HYLFIRE: New huge mod for WoTN - Ice'n Fire

[raknefne]

HYLFIRE
By Terroin and Rakne Fne


We have worked at least a year to polish this huge mod for the Kings Bounty game: Warriors of the North -Ice’n Fire expansion.
It’s a mod with big replay value due to the amount of new random stuff, units, items, spells and a lot of exciting choices to make in the beginning of the game. A whole new gameplay experience awaits! It is a lot harder than normal WoTn.
The most changes regarding creatures/maps are until Greenwort, keep that in mind.


Futures:
-Fewer undead enemies and they are more randomized!

-Low level creatures are more interesting and can give a bonus after battle. To manage gold you are forced also to use cheaper units.

-There are only a few skills in the 3 skill trees from the start. You will have to earn the right to develop on a skill: Acrimaldo the mentor teaches you new skills when you level up. Generally you will have to earn things in this mod - for instance management of Gold income which is much different from a normal Kings Bounty game.

-Big replay value: Random buildings, different luck with Acrimaldo and skills, choosing an alliance, choosing a companion and 15 hero types to choose between contribute to a great game experience each time you play (still 3 main but 5 sub heroes).

-early game you’ll find a companion that will follow you to the end. It grows in stats according to hero level. It is like an extra stack, but only with 1 unit in it. It grows in Health, Attack, Defense etc.

-Fewer Undead Enemies and fewer crashes than a normal WoTn game.

... and much more!

- - -

Allan Hylbaek (Terroin): Main modder and new ideas.
Uffe Bonde Eriksen (RakneFne): Main tester, new items and spells. In the past, he made many maps for Heroes of Might of Magic 4 - like “The Hundred Years War” campaign.


Download the latest version 1.21: https://email.mediafire.com/wf/click?upn=HPhC1iM6lU-2BsfzyLkWOhf09KLg-2Bel-2BOlLevHRh9MQb8mqEhlKKeNeOP0orFuaAOr_uQnxNavyzqVOP AW-2B5EGNt5IFaQ3WuUGUUUH51a8w6BSNCtCt9k6A7RyvSrOjYuJs QufRcV9CHOccoe4uvMvEl-2FvcOZ0qL-2FuikAsbeitLwUxpF3xkswPSKdeImwXnzsxtzHAfG4-2F7MN-2BbcK-2Fi9yDr4r9VS128UDac0t9dDXw-2B-2FtgP5wZWZxsHGD49csKIb4uTR543iM-2FS8aqpkWbTKlC40Q-3D-3D

Info on patch 1.21, see http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?p=718554#post718554

[raknefne]

Each hero type has 5 sub heroes with different spells and charistica. For instance the Blacksmith can develop on his skill to
summon an extra stack of items like the Iron Ball, Barrier, Gryphon Statue that can summon Ghostgriffins or a Cannon.
He has a special spell that can place Bombs on the battlefield. It cost around 1000 crystals for other heroes to learn, so if
other hero types find this scroll they will sell it or use it to cast.
In these photo examples I choose a Berserker Hero. He has extra Critical chance for his troops and regenerates Rage faster.

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You also see gold is less... but you can get interests from savings in a Guild/Bank, or get other rewards after battle etc.

As you see, not all skills are active, I have to earn the right to develope them. I do that when I level up and choose between random skills.
You will also find a companion on Nordlig Island. In this case I have chosen The Stranded Whale which can be seen next to Acrimaldo in the top of the photo:

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The Whale is stationairy, but it can summon Devilfish, taunt and teleport a short distance.

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I have chosen to have a stack of Devilfish in my army. I can carry 214 with my leadership, but I only choose to carry 107, since they one time can double in numbers, and I keep the remains! On their next turn they get a random new skill (taunt, give turn, haste or summon small amount of other fish). This way I have a supply of free units. When do you use Devilfish as level 33 in a normal game??

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There're are new skills, one of them are Guarding, which gives extra Defense to units that passes their turn by using the Defend button.
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[Metathron]

Wow, this sounds promising. Thanks for putting in all the work, I'll give it a go sometime.

[raknefne]

A few things are changed in the starting town on Nordlig: At top left corner there's a boat you can take after defeating the guards. Also Runolv's cabin is moved within town to make questing easier. The quest with the drunkards is moved inside the town too, to avoid too much horseriding. At the bottom there's a new building, a Guild where you can save gold and earn interest.

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New creatures: First of all I'm fighting Necro Lizard on Nordlig. At the top in my army, I have a stack of 4 Air Elementals and 4 Fire Elementals. The Fire Elementals have casted the vulcano that hits random targets. Peasants are now green and are called Gardners - they can plant plants and heal them. Below also a new creature, Cudly Abonimation, that casts spells etc., the Fire Spider at the bottom makes fireshots and has a fire aura. In front of the Gardners, there is a big fly, its my companion, the Royal Dragonfly. The companion will always have 1 in stack but grows in stats. At last there is a reddish ghost in the middle. It is a level 3 ghost which we have turned a little red, so it is easier to see the difference between level 2 and 3. An undead troop can be summoned each battle, because I have chosen to be a Soul Wanderer Hero, and I can develop a skill that gives different undead summonings in battle depending on the skill level.

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At the top left corner there's also a red ghost - instead of Olaf. Each hero type have a different "Olaf". As Soul Wanderer it is a ghost, the Blacksmith has a Miner etc. These chars also do the animation when using Rage Skills, not Olaf. So yes, it is a huge mod, a lot has been modded!

[eucrysty]

the mod is great but like i said the skill system after getting a new level is not that great .at least it could force to be rewarded with at least 1 skill from your main specialization .mages shoud recieve at least 1 from magic , warmonger from might etc .You're excited to level up just to realize you get a useless skill not to mention that in the worst case NOT even one skill , it happened once for me :) Acrimaldo just says no skills this time for you :)

[raknefne]

That has been my thoughts too, not sure if it is possible to mod - in an earlier test version, we had double chance for the Magic School you are "specialized" in, for the Ice Mage it was Rune Magi etc., but we ran into problems and had to delete it. But I'll hand it over to the main modder, Terroin. This could be a thing to look on in a patch. On the skills ATTACK and DEFENSE in the Might Skill Tree, we added 10 Rage/Mana, partly because we never chose those skills and also to spread out the option to get Mana/Rage so it isn't depended on a few skills only.
On the other hand you have a chance to get something strong, like Higher Magic that you normally will take some time to develop. The idea was to make the mod as random as possible, like a "gamblers mod". Ofc that also has it downsides. I'm not a guy that plays any game to the end, it's rare, and with Hylfire I have started many heroes, and still do. My steam account says I have played 1.600 hours of WoTn !!

We are already working on a new mod, with a new world/campaign. In this you can build buildings, one building can develop the 4 magic schools which you then can buy for a price. Another building some other elementary stuff, like Rage Control etc. - together with the Acrimaldo reward system after battle. It's a Heroes of Might and Magic inspired mod. We are using what we have already modded with Companions, Acrimaldo, Items, Spells. The main modder, Terroin, has an extreme creativity regarding new mod ideas.

How are you thoughts about the tax system? Our tester was not so keen about it. My thoughts are 10% instead of 25%, but it is debatable, some like it, some don't, I guess. We wanted to make a mod where you really have to think about your gold, not just having so much you buy everything. This way you get more happy when you find an item for free or craft one yourself. Hylfire is a lot about managing your income, sometimes I use eggs or cheap stuff instead of buying expensive creatures, just to save money.

Hint: Try saving 100k in the Guild before entering Greenwort...

[eucrysty]

the tax system i don t like AT ALL .since i play on impossible i can't afford anything never.you never have money on impossible on WOTN normal game , but with this tax and with lowered modified income reward after battle is .right now i only have 10 000 gold , lvl 8 with 3 empty islands .i did not afford any item from comerciants ,just what i picked from chests or quest rewards,and as a mage you need items to destroy to get crystals , items costs :) not to mention if i get bored with my current army and i want to change to different types ....well i can t afford :)so is not in the spririt of the mod after all because you are forced to play with the same troops over and over because you don t have money to afford others. ps i have 10 000 gold on a 98% no loss game so the situation is really sad , only lost 3-4 creatures ,so no expenses were made on troops or anything else


https://s11.postimg.org/5cgfl693n/KBWot_N_2016_08_27_13_28_05_39.jpg

[raknefne]

Thx for reply. We made Impossible level more extreme, in the starting menu it says "Impossible Level is only for players who have played Hylfire before", since you get more experienced how to save gold after a playthrough. For instance having a Miner in the Reserve for troop talk - gives gold... In the earlier test games, the current Hard Difficulty was actually the Impossible level, but made a more extreme level, survival level. So Hard level is a good level to play for hardcore's the first time they play.

It is very different how difficult it is to get gold from game to game. When that is said, I do think we in a patch need to cancel tax. Different ways to get gold:

1. Develop the skill Economist (up to 100k gold and 6% after battle).
2. Having a Miner, Pirate, Robber or Maurauder in the army/Reserve for troop talk gives 1000-1500 gold pr hero level in the Acrimaldo's Troop Talk.
3. Use the Guild for interests. Especially early on to start earning interests!!
4. Different items with gold in it.
5. In the beginning using eggs and cheap units and save in the Guild. For instance Devilfish can be doubled in fight and the remainings kept in the Reserve, when having Devilfish you have free units. Thorns are rather cheap, and can be turned into Royal Thorns in the Troop talk. 1 Slinger can give the skill Quickdraw in trooptalk along with +1 Attack. Etc. If interested, I can put a list what trooptalk can give...
6. Get the free units on Vestlig.
7. Donate to Christa for extra gold after battle.
8. If possible, buy items that gives extra gold after battle.

[eucrysty]

i found a bug in the cellar in Fastland where you find Ulrika ,there are 2 spider enemies in there ,whatever i attack it not loading , you know when entering battle the medalion fills up loading and battle starts... with these two enemies it does not . i`ll attach my savegame

https://s11.postimg.org/72kccqfs3/KBWot_N_2016_08_27_23_29_43_53.jpg

https://s13.postimg.org/j33y8ac47/KBWot_N_2016_08_27_23_29_19_96.jpg

[raknefne]

Can you remember if it was bugged in normal WoTn? I never went in the cellar in the normal WoTn, so can't remember.

[eucrysty]

In normal wotn was not bugged ,but i think it was only 1 enemy , and runes to collect in the cellar , in hylfire there are 2 enemies and no runes :)

[eucrysty]

also there are no map charts in this mod...there is only one in vestlig but is garded by a huge army of undead dragons.so now i`m kinda stuck in 3rd island because i cannot defeat other enemies :)

PS. i managed to win 2 hard battles and indeed keeping a miner in reserve is worth 1500 gold x hero level because let's be honest the battle reward itself is really bad .after killing 313 spieder , 15 necromancers and 6 vampires i recieved only 890 gold from battle? :))

https://s9.postimg.org/yix7vi3kv/KBWot_N_2016_08_28_19_02_56_25.jpg
https://s22.postimg.org/v26gfx381/KBWot_N_2016_08_28_19_24_29_10.jpg
https://s15.postimg.org/pum8qrfp7/KBWot_N_2016_08_28_19_26_08_66.jpg

[raknefne]

About Ulrikas dungeon: It is noted, can't recall any moding here, though, I'll hand it over to Terroin.

