Mods cool and y'all are cool for making it.

@Aemish, the crash you experienced is a base game bug and is fixed on the open beta branch: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/game-crashes-to-desktop-when-picking-up-creature-cage.1875396/

@Cairsiden, yes be careful with trusting the AI, it's not good for niche knowledge about certain topics.

.....I have been looking all over for a way to read the damn AOW4 logs. For MONTHS I have been looking, with the AI telling me there was no real way to do so. Imma set that thing on fire. I don't know how yet. But the AI is getting set on fire. Thank you, because maybe now I can narrow down my game instability.

@Aemesh I don't think it's my mod, but happy to be proven otherwise since it means I can fix it for you.

In the game's install directory there should be a CLog_UI.exe program that you can use to look at the logs. Scroll to the very bottom, there might be hints as to why the mod crashed.

Having crashes in fire clan quest to free critter cages - not sure if it's this mod or not, tried to deactivate it and the game crashes when I load in. My computer is an advanced potato mk 2 so it could just be that my boy's not tuff enuff for this game lol.

Gemma you just saved me probably hours of hair pulling out by that comment. Thank you! My game crashed 2 turns in and after that I couldn't even load UP the game and was about to start troubleshooting when I saw your comment. Disabled this mod and now I can get back in xD

For some strange reason this lovely Mod conflicts with Werzui's "WERMS Exotic Mounts" . I cannot have both in a game so I must decide: either a plethora of really well made fauna or strong and coll mounts for heroes and armies 😒I'd love to have them both!

Ayo les go bois

@[Nova]Stryker Well, my point would have been that, in practice, Stormborne isn't the best tome mechanically for a T5 summon and it would be better if it had its own space... but actually seeing it in there? Nah. it does make perfect sense, I was wrong. The serpent-y tie-in just works too well.

Leave it to Visie to be like "nah, imma just make it work instead"!

I went to sleep thinking. "I hope the Expanded Animal Wildlife mod updates." Thanks for the early Christmas gift!

- Added Summon Tempest Dragon to the Tome of the Stormborne
Note: The summon spell shows up in the encylopedia UI for the tome, but not on the research screen
- Other small updates, see change notes.

@[Nova]Stryker, @Daverin2112 thanks for the discussion. I was able to add the Tempest Dragon as a summon spell to the Tome of the Stormborne without modifying base game files, thus increasing mod compatibility.

Well, where else would you put the storm dragon than in the tome that's all about storms? The only other lightning related tomes are T1 & T3. Also I really don't get the reluctance to touch vanilla tomes. The mod already does that. Both of the summon animal spells are significantly altered now that all these new critters have been added for you to summon.

Stormborne, in practice, is also just not actually going to feel "right" as a tome, either, let alone, again, that is a bridge too far for invading vanilla tomes.

I made a not joke in his Arcfire mod, but honestly... we COULD use a non-sea actual lightning-based T4. If Visie wanted to make that, it'd be super ez to slot in the Tempest as the summon there. Other than that... well, wait and see if he comes up with something.

@Visie Maigo For the Tempest Dragon could you do something similar to what you did for the young earth & forest dragons? Add the ability to recruit the Tempest Dragon as an additional unlock from one of the researchs in Tome of the Stormborne. Maybe researching the Stormbringer also lets you recruit the dragon? Or maybe adding an effect to the Stormport that lets you recruit them once you've built it? The only other thing I can think of is to rework the Downpour spell so that it's more expensive but also summons a dragon in addition to its normal effects.

I realize that none of these are as clean a solution as adding the new young dragons to the young dragon research item. But there's really nothing you can do about that. The Tome of the Stormborne's full. Unless you know how to add an SPI to the tome. But that sounds like A LOT of work.

Also, gah, I was going to try to just make a personal mod edit and make a copy of the Summon Prosperity Dragon spell, swapped to Tempest, l for Astral Convergence (and no, that is awful thematically and a dumb solution, but works for my purposes.)

Good lord are the mod tools for this game needlessly obtuse and lacking obvious simplified features/commands.

I think my issue is, well, the animal cults mod is... VERY potent, lol. Just the units alone would be good, and the author gave plenty of useful bonii on top of that! I have some ill-defined squiggly line for how out of tune with vanilla balance I want the mods I use to be, and that one feels like it steps over the line.

