Posts from Upatch 2.0 мод для Disciples III Reincarnation

ENGLISH VERSION SOON! PLEASE WAIT!

Author of this mod: Rarod Posted with the author's permission!

Latest news and communication with the author are available on the mod page at Nexus Mod.

This expansion completely rethinks and reworks:

1) city development strategy;

2) city development branches;

3) leaders/heroes and their abilities;

Gameplay, battles, and strategy are now perceived differently; there is a choice in every aspect, and every decision has advantages and disadvantages. There are many changes; below are the main ideas and concepts underlying the mod:

1. each race is truly unique (for example, some have more health, some have more armor, some have more initiative, etc.);
2. 4 races, 4 troop groups in the city, each race has one group that is stronger/more diverse than its counterparts in others;
3. more new units/heroes, new abilities, and options for combining troops;
4. the game should have variability, and choices should matter;
5. each unit evolution branch implies a feature and a clear difference from the neighboring branch and/or a similar branch in another race;
   
6. "rock-paper-scissors" system; all units/heroes have vulnerabilities and defenses;
7. all leaders are divided into natural archetypes; within the skill branch there is a large selection of abilities; you cannot get them all simultaneously;

More details about leaders:

1) 4 archetypes: Warrior, Rogue, Archer, and Mage:

• Warrior - a tank-like, lots of health and interceptions;

• Rogue - agile and evasive;

• Archer - ranged damage and initiative;

• Mage - area damage, many active abilities, more energy for runes;

2) The Thief leader has been completely removed; his global abilities have been distributed among the remaining classes:

• Warrior challenges to a duel;

• Rogue steals from other units;

• Archer steals from shops;

• Mage deals damage to the entire unit;

Thus, all leaders have global abilities that can be used regularly; the main thing is not to forget about them

The change fits easily into the gameplay and does not create imbalances.

3) The skill branches of all leaders are standardized; 88 are available, only 60 can be obtained through levels, slightly more in campaigns. Each leader has 10 unique skills logically tied to them (for example, if they fly, they have teleportation, etc.). When leveling up, there is always a dilemma about what to choose; especially strong abilities are far from the starting point;

4) It is worth noting the transformation of undead leaders - they had to be significantly reworked: Salaar/Warlord belongs to the Rogues and only attacks the nearest target; Amina/Banshee is an Archer with corresponding characteristics; Nosferatu has been removed from leaders and has become one of the hireable units;

Thieves and Economy:

New troops have been added to the game - Thieves. They are weak at the start and cheap in cost, but can bring good income!

For killing a character, they bring 50 gold, 25 stones (at the first level). Thieves have a long skill chain and double the experience gain; over time, they can bring three times more income! Thieves of each race have their unique abilities (not immediately) and options for earning more.

Using Thieves significantly changes strategy:

• you can keep a separate leader with them on the tower and kill monsters every 3 turns;

• you can lead them in reserve with the main character and use them in battles with weak monsters;

• you can actively use them together with runes to compensate for their weaknesses and not skip turns (especially together with the Mage, who has more energy - resulting in a working and unusual combination);

Spells and global effects are almost unchanged.

The expansion is not compatible with any other balance-changing mods, works in the main game modes, and can be used with custom maps.

Installation:

1. Copy the file D3 UPatch 2.0.vdpack to Documents\My Games\Disciples Reincarnation\Mods\ ;
2. Copy the system folder to the root folder of the game (in Steam it looks like Steam\steamapps\common\Disciples III Rebirth\) ;
3. Launch the game - Settings - Add-ons - enable the mod D3 UPatch 2.0 ;
4. Play.

Game Recommendations:

1. In campaigns, play as a hired leader, not the one given by the story. Other leaders also carry over between acts, and you can play through the entire story with them; this changes the approach and adds interest to the walkthrough;
2. Use the Mage lord. The other lords are noticeably weaker, and playing them on Hardcore is pointless. I have not yet found a way/information to change the lords so that the others are also viable;
3. Use more heroes simultaneously (especially with Thieves);
4. It is often simpler to buy a new Thief than to resurrect one for money.

Further Plans for Mod Development:

1. In the near future, I plan to play my creation and fine-tune the balance. I would appreciate feedback; I only tested it in a game against the computer;
2. Rework of spell/rune power; there are currently certain biases and imbalances. I would appreciate suggestions for changes;
3. Change the lords. I have not yet found information on how to do this. It might be hardcoded. If you know, I would appreciate the knowledge;
4. Change the leadership weight of units - for example, some might be set to 0.5 (e.g., Archers and Thieves), some to 1.5 (Griffins and Gargoyles), but this requires reviewing all units, including neutral ones;
5. Add abilities to generate mana upon killing, similar to Thieves. Related to point 2);
6. Translate into English when I release version 1.0 (although the voice acting in the Russian version is noticeably better; I think this was one of the reasons the game was received coldly abroad);
7. Improve the graphical component of some units. I would appreciate help with this point. If an enthusiast is found who can fix animations and improve textures, that would be great. I think I can figure it out myself, but I don't want to install additional programs and learn them for just a couple of models.

P.S. or an afterword/thoughts about the game from the project author:

After D2 and after the first showcases of the D3 game, expectations were too high. When the game came out and what happened afterwards - just disappointment.

As a manager with extensive experience in IT, I simply did not understand why everything was done so badly/complexly and why it took so long... For me, this game is a mass of missed opportunities. In essence, a construction kit (the most important thing) was developed, but a full-fledged model could not be assembled from it. In one week, I managed to make the game noticeably more interesting, simply by using this construction kit.

Sadness... I expected that sooner or later they would make a remaster, but Disciples: Liberation was announced. Judging by what was shown, it will be a mix of everything with childish graphics; the series will finally get lost against the background of others and lose its authenticity.

What I value D3 for - the story, graphics, and voice acting; replaying the campaigns does not get boring. I can no longer play D2; visually, the game has aged significantly.

Changelog (v0.8 compared to v0.7):

1. Hero skill trees have been revised; all uninteresting/inefficient skills have been removed and replaced with new ones that are clear in terms of strength and effect. Some heroes now have activated abilities that can be used each turn. Hero development choices matter; it's no longer just a set of characteristics. Heroes now have two reserves and 60 energy at level one.
2. Mages (including heroes) in the Empire have been changed;
3. The amount of experience required for all races/units has been standardized;
4. Unit levels in city development trees have been standardized;
5. Unit characteristics have been standardized based on mathematical calculations (imbalances may appear in the actual game; please report any such issues in the comments);
6. Thief skill trees have been updated.

Interesting mod, I enjoyed replaying the old game.

Is there a way to increase the base leadership skill from 3 to 4 or 5?

Or can I put more leadership nodes in the talent tree?

You can only increase it to +3 points by leveling up talents.