The guarded scroll on Vestlig is a map for Istering. There are several goodies in there too. So that battle is critical. It is random which enemies guards, and that is in general to avoid only fighting undead enemies which was a thing many didn't like about WoTn. So that battle is necessary to continue the game.

I get the impression you play a lot with no loss, but in Hylfire you often have to use cheaper and weaker units lvl 1-3 for money savings especially in the beginning until you earn enough interests from the Guild. I use some cheaper units for tough fights. Sometimes nearly wiped out... Until now in 90% of the test games, I'll have 100k in guild when I reach Greenwort on Hard and a little less on Impossible. The first times even on Hard it was a struggle with money, though, until I found out how. We have mostly tested the game on Hard - and MANY TIMES! This is a well tested mod with only few bugs.

The Medal Strategian gives a smaller bonus of Leadership, which support the idea that games with no loss isn't as crucical as in normal KB games. In some Hylfire games, depending on the Hero, early on it is difficult to avoid casualties.

My plan for a future patch is: Perhaps adjust tax to 10%, maybe 10% instead of 5% after battle on Impossible or maybe not. With 10% after battle, I have played a lot, at it has been enough in my games (I do buy items, but only some). I know terroin disagree on the tax reduction. I will add text on how to raise income after battle.

AND FOR ALL NEW HYLFIRE PLAYERS: DON'T START IMPOSSIBLE LEVEL THE FIRST TIME YOU PLAY!! START ON NORMAL OR HARD.
You can't compare difficulties to WoTn.

Will probably change the 4 difficulties to NORMAL - HARD - IMPOSSIBLE - SURVIVAL ! This is how the Hylfire mod difficulties are.

[raknefne]

If you don't like the amount of gold per battle, you can change::

First make a copy of you WoTn directory for safety.
Either download attached file 15302 and put within WoTn\sessions\Ice and Fire\ses (+5% gold/battle all levels) or change yourself to whatever gold income you like:

WoTn\sessions\Ice and Fire\ses\logic.txt

Open the file logic.txt and scroll a little down until you find:
difficulty_k {
exp=1.5|2.0|2.5|3.0 // exp development
alead=1.5|2.0|2.5|3.0 // exp development exp and alead should be equal
spexp=1.0|1.2|1.5|1.65 // valkyrie experience
money=0.2|0.15|0.1|0.05 // gold from battle
rage=0.9|0.8|0.7|0.6 // rage in battle
manarage=1.0|0.8|0.65|0.5 // mana recovery

You can see that MONEY is 0.05 for impossible, set it at 0.10 which is 10%
- you can change the other difficulties so it will be
money=0.25|0.20|0.15|0.10


Only if you want text changes in starting menu:
Until now, you won't see the changes in the starting menu, it takes a little more modding but couldn't upload the file because it is a *.lng file. If you should be interested it is in WoTn\sessions\ADDON\loc_ses\eng_windows.lng (not Ice and Fire directory!). Scroll a little down (or search for the string "20%" and you find where text about difficulty is written). Change for all 4 difficulties.

[Terroin]

Hi eucrysty - Im glad that your playing the hylfire mod. But I would have loved if you played it on normal or hard.. the HARD difficulty is the setting we used modding the game.. and should be the one giving you the best "picture" of the game we want the user to experience. Impossible is meant to be that.. and it is actually not.. but close..

I really dont think tax should be changed back or remove as Rakne Fne always has lot of money and items in his test games on HARD.. the tax prevents having too much and also make you think about how and when to buy or place money in the guild. If you remove the tax or lower it down to 10%, you kill the feature more or less of having a guild and then your just closer to the original.. please play on normal/hard and see for your self.

The cellar was something i messed around with for a loooong time ago and forgot all about it, so I will fix this in some way.. making it different still from the original.

Kind regards, Terroin

[raknefne]

I'm currently playing 1 of 15 hero types, The Lightbringer, which is like a Mage with some Order spells in spellbook from start. The spells are level 1 from start and I have upgraded some. A new spell, Acrimaldo's Healing, which has double power as normal Healing, is a spell only he has learnt from start - it costs 1k crystals for other heroes to learn, so they only use it to cast or sell. Furthermore all his troops have +10 Health (not percent but just 10 Health). It might look overpowered to have these spells from start, but it is also random when you will get the opportunity to learn 1 of the 4 Magic Skills.
Each hero have different charistica to get the feeling you are playing very different heroes, for instance the Soul Wanderer has a new spell that copies enemy troops!

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I'm current level 8 and in this game I have plenty of gold on the Hard difficulty. I have put 100k gold in the Guild which works like a bank. 100k is the maximum you can store in the Guild. As a Lightbringer I have a small chance after fight to get +1 to all troops in army, which ofc saves gold too.

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After fight you have a chance of receiving different bonuses, I just earnt interests from my savings in the Guild, about 12% of the 100k which is 12.000.

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Another way of getting gold is random bonuses after fight from Acrimaldo, this time I choose the 2.500 pr hero level which is 20k gold - this is a rather rare choice.

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Each game are very different because of the huge amount of randomness, in one game you feel you can barely make it with gold, other times, it's more easy.
There are no random generator to make maps as in Heroes of Might and Magic 3, so making a lot of random stuff happening is our way of getting as close as possible to a "random generator".

Have fun! :grin:

[eucrysty]

hello.thanks for replies.sorry i did not answer , i was gone on a vacantion but now i'm back.i'll keep you updated about the game.
And i play on impossible and not hard because enemy are stronger and i like strategy and tough battles.the only incovenient was money reward from battles vs tax system.now i changed it +5% so i think it will be ok.

[raknefne]

I'm glad to hear u are back, I thought you had given up... U are helping to tune the mod, finding the last mistakes/balancing, thanks. Anyway items with +gold after battle helps too.

[eucrysty]

yes i found one item for gold % , casquet of gems so for the moment it's ok with gold , also i managed to beat the enemy guarding map of istering :) so i can test that island too.

https://s11.postimg.org/m98g24zdv/KBWot_N_2016_09_04_16_25_39_41.jpg
https://s14.postimg.org/5dohlm7v5/KBWot_N_2016_09_04_16_32_20_62.jpg

[raknefne]

Good to hear. Don't forget to Donate to Christa when you can for extra gold pr. battle too. I'm currently having a run on Hard as Lightbringer Mage. I have been lucky with getting or buying items with +gold pr battle. It is very different from game to game, this game gold is very easy for me, other times it is harder and I have to be easy on gold. Level 13 now.

[eucrysty]

hello.so far i found some bugs when speaking with some npc ,1 in the Isterreng with the smuggler , 2 in ice gardens .
Also there is no guild in Isterreng or Ice gardens .

https://s16.postimg.org/4hze9fcf9/KBWot_N_2016_09_05_18_19_20_11.jpg
https://s11.postimg.org/nv68bjk1v/KBWot_N_2016_09_05_21_38_09_20.jpg
https://s10.postimg.org/co2zul2i1/KBWot_N_2016_09_05_21_49_46_69.jpg

[raknefne]

The Smugler yes, couldn't change that "white text bug". Aware of that. After a 1 year or more with testing ... we decided that a few text bugs was not so important near the release, but it is noted for an update.

We decided not to put a Guild on Istering... BTW the Boss Spider is more manageable now, was very strong before compared to early game.

Ice Garden: LOL, I have never figured out how to get there... so that has not been tested or modded or anything!!! Been playing with what I was used to, just found it now - sailed back to Merlassar and found Dinrin. Thx a lot!

[eucrysty]

:) it's difficult with the quests since all the npc are labeled as actor_system etc and not their names.does nt matter if you talk to them or right click on them ....still no real name .same for builduings.so if you have som quest go to x and return to y.... well you have to speak to all npc just to guess whom you are supposed to talk, it s more difficult when you have quests with npc from different islands , and with the tax system ...well i still believe it should be removed .i found some good items and vital for a mage that costs 200 000 gold or higher .... how do i manage to keep that amount of money when if you have it tax steals you 50 000 gold from it just for one teleport

https://s14.postimg.org/mtghqy6o1/KBWot_N_2016_09_06_10_58_37_62.jpg

[raknefne]

Yes, it's all names/locations on Ice Garden that needs to be looked on. We will do that in the update/patch. It's noted. Leave the island, please... (at the moment it will be too expensive sailing among islands unless you have put the gold in the Guild).
It is also the plan to make the sailing tax 10% an option when leaving Nordlig the first time, either zero tax or 10% tax along with different bonuses. Also highest game difficulty will be a "Survival" Difficulty still 5% gold, diffi will be NORMAL-HARD-IMPOSSIBLE-SURVIVAL.

It is different each game what you can afford to buy... 200k for an item is a lot at this point... With my current Lightbringer Mage on Hard level 16, I have 100k in Guild, spent 100k on 2-3 items mainly on Merlassar, soon going to Greenwort with 75k on hand... I have items on me with +8-10% gold pr. battle at the moment. One time when leveling up I chose Gold instead of +1 attack or +1 Intellect and got 16 Crystals and 32k gold, because I knew I would need some when arriving at Greenwort.
I have been lucky in this game with gold after battle and items!

How is difficulty in fights working for you? Let me know about the Boss Spider, it might be a little too easy, at least it has less hit points than a normal game and as a Mage.

If you send me your email adress to uffemander@gmail.com I will soon send you a link for downloading a temporary patch with name fixes on Istering/Ice Garden.

[eucrysty]

i just won the spider battle with some expenses losses .as a mage i don t feel like a mage because i'm unlucky with items for him ,i have only 43 mana as lvl 16 ...and for a mage this is like VERY low :) i found some mana items...but of course i don t have money for them... 60 000 only one item....i have 100 000 in guild but i don t have money to replenish my army and i want to see for what i need 100k for greenworth :D...so i don t know if i can beat Runorm wihout withdraw some money for army :) i expected some money from spider :) but only 960 gold and i lost 16 000 gold in army vs him :)
I sent you an e-mail.

https://s18.postimg.org/mdbv5eqm1/KBWot_N_2016_09_06_17_23_18_02.jpg

[eucrysty]

also the Druids when they melee attack they have a bug... it does nt say if the enemy will counterattack them or not , only the damage they deal is shown...that s why i lost 6 of them vs spider's spiderlings.usually when only damage is shown it means the enemy will not counter , but with druids always shows only damage information.

https://s14.postimg.org/fgud9izj5/KBWot_N_2016_09_06_17_52_20_88.jpg

[raknefne]

We greatly reduced mana+rage to make game harder... Druid sounds like a text error, maybe we will change, mail me if you encounter other things about units, since we have modded all of them.