NOT TO SAY IT ISN'T A DAMN COOL MOD!!!!!!!!!!! Modding and mods are cool and personal like that.

@Daverin2112, @[Nova]Stryker certainly valid feedback. There's also the animal cults mod if you want easier access to the modded animal units: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464586850

Daverin is right though, I am avoiding the modification of base game files for mod compatibility reasons. I will think on creative ways to get around this, but anything that changes base game files would probably be a new sub mod. At this time I don't have any capacity but will think on it.

I am going to echo the sentiment. There is at least one build I have in mind where the tempest dragon is, actually, perfect for my capstone unit, but ofc there is no guarantee right now.

Not even sure what the answer is supposed to be, since you probably want to avoid hijacking any other vanilla tomes besides the obvious animal summons, but still.

So, is it intentional that it is still impossible to get a Tempest Dragon outside of hoping that the map randomly generates the dragon ridge and that it's close enough to you that you can actually build a city on it? Seems like a real waste to go through all the trouble of making the unit to then just not allow people to use it.

Thank you for all the quick updates!!

Initial patch for the Griffon update.

- Cavernbear removed from the mod due to attacking animations not always working.
- Bug fix: Removed Evolutionary Drive from the Magma Serpent Hatchling.
- Reduced the marauder spawn frequency for Wild Horse, Red Stag, and White Stag units.
- Removed the cat only infestation spawner.
- Adjusted the FX position for status effects so they will now appear slightly lower on the units.

I can very much relate to the sentiment of trying to get something to work for several hours before needing to let it go. I applaud your efforts!

@HjAa, the Cavernbear is from this mod and should have the expected upkeep for animals. Eitherway, the Cavernbear will unfortunately be removed in the next update as there is a bug with the attack animation where the unit sometimes turns into a ball. I spent hours trying to fix it but no luck :/

Hi Visie Maigo! Thanks again for the help with modding. I just received a cavern bear from a large creature cage, and it didn't have the normal reduced upkeep for animals. Is this intentional (and does this mod even provide cavern bears )?

@Dr. Sinclair, thanks for the report! I believe this bug is coming from the animal cults mod.

No idea if this is bugged in this mod or from animal cults, but my magma serpent hatchling claims it evolves into a magma raptor rather than serpent

Haven't tried what happens once it actually evolves yet, i'll get back to you on that

- Added a Champion rank bonus for the Jade Tiger: Spirit Slash, deals damage in a 1-hex cone and inflicts bleeding.
- Fixed a bug where Stalker's Prowl was overriding the Fey Guile tooltip. This was a text bug only.
- Fixed a bug where Raptor and Brown Wolf units had the wrong experience requirement to achieve Legend rank.

Thanks again @Dark Glouton for the bug report!

@Dark Glouton, good observation. Yes this is a bug, but it is only a text bug only. Fey touched does not grant Stalker's Prowl. I incorrectly used the same tag as Fey Guile for Stalker's Prowl, which resulted in the wrong tooltip showing. This will be fixed shortly :)

Hum, well apparently when i activate the mod, the feytouched bonus who give a random buff is changed by starlker prowl.
If it was designed only for cat units, i think it's a really good bonus. But in the case where like i have ( maybe a bad interraction between mods ) and it can be apply to every racial unit, i think it can be vastly abused and be too powerful on certain combination ( like ritualist champion or nature dragon )
And i think one of the huge problem with mods on AoW4 is that it can quickly unbalanced the game ( who is already a little unbalanced ;) )
I also have some build who resolve the vanilla Feytouched.
Anyway, i gonna check this out ( interraction ) and look up the paradox plaza one.
Thanks for the info bro ^^

Hi @Dark Glouton, no worries at all. I did not change Feytouched, I only added Stalker's Prowl to certain cat units. I assume you want to remove Stalker's Prowl? Can you tell me what you don't like about it?

Easy option: The Paradox Plaza has the previous version of the mod available which you can use instead of the current version.

Hard option: Learn the modding tools and remove Stalker's Prowl from your copy of my mod.

Hi, first of all, thanks for the mod, it's a really great one and i really appreciate your work ^^. I have a question, i'm not a huge fan of the change made on the minor race " touch by the fey " and the stalker prowl. May i ask you to tell me how i can revert it back to it's vanilla base ? ( i never mod AoW 4 and i was a bit confused when i try, so if you can give me explicit information please :) ). Don't mind if you don't want, i'll respect your time. Anyway, have a nice day everyone.

