Magister Modmod (archive) file - Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

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The 10/20/2023 version is a very minor update, containing a few bug fixes and making Jungles and Flood Planes effect the Undertow's arda strength. It dos not break saved games.

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The 10/13/2023 version is a minor update which includes mnai-2.9.2u, a few python bug fixes, minor tweaks to the Arda mechanic, and some better civilopedia documentation. It also changes the Escape spells to move units to the nearest city instead of to the capital city.

It does not break saved games from the previous update.

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The 7/7/2023 update

Implements a new system to adjust a priest's "arda," the amount of power his god is allowed to grant him, based on the influence that god has on the world, the player, and nearby cities. When the arda is at its weakest, the unit cannot cast spells at all.

It eliminates and streamlines some buildings while creating friendly and hostile versions of most temples, which get swapped out automatically based on factors like state religion and alignment.

The Temple of the Order was merged with the Bascilica. The Temple of the Veil was merged with the Demon's Altar. The Temple of the Undertow is merged with the Asylum. The Temple of the Empyrean is called the Fenestran Temple. The Temple of the Runes is now called the Kilmorphian Grotto. The Brotherhood of Warden's temple is the Safehouse, except for the Calabim who instead get an Almshouse. The Temple of the Leaves is now a Sacred Grove and the temple of the Unblemished a Healing Garden.

It includes some new art based on Kael's experiments with MidJourney AI.

The Foxmen clerics are now Vagrant > Drifter > Wind Dancer. These clerics can no longer use Truancy to revert types and upgrade again. Foxmen players can train an Adventurer as a national hero with a limit of one at a time. This special adventurer gains Drifter spells and will abandon you if you switch religions.

The Annointed priests and high priests and their spells have been swapped and rebalanced.

Foxmen priests can explore Wilderness and also cast Entertain in cities.

The Sons of Discord priest now can cast Taunt, and the high priest cast Rebellion, turning rival units into rebels and causing cities to revolt.

Loki, Harlquins, and Brujah gain the divine promotion and religion types to cast Foxmen, Sons of Discord, and Annointed priest spells, but they don't get arda promotions making them miscast based on religious factors.

Healers no longer require medicine, just Sanitation.

The Council of Esus clerics are Swindler > Thief > Propogandist. the Council can no longer be spread by any unit, but requires Evangelist to spread. Nightswatches get evangelist.

All priests can upgrade to Apostates with the Matronae Religion, and gain a spell to kill any religious unique units. The Matronae and Children of The One have a particularly strong effect at blocking priests's ardas.

There are more changes that I may further explain at some future date.

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The 6/6/2022 update incorporates lfgr's MNAI 2.9.1u update. It should fix issues with Ruthless AI being always active and the AI bribing each other into war when with Always Peace or Permanent War and Peace game options active.

It change Wyrmholds from buildings to lairs that spawn dragons with the Lair Guardian promotion. Dragon fanatics no longer upgrade to species specific forms on their own but do so on the site of a Wyrmhold or when they hear a dragon roar. Fanatics have an ability to Beseech Dragons, removing their Lair Guardian promotions and asking them to attack nearby enemy units.

Stir from Slumber generates Wyrmholds based on your effective mana supply. It can be created multiple times to make more wyrmholds if some were destroyed of if your effective mana supply changes. The ritual can be completed only in Cult of the Dragon cities for most players, but the Sheaim and Kuriotates ignore that restriction and can use the ritual to found the faith.

Dragon is no longer a racial promotion, as they conflicts with having undead dragon dracoliches and demonic dragon pit dragons.

Cult of the Dragon can be a state religion now, but only if you control at least one dragon. Under this state religion, dragons spawning on their wyrmhold might belong to you instead of the barbarians if you meet the proper mana and alignment requirements.

Players are allowed priests without a state religion. Those priests are much more likely to miscast unless you convert to their religion.

This version changes the spells for the House of Plenty priests and high priests to Hospitality and Golden Age.

The Ringgivers' clerics names have changed to Tinker > Artificer > Instructor. The Artificer spell is Repair. The Instructor spell Equiplets you upgrade units for free and outside borders.

Creation IV is now Rejuvenation, which reduces the levels of nearby units and removes bad promotions.

Enchantment 2 is now Empower Engines, which gives a promotion perk of the caster to all mechanized units in the stack belonging to the same team. All affinities and many spell sphere promotions now have summon perks

Enchantment 3 Craft Artifact gives the plyer more control of what equipment it produces as if cast on a mana source it will always pick equipment associated with that mana type.

Dimensional 2 Planar Binding can no longer work on the caster itself.

Extension 3 and 4 are gone, as they were way overpowered with Empower Engines and Planar Binding.

The Carcer Judicii is renamed the Lorum Diaboli, names for the artifact in the dungeon of the city of Judicium instead of for the city itself.

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The 9/21/2021 update fully implements 24 religions, one for every god plus the Matronae, Luonnotar, and Cult of the Dragon.

The new religions can all be adopted as state religions and have their own disciples, priests, high priests, champions, and heroes. The Foxmen have only a disciple, high priest, and champion, but they have access to Adventurers and therefore could have more heroes than the other faiths. The House of Plenty has no hero, but a unique national unit and a national wonder that eliminates unhappiness and unhealthiness.

