EA Nabatem, Lost Necropolis v1.30

[ÆtherNomad]

Hello everyone! :D

Today, I'm proud to present you my most recent creation (as first published on this forum thread[dominionsmods.com]), a brand new modded nation and the first I created for Dominions 5 exclusively: EA Nabatem, Lost Necropolis[drive.google.com]!

Let's first take a look at its summary:

Nabatem is a small and unhospitable kingdom of ruthless Onyx amazon slavers hidden in the red canyons of Saqaba's desert. Here, an entire temple-city is carved in stone to guard the entrances of innumerable caves that lead to an ancient necropolis and a river from the Underworld. The immortal lich-queens of Nabatem worship a dark god and its enigmatic baetylic messengers, black meteorites that radiate eerie energies and are being ritually erected as obelisks.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1365007206
And here you have it! Starting from the basic Onyx amazon kit from the vanilla game, I had great pleasure developing a sister-nation to Thalamanth[dominionsmods.com], all the while taking inspiration from several real world ancient cultures: mainly (and heavily), the Nabateans (and their famous city Petra, as shown below) and pre-islamic pagan Arabia, but also the biblical Kingdom of Sheba (or Saba), the muslim Kaaba, the Qedarites, the Berbers... and of course, a good bit of Egypt!

The ancient city of Petra![jordantours-travel.com]

The result is a nation of amazons that heavily prefer desertic, mountainous and subterranean environments, and that is culturally linked to Hinnom, C'tis, Berytos, Ur, Machaka, Agartha, Ermor and Arcoscephale. Using heavy Death and Earth magic, it also has some good Water and Astral capabilities. Its troups are expensive and have many weaknesses, but they also have strong sacreds and several emblematic immortal units and commanders.

Nabatem can be played at least in three very different ways. All of them can choose or not to make use of the nation's ability to recall its God easily just like Ur by taking an awake expander and being very agressive with it.

• The first is like any other for a human nation with good sacreds: simply trying to balance good scales and a good bless.
  
• The second, more original, is based on heavy death scales; it isn't necessarily better (or at least, it's not intended to be), but it definitely is supposed to be a viable choice, thanks to several mechanics such as dominion spreading death and a few special troops that are incredibly expensive in normal scales but very cheap at Death 3. (Since v1.04, these troops are actually freespawn that only appear under death scales.)
  
• Finally, the third possible strategy, less important, is based around a secret "switch" that can, just like Thalamanth but probably more efficiently, suddenly transform Nabatem into a blood nation, but at a pretty high cost, since this also drastically increases Turmoil and Misfortune in Nabatem's dominion. A way to make the best out of this is to simply take Turmoil and Misfortune from the begining, which also allows for many additional pretender creation points; alternatively, taking Order 3 and Luck 3 can make the cost a lot more bearable, but is pretty expensive.

In any case, as usual, this nation features a lot of lore, many national spells, several national craftable items, and this time, three powerful heroes. All of this for the greater glory of the Lost Necropolis!

In addition, I must say that this nation is extra-enjoyable when combined with my other mod Pantheon Reborn[dominionsmods.com], that balances out vanilla pretenders mostly by buffing Titans. Although the nation shouldn't be too unbalanced without it, and although that other mod certainly isn't required to have fun with Thalamanth, it would definitely be more interesting and thematic along with Pantheon Reborn!

Also as usual, I sincerely hope you'll like my creation, and I'm eager to read what you think about it, whether it is good or bad. I'll do my best to improve this nation according to your feedback, especially since I'll definitely need you to balance it!

And now, if you're feeling brave enough, prepare to explore the mazes of the Lost Necropolis, and... DOWNLOAD EA NABATEM V1.30[drive.google.com]!

Note: All of this mod's used IDs (and more!) can be found both on top of its .dm file and in the Mod Compatibility Project[dominionsmods.com].

[Mormacil]

Interesting ideas, will have to try this out.

[ÆtherNomad]

Thanks :D

[Vir027]

Another novel flavor, thematically and mechanically: nice work.

