It's mine too, as I wrote in a campaign log: it's not a bandit camp, and there should be any kind of long time renegades, or newly deserting troops that don't want to serve another master, now that Unoras acted that way; at least SE T1, and perhaps T1 draconians.
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In the wikia its states what Umbral weavers gets in the racial governance on military.
Is it supposed to be the chariot or the old Umbral weavers which get the upgrades who is not part of the racial Line Up?
"A
Shadow Elf
Supportunits ignore ranged penalties with their attacks and Umbral Weavers's 
Invoke Darkness gets +2 frost and +2 physical damage"
Is it supposed to be the chariot or the old Umbral weavers which get the upgrades who is not part of the racial Line Up?
"A
Shadow Elf
Supportunits ignore ranged penalties with their attacks and Umbral Weavers's 
Invoke Darkness gets +2 frost and +2 physical damage"
Putting this here because it's not practical to get on the PC right now:
Elder Frost Dragon:
"There is an ancient legend of a Frostling girl who befriended the spirit of winter itself. When orcs attacked her township in early spring, it returned in the form of an ice dragon to drive off the fire dragons that accompanied the orcs. While victorious, the ice dragon was too wounded to fly back north and melted along with the next thaw. Obviously, this tale has been embellished over the centuries. No Frost Dragon could take on five Fire Dragons and win." - Jorgerar Swallow, 'Legends of the North'
Elder Frost Dragon:
"There is an ancient legend of a Frostling girl who befriended the spirit of winter itself. When orcs attacked her township in early spring, it returned in the form of an ice dragon to drive off the fire dragons that accompanied the orcs. While victorious, the ice dragon was too wounded to fly back north and melted along with the next thaw. Obviously, this tale has been embellished over the centuries. No Frost Dragon could take on five Fire Dragons and win." - Jorgerar Swallow, 'Legends of the North'
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Five dragons for a village raid? I'd replace girl with princess and village with castle. I'd add that the liberated princess attended his avatar form on each day with eery songs until he melted with the next thaw. I like love stories (and it remembers me of Spellforce).
I was actually going for George R.R. Martin's "The Ice Dragon", which is quite a bit older. Hence the author being "Jorgerar Swallow" (swallows and martins are closely related).
I'll upgrade it to "attacked her township", though, and note that it's entirely likely that the tale has been embellished. Maybe it was only two Fire Dragons. Or five Fire Wyverns. Who can say?
I'll upgrade it to "attacked her township", though, and note that it's entirely likely that the tale has been embellished. Maybe it was only two Fire Dragons. Or five Fire Wyverns. Who can say?
As per our agreement with Hiliadan, I'm posting the new English descriptions which I've added in my version. Sorry for the wall of text in advance.
- Archon race ability description: This creature is a (Living) Archon and has: Terrain: Like: Fertile Plains Dislike: Blighted, Volcanic Bonuses: Dedicated to Good, 40 % Spirit Protection. Copied from Wikia and edited to have the necessary formatting.
- Shadow Demon race ability description: This unit is a Shadow Demon and has: Magical Origin, Shadow Walker, Night Vision, Dedicated to Evil, 40 % Blight Protection, 40 % Shock Weakness. Copied from Wikia and edited to have the necessary formatting.
- Same as #1 for RACE_ARCHON description.
- Most of the descriptions have been edited to end with a point, for consistency with other ToW entries.
- ABILITY_SHADOWELF changed to read: This unit is a Shadow Elf and has: Terrain: Like: Dense Vegetation Dislike: Blighted, Arctic, Subterranean Hates: Tropical, Volcanic Bonuses:+2 [resist/], Shadow Walker, Shadow Demon Slayer, Night Vision, 40% [fire/] Fire Weakness. This is restructured to look like other ABILITY_ racial name entries. Formatting included in the files. Never saw it used in game, though.
- Absorbed magic: clarified that it's for 3 turns only, per Wikia (unless it's incorrect).
- Call Forth Darkness: clarifies that it's a 5-hex (Wikia) area attack that doesn't affect Shadow Elves as well as Lightning Sprites. Does Invoke Darkness also ignore Lightning Sprites and has a 5-hex area? I'll add that to the description if necessary.