Priests can be trained without state religion, but are limited based on how many cities have their faith.

Druids are now priests of the Unblemished, not national units for neutral civs. Druids and High priests no longer have Channeling 4. The Druidic promotion is gone. Vitalize is the druid spell again, and a Vitalize Area is the Unblemished High Priest (Reborn) spell. Nature 4 is now The Tinker promotion is gone. Repair is now the Enchantment 2 spell. Flaming arrows is now a Firebow special ability. Enchantment 3 is Craft Artifacts instead of Enchant Spellstaff. Body 3 is Strengthen. Provoke is now a Sons of Discord High Priest (Belligerent) spell. Disrupt is now a Sons of Discord Priest (Agonist) spell. The Irabund promotion is gone. Rage is now an Anointed high priest (Sanguinary) spell. Graft Flesh is now an Anointed priest (Carnifex) spell and he Flesh golems it summons will abandon you for leaving the Anointed state religion.

There are a lot of other improvements I don't feel like listing in full right now. I may update the description later, but you might as well start playing and refer to the civilopedia if you need help understanding the changes.

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This 10/10/2020 versions includes all the Imprimatur Council members, with custom art. (I don't think I have changed them since I last shared a picture, except for adding effects like flame auras.) Most, but not all, can be resurrected from sluaghs placed on unique features. Some will require Worldbuilder.

It includes all the Unraveling (The Seven Aspects of Agares, corrupted from Amathaon's Seven Fathers of Worlds), with means to summon them to your side.

It introduces new equipment:

Apricus, the Sword of Life, called Demonsbane as it shines with a light sufficient to slay most demons without even touching them. (Basium created this from a Phoenix using the Font of Life, at the end of the Age of Ruin. Only mortal hands can touch it. Non living units cannot pick it up and will automatically drop it.)

The Bone Circlet, which attracts hostile Wraiths and can transform Apophis the Endless Hunger from a goat back into a world-devouring giant serpent.

The Heron Throne, which is still built as a wonder but becomes equipment if the city is razed. It may be dropped into a different city, or destroyed to release Stephanos the White King, the first of the Four Horsemen and of the Unraveling.

The Urns of Rotting Flesh, which can make its carrier a Plague Carrier and can be destroyed to release Yersinia the Raining Ash.

The Uror Band, a necklace in which Os-Gabella imprisoned the Seven Norns, the Aspects of Arawn, when they failed to kill it. Its grants high death affinity but will kill any mortal that tried to carry it.

Tan'elyn, the Crown of the Fey, which Arendel and Faeryl used to pass back and forth as the seasons changed. Those with Nature affinity may use it to dominate either Elves or Dark Elves, although they may resist. (It uses the old Crown of Akharien art, but with the gem changed to glow green. It bothered me that the unit art and button for the Crown of Akharien looked so very different from each other, so I changed it to use unit art based on the Shade's crown.)

The Heartstone can now be destroyed to release Ars Moriendi. Gosea no longer starts with this equipment.

Every piece of equipment now has different artwork so you can tell them apart before picking them up.

New Unique Features include:

Abaddon's Pit, a prison beneath the Underhome where Abaddon (one of the Unravelling) is chained and guarded by Dwarven forces loyal to Kilmorph. It can be explored and provided Entropy Mana. There is a spell to release Abaddon under your control.

Carnivean's Crag, where Carnivean may be resurrected.

The Clockwork City, where Velgyr can be raised

The Grigi Abbattoir, where Kezef may be raised

The Soul Gates, where Jenkin may be raised

The Spire of the Sun, where Tamesis may be raised

The Temple of Atonement, where Soqed Hozi may be raised

The Wandering Castle, where Badb may be raised. (Badb has the Murderer's Blade, formerly called "War," which may be used to release Buboes). This moves around randomly, taking Badb or his sluagh and any explorers with it.

The Cave of the Ancestors, which any unit may attempt the Trials to gain free promotions and magical abilities, but the odds of survival are pretty poor except for Wizards. Gastrius may be raised here and attached to another unit.

The Tapestry House got new art and a simplified name.

The Grave of Asmoday got new, better art, and Asmoday himself may be raised there.

Every god has his or her canonical religion mentioned by name, at least once in passing.

The Great Mediator event text was changed to reference an Adjudicator of the Grey Council, the church of Dagda.

The Nantosuelta constellation event mentions her artificer faith the Ring-Givers.

The City of a Thousand Gardens (The Kuriotates City of a Thousand Slums UB) was renamed the House of Plenty, after the great temples of Amathaon that focus on lavish hospitality.

The Shrine of Camulos event mentions upsetting the Sons of Discord rather than the gods.

The Occis religion is given its canon name "The Anointed," with the Aeron's Chosen promotion changed to mark certain elite warriors as the Occisors.

The Wardens of the Meek now have Stealth, and can carry more great people, as the Brotherhood of Wardens operate as a secretive Underground Railroad-type organization in evil societies.

