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[mahrgell]

Oh really? Didn't know that. But Vanilla kobolds do have names, don't they? And they are speechless. But if it's like you say, that would be really a NoGo.
And i'm not sure how diplomatic relations are done during fortressmode. Like how to anger a civilization enough so they declare war on yours?(besides elves) Would it be somehow possible to trigger that in an unseen way at the start of a warlock embark? (like spawn 5 unseen caravans/ambushes/sieges and kill them immediately).

[udsuna]

Many of the above suggestions: Sadly a lot of the things are impossible to do with modding, like corpses that get abilities depending on how they died, or the tools that do labors... Only civ members can do labor.

Well. Damn. But there are some ways around that. Sort of around it. You can still do the captives thing. And themed zombies. And slaves.

Captured invaders can not be used in reactions either... but killing them and using their corpses should be fine.

I was meaning taking captives when doing the invading. Name items "captive (insert class here)" and use them as tools for reactions.

You could then use them as anything from raw material for producing certain slaving workshops. Make a set of pets that are "enslaved (creature)".

And of course all the reactions for torture and what have you that I listed.


Same premise with an Undead Chrysalis. A nice, shiny item that lets you "store" undead minions for transportation and production of hybrid monsters. Nothing quite like taking a half dozen of the things and using them to produce a single horrific abomination.


... What can I say? I really loved the expedition/raiding concept. I don't like the mechanics nearly so much, but the *concept* is awesome.

[Meph]

Kobolds do have nonsense as names. They dont have a speech file, the game does random words for them. The Warlocks would get exactly the same random names, so for all intents and purposes, they would sound just like kobolds. Which is plain wrong. ^^

I currently use arabic as language for them. I had to think of the evil wizard dude, Jafar, of Aladin. ^^ The names work quite well.

Udsuna: I get that you like the system. But dwarves use it for expeditions and mercenary raids, Orcs use it, Kobolds kinda use it with their thievery, and I would guess Goblins might make use of it as well in some way or another. After all they are the original babysnatchers. I would like to avoid simply repackaging the same concepts to this race.

I also dont see Warlocks as a race that siege and attack other countries. A crazy wizard in a tower might abduct a kid or terrorize a little village in the woods, but I cant see them going for full on frontal war with a big army. I think as long as they can live in their tower, surrounded by undeads, doing their evil schemes without being interrupted all the time, the Warlocks will be quite happy.

[somebears]

@Many of the above suggestions: Sadly a lot of the things are impossible to do with modding, like corpses that get abilities depending on how they died, or the tools that do labors... Only civ members can do labor. And all civ members are a single creature, and use a single graphic spritesheet. They will all look at least similar.

Are you absolutely sure that you can make corpses get abilities? because DFhack has (if I remember correctely) a tool to see the cause of death for a unit.

so no different sprites for each caste? :/

[Meph]

Different sprites for each caste is impossible, since civs use profession sprites. I will try some tricks there and see if it works.

And I guess something can be done with dfhack for the corpses, yes. But I dont know C++ or lua and cant write it. I know modding, but for dfhack I have to rely on outside help.

[shadowclasper]

If I might say, having them have NO immigration could be a bad thing indeed.

I'd suggest instead that there's a few starting warlocks, and each has some acolytes. The number of warlocks is capped at a low number. But they have a SMALL chance of attracting new acolytes each year as migrants. When a warlock dies, his most highly skilled acolyte rises to become a warlock.

[Meph]

I can make all civ-members acolytes, and a reaction to raise a single one to the rank of WARLOCK. Who will be the only dude that can be the noble, and you can only have one at a time. In essence you have skeleton servants, acolyte civ-members, and one mighty warlock guy running the tower.

Something like:
 - Workshop: Build Skull Throne.
 - Reaction: Appoint Warlock.

He will be the guy with all the magic spells, lead your army, and do the noble stuff. Acolytes can still lead skeletons, do doctoring and all that, but the Warlock is the boss. Might result in the very low chance of a Warlock migrant when you already have one, which will make for interesting table conversation.

[somebears]

Might result in the very low chance of a Warlock migrant when you already have one, which will make for interesting table conversation.

PLEASE do this. Make them fight an epic battle for the control of the tower. If the new one wins have him kill all acolytes!

[LMeire]

More ideas that I've been mulling over:

An "Altar of the Moon", outside-only, consumes totems and souls to craft a "Dark Wyrd"- a sort of "weapon" that detonates on a successful attack, degrading itself into nonexistence and releasing a cloud of horrible syndromes. (Possible?) Give it to an undead squad and you get suicide bombers, stick it in a weapon trap and you get a landmine.

Make souls brewable into "Living Spirits", a drink that staves off hunger and sleep as well as thirst- but with a large penalty to movement speed.

"Cerberic Hounds", an opposed to life dog with three heads. Vicious warbeasts and impressive pets, plus their multiple heads mean that you can efficiently farm totems from them.