[eucrysty]

i managed to beat Runorm with my leftover army in the castles.why u told me to deposit 100k gold in guild for greenwort....it did not happened anything :)
and if it was for buying troops in greenworth because you have no army after fight with Runorm , well i deposit my big and good army in my castles before my fight with Runorm .now i have my old army back :) so for the other who play my suggestion is to make like i did , hide primary troops in nordlig and fastland's castles before fight with Runorm.

https://s13.postimg.org/6qdrj1p0n/KBWot_N_2016_09_06_18_54_37_29.jpg
https://s13.postimg.org/46vhy8dzr/KBWot_N_2016_09_06_20_01_34_50.jpg

[Terroin]

This is not an error we have made - must be an ICE and Fire error.. cause I crosschecked with the original druid file and everything seems fine.

also the Druids when they melee attack they have a bug... it does nt say if the enemy will counterattack them or not , only the damage they deal is shown...that s why i lost 6 of them vs spider's spiderlings.usually when only damage is shown it means the enemy will not counter , but with druids always shows only damage information.

https://s14.postimg.org/fgud9izj5/KBWot_N_2016_09_06_17_52_20_88.jpg

[Terroin]

Eucrysty - what do you think of the new creatures? there is quite a lot.. especially if you try to play the game over again.. its where the real fun comes to show in our mod - it is very replay friendly !

Different heroes, alliances, creatures and companions..

[aristobal]

Good day
Devs, why so big size of mode (4.5 Gb)?

[Kiras]

I've been playing as an Ice Shaper. I've recently reached Greenwort. Here's my opinion so far:

I love the new randomness, both in the skills, and the after battle rewards.
I'm not such a big fan of the tax, finding it mostly inconvenient at this point (I just have to make sure I visit a guild before I travel every time).
As far as the creature changes: I feel like you've kind of homogenized creatures, by making for instance, all level 1 creatures cost 50 lead and have 50 hp. I find level 1s less useful than I did in the base game, where using a targeted tank with a big stack of faeries by its side attacking along with +damage items was a highly effective strategy. With a 50 leadership cost, I can't really do that anymore, so I've been using the higher level creatures more instead. On the other hand, level 5s feel pretty fragile now, so I haven't used them as much as before.
The bigger variance in damage has made mass bless a really nice spell. Some of the new spells that my class can't use look neat.
The companion is nice. I'm using the archer one. Not overpowered, but still quite useful.

You might want to cut the requirements for Favorite of the Valkyries medal, since only Christa's ability is usable now.

Overall, the increased randomness has made this fun to play.

[raknefne]

Good day
Devs, why so big size of mode (4.5 Gb)?

There are so many changes, new creatures etc., it was necessary to make such a big file.:-P

[raknefne]

I've been playing as an Ice Shaper. I've recently reached Greenwort. Here's my opinion so far:

I love the new randomness, both in the skills, and the after battle rewards.
I'm not such a big fan of the tax, finding it mostly inconvenient at this point (I just have to make sure I visit a guild before I travel every time).
As far as the creature changes: I feel like you've kind of homogenized creatures, by making for instance, all level 1 creatures cost 50 lead and have 50 hp. I find level 1s less useful than I did in the base game, where using a targeted tank with a big stack of faeries by its side attacking along with +damage items was a highly effective strategy. With a 50 leadership cost, I can't really do that anymore, so I've been using the higher level creatures more instead. On the other hand, level 5s feel pretty fragile now, so I haven't used them as much as before.
The bigger variance in damage has made mass bless a really nice spell. Some of the new spells that my class can't use look neat.
The companion is nice. I'm using the archer one. Not overpowered, but still quite useful.

You might want to cut the requirements for Favorite of the Valkyries medal, since only Christa's ability is usable now.

Overall, the increased randomness has made this fun to play.

I'm glad you like it.

We are making an update of the game very very soon - with no tax. Only 1 out of 5 liked the tax, so zero tax in the future. The idea was to limit the huge amount of gold you get in a normal game, and make you think more of how u manage your gold, but I can see the point of annoyance. It will be removed! I will post in the forum when it is out.

About creatures: The idea was actually to make gamers use level 1-2 more... I do myself use Devilfish (35 Health), Cave Spiders, Fire Spiders, Spider Offsprings for 1 gold each. Actually you can't have as many level 4 as before as well as level 1. Feel free to post if you or other persons have ideas on balancing specific creatures further! One way was to lower prices for level 1's.

Some creatures like Jarl was owerpowered before, I think it is more balanced now. Generally playing Hylfire will require some new strategies.

[eucrysty]

i`ll wait the update, then i`ll continue to play, for the moment the tax is really a buzz kill .

[raknefne]

testing right now before uploading... you can continue saved games with ZERO tax og the Ice Garden text fixes will work. The update will be available this weekend. Changes for patch 1.1:

1. Game difficulty changes to NORMAL-HARD-IMPOSSIBLE-SURVIVAL.
2. No sailing tax (was 25% when sailing between islands).
3. Missing text on locations on Ice Garden, fixed
4. Guild on Istering (will only be seen on new games).
5. Text error in the text when talking to the smuggler on Istering, fixed.
6. Blacksmith Hero: Only 25% and not 50% summoning on his Blacksmith skill.
7. Cellar on Istering (Ulrika), 2 spiders were bugged.
8. Uladar and Eric have a 25% smaller army, still you might have to sail a little before beating them.

[eucrysty]

I have a question about Cuddly Abomination troop . It only have 2 spells then the troop cannot do anything not even to melee attack enemies.is there any way to replenish the spells or is just useless after 2 spells.and if the both spells are weakness is super useless :) at least the evil book has the option to consume friendly troop or to melee attack ....

https://s11.postimg.org/l6dv8jxr7/KBWot_N_2016_09_10_21_02_50_91.jpg

[eucrysty]

also i see that max physical rezistance in this mod is 70% ... you changed this intentionally ? you can't tank with any troop now , even with lvl 5 units because they have only 400 hp MAX , even black dragons :))

https://s14.postimg.org/axbaeum41/KBWot_N_2016_09_10_21_58_20_07.jpg

[raknefne]

Cudly Abonimation: It is only interesting together with the companion, Scary Abomination, which gives +20 Defense to all Cudly's in the army. This way you can teleport him forward and use him as tank. When they get close you can use the "melee attack", which is not really attacking but lowering the enemy stats a lot. The Scary Abon. Companion can summon Cudly's from level 7 which also have +20 Defense! We decides to make Cudlys possible to buy to try them out, and also in combo with Scary Companion. I ONLY use them with the companion, else they would need an improvement.
BTW the Scary Companion has a similar melee attack, but instead it casts fear even on undead and while fear is active their Health is reduced by 50%

Resistance cap: We haven't intentionaly changed that, I'll handle it over to Terrion to answer that. Have you seen it on other creatures? What was it in the normal game? 90%?

We uploaded version 1.1 with no tax last night. So when Terroin wakes up this morning (he has been busy rebuilding his house but still managed to get time for modding), he mails me the link for download. I post when it is ready.

last news: Uploading failed last night. Trying again this morning. HOLD ON, UPDATE IS COMING, WE POST WHEN IT IS UP.

[eucrysty]

Hello ,
ok i test it and it is only for cuddly the rezistance cap.he was the only troop that i wanted to tank because he can t do anything else after 2 spells :)
now i wish i had that companion scary companion :( how do you get it ? it s only for a type of hero ?
cuddly abon troop - if you are lucky that both spells to be damage deal it can do good damage ,it s about the luck :) if you re not in luck and both spells are weakness or slow...you re doomed :)). i`ll await link for download , i just finished making coffe . you know coffe is my best friend :)

[raknefne]

Scary Abonimation Companion is a bit rare to get - it is stationairy like the Stranded Whale. You ONLY choose companion at the obelisk on Nordlig Island and that's it... it's a companion because he follows you to he end... hmpf hmpf... both Scary Abon. and Cudly Abon. has very randomized spells, sometimes useless sometimes insane, like a gamblers spell.
We probably won't do much about creatures, a few adjustments in this mod.
When you choose a companion at the obelisk, it is a choice of 2-3 out of 7. You could save the game before choosing and reload for other choices... but it is cheating... up to you.

How do you like the adjustment for creatures, 50 leadership for level 1 etc., another gamer posted he was not so keen about it. I knew some would like it and some don't. IMO the weakest about the creature change is some level 5 like the dragons, which should have some improvement - overall I use level 1-2 more.

I just texted (SMS) Terroin... waiting for the link... I biked the 13 km and back yesterday to test speed test (with a superpowered hero) the version 1.1. He was busy working with the house. He must have modded late night to finish it. We have only testet the tax with the 4 starting Islands, Greenwort, 2 pirat islands, Ice Garden, Merlassar. Let me know if a sneaky tax appears later...

[raknefne]

We decided to make some new creatures and companions stationairy. We "stole" the creatures from other KB games, the whale is the whale from Crossworld, at the end. We reduced the size, but if it should be able to move we had to make a lot of animation... the Scary Abonimation is a boss from Crossworld. Cannon was a landscape picture from Istering I think, it was easy to make since a cannon doesn't move. Using teleport can move the stationairy creatures, that's how we decided to do it. Now, on Istering you can actually pick up the cannons from the landscape, next to the Smugler but also from his underground (where some other creature would join you in a normal game).

With the Poison Spider we made more animations, that was rather easy, when it is hit you can really see how poisionous it is etc.

Try the Blacksmith Hero (Warmonger = Warrior), he can craft
- Barrier lvl1 (stationairy, can teleport a long distance and cast the spell on nearby units that reduces dmg with 50%)
- Cannons lvl2, stationairy, teleport 1
- Glyphon Statue lvl 3 stationairy, it can summon the same as Royal griffins. Also heal units!
- Iron Ball lvl4 (similar to the Ice Ball spell, but it is a creature that can roll and has endless retal)
One of these items will be summoned each battle along with your companion - the lower level the bigger chance. They will have 25% of the heroes leadership. You can use Barrier and Iron Ball as tank since new will be summoned each battle. Just develop the Blacksmith Skill which he has from start to make it work. He also has a new spell, a bomb for 4 mana, which is similar to the Catapults Talent Bomb, but stronger. It cost something like 1000 crystals for other heroes to learn... I often place it in front of 3 stacks in the first round and mostly one of them attack it and all get hit... those dummies.
He is a very fun hero to play!

His items can also be bought as normal creatures.

[Terroin]

The cuddly is not used as a tank - but as a ranged unit.. it can do seriously damage.. weakness is also a good spell as all units has a high difference between lowest and highest attack.

The resistance cap isnt anything we have changed overall - its just for this unit I guess. I know that Rakne Fne havent played with it, without the companion, but I have a lot - and it is a strong unit of mine.. can change battles.