The Church of Bhall is called The Ember Legion in the Tophet pedia entry. The Bhall-Orcs' "Sacrifice to Bhall" spell (which killed slave to let them cast again) has been replaced by "The Ritual of the Smokeless Fire," the canonical greatest ability of the worshipers of Bhall (mostly practiced by the Sanctus Inquisition of the Age of Magic). This is when a Bhall worshiper self-immolates in hopes of attracting the attention of an Ifrit (one of the Seven Aspects of Bhall, non-corporeal true angels that can only act through hosts) and becoming possessed with enough power to devastate armies. The Ifrit are represented by a powerful new promotion, sort of a combination of Rage and Herald's Blessing. The spell has a +75% chance of miscasting and just killing the caster. Even when it works it gives the caster a limited duration.

The Shrine of Arawn mentions that the religion of Arawn which the god completely ignores is properly called the Eternal Cabal. It also references The Haunted, the canon name for the agents of Laroth who worship his as the new god of death.

The Chainbreakers have been renamed "The Between" (with the adjective form "Coven" as Kael presentd the offical name as "The Masked Coven" which "The Between" being an alternate term), while the Chainbreakers are a religious champion available at Fanaticm. The Calabim cannot train them, and the Shaim have Emrys (availible at Sorcery) instead. Everyone can train Mobius Witches as the primary clerics of The Between.

The Foxmen gained a new late game religious champion: The Wind Knight. This is a Pegasus-Rider, with very high mobility and the power of flight and Air Affinity. (The Wind Knight is no longer a Hippus UU, but the Hippus can now have 7 ordinary Knights plus 7 Wind Knights.)

The Stewards of Inequity got new art for their Rentiers and Duergar, but their abilities remain the same.

The Circle of Gaelan promotion now marks units as evil, as this splinter group from the Laeran Cord believe they still serve Oghma but in fact follow Angels of Ceridwen. Gaelan's Summon Hastur Ability has been changed to Summon Root of Fear, but still transforms him into The Burnt Priest while otherwise replicating the effects of Hastur's Razor. Gaelan gets a new pedia entry taken from Kael's still secret lore revelations.

Hastur's Razor now causes units to flee in fear, as well as causing psychic damage and redistributing damage randomly.

The priests of the Laeran Cord are now canonically called Hierophants rather than Saperes.

Four canonical diseases have been implemented:

The Curse of Camulos acts a lot like Enraged, but is passed on to other units through combat. I think I forgot to add a way to add it initially except through worldbuilder.

Elven Pox prevents unit from casting and makes them almost magic immune. It spreads to casters when their python spells are resisted, but making it spread from resisting xml-only spells was not possible. I think I forgot to add a way to add it initially except through worldbuilder.

Gallowblight prevents healing and can deal lethal damage, but a unit can recover from it and gain Disease Immune and March.

Deathphage can be added by an Ashen Veil Death Affinity + Divine spell, or a stronger Undeath Affinity Channeling IV "Call of the Grave" spell that also deals potentially lethal death damage and raises nearby sluagh's as undead (including rival heroes and Imprimatur Council members, whom the Undeath Affinity Channeling III "Raise Undead" spell cannot). Any living unit that dies with Deathphage will return as Undead (unless blocked by a Tower of Mortality or Hallowed Ground). They normally become Barbarians, but if they die with territory owned by someone with a Tower of Necromancy then they will belong to that player instead.

The Death Affinity Channeling IV "Make Mortal" spell is now just called "Mortality," and can deal lethal leth damage to living units as well as holy damage to destroy the undead and removes immortality from units nearby.

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The July 1st 2020 update expands the new religions. Arthendain becomes a hero of the Unblemished and gains the Plague Flask equipment. The Brotherhood of Wardens gains Tristan the Ring, who cannot be trained but may be summoned by a ritual in Brotherhood cities or by a unit with his Dahlia Ring equipment. The Foxmen do not get a hero but rather a promotion that can make a random unit a hero before moving on. Gaelan Sedracious can be trained in Laeran Cord cities, and may upgrade to the Burnt Priest using the Summon Hastur spell when under the Undertow state religion. Units of the Laeran Cord religion may join the Circle of Gaelan, which allows them to learn Channeling 3 as well as increasing the unit's range, miscast chance, and xp gain. The Cult of the Dragon gains no hero, but each species of dragon now has separate fanatics and wyvern riders. The Chainbreaker's insurrectionists are gone, with the Servile Revolt ability given to all Chainbreaker units instead. Gosea is now the Chainbreakers hero, with Averax the Cambion being her Sheaim national hero replacement. The Stewards of Inequity gain Arian Kothrax, a hero that can make rival units into mercenaries, and the Condottieri, a National unit mounted mercenary/mercenary recruiter than can bribe rival mercenaries to change sides. The Occis gains the Carnifex as a national unit priest that can summon Flesh Golems, as well as 3 heroes: Danag the Faithful (one of the first Vampires), Sir Halewyn, and Luidag the Rag. The Dwarven civs have Redcaps as Berserker UUs and Duergar as Rentier UUs. Each of the religions gives discounts for the costs of various buildings.

