Comments - KadanJoelavich

One of the things I love about 4.0 is the return of CaH. However, the current CaH are underpowered to the point where they are often not worth their cost. They are really only suited to basic troop support or minor Hero disruption/assassination.
I think that this needs to change so that CaH can again be made to fill different roles, specifically I would like to see CaH capable of again holding a forward warrior role.

I agree that CaH should not be as strong as normal Heroes, but could attributes increase hero stats exponentially rather than linearly? Instead of 20 damage per point of strength (or whatever it is), have it increase more in higher levels (so if a hero deals 300 dmg with 10 strength, they might deal 1000 dmg with 20, instead of 600). This would cause people to have to think carefully about their attribute choices and build heroes with more clearly defined strengths and weaknesses.

Also, each Cah class should have it’s own passive combat ability like “Archer Specialization,” or “Poison Attack.” Suggestions:
MotW: Strong Blows–a 4 tier power that gives slight splash damage, with the final level giving meta-impact splash.

Archer: Keep specialization (but buff it? A hero with 18 strength and all 4 levels takes ~10 shots to kill a troll)

Dwarf: Toughness–make it a 4 tier power, final level increasing health by as much as 100%? Maybe also a single level “Taunt” power that makes enemies attack the dwarf?

Dark Man: Armor of Spite–4 tier power that adds 12/25/37/50% reflect damage and maybe a slight armor boost?

Orc: Ferocity–4 tier power that increases attack speed, or keep poison.

MotE: Battle Glee–4 tier power that gives 5/10/15/20% life-steal on attacks, or keep poison.

Olog: Doesn’t necessarily need a 4 tier power b/c they already have splash, but maybe a lvl 10 passive power that gives large meta-impact splash. Alternatively, 4 tier power that gives a damage boost vs structures.

This has been my favorite mod for any game since before version 3. With the 4.0 demo, you really have outdone yourselves. Amazing work, amazing mod!

I noticed a few minor issues with Theoden:
1. Occasionally when you pick the "glorious king" power Theoden will die instead of changing. Reviving him then revives Theoden the corrupted who instantly dies upon revival making the hero unplayable.
2. Theoden is not available to recruit in most fortress maps (including Helm's deep).
3. The upgrades for Theoden as a ring hero are still in German. What do those upgrades do?

Remember today, little brother ...

Downloading Edain4.0-demo.exe
2 hours and 40 minutes : (

"I wish the mod were already available, I wish all of this had already happened!"

"So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide, all you have to do is decide how to play once the mod is released"

Normally I would agree with you, but dragons are in a class of their own. Numerous references in the text and other media state directly or indirectly that even Sauron is wary of the power of a dragon (especially the great gold dragon). Obviously a dragon could not wield the ring with the same efficiency or malice that Sauron could, but dragons without any augmentations to their power are enough to give the lord of the rings pause, the only person who could definitely say how powerful a dragon with the ring would be is dead. Anyways, Sauron's incredible power with the ring is demonstrated by his 10 abilities (not including leaderships) that show up on the side. I was just talking about physical power and strength. This version of Smaug woulg not be overloaded with abilities, preferring to rely on his potent armor, bulk, and ring-enhanced dragon-fire.

Yes, of course. I would be interested to see an alternate ring hero as well. Possibly an orc chieftain (Bolg?). That was an idea I liked.

Smaug is notoriously selfish and arrogant, what about this as a ring hero idea:

Smaug the Magnificent. Smaug takes the ring and determines to consolidate all treasure and all evil under his rule. Willing to suffer no challengers to his power and wealth, all other misty mountains heroes become unusable, and goblin hordes can no longer use forged blades or heavy armor. However, Smaug is emboldened by his new power and his treasure horde, and gains and additional 100% health, armor, and damage for each 100000 of resources the player controls. His abilities would be a high yield pillage, a fear aura that effects friend and foe, and an ultimate that would control an enemy hero until death but make them 50% weaker.

This ring hero build would be essentially one of, if not the most powerful single unit in the game, able to solo armies and bases with ease. However his use would severely weaken the rest of the faction, meaning that very little subtlety would be possible since all other units would be very weak. It would be the ultimate "all your eggs in one basket" hero. Also his ability to grow in strength with proportion to resources would cause players to play defensively and "horde up" until Smaug was super powerful, lore-friendly behavior for a dragon. Eventually Smaug would reach a point where he was unbeatably powerful, so players playing against the goblins would have to act fast to kill him shortly after his acquisition of the ring.

Well said. I see all of your points, and yield to your expertise and experience with other mods that made him a normal hero.

