Okay, Taeves! Enjoy your break.



If/when you decide to pick it back up, will you check out the normal difficulty minor factions for me?



And I just wanted to add that I can do some really neat things now with Unit Abilities, like Flying as an end-tier skill for Forgotten.

New update; will work on Cultist things tomorrow; tested easy/normal minor factions and they're very reasonable.



v1.32: Support tree is live; Removed outposts and Allied Kingdoms as buildable objects for the AI; Outposts and Allied Kingdoms now require full ownership in order to build.; removed dust costs from most military buildings; removed the once per empire limitiation on defensive wards; reduced construction costs of defensive wards to 250 production and lowered effect to +10 fortification per pop (no longer requires glassteel); medical center and materials hoard now require 250 production (down from 600) and no longer require strategic resources to build; army manual now requires 5 palladian (instead of 5 hyperium) to build; national military college now requires 5 palladian (down from 15) to build; removed the once per empire restriction on national military college; increased xp at unit creation on innoculation station to 200; innoculation station now requires 5 palladian (down from 15 palladian and 5 hyperium); increased militia slots on military reserves to +4 slots (up from +1); removed the +400 city fortification from military reserves; lowered the cost of military reserves to 250 production (to make it more useful in late game border towns where it might be relevant); Level 1 of the Empire and Expansion Empire Plan has been changed from +2 vision to -25% Expansion Dissapproval

One more update before bed after playing an Ardent Mages game. Totally revamped the spellcasting experience in battle for Ardent Mages to encourage the use of other spells besides Enervation/Stun; might reiterate as these were off the cuff changes.



v1.33: Ardent Mage Torment hero skill now gives +2 Dust on exploitation (was city district); Lumber Mill now gives +2 production on terrain with forest (was +1); Apprentice Registry now gives +2 production on exploitation with industry (was +1); Canal System now gives +2 on terrain with industry (was +1); Ardent Mage Opulence Hero skill increased to +1/+1/+1 luxury resource bonus (was +0.5/+0.5/+0.5); Adjusted the way Ardent Mage spellcasting (in battle) works; Removed the cooldown from all Ardent Mage spells except for Incantation of Enervation aka Stun; you can now cast a spell each round unless you use stun; Stun now has a 6 round cooldown (which means that if you cast stun, you will not be able to cast another spell for the remainder of the battle); Increased the defense granted by Incantation of Defense from 5/10/15/20/25 to 20/40/60/80/100; the bonus defense from Incantation of Defense now lasts 6 rounds; Increased the attack granted by Incantation of Haste from 7/14/21/28/35 to 20/40/60/80/100; the bonus attach from Incantation of Haste now lasts 6 rounds; Increased the damage of Incantation of Deluge from 8/16/24/32/40 to 20/40/60/80/100; Increased the healing done by Incantation of Restoration from 10/20/30/40/50 to 20/40/60/80/100; numbers may be adjusted to balance abilities in future patches.

I'm going to adjust the cost/effect of all stockpiles in the next patch to always have a 70% conversion rate.



I'm also going to add a 1 round cooldown back to Ardent Mage spells (except Stun, which will stay at 6 rounds); the increased values for the spell will stay, however.

@lilyophelia: can you add all description text for all languages in english, please? it is sometimes very annoying when some text are missing in my language... anyway a very good mod keep going :-)

sorry my bad english but i am italian..so that add a real ally? and an ally victory? if yes,it is usable in multyplayer too?

@fantasyfr I'll see what I can do. It's a bit more work than I'd like to do. With the constant changes, I'd have to update at least 7 languages (which is 14 files) for each update. If it were just adding text to the localization file, that wouldn't be a problem. But sometimes I also edit existing text, and that is a ton more work to keep straight.



I know it's not ideal, but maybe you could play in english just when you're running this mod?



And I'm glad you're enjoying the mod.



@Alberto This mod doesn't support multiplayer or have any sort of ally victory, sorry.

New update. I really like how the tooltips came out.



v1.34: Ardent Mages now have access to the Fire Rain capacity in their faction skill tree; Fixed Defensive Ward and National Military College to properly be buildable in multiple cities; Ardent Mage Spells now have a cooldown of 1 round (except for stun, which now prevents any further spell casting for the remainder of the battle); Reworked stockpiles; originally, a stockpile would give you 25/175/875 resources (depending on tech) for 1/1/2/2 rounds (depending on game speed); they had an industry-to-resource conversion rate of between 70% and 11% depending on techs researched and game speeds; now, all stockpiles give 50/150/300 (depending on tech) for 3/6/9/12 rounds (depending on game speed); all resources at all tech levels and game speeds now have a 72% industry-to-resource conversion rate. These changes increase the efficiency of stockpiles (making them more usable) and also decrease the need to micromanage (which the UI does not currently support); all tooltips are reworked to be clear and explain the stockpile system. Necrophage stockpiles have also been updated to provide 150 Food (up from 120 Food; now matches the middle food booster in effects) and now last for 3/6/9/12 rounds (up from 1/1/2/2 rounds). Adjusted several luxury boosters; Pixie Blood now gives the bonus health regen on entire empire (instead of just on cities); Gems now give a +0.5 bonus per round to strategic resources on empire.

on there isn't ally victory,but i read there is something for ally..but i not understand very good what do

I just have to say again, that creating a mod for Endless Legend just makes me fall more and more in love with Amplitude. I have so much fun editing and altering the game and seeing those changes come to life, but at the same time I have so much respect for what they have already created.



I'm constantly humbled by what a great game Endless Legend is. Ugh, so in love with EL! <3

v1.35: Cultist faction tree is now live. Maximum army movement is now 8 movement points per round on the strategic map (down from unlimited); adjusted Wild Walker hero skills to provide High Ground and Forest Resonance capacities instead of direct bonuses (so it's easier to see the effects); Ardent Mages now gain +2 science on terrain with science per rank (was +1 science); Forgotten now gain +2 Dust on terrain with Dust per rank (was +1 dust); Because of the way converted villages were coded by Amplitude, all changes that the minor factions get also apply to Cultist villages; this results in a buff to all unit stats and xp/turn gains by units while they are inside of converted villages; on Hard, this means that all units (even native Cultist units) get +100 health, +25 to all stats and +10xp/turn while they are inside of the villages; once they leave, their stats return to normal; finally, it also looks like there is no military upkeep on units while they are inside the garrisons of converted villages. I don't know how to fix this behavior at the current time, and I think I actually the way it plays; minor faction spawns now level up fairly quickly and are useful as a main component of Cultist armies; converted villages are also a lot more defensible; increased the vision range of converted villages from +1 vision to +2 vision (quality of life improvement); Cultist technology We Are Legion has been renamed Eyes of the Queen; effects have been changed to +3 vision on converted villages (was +40xp on units spawned by converted villages)

The new heroes added in Expanded Heros will be included as part of Tales of Auriga as of the next patch. Adding new Cultists heros next; will also be revamping all the existing heros to fit the new role system. Will also adjust some of the existing Expanded Heroes to have better abilities.

lilyophelia wrote:
v1.35: Because of the way converted villages were coded by Amplitude, all changes that the minor factions get also apply to Cultist villages; this results in a buff to all unit stats and xp/turn gains by units while they are inside of converted villages; on Hard, this means that all units (even native Cultist units) get +100 health, +25 to all stats and +10xp/turn while they are inside of the villages; once they leave, their stats return to normal; finally, it also looks like there is no military upkeep on units while they are inside the garrisons of converted villages. I don't know how to fix this behavior at the current time

I'll see if I can get a dev to answer your question.

Thanks so much Frog. You guys really are the best. <3

Someone asked about localization prior, and I originally said I wouldn't be willing to put the work in.



If it's important to people playing with mod to have this localized, you're welcome to send me a working localization file and I'll go ahead and include it and credit you in the page description as long as you keep it up to date.

v1.36: Added all the content from Expanded Heroes into Tales of Auriga; you no longer need to load Expanded Heroes; adjusted the base heroes for Ardent Mages, Cultists, Forgotten and Wild Walkers to use the role and tag systems from Expanded Heroes.

After a test game with normal minor factions, I have to say that it feels really relaxed and fun. If you want a much more intense game, make sure to play with hard minor factions. It is like a completely different game mode.



Also, Necrophage are probably the next faction I'll work with (after I finish adding new Cultist heroes). I'm also feeling a bit drawn to the Broken Lords.

Going to increase the FIDSI on upgraded Outposts and Allied Kingdoms in the next patch; also adding in a Treewalker movement ability for Wild Walkers that removes the movement penalty for most terrain types (until I can figure out how to make it just apply to forest tiles).

I played my first game with ToA in several days earlier this morning and noticed a few things.



While I do like a lot of the new changes, they basically only make sense if you're playing with hard minor factions. And even then, you can ignore the minor factions for the most part and still win easily. The heroes skill tree changes make them too powerful, too soon. The Cultist heroes in particular are unbalanced. Then again, so are the Wild Walkers and Ardent Mages. I have only played the three factions thus far to play test them.



At first I liked the idea of the garrisons having more spots open but it allows you to power level heroes very quickly, especially if you rush for Red Sang. Are you working on some other way to make the game difficult to help balance the changes you're making?



I don't even bother with Outposts anymore, I found them to be interesting but completely unnecessary. I'd rather just build a city I need and exploit what I can/be able to pump out troops from as many locations as possible. Perhaps you can add something more to them to increase their viability. Possibly a random quest after a certain age is reached that adds a potential luxury boost or even a negative modifier if you fail. Or perhaps allow it to spawn new random units of various minor factions. I don't know. As it is I'm just not interested in spending a lot of resources to get something that is very limited back when I could just have a normal unlimited city in it's place.



I exclusively use Weapons of the Enemy (I just don't like taking control of new cities when I wipe one out; didn't like it in Civ5 and don't like it here) regardless of what faction I'm playing so for me stockpiles mean a lot. I cheese the marketplace by selling excess piles. But you've buffed them too much. Having said that I'm not sure what they need exactly. I don't think Amplitude really knows either. I understand why they created them but they seem out of place at the moment (in both their use, their length and their cost), I'd prefer that their market cost be lowered at least and their original values restored.



My wife has been playing the mod the last three days and while she hated it initially (she hates change in particular) she's grown more fond it since. She played a game today on Hard/Hard minor factions and after a few hours I noticed an enemy AI had basically covered half of the map in territory while she was doing her best to stay neutral (enemy was Roving Clans). I hadn't actually seen the AI do anything like that since I starting using the mod. She refused to take any territory because the minor factions killed anything she sent out, initially. Which made me smile.



I still play with hard minor factions, but I think medium difficulty could use a boost in difficulty and hard could use a reduction (in either the quickness of minor factions levelling or the reproducing like bunnies being reduced - together it's just nasty).



Can you create any new challenges to help balance what you have? Rather than just increase resource costs I was wondering if you could add in random elements that cripple everyone for a set number of turns (like winter but not movement/resource based), instead perhaps a decrease in military prowess. Or a no dust period. Or a ceasefire/forced peace option. I don't know, anything really to add variety/difficulty to what is now very easy.



I'd really like a diplomacy mode/gametype that rewards alliances but that probably isn't viable unless Amplitude makes it so. I really enjoyed playing co-op in Age of Mythology and I miss that here. I realize you basically just play single player, I do as well for the most part but occasionally I like to play multiplayer with a friend or my wife (with my internet being agreeable that is). Inevitably I'm forced to betray them and kill them, or be killed by both of them because they suspect my treachery. Without forced alliances I will put my dagger in your back and take your dust.



Thank you for getting to the Cultists however, I'd be lying if I didn't say I enjoy their changes. I do. Everything just needs to be a little bit more balanced is all. And I play the Broken Lords a lot too so I'm excited that you're considering getting to them soon. I think I'm going to buy Dungeon of the Endless tomorrow, it's been nagging at me for some time.



Keep up the good fight.

Hey Taeves, thanks for the feedback.



I do hope to add some quests in, but that's a bit further down the road. There's a lot of ground to cover, and it will take time and energy to get there.