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The May 4th updates adds several new religions, all canonical to Erebus, bringing the total number to 18. The Matronae join the faiths from vanilla civ as major religions that can become state religions. It may be founded by the Bane Divine ritual (which now has an AC prereq of 35 instead of 70) or by special spells which Gyra, Condatis, or Brigit can cast while wearing a Mask of the Coven of the Black Candle. The non-state Cult of the Dragon and Children of the One are joined by the Unblemished (founded by Aquae Sucellus), Brotherhood of Wardens (spread by Shrine of Sirona or Hallowing of the Elohim), Laeran Cord (spread by Library of Oghma or Crown of Akharien), Foxmen (spread by the new Slyph Search), Stewards of Inequity (spread by the Bazaar of Mammon), Chainbreakers (spread by the Prophecy of Ragnarok, the Nexus, or Elegy of the Sheaim), and the Occis (spread by Aeron's Chosen unit or the new School of Sadism). Religious shrines no longer provide 3 types of mana. Major religion shrines provide 2 of a single type. The wonders that formerly provided and required the same sort of mana now can be built without mana but are built twice as fast with it. The Slyph Search wonder randomly relocates itself and the Foxmen holy city. It provides Wanderer points, culture, Air mana, and Light. The School of Sadism provides Body mana, adds Unholy Taint, and removes Weak. Several new unique features have been added, including Wode's Oak, the Grave of Asmoday, Herve's Mausoleum, and the Tapestry House Door. Players now get bonus effective mana based on their alignment as well as civ, leader, state religion, unit religion, and mana on the plot. Mana nodes still require specialized techs to construct, but all the mana types can be trades at Knowledge of the Ether. The Sun Affinity + Channeling 4 spell is now Epiphany, which reveals everyone;s line of sight, instead of Summon Seraph. Priests are more likely than before to get a random religion-appropriate affinity. Adepts, Mages, and Arcane units become more expensive the more you have. The level preres of mages, archmages, and high priests have been returned to the vanilla 4 and 6. (It is less thematic but maes for better gameplay.) The Unblemished priests Faith Healers are the best healers in the game. Units of their faith can heal themselves when in the stack without requiring them to use their Heal spell. The Brotherhood of Warden's cleric the Warden of the Meek has a Rescue Refugees spell to transfer population points from oppressive cities (those with starvation, hurry anger, conscript anger, or bad civics) to those of you own that are ready to welcome them. The Calabim instead have Blinded Brothers, whose Pacify spell can end revolts and give units (friendly and otherwise) a promotion that makes them defensive only and grants negative Spirit affinity. The Laeran Cord's Saperes can use the Research ability to transform all their xp into 10x the research, and can upgrade to Mages. The Foxmen's Wanderers are like Adventurers without Hero. They can upgrade unit various units at a discount and may explore lairs no one else sees. They are also faster, starting with Light and Fair Winds. (Light now requires the Foxmen unit religion. The religion also lts units become Winged, gaining the power of Flight.) The Dragon Fanatics and Wyvern Riders now have unique art for every type of dragon. The Rentiers of the Stewards of Inequity can to trade missions, bribe Mercenaries, and Embezzle. The Chainbreaker's Insurrectionists can cause revolts in rival cities and turn rival slaves into your soldiers. The Sheim UU the Emrys instead have the Seduce Sorcerer spell which lets them take control of rival Arcane units. The Occis has no clerics but gives access to the Strong, Aeron's Chosen, Burning Blood, and Unholy Taint promotions. Berserkers and Brujahs are now Occis units.

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The December 1 update consists mostly of minor bug fixes and should not break any saved games. It renames Divine 2 to Channeling IV and updates to icon to fit. In theory it allows arcane or disciple units to purchase the promotion, although a level 21 prereq makes that practically infeasible. The level prereqs for Channeling 1, 2, and 3 are reduced so they are easier for units to get back after losing their power to Purge Magic. Govanon and Hemah both gain Channeling IV, with Hemah losing his Divine spells and having a high miscast chance Awaken Magic no longer grants Mastery of Magic (so units may not purchase Affinities without the Tower of Mastery) but instead gives Adepts the Channeling 2 and Arcane promotions. The Tower of Mastery no longer requires 21 types of mana but instead has its production speed doubled with the possession of each mana type and its base price increased so that it is harder to rush or to finish without them.

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The November 9th, 2019, update includes lfgr's mnai-2.8.1u and some other bug fixes, but still has some issues perhaps related to memory corruption that I am hoping someone can help me resolve.