Hello ,
ok i test it and it is only for cuddly the rezistance cap.he was the only troop that i wanted to tank because he can t do anything else after 2 spells :)
now i wish i had that companion scary companion :( how do you get it ? it s only for a type of hero ?
cuddly abon troop - if you are lucky that both spells to be damage deal it can do good damage ,it s about the luck :) if you re not in luck and both spells are weakness or slow...you re doomed :)). i`ll await link for download , i just finished making coffe . you know coffe is my best friend :)

[Terroin]

The creature coding of all the shops and wandering has been wastely improved - so you can meet a lot more variance in battles - see creatures you didnt see in random battles before and more.

testing right now before uploading... you can continue saved games with ZERO tax og the Ice Garden text fixes will work. The update will be available this weekend. Changes for patch 1.1:

1. Game difficulty changes to NORMAL-HARD-IMPOSSIBLE-SURVIVAL.
2. No sailing tax (was 25% when sailing between islands).
3. Missing text on locations on Ice Garden, fixed
4. Guild on Istering (will only be seen on new games).
5. Text error in the text when talking to the smuggler on Istering, fixed.
6. Blacksmith Hero: Only 25% and not 50% summoning on his Blacksmith skill.
7. Cellar on Istering (Ulrika), 2 spiders were bugged.
8. Uladar and Eric have a 25% smaller army, still you might have to sail a little before beating them.

[eucrysty]

also the cuddly does not gain experience when using spells or when melee attack decreasing enemy's attack .


https://s15.postimg.org/7pp6euc6z/KBWot_N_2016_09_11_11_44_02_00.jpg
https://s9.postimg.org/z25nocs7j/KBWot_N_2016_09_11_11_48_30_15.jpg



PS . i love the new alchemy skill , now it's definetly worth put skill in it !

https://s22.postimg.org/le7imqy35/KBWot_N_2016_09_11_11_58_11_83.jpg

[eucrysty]

any news with the download link ? the weekend is over allready....

[raknefne]

A few creatures don't get exp with some of their actions, like the Cudly and also the Cave Spider when it cast Mass Web (hitting 3 random targets incl. own). Don't think it is other than them.

I just mailed a link to your yahoo mail adress, Eucrysty. I will post it here when I have checked downloading first.

[eucrysty]

i downloaded and tested to islands that i have access , vestlig nordlig isterring fastland , merlassar , ice gardens , greenworth , arlania ,eastern NO TAX

but on the western island TAX is still there , i cannot test on other islands because i don t have access to them YET .



https://s12.postimg.org/vctla8x65/KBWot_N_2016_09_11_17_07_47_74.jpg

[aristobal]

You can test in dev-mode.

Are there new items in mod?
Tell a few word about new skills, please.

[raknefne]

Eucrysty: Damn, you have a fast internet connection, I am still downloading. It is only a 3.6GB zipped file now. We did test Western Island so that is strange, I'll handle it over to Terroin.

[raknefne]

You can test in dev-mode.

Are there new items in mod?
Tell a few word about new skills, please.

1. What is dev mod? I normally make a superhero with 500k leadership and 1k cyclops in army or..

2. Several new items, especially some that supports level 1-3. Also some with gambling of gold, for instance
- RakneFne's Moneybelt that cost 4k which you can extract a random amount of gold from along with 1 Defense and 20% Defense to Gardeners & Gobots.
- RakneFne's Used Armor that also gives a random amount of gold.
- An armor you can craft but also find is rather expensive to buy, but you can extract gold. This was made to support the Artifactor skill, so you could make gold with this skill too.
- Slippy Slippers, boots with +4 mana but -2 Rage as far as I remember
- Unfinished Dress gives mana but reduces Defense
- Grass Armor, Beginner's Shield etc etc.
- adjusted items that fits the mod with less gold.
- most items with moral have a text written how morale affects them.

3. New Skills:
- The Economists (instead of the Reserve Skill): You can develop up to 6% gold after battle and 100k gold here and now.
- Guardian: up to 18 Defense extra when you hit the Defend button (instead of Jarl Skill)
- Attack/Defend: still Attack/Defense but also up to 10 Rage/Mana.
- Most skills have 5 levels, normally they cost 2-4-6-8-10 runes each and only the runes from the tree the skill is in (Rage Control only cost Might Runes etc)
- No skills no longer support the Orc race (that was introduce in Crossworld Orcs on the March).
- stats etc are changed in many skills. Alchemy can be developed to 85% - partly because you have less gold to buy items to destroy, partly because you can have the option to learn expensive Hero specific spells, like Summon Hyena, Summon Bear etc.
- Recipies normally cost only 3k and are cheaper to craft with the Artifactor Skill.
- Half the heroes have a special summoning skill that they have from start (but not developed). They will normally summon 25% of leadership in each battle - read my post about the Blacksmith Hero. These Hero types have this kind of summoning skill: Blacksmith, Hunter, Farmer, Gatekeeper, Infiltrator, Soul Wanderer, Dragon Rider, Beastmaster.

You only have Scouting from the start and the above mentioned. When you level up you will have around 0-7 random skills to choose between. And not before then can u develop on the skill. There are no skill tree, you can actually get Higher Magic as a mage when you reach level 2, but it is rare. You can also choose NO SKILLS and receive either a gold/crystal bonus (2000 gold pr level of the hero and 1 crystal pr level), Defense/Attack/Rage/Mana/Intellect are random if you get that option.

[aristobal]

One can use dev-mod to test purposes.
More info:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=11759

You can open map of hidden island and teleport there to test tax

p.s. thanks for information about skills and items

[eucrysty]

i can proudly say that i can download with real 40 mb/s ( 2-3 min download 4gb )


also the bug with enemies in ulrika cellar not solved, maybe it requires new game i tested only with my old save

[raknefne]

Eucrysty: yes you need new game with Ulrika, because we have just removed the 2 spiders. Also Guild on Istering will only be there in a new game. I used dev, and it seems only Western Freedom Island still have tax - I guess those bloody pirates are really pirates after all... Marshan Swamp has several text errors on locations, but other places are fine. There can be a few text errors when digging up gold, I know there're 1-2 on Istering.

[raknefne]

New link for version 1.1 is out, use the link in the first post on side 1 in this topic.

[raknefne]

Here are some examples of the new items in the Hylfire mod:

15310 15311

15312 15314 15313

[raknefne]

Examples of items that gives gold, sometimes random amount:

15315 15316

15317 1531815324

[raknefne]

Some items with moral we have even added a help text about how the moral changes:

15321

Hyenas and Wolves are not used much in a normal game, but with these 2 items below and the Black Hound companion - which gives +10 Defense to Hyenas/Wolves - compined with the Spell Summon Hyena which get the extra Defense too... Even the Hunter Hero or the Beastmaster Hero will have stronger summonings:

15323 15319


15320 15322

[eucrysty]

so much joy without the tax :) i can travel between islands and aquire troops that i desire and afford :)

[raknefne]

so much joy without the tax :) i can travel between islands and aquire troops that i desire and afford :)

I guess it was the right thing to do, to cancel it.

[raknefne]

Pic 1: At the start castle in Nordlig I have to make a choice about what race to have as an alliance. The alliance choice results in a 10% less leadership requirement and troops of that race for hire at the castle. Floki still has Vikings for hire, he is at a random location on Nordlig - and sometimes he is not there. On Vestlig I can hire from my alliance at King Haucks place along with Vikings in the other huts:

15325 15326

Pic 2:
After leveling up, these 3 skill choices came up... what to choose??
I only have 4 Mana and 12 Rage from start as Warrior, but Learning... hm... and a Magic School. I did choose Learning, but a tough choice...
After choosing a skill I can start putting Runes in, not before.

[eucrysty]

hint : if you want to hire cuddly abomination troop in the future choose as a race : Neutral . you will have 200 cuddly in greenworth.This troop can do insane amount of damage if you have more then 10.
I choosed dwarfs as a race and had only 1 cuddly in entire game but i managed to make more of them with sacrifice and warrior maidens.Now i have 25 and they make damage 10 000 - 90 000 :) the trick is that they can cast spells 50% of the time and 50% it fails , and from the 50% that works you have 15% chance that spell to be damage dealing spell. Usually they cast weakness or slow or decrease morale. The chance to inflict that damage is small... but it is worth it :)

[raknefne]

it is random what you will have at Greenworth... the main castle is your alliance, the other 2 houses are random units. Are they owerpowered or just fun? Hehe, you were complaining about Cuddly being useless... but no problemo! BTW if you want invite me as friend on Steam, same name raknefne.

I have just started a Warrior lvl5, Blacksmith, twice after fight he crafted a level 1-3 item... I have the Royal Dragonfly Companion that gives +10 Defence to the 2 kind of flies and also gives a random amount of them after fight. So I use 1 or 2 of them. I had troop talk after fight, and the green flies have a 50% of turning into green dragons (1 out of 10 succeed, and nomatter outcome I loose the whole stack of flies). So I have 4 Green Dragons now, can only have 1 with 750 leadership.

We have added troop talk after fight to most level 1-3 creatures... too much to post all of them...

Chaos Dragon can give Chaos Magic Skill (50% chance)
Guardsmen (lvl3 human), can give +2 Defense once
Slingers: Quick Draw or +1 Attack once

etc

[eucrysty]

overpowered not because only 15% of the time you can do damage with them and also the enemy have 5 stacks of troops even it's only 1 type like zombies .if it had only 1 stack like 2500 zombies and u cast an axe spell with cuddly and kill them all only then it would be op but it is not the case since all enemies have 5 stacks of troops.

i post a new item that i think you added in the mod

https://s10.postimg.org/oep8ua8gp/KBWot_N_2016_09_12_21_55_09_74.jpg

[raknefne]

I just added text to previous message while you typed this...
I can't remember about the item, we might have changed some stats, it was like ½ year ago...

[raknefne]

I just sneaked in a jail on Vestlig and grapped the free Jarl before the fight. The Ingeneer was a free one from Nordlig (there are always 1 random lvl 4 joining near the Shiphouse). The 2 Royal Thorns was 12 Gardeners that changed into Royal Thorn after troop talk. I have the Human alliance and bought 2 Inquistors. I use to have a stack of flies in battle, but the 45 green ones changed into 4 Dragons also after troop talk. Luck! On Vestlig I was lucky with 5 free Warrior Maidons but havent used them, I dont need them yet... I'm testing a beta game with 350% enemy and 5% gold after battle - just for the fun. I have 40k in guild already. Gold is rarely a problem for me, but I know all the little miracles in the mod since I made it... I might go back to Nordlig to the new building, Hall of Heroes which will double my troops if I can beat the same army as mine but double in size... I can only do it once, and I don't really need it, because the Ingeneer is sooo tactic.
BTW the level 5 are weaker in this mod, so it is not overpowered with the dragons, they only have 350-450 life.

15327

[eucrysty]

:) on hardest difficulty strategy is GOLD ! also troops that can summon also very important. if you taste the joy in winning extremely hard battles then you will love the highest difficulty setting in this game like i do .

[aristobal]

Please, tell a few words about companions. Where are they located, how much of them, and are any Valkyries?

