Plz convince me that I should get Poison Cloud and Gizmo

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by trentjaspar

4) I'm probably not looking to use a mod unless it's bugfix-only. The mod you cited has many changes and I prefer to trust the balance of the original game (although certainly a few units/items could be nerfed or enhanced).

I did fix some bugs in the game with my mod, so you may find it interesting. True, there are a lot of changes in my mod, but you'll find that your game-to-game play will be dramatically different, marrying the wives and having children much more fun and interesting (plus 2 additional wives), and the strategies will require you to be very efficient with your turns as after a certain number of combat rounds, no skills / spells generate rage / mana and your troops become more tired at the drudgery of combat taking many turns.

Anyway, to be clear, Gizmo only resurrects in my mod and only heals in the stock game. Gizmo also gets an increase in its initiative and action points so that it can move earlier in combat (before it rarely used its capability to reduce enemy action points because the enemy almost always had moved before Gizmo) and move farther. Also Ice Ball has increasing initiative as well and so as it gets more powerful, it can move earlier in combat.

There are a lot of "flavorings" like this that enhance the game and make it more interesting.

It is good, though, to play the stock game first so that you can see how different your next play through is with a mod (if you have the time - I'm also very limited in my play time like you and so understand your rationale with wanting to stick with the stock game).

If you haven't checked out the video for my mod, though, you should take a look at it since it will show you a lot of the new features to see if you're interested...

/C\/C\

P.S. I'm also currently porting my mod to AP and CW so if you don't play my mod with TL maybe you'll be interested in playing it down the road when I get finished with it for AP and CW...

[trentjaspar]

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Anyway, to be clear, Gizmo only resurrects in my mod and only heals in the stock game. Gizmo also gets an increase in its initiative and action points so that it can move earlier in combat (before it rarely used its capability to reduce enemy action points because the enemy almost always had moved before Gizmo) and move farther.

Ah, Gizmo only rezzes in your mod-- that's a huge distinction! I'm glad I didn't already get Gizmo. I'd rather upgrade the abilities I use. It's possible Gizmo might make more sense later when I have more troops with large HP (so that the healing is useful).

I did end up getting Poison Cloud because, when used carefully, it can help regain mana at the end of a fight, and I don't have any critical upgrades left to my other Sleem skills.

Always nice to hear from a modder-- thanks for replying.

[MattCaspermeyer]

You probably made a good choice with picking Poison Cloud because I found the stock Gizmo seriously lacking.

I'm actually currently working on the Gizmo routine in CW and the stock AI didn't really work very well there either.

I added a lot of "neat" descriptions to Gizmo when it uses its abilities (i.e. Gamma Destructo Ray or whatever its called when it attacks units), variable charges (i.e. in excess of 3, that animate its little "glowy" things on top of it properly), and figured since it was advanced technology, it should be able to not only heal but reanimate "primitive" tissue / creatures. I dramatically improved its AI, although I think I've made an even better improvement in the CW development (that will get rolled back in my TL mod eventually).

As far as Poison Cloud is concerned, the primary stock strategy for it is the way you're using it - it was effectively useless at damaging enemies. So I changed its capabilities in my mod making it more suited for what it was intended (i.e. damaging the enemy).

You'll find that my mod is replete with examples like this where I took what I thought were poorly implemented spells / unit / spirit abilities and made them more usefull.

Also the children give bonuses to units that you may not necessarily consider using and so I find that as I play my mod I use signficantly more units than I did when I played the stock game.

For example, if you marry Feanora, her human form gives bonuses to animals while her frog form gives bonuses to snakes, spiders, thorns, devilfish, dragonflies, and beholders. Her children draw mostly from the HOMM3 Fortress heroes and hence give more bonuses to snakes or dragonflies for example. You can also marry Diana (the River Fairy - she gives bonuses to forest creatures) and there is a new Orc wife (Orcelyn) to give bonuses to Orcs.

So if you have time in the future to play my mod, I think you'll enjoy it much more than the stock game!

/C\/C\

Originally Posted by trentjaspar

Ah, Gizmo only rezzes in your mod-- that's a huge distinction! I'm glad I didn't already get Gizmo. I'd rather upgrade the abilities I use. It's possible Gizmo might make more sense later when I have more troops with large HP (so that the healing is useful).

I did end up getting Poison Cloud because, when used carefully, it can help regain mana at the end of a fight, and I don't have any critical upgrades left to my other Sleem skills.

Always nice to hear from a modder-- thanks for replying.