This is a significant update incorporating new lore revelations Kael revealed on reddit. There are now 21 species of dragons, each with their own Wyrmhold. There are new and longer pedia entries, including the entirety of the Fideism, Ashes of Brigdarrow, and Basium and the Boiling Sea stories. The Octopus Overlords is given its canonical name "The Undertow." Gaelan Sedracius is now a Dimensional/Chaos archmage who gives your arcane units a Circle of Gaelan promotion. The miscasting mechanism is widely used. The Nullstone Citadel and Nulstone Golems cause nearby rival units to miscast. Every sphere of magic has a Divine 2 spell, which can be used by Liches as well as High Priests that are randomly gifted affinity. Each Demon Lord has a Pact with X promotion granting spells or significant bonuses, but dooming the unit to serve that demon lord after death. The Pact with X traits are gone. The Summon Demon Lord events give a Pact with X promotion to all Ritualists and Profanes. Units with Unholy Taint may use a spell at a Demon's Altar to get other pacts, but they are mutually exclusive and units with a pact may be randomly killed if the demon is unhappy with you. Some civs get new secondary heroes, like the Calabim Churel the Graveleech (an undead vampire who cannot feast and may feed only on the undead instead of the living, and who passes those traits on to his spawn), the Grigori Paimon (a Luonnotar with Divine 2 Force Affinity), and the Balseraph Red Jester (a crazed Mind affinity archmage representing an old version of Perpentach who did not die after moving his mind to a new host.) There are 10 new pieces of equipment, and some tweaks to old equipment. Runewyns, Werewolves, ect, can effect retreating units.

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The August 4th, 2019, update includes lfgr's mnai-2.8.0u update and some of my own bug fixes plus improvements that the new DLL allows. It gives every 3rd tier spell +1 affinity for its mana type, and each affinity promotion +1 strength in an appropriate damage type. (Creation is an exception, although the Blessed promotion it randomly grants is the equivalent to a +1 holy damage that can be removed and then restored.) Djinns gain Magic Immunity but loose Spell Extension. The greater version now summons 3 Djinns instead of 1 with Mastery of Magic. Arcane units get a ranged attack but no range to let them use it without Spell Extension. The Forest Stealth promotion is back, allowing the Hide in the Woods ability to let units become Hidden when in Forests, Ancient Forests, or Jungles. It is allowed by Feral Bond and Satyr, Dexterous, or Sinister. Guardian Vines, Frydwell, and Nyxkin start with Forest Stealth. Nyxkin gain +1 Poison strength and defensive bonuses in exchange for not having ranged attacks like other unitclass_horse_archer units. Three units capable of conducting Trade Missions were added: Caravans, Merchantmen, and Smugglers. Enemies can capture these for gold. Unseelie Shadows gain Divine, letting them use Council of Esus priest spells. Disrupt can steal cities, when at war or with an HN caster of the CoE state religion, but the spell now requires Undercouncil membership and the passage of the Fund Dissidents resolution. Embezzle now requires CoE state religion. CoE + Divine allows Kidnapping. Aphotic Thrones now have friendly and hostile forms. The new Ally with Aphotic Throne Undercoucnil resolution lets members have the friendly version instead of the hostile version all other non CoE players have. Agents of Esus can add culture like all basic disciples and can be build without a state religion requirement, but only from a friendly Aphotic Throne. Agents of Esus can steal plans, sabotage, and destroy production. Their upgrades can do the same without dying if caught. Sinister improves the odds of kidnapping, stealing, and reduces the cost of CoE priests, Shadows, Hunting Lodges, etc. Dexterous decreases the cost of Satyrs, Beastmasters, Archery Ranges, Etc. Life Affinity no longer allows access to Life 3, but blocks it like other affinities do their 3rd tier spells. Mass Resurrection now works on your heroes, but not those of other civs or units that would abandon you for having the wrong civic or state religion. Sluagh's are no longer placed at tile (0,0), but stay near where the units were slain so that Life Affinity archmages can resurrect them there. Vampire Spawn are still renamed to identify their sires, but not generations of grand sires. Spawn of city governors can get mana-based spell promotions. Escape no longer takes a unit to its summoner, unless the player has no capital city. Golem has a PyPerTurn call which prevents useless promotion ready glows, and handles their ability to learn from Barnaxus. The Eyes and Ears Network no longer steal technologies, but instead grants you the line of sight of all player you know. The Sidar maps are excluded from this and from being shared through the Overcouncil resolution. The Sidar default race of Grey lets units of level 7 learn Immortal (with Divine Essence) and stops them from returning as angels or manes. Only evil players can rob graves on holy ground. Tomb Wardens no longer start with Death 1 and are not summoned by Sanctifying graveyards, but can rise to defend Graveyards on Hallowed Ground and will extend the duration of that improvement.

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The 4th of July update is a very minor update to incorporate mnai-2.8-beta2u and a few simplified texts. It also makes it easier for Agents of Esus to gain xp from their spells so they may level up to become Whisperers, and increases Archmages' base strength slightly.

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The June 30th update includes mnai-2.8-beta1u plus some bug fixes. It changes the minimum level for Mages from 4 to 3 and for Archmages and High Priests from 6 to 7. You may not have up to 7 of each national unit, and get free units when you learn the prerequisite techs. Sidar racial promotion, Grey, blocks Undeath magic, randomly grants Hidden, allows purchasing Immortal at level 7 with Divine Essense. Moroi can become Vampires at level 3, other units at level 7. Vampires randomly get the Ravenous promotion, a significant malus that can be removed by Feeding, Feasting, or kiling living units. Vampire Spawn get more randomized bonus promotions. The Dragon Bones events are merged and given different options to promote the CotD units for each dragon. Mobius Witches cannot upgrade to Mages, but can get Channeling II and affinity from a Pact with Hyborem. Dimensional affinity lets other unit in the stack cast Severed Soul. Cure Disease can be resisted. Council of Esus priests can regain invisibility they lost to Revelation through using Embezzle. Hallowed Ground from the Hallow graves spell is temporary,; the real feature will return when the grave is robbed. The Undercouncil can force civics and ban Sun mana.

