavalry and bowmen they aren't completely toothless anymore but they still die fast if hunted down by real army.
Crossing some wilderness areas is quite dangerous with relatively small party, I like that.

To the channeler-issue:
I think it would be a good idea to tune up their levels a bit so that training them takes more time. Currently it takes time to recruit them but leveling is really fast.

How does the trolloc-recruiting work? I had one of them as prisoner but I couldn't talk to him (other than tell him not to try escape) I tried recruiting him through camp menu but he didn't take the offer so I sold him soon after.

 

[mat2rivs]

I love the Wheel of Time mod, Ive been looking for a good one for awhile. Also, is it possible to add the diplomacy mod by Waihti? Its a mod which adds a number of additional features for fief management as vassal and as king. Its obviously not directly related to WOT but its a lot of fun and has had great reviews from the community. It should fit the world fairly well though because the lords and ladies in the series have a lot of responsabilites. Here is a copy of the features and a link to the mod:

Also, is there anyway to recruit shadowspawn units? I dont see a village near Shadol Ghul. I would love to play as the shadowspawn for awhile, using an army of trollocs and myadrall to attack other nations, it would be a fun way to play the other side of the story. Maybe just making a village near there to recruit some would be  a good idea. Maybe call it Thakan'dar (the place where the myraddral make their crazy weapons by killing humans) Its a fitting place and there are obviously some shadowspawn there in the books. Final question: do villages recruitment options change with the faction who controls them - i.e., does the capture of maradon by the shadowspawn mean that I  an recruit trollocs from those villages? Sorry for all the questions 

Diplomacy...
The mod currently has the recruiter stuff and Autoloot.  Ie hire the guy to go and get recruits for your garrisons.  For some of the other things Diplomacy adds.  I would probably have to be really careful to make sure all the features are compatible.

Things I'm worried might cause problems:
-I've changed some of the recruiting stuff quite a bit from native.  Several of the factions have many different 'starting recruits'. Ie Borderlands has Shienar, Arafel, Kandor, and Saldaea recruits.  Which ones you get will depend on which village/town you are recruiting from.  Also, all the different npc lords will use a specific recruiting strategy that I implemented.  Ie Tam 'al Thor will recruit Two Rivers troops, as opposed to using a generic Legion of the Dragon setup.
-I have some automatic stuff programed in for diplomacy.  For the first 120 days, everything will happen according to my setup.  After that, it's Native except for all factions being at war with the Shadowspawn.

There's quite a few cool features in Diplomacy, but I'm not sure if I'm up to adding it in at the moment.  I have a few other Wheel of Time things to try and implement first.  It's a good suggestion though.  If you see any other mods/kits that would improve game-play, let me know.

Assuming you have V0.2.4 of the mod, you can go recruit in Shayol Ghul assuming you have the gold.  (Darkfriends and channelers)  For trollocs, you will need to have some prisoners to exchange for recruits.  Once the Shadowspawn start taking over some more lands, you will be able to visit the new towns/villages and recruit there to.  (However, the normal 'pay 10 denars for a recruit' will give you recruits from the geographical area.  So, you will have to try for outlanders.  (if you want darkfriends.)

I am now in day ~50 and no major bugs detected.
Only few minor ones

Spoiler: Shol Arbela doesn't have Guild Master option for some reason

Spoiler: Only One Face

I was doing the Prisoner Release -quest in Illian but failed because after killing the guard the door was still closed. When I returned I saw this

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler: Some error reports

Spoiler: Dragonsworns, annoying as ever

Well, not really. Bandits still don't join each other's battles and tend to stick together (tactics ) but otherwise I think they are good. Because of pitchfork-cavalry and bowmen they aren't completely toothless anymore but they still die fast if hunted down by real army.
Crossing some wilderness areas is quite dangerous with relatively small party, I like that.

To the channeler-issue:
I think it would be a good idea to tune up their levels a bit so that training them takes more time. Currently it takes time to recruit them but leveling is really fast.

How does the trolloc-recruiting work? I had one of them as prisoner but I couldn't talk to him (other than tell him not to try escape) I tried recruiting him through camp menu but he didn't take the offer so I sold him soon after.

Every once in a while, the towns don't show the guild master option.  One reason that I coded in is a siege, the other is bandit attack.  But, it seems like sometimes the option just doesn't show up.  (all towns use the same code for that menu, so I'm not sure what prevents it for a specific town.)  I've found that if I go back in a few days or a week, the guild master will sometimes show up.

At some point, I need to go back and make a similar, but slightly different 2nd face for the different countries.  You need two different face codes so the game engine can make a face that is somewhere between them.  I made one, and then changed the age to make it into five.  But, that would cause an error because the face codes were too similar.  So, at the moment, the faces for soldiers in a faction are pretty similar.

I have no idea on the prison release quest.  I'll have to investigate that further sometime.

