AoW 3 Races+ Expanded
Are you of the opinion that all Orc Infantry should be able to boost their damage with a solid War Cry? Would you like your Draconian support units be able to awaken their Draconic Ancestry, no matter their culture? Or maybe it simply is time for your Simians to Throw some Filth, just like those blasted Dread Monkeys they are related to.
This is the expanded version of AoW 3 Races+, now packed with extra racial heritage-associated abilities and passives, based on previous games and with some fresh takes. If you’ve played the earlier games you’ll recognise plenty of nostalgic abilities, with FX buffed up to AoW 4 levels. If you haven’t, here’s your introduction. Enjoy!
- Draconians: Support Units gain the Draconian Ancestry buff ability
- Dwarves: Support Units gain the Guardian Flame buff ability, Shield Units gain Defensive Strike
- Frostlings (open for Halfling, Goblin and Dwarf forms): Support Units gain the Frozen Flames buff ability
- Goblins: Support Units gain the Weakening and Cure Disease abilities
- Halflings: Support Units gain the Nourishing Meal and Minor Bard Skills abilities
- High Elves: Support Units gain the Stunning Touch ability
- Humans: Support Units gain the Bestow Iron Heart ability
- Orcs: Support Units gain the Throw Curse ability, all close combat units gain the War Cry ability
- Tigrans: Support Units gain the Break Control and Were Panther abilities.
- Azrac: Shock Units gain Whirlwind Strike, Support gains Desert Fury, an ability that buffs non-charger melee units to make series of attacks mount in damage
- Dark Elf: Support Units gain Corruption Bolts, giving them Battlemage tendencies
- Highmen: T2+ Cavalry gain Paladin Training, giving them spirit damage and a Lay On Hands ability, T3+ Skirmishers gain Avenger training and may unleash Spirit Bolts
- Insectoids: Units gain bonuses from standing next to those of higher tiers and support units gain the Mimics ability, enabling them to steal buffs in an area (inspired by the Brain unit of AoW 2)
- Lizardmen: Support Units gain the Personal Geyser ability, able to make a group of units wet. All units gain Slippery Scales, a combined Fleeting and a lesser Elusive trait when wet
- Syrons: Support Units gain the Steal Enchantment ability. All Units get the Lightning Catcher ability, giving them a stacking lightning resistance and bonus damage when exposed to lightning damage
- Wood Elves: Support Units gain the Entangling Touch ability. T2+ Skirmishers and Archers gain Ranger training increasing ranged and melee damage.
- Ancient: Support Units gain the Ritual of Longevity ability, which spreads the Eternal Plague between units, healing Ancients and damaging others
- Avian: Skirmishers and Archers gain Hit & Fly; extra move points from Critical Hits and a slight movement recovery after battle, encouraging a hit and run style with the birbs
- Goatkin: All melee units have a small charge bonus, doing extra damage after moving
- Imperials: T3 units gain various bonuses, where T1-T2 is demoralising rabble and T4-T5 may Sip Tea And Watch, an absurd and user-requested take on the Human Form
- Molekin: All non-hero units now have an ability called Slow Confidence, giving them an initial -10% to all damage, which will grow with +5% with every kill, reaching a max at a staggering +20%. Support units gain Humble Encouragement, allowing them to restore a small amount of move points to a unit
- Ogrekin (open for Ogrekin, Orc and Goblin forms): Fighter Units gain a tackle ability, which clears away unit in a small cone when used after moving
- Oni-kin: Support Units gain the Mark of the Oni debuff
- Ratkin: Skirmisher Units gain Toxinific Hyperinjectorr! Support units gain Disperse Hyperinjectorrs. You’ll feel really good when injecting. Just not for very long
- Simian: Skirmisher Units gain the Throw Filth ability… So much for monkeys being pure beings (thus the renaming of their previous Pure Souls trait to Temple Monkeys)
- Toadkin: Polearm Units gain the Toad Hop ability
- Wolfkin: Hero Units gain the Alpha’s Howl ability, sending the entire pack into a bleeding inducing frenzy.
Check out the full list of attributes for all Heritages here (Google Sheