Going to give it a hard pass. I read through the mod list of changes and the way they went about changing them. If you read through the chronological list of changes you see a downward trend to changing too much. It seems it started out with trying to make some minor balance tweaks but it ended up doing a complete overhaul of the game. They want to make every unit identical and I think that is lame. Not really my thing. A good player can deal with imbalance. Bad players want everyone to start the same like its a game of football or something. Real life warfare is not balanced, deal with it.

Changelog: v1.3 to v1.31 (part 3)

Theocrat
Bestow Iron Heart is available at level 3 for Theocrat heroes and Leaders (was level 1)
Celestial Chamber is required to produce Evangelists (was Theocrat’s Conclave)
Evangelists do not have Combat Healing any more

Warlord
Warlord’s Scouts have Night Vision

Air
Zephir Bird has 40 HP (was 35 HP)

Wild Magic
Summon Lesser Elemental costs 110 CP (was 120 CP)

Changelog: v1.3 to v1.31 (part 2)

General
• Trolls are removed from the defender sets of Great Farms (in effect replaced by Ogres)
• Miraculous Lizardman Breeches is Epic (was Legendary)
• Scrolls of Knowledge can no longer be found less than 15 hexes from starting location
• Domain of Corruption, Killer Instinct, Summon Dire Penguin can no longer be rewards from Forbidden Sanctum
• 13 descriptions and Tome of Wonders pages are updated to correct imprecise or incorrect descriptions.

Arch Druid
• Henge is required to produce Shaman (was Arch Druid’s Dolmen)

Dreadnought
• Flash Bang (Dreadnought spell) is replaced by Flash Bomb (if unsuccessful, reduces the movement points of the targeted unit by 25%) and costs 7 CP (was 8 CP)
• Weapon Kit costs 7 CP (was 8 CP)

Changelog: v1.3 to v1.31 (part 1)

Bug correction
• Fishing now correctly gives +10 HP/turn to Embarked unit (had no effect)

Issues/bugs of the balance mod corrected:
• Call Beast Hordes now work as intended: minimum and maximum amount of beasts is 4, remains active 4 rounds, new animals added to the animal set. Chances to summon unit of certain tier are: T1 – 43%, T2 – 30%, T3 – 20%, T4 – 7%.
• Tigran and Orc Watchtowers now correctly display their icons.
• Solid Chainmail Legging of Heroes (Strong) is now correctly in the Strong item category for item rewards
• Engineer's Flash Bomb now correctly causes -25% MP if Blinded is unsuccessful

@avenger711: Item Racks are a specific kind of structures (with visible defenders and giving items only). Ancient Ruins are not Item Racks. So the change you quoted does not apply to Ancient Ruins.
Also, the Normal and Very Strong defender settings won't change the type of items you get. The Very Weak etc. defenders described in the change are the ones of the Item Racks, because there are 5 types of Item Racks in the game. So depending on the one you battle, you get different items.

>- Item Rack's item reward rarity depends on the strength of the defenders:
- Very Weak & Weak Defenders: Common items
- Average: Strong items
- Strong and Very Strong: Epic items<

I understand that like the reward from the same sites depends on defenders' strength setting. But I cleared some ancient ruins with medium and very strong settings and every time had 1 yellow item ~70 gold and some knowledge or ~200 gold to sell.

Or I don't understand correctly?

Hmmm. air elemental can stun with ranged attack. Ice elemental can freeze and have ice aura. What have earth? touch! Very good)

They still have Petrifying Touch and above all, Tireless, and they still have 40% Physical protection, so they remain superior to all elementals except maybe Spirit Elemental. Don't hesitate to post on that thread on the Paradox forum to explain your opinion.

i've played about 10 pbem match with friend so my expirience no so much. But without regrowth it will much weaker than other elemental.And earth is weaker than other magic.

See the discussion here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/elemental-balance-in-particular-earth-elementals.1149864/ Main reasons are: 1/ their Regrowth makes them almost unkillable in auto-combat human vs human in PBEM, 2/ they can clear Hall of the Forefathers in solo because they're fire and frost immune.

@JJsmall, Earth Elemental is too overpowered unit in PBEM.

"Earth Specialization
- Earth Elementals have 60% fire and frost protections (was 100%) and don’t have Regrowth ability."

why?

Awesome mod. Running this now with an old college buddy on the other side of the country. Thanks for spending the time and putting this together.

A change planned for v1.23 "A new setting is available for “Defenders Strength”: “Strong with Normal rewards”: Treasure sites do not give +50% reward value any more" could not be implemented at the time, due to technical difficulties. We now have found a workaround: a new mod has been created: when activated, it reduces reward values so that if you play with Strong Defenders, you have Normal rewards. This mod is currently in test phase, and we'd be very interested to get people to try it and give feedback. It can be considered part of the balance mod (but cannot be directly included because the setting is specific to Strong Defender; for Very Strong Defenders, we would need another mod for instance). To try it, please download the .taf here https://www.dropbox.com/s/rj0vray4gmq6qch/multiplier_mod.taf?dl=0 and put it in your UserContent folder, then activate the mod. Thanks for your feedback!

