Hello,
I'm now trying out the latest iteration of Patchwork mod. So far so good, there's plenty of choices in unit design now, which is a great addition. I have not tried out the Legendary Hero -scenario by now, so I started playing it with this mod collection I have - and it's superfun.
I do experience the lag in tactical combat when fighting AI controlled factions (not monster and such), and specifically when the unit in question is a champion, sovereign or anything with many options in combat action. I started playing back in the 80's, so maybe I'm just used to waiting and grew a little patience on me - after all, I had to load up my games from a C-cassette back then... talk about lag... or game breaking bugs and errors.
My current rig runs the game with mods just fine, in my opinion. I understand that the AI has to compute a shitload of stuff and escalating each turn, and while it is far from perfect and seldom a worthy adversary, it has gotten a lot better thanks to webusver. I would still like the AI to use it's resources better, make better judgments on situations and take advantage on the versatility of units available. The performance is no issue to me.
Regarding the cities and conquering them, I think that too is fine now. I used to be able to steamroll them in the past, now at least I have to pause and think a bit before attacking. A city full of defenders and stationed units is very much possible to capture, if you just prepare properly. And yes, you lose some battles, so what? The champions, as mentioned, turn the tide here. I have also lost cities, even to monsters and ruffians if I was not careful. On higher difficulties, all AI is rather aggressive.
Now back on the mods and patchwork, some comments again while I still remember them from yesterday:
- New shards (shadow, nature, battle, beast and summoning pool) - when hovering on them on the top bar, there is a line of text like "No string attached" or something like that - what does this mean?
- if Parrotmath or Hellions is reading this, female henchmen (henchwomen?) are not considered female by some of the loot I presume is generated by Black Market Bazaar. Also, these same female henchmen cannot ride a horse, just a warg, in my experience.
- Found Haitan the Firemage again yesterday, he works now, thanks! He's a little underpowered compared to others, but who cares? Free champion!
- Haven't had the chance to try out much of the tweaked summons yet, as I'm playing Altar and all my mana is still needed elsewhere. I do have more mana to use, which is great. And A for effort on AI factions, they even cast some curses on my cities!
- I still find the Guardian profession boring... In my opinion, it's only worth it's weight when fully decked in best equipment and maybe when supported by troops - I don't know, as my play style is champion-heavy. And when the guardian is decked out in equipment, in my case, it means I got one of the Dragon Lords. And when the dragon lord is in question, the fire breath ensures victory almost anywhere, anyway.
- To make this game truly challenging, I would remove the dragon mount entirely(maybe the dragon lord heroes too). I do like it, it's pretty, it's cool, but let's just face it - it's extremely powerful. This is just my suggestion, I may regret it, but every time I recruit a dragon lord, I just can't lose to an AI controlled faction. ANd even when AI's have dragon lords, they don't know how to use 'em properly. Maybe there could be just one very hard quest with a dragon mount as a reward, but no more.
Keep up the good work!