I am still on Debir and inside the new dungeon. I don't know yet how huge it is but I think it's very good. Debir seems to be OK for my normal difficulty: There are a lot of easy fights but behind them there have always been those equal or stronger enemies.

jeah its pretty huge, great you like it.

EA

I started the new version as a paladin, although I'm not sure how far I'll get before I burn out on KB for awhile. Looking forward to seeing what changes you made from last version.

Priest change: Old (I think, drew these stats from a wiki) vs new
Leadership: 50 vs 90
Attack: 10 vs 13
Defense: 10 vs 13
Hp: 26 vs 70
Init: 4 vs 4
Speed: 2 vs 3
Damage: 2-4 vs 3-5
Damage per leadership: 0.06 vs 0.0444

You made them much more durable, but their damage vs leadership dropped substantially. The changed bless effect of the new priests does indeed add rage, but it lasts 2 turns, not 3 as stated. I think you made the priests worse for damage, although they're somewhat useful as early rage sources. And I guess you did make them better tanks, although I'd never use a priest as a tank.
Compare new priest vs inquisitor: New priest = 0.0444 damage per leadership. Inquisitor is 0.075. That's way better. I don't think the priests will be staying in my army for very long.

I am in kef azis too at the moment and LOVING IT! great work Ecania - thank you again. No bugs so far

Kiras: I didnt want to overpower the priests, so thats why I didnt raise their attack more, I think the Health upgrade wich is big and also that you can get rage on bless is pretty powerful, especially in the start, thats why leaderhip is higher
Healing is also slightly stronger, and healers are support troop, they shouldnt do as much dam as an inq.
Also they are a lvl2 unit.
I still have them and they work fine, got 1 loss of 80 so far on Debir, only unit lost was a priest.It was never intended to make them a unit that will be interesting the whole game, but now Im using them from start, never did that before.


Will check the duration thingy.

Great Words Hasim, Thank you very much.

EA

Ah. My usual start army is bowmen, priests, inquisitors (if available), royal thorns as soon as I can reach that one house that usually has them, and royal snakes. I've always viewed priests as kind of a magic parallel to bowmen. Useful early on, but without the paladin bonus, I'd never use them past it. I ditched the priests for beholders when I got the money to buy my full leadership worth of them.

This time I'm doing something I haven't done before - using a fully undead army. The plan is Ritualists, Adept of Darknesses, Mistics, Black Knights, and Liches. I usually skip the undead, because they're a pain to resurrect, but with the paladin 100% return on a dead stack, I'm hoping I can use the black knights as a tank and as sacrifice fodder without losing any.

That sounds like a nice idea, there are some undeads to buy in the new Cave, also there is only undead items I think in same house, are you going to use asmadeo this time with his mystical ritual for undeads?

Got lvl2 on my Phoenix now, only drawback is mana cost but otherwise very nice for harder fights.
Im tanking with Asmadeo, got 600 Health now at lvl 11, and using Archmages, trained inq to get em, Royal Griffins, trained Griffins, inq, priests and gorgons.

EA

the Kef Azisa (does it mean something btw? - just wondering) is VERY beautifully done - amazing work on that Ecania - congratulations. I found trolls in the castle so I am using those at the moment. I have not used asmadeo before so I am using him now. Just one troll and himself to see how it goes. (goes great to be honest - I am playing just normal game though).

Thanks a lot again Hasim, thats the feedback that gives inspiration to build such Caves, to actually read that people like what you have worked a long time with.

Yes Hasim the name on the Cave is taken from a real known Cave in Morrocco.

Jeah put Trolls there , idea from beginning was to have a quest on Debir wich lead you to the Cave and told you to kill Fatt Shade, sorry Fatt but Life is hard sometimes, and the reward to kill him was 3 trolls, and got 2 problems, first dialoge didnt work as intended, second editor doesent allow to give units as quest reward, but tried to put em in a chest and give chest as reward.

Anyone know any other forums we can post about the game to let more people know about the game?

Found 1 bugged chest in Kef Cave, did not get anything, just a faulty message.
Will fix that.

EA

Steam forums I would suggest and/or GOG forums to let people know about the game.
I see - I was always fascinated with the language (which is quite apparent from my name - I am Greek truth be told).
Salam es Alekum (only words I know :( )

The Kef Azisa cave is actually quite amazing, but then my nationality is not known of the use of overflowing descriptive words. I could have said more earlier.

Hasim, im not from Morrocco, just know about the Cave anyway, Im from Sweden, and ty for the suggestions.

Seems i need to merge steam accounts to have right to post there, cant post atm.

Erki, im happy you like the Cave, I simply love it myself.
Did ypu guys like the extra reservslots? fixed the old mod for it, was missing a file.

EA

Was experimenting this night, couldnt get to sleep, so what I did was to try and implement other skills on units

Griffins can now summon ghost Griffins, but in lesser quantity then Royal Griffins, they can also cheer but with lesser Power.

Pirates can now summon thorns and have a lesser powerful prayer then paladins have.

and ofcuz they have higher leadership now and Little more Health.

EA

The new dungeon is a vast improvement over Purple Cave. I haven't had the time to go through that much of it yet, but it looks so much more interesting.

