Climate is now taken into consideration when the world is generated, the most visible result of which is arctic and tundra regions in the north, and jungles to the south.
The random event foundation code is up and running, and a single potential event has been added: a hero offering his or her services to a wizard.
Download link: http://wizardsandwarlords.net/files/WizardsAndWarlords002g.zip
.NET 4.0: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851
Fixed some annoying bugs with the hexmap, and added a quality of life feature for reselecting armies with orders and viewing/modifying them.
Also Deity generation now creates Deities with more related spheres of influence, here is an example:
Deity #1 – Domains: Hippopotamus , Death , Murder
Deity #2 – Domains: Hawk , Life , Wisdom
Deity #3 – Domains: Hare , Nature , Tranquility , Traveling
Deity #4 – Domains: Spider , Warriors , Vitality
Deity #5 – Domains: Lynx , Despair , Culture , Love
Deity #6 – Domains: Beetle , Darkness , Lies , Intrigue , Thieves
Deity #7 – Domains: Hedgehog , Justice , Order , Divine Overlord
* The animals are still picked quite at random, and in the future not all pantheons will be animal-based. But for the time being it is somewhat amusing to see the Hippopotamus be the deity of Death and Murder, and the Hedgehog be the big kahoona of the deities.
Before the domains would just have been randomly jumbled about. Also certain domains are more important to most cultures and have a higher chance of being represented.
Two more potential Knightly Orders have been added: Dragon Knights and Shadow Knights, and some more regiment type names have been added.
Download link: http://wizardsandwarlords.net/files/WizardsAndWarlords002f.zip
.NET 4.0: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851
The magic system is now closer to a useful state. Research is possible, and spells have effects. I have added a few, like Raise Skeletons, which summons a unit of skeleton warriors. Still need to fix some remaining bugs and make the UI more user friendly, as well as adding more spells.
Also, knightly orders are generated during world generation. At the moment only a single type, Chaos Knights, can be generated, but the framework for adding more is in place. They are given one or more fortresses and chapterhouses throughout the world, and can be recruited by realms controlling these sites. They can also potentially function as an autonomous faction with goals of their own, but at the moment they dont do anything with the sites they control, apart from maybe recruiting some troops, if the AI feels like it.
Some of these orders will have the potential to tie into the Warlock/Dark Pact event chains, hence why I am adding them – as well as due to fact that Knights are generally just awesome, and a central part of fantasy imagery.
Download link: http://wizardsandwarlords.net/files/WizardsAndWarlords002e.zip
.NET 4.0: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851
Note: There is a bug where you sometimes have to right-click twice on a hex to get the context menu for the currently selected unit. Working on fixing this, but just in case you wonder why right-click didn’t do anything – try clicking again.
Added a bit more info to battle display. It now has a number on each unit, and a list of units on the side of the screen, to make it easier to decipher what is going on.
Also worked on the Warlock dark pact, but most of that work is behind the scenes work so to speak. But if you have a warlock as your wizard, you can use the Faction Info on the cheat menu to see a little bit of info on what kind of pact you have.
Download link: http://wizardsandwarlords.net/files/WizardsAndWarlords002d.zip
.NET 4.0: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851
The Wizard is now represented in game as a hero. This is a very basic hero, and there needs to be some work done making the hero relate to the chosen template, as well the game being lost if the hero dies. Special actions will also be added, related to research, etc. Lots of stuff to do as usual 🙂
There is also descriptive text for all traits during wizard selection now.
! Whoops ! The version I uploaded yesterday had a bug where a lot of strings were replaced with Hanzi (asian letters). A new working version has been uploaded. Apologies.
Download link: http://wizardsandwarlords.net/files/WizardsAndWarlords002c.zip
.NET 4.0: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851
While working on the magic and event system code, I have chosen the Warlock wizard template as a case to get these systems fully functional. So I thought I would give a quick description of what this wizard is about.
The Warlock has the following magic school (all at level 1): Chaos, Arcane, Shadow, Death. That makes him a pretty diversified spell caster, but not particularly strong in any kind of magic. The player can pick a path for the Warlock, either continuing as a jack-of-all-trades or specializing in one of these schools.
Chaos magic is primarily about destruction. It features spells that wreak havoc on opposing armies, cause unrest in towns and cities, and some potent combat spells. Stronger chaos magic can mutate heroes and armies, potentially making them more powerful, but at the risk of less desirable mutations.
Arcane magic can be described as sort of a “meta-magic school”, it deals with raw magic, either harnessed as protective or destructive spells – especially potent against magical creatures – or as spells which siphon mana from mana nodes, which breaks enemy enchantments or conjure up creatures of raw magical energy, difficult to maintain for long, but powerful against mundane foes.
Shadow magic is manipulation of darkness and shadow. It can be used to keep things hidden from the prying eyes of enemy wizards, to bind foes in tendrils of tangible shadow or to summon forth semi-corporeal creatures, which make excellent assassins.
Death magic deals with negative energy and undeath. Snuffing out life from foes with a single word, raising the dead as zombies and skeletons, or weakening enemy heroes by infusing them with negative energy. Powerful death magic users can also drain the life from the land itself, leaving it barren and infertile.
The Warlock has the Evil alignment. This means evil creatures are more attracted to this wizard – it also allows him to commit some actions that are not available to those of more delicate moral persuasion. The disadvantage is that good creatures will dislike the wizard and not willingly serve him or help him.
“Summoner” is one of the traits the Warlock has – it lowers the cost of summoning spells and the subsequent upkeep. And it gives a bonus to researching summoning spells.
The other trait, which very much defines the Warlock, is the “Dark Pact” trait. When the world is generated it examines the world, and picks a relevant entity. The Warlock has struck a Dark Pact with this entity, and it will give him some advantages, depending on the nature of the dark benefactor. It could be an Elder God – uncaring and aloof for the affairs of mortals, but reaching out in dreams to the Warlock, teaching him mastery of the void and words that break the minds of mortal. It could be a Demon Lord, seeking a servant to help it cross over from the hellish plane it resides on, in return for powerful demonic magic and servants.
This pact will give the wizard some nice perks – but will also generate events where the benefactor makes requests or demands of the Warlock. It might desire a sacrifice of innocents, requiring the Warlock to raid a nearby settlement for captives. As the game progresses these requests will become increasingly demanding – perhaps an imprisoned dark spirit requires a worthy vessel to possess and wants the wizard to provide a powerful hero, or a demon wants the wizard to raze an entire town conquered by the warlock, and now a source of troops and gold. At some point the Warlock will be required to face his benefactor – and the longer he waits the more powerful it will grow. In essence the Warlock has an additional opponent in the mid and late game, but has opportunities to gain some advantages in the early and mid game.