@Tanaka
These errors are unavoidable, but not harmful, you can just ignore them.

Thanks for your continued support! Not sure if these errors I get are from the mod?

[ERROR]Unit Property Heavy Winds Unit Property has no Icon!
[ERROR]Unit Property Fire Halo Property has no Icon!
[ERROR]Unit Property Fire Halo Property has no Icon!
[ERROR]Spell Hide Out Spell is invalid: Event has no targeters attached!
[ERROR]Spell Wind Ward Spell is invalid: Event has no targeters attached!
[ERROR]Skill Structural Insight Skill invalid! No player class linked!
[ERROR]Ignoring player class skill Structural Insight Skill! Skill is invalid!

@ Zaskow, I've been modding on and off and don't have muhc to show for it. i find it a real struggle to carry on. So, seriously, congratulations to you guys.

@BBB, thanks!

Your main graphic looks awesome, witht eh Haflings and the flametank.

Energy drain targetting physical is a good idea.

Congratulations for carrying on doing this guys.

Hi all! As for the main branch of the mod, the beta branch was affected by bugs due to faulty descriptions (the .xml files containing the good descriptions could not be opened by the game for some reason).
For PBEM games that were opened with the faulty version, you probably have Flying and Floating units bugging, Dragons disappearing, etc.
It seems the only way is to restart the turn entirely, sorry about that. Here is the procedure: go to C:\Users\[Windows user name]\Documents\My Games\AoW3\Profiles\[AoW3 user name]\PBEM, find the save game from the the bugged PBEM game, delete the 3 files (.txt, .apg, .~apg). Launch AoW3 with the updated mod, and load your PBEM game as usual: it will give you an Ironman warning, there is no way to avoid that, then your turn will load and you will be able to continue playing as usual.
Sorry again for the trouble, at least now we know what to expect. Later, we'll report the issue that caused this to the devs too to see if they can help with it.

Good point RandomGuy, Twisting Roots was indeed spotted in the radar but nobody really complained about it up to now so we did not try tackling it. But I keep that in mind, and you're probably right that a 3 turns duration would be a good solution. We already have a kind of congestion in the pipe of proposed changes for v1.23 but if a change to Twisting Root doesn't make it for v1.23, it should make it in v1.24.
@all: By the way, please note there will be an update on the beta branch probably today (otherwise tomorrow) to update some descriptions. If you have PBEM games ongoing with the beta branch, be careful if you save & quit in the middle of the turn.
v1.22 will be pushed to the main branch in the next 48 hours if all goes well.

First I want to thank you guys for putting together this mod. It really prevents the game from being a cakewalk / cheese feast when playing against 7 allied emperors. You were completely correct in nerfing many of the game systems that were favoring the human player and that the AI could not use.
I do want to turn your attention to the following:

Twisting roots: If I start out with this spell, I can clear peak of the forefather / inner sanctums extremely early on (usually much earlier than T10) if I mass ranged units. This makes the combo arch druid / high elves probably the best combo for these sites since it allows the human player to pick off the slow defenders as they slowly move into range with your powerful long ranged units. I think that twisting roots should have the same turn limit as slayer's doubt / stiffen limbs to prevent it from being blatantly overpowered. If you need a youtube video or something that demonstrated this tactic, let me know.

Thanks Outis for the report! It should be corrected in the next update. We haven't double checked all the descriptions modified in v1.22 yet, so it's possible there are other minor issues (the non-description stuff has been double-checked).
The link was badly parsed by Steam, here it is again without brackets around it: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qv7gezs9rk8o60p/AABNUMDz1J9CSqGsUvJsrlzwa?dl=0 (otherwise copy/paste it directly without clicking on it). But anyway, now the Steam Workshop's version is as up to date as the Dropbox version. :)
You can check more details about v1.22 on the article on the Battlefield: https://www.the-battlefield.com/aow3/index.php?page=commnews&eingabenewsid=69

am using the mod by subscribing to this beta version. I tried your Dropbox link below but there is an error and it is a deadlink.

Can you correct the link so that it works? Thanks

There is an error with the Choking Fumes description in the Spell Book and Tome of Wonders.

screenshots
https://imgur.com/VP3eiIa
https://imgur.com/utPApFI

Please contact me if you're interested to help with the mod. We currently have translation in Russian and Polish (since this new release; thanks to Badok!) but translations in other languages would be great! We also need people to help to create a more user-friendly description of the changes brought by the balance mod (I'm thinking about either an update in the Wikia or a manual like for the Empire Building mod). And finally we welcome contributors to balance discussions.

v1.22 has been updated. Due to some technical and availability reason, it is not yet here on the Seam Workshop. However, you can get it in the usual Dropbox folder for the balance mod (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qv7gezs9rk8o60p/AABNUMDz1J9CSqGsUvJsrlzwa?dl=0) : go to the /20170903_v1-22-alpha folder then download the .taf and put it in your C:\Users\[your user name]\Documents\My Games\AoW3\UserContent folder. Then when you launch AoW3, select "PBEM & Single player Balance Mod 1.22-3".
(known issue: the animation of Inject Mana Fuel is not yet implemented, so no "blue color")
It would be great if some of you could play it to see if there is any issue (it has already been tested for all the new stuff but better to double check).

