Round Table of Arkain

[ShadowGamerXXX]

I've had some ideas for the first orc book (the least loved of all, and since you're going to do a definitive campaign I'll expose a few crazy ideas here).

1) Spiders in the Darkmind clan:

Killing the Spider Queen is almost always the best option (useful Item and extra support on an already difficult mission), letting her live alone will give you support in a mission in which you start with enough to win... The worst of all is that if you choose Blen's side, the spiders attacking don't reappear anymore.
When the Darkmind clan is removed, Rath senses the deep hatred of spiders against General Blen, in the event of the spider queen's death, Rath doesn't give it importance, claiming that they probably die soon when they are heavily weakened by the loss of their monarch and leaves. .. In case the Spider Queen lives, Rath will notice that more enthusiastically and propose to join the Darkmind clan to share together Rath's enormous vengeance.

The Spider Rider (only available to the Darkmind clan, until Rath's death).
It is a medium-range troop with slow venom (Throws poisoned axes), possesses good life and movement speed, can learn web.

The spider queen is not so stupid and so keeps safe distance with the battle against Blen, seeing any death of Rath she decides to leave her revenge like this, as she lost many generations of strong children following Rath, only for this end, then leaves with Lokar and is joins the Dominion alongside Ironthunder clan and cyclops.

Cons:
-Find the right model for this troop.
-You can become the best option, moving to the previous one, going back to the same problem that you try to solve

2) Exiled Sasrogarn:

A way to leave the bastard alive, making certain decisions (how to capture the coast to attack Merlon from two different sides) Sasrogarn will conclude that Amari is much better than him, the insecure wants to talk to Grozag to see what he believes is , then talks to Zairmak and admits that he is not the right one to command, knowing that he could destroy what his father built... Zairmak for a moment is reflected in the, "following the traditions as absolute truth is very bad idea", come the others and Sasrogarn mentions that he already knows who the leader is... and who respects him, not because he wants, but in honor of his father, that statement causes some discrepancy and Amari tries to unite everyone under the original plan, but in the end they come to the conclusion of... Amari leader of the dominion and Sasrogarn ends up exiled to avoid very possible inconveniences in the future for his pride and cowardice... Sasrogarn leaves and does not reappear anymore... then you can tell that he became an unimportant mercenary of The Blackthorn to close the plot.

Cons:
-I see it very unlikely, because everyone hates Sasrogarn (including me ) and the mere feeling that he still lives somewhere can cause feelings a little bitter.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Some small stuff today:
First of, remember how I did some Arkain stuff in other games? Here's an edited Larine:

And Gardon!

Here I am actually curious, on a scale from 1 to 10, how "Gardony" does that look to you?
And what would you do to make it look more like our favorite general?

Also, check out this, we are collecting some nice images from the past (and maybe there will be more?) :
Arkain Memes | HIVE

 

[MasterBlaster]

Looks good, but I feel he could use some more muscle

 

[Boriss]

Gardon does not give me the feel that he would like any sort of ornaments, anything thats not purely practical (unless the 2 rods on his helmet are a radio receiver that is ). Love the Larine model! Do we get to see her anywhere other than the second human book?

 

[Axmand]

IMHO Gardon needs a fearsome model, that model its ok but dont have that "aura"...

 

[Shar Dundred]

Looks good, but I feel he could use some more muscle

Gym Gardon?

Gardon does not give me the feel that he would like any sort of ornaments, anything thats not purely practical (unless the 2 rods on his helmet are a radio receiver that is ).

To be fair: His model's "helmet wings" are not very practical either.

Love the Larine model!

Do we get to see her anywhere other than the second human book?

Perhaps.

IMHO Gardon needs a fearsome model, that model its ok but dont have that "aura"...

Not dark enough?

 

[deepstrasz]

Gym Gardon?

James Gordon (character) - Wikipedia

 

[Axmand]

Not dark enough?

Its dark enough, but like i said need "inspire" more fear, maybe some spikes? or need a little more red?...

 

[Championfighter25]

Gardon needs a way bigger and better-looking sword. The thing he's holding looks like a dagger. If you can add a shadow effect on the weapon, it would look even better.
The armour he's wearing is pretty light. And not dark enough when we compare it to his WC3 model.
The helmet should cover his mouth. The red on his helmet can be removed and replaced with brown or yellow.
An aura effect can be added to make him look a lot more menacing.

 

[Boriss]

To be fair: His model's "helmet wings" are not very practical either.

