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The Woodelves (ME)

This mod adds new lore inspired campaign mechanics and balance changes regarding amber to the ME campaign when playing with or against the Wood Elves. I had a lot of fun making it and playing it myself. I hope you will have fun too! Requires a new game if you play as woodelves and want all the features. Works with savegames if you only want the scripted AI changes.

There are now four seasons (6 turns each) that affect all forest spirits (like dryads and treekins), beasts and animal units as well as Orion and the treelords. In winter the spirits and animals of Athel Loren will be less powerful, take longer to recruit, and are harder to replenish, representing their dormant state in the cold season. In spring and summer they gain bonuses to replenishment and power.

According to the lore Orion is an avatar of the god Kurnous. His power is bound to the seasons of the forest. In summer he is at the height of his might, but his power will slowly fade away in autumn. He will sacrifice himself in a fire at Kings Glade when the first snow falls, only to be be reborn again in early spring. In this mod Orions power will change with each season. He will die in the first turn of winter and be available again in spring.

Each year in summer the living forest of Athel Loren demands a sacrifice in the form of two amber. In return you can choose between four bonuses that will be active until the next sacrifice. Which choices you get is somewhat random.

Besides gaining amber from conquering regions and forging alliances you now get amber as a reward for completing missions. It's therefore worthwhile to pursue and try to complete them, especially since amber gained from missions can't be lost. In addition to this there are four small and four large amber deposits at different places on the map. Controlling these regions will give you a large amount of extra amber. To balance the availability of more amber, the amber economy was slightly changed: You need more amber to unlock some techs and to build up the Oak of Ages.

You can upgrade each outpost once to gain one more building slot. Upgrading a outpost costs one amber though, but may still be useful to fortify strategic positions or build additional economic buildings.

The technology tree was revamped (for example by adding diplomacy bonuses for the new WH2 factions) and 7 new technologies were added.


- Added a new dilemma for buying or selling amber.
- One new incident

- Wood Elf armies ending their turn in any region of Athel Loren gain a 20% upkeep reduction for the next turn.
- Balance changes and additions to existing technologies (including diplomacy buffs for all WH2 factions).
- Changes to all garrisons.
- NEW: 4 new rare lord & hero items for woodelves only (Divination Orb; Oaken Armour; Sword of Thousend Winters; The Hunter's Talon)
- NEW: Researchable battle spell with 3 charges per woodelf army (see picture). Only available for battles in woodelf territory.

- The AI Wood Elves now switch between aggressive and passive behaviour in regular intervals. This personality change mechanic was already in the vanilla game but didn't work properly (CA's script didn't save a timer variable).
- All AI Wood Elves factions will declare war on anyone who dares to attack the Oak of Ages. They will also switch to a aggressive personality if this happens.

NEEDS A NEW CAMPAIGN TO WORK AS INTENDED! Will crash your savegame if you decide to uninstall the mod.

Compatibility:

• SFO: You don't need this standalone mod. It is already integrated into SFO.
  
• Crynsos Faction Unlocker: Compatible. Main features (seasons, Orion's pyre, sacrifices) work only for Athel Loren based factions though.
  
• Radious: No idea. Tell me if it works.

Venris (conceptualisation & testing) and [HN] (new icons)

If you want to buy me a beer for all the effort, go ahead! Use the send money feature of PAYPAL[www.paypal.com] with this email: zarkis@online.de

Check out my other mods with many well thought out and balanced changes to campaign mechanics. And don't forget to like if you like it.