Thanks a lot Kiras.

EA

Here are some changed unit stuff.


REWORKED UNITS

GRIFFINS - Level 3
Cost 300
Leadership 150
Attack 25
Defense 23
Health 120
Talents - Summon spirit griffins, dragonslayer,Cheer - these are slight weaker versions.


PIRATES - Level 3
Cost 180
Leadership 120
Attack 18
Defense 16
Health 90
Talents - Summon thorns once per battle, prayer once per battle, weaker version then paladins.


BOWMEN - Level 2
Cost 110
Leadership 60
Attack 17
Defense 12
Health 40
Talents - Fire and Frost arrows 1 charges, double shot with no penalty 2 charges


SEA DOGS - Level 3
No changes on cost leadership and stats
Talents - Fury Attack, Charm, Running


MARAUDERS - Level 3
Cost 100
Leadership 60
Initiative 3
Attack 16
Defense 12
Health 55
Talents - Longattack , Looter 3 charges, change shift troops 1 charge

WITCH HUNTERS - Level 3
Cost 320
Leadership 130
Attack 20
Defense 14
Health 110
Talents - Witch Shield, Healing also heals plants, Magic Bondage

BLACK KNIGHT
Cost 1200
Leadership 200
Attack 35
Defense 28
Health 200
Talents - Running, Summon Skeletons, Necro Blast

ANCIENT ENTS
Cost 5000
Same leadership and stats
Talents - Swarm, Summon swarm, Summon Fauns

FIRE SPIDERS - Level 3
Cost 200
Leadership 120
Attack 22
Defense 20
Health 80
Speed 2
Talents - Web, Fireball, Summon little Spiders


INQUISITOR
Same leaadership and stats and cost
Talents - Resurrection, Holy anger, Fire disaster


ROYAL GRIFFINS
Same leaadership and stats and cost
Talents - Cheer, Summon Spirit Griffins, Magical Random Buffs

SCUFFER IMPS - LEVEL 3
Cost 170
Leadership 75
Attack 20
Defense 16
Health 60
Speed 3
Talents - Fireball, Calling Allies


EA

The new reserve slots are nice... for transferring troops from far away merchants to easier reachable castles. Thanks, but I don't want to make things too easy.

I got, perhaps for the first time, Fool's Cap. It gives +3 intelligenge, which is nice, and is supposed to give +1 morale to all troops. However, it affects only humans. (It states: PARAM: race any of [human] Unit moral: +1) Is there a way to change it?

The thing is that it is a human item and are supposed to give morale to all human troops, it is the translation wich isnt perfect, if I make it to all troops it is sweet for the price it costs, but actually there is another item in the game wich gives 1 morale to all troops regarding race.

Erki did you have time to post a link to this thread on steam, seems i cant post there yet.

EA

Ok, I understand it now. It would be too easy if it gave all troops +1.

I put a link to your mod and to this thread on the Steam board.

Aye, ok great will check steam laters.

EA

Hello Ecania!
Your mod looks promising :). I hope I can try it later this week.
One question - which version of Red Sands did you use as a base ?
Thank you!

Heya Jorko
It is version 1.8 of red sands.

EA

Just to say, this looks awesome, I will definitely give it a try when I get chance! :)

Good work!

Daniel.

Great thx Daniel.
Release in a few Days.
Note that the test version wich is up atm does NOT have the unit changes.

Waiting for your update to start the game, I guess you postponed it a bit :) . It's great that you used 1.8 as a base. I thought that the english version of Red Sands is only 1.6.
I've read some of the previous posts , about the game being too easy in the late mid and the end part. I'll definitely play impossible and hope it will be challenging :)

Well I am at Montero at the moment. Just exploring the caves :) I should do a map which cave connects to which me thinks. The mod (more of an expansion really) ROCKS!

Aye , its postponed a bit, since I want to check that latest additions work as intended.
Also difficulty is slightly changed, its hard to cover all playstyles and difficulty for a lot of players, but I thought about it and result is.
All settings are on old hard setting except impossible wich still is impossible, means that exp and gold income and more are set on hard, I assume that people playing this Campaign have played kb before.

easy:150%
normal 170%
hard 190%
impossible 240%
Im also packing in files for more advanced players that want to play on harder difficulty then what is stated in normal Campaign.
Those numbers are

easy: 280%
normal 320%
hard 360%
impossible 400%
Asmadeo will progress slower with these settings.

Difficulty also depend on using Asmadeo or not.

Hasim: Great to hear from you, and it is always great to read your posts, thanks a lot. What level are you and asmadeo now Hasim?

Ecania

I am now lvl 40 (just hit it) and asmadeo is 47 - highest lvl difference so far has been 11 levels between asmadeo and me.
I use him exclusively now, with one forest fairy that gets resurrected near the end of the fight for no loss. Oh and for chests of course :P
poor draco is only level 26 :/
Now I need to remember which cave took me to grand canal (I think it was the Kef Azisa caves - I will check) . I am trying to get to as many islands I can without maps so I can get wanderer scrolls (I have been REALLY unlucky with ancient knowledge ones so far).