True enough. Since he knows his reputation and actually puts it to good use... maybe give him more of a "terror of the field" look? The samurai of old Japan used to wear masks for this exact purpose and Gardon would surely make use of that as well. That would usually involve hiding your facial features tho...

 

[Shar Dundred]

New attempt (do not look at the face/helmet, that is not Gardon, it is just a different armor set).

 

[deepstrasz]

New attempt (do not look at the face/helmet, that is not Gardon, it is just a different armor set).

Spoiler

 

[Axmand]

New attempt (do not look at the face/helmet, that is not Gardon, it is just a different armor set).

Looks ok, now need the proper colors

 

[LickMyEyeBall]

Think Gardon's armor should look bigger. The OG model had that feel attached to it. Imagine warhammer space marine armor type of thing. Helmet should be more brownish imo.

 

[Boriss]

New attempt (do not look at the face/helmet, that is not Gardon, it is just a different armor set).

View attachment 346270

Those shoulders make him look bigger than he is under it, makes him look stronger, more intimidating. Cool stuff, like it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Gym Gardon

Nah, I just think bulky dudes look more scary and stand out more. Gardon should have both.

 

[Axmand]

Excuse me people but i got a question...

In the interlude between Ch.06 and Ch.07, sometimes it appears a choice to choose Rekta over Cora, but sometimes dont, what should i do to make this to happen?

And as a side note: Which one is the canon?

 

[Hardric62]

Excuse me people but i got a question...

In the interlude between Ch.06 and Ch.07, sometimes it appears a choice to choose Rekta over Cora, but sometimes dont, what should i do to make this to happen?

And as a side note: Which one is the canon?

Spoiler

Don't pick the Leadership Bonus for the Darkness Orb ever, if I remember it right. If you do, Cora will systematically snatch Retka's powers. Not sure about which one is canon though.

 

[Boriss]

...

Spoiler tags man, spoiler tags!

 

[ShadowGamerXXX]

Spoiler

Did you select Cora's special boni before you got to that point?
If your answer is yes... then everything works fine, that boni will cause Cora to absorb Rekta and you have no choice to change it (unless you don't choose that boni).
I guess the canon is that Cora listens to the whispers and finally absorbs Rekta.

to avoid double post, I'll place this with the answer to the question above.

Here again with other crazy ideas for the first books... this time it's up to the human book.

1) Racial differences in the towers

One controls humans, elves and denters, each variation is different from the other... but the towers are the same, my suggestion is as follows... allow to update the towers, but restrict updates to each race... Confused?, in that case I give a few examples:

Only humans can upgrade archer towers to ballerstates, upgrading it gains +15% attack speed, +75 HP, and +4 damage.

Only elves can upgrade to elf towers to anti-magic towers, by upgrading it halves cooldown time to use their ability to discover an area, can use dissipation every 40 seconds, and burns 30 MP per hit (Makes 30 additional damage to the troops summoned).

Only denters can upgrade to cannon towers to missile tower, upgrading it gains +200 range and increases area damage size by 50%.

2) A few more improvements to the logic of missions.

First of all... I am surprised that Merlon's mission is not available the flying troop of humans (which they do in all the other books), which I dislike, i know that the mission focuses on the ships, but without flying attack troops it feels a little empty.

Secondly, in my opinion in the missions that Salomar is available, a paladin must be with him (replaces a knight with a paladin), I believe that the leader of the order of the paladins if he goes on a dangerous mission should be accompanied by someone of the order , in that case those missions should be made more difficult, since two units with divine light would be very powerful in the right hands.

 

[Khush352]

Can anyone clear up some things as:-
Why Order of Bleeding was established?
What are the consequences of choices we make in each book?
Shar, will you upload a standalone map of macro version of Betrayal ( Last mission of First Human Book)?

 

[Shar Dundred]

1) To fight the traitors within
2) That is a lot of consequences to go through
3) No, why would I?

 

[Championfighter25]

What are the consequences of choices we make in each book?

Here is a post about the consequences of the player's choices in the first and second human book:
How far will you sacrifice humanity? [SPOILER]

 

[Khush352]

1) To fight the traitors within
2) That is a lot of consequences to go through
3) No, why would I?

1) How did Aaron found out about the betrayal by Genethas?
2) Guess, I'll have to note down each consequence then..
3) Here's why..

 

[Shar Dundred]

3) Here's why..

Ah. Well, there have been imporvements since then.
If the macro map makes its return, it will not be as "standalone" but as replacement for the
campaign mission.

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

I need help guys my game just turned into a f*cking reforged in the update... How can I turn it back?

 

[Daffa]

You van unforge it by getting previous patch files.