That error throws every time a castle/town is taken by another faction.  I tried fixing it, but couldn't get it to go away.  Take a look at the castle/town and see if the troops seem to be the correct type (for who just took over the place).  Also, take a look at the number of troops in the garrison.  They are lower than a starting garrision.  Is that normal for when a castle/town get captured?  I haven't played Native enough to know.

The grey labeled bandits will help eachother (noticed during my play-time over the last few days)  I'll have to look at how they are set up.  You should start seeing some really large Dragonsworn armies.  I've been playing with troops set at 500 and sometimes have some pretty awesome battles.

Channelers need tweaking...  I'll add it to the list.  Perhaps Two Rivers archers also.  They are extremely powerful and pretty easy to upgrade.

For trollocs, you need some type of prisoner.  (actually 2 or more)  Then go to a Shadowspawn town or village.  The village elder/guild master should have something new to say.  (assuming you have room in your party)

One mistake I've found:
I gave the Kinswomen the Yellow Ajah one power weapon, (because I was lazy) and then while playing I noticed that Kin will sometimes get warders.  (oops)  I'll have to make them a specific Kin weapon sometime. (and then change a bunch of other code to include it... oh well.)

 

[Raistlain]

Every once in a while, the towns don't show the guild master option.  One reason that I coded in is a siege, the other is bandit attack.  But, it seems like sometimes the option just doesn't show up.  (all towns use the same code for that menu, so I'm not sure what prevents it for a specific town.)  I've found that if I go back in a few days or a week, the guild master will sometimes show up.

I noticed this too, you can still talk to the guild master, you just have to click the take a walk on the streets. When you do you get attacked by bandits, and as soon as they die you get taken back to the city menu and the guild master is there. It works as it should in my opinion.

Thanks for the quick response.

Ive noticed a major problem in my game now when battles are happening. Sometimes when im fighting a battle, units routing will run beyond the edges of the map and my units cant get to them to kill them and they are still counted as being part of the map somehow.Im not sure whats causing it, maybe the ranged defensive blast?

 

[mat2rivs]

Ive noticed a major problem in my game now when battles are happening. Sometimes when im fighting a battle, units routing will run beyond the edges of the map and my units cant get to them to kill them and they are still counted as being part of the map somehow.Im not sure whats causing it, maybe the ranged defensive blast?

That's something I'm aware of.  I didn't consider it major because you can just retreat from the battle and take them out in the next round.  A similar thing happens if you use compulsion on the enemy.  They will join your side for the moment, but you will have to fight another round to really kill them off.  There may be some way I can fix that using the operations given in the Module System.  I'll have to investigate further.

 

[Raistlain]

Oh well thats a good point, I didnt think to just retreat then kill them off real quick lol. It shouldnt harm any of my guys in the retreat right? If it doesnt, then its not a problem at all, I just hadnt thought of that. It might be a good idea to menition on the front page if people are having that issue though.

One other thing, can we send out patrols of our own units to an area? That is one of the commands that you could pull from diplomacy, that way we could send out some of my garisson to protect my fiefs. It would be a nice addition to help protect allies/farmers from bandits and such.

Once again I would like to mention how great this mod is. Well recreated map, great changes with the patch for recruiting. Im really enjoying it, I just hope you can think of some more weaves for battle  Keep up the great work!

 

[Raistlain]

Hey I dont know if im the only one having this problem, but ive noticed that the weaves are only irregularly working. Specifically chain lighting is only sometimes working at all. Most of the time it doesnt do any damage or bounce to targets. Also the distance explosion blast  doesnt always do damage or blast people around. They sometimes work and sometimes dont.  Ive made a few changes with tweakmb but not a lot, the only things I changed were the ammo capacity, party sizes for ai and player party, fief build time, and wage reduction for garrisoned troops, as well as changing it so I can speak to lords in private even when they are near other lords. I dont think any of these changes would make the weaves behave inconsitently though.

 

[Uncontested]

No white cloaks?

 

[Tumetsu]

Are there Shaidos at all?  It's possible that I just haven't seen them though.
Several Shaido-bandits spawning in appropriate times would be cool.

 

[lore122]

Raist: The other weaves work normally for me, but chain lightning is really buggy. Doesn't often work. As a rule, I don't use it. As for Ranged Blast, I've found it works devastatingly, but it won't push enemies in castles and in streets.

Uncontested: There are indeed Whitecloaks. The Amadican armies are full of them

 

[Raistlain]

Thats wierd, im not sure why ranged blast isnt working for me then. Thank God that at least the fire blast does, else i wouldnt have any good weapon! Also is there the possiblity you could add a weave of a club of air - i.e. used to knock people out rather than kill them so that if we are trying to capture people we could?

One other thing, I havent formed my own faction yet, but when I do, how does it affect the recruitment of "outlanders" in my villages? Will I have no options, will it hopefully be dependant upon the centers I already control, who im friendly with, etc?