- Lay Eggs' new description: Lay eggs on the corpse of target unit, which hatch into a baby spider under your control with full Health. Possibilities are: Dread Spider Baby, Vampire Spider Baby, Hunter Spider Baby. This ability can target (previously) hostile units. Cannot be used on Undead, Machine, and Elemental corpses. Clarified according to Wikia.
- Geyser's new description: Summons a powerful geyser which will send target enemy unit flying away up into a random hex within two hex range, as well as damage it. Clarified according to Wikia.
- Shadow Demon Lord's description (taken from Wikia): Most Shadow Demons could be mistaken for overgrown, black-carapaced, vicious bugs, at least if you don’t look into their eyes. This dark, horrific being, however, was clearly not born from our realm. Heedless of the arrows and bolts of the defenders, it marched straight to the walls and tore them asunder, allowing the Harvesters that followed to flood into the breach. If I hadn’t been caught in the collapsed rubble until after the swarm had moved on, I would probably now be seeing through the multifaceted eyes of a Larva.– ‘Reports from the Land of Shadow’
- Shadow Demon Larva's description (Wikia again): Few things evoke as much disgust as the larvae of the Shadow Demons. The writhing, worm-like body, the repulsive bile that they squirt at those who threaten them or at the behest of their elders, and the knowledge that if allowed to grow they could become something much more dangerous. But worst of all are the eyes – despite physically being the eyes of an insect, there is something unmistakeably human about them…– ‘Reports from the Land of Shadow’
- Will Breaker's (the Unit, not the enchantment) new description (written by me, placeholder for now as I understand this one is imperfect): 'The first few attempts at exploring the mystical Forgotten Thrones were thwarted. Seals and spells that protected the fabled treasures of knowledge and riches have proven mighty even for the strongest of will. Our deepest incursion turned worse when a mystical breed of Fey was summoned into existence by those wards. Neither swords and bows nor magic could truly harm those defenders of the wizard arts. Those Will Breakers slew the mightiest of our Undead warriors.'--excerpts from Melenis' personal diary.
Classic "Wizards' treasures are guarded by some crazy magic contraptions/summons and what not", feel free to criticise.
- Elder units: Elder Frost Dragon takes it's new description from the base unit (i.e. Frost Dragon), same is true for Phoenix, Cockatrice and Bone Dragon.
- Elder Spider Queen's new description (written by me, placeholder until better input): 'The ancient lairs are guarded well, they said. What a ridiculous excuse to avoiding places chock full of treasures and ill-gotten loot, I thought to myself! Hiring a few brave adventurers, I set out to claim fame and gold. We camped not far from the entrance. For a few days, the expedition into the depths was going well, but then we met Her. An angry spider with mandibles the size twice my arm. Her offspring attacked my companions on sight, and the slaughter began. Needless to say, we stood no chance, and my fallen comrades only added to the brood. If not for Allfather's help, I wouldn't have managed to escape with my life intact.'--'Web of Greed', by Arvel the Hapless.
References Skyrim's main quest Bleak Falls Barrow, with a few edits of course.
- Lost Privateer's new description (my writing again, placeholder): 'It was a quiet evening the day before, but close to dawn the ship I've been on found itself impaled on the reefs. A few ghastly figures appeared out of the water, seeking to plunder us. Our captain told me that he has never seen creatures like that among the sea dwellers. Their attack was a rising ocean tide, and little of the crew survived the brutal sweep. How could it be that those Lost Privateers were once sailors? Their mastery of Water seemed unparalleled, and the ship sank after a harsh Geyser hit. We could barely make our escape by boats.'--'Lost at Sea', by Marina Telanave.
Builds a bit into her searching for the drowned brother (see Lost Mariner flavor text). Feel free to criticise.
- A draft for an Archon dwelling - Acropolis - description: The Archon are an ancient race of enlightened men. Outwardly very similar to humans, their inner peace and nature resembles that of the elves. Always helping humanity, their most fervent goal is fighting and obliterating the undead, who they see as their ultimate nemesis. Archons' exodus to the Shadow Realm made everyone forget about their existence. Even their dead rose as abominable Revenants. Yet the Archon fight on, this time in charge of defending the dark secrets of the Shadow. Their small settlements inspire and resurrect their living allies in addition to serving as their armored garrisons.