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The May 27th update includes using lfgr's mnai-2.71-ubf1.1, plus a few more minor bug fixes. The Gift Vampirism code is changed to pass on more of the Sires promotions to its spawn. Agents of Esus can Embezzle slightly more gold and gain xp faster from Embezzlement and Disrupting cities. The Changeling promotion now grants +80 Withdrawal and +2 Poison Damage instead of Shadow Affinity. Assume True Form removes affinity, so Gibbon Goetia cannot become unstoppable just by shifting into a mage with each affinity. The Lichdom spell is removed, as I found it worked just as well to let archmages and archmage heroes upgrade to Liches in cities with Towers of Necromancy.

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The May 22 update is mostly bug fixes. The biggest fix is using lfgr's mnai-2.71-ubf1. The White Hand ritual is also changed so that it transforms Letum Frigus into the holy city city of New Mulyr, or takes over the existing White Hand Holy City to turn into New Mulyr if Letum Frigus does not exist. The Arawn death promotions now have numbers identifying their icons.

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The February 1 2109 version included a significant overhaul of the magic system. It introduces a new sphere of Death magic, renaming the old Death sphere Undeath. It adds Affinity promotions for arcane units to allow stronger versions of the spells in each sphere. It allows Graveyards to generate Sluaghs with random experience, levels, promotions, names and unit types. These can be used to empower undead summons, or resurrected en mass. Mercurians and Infernal can rob graves for Manes or Angels. Scavengers can steal weapons from the dead. The Death 1 spell can change ruins and barrows to Graveyards, and add Hallowed Ground to graveyards to protect them from the forces of hell. The Sidar now start with their patron Death mana. The Infernal Pact bonuses have been changed significantly.

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The February 1 2018 update is very minor, consisting mostly of bug fixes for the January 8 version. It also gives Bhall Orcs a new ability to sacrifice non-Orcish slaves to regain their attacking and casting abilities.

The January 8 2018 version is based on Tholal's More Naval AI v2.71, and is not free of some instabilities that modcomp introduced.

Most of the changes in this update relate to Demonic Pacts. The ritual of that name still triggers an event that lets the player summon a demon lord, but now both those lords and the player summoning them share a new "Pact with [Demon Lord's Name]" with various benefits, mostly improving Ashen Veil priests. These traits are lost of the demon lord avatar is defeated, or if the summoner abandons the Ashen Veil State religion, or if the summoner and demon lord ever go to war.

The ritual can also be used to resurrect dead demon lords.

The White Hand ritual gives its caster a similar Pact with Winter trait. This is lost when at war with Auric, but can be regained by the whole summoning team.

The Bound by the Compact promotion is now applied to a unit's summons. There is a new Banish spell, requiring Exorcist and the Righteousness tech, which grants that effect to demons and ejects them back to hell terrain or Ashen Veil territory.

Summon Imp can now only be cast in cities with a Mage Guild, by units without limited duration and with the Unholy Taint promotion. It no longer requires Extension I or a living caster.

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The October 31 2017 version is based on Tholal's More Naval AI v2.71, and is not free of some instabilities that modcomp introduced.

It changes the way that religious mana is handled, in order to avoid some AI issues caused by negative bonuses. Higher tier arcane units require less mana to get free spell spheres, and a units own religion effects the mana requirements too. Units created or upgraded on plots with mana sources get extra mana from that source.

It adds the Arcane Guards, an Amurite Royal Guard with Mage abilities without level prerequisites.

This version adds the Tower of Mortality Sidar replacement for the Tower of Necromancy. This kills all undead within the owner's borders, and applies Netherbind to units that die there, preventing immortals from being reborn or nay unit from returning as angels or manes. Mouseovers now inform players of spells being blocked by the Tower of Mortality, by the Sidar, or by the Overcouncil.

Sidar Archmages also gain the ability to summon Angels of Death.

The Council of Esus gains the Aphotic Throne temple building, which can only be built with the CoE State Religion or with Undercouncil Membership once the Enlight the Nightswatch resolution has passed.

Fellowship of the Leaves arcane and disciple units may purchase Druidic at level 3 if they have the Fol State religion. This lets them access Life, Nature, Earth, and Creation spells without Channeling prerequisites.

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The October 4th version is based on Tholal's More Naval AI v2.7Beta5 and Platyping's Worldbuilder v4.17b.

It introduces Whisperers, a new Council of Esus High Priest. They have 3 spells: Disrupt (which reduces culture and may flip a city's control), Trust (which boosts the owner's relation with other players), and Paranoia (which grants Paranoid promotion, a combination of Enraged and Hidden Nationality, to rival units nearby and causes diplomatic penalties between their owners.) Agents of Esus now have the standard Priest abilities, and may cast Embezzle (a spell to steal a city's revenue) in rival cities with Gambling Rings.