You need to check the white box left of the mod's name (it will become a full orange box) to enable the mod. So you can enable or de-activate it each time you launch the game, to play games with or without (mostly useful for PBEM or live MP).

@all: v1.22 has been released here, on the beta branch! Some descriptions have not yet been updated, they should be in the coming days/weeks. We plan to add some replacements for some changes which could not technically be integrated in v1.22 (especially the 2 new Dreadnought's abilities). This should be done by the end of August, then the beta branch should remain stable for about 2 months (v1.22 will be pushed to the main branch in 3 months or more due to one tournament using it with v1.21).

Hi, Im new here... Can You help me? I downloaded Your balance mode and it showed in game under "user content" and there i launch the game, but when i play multiplayer or single player, even pbem - there are no differences from original game... what I am doing wrong?

Thanks Outis for he report! It's crazy nobody saw it before, looks like Tigran Necro is not that popular! :D I checked and the bug is indeed caused by the balance mod (main branch AND beta branch). We'll fix it soon. Zaskow is currently working on v1.22, we don't have yet a test version for internal tests but hopefully it should be ready soon.

@hiliadan, I think there is a bug with a Tigran Necromancer. When Playing as a Tigran Necromancer, the Racial Governance Economic options are blank, there are no descriptions. Only the Military options have descriptions.

@hiliadan, Sounds good. Thanks for reply :)

Ok, we'll probably rerun a discussion about Gas Masks because you're not the only one to say that, and there is also the issue that Blight Protection is already pretty common which makes life hard for Goblins and other Blight damage units, so we may want to tone down the protection to 20%. However, I expect these discussions to happen AFTER release on beta branch, and to lead to changes before release on MAIN branch (the test duration is planned to be at least 2 months). That way, we'll see it in action and be clearer on its impact.

@hiliadan and Zaskow I just read the 1.22 patch notes and really like the new changes. I really like the new gas mask skill for dreadnought. It is a very fitting skill for the dreadnought. However, I do not think that it should prevent Suffocation. A gas mask does not prevent someone from being choked or give air if there is no air to breathe. I think gas mask skill should keep the Blight Protection, and only make units immune to Choking Fumes and Disgusting Stench. Just something to consider before release. Thanks for all your work on the great mod.

Nah, bug with builder was fixed long ago for beta. See Change Notes.

The beta branch should be updated with v1.22 of the balance mod in about a week (maybe more if the update takes a lot of time to prepare). You can check the changelog in the usual GoogleDoc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jgwAg70dwNm8i3nFJqt8hrnwpNmxudn2aSXuvDet-5w/edit
Please note that (as far as I know) the beta branch currently has a bug which prevents from using Builder on water (following v1.8 POSEIDON), it should be fixed with v1.22 (that bug has already been fixed in the main branch).

Thanks for reporting! Noted to be fixed. I suggested to Zaskow not to fix it immediately and wait to see if there are other minor issues first, as each update causes some troubles for PBEM games and GoG players.

There is a text bug with Befriend Animal skill. Feral mount penalty is not shown correctly. Here is a screenshot. http://imgur.com/y0tlTGB

Following Triumph's v1.8 POSEIDON, the mod temporarily cannot be used for ongoing PBEM games. This issue should be fixed later today, sorry for the inconvenience (it has to be manually updated every time Triumph releases a new patch).

A discussion is currently opened to understand everyone's difficulties with Necromancer, to fine-tune the current balance of the class (nerfing things still too strong without making it too difficult for average players), please express your opinion here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/226840/discussions/0/133260492057660101/

@Outis, I'm afraid this would be low priority change, because, honestly, I'm not very skillful with FX-editor in game. But hiliadan said that he could find a volunteer...

In vanilla, the Dazed effect has no particle effect on the dazed unit. You can only tell if a unit got dazed but hovering the mouse over the effected unit. Could you please add one.

I am loving the reskins they are well done

Yes, we are planning to have new icons for all the new or modified abilities (like Lesser stuff vs regular stuff) but I'm afraid it won't happen before a few months.

I wonder, could you make a different symbol for Lesser Convert/Charm? Maybe just changing the colour a bit or something? Also, nice quick fixes!

@Outis, good to hear!

@Zaskow, everything looks absolutely great! I accidently had the actual Racial Watchtower mod enabled. I love your fix.

@Outis, also if you continue game from save then graphical changes don't work, new game needed.

@Outis, could you give me screenshots?

@zaskow, I am not seeing any difference with the watchtowers. They still look the same for me. I did update through steam and launcher.

I only have this mod and a few cosmetic mods like extended wardrobe and coat of arms enabled.