Heavily draws from existing descriptions of Archons, needs a proper writer. I propose it for a placeholder.
- Forge of Dreams' description: fixed a typo. The correct spelling is abnormal.
- Storm Tower' description: removed the unnecessary 'of'.
- All the descriptions of Forgotten Throne' type MCUs that allow players to produce Elder-type creatures have been updated to show which exact Elder unit they will produce.
- We've discussed a few things with Hiliadan on Steam, and he made a suggestion to update the names of the Forgotten Thrones to those already set in the code files, because right now it is very confusing to see 6 identically named entries in ToW.
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Shadow Elf Exterminator & Wrapped in Shadows:
At Elite, he receives both "Projectile Resistance" and "!-Wrapped in Shadows-!" abilities (according to the level-up tooltip).
So far, I've considered one was for self resistance and the second was for adjacent units'.
I was surprised to read on a elite Exterminator's status tooltip that "Projectile Resistance" get sourced from both abilities. Does he get double reistance, or is one superfluous?
At Elite, he receives both "Projectile Resistance" and "!-Wrapped in Shadows-!" abilities (according to the level-up tooltip).
So far, I've considered one was for self resistance and the second was for adjacent units'.
I was surprised to read on a elite Exterminator's status tooltip that "Projectile Resistance" get sourced from both abilities. Does he get double reistance, or is one superfluous?
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Ok so the issue is that Wrapped in Shadows does not behave as described in the Wikia: https://age-of-wonders-3.fandom.com/wiki/Template:Hiliadan/Wrapped_in_Shadows In theory, it should give Projectile Resistance only to ADJACENT units, not to the ability owner himself. However, I now realize it is a bit ridiculous, especially given the FX used. So I suggest to change the description in the Wikia and in game to make it work also on the ability owner.
And then we can remove Projectile Resistance from Elite Exterminators.
Does it make sense?
Ok then let's not use the Lightning Sprite in defender sets (or make a copy of it).
The Syron Tomb is indeed just a Tomb and I suggest to keep it like that as we don't have Undead Syrons, etc. Only the .clb resource is and should be called Syron Tomb.
Well spotted, I corrected it in the Wikia (the change to Umbral Weaver Chariotteer was actually never made in the Wikia) to include both the Umbral Weaver (which can still be mind-controlled on some sites) and the Chariot Umbral Weaver. I tested and it seems to already work like that in game.Is it supposed to be the chariot or the old Umbral weavers which get the upgrades who is not part of the racial Line Up?
"A
Thanks Drax! I added it to Lore snippets.docx. Looking forward to the rest! Can someone please add the lore text to the unit in game?
Thanks for the text updates GreyHaunt! Looking good for most of them. Some comments on a few:
Ok, please also repost it as a fix of the issue listed in the list of known issue (on the other thread) so that I remember to list as something fixed and to check.
What ability are you refering to? Absorb Magic doesn't exist?
Mmh, I think it already existed? What did you change?
Yes, see https://age-of-wonders-3.fandom.com/wiki/Template:Hiliadan/Invoke_Darkness
Absorbed Magic 3T is a status a Night Guard receives when he grounds magic on an enemy unit. It's an electrical damage bonus
ABILITY_GROUNDMAGICBUFF
Achons and Shadow Demons have a placeholder DESCRIPTION@ABILITY_XXX.
Archon have a placeholder DESCRIPTION@RACE_ARCHON (ToW entry?).
ABILITY_GROUNDMAGICBUFF
Achons and Shadow Demons have a placeholder DESCRIPTION@ABILITY_XXX.
Archon have a placeholder DESCRIPTION@RACE_ARCHON (ToW entry?).
No, it didn't. Shadow Demon description was just "This unit is a Shadow Demon". I've added the Wikia info.
Saw this a couple of weeks ago, pretty late at night. Jotted down an alternative to make sure I didn't forget what I'd come up with. Then had a hectic week and didn't have the time to get to it...
Anyway, I figured the general idea was good, but that it could be switched to the usual suspect:
'The villagers claimed that those who sought to plunder the Wizard's tower would become its protectors. After they joined my dark family, their bones strode into the ruins. Strange lights arose around them, settling on skull and rib and femur. I felt the strings break, and my puppets turned on on one another, cracking bone and tearing at mummified flesh. Nowhere else have my dark children disobeyed me except to the call of another Necromancer.' -- Shadow Puppets, by Ambule Grimber, Necromancer.