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

You van unforge it by getting previous patch files.

The previous patch files still updates to reforge

 

[Daffa]

Do not use launcher. Use the x86 Warcraft 3 files (or x86_64)

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

Do not use launcher. Use the x86 Warcraft 3 files (or x86_64)

How to do this?

 

[Daffa]

You need to get 1.29 or 1.31 patch from somewhere first, then open the install folder of that patch and there's the folder you seek.

 

[Rhapsodie]

How to do this?

[Need Help] Back to 1.29

Patch 1.30.4 Backup Game Files

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

[Need Help] Back to 1.29

Patch 1.30.4 Backup Game Files

thank you very much this really help me, now to finish both second human and orc books again....

 

[Khush352]

What is going on in Rengar? The tales of Arkain feature about the quarantined areas and walling the city? Will it be revealed further in the Second Undead Book?......Wait a minute, were the Undead responsible for the plague in Rengar? Why would they do it? It clearly disturbs the "balance" of Arkain. Also, any thoughts on Queen Keera? I think Rahandir was responsible for reanimating her. What'cha think?

 

[Rhapsodie]

Spoiler

What is going on in Rengar? The tales of Arkain feature about the quarantined areas and walling the city? Will it be revealed further in the Second Undead Book?......Wait a minute, were the Undead responsible for the plague in Rengar? Why would they do it? It clearly disturbs the "balance" of Arkain. Also, any thoughts on Queen Keera? I think Rahandir was responsible for reanimating her. What'cha think?

The plague in Rengar happens quite some time after the events of the Second Books , so there are slightly chances will get more information about it in the Undead Book.
While the Undead may be a first option there are also other powerfull beings in Arkain capable of causing a plague of that proportion.
I don't think Rahandir can do something without Aridon knowing and allowing it.

 

[lekxman22]

Shar will we have some short story soon ????
I am bored so i re-read them hundreed times now

 

[Shar Dundred]

I have WIPs and more ideas than you can imagine, but I do not have a short story being actively
written atm.

 

[lekxman22]

I mean its great that u have Ideas and all but its boring waiting just so u know <3

 

[Shar Dundred]

I appreciate that you like the short stories, but I am writing & releasing them at my own pace.

 

[Khush352]

Got a question here, about the choices related to first orc book.

Spoiler

The choices regarding the first orc book we had to make "manually" in choices of Orckind, how many of them really affected the missions? Here are some of my observations:-
Choices of FOB - Consequences in SOB
1) Killing Progaderas the Smoking - Progaderas attacks Tribal dominion in the mission against Redfist and Daric's mercs. (The one where Papa Redfist dies)
2) Vanessa fails to convince Sasrogarn - objective to unlock secret chapter.
3) Defeating the base of Humans first rather than undead - objective to unlock secret chapter.
4) Salomar survives in last chapter - Order of Paladin is not included in Coats of Gold.

---Rest??

 

[Khush352]

What's the relation between Sir Praxeus and King Gardon? What's their back-story?

 

[Tryce09]

What's the relation between Sir Praxeus and King Gardon? What's their back-story?

Spoiler

BBF maybe? Before gardon learned shadow magic, they talk about the past and use amulets of friendship? My theory.

 

[Khush352]

Who might be the demoness who saved Sir Praxeus? [From the Short Tales of Arkain]

 

[Shar Dundred]

The short story included her name.
Has not appeared in the campaigns as of yet.

 

[Daffa]

Got a question here, about the choices related to first orc book.

Spoiler

The choices regarding the first orc book we had to make "manually" in choices of Orckind, how many of them really affected the missions? Here are some of my observations:-
Choices of FOB - Consequences in SOB
1) Killing Progaderas the Smoking - Progaderas attacks Tribal dominion in the mission against Redfist and Daric's mercs. (The one where Papa Redfist dies)
2) Vanessa fails to convince Sasrogarn - objective to unlock secret chapter.
3) Defeating the base of Humans first rather than undead - objective to unlock secret chapter.
4) Salomar survives in last chapter - Order of Paladin is not included in Coats of Gold.

---Rest??

All humans related choice contributes to the secret chapter. Some choices might look subtle, but there are effects of it.

 

[LISBOAH]

Just read the new story "Guardian of the North"

Spoiler

The very ground was nothing but scorched earth and lava. Only very few places still were green and could be used as farmland - and those were all created with magic, not natural. Any natural source of food or water in the lands that he ruled over had ceased to exist long before his ancestors had been forced into servitude.

So...the Void is basically Mordor?

