Old World New Beginnings news - Warsword Conquest mod for Mount & Blade: Warband

Dear warsword fans,

Progress report:

I am pleased to report that the game breaking bug mentioned in the previous article has been fixed and that gsanders has returned to continue his work on warsword. Both of these facts are enormous boosts to our timetable and we can say with more confidence that we are moving into the final stages before release. The team are very eager to release at the moment and we are ideally aiming for a mid to late August release time but in order to do that we have had to accept that some of our modelling needs are not going to be possible. Most of them revolve around caster armours and a few other items here and there but we have resolved to modify existing armours/items in order to fulfil what we need and hopefully in the future we can give each caster type a more unique look.

We will also have to delay plans for more quests (outside of random event quests), expansion of reputation system (evil not very fleshed out currently) and we won’t quite reach our target of random events (will release with around 50 instead of 60 planned). This is a worthwhile sacrifice in order to release. We will keep working on these aspects in the future.

Diplomacy:

As well as making the inner working of the mod as efficient as possible and looking at areas of the mod such as the economy and racial prejudice, gsanders will also be adding something which players have been asking us to add for years, which is diplomacy. It will be a hybrid version of diplomacy as not all features are compatible with the Warhammer world but we will try to bring you a version which brings as many kingdom management options as possible without compromising the lore too much. He will also be adding a few of his own features he has developed over the years such as more control over your kingdom patrols and caravan recruitment.

Chaos Dwarves:

Kraggrim has done excellent work creating the models for the chaos dwarf faction. All armour and weapons have been freshly made and we will post up some screenshots soon. The player will be able to choose chaos dwarves as a starting character and Polloio has written a unique character creation section for them. The chaos dwarves will not have their own skin so in order to make them playable we have had to settle for fake heads attached to the helmet. If you are a chaos dwarf ignore what your character looks like in the creation screen as it will be overridden by the helmets.

Other work:

Since the last article Burspa has made many new effects for the spells and work continues on this front intensely. It is unlikely every planned effect will be finished for release but we will aim to release more in subsequent patches

Marshal_157 has continued to optimise the models and also fix many issues with them across multiple factions. He has also created some new items as well.

Reworked Magic system

I have made some changes to both the AI and player magic system over the last couple of months.

AI:

Previously it was stated that the AI will always cast at the start of the magic phase and that all spell effects (including the players) will end at the start of the next magic phase. Now the AI can cast a spell at any point during the magic phase and not just the start. We have increased the length of time spell effects last for from 10 seconds to 30 seconds so that they can have more impact in battle and instead of all spell effects ending at once, they will each end individually after 30 seconds.

Mana generation:

The amount of mana you get from each magic phase can be influenced by the total encumbrance value of your armours. In the 19 – 24 range you will get an unmodified amount but with lighter armour you will get more mana and if you go over you will receive less. The values increase/decrease incrementally as your encumbrance goes down/up.

Casting Spells

The original system which I described in the previous article was based on the Warhammer and Warhammer quest rules of magic and while lore friendly, in practice it has led to some balance issues and issues around spell prioritisation and frustration in some areas of casting. To combat those issues and to allow a much wider range of balancing options for our spells we have changed to a different style of casting system.

One thing we said in the previous update is that the player can only cast 1 spell per magic phase (outside of minor magic missiles) but this has been changed to one of each type per magic phase.

The types are

1. Buff

2. Debuff

3. AOE

4. Summon

5. Instant

6. Major Magic Missile

When you hover over a spell scroll you will see these categories...

Mana Access Level: This is the level in which you can start using the spell in battle. You can still purchase the spell before you reach this level but it will not be available to use until then.

Mana Competency Level: This is the level where a caster becomes fully competent at all aspects of casting the spell. When a caster reaches this magic level they will not face a casting roll and the spell will be cast automatically except in these circumstances

1. Caster has 23+ encumbrance (unlike mana this includes weapon slots)

2. There is a 1 for the winds of magic roll

3. Caster has a shield equipped (on back is ok)

4. The caster is drunk

If any of those 4 statements is true then the caster will face a casting roll with all usual modifiers regardless of their level.

Spell Type: This will tell you what type of spell it is and whether it is ranged or centred at the caster. AOEs can be classified as explosive and aura. Explosive AOEs will damage anyone within the blast radius regardless of side whereas aura AOEs only target enemies unless specified.

Mana Cost: How much mana the spell costs when cast successfully. A failed cast will cost half the mana cost.

Casting cost: This is the casting roll which has to be made after modifiers if a roll is required

Condition for effect: Not all spells have this but if a spell has a condition which needs to be fulfilled before the effect takes place (such as a skill test) then it will say here.

Cool Down Time: This is the amount of time it takes before you are allowed to cast the spell again (there will be a countdown next to the spell name). Times very from 45 - 180 seconds. Minor magic missiles can be cast every few seconds. If you fail to cast a spell then the cool down time will be 30 seconds until you can try again.

These changes will allow for a wider range of decision making for the player both in terms of character setup and in game spell tactics.

Poisonous spells

The spells which give an ally poisonous attacks will now do so permanently for the rest of the battle.

Thank you for your continued support for the mod and your patience.

Nameless Warrior