Thanks for the comments all!

Units can now be browsed via my copy of the aow4db site by Tibbles: https://visiemaigo.github.io/aow4db/HTML/AnimalUnits.html

Documentation has also been updated:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tRKlRVjONjjcQQxkDk-TrVts-hycyeFctGqPpbro7X4

Best mod!

Thanks! This is must play for me. Love the mod. Especially playing as the Reavers!

Lots of changes in this update. Full changes in the Steam Workshop Change Notes. Official documentation to be updated later.

Evolution changes
This update contains a big evolution change for units that used to evolve into a unit that was only 1-tier higher. Now evolve units no longer feel weaker when evolving.

TLDR: Tier I evolve units now evolve into Tier III units. Tier II units that evolved into Tier III units no longer evolve.

Rank bonuses
Various units were given champion rank bonuses. Champion rank bonuses will slowly be added for all remaining units.

A really awesome mod.

Some of the animals have really cool rank bonuses, which now that UURB is (sadly) abandoned, at least gives access to some units with cool abilities without having to rely on a hero or support unit to do all of the non-atk actions.

Arcfire Phoenix? Ghostfire Phoenix? Radiant/Cleansing Flame phoenix?

@Visie Maigo or you could do something similar to what you did with the Earth/Forest dragons and the Tome of Dragons except with the Tome of the Stormborne.

@Visie Maigo Maybe you could put it in the recruitment pool added by the SPIs from the tomes of Prosperity & Calamity. The ones that let you recruit the Righteous Judge & Accursed Trickster.

Also, isn't the Tempest Dragon a bit under powered compared to the Calamity and Prosperity? It does 11 less damage than the Calamity and doesn't have the support abilities of the Prosperity. Maybe split the difference and make it around 40 lightning? That way it doesn't get out of hand if comboed with the wet status effect. And maybe add 1 of the wind rangers wind barrier passives. You did after all make the model with a literal storm swirling around it.

@[Nova]Stryker, yes the documentation is out of date. I'll update the docs when I get the chance. I may figure out a way to automate the updates so I'm not keeping track of info in multiple places.

Good idea to add the unlock info for the dragon units to the documentation. Yes, the wyvern and young dragon units are unlocked with the Tome of Dragons. As you also observed, all Tier V dragons are unlocked with the new dragon landmark. Right now there's no natural tome to add the Tempest Dragon to so unfortunately it will be hard to acquire at this time.

Hey man, a suggestion and question.

The suggestion is you should update the mod documentation you provide a link for. It doesn't include any of the new critters you added in the Ogre update. Also you should make sure that the documentation tells you how you can get access to the specific creature. For example no where in there does it say that you need to unlock the Tome of Dragons to get the young/adult Earth & Forest Dragons. I can make a good guess at it sure. But it's just a guess.

Which brings me to the question. How do you recruit/summon the Tempest Dragon? I'd like to do a storm themed build and that thing would make a great center piece for an army but I'm not going to bother if the only way I can get it is from that big dragon mountain. Relying on map RNG is a fool's game.

Thanks for feedback everyone! If you want to recruit the cat, raptor, horse, or stag units, check out HakuWatari's Animal Cults add-on mod for Expanded Wildlife Pack: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464586850

Best mod yet, add massive variety to my wilds game and wildlife.
As for the serpent high tier "issue" could make like a gorgon or serpent emperor or equivalent that buffs them. Maybe even a Jormgandr unit or likewise mythical snake.

Ty for this Visie! Much appreciation for your work

- New units: Cavernbear, Crystalrunner
- The Jade Tiger unit gains the Elemental type and Magic Origin.

@visie Maigo - thanks for your reply! Makes sense why you wouldnt want to change base files! Maybe could do it with the magma serpents!
Also hope that the devs decide to go back and add them back in!

@unovafrosmoth fixed an animation issue for crocodiles and updated the spawn table for Call of the Wild.

You can always check the change notes on the workshop page as I document all my changes. I didn't announce the change in the comments since it was a small update.

I saw there was a new update, what have you changed?

@gibberingsen, no plans for evolving t4 serpents at this time. I would love to make the existing t2 serpents evolve, but that would involve modifying the base game which would affect mod and update compatibility. Maybe if I come up with a new type of serpent, like I did with the Magma Serpent Hatchling and Magma Serpent.