Both of these look good to me!
"Legend claims that in ancient times, the Archons liberated Athla from the grip of evil, paving the way for its transformation into the lush world it is today. Said to have ascended from human stock, the Archons are blessed with longevity and wisdom beyond their mortal kin, and holy power with which to heal the injured and smite the living dead. While they once sought to claim Athla for humankind in accordance with a bargain struck with the Elves in times immemorial, the Archons relinquished this claim after the Shadow Wars and departed through the Shadow Gate. While the graveyards they left behind have since been infected by evil and given birth to that which they most abhor, their shining citadels in the Shadow World are a beacon of hope to those fighting to hold back the darkness."
Looks better, and actually has ties in the storytelling that the game does through those lengthy descriptions. I'd love to see this one put in the game.
That's way better than what I've got. I can put both of those into the XML file if everyone else agrees.
As a side note: there's still a lot of Elder-type creatures that need new descriptions. Any input is welcome.
About Archons in AoW2:WT:
Also, they are cited in the Elves' description:
It doesn't say that Archons aren't ascended Humans, but they seem to have been in relation with the Elves ever before the Humans barbarians came to be known by Elves, in which case they would be ascended barbarians from an unknown part of the world. I thought that Human developped separately until they got powerful and numerous enough to surprise and invade every other people. What does AoW2:SM tell about them?
Elves, humans, and archons are all races that predate the terraforming of Athla.
One of the underlying concepts behind the AoW universe - the fantasy side, at least - is that there is a cycle that has played out on numerous worlds between the Archons, Elves, and humans:
1. Archons are good at fighting evil and at travelling between worlds, so they arrive at a world consumed by evil forces and drive them out.
2. They are, however, bad at restoring life to the world, so after the Archons are done, the Elves (and other races) come in to restore life to the world.
3. Once the world is considered suitable, the Elves are supposed to leave and be replaced by humans brought in from another world.
4. Humans in a world where they have total freedom to choose good or evil without moral standards imposed on them by another race have the potential, if they choose good of their own free wil, to ascend and become Archons.
And then the cycle repeats. Athla is a world where the cycle broke at step 3 due to Inioch.
This is all from the storyline of AoW1 (with some followup in AoW2, with AoW:SM having the Archons deciding to accept the status quo at the end), but is probably not widely known as of AoW3.
Basically, though, the Archons being an ancient race doesn't prevent them from being descended from humans, because they're descended from humans that became Archons on some other world. The Archons then shuttle humans around onto new worlds in order to reproduce the conditions which create Archons on as many worlds as possible.
It's unclear if the apotheosis happens on an individual basis or across whole populations, or if the Archons are able to reproduce independently or are all former humans.
One of the underlying concepts behind the AoW universe - the fantasy side, at least - is that there is a cycle that has played out on numerous worlds between the Archons, Elves, and humans:
1. Archons are good at fighting evil and at travelling between worlds, so they arrive at a world consumed by evil forces and drive them out.
2. They are, however, bad at restoring life to the world, so after the Archons are done, the Elves (and other races) come in to restore life to the world.
3. Once the world is considered suitable, the Elves are supposed to leave and be replaced by humans brought in from another world.
4. Humans in a world where they have total freedom to choose good or evil without moral standards imposed on them by another race have the potential, if they choose good of their own free wil, to ascend and become Archons.
And then the cycle repeats. Athla is a world where the cycle broke at step 3 due to Inioch.
This is all from the storyline of AoW1 (with some followup in AoW2, with AoW:SM having the Archons deciding to accept the status quo at the end), but is probably not widely known as of AoW3.
Basically, though, the Archons being an ancient race doesn't prevent them from being descended from humans, because they're descended from humans that became Archons on some other world. The Archons then shuttle humans around onto new worlds in order to reproduce the conditions which create Archons on as many worlds as possible.
It's unclear if the apotheosis happens on an individual basis or across whole populations, or if the Archons are able to reproduce independently or are all former humans.
That's called lore! So, they are the Highmen in AoW1, then, those kind of "Atlanteans"?