[raknefne]

In Hylfire you will find a companion on Nordlig Island at an obelisk. You will get a random choice between 2-3 companions, there are 8 in all and description of stats etc are written when you choose the companion:

- Royal Dragonfly: Huge fly (see first 2 pictures below, +10 Defence flies, summons 2 different kind of flies after battle)
- Trick Shooter (see 3rd picture, +5 attack creatures that fires arrow)
- Stranded Whale (can summon Devilfish, +5 Defence all Devilfish)
- Scary Abonimation (can summon Cuddly Abonimations / cast spells / +20 Defence Cuddly Abonimations)
- Queen Spider (cast web nextto / summon Spider Offsprings in battle and after / +10 Defence Cave Spiders and Spider Offsprings)
- King Spider (throws web at distance!, +5 Defence level 1-3 spiders)
- Black Hound (poison round attack, preperation, +10 Defence Hyena/lvl2 Wolf)
- Ancient Ent (summons Ents, shoots wasp, +3 Health all units).


15329 15331 15330

In the 2nd picture: A big yellow Royal Dragonfly companion. If it dies it resurrects for next battle automatic. Only 1 in stack but grows in Health/Def/Att/Talents etc when the hero levels up. The companion takes up a place with the valkyries, and only one Valkyrie will be there in the whole game, Christa. In the picture an Iron Ball has also been summoned, it is the Blacksmith Hero that has developed a skill that summons Blacksmith stuff (see earlier post).


Example of stats for a companion (Royal Dragonfly):

15332 15333

The evolved stats shown in the last 2 pictures is stats added since level 1. You will normally not be able to fight the guards at the obelisk before you just reach level 3.

Most of the companions encourage player to use lower level units.

[aristobal]

Who take other free slots?

[raknefne]

Nobody. They will remain free. It was not possible to use them when having the companion, Christa and Acrimaldo as the prime

[aristobal]

Thanks for information.

[raknefne]

In the version 1.1 there are NO sailing tax except at Western Freedom Island. To cancel that tax until we maybe make a version 1.2, download attached zip file. It contains 3 files that should be put in the following directory:

... steam \ steamapps \ common \WoTn \ session \ ice_and_fire \ locations \ map_island_1

They shall owerwrite previous 3 files. You might wanna make a copy of WoTn directory first(?) ;)

[eucrysty]

how's the game going on with the high difficulty raknefne?
i`m still in greenworth.the enemy is pretty strong :) one battle can take 20-40 minutes :)

[raknefne]

I can't really feel the difference yet, it will be felt later game. I kind of started a new hero on same diffi, haven't played Witch hunter (mage) a lot, started such one.

Did you go to the Freedom Islands? I think they are a bit easier there. What level are you now?

[eucrysty]

eastern island i cleared right after battle with spider boss was the only island where i could beat enemies , greenworth -arlania -verlon all too strong

[aristobal]

walnut_mandolin costs 0 gold (v.1.0)

[raknefne]

walnut_mandolin costs 0 gold (v.1.0)

that means it is free AT THE PARTICULAR SHOP. Other places not. For instance a hut on Vestlig always have free units and a free spell and sometimes a free item. Some on Nordlig too etc. - it is meant as a help since gold is very little.

[eucrysty]

Yep you need to profit at start from free stuff like that :-) I know I did

[Kiras]

I think I found a bug: Magic shackles isn't working on stacks that it should work on. I'm in Demonis trying to use it on imps. It doesn't work on some of the imps where its text says it should, although it does work on others that are significantly smaller. I suspect the leadership text on magic shackles isn't matching up with the leadership changes from this mod.

[eucrysty]

I found a new spell added in this mod chicken. it cost 10 crystals to learn it and it's from rune magic skill tree.It s a good decoy :) all enemies will attack it first.

https://s14.postimg.org/8e2j64sep/KBWot_N_2016_09_16_20_12_47_26.jpg

[aristobal]

I was at 5 level, there are little experience left to 6 level, I came to Wishing Well that gave me some experience and I promote to 6 level but Acrimaldo didn't give me any options to choose.

[eucrysty]

yes. only after leveling from battle you recieve bonus from acrimaldo.just finish one battle now and you will recieve bonus .

[eucrysty]

on western island there is a bug with Hagyr BigAxe .. when you want to fight with him it crashes the game , just like the spiders from Ulrika's basement...

https://s22.postimg.org/pap9gl41t/KBWot_N_2016_09_17_00_20_34_52.jpg

[raknefne]

I think I found a bug: Magic shackles isn't working on stacks that it should work on. I'm in Demonis trying to use it on imps. It doesn't work on some of the imps where its text says it should, although it does work on others that are significantly smaller. I suspect the leadership text on magic shackles isn't matching up with the leadership changes from this mod.

The Shackles we haven't touched, but I think I know what's the problem, its the imps leadership we have changed, could be something like that. I'll hand it over to Terroin.

[raknefne]

I found a new spell added in this mod chicken. it cost 10 crystals to learn it and it's from rune magic skill tree.It s a good decoy :) all enemies will attack it first.

It is a spell from the Warrior Hero Farmer, he has 4 spells, Chicken / Scarecrow (cast fear on nearb enemies), Lucky Hare (bless etc on own troops similar to the Holy Statue), Smelly Cow (farts/wasp on nearby enemies).

10 crystals to learn? You must have som Alchemy, I remember it to be more expensive... Genereally Hero specific spells are more expensive for other Heroes to learn, some even up to 1000 Crystals!

[raknefne]

on western island there is a bug with Hagyr BigAxe .. when you want to fight with him it crashes the game , just like the spiders from Ulrika's basement...

I don't think Terroin changed anything there, it is either a WoTn bug or our companion that sometimes crashes when in some battlegrounds. You can take all items off, put on again and see if it works or have one other fight and come back. Sometimes it works just 2nd time without doing anything.:rolleyes: A similar thing can happen in Hall of Heroes on Nordlig Isle, if it crashes before battleground is shown most likely it is because of our mod system with companion or 7th summoned creature from Beastmaster, Blacksmith, Infiltrator etc.
That is also why we changed the Medal Trapper, before it put random traps on battleground and we had some crashes with that.

[eucrysty]

I said it s like ulrika spiders.so it crashes before even loading medalion .screen from post #9 all ready tried several times and after others battles.when hagyr invites you to fight him the loading screen just blocks and you have to close game from task manager.ps in wotn this never happened.

[aristobal]

It seems to me that Spear of Wrath talant of Warrior Maiden is weak.

[raknefne]

It seems to me that Spear of Wrath talant of Warrior Maiden is weak.

Noted, but level 4's mostly do 4-40 damage and the spear does 21-27, but noted. BTW you wrote sometime ago you played version 1.0, you can continue the current game with the new version if you want to avoid sailing tax 25% ... :rolleyes:

General for version 1.1: Ice Garden and Merlassar is not reachable in this version.. at least not from Simon on Istering and the guy on Nordlig with the letter (he gives free units instead) - just to let u know. Anyway Ice'nFire had more than enough maps, I think...

[Kiras]

I've been wondering, is there some level where you stop getting skills? I'm level 40 now and haven't been offered skills for awhile. In the mind tree, I only have 8 skills.

[raknefne]

You can still get skills until the end, but chances are getting lower and lower though. If you don't get skills at all in further levels let me know.

[eucrysty]

when you don t get any skill just reload the last fight when leveling up .

[raknefne]

when you don t get any skill just reload the last fight when leveling up .

Yeah, but that is kind of cheating... we couldn't avoid that possibility of reloading... still with no skills there are other options to get.

[Erkilmarl]

Any tips for the beginning of the game, when I don't have mana or troops but am supposed to beat the undead? I can sneak in the castle and buy eg. one Marauder, but that doesn't help much against a Black Knight. And I am supposed to have annihilated all undead if I reach the castle.

[aristobal]

Talk to Runolv, there are option in dialog to choose some attack spells that help to beat undead behind gate. First as you say sneak to castle, after talk you get experience close to the 2-d level; after the first battle you get the 2-d level, try to choose nice skill, for example berserker.

[raknefne]

Or buy damage/healing spells. Sometimes you can buy level 1 creatures at the Smith or at Runolv too. You always get Cave Spiders from one of the 2 trees in front of Runolv, and Cave Spiders have the ability to cast Mass Web once in battle. It webs 3 random units including your own. That can sometimes help.

In an earlier testgame we had placed the 50 leadership flag near the castle, it looked like part of the scenario, and the tester couldn't find it, and you have zero leadership from the start... so we moved the flag to the starting position.
Early skills I would choose something that gives Mana or Rage unless something like Concentration or other good skills comes up. There are now 2 skills in the Warrior tree that gives eather Mana or Rage, the old Attack and Defense skills gives up to 10 Mana or Rage. The Defense skill has changed name to Fortify (gives Mana and Defense). Still Onslaught, Rage Control gives Rage, Meditation/Wisdom/Artifactor gives Mana.

BTW some creatures can give skills too in troop talk after a fight. If you carry one of these (can be in the Reserve too):
Berserker: Can give the Berserker Skill !
Chaos Dragon: 50% chance of getting the Chaos Magic Skill
Slinger: Gives Quick Draw Skill
Orc units can give extra Rage
Druid can give Mana (as far as I remember), and change into Soothsayers.
etc etc.

You get the skills even though you don't level up, it is Acrimaldo that teaches you after a fight.

[Kiras]

BTW some creatures can give skills too in troop talk after a fight. If you carry one of these (can be in the Reserve too):
Berserker: Can give the Berserker Skill !
Chaos Dragon: 50% chance of getting the Chaos Magic Skill
Slinger: Gives Quick Draw Skill
Orc units can give extra Rage
Druid can give Mana (as far as I remember), and change into Soothsayers.
etc etc.

You get the skills even though you don't level up, it is Acrimaldo that teaches you after a fight.

Any place I can get a list of what creatures have what?
I currently have hunters, avengers, pyromages, paladins, and rune mages. I carry a stack of satrys in reserve solely to get the troop talk benefit from them (+10% mana pool). There's a lot of troops I haven't experimented with yet.

[raknefne]

We haven't posted a list yet... there're so many... so don't think we will be doing it, could also be players posting .
Anyway it is only level 1-3 that gives bonus from troop talk. I wrote some examples in earlier posts.

[aristobal]

dryads can be transformed to ice nymph

p.s. what impact on power of books of nightmares? I have 18 books and they do so little damage comparing to my 9 book of evil?

[raknefne]

Aristobal: Books of Nightmares, they can make totems to confuse enemies. I guess you mean the ones you get from an item or what? And the 9 books of evil is a creature you have bought!??

[aristobal]

Aristobal: Books of Nightmares, they can make totems to confuse enemies. I guess you mean the ones you get from an item or what?
I have corresponding living book item that get me one of Books of Nightmares after each battle. Their damage is very low (my int 8 ).

And the 9 books of evil is a creature you have bought!??
Yes I got 10 of them for free at the new shop on Vestling (then doubled on Nordling during battle with 2 size of my army). And these books do high damage.

p.s. so it is bug? or not? I want fairplay.

[raknefne]

Although the Books of Nightmare gives less dmg they use the totem. Sounds like a fun combo!

