Motter's Campaign Heroes In Skirmish Mod for Rise of Legends

Note: This review was originally posted at Heavengames here. I am the author and am cross-posting it here for informational purposes. Some of the comments and game errors mentioned here have already been replied to at the Heavengames link.

1 Intro
2 Mod features
3 Mod problems mentioned
4 Mod skirmish and campaign modes review
5 Mod review
6 Final summary
7 Updates

1 Intro

Hey all, this is my review for Motter's Campaign Heroes In Skirmish Mod for Rise of Legends! I played a few skirmish battles with each nation and played through the first few missions in the campaign as a test. I took some notes and here is a list of the mod features, comments on other people's problems and some thoughts. My replies will be after the ****asterisks.

2 Mod Features

Motter said the following is in the mod:

-This is a mod I did to enable all CTW Heroes for Skirmish Play. I did this mod about 3yrs ago around the time of my other mod but just got around to finishing a few small things.

Here are the heroes:

VINCI
Petruzzo
Carlini
Venza
Battaglion
Distruzio
Pulitore
****These are the new heroes in addition to Giacomo, Doge and Lenora available in the original game.

ALIN
Marwan
Arri
Desert Giacomo
Belisari
Adromolek
****These are the new heroes in addition to Dahkla, Damanhur and Sawu available in the original game.

CUOTL
Ix
Giacomo Moon God
Yontash
Kakoolha
****These are the new heroes in addition to Czin, Shok and Xil available in the original game.

- Some units are Doge Cannon, Supply Truck, Magus, Hybrid Clockwork Man, and several others I don't recall off hand. I also enabled all Vinci Prototypes like Burrowing Spider, Siege Zeppelin, etc, and there's likely a few new things as well. Just a few notes:

- I did this mod about 3yrs ago, so it is what it is. I have play tested it and it works with no crashes, tho having to many heroes on the map at once will slow down the game a bit depending on your system.
****The units and prototypes mentioned above are all included in the mod and there are some similarities with Motter's Expansion but also a few differences.

- UPDATE 8-23-14 - Version 3
*Included a basic modding guide on how to enable the Hero Battaglion.
****This guide is also included in the All Modding Guides pack here

- UPDATE 11-7-2013 - Version 2
Per some user requests I've added an "Extras" folder that contains the following additions:

* Script changes that make the AI summon more heroes
* Enabled Fallen Refuge for the Cuotl and enabled all Fallen Units there
* Enabled the High Priest for the Cuotl
* Enabled the Clockwork Scrapyard as well as all Scavenger Units for the Vinci
****I played some 8 player games (1 human versus 7 computer ais) and it still seems that the computer ai will only summon 1 hero or maybe 2. The only time it seems they summon more than 2 heroes is when they start to get powerful and take over more cities. So one computer ai took over half of the map and then began to make more heroes and armies.

****I have a problem with the Fallen Refuge - it doesn't produce the first 2 units as explained further below.

- UPDATE 11-11-13 - Version 1
I was made aware of a bug with Distruzio. The Large/Great City restrictions were not in place for Distruzio's spells so I corrected this, just download the file again and copy the "craftrules" file into the "Data" folder. (Unless you want to cheat)
****I wasn't aware of this but I did have a problem with Distruzio's Clockwork Summon spell - no matter what level he or my city was at after clicking this spell nothing was ever summoned. It could be a unique glitch to my setup again as with other problems though.

- The AI is scripted to randomly cycle through the heroes each time it goes to summon...however... I have noticed no matter how it's scripted it usually seems to summon them in the order they appear in 'Unitrules'. The biggest factor in hero summoning is the amount of resources you have, how much you are winning/losing.
****Yeah it seems the computer ai players will summon more heroes when they have more territory, cities and resources which means they are winning anyway. It seems the ai

- I made a copy of the Refuge but I couldn't just graft it so I would have had to make copies off all the units which I don't have time for, so here's what I did - Original Refuge is as it was before with Unholy Ark, Fallen Priest, and Siege Elephant

New Refuge is buildable by the player with Fallen Warriors, Fallen Sentinels, High Priest, Fallen Jaguar, Fallen Snake, Fallen Idol. I put the Clockwork Man back at the Fane.
****As mentioned below I had a problem with the Fallen Refuge.

3 Mod Problems Mentioned

-- Not a problem but a compatibility question: is it compatible with your expansion mod? or the same?
****Motter's answer: No it won't work with the expansion mod because they both contain many of the same files with differences in each file. It has most of the units the expansion had plus many more.