[ÆtherNomad]

Thanks! :D

[ÆtherNomad]

Just released v1.01! Other than a few fixed typos and improved texts, the changes are as follow:

• Unearthed Queen now costs 515 gold and has poor leadership;
  
• Unearthed Consorts now 270 gold, have normal expert leadership, and have haltheretic 3;
  
• Zuna slaves now have the slave tag as well as cold resistance 5;
  
• Lithomancers now cost 205 gold and grant 20 resources;
  
• Bone Tribe Head Hunters now cost 80 gold rather than 60 and have deathrec 23 rather than 16;
  
• Baetyl Eidolons no longer cost any upkeep;
  
• Baetyl Lance was reworked to resemble Golden Lances more closely while keeping its Bane of Heresy effect;
  
• might be forgetting a few other things.

Of course, this update wont be the last, and your feedback will still be greatly appreciated if you have any!

[ÆtherNomad]

While waiting for more feedback justifying a true update, just updated and replaced the old v1.01 files with new ones that remove Baetyl Eidolons' upkeep as intended.

[ÆtherNomad]

Just released v1.02. It's a small update that makes Yau'elkhunu's bodyguards sacred and that replaces the mod's banner with a new one.

[ÆtherNomad]

Just released v1.03, a very minor update that simply changes some IDs to fix an incompatibility with my other modded nation EA Triliax.

[ÆtherNomad]

Just released v1.04!

This is a rather experimental update that completely reworks Nabatem's Bone Tribe. Members of the Bone Tribe no longer are recruitable without a new late game summon called the Desolate Presence. Instead, they appear as freespawn in all fortless provinces that Nabatem controls and where there are Death scales. More Death scales mean more freespawn, and temples also increase freespawn in their province.

In addition, a new spell, Pact of Bones, can summon a Desolate Presence at Enchantment 9, for 10 gems and by sacrificing a Baetyl Obelisk. The Desolate Presence is very similar to the Harvester of Sorrow, but it has reaper 15 rather than 10, spreads dominion like a prophet, has regeneration 10 and increases Death scales in its province. In addition, it allows for the recruitment of Bone Tribe members in its province, under the condition that this is a fortless province.

Nabatem's Bone Tribe members are now completely free when it comes to gold, but still cost resources and recruitment points. Their recruitment is also limited to 7 per province and per month, except for Bone Readers, who still cost 2 commander points. Bone Tribe Head Hunters still require a temple, and Bone Readers still require a temple and a lab.

Finally, this patch also improves Pits of Living Shadows by making them generate 2 gems rather than 2.

Since balance-wise this update's consequences are currently unknown, feedback about this rework will be greatly appreciated!

[ÆtherNomad]

I didn't receive any feedback yet about the recent rework of the Bone Tribe, but I tested it a bit in real solo games and tried to balance it accordingly to my own experience. Feedback is still more than welcome.

Hence, just released v1.05. Greatly reduced the amount of freespawn from Death scales with and without temples, Pact of Bones now only requires 5 gems and research level 7, Desolate Presence now has reaper 10 rather than 15, removed the recruitment limit on Bone Tribe members (except Bone Readers), Stygian Priestesses now have foretelling 4 rather than 2.

[Mormacil]

Wish I had the time to test for you but alas. But it 'sounds' interesting and better.

[ÆtherNomad]

Thanks! :D

[ÆtherNomad]

Just released v1.06. It's a a small patch that reduces the Divine Baetyl's creation point cost and the Bone Tribe's recruitment point costs and fixes a compatibility issue with my other nation Thalamanth.

[ÆtherNomad]

In next update, I am thinking about nerfing the death scales build by reducing the Baetyls Eidolons' amount of deathrec (to 3 probably) and by reducing (maybe by 20 or 25%) the amount of freespawn. I'm also thinking about maybe increasing by 5 the Baetyl Eidolons' base gold cost.

If anyone here is interested enough to answer, I'd really like to know your opinions about these changes before I go ahead!

[Janohito]

I am actually playing death scale Nabatem in MP game at the moment.

And yeah, baetyls seems kind of powerful. So nerf might not be a bad choice.

Also, thank you for your good work!