Balance & Flavor submod for Imperial Civil War 2.1

[Slornie]

When you say you've got the Greater Maldrood as a new playable faction, how have you set them up as a faction?  Are they just a heavily scripted existing faction, or actually set up as a brand new faction in the Factions xmls?  If it's the latter, have you added entries for the faction in GroundBases.xml?

This may be completely unrelated, and I can't remember if it caused crashes, but we definitely had issues in ICW back when we first added the Warlords/Hapans as active minor factions ("Pirates" and "Sarlacc" as coded) until we added references for them in GroundBases.

[Vulcanus]

When you say you've got the Greater Maldrood as a new playable faction, how have you set them up as a faction?  Are they just a heavily scripted existing faction, or actually set up as a brand new faction in the Factions xmls?  If it's the latter, have you added entries for the faction in GroundBases.xml?

This may be completely unrelated, and I can't remember if it caused crashes, but we definitely had issues in ICW back when we first added the Warlords/Hapans as active minor factions ("Pirates" and "Sarlacc" as coded) until we added references for them in GroundBases.

The Greater Maldrood is an entirely new faction, and so far they've been working splendidly. AI builds stuff, conquers planets etc. all the things they should do. Even added as active to the raid fleet script. Didn't add them to GroundBases.XML, but will do, thanks for the tip!

I managed to isolate the Remnant CTD bug to Warlord starting fleets, which is weird, since they have exactly the same fleets in every other factions start scenario. Unless its something related to Warlords being active with their fleets, that should be sorted out fairly quickly.

[Lord Xizer]

I think its time i got in on this Warlord action!

[Vulcanus]

And the Remnant CTD bug is fixed! Unless something unexpected shows during playtesting, will release an updated version some time next week.

Slornie & Corey: Thank you for your kind advice with modding stuff.

Lord Xizer: Thanks for rekindling my slow burning interest in doing a warlord campaign some time ago  .

[Lord Xizer]

Lord Xizer: Thanks for rekindling my slow burning interest in doing a warlord campaign some time ago  .

My pleasure. I have always tried getting the Warlords in as much as possible. I look forward to playing this.

[tlmiller]

Yeah, I think I may have to try this out too next time you post an update.  Sounds very interesting some of the things you've done.

[Vulcanus]

I could have posted an update today, but instead decided to add the Greater Maldrood to Stars Align and Hunt for Zsinj GCs as well, so update coming in a couple of days.

In the meantime, detailing the new Post-Zsinj GC campaign.

It is a 46-planet campaign based on the conflict that occurs immediately after Zsinj is killed and just before the Thrawn Campaign. On the center-stage is the clash of three admirals: Ackbar, Rogriss and Teradoc, all attempting to take control of Zsinj's former holdings. In-universe Rogriss started strongly only to get beaten by Teradoc. Elsewhere Ackbar leads campaigns through both Maldrood and Remnant core support territories and then proceeds to defeat Teradoc, who is forced to retreat to his little brother's warlord holdings in the Deep Core.

Campaign notes: This campaign is designed to be challenging no matter who you play. Starting credits are limited for the player. Fleets are large and ground garrisons are small for everyone. There are very few safe purseworlds that allow early game build-up and turtling. In other words, go big or go home.

In test games so far the strategic situation is very fluid. The Remnant takes Axxila and Tangrene as it should, but sometimes is bisected by the Alignment, who may end up all the way to Lianna a couple of weeks later. Teradoc sometimes blitzes the Core only to lose his capital Centares to NR. Warlords don't get instantly steamrolled and launch counter-attacks at weakly defended systems.

Imperial Remnant starts this campaign in its weakest state until the truce with the New Republic a decade later. It has no leader, has just lost Anaxes, Kuat is under blockade and about to fall and besides Carida and some isolated Core worlds they control nothing but a slim swath of the Mid Rim. With the Alignment breathing down their necks and the New Republic steamroller slowly approaching, the Empire is under direct threat of extinction (No one knew about Thrawn at this point).