[raknefne]

Like any other games I have played, I get tired of my char after a while and start a new one. Same with Hylfire, especially because there're so many heroes to choose between and the amount of randomness... I played the Mage hero - Witch Hunter - until level 13 and it seems very strong! It has a spell, Lynch Mob, it works like Demon Portal, at level 1 it takes 3 rounds to summon after it is placed on the battlefield but only cost 5 mana. I sometimes us it just to stop holes so enemies can't get close. From the Portal either Gardeners, Witch Hunters or Slingers apear. at lvl3 it only takes 1 round to summon.

[raknefne]

I've been wondering, is there some level where you stop getting skills? I'm level 40 now and haven't been offered skills for awhile. In the mind tree, I only have 8 skills.

I just made a test using "DEV", I developed a hero to level 43 and went into a fight, and got the normal choices of skills. The more skills taken the less to choose between.

[aristobal]

The same thing with White Hase talant of Sorcerers - very low damage. The talant's damage must be always higher then move attack.

[cengel]

If so, please post what I need to do. The mod sounds incredible.

[raknefne]

Should be possible, Eucrysto wrote earlier it was possible. You just extract the downloaded file in the Directory you have your WoTn game instead of the Steam Directory (in the Readme file it tells you where to put it, just use your own directory and not the written Steam directory).

[Kiras]

I've noticed that there's still a huge number of undead armies. I have killed so many armies that have necromancers + skeleton archers + ghosts or vampires, it's absurd. I'm wondering if only the armies in the early zones were changed? The bigger variety there was a nice difference from the base game.

[raknefne]

Yes, only early on was changed... what level are you? Game Difficulty and Hero type?
Depending on how many is playing the mod, that could be something for a patch.
Both Terroin and I never play that long, it is a long game, we often start new heroes... that's why we didn't change the last part.

[Kiras]

Currently in the dwarven areas, hard mode, uh, level 44 I think. Iceshaper.

It's true that this game is way too long. That's something I think Crossworlds did far better on.

[raknefne]

In our version 1.1 Merlassar and Ice Garden is not there. We are actually working on another mod, Bonfire, which is very different. It is a mix of used islands from the games and new areas. It is NOT like starting on Nordlig, then Vestlig, it is completely different and with more randomness. It is as close to a random map generator as we can make. For instance on a certain island when you go underground, it is a random underground and when you go deeper it is another random. And a lot more!

[Kiras]

Tactics rank 3 may be glitchy somehow. I couldn't figure out how to rearrange my troops with it. I jumped straight to 3 from 0 (I had a bunch of stored up mind runes) so I can't speak to ranks 1 and 2.

[raknefne]

Tactics rank 3 may be glitchy somehow. I couldn't figure out how to rearrange my troops with it. I jumped straight to 3 from 0 (I had a bunch of stored up mind runes) so I can't speak to ranks 1 and 2.

Tactic is different now. You CANNOT rearrange troops. Instead you can rearrange the scenairy (the altars - read the Tactic info plz!). When there aren't any, you still have to press the Ready button. We intend to reduce the price for Tactic to 5-5-5, since it is quite expensive now. It is only a little help, thats why. We had to change tactic, because we had crashes with the Companion or the Extra Summoning skill half the heroes have. Sometimes you would move troops to place where the Companion would be. The companion is first shown AFTER Tactic, that's why it crashed.
Level 1: You can rearrange close ones and only move them a bit forward.
Level 2-3: you can rearrange them further away.

[raknefne]

It has been quite here for a while, just wanna check if people are still playing... what level and what hero etc...

[atarisz]

It has been quite here for a while, just wanna check if people are still playing... what level and what hero etc...

Can you give date when the new mod will come out? :)

[fatemoe]

Tried HYLFIRE like 10 hours, I decide to go back to standard ice and fire.

These are my opinions.

1
Battles are hard and painful to play
We have shitty start unit, and lots of choice restriction due to lack of leadership.

The first or second battle after I walk out of nording castle has to fight ancient vampire who regenerates full health every turn.
That's really frustrating.
I'm forced to use every damage spell scroll to kill vampire.
If I don't get random damage scroll I have no way to beat vampire as certain class.

2
Another thing I don't like is that enemy will chase you for very long distance.
Sometimes you used up all mana in last battle and can not find a break to replenish.

3 Some class are extremely weak in early game. Especially for those who doesn't have summon spell or damage spell
I tried to play dragon rider to lv5, but I never successfully summoned a dragon once.
Does this skill really work?



4 Skills are too random to get.
I don't like the idea of locking skills.
You randomly get skill not fit your style when level up.

5 Battle result/ level reward is too random.
While random generator can be fun, you still need some fixed guarantee for our rewarding gameplay.

Sometimes you get nothing from level up. WTH?
Sometimes you get permanent stat bonus after battle, that's not fair

[raknefne]

We made a mod with bigger challenge, you can play on normal or easy if it is too much for you. I can just say that I have played many times and have no problems on Impossible Level - yes our mod is a challenge but that was the point since WoTn got a lot of critics about being toooo easy even on Impossible Difficulty. It is ONLY on the first 2 islands you will find enemies chasing you a long time. Dragon Rider should work, you first have 20% chance it will come then 40-60-80-100% when you level the skill up. It is actually a rather strong char IMO. In the text it says how much mana or rage you need to summon dragons (low lvl dragons). When that is said, we have found some bugs on that char but it is the only bugged char (out of 15)
About leadership: one hint is finding all flags on Nordlig before entering fights.

If you dont like randomness then dont play this... most people find it better this way... more replay value. I have tried playing the original game myself once or twice after making this mod, but find it too borring after playing Hylfire.

BTW, Vampires DONT heal completely up but partly in our mod.

We have made a game that we like, since we have played the game so many times, we need a bigger challence. Some will like the randomness, some not. That's it.

I have noticed some people always think they have to play on Impossible Level, but not in our mod, Normal or Hard er fine too.

I hope it helps.

[eucrysty]

You are playing it wrong .even on impossible is easy.the only bad thing was the sail tax but after patch not the case anymore
And how raknefne said we play mods because normal game și so f.....ng booring

[raknefne]

I recall the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 map generator: Sometimes games were ok, other times hard. This is the thought we had when making the mod. Randomness.

[eucrysty]

Did you finish the other mod you said you are developing ?

[raknefne]

We are working on it. So far there are 5 new maps with 12 undergrounds and 26 new arenas. It is as close to as a random mapgenerator that can be done with KB. We will post when it is ready for test, perhaps you are interesting in testing? But not yet.

We are making the mod inspired by the Heroes of might and magic 3 mapgenerator
.After first map you can go anywhere in the World, since creatures grow in strength when you grow. All creatures are random mix, also random if there're a hero in army and if they can "sniff" you etc.

Also you will be able to build the starting Castle up with Buildings inside, just like in Heroes3... and much more...

[eucrysty]

Sounds very interesting.i ll wait for you to complete it .I appreciate your dedication.

[Belcanzor]

This is like Red Sands? With a new companion and unit rank?
Why so big? Textures?
Red Sand extended is 10% size :p
I appreciate your work. In few weeks, I hope, end my Red Sands Ext run and try this one.
Can you add a torrent link for this mod?

[raknefne]

You can find a link to Hylfire at the page 1 in this thread. Or download the new version 1.1 (after skipping add): http://adf.ly/1dsgZe

The size of our mod, is partly because we havent cleaned up files not needed, but also because we are modding a mod. Ice and fire is like a mod to normal WoTn.

There are modded until greenwort in text and quests, but the skill system, acrimaldo etc continues. You only have a few open skills at start, each time you level up you can get random skills which you then can develop. No prereq. for skills. Info is at top of this thread... reduced the amount of undead and made random enemies instead. Companion is like the pet/companion in red sand, but you choose between 3 which is random of 7 different ones!! The rank system is the same for the units, like in wotn or red sand, but goes to lvl25. Wotn must have copied system from REd Sand...

[raknefne]

For the WoTn-Ice'n Fire mods Hylfire and Bonfire.

This info can also be downloaded as Notepad file: 15406

After battle your mentor, Acrimaldo, might give you an oppurtunity to talk to your troops. You can get a boost from your level 1-3 troops, anything from gold, rage, mana, new units etc.
That means if you carry for instance Miners in your army or in the Reserve you can get 1.500 gold pr. hero level. If you carry Gardeners they can change into Royal thorns etc.

Here is a list of creatures that will give a bonus in the troop talk:


HUMAN:
Gardener: 1 Royal thorn for each 5 Gardener (5:1)
Robber: 1.000 Gold pr. Hero level. Turns into Maurauder (1:1)
Maurauder: Half turns into either Witchhunter or Assasin of your choice (2:1)
Guardsman: Either: +2 Defense once / turns into Knights (2:1)
Bowman: Turn into Rangers (2:1)
Inqvisitor: Turn into Rune mage from around Hero level 10. Can't remember the numbers 5:1 or 3:1 or?
Priest: Either: Turn to inkvisitor (2:1) / make 3 Healing scrolls

ELF:
Dryad: Turns into Ice Dryad (1:1)
Fairy: Turns into Sun Fairies (2:1)
Were-elf: +2 Mana and turn into Werewolves (1:1)
Faun: +2 Mana Limit in Bonfire (is 10% Mana in Hylfire)
Druid: Either: Lose 1 Mana Limit but get 3 Magic Runes / gain 1 Mana Limit and transform into Soothsayers (2:1)
Elf shooter: Either: Turn into Rangers (3:1) / Learn the skill Quickdraw once
Unicorn white: Turn into Black unicorn (2:1) and gain 5 Crystals and 1 Magic Rune.


VIKING RACE:
Slingers: Either: Gain +1 Attack once / Double in numbers / learn the skill Quickdraw
Viking: Turns into Berserkers (2:1)
Berserker: Either learn the skill Berserker / fill up your Rage to max.
Axethrower: +3 Magic Axe scroll
Skald: Either get 3 "good" scrolls like Healing / get 3 "evil" scrolls


ICE ELF
none


DEAD LIZARD:
Undead Gobot: Double up in numbers


LIZARD:
Gobot: Either: Double up / turn into Adult Gobots (2:1)
Adult Gobot : Double up in numbers
Gorgul: Turn into Gorg.Shamans (2:1) and 50% chance of +1 Might Rune in the proces.
Gorg. Shaman: A random Recipy!


DWARF:
Miner: 1.500 Gold pr Hero level. Lose 1 Miner in the proces.
Dwarf (lvl 2): 5 scrolls like weakness or haste.
Foreman: 50% chance of an item. Hero lvl. 1-9=Lvl. 1 item. Hero lvl. 10-19=Lvl. 1-2 item etc.