Ah nice, there are actually several Caves that takes you to Canal, its like a travel hub, and the strat you use for getting adventure spells is just the strat I meant to play it, nice goin Hasim, there are few shop that have adventure spells too, hope you find any ancient in those.
Have you looked at the unit Changes back in this thread, its some nice Changes there wich will boost the game and make it different to play.

EA

I've reached Rusty Anchor so far and have seen Verona. Playing on normal feels about the same than in vanilla. At least the relative strengths of the armies are about the same. My progress has been quite smooth, but it may depend on my experience, too (Steam has recorded over 400 hours but I dare not to imagine how many hours there really are). I think that normal is okay as it is, or with 10 % more as it will be.

Nice to hear from you erki, release is close now.
what level have you reached now Erki and asmadeo if using him?
Im playing mage on hard setting with new units, so far everything good, using bowmen, wich hunter, fire spider, anc bear and inq.

EA

Amelie's level is 22 and Asmodeo's 14. BTW, my unit choices must make the game seem easier than it is: I have Paladins and four summoners: Royal Griffins, Gorgons, Engineers and Demonologists (plus Phantom spell). Only those vile creatures capable of shooting or casting something have the possibility of damaging my real troops. I suppose I should move to Hard or Impossible settings after boasts like that...

Jeah that was some summon army you have, sometimes you can get very lucky on the shops, you can prolly move to hard after next update erki, it is more designed to play harder difficulty.

Ecania

Yes, since your mod is designed to give better troops earlier and since there are many boosts to leadership available, I definitely should try harder settings.

Sounds good that you plan higher difficulty settings. My favorite mod so far is called Grandmaster, regrettably it's available in russian only. The difficulties there are as far as 500% with many balances of creatures ,spells and some legal cheats in the game. But the armies in the first four islands are slightly reduced(maybe around 300%),because in the beginning it's very hard. If you make the release with the 400% setting, I can try it out. Thank you!

Minor glitch in Asiz north wing: The rest of this conversation seems to work fine.

Thanks a lot Kiras, will check that.
Checked that dialoge several times and it didnt show, thats strange, those dialoges are not fun to work with if it was easier I done more quests.
Fixed dialoge.

Jorko: I read about grand master in your other replay, but I have no clue how they did it, I will not be able to lay 300 on start Island and 400 on the rest.
Thats why im doing this extra logic file with those numbers on, 40 between every step, so you hopefully will find a difficulty that suits your playstyle and challenge.
I am not a player that plays game on those difficultys, so therefore i cannot balance it for such hard play.I usually play around 200 not more.

Ecania

Went through the shops, and now reworking those to a more random style when it comes to troops for sale, also this change is for better replaybility.

EA

Hi! i started your mod and its great so far, though im still in first island. The only problems i noticed are that the map doesn't work for me and the units don't make sounds in battle animations sometimes..

Hi there.
What version and build do you have on KB CW, never encountered such problems before


Ecania

version 1.3.1, build 6171. toggling map actually works, but i don't see any of new land in it, only icons of new places( like dungeon entrances etc..) work, but they appear in incorrect place( in ocean). But i can still play without map fine so its not big problem for me.

Thats odd, seems it doesent read the radar files.
Those files are in red_sands_data.kfs in interface textures folder, can work if you unpack those and put in interface textures folder just under red sands folder.
all files begin with radar and are png files, unpack kfs file with winrar.

Ecania

it seems it worked, thanks. also there are more folders in red_sands_data.kfs like sound, textures, models, particles.. should i unpack those too?

No need for that, enjoy the Campaign.

EA

On the topic of difficulty: I'm a big fan of what MattCaspermeyer has done with his Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Babies mod. Instead of armies just scaling higher, their stats scale higher. That enemy that was fairly physical resistant might become really difficult to kill with phys attacks. Suddenly, that unthreatning speed 2 enemy, who I will easily kill before he reaches me, gains more speed. And that changes the tactical decisions I have to make sometimes. I find it a far more interesting challenge than just bigger enemy armies.

I find Matt's mod also very good and interesting. It is challenging in a different way then the original game,because the mechanics are changed and that's awesome, but it is even easier. So that's why I feel it is less rewarding and I lose interest quickly(unable to finish my second game). Ofcourse I played KB for a really long time and I'm now searching only for hard challenges, but for the occasional player it is a must, feels like a different game :) . Hope ecania will balance his mod for impossible to be challenging. I will try it as soon as the new update is out and post impressions and suggestions :)

Ok, first of all, I have not the programming knowledge that Matt have, it is a lot of things I wanna change too, but I often fail to do what I want, I need more knowledge to lua.

And Jorko, you try this out and hopefully come with suggestions and we try to pop out a more challenging version too.

This next update that will be out very soon will be the release version, then I will update it if needed.

I may ask Matt later on if we can create somthing together

EA

Hi all,

firstly, great seeing continued word on this. would anyone have a link to the original Red Sands Mod? I cannot seem to locate it anywhere...

big thanks in advance!

Elektra

OK - just found is, in case someone needs it:
http://sendfile.su/756023

translation:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ny24uk5f3vko9ob/rus.rar