For New Republic, General Solo is relinquishing his command, so it falls to the fish to clean up what Solo left undone.

The Greater Maldrood is centered around a patch of the Mid Rim that was once the industrial heart of the CIS war machine. It would otherwise be an excellent area for an aspiring warlord to raise his forces, but its low human population and lack of Imperial military academies restricts military build-up. Teradoc has also been waging a non-stop war against the New Republic, the Empire, Warlord Zsinj and the Hutts for years now, so he has pretty much bled his planets dry and is surrounded by bitter enemies. Nal Hutta and Ylesia are active for Greater Maldrood's campaign only.

Pentastar Alignment is playable, but starts without Kaine and only four planets. They played no role in this campaign in-universe, but could cause all sorts of trouble for an unwary Imperial Remnant.

Finally, there are 16 warlord planets in Zsinj's former holdings. Most of them still boast considerable military forces. Both Pentastar Alignment and the Greater Maldrood can recruit some of Zsinj's former troops for themselves.

[Lord Xizer]

This sounds amazing, I've wanted this to be a GC almost since Hunt for Zsinj GCs inception! The Greater Maldrood playable too? AMAZING! I take it Crimson Command VSDs are part of their ensemble? I'm very much looking forward to playing this! I've always had an interest in the Warlords from Kaine and Zsinj to those three warmongers Harrsk, Teradoc and Delvardus, even Krennal to a degree. Would love to take the helm as their individual factions to try and take chunks of the Galaxy for my own kingdoms. lol I originally sunk a massive amount of time just to get Jerec and the PA playable and the Warlords buffed up. Is good to see this sub mod adding those little tidbits as it's right up my alley!
I'll also finally have some time off from the Army in about 8 days so gonna play this into the ground when it's available!

[mynameisyou]

Something i would like to see in the next version is a directly post endor campaign. With the Pentastar alignment very weak militarily because of little chance to build up. The empire is weak with no solid leader and beset upon by warlords like Josef Grunger, dianda pitta and Zsinj. The alliance building up milltary. Imp heroes could be Ysanne Isard without Lusankya ,Sate Pestage, Peccati Syn, Daleak Kreenal, Leonia Tavira, Soontir Fel and Treuten Teradoc who was technically loyal to the empire at the time and more importantly was fighting Zsinj. Zsinj could be represented by a unique tech Greater Malrood so he could be playable. Josef Grunger and Dianda Pitta should be in different factions though witch ones is up to you, Cronal could be a warlord as well,so could Trioculus.

You should also make a change to any period were Ysanne Isard leads the empire so that she does not have Lusankya it would make the empire and republic more evenly matched and it would be more canon.

[Lord Xizer]

Something i would like to see in the next version is a directly post endor campaign. With the Pentastar alignment very weak militarily because of little chance to build up. The empire is weak with no solid leader and beset upon by warlords like Josef Grunger, dianda pitta and Zsinj. The alliance building up milltary. Imp heroes could be Ysanne Isard without Lusankya ,Sate Pestage, Peccati Syn, Daleak Kreenal, Leonia Tavira, Soontir Fel and Treuten Teradoc who was technically loyal to the empire at the time and more importantly was fighting Zsinj. Zsinj could be represented by a unique tech Greater Malrood so he could be playable. Josef Grunger and Dianda Pitta should be in different factions though witch ones is up to you, Cronal could be a warlord as well,so could Trioculus.

You should also make a change to any period were Ysanne Isard leads the empire so that she does not have Lusankya it would make the empire and republic more evenly matched and it would be more canon.

Only thing here is Pitta and Grunger(While I would LOVE to see and recreate the battle they had over Corellia) kind of killed each other off in less than a year after Endor so they would play very small roles really(again I would love to see that matchup though). I would like to see Zsinj as more of his own faction than as generic IR with a few units. More emphasis on Pirates, Raptor units(Definitely more TIE Raptors) and more commando action with sabotage options like he was fond of.