Is it just me or does these servants are heavily based on the Warriors of Chaos from the Warhammer universe?

He had been named the Guardian of the North.

Ah yes, Lord Bale of House Stark

Blaes loathed all who joined the Demon Slaves willingly. They were blind and weak in mind, no matter how powerful they were otherwise.
Bales was nothing like those who joined the Demons willingly. He belonged to the old families, he was a descendant of those who had willingly sold their souls to the Demons. He was born and raised on this side of the Void, like many others. Unlike most of them, however, he had not made a new pact with any particular Demon to either renew the bond or to gain any advantage.

So he is doing this simply because of his ancestors' mistakes and out of duty to his family. That makes him very relatable...

Only other Demon Slaves continued to do so - the irony of slaves sending slaves of their own was not lost on Bales, yet he himself had no interest in keeping slaves. The fools should know better than wanting their own slaves.

He has a very good point. They are slaves and yet they enslave others. Maybe they do this in hopes that it will make them feel better about themselves, like if they aren't indeed in the bottom of the hierarchy...

In the bedroom, Bales' concubine awaited those slaves with a smile, some tea and food. They would sit together, drink, eat and talk. Ironically, the Demon Slaves in the north treated their pleasure slaves poorly and therefore those pleasure slaves were very thankful to be treated like ordinary beings for once.

Bales you are in my book

But one day... One day, Bales would not bow to the Demons anymore - neither to the kings of the west or the dangers of the north. One day, he would be his own master. And when that day had come, nobody would stand in his way. Nobody.

While I like his ambition, chances are very low of him achieving this, at least without ever facing retribution from his demon masters or another faction seeing his secession as an opportunity to reclaim lands.

 

[Championfighter25]

Spoiler: Thoughts on the story

Bales is a pretty unique character. I don't think any other character has made me instantly dislike them the second I heard their name for the first time. He didn't even need to do anything else. I can see why the demon slaves aren't the biggest fans of his. There's just something about his name that immediately gives people bad impressions of him.
Anyway, after reading the entire story, I have to say he is far more intelligent and humane than I thought. His treatment of certain slaves is something that you would never expect. And his stance on most demon slaves is something that a servant of the demons should theoretically not be able to have.
His ambition may be the end of him at one point though. What he wants is simply unachievable, especially with entities like the dark one, Aridon and Brian around.

Spoiler: Mistakes

monoplize -> monopolize
Blaes -> Bales
succubi on ther other -> succubi on the other
loyality -> loyalty

 

[Shar Dundred]

Spoiler

So...the Void is basically Mordor?

You could say that, yeah.

Is it just me or does these servants are heavily based on the Warriors of Chaos from the Warhammer universe?

I did not intentionally base anything on anything. It does happen that there are parallels because tons of stuff already exist (I recall being asked if Toran was a Naruto reference which I never watched in my entire life I.e.) so it is bound to be similar. When I first designed the Demon Slaves, I did not know as much about the Warriors of Chaos as now.
Some of my characters have been created by me in other media (I.e. avatars in other games or stories I wrote) though. Maybe I will touch on this topic if people are interested. Bales was a character I created for Age of Wonders Planetfall at first, to give a small taste.

Bales you are in my book

New favorite?

While I like his ambition, chances are very low of him achieving this, at least without ever facing retribution from his demon masters or another faction seeing his secession as an opportunity to reclaim lands.

He is patient.

Bales is a pretty unique character. I don't think any other character has made me instantly dislike them the second I heard their name for the first time. He didn't even need to do anything else. I can see why the demon slaves aren't the biggest fans of his. There's just something about his name that immediately gives people bad impressions of him.

You give his name a bad name.

Anyway, after reading the entire story, I have to say he is far more intelligent and humane than I thought. His treatment of certain slaves is something that you would never expect. And his stance on most demon slaves is something that a servant of the demons should theoretically not be able to have.

Positively surprised then?

His ambition may be the end of him at one point though. What he wants is simply unachievable, especially with entities like the dark one, Aridon and Brian around.

I mean, he has no way of knowing all that.

 

[Championfighter25]

Spoiler

Positively surprised then?

Yep. People with high ranks of power in any government in Arkain have always given me incredibly bad first impressions, even if I grew to like them later.
He is the exact opposite.

I mean, he has no way of knowing all that.

If he's at least never heard of Aridon I pity him. He's truly been living under a rock.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Spoiler

People with high ranks of power in any government in Arkain have always given me incredibly bad first impressions, even if I grew to like them later.

Including Zyainor and Kerrel?