What about:
"Said to have ascended from human stock," -> "Said to have ascended from human stock on other worlds,"
?
Loremasters, I get a problem about translating the Shadow Elves, and I'd need some enlightened advice.
- Having played only AoW2:WT, I can but say that before the Mending, there was Elves and Dark Elves, and that after it there are High Elves, and now Shadow Elves.
- Now, in my language, Dark Elves were translated in "Shadows" in the official localization. Apparently, this had nothing to do with the Shadow world of AoW2:SM, nor certainly to any uncorporeal Undead, and it was more related to Dark Elves being a kind of soul-dead Elves, haunting shadows of true Elves. Perhaps, the choice was also triggered by the fact that the elite Dark infantry was the Shade, and that the T4 unit, the Incarnate, could be seen as the end of a path toward always more intangible darkness.
- It would be now difficult to have (in my language) "Shadow Elves" resulting from the Mending between "Elves" and "Shadow_s", even if it looks simple to juxtapose both words, because as I said, "Shadow" doesn't mean the same thing in the both cases.
- The Shadow Realm mod describes Shadow Elves as being of a greyish skin hue, as opposed to greenish for the Dark Elves of old.
I have the intent to translate "Shadow Elves" as "Grey Elves". There would still be "Shadow Realm", "Shadow Demons", "Wrapped in Shadows", ... referring to Shadow (the dark element characteristic of the SR), however. What do you think, if you had to play with these "Grey Elves", regarding SR context and lore?
What about:
"Said to have ascended from human stock," -> "Said to have ascended from human stock on other worlds,"
?
Loremasters, I get a problem about translating the Shadow Elves, and I'd need some enlightened advice.
- Having played only AoW2:WT, I can but say that before the Mending, there was Elves and Dark Elves, and that after it there are High Elves, and now Shadow Elves.
- Now, in my language, Dark Elves were translated in "Shadows" in the official localization. Apparently, this had nothing to do with the Shadow world of AoW2:SM, nor certainly to any uncorporeal Undead, and it was more related to Dark Elves being a kind of soul-dead Elves, haunting shadows of true Elves. Perhaps, the choice was also triggered by the fact that the elite Dark infantry was the Shade, and that the T4 unit, the Incarnate, could be seen as the end of a path toward always more intangible darkness.
- It would be now difficult to have (in my language) "Shadow Elves" resulting from the Mending between "Elves" and "Shadow_s", even if it looks simple to juxtapose both words, because as I said, "Shadow" doesn't mean the same thing in the both cases.
- The Shadow Realm mod describes Shadow Elves as being of a greyish skin hue, as opposed to greenish for the Dark Elves of old.
I have the intent to translate "Shadow Elves" as "Grey Elves". There would still be "Shadow Realm", "Shadow Demons", "Wrapped in Shadows", ... referring to Shadow (the dark element characteristic of the SR), however. What do you think, if you had to play with these "Grey Elves", regarding SR context and lore?
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Could possibly go with "Said to have ascended from humans before their arrival on Athla,". The descriptions of the races usually don't go into great detail, instead trying to capture the essence.
That is an interesting localisation issue. I could see Grey Elves being a moniker they would adopt: it puts them in a state of being "less" dark than the Dark Elves while still retaining a connection to twilight. Kinda wish I'd thought of it myself, actually.
A translation of "twilight" could be another option - being on the edge of light and darkness would probably be a concept that would appeal to them.
That is an interesting localisation issue. I could see Grey Elves being a moniker they would adopt: it puts them in a state of being "less" dark than the Dark Elves while still retaining a connection to twilight. Kinda wish I'd thought of it myself, actually.
A translation of "twilight" could be another option - being on the edge of light and darkness would probably be a concept that would appeal to them.
"Twilight" sounds good, especially because in my language (French), Dark Elves are usually translated as either "Black Elves" or "Darkness Elves" in any D&D related game. By the way, according to Wikipedia, Dark Elves were translated as "Black Elves" in AoW1 (and Highmen as "Longilids" (as in longineal -ides)). "Darkness Elves" seems the nearest translation for Svartalfe (black in appearance and in heart?), and is my favorite because it doesn't refer to their skin color anyhow. However, I expect "Elfes du crépuscule" as being too long a string.
I'd be concerned that people might consider that ripping off Blizzard.