I just got done playing both Infinities and Orinda and I have to say I love it. Seeing Kir Kanos in game and using him was very satisfying, the reward of getting the Guardian was a good campaign thing and added to the scenario. Thoroughly loved getting Lusankya in a Pincer movement between Reaper and Guardian above Orinda. Infinities was very well done too. Liked that you gave the Dark Side Elite force push instead of heal, made them more useful in combat but they couldn't insta heal which I think is a good change from the generic Dark Jedi in TR(No hate, just throwing that out there guys I still love TR)
Really looking forward to getting my hands on the Greater Maldrood in the near future too! Most excellent submod.

[mynameisyou]

The idea is that it take place immediately after endor and kind of compiles he events of 4 aby and 5 aby into one big cacaotic campaign were every one is fighting every one.

[Vulcanus]

The immediate post-Endor era up to Brentaal is indeed interesting and has potential for even two campaigns (or three), but there is just so much stuff that can't be done or is hard to implement. Lumiya, Nagai and Tof running around. Torpedo spheres. Countless Imperial fleets that may or may not be still loyal to the Empire. The New Republic could really use the Dauntless Cruiser for its fleet heroes. Whatever happened to the Zann Consortium. The Ssi-Ruuvi-invasion of Bakura and conflict with the EotH.

I'd love to see the NR invasion of the Core and Eriadu Authority with Firmus Nantz, Ackbar and Voon Massa leading the charge, but wouldn't want to do it without the Dauntless Cruiser.
A three-way "origins" campaign between Zsinj, Kaine and Teradoc with a New Republic cameo appearance is something else that could be done in that time period.

Removing Lusankya from Isard is something I've considered, but it causes some problems in era-changing campaigns. You'd need to have a script for "if the Remnant loses Coruscant, then Isard-Galactic gets killed and Isard-Lusankya is spawned. If Isard-Lusankya gets killed, then era advances to 2". Could very possibly be done, but I've never had the interest to try it really.

Grunger-Pitta battle to death could be changed into Grunger winning and lounging over Corellia with a massive fleet and the Aggressor.

[Lord Xizer]

So many options and good ideas! I especially like the Warlord origins idea. The idea of building them up to their peak power as uniquefactionsis exciting. Really ready to get my hands on greater maldrood

[tlmiller]

Yeah, I'll be trying it out with the next version.

[mynameisyou]

I think a Grunger vs Pitta vs core worlds campaign would be great to see.
The Nagai invasion and Nagai–Tof War would be interesting but it really wasn't that big of an event, but if you want to put the time in it be cool.

That infinities idea is with Grunger is awesome!

I think a better idea is to have it advance to era 2 if Coruscant gets taken and have a separate small bacta war campaign.

The chaos of 4-5 ABY is Fascinating!

[Vulcanus]

20.9. v.3 New update for Balance & Flavor released

https://mega.co.nz/#!MgFDUJxA!WpbYp0-W65iHQDr4N6yb94WyjRxkSfnVRW12BW7uizA

Compatible with ICW 2.15.

Installation instructions included in the readme file.

Full list of features included in the mod file.


New release features:

Post-Zsinj Campaign GC.

The Greater Maldrood as a new playable faction.

Expanded Pentastar space unit recruitment based on astrography, doctrine and galactic institutions. Comes with an updated ICW manual map with planetary requirements highlighted.

Five new buildable Pentastar Alignment heroes. Onyx Squadron and Michael Unther represent the mainstream Empire and can be built from certain Core worlds. Storm Squadron and Victor Strang represent the more unconventional parts of the Imperial military and can be recruited from certain Outer Rim worlds. Strang can also recruit Storm Commando Saboteurs. And Shea Hublin is there, because I like fighter heroes and he was personally invited by Kaine to join the Alignment in-universe (though he declined and got killed in service of Delvardus. Well, maybe he faked his death just to join the Alignment).