How exactly does the mod alter the CTW campaign?
****See my review below

Where's the cuotl Priest?
****Both the Fallen and High Priest are in the Fallen Refuge but there is a slight problem as explained in this review.

i have with this mod, same problem as with the expansion-mod, on the map "doge's hammer", so far i am the defender, the enemy does attack each other, also if they actually should be allied. if i change team-settings on 2on2, its all right, but 3on1 does not work. i tested it without mods and it worked all fine
****I tested this map and I don't have the option to set any player teams - it automatically locks into a "Free For All" but instead of 3 versus 1 the 3 enemy players also attack each other no matter what the difficulty setting is.

4 Mod Skirmish and Campaign Modes Review

I recommend using Motter's Expansion for the Campaign mode and Motter's Campaign Heroes In Skirmish Mod for the Skirmish mode when playing the game.

Even though this heroes mod is primarily meant for the Skirmish mode I've included notes on the Campaign mode also. I didn't play through the entire campaign as with the expansion review, but only the first few missions of each nation to determine what was different with buildings and units. So this campaign review is incomplete.

A list of features in Campaign mode:

Vinci
As in Motter's Expansion, the Vinci get the Clockwork Scrapyard starting in the Padonia mission.

Alin
As in Motter's Expansion, the Alin get Magi in the Trading Center starting in the Azar Harif mission.

Cuotl
As in Motter's Expansion, the Cuotl get the Hybrid Clockwork Man in the Fane starting in the Chumuk mission.

For some reason there are 2 buildable Fallen Refuge buildings in the Campaign mission Chumuk - one has 3 Fallen units and the other has 6 units and the 2 buildings cost differently. The 1st Fallen Refuge doesn't contain any Warriors and Sentinels - the slots are blank.

As in Motter's Expansion, you also get Caravans that help with energy production.

Finally is a list of new features in the mod in Skirmish mode, a few problems I had and final thoughts.

5 Mod Review

Vinci
The Vinci get all the following heroes:

Giacomo (starts as the Horse version and turns into the Walker version at Level 4)
Petruzzo (has the spells Bribery, Augmentation, Master of Munitions and Sniper)
Carlini
Battaglion
Lenora
Venza
Distruzio with Zeke
Alessadri
Pulitore

As in Motter's Expansion, the Vinci get all 3 prototypes when researching any given one.

The Vinci get the Clockwork Scrapyard which produces:
Scavenger Clockwork Man
Scavenger Spider
Scavenger Flyer
Scavenger Boss

The Glorious Statue builds Doge's Elite Guards, Doge Walker and Rocket Launcher but no Demolition Truck as in the Expansion.

Alin
The Alin get all the following heroes:

Giacomo (Desert Walker)
Dahkla
Belisari
Damanhur
Arri
Andromolek
Sawu
Marwan

As in Motter's Expansion, the Alin can build Magi starting in the Trading Center.
Acerbus with The Relic is not included as an Alin hero - he was in the Expansion though.

Cuotl
The Cuotl get all the following heroes:

Czin
Shok
Xil
Ix
Yontash
Kakoolha
Giacomo (Moon God Walker)

As in Motter's Expansion, the Cuotl get the Hybrid Clockworkman in the Fane.
As in Motter's Expansion, you also get Caravans that help with energy production.

There is a difference with the Fallen Refuge buildings.

The buildable Fallen Refuge has 2 blank slots and can build:
High Priest
Fallen Jaguar
Fallen Snake
Fallen Idol

The other Fallen Refuge which is a neutral (or native site in the Campaign) on some maps can build:
Fallen Priest
Unholy Ark
Siege Elephant

So for some reason the Fallen Refuge in both Campaign and Skirmish modes can't build the first 2 slots of Fallen Warriors and Fallen Sentinels.

6 Final Summary

I had the following problems:

When using Petruzzo in Skirmish mode his Bribery spell made enemy soldiers disappear completely instead of being converted or even dying.

I had a problem with Distruzio's Clockwork Summon spell in Skirmish mode - no matter what level he or my city was at after clicking this spell nothing was ever summoned.

Acerbus with The Relic is not included as an Alin hero - he was in the Expansion though. I liked this guy and just wondered why he wasn't included. I wonder also if the Vinci Scientist and the Fallen or High Priest can also be made into heroes? (Increasing their hitpoints a bit maybe and making them selectable from the side.)

And lastly the Fallen Refuge problem - for some reason the Fallen Refuge in both Campaign and Skirmish modes can't build the first 2 slots of Fallen Warriors and Fallen Sentinels.

- It's great to see all the heroes and heroines in the game finally in Skirmish mode so a big thanks goes to Motter for having made this mod! Even with the few problems it's still playable and fun to play so no big deal with the problems.

I definitely recommend checking out this mod and Motter's Expansion also as there is so little made for Rise of Legends that playing these are must downloads!!

Thanks for the mod again Motter :)

7 Updates

- No updates yet.