With regard to Smaug ring hero ideas there was one that I had: The great red dragon had a tendency to embed valuable jewels into his underbelly as additional armor; since the ring is nearly indestructible, he may well have chosen to wield it in that way. As we also know the ring does not have normal weight, growing heavier near heat and evil. This could result in a very heavily armored version of smaug as a ring hero (I felt him too weak armor-wise for a dragon anyway) but the severe weight of the ring would pull him to the ground, disabling his flight mode (maybe he could fly for brief spurts like the balrog). This would be lore friendly and also prevent the unbalanced nature of a flying ring hero.

So a heavily armored smaug ring hero who could not fly. Since his normal attack is already an area damage attack, it would make more since to make his abilities single unit damage, passives, or other interesting things rather than aoe fireballs and such. One idea for a level ten ability is that smaug crowns himself lord of middle earth, realizing that even though he has been a loner all his life, having armies to command will bring him more wealth and power: this ability would give leadership to nearby allies, and smaug would control his dragonfire so that it did not burn allies anymore.

Some other ability ideas: bite/swallow: an attack that does massive damage to an enemy unit or hero, and if it kills said unit or hero, restores smaug's health. Treasure hunter: (don't know if this one is possible) when smaug kills an enemy battalion it has a small chance of dropping a loot or rank chest, just like the wild mobs on many maps.

I just read your second Misty Mountains update (in German), and must say that I am thoroughly impressed by all of the improvements you have been making. Misty mountains was one of my favorite factions in the original game, and I am so happy to see it getting the care and attention it deserves.

At the end of that update you called for ring hero ideas for the faction, and I think there would be a simple solution: the Balrog. The Balrog is a relic of an earlier age, unlikely to venture out of it's self-imposed imprisonment in the depths of Moria unless it had a good reason. This is why it works so well as a summon, it briefly shows up, kicks some ***, and leaves. But the Balrogs were the lieutenants of Morgoroth, some rivaled Sauron in power; if this Moria Balrog had captured the ring, it likely would have marched from Moria and attempted to conquer all, replacing Sauron as the big bad of middle earth. I think a ring-hero balrog would be both terrifying and awesome, as powerful as Sauron, but with less abilities, and would also be lore friendly to the faction. My suggestion would be to give it slightly different abilities, including a leadership bonus that weakens nearby allied troops (because they are terrified of it), just like the queen of storms. It could even make sense to bring it in at only level 1 representing how it would need to learn to master the power of the ring.

Yeah. Beornings and berserkers will both kill allies (including other beornings and berzerkers) with their splash damage attacks when placed in large groups. It really stomps on their usefulness as a strong front-line unit.

Even as a 2 dimensional pathing blocker that is skinned to look like a 3d black pit? How are the "pits" in Isenguard done?

Thanks for considering fan ideas! Keep up the awesome work!

As another example, Goblins could have a deep, un-crossable chasm instead of walls. It would serve much the same purpose as walls(keeping their base from being overrun by melee units), but offer none of the protection against arrows, nor the garrison-able locations that make Gondor or Rohan walls so powerful defensively.

I think additions such as these would help balance the game-play, and unchain players from certain battle roles depending on their faction choice. Small differences like garrisons could still get factions leaning in a particular direction, but leave more strategic choices open to players.

Regardless of what is chosen, I can guarantee I will play it, and most likely love it too. Thank you so much for all of your efforts in making the best mod I have ever played.

I love the idea of a return to BFME I combat: with cities, walls, and sieges. In fact I love this idea so much, that I finally made an account here, after lurking (and enjoying this mod) for over two years. However, I feel that it would be a mistake to fall into what I believe was one of the main failings of the first game: evil factions being wall-less. Not only does a lack of evil walls force players into predefined combat roles (rather than having to develop their own strategies), but it also goes against the lore. The strongest gate and walls in all of middle earth was the black gate, and the black mountains. Furthermore, the architecture of minas morgul and dol guldur shows that Sauron's forces have at least a capacity to claim and corrupt the walls of others, if not built fortresses of their own.

I think this can be done in a way that allows evil factions to have walls, but still favor aggressive tendencies. Simply make evil walls un-garrisonable. For example, Mordor could start with simple walls of rusty metal spikes (like dol-guldur), but be upgraded with dark sorcery (and sufficient resources)to a nearly impenetrable wall of spiky "mountains", with it's only real weakness being a large gate. This would be lore friendly, as it parallels Sauron's build-up of forces behind the black gate (forces that were drawn out by Aragorn's open assault). Mordor's walls would be strong, but their inability to be garrisoned would encourage Mordor players to venture forth, or at least keep a large melee force in case of sieges.