Some balance changes to existing GCs and new star wars intro text crawls for all submod GCs.

Numerous balance changes, experiments, bug fixes and tweaks to units and hardpoints. Major changes to SSD pop cost and fighter complement. Major changes to IPVs, Lancers and Marauders.


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This mod is a custom modification and was neither created nor is it supported by the Thrawn's Revenge team. The Thrawn's Revenge team is not responsible for any negative effects from installing these files nor can they be held responsible for fixing any issues which arise from them.
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Just a reminder, since this is my personal version of the ICW, very little testing has been done.

As usual, comments and suggestions are very much welcome and appreciated!

[Lord Xizer]

Just played the new GC and Greater Maldrood in TSA and HfZ. Very nice additions. Love the hero and unit unlock with the PA liked the high starting fleets/low ground and low income. Really made it more strategic.  Like that the galaxy is more open, less bottlenecks. Only thing was in HfZ Teradoc starts with almost nothing surrounded by very heavy IR and NR forces, maybe a few destroyers would be beneficial.

For HfZ could you maybe add the Wraiths and Rogues for NR as they were extremely pivotal in the HfZ, could broaden the gameplay options with new tactics and I too love fighter and commando heroes. Also for Zsinj himself perhaps some pirate units, some of the commandos and infiltrators he used for sabotage actions as a counter to the Wraiths. Gotta say I'm loving this sub mod, keep up the great work!

[Vulcanus]

Just played the new GC and Greater Maldrood in TSA and HfZ. Very nice additions. Love the hero and unit unlock with the PA liked the high starting fleets/low ground and low income. Really made it more strategic.  Like that the galaxy is more open, less bottlenecks. Only thing was in HfZ Teradoc starts with almost nothing surrounded by very heavy IR and NR forces, maybe a few destroyers would be beneficial.

For HfZ could you maybe add the Wraiths and Rogues for NR as they were extremely pivotal in the HfZ, could broaden the gameplay options with new tactics and I too love fighter and commando heroes. Also for Zsinj himself perhaps some pirate units, some of the commandos and infiltrators he used for sabotage actions as a counter to the Wraiths. Gotta say I'm loving this sub mod, keep up the great work!

Hunt for Zsinj- Maldrood could indeed use some destroyers, right now they are just realigned Warlords starting units. Thank you for the feedback.

I just played my first proper (not a test) Post-Zsinj campaign with Rogriss. Found some bugs with ground battles (Maldrood turbolaser towers don't appear on map), but nothing game-breaking thankfully. My campaign ended in tears after just 15 weeks. Doubled my planets in an early blitz without losing a single unit. Then the Alignment invaded and I only managed to stop them at Celanon after some heavy losses. Teradoc and NR assaults followed and I lost 8 planets and every single unit I had excluding my factory-fresh ISD II in Bilbringi in less than three weeks. In my books that counts a highly satisfying campaign experience.

[tlmiller]

Started a PA GC just to see how it works.  So far, mostly I like it.  MUCH harder with the changes.  Not keen on having Executors 24 pop cap.  Should be low enough so that 2 Executors can be used at once, even if it's 20 so you can only have 2 and nothing else.  But only being able to have 1 SERIOUSLY hampers the IR from being what they are, and honestly makes them too easy to defeat.

Overall though, good addition.

[Vulcanus]

Started a PA GC just to see how it works.  So far, mostly I like it.  MUCH harder with the changes.  Not keen on having Executors 24 pop cap.  Should be low enough so that 2 Executors can be used at once, even if it's 20 so you can only have 2 and nothing else.  But only being able to have 1 SERIOUSLY hampers the IR from being what they are, and honestly makes them too easy to defeat.

Overall though, good addition.

IIRC jumping in with 2 Execs without support fleet results in both appearing in the battle. Could be wrong though. If it doesn't work, will have to see about that. I've rarely encountered multi-SSD AI fleets outside of the bugged IR AI Fel Empire GC in either unmodded ICW or this one.