Shadowriders loose Shadow 1 &2 but gain the ability to move through mountains.

Shadowwalk reduces terrain movement costs.

Shadow 3 now grants Shadowwalk to summons instead of Hidden Nationality, and its Hidden Nationality spell is changed to an ability for others units on the tile to become HN rather than one spell that grants that promotion to all units in the stack.

Revelation now blinds Shadowriders and makes Vampires Paranoid.

Illian snow tiles have yields equivalent to Plains rather than grasslands.

All palaces (except the Infernal) now grant some food.

Every religion allows access to a special promotion.

Govannon requires Strength of Will, but spreads his teachings faster.

Wizards are stronger than mages.

Firebows start with Flaming Arrows, Resist Fire, and Channeling 2.

Arcane Barges have access to all adept spells and require Mage Guilds now.

I added a new unit called the Fire Ship, a cheap late game upgrade for all the early ships which explodes in combat and damaged adjacent units like Pyre Zombies too. They can be built using either Gunpowder or Fire mana.

I added a new unit called the Witch Hunter, available so far only through events and lair exploration, which is very strong against arcane unit and may target them. It has the Magic Resistance, Inquisitor, and Exorcist promotions. It is unavailable to Amurite or Sheaim players, rebellious against leaders with any of the mage-related traits, and also causes diplomatic penalties with those players. It uses the red Gods of Old Inquisitor graphics. (The Whisperer High priest unit uses black inquisitor art.)

The Circle of Gaelan final event may either give you 5 Witch Hunters or give all your mages the Heroic Strength 1 promotion.

I added a new bonus called Jeteye, based on the addictive drug which Kael revealed was canon in the Reddit forum. All he had written about it was that it was a highly addictive sedative drug which often causes vivid hallucinations, is administered by squirting the liquid into the eyes, and turns the whole eye black. (Also, Os-Gabella became an addict when he discovered the drug while searching for the Netherblade in Falamar and Rhoanna's capital city the Bay of Laurus in the Meditor Sea. That bit of background is now the Heron Throne pedia entry. The Bay of Laurus has been added to the list of Lanun city names) Although wasn't a huge fan of some of my later lore musings, he liked my initial idea of the background for the drug. It is thus derived from the ink of a certain cephalopod, and so closely associated with the Octopus Overlords and Hastur, Lord of Nightmares. I make this resource provide a production bonus for all units and buildings associated with the Overlords. It replaces Incense as the resource prereq for the Overlords High Priest unit. It causes some happiness but unhealthiness, a great deal of commerce, a bonus towards research, a penalty towards great person production, and a chance of mutation. It also causes a diplomatic penalty similar to death mana. The Overcouncil may ban it.

I gave Firebows channeling 2, but not channeling 1, which lets them get Extension 1 & 2 and makes them more useful once Govannon starts training them.

I made increased the base strength of Wizards and Govannon.

I changed how the Mirror of Heaven onMove python call works. It no longer grants a high priest. There is a text explaining what happens when it grants the Honor tech to someone with the Empyrean state religion but not the founding tech. It grants a free Lightbringer with the Eremite promotion on the tile. Any Empyrean unit gains Eremite when it enters the tile. Still only Nomad+Divine units may get that promotion while alone in ordinary deserts, but any Empyrean units may be Eremite on the Mirror of Heaven.


I made Shadowwalk retain the ability to use enemy roads while also making it reduce terrain movement costs.

I made the Shadow III promotion grant Shadowwalk as a summon perk instead of Hidden Nationality.

I changed the Hide Nationality Shadow III spell so that it no longer is cast by the unit with Shadow III to grant the HN promotion to all units in the stack, but instead allows other units on the same tile use the ability to become HN. This way the xml/C++ code is written means that the Shadow III unit itself can never use the ability.

I gave Runewyns Force 2, so they can cast as well as bypass Rings of Warding.

Temples of the Hand no longer require Ice mana to build, but are cheaper with it and more expensive with Nature or Fire mana. The per turn trigger now runs whenever the building is completed. That code also may trigger a revolt if the city owner is at war with Auric. New Mulyr runs similar code now.

I made the Snow terrain act like Plains instead of Grasslands for the Illians.


I made Citadels of Light be an Empyrean-only improvement rather than Malakim-only, and let them stop my improved Shadowriders.


I went ahead and gave Gargoyles not only an increased defensive strength but also the suggested paratrooper airdrop ability and the ability to move through peaks.

I decided to add a Vampire Slaying promotion, and to let Vampires with both the Ashen Veil unit and state religion to purchase Unholy Taint to gain access to more spell spheres. I let Vampires owned by players other than the Calabim cast Feast, but still only let the Calabim use the spell to gain the promotion.

I let units of the White Hand state and unit religion purchase Immune Cold, and those with Octopus Overlords purchase Water Walking with theology.

Units of the Children of the One religion automatically get Magic Resistance and Scourge, and may purchase Magic Immune.

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The April 16 version is based on Tholal's More Naval AI v2.7Beta4 and Platyping's Worldbuilder v4.17b.