ORC:
Catapult Either: +1 Attack once / +1 Rage Limit
Goblin Gives +1 Rage Limit and turns into Furious Goblin
Furious Goblin Gives +1 Rage Limit and turns into Goblin
Gobl. Shaman Either: +2 Rage Limit / +1 Might Rune
Catapult Either: Gain +1 Attack once / +1 Rage Limit
Orc (lvl2) Either: Turn into Orc Hunter (2:1) / Turn into Orc Veterans (3:1)


UNDEAD:
Skeleton Gives leadership: 1-9=10 Leadership, 10-19=20 Leadership, 20-29=40 Leadership, 30+=60 Leadership
Archer Gives leadership up to 30 or so. ONe of these two doesnt work in Hylfire, fixed in Bonfire.
Zombie Either: Turn to Zombie2 (1:1) / +5 Rage once but lose 1 from each stack in army.
Zombie2 Either: +3 Plague scrolls / +5 Rage once but lose 1 from each stack in army.
Ghost Either: Turn into Ghost3 (1:1) / Lose overall 10% leadership on the hero but gain -20% leadership requirment for Ghost (max -50% total)
Ghost3 Increase in numbers equal to Hero Level in numbers.
Vampire Turn in to Anc.Vampire (2:1)
Pirate ghost If you are in "need" he can dig for treasure: if you have less then 100 Crystal then you can get 10 Crystals etc. for Gold, runes etc.



NEUTRAL:
Cave Spider 10% Crystal increase.
SpiderOffspring Either: Turn into Ice Spider (9:1) / Firespider (5:1) / Cave-Undead-Venom Spider (2:1)
Ice Spider Crystals depending on the current hero lvl.divided with 3 + 5
Ice Thorn Crystals depending on the current hero lvl.divided with 3 + 5
Swamp Snake Turn into Royal Snake (3:1)
Snake (red) Turn into Royal Snake (2:1)
Royal Snake Random amount of Snake eggs (can be all 3 - there are also Royal Snake Eggs)
Pirate 1.000 Gold pr. Hero level then turns into Robbers (1:1)
Sea Dog 1.500 Gold pr. Hero level
Witch Hunter 3 Lynch Mob scrolls.
Griffin A random egg. Could be just Griffin egg but also something bigger... (dragon/tirex cant remember but rare)
Thorns Turn into Royal Thorn (5:1)
Thorn Hunter Turn into Royal Thorn (5:1)
Cudly Abon. +1 Mana Limit
Chaos Dragon Either: 50% chance to learn the skill CHAOS MAGIC / +1 Rage Limit
DragonFireFly Turn into Chaos Dragon (10:1)
LakeDragonFly Turn into Green Dragon (10:1)
Rat +1 Rage limit

There can be minor changes between the 2 mods, let me know if you encounter something different in your game. We don't plan to make more updates for the Hylfire mod. Bonfire is not yet released.
-Rakne Fne: uffemander@gmail.com

[Xev]

While waiting for a King's Bounty 2 (will it ever come?) I checked KB forum and discovered this big mod. Although I'm not a big friend of game mods which are often unbalanced there were some facts who forced me to give it a try with HLYFIRE.
- Don't play impossible, it's too hard ...
- more random inspired by Heroes III
- 15 different classes and 8 companions
This sounded good for me to start a game.
Installation was no problem, it was well documented how to do it. I played HLYFIRE on a iMac with Parallels/Win7/Steam and it runs well.
I choosed impossible because of the warning not to use this setting and to give it a greater kick the plan was to play no loss - i'm a no loss specialist ;)
Several classes looked great and I went the mage way with a Witch Hunter. After 2h playing I could choose a companion and took the Scary Abomination.

BEGINNING PHASE - STRATEGY
1st trick is to get as fast as possible 250 leadership to get a Dragon of Chaos from the main castle. This can be the hardest part of a no loss game. After getting a chaos dragon the gameplay becomes easy. Dragon of Chaos refills his HP after each turn (not documentated). With 6 initiative he will start the turn and with 6 speed he's able to avoid melee contact and breathe fire to much bigger stacks without getting a damage.
As a witch hunter you get the spell Lynch Mob which summons a very big stack of good creatures which will help to bind ranged enemies.
It's a good decision to build up Trap Spell from the Distortion Magic - i had luck to get it very early. Traps helps with enemy ranged units who try to get away from my summoned creatures. In the endgame these traps will do around 20k damage and kill big stacks of archdemons or black dragons! BUT: you will never get extra traps like in the original game.
With 1 Dragon of Chaos - no other units if you go no loss!!! - and the spell Lynch Mob it's easy to get your ship next to the castle.
Get as many Lake dragon Flies as you can! Put them into reserve and and the day will come where you can change them into Green Dragons!
If you have 150 flies in reserve (don't put them in the unit slots or you get losses) you will get 15 Green Dragons - it's a random event after combat.
After getting green dragons you can throw away your chaos dragons. Green Dragons are the only unit which will fight for you for a long time. The companion is an additional help.
The companion: I choosed Scary Abomination which sometimes does good spell damage but often spells nothing. This companion becomes much stronger later in the game. In the beginning phase you will like it as a welcome target for enemy ranged units.

SPIDER - STRATEGY
Spider Boss killed in 3 rounds with no loss!
How? The trick is Lynch Mob;)
In 1st round I used the Lynch Mob spell and it summoned some Witch Hunters.
The Witch Hunter put his skill Magic Block on the spider boss. The spider boss summoned several spider on the battlefield and got endless damage waves from magic block until he was killed at once!!!
May be it's a bug or not - If the player is forced to accept events like "you loss 10% of your gold" or "no skills at level up" without loading game then this trick is ok.

ADVANCED GAME AFTER SPIDER - STRATEGY
Main goal is to get access to demon gate. You'll need both artifacts.
Your army are your Green Dragons. I had great luck to get 2 Archdemons in a shop. If they are splitted to 2 single archdemons you can fill your rage.
Rage is your big friend. Try to raise rage limit with a Goblin Shaman or a Dragon of Chaos in your reserve if you are low there.
By far the best unit for reserve stack is the Faun. He will give you after a random upgrade event: +10% of your mana limit!!! And later once again 10% and another 10% .... mana limit will raise beyond 200 very fast!
Best troops are Green, Red, Black Dragons and Archdemons. They are all level 5. Put fear on enemy and you are safe. The only unit under level 5 which worth to use are the Demonologists (lvl4). They can resurrect all your troops except Black Dragons. You can copy with Phantom Spell to use Resurrect skill again and so on.
Get Higher Magic Skill to cast 2 spells!
Tactic 1: (1st Round) Copy Green Dragons with Phantom Spell. Cast the big spell Geyser. Fly green dragons to block ranged units and replenish mana. (2nd Round) Cast a 2nd copy of green dragons and another Geyser.
Tactic 2: If it's possible to Fear all enemy troops (no undeads) then this is the better tactic. Cast Fear on every enemy unit beginning with ranged. After all are feared you control the battlefield and the rest is easy!

SKILLS (Before Spider)
MAGIC: Distortion Magic 3, Chaos Magic 2, Creation 1-2
MIND: Diversions 3, all other are worthless
MIGHT: Anger 3

SKILLS (After Spider to endgame)
MAGIC: Distortion Magic 3, Chaos Magic 3, Creation 5, Higher Magic 2, Concentration 5
MIND: Diversions 5, Diplomacy 5, all other worthless
MIGHT: Anger 5, Action Rage 4, Onslaught 1

SPELLS
Trap (20k in endgame)
Phantom
Fear
Geyser
Exorcism
Slow
You won't need any other spell!

CONCLUSION
I was impressed by the mod authors to see what is possible. HLYFIRE is not only a simple changed stats/skills mod. They changed much more: quests, events, spells and so on. They introduced 15 classes which I would like to see in the original too. You can choose from several companions with different skills. Many units can be upgraded or give a bonus.
Lvl 4-5 units have been weakened in healthpoints to force the player to use Lvl 1-3 units. But: Leadership of lvl 5 units are much more lowered too, so what now?We have some new spells and many old spells have been changed to fit into this lvl1-3 system.
But exactly this went wrong. The weakness of HLYFIRE is the IMBALANCE. Some skills (Concentration, Creation, Anger) are overpowered. Too much damage on damage spells possible. Scare Abomination is in the later game totaly overpowered and does often 40-60k damage or nothing. That's too much damage. Random is great but random damage of a unit should never range from "close to nothing" to "kill'em all". Mana limits get much too high with faunts. It has been never so easy to succeed with lvl5 units than in HLYFIRE.
I've finished the Witch Hunter class with impossible and no loss. Gold was never a problem as predicted by the authors. No loss does not need gold! It was very easy and also much easier than in the original game to win impossible without loosing a single unit. May be other classes are harder and I had some luck with choosing Witch Hunter/Abomination. But the motivation is very low to test another class/companion combination.
The authors references to Heroes III as source for randomizing. I know Heroes very very well, maps were randomized, units were randomized ... but the random of HLYFIRE is much more like Monopoly. Random Events like "you loose 10% of gold" are not good for a strategy game. Kings Bounty is not a gambling game.

PROS
15 classes
8 companions
random units everywhere
new spells
upgradable units

CONS
too easy to succeed
random with too extreme range
overpowered spells
overpowered skills

[raknefne]

Thx for your long review!

The Spider boss: this is a WoTn bug, not Hylfire, I tried it in WoTn when you bring just a stack of witchhunters, you win in 2-3 rounds... we have fixed many bugs from wotn, but didn't have time for doing this...

General: We have actually only tested the game until level 30 or so... so I'm not surprised there can be some imbalances - and thx for pointing that out. Especially with the companions. It is quite funny, in an earlier post a guy said the game was too hard and gave up on the game... gold is more difficult early, not later, that u r right about. The Scary Abonimation along with a 3rd level unit Abonination, yes, are having too much randomness with its spell!
Level 4-5 are too strong, yes, and in the new Bonfire mod, they need more exp to get... and you can probably only play until lvl 20, only 9 maps all in all...

One big downfall in Hylfire, is, that it has only been tested by ourselves... I always get bored after some time playing the same char, in all games I play, also World of Warcraft, so I don't got so far in games...

Reloading for a better skill choice will always make the mod imbalanced... it was not possible for us to do without you could reload for another skill choice. Faun for Trooptalk and Scary abonimation companion are probably the most imbalanced in this mod, so you have really found the "errors", thx for that! If you should change your mind about playing again, I'd be interested if you wanna playtest Bonfire when it is ready...

Faun has been changed in Bonfire to +2 mana... We will reduce concentration and Anger skills too. Level 4 are 450 leaderships instead of 350, level 5's are 600 leadership instead of 450-500. Even thinking of giving lvl5 7-800 leadership.

Thank you for pointing all these things out for us! It helps balancing our next mod a lot!

[Xev]

When Bonfire is ready for testing, I'd be proud if you count me in.

