Southron Edition 1.1
This is a follow up patch for the Southron Edition.
It includes a wide array of changes for the mod but mostly focuses on 2 factions Harad and Dunland.
A more complete change list can be found in the download.
Dunland
As I covered in the last news post Dunland has received a comprehensive overhaul in visuals and game play.
They are now the go to faction for people who like an early game infantry rush.
- They boast the best starting unit in the game now with the Dunlending Warriors being faster and bulkier than other starting units at the cost of not gaining heavy armour upgrades later.
- The Dunlending Archers can be upgraded with Stealth through the Training Menu.
- Dunland's Warhounds have been improved with Hunting Dog upgrade now also improving their attack and Warhounds weakening nearby cavalry.
They are also cheaper making them an incredible early game unit for harassing enemies and capturing territory.
- Orleth is a great early game support hero that is able to debuff enemies while also buffing them with a leadership boost.
- Darlas has been reworked to function as a sort of sapper he's capable of moving while stealthed and setting up oil casks to burn down structures.
- Talbor is a great raiding hero that is able to summon the Hobelars as well as dealing pretty strong damage to structures.
- Ulric is an excellent support hero for the Warhounds capable of riding a mighty Warhound.
- Dunland's spell list has been reworked to better fit their playstyle with the new Howl of Wolves able to buff Warhounds and Wildmen with double damage.
- Clans of Dunland is capable of replacing lost units from your hordes over the entire map.
- Gather the Clans now works on all Dunland infantry.
Harad
With the Southron Edition release of Harad I've had more time to refine the faction and polish things.
I've rebalanced them with more attention given to offense.Harad are a highly mobile faction that focuses on hit and run tactics until they can start bringing out the Mumakil for late game devastation.
Their heroes have been reworked to better fit into Harad's roles.
- Asharin has been changed into a more ranged hero who'll provide valuable support to Haradrim Skirmishers to allow Harad to better harass enemies from a distance.
- Maradin now provides better support for Harad's cavalry with the skill "Hit and Run Tactics" that heals nearby Cavalry.
- Tahar has been reworked into a support hero for the powerful Harqa Warriors turning them into absolute late beasts in late game.
- Umbar Corsairs gain support from Angamir and are incredible late game units able to destroy structures with ease with their Firebombs.
- Harad has lost access to Horse Shields and Heavy Armour to better focus on offense, but their offenses have been improved Harad's Bowmen are strong and their Lancers deal more damage and can be built earlier and cheaper than other cavalry.
General Changes
One thing you'll notice straight away is the change to the Great Keep Upgrade.
No longer will it upgrade all Citadels except Outpost citadels instead it'll upgrade just the one.
The cost has been made cheaper and Great Keep will be required now to access the Fortification and Training Upgrade menus.
The Outpost citadels have been simplified and no longer get access to Bulwark upgrade or the Fortification and Training menus.
The starting Command Point Limit has been increased from 300 to 450, the Expanding CPL system will work the same with each subsequent expansion added 150 CPL up to the 1200 cap.
These are the start of broader changes that will be continued with the Black Edition.
This release seeks to fix as many issues as possible while rebalancing the mod a bit and to streamline some of the design to be easier to pick up.
It is my hope that the changes to Harad and Dunland will encourage different styles of play with these 2 factions leaning more into a sort of glass cannon design.
I've also done some work getting the campaigns running smoother.
The good campaign should be able to be completed with crashing and possibly the evil campaign as well.
I haven't been able to test out the evil campaign so if you play the evil campaign let me know how it goes.
If there's issues I'd like to address them for Black Edition.
Join the community at Discord and receive exclusive access to test versions and early access to updates.
Installation
Requires BFME Patch 1.03 and Return of Shadow: Southron Edition installed.Disable ROS through the ROS launcher before installing then simply run the exe.I've also included a spare batch launcher if you have issues with the usual launcher.
Check out the Return of Shadow Youtube Channel
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