The changes to the heroes were meant to make each faction feel more fun and interesting. I like to play only with heroes that match my current faction affinity, so I almost never mix/match them.



For me, I also only really enjoy playing with Hard minor factions. I've played a few games with Easy and Normal minor factions, but that's too close to the vanilla game for it to be really fun for me. I like the idea of leaving that alone so that if people aren't excited about the very brutal minor factions, they can skip out on that experience.



Like you mentioned, Hard minor factions are pretty intense. I find a lot of challenge is expanding my kingdom and clearing new regions that are swamped with new enemies. I often switch assimiliations for a new troop type, retrofit my units to use better matching weapons (for the appropriate slayer buffs), etc. Often times, it also helps to insert a city into a new region before you try to conquer it. That slows down AI spawn rates. I also go after villages first, and do my best to whittle them down. Sometimes I'll pay 6-7k gold to pacify a village, etc. A lot of the gameplay with this mod comes from exploring and settling new regions.



In my games against the AI, I found that I would lose whole groups of armies until about era 5-6, at which time I started to overwhelm the minor faction units. Ultimately, one of the first things I want to add in is a buff to minor faction units with each era, so they keep up a bit better. Eventually, I would enjoy adding a bunch of quests so that you'd have waves of enemies attacking you one Winter, or maybe you awaken strange golems at some other time, etc. On the to-do list is some kind of content for the end of games to keep them interesting.



Outposts and Allied Kingdoms (which have buffed FIDSI values in the build that's going out) really are there to be fun and to minimize micro-managing. I mean, you could run full cities in every region, but ultimately you can conquer it, pacify the villages, and then choose to keep it an outpost (which only costs 100 dust and pretty much gives you the territory without any further energy) or you can build it up to pop 10 and get 250 science/dust and 50 influence. Those options are there to save some personal time in games and to cut down on how heavy the end-game can get with micromanagement.



For me, I frequently find myself with plenty of cities and lots of unclaimed territory (which sometimes contains strategic or luxury resources I want). Outposts and Allied Kingdoms give me different avenues to expand without having to manage a 7th city. I've found that it's been extremely fun to build Allied Kingdoms in my games, and I could see eventually adding in a Victory condition that requires a certain amount of Allied Kingdoms to win.



There's a few things you mentioned that I really can't do much to help you with.



The marketplace. I find the marketplace to be really unfun and I use it as little as possible. Buying/selling resources isn't a lot of fun for me, so I only use what gather off the map. I find that it's a lot of fun that way, and so I very rarely have issues like having excess Redsang; and then following that along, hero leveling isn't usually an issue for me.



Weapons of the enemy. It's a fun trait, but it's very specific. It's possible that the trait is no longer balanced, and that it needs to give fewer stockpiles for it to feel right.



In general, stockpiles have been feeling really good right now in the games that I've been playing. I always have a choice now, between building up military or keeping up a food stockpile. I also create industry stockpiles, and then a new city gets a big boost where I am able to knock out a lot of the early buildings. I lose industry when I create the stockpile, but it's been a lot of fun for me to use them. I've never wanted to use them before, and now they just work. It's a more fun alternative to buying out 10-12 buildings with dust, which never felt super fun to me.



So I'm not quite sure exactly what balance changes I would make right now. Things feel pretty good for me (except that the very end game feels a bit too easy). As I play, I'm constantly tweaking things (like some of the empire plan values). I could see maybe making Normal minor factions a little harder if the gap is too large between the normal and hard settings.



---



Finally, in the end, I'm mostly making this mod for me. It's kind of my perfect version of the game. I'm really happy to share it, and I love that other people can enjoy my work as well, but I couldn't possibly develop it to make everyone happy.



That's Amplitude's job. It's what they try to do in the base game and I think they have it pretty tough. Even though I love EL the way it shipped, there are things that just aren't quite right for me; but at the same time, I realize that Amplitude is designing for more than just me, and the design they chose to use probably represents what was best for the largest group of players.



I think we need more people making mods and chasing their visions of a perfect game. And your feedback is super appreciated, but I just don't want to get your hopes up that I'll be able to make the perfect mod for you (because we'll end up having different tastes at some point.)



<3