"Elysian Shades", fuse 4 souls together at the "Altar of the Moon" to create a shade. Shades don't do anything but wallow in self-pity, but can be "sheared" for a soul once a season when invaders are scarce.

"Thralls", an odd species that loosely resembles a spider crossed with a bat; warlocks originally created them by accident, but continue to raise them for their high tissue yields. Thralls can be made at the Augmentation Lab at a moderate cost or slowly bred in captivity. Comes in 4 unique castes: 60% of being a "Flesh Thrall", a pathetically weak monster consisting largely of vestigial smooth-muscles and stunted appendages. 15% of a "Bone Thrall", these varieties have so much bone-mass that they can barely move. 15% of a "Skin Thrall", a mature specimen often has enough skin to cover a horse- though the creature's actual size is closer to that of a rabbit. 10% of a "Brain Thrall", a horrifyingly fast beast composed mostly of nervous tissues, that paralyzes its prey with a jarring pain attack before ripping into them with its deadly claws and fangs. May attack even a long-time handler without warning.

"Ratkings", a group of 6 head-sized rats fused together. Breeds quickly and often picks fights over crowding; contact with their claws causes an eruption of blisters and boils, while their bites can cause necrosis and mild paralysis. Good for guarding secret entrances with.

[udsuna]

Udsuna: I get that you like the system.
....
 I would like to avoid simply repackaging the same concepts to this race.

Actually. I really kind of hate it. I love the *idea* of it. I see so much potential. But... it really just seems to be wasted effort. And I used it only a few times before saying "meh, it's easier, faster, cheaper, and MUCH more profitable simply to provoke invasions".

Don't get me wrong- I understand that a great deal of that is the limitations of the game itself. It's a management sim, not a 4x.

I also dont see Warlocks as a race that siege and attack other countries. A crazy wizard in a tower might abduct a kid or terrorize a little village in the woods, but I cant see them going for full on frontal war with a big army. I think as long as they can live in their tower, surrounded by undeads, doing their evil schemes without being interrupted all the time, the Warlocks will be quite happy.

Ah, but the villains in so many stories are exactly that sort of thing. Evil wizard overlords spreading terror across the lands. How can you reference Jafar and NOT see the appeal in the 'enslave a princess' possibility?

Then there's Dungeon Keeper- granted, your "character" was more like a lesser god than a wizard, but the point remains. Age of Wonders... Might and Magic... Warcraft... Lord of the Rings... MtG (at least four different times)... you get the idea.


I'm not saying EVERY evil wizard does this sort of thing. But it seems to be a favored hobby.

[Meph]

MtG (at least four different times) => ?

I can only think of Yagmoth. ^^

[udsuna]

Volrath.

Yawgmoth you mentioned.

Lim-Dul... because the only thing better than 1 evil necromancer is a dozen or so of them inhabiting one body.

And that one vampire sorcerer dude whose name I forgot. Semagi or something like that. I never did like black decks that much. Blue-White was always my favored combination.

Sometimes throw green in there.


Did manage to spawn out an infinite-creature-generator combining a sliver queen, ashnod's altar, and training grounds. So much abuse, so little time.

[Meph]

Volrath was just working for Yagmoth. Lim Dul counts, and the vampire sorcerer dude: Baron Sengir?

Anyway, I sold my collection of 10000+ cards before I started travelling. Thats how I financed the first year of my tour. ^^

[udsuna]

Eh, so he wasn't in charge, he was still a main villain for a while before you even knew Yawgmoth was someone that actually existed.

And that might be it. I quit playing MtG long ago. Don't think I ever owned more than 2 or 300 cards. I never enjoyed games where the person who spent the most money won.

[migshark]

I really liked LMeire's ideas on the page 2, especially the abominations, void gate, star maps, and focus on mental attributes for the warlocks. I don't like an over-dependence on pets/non-citizens (anything you can't put in a squad) for fighting though, as they're relatively unreliable when it comes to what control you have over them. As such, I was thinking that instead of, or in addition to, making golem-like flesh abominations, you use those extra butcherable item things to add abilities and grotesqueness to your military citizens. I'm not sure what the limitations are of actually changing a unit's appearance when combining multiple changes but here's an example with just flavourful reactions:

Sew a dwarf's body hair onto a citizen - requires dwarf butcherable item thingy: raise toughness and spatial sense, gain 1 level in intimidation.
Add elven limb tissue to a citizen - requires elf butcherable item thingy: raise agility and kinesthetic sense, gain 1 level in dodge.
Replace a citizen's joints with an automaton's - requires multiple automaton butcherable item thingies: adds no exertion
Transplant partial antman's exoskeleton onto a citizen - requires antman thingy: raise disease resistance and toughness, gain 1 level in armor user.

And so forth. Though I think the problem with all of this, is what exactly the item you get from a butchered invader is. Will the butcher's shop directly produce a soul, or will it produce an item that can be processed into a soul and alternatively used up at the 'fleshworks'/other places?