BTW. there is a simple but very effective trick to start with endless money: at start you have nothing - no money, no troops. So you cannot loose anything. Attack next enemy at gate and you start over and over again with +200g. The bug is that you do not start with 200g but with +200g. Easy to get 100k within 1-2h. I didn't need such money for my no-lost-game ;)

[raknefne]

BTW. there is a simple but very effective trick to start with endless money: at start you have nothing - no money, no troops. So you cannot loose anything. Attack next enemy at gate and you start over and over again with +200g. The bug is that you do not start with 200g but with +200g. Easy to get 100k within 1-2h. I didn't need such money for my no-lost-game ;)

I think you can do that in a normal game too. You get new troops in a normal game after death, and when they die you get Gold according to army size.
It's the same in Bonfire. And the way we have made both Hylfire and Bonfire, you can always cheat if you want, by reloading when skills are offered, or reload for scrolls before a fight. We cannot make it 100% bullet proof. If you wanna cheat go ahead, but it is considered cheating - just like using cheat codes in our mod (because we are not aware of anything to prevent this).;)

And I'm glad to hear you'll test Bonfire. I'd like to know about balances of level 4-5 from you, because that was one thing you pointed out. Level 5 is now 600-800 leadership requirement instead of 450. I can see that now, it was too overpowered in HYlfire. Level 4 need 100 more Leadership in Bonfire. I also made a post in the Bonfire test forum about reducing the skills you pointed out in your review (post no.78 ). You nailed the weaknesses, thanks! At the moment we don't have plans for making a patch. Maybe after a Bonfire playtest, it's rather easy for us to copy skill, creatures lvl 4-5 and spells over to Hylfire from Bonfire.

[Xev]

I do not think that higher leadership for lvl5 units will be the correct way to avoid overpowered lvl5 strategies. If i had only 1 single green dragon instead of 25 of them, then it's the same easy way to win except phantom copying. The key to win with dragons or archdemons is their initiative and their speed. They flee away from enemy because they start each round and fly from one corner to the other.
Damage maker are not the lvl5 units but summoned units and damage spells.
Give them initiative 3 or speed 3 (not both together) and they are useful but not overpowered.
Archdemons has this volcano ability. As a mage my main damage in 1st half of the game came from rage skills. Until turn 20 you have full rage all the time with volcano skill from the archdemons. I splitted the demons so that i got more volcanos from each single demons. This volcano skill must be lowered (best no rage), archdemons are good enough without this skill.
On starting isle all combats could be won with a single chaos dragon. More: you could only win it no loss if you avoid other units. With initiative 6 speed 6 they were good, but full regeneration each turn make them overpowered.
Sure: you are right - if anyone wants to cheat he can load/save game until it fits. There's no recipt against this cheating. If a player can live with it, okay.

[raknefne]

Some very good ideas. But in the original game, dragons had lots of speed and initiative too... I can see some lvl5 like Troll, Ogre, Orc Chieftain walk with only 2 in speed and have little initiative too. Could raise either speed or initiative on them too - just a little.

Orig. game/Vanilla:
Blackdragon: 8 speed, 6 ini
arcdemon: 9 speed, 8 ini
etc.

You mentioned, it was easier to play the mod than Vanilla, so I guess the damage from Archmages has to be put down a bit:
I had a look at the code for Archdemons, I can lower the damage of the vulcanos and make the reload bigger, not so sure if I can controle how much rage it will give. Normally less damage=less rage unless you have a high level of the ANGER SKILL. I can also see that the average damage is the same in Vanilla and Hylfire pr. Archdemon, but the Leadership is much much lower in Hylfire! So yes, when that is lowered it is more balanced. Was it still an overpow unit in Vanilla?

I can imagine this concept in Bonfire for level 5's:
SLOW (troll, ogre etc): 2 speed, 5-6 Initiative
FLIGHTS (dragons, archdemon): 7-9 speed, 3-4 ini with variations ofc

[Xev]

Your concept for lvl5 is great!
Reduced ini but full speed make dragons useful but not too powerful.
In Vanilla green dragons were ok (5 ini, 6 speed). Red/Black/Archdemons were overpowered too.
No unit should have BOTH ini and speed such high. 5/6 or 4/7 or 3/9 are good combinations.
Archdemons: I got 2 of them very early - I like to get randomized creatures from all races, that's really fun! Problem is not the damage of them. It's high anger in combination with volcano skill. Even if volcano gives only 1 dmg, it will generate rage by hit.

Hylfire was easier for me than Vanilla because
- green dragons (after some exp) had 11 ini and 8 speed. Gives a lot of mana - phantom copies generate endless mana. Raged berserkers were the only unit with higher ini.
- max mana with fauns upgrade
- max rage in Hylfire was high when playing a mage class like vanilla playing with might class
- could buy 2 archdemons from shop on one of the 1st isles. Splitting them in 2 stacks and high anger (i put all red only there) = max rage (as a mage!!!)

There is one more overpowered thing: Lynch Mob spell.
It summons very high leadership (double of hero leadership) at low mana costs and generates very strong farmers who will summon plants ... and the plants summon next plants. If lvl5 units were not available then this is the next easy way to succeed.
Reducing leadership or switch farmer to pirate units or raise mana costs should be better.

Please don't take me as only reference. Other players prefer easier playing. The main goal should be to have fun with the mod.
If overpowering is reduced then some underpowering should be raised. Perhaps it's useful to discuss which units/spells are much too weak? i.e. there is a spell which summons uncontrollable lizard units with great leadership. Looks nice on 1st view but these lizard units are really weak and are dying fast.

thx for doing a great job!!!

[raknefne]

While my other mod, Trent, is being tested, I'm playing Terroin's old mod, Hylfire again (I mostly helped by testing and adding new items). I'm writing down all things that need a little touch. Some balance issues. I know there were complaints about the vanilla was toooo long a game. Some maps that could be cancelled?

Changes in patch 1.2:

- a little easier early on. Also more free units to the east.
- Vestlig: chance of getting free lvl5 from a shop is removed.
- balance level 5 units more as Xev suggested.
- balance skills like Anger, Creation. Tactic is only 2-4-6 runes now (change the position of the altars)
- spells: Lynch Mob summon pirates instead of peasants, cost more mana to cast.
- Troop talk: will be looked over. The 10% mana or so the faun gives on mana max will be changed. Inkvisitor gives 1 Magic rune instead of transforming into runemage from lvl10. Cave spider gives 4 crystal.
- in general we have only changed creatures until level 25 or so. Generally the amount of undead is reduced until that level, from that on, it is as vanilla. We never testet the mod or vanilla to the end, was too long
for us. I have only heard of Xev who played it until the end. It might look too difficult with the enemy army increase on impossible and only 5% gold after fight, but you get help in other ways - like the creature-companion-like that is like a 6th stack of creature. Also you get gold from Acrimaldo after a fight or from interests in the bank (guild).

A lot of these changes is already changed in Bonfire 1.1, but not in Hylfire.

[raknefne]

A new patch 1.2 can be downloaded at

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=229790

In general Hylfire was designed for short games, a few nights, until level 25-30 max. But you can play until the finish if you wish, but we haven't reduced the amount of undead from Greenwort. Or changed anything from there. Also you won't get more skills after leveling up after level 30 or so, just stats like mana/rage/int/def/att/gold.

Some games will be easier if you are lucky with the skills you get after leveling up (you only have 1-2 skills open at start!). Some more difficult.

KNOWN BUGS:
In general we have reduced crashes compared to vanilla however we have seen crashes when entering battle, you can reload and take a few items/Creatires off and put them on again, then the randomization is different (I guess it is a bug with the auto summoning the Warrior and Paladin have, it is probably when they find the same place as the companion - only Terroin can fix it, and he is not playing KB at the moment... sad...)

[abdoi]

raknefne, I have a question. What files have you moded to change the enemy types instead of being mostly undead?

[raknefne]

raknefne, I have a question. What files have you moded to change the enemy types instead of being mostly undead?

The enemy has been changed in the editor. We had to change every army to a new army, so it is a huge job. We only changed until Greenwort.

[Sirlancelot]

The enemy has been changed in the editor. We had to change every army to a new army, so it is a huge job. We only changed until Greenwort.

But does the game keeps balanced until the end?

Today I finished Crossworlds and I'm super excited to try another entry of the series. However, I find the WOTN enemies lack of diversity a big nuisance. And I don't want to get discouraged.

So, some quick questions:

- Is it compatible with Ice and Cold official DLC?
- Is it compatible with the spanish translation of both Warriors of the North and Ice and Cold?
- Have you also improved the AI or the like or just focus on making the game more varied?

What mod recommends, this one or Bonfire? What's the difference between them?

Thanks!

[raknefne]

But does the game keeps balanced until the end? Don't know, probably not. A player Xev, played it on impossible to the end. He ment it was easier than vanilla. But since his play I have changed a few skills. The intention of the Hylfire mod was actually for shorter games (never a finish of the game since it is sooolong). We have only modded until Greenwort. There are so many possibilities and chances for unbalances later. For instance we have 15 heroes to choose between at start, 5 in each hero class. You also get a 6th stack of creature to fight by your side, like the creature in RedSand or WoG in Heroes3. But it only develops according to the hero's level.

Is it compatible with Ice and Cold official DLC? Yes, only for Ice/Cold expansion.

Is it compatible with the spanish translation: No, only the english.

Have you also improved the AI or the like or just focus on making the game more varied? No AI improvements, except more versatile enemy compinations instead of just undead armies, but only until Greenwort. It is more a mod with more versatileness. But Hylfire is a lot harder to start with, you start with just a little mana/rage, but for instance the Witch Hunter hero (1 hero out of 15) is a mage that start with Teleport and a new spell Lynchmob. For instance you only have 1-2 skills to develop at first, then after each level up you get a choice of random skills like Order Magic, Anger, Diversion (this is just an example).

What mod recommends, this one or Bonfire? What's the difference between them? Hylfire uses same maps as vanilla with just a few changes early. Bonfire has even more randomness, completely new maps, etc. Bonfire is IMO the best. All the versatileness from Hylfire is developed further in Bonfire. In Bonfire, in general Terroin did the modding, I did the mapmaking.

[raknefne]

Just made an update of Hylfire, in general easier to start with. These are the main changes:


HYLFIRE Version 1.21

1. Guild: You can only be robbed from your savings in the guild when you have at least 50.000, a little annoying before IMO; you could be robbed just by having 5.000 and loose the 5.000.

2. Robbery of the gold you carry: Only possible from when you have 50-60.000 gold now. Still takes 10% of what you have saved.

3. Vestlig: One of the creatures that protects 1 of 4 locations for the first Valkyrie could be owerpowered with level 5 units (small chance, but too difficult). Lowered to normal.

4. Nordlig: Some early fights made easier. A few guards have a possible of drop low level items or other stuff.

5. Crashes can still occur at the start of a fight. Try rearrange items (take off/on) and load again. The reason is probably the location of the companion on the battlefield. We can’t fix it.

6. Spell Plague a little better (duration 2-3-4, was 2-2-2 and now cheaper to learn).

7. Spell Lightning only 20 Mana at level 3 and cheaper to learn.

8. Start choice for race at Tormund is more random how many you can choose from (was 7 races before).

9. Some armies easier now.

10. Gold income after battle a little higher on Impossible and Hard.

[Sirlancelot]

What are the differences between the Ice Shaper and the Light Bringer?

[Sirlancelot]

All right. I figured that out. Now what is annoying me are the incredibly long load times, and I'm playing the game on a SSD...

[Belcanzor]

I want to edit difficult and personalize for me.

- Frequency gift from companion (the mage that give stuff after battle).
- Number of spawn.

I already find the other parameters.

Any help?

[raknefne]

Been away for a long time. Terroin and I are working on Hylfire 2 now!!
It will come on Nexus.