It extends WorldBuilder's Diplomacy screen to take into account Advanced Tactics/Diplomacy features like Right of Passage Agreements, Non-Aggression Pacts, and Planning War status. AI Autoplay through Worldbuilder has been fixed.

It adds two new wonders: The Museum of Maponos and the Crucible. The former costs gold but grants free Creation mana and improves settled great persons. The latter could mean the end of all magic.

It changes the free mana from the Grigori Palace and the Children of the One holy shrine.

It fixes a bug in the Call Blizzard spell.

It reduces the benefits of the Temple of the Hand.

It reduces the size of the army summoned by The White Hand, and improves Auric's withdrawal chance.

It changes Mobius Witches so that they have Unholy Taint instead of Channeling 2, letting them access mage level spells for only 9 "evil" spheres instead of all 21. They may upgrade to Eaters of Dreams or Ritualists.

Unholy Taint now only makes summons that are ordinarily Angels be Demons, leaving Elementals and the Undead unchanged. Summon Imp now requires both Unholy Taint and Entropy 1. The promotion no longer allows free upgrades or quite as much free xp gain. It does allow access to Death magic.

The Kuriotates researching Righteousness or Tebryn Arbandi researching Malevolent Designs will trigger an event letting them choose to gain a Dragon Fanatic, potentially letting them found the Cult of the Dragon if it is not yet founded.

Water Elementals are faster, can carry more ships as cargo, and can capture ships through the boarding promotion.

Rifts have a reduced cargo capacity and movement, but can escape back to the capital regardless of movement points remaining.

The February 1st update is is a gift to all of my fans for my birthday.

It incorporates Tholal's MNAI v 2.7 beta 3, as well as jrandrew's improvements to the unit upgrade chart.

My own changes mostly related to the White Hand religion. It gains two new trainable units, Frost Speakers and Hollow men. Frost Speakers are a basic disciple unit that can spread culture and the religion. Their art is basically a Priest of Winter without a staff, and with a darkened icon background to help distinguish them visually. They start with Resist Cold, are Vulnerable to Fire, and Courage, and can upgrade to Priests of Winter, Champions, and Hollow Men. Hollow Men are Undead Assassin units that cannot enter deserts but are very effective on cold terrains. They start with Snow Stealth (which is no longer given automatically to ass Illian marksman units), allowing the Whiteout ability that now grants Hidden Nationality as well as Hidden. They have new unique art based on my custom Illian/Drifa Dragon Fanatic art, but with the flag removed and the body made monochrome and transparent.

The Temple of the Hand's bonuses and effects have been adjusted. Fire and Nature mana now counteract the benefits of Ice mana, as well as the chances of terraforming. The various Rituals of Winter now extend the range of the terraforming effect. Founding New Mulyr causes snowfall too.

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The November 17th update consists mostly of incorporating Platyping's latest World Builder updates, allowing players to push units towards specific missions.

It also makes equipment units no longer hidden nationality, as that was stopping them from being generated in some situations. To prevent AI issues they are not bAlwaysHostile either, but there is an ability that lets players capture rival equipment that is not guarded by any other units of the same player.

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The October 27th update includes the latest version of MNAI and WorldBuilder.

It eliminates the use of the bAlwaysHostile tag, making all of those units Hidden Nationality instead, in order to prevent AI bugs.

Hidden Nationality units should no longer be able to capture empty rival cities without war.

Werewolves work somewhat differently. Lycanthropy can now also spread to a unit that kills a werewolf, in which case it would not change players. Ravenous werewolves start out rebellious. Duin is no longer a beast and so cannot be subdued, and has the ability to dominate other werewolves. Werewolf no longer prevents casting spells, although Ravenous Werewolves and spell units like Fireballs and Floating Eyes start with a new promotion that does.

The Lair Guardian promotion does not itself make a unit hidden nationality any more, although barbarian units with said promotion will become HN too.

The Life III promotion itself no longer makes a unit immortal, but purchasing that promotion grants the Immortal promotion too. If Immortal is lost but Life III is retained, Immortal may be randomly gained again too. The various Resurrection spells remove both Life III and Immortal.

The various Wyrmhold shrines now grant promotion perks.

A few more PyHelp tags have been improved

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The September 20th update fixes a few bugs and further expands the usage of PyHelp texts.

One of these tags will warn players if their ships' blockades would be futile due to a Smuggler's Port in a nearby city.

The Mercenary mechanic has been completely rewritten, so that instead of depending on an event it rely wholly on spells with PyHelp tags explaining their exact effects. The Guild of the Nine now allows mercenaries for everyone, and collects a quarter of the mercenaries' fees. The per turn fees charged by mercenaries are included in the gold rate displayed in the interface. Agents of Esus can bribe rival mercenaries to switch side for gold, and the hero Magnadine can convert them to your side for free.

This update includes my latest version of WorldBuilder, which most notably changes the page that lists units and cities so that the skip turn/kill commands can be applies to all units and cities in various categories rather than just all or one at a time. It also counts the number of cities or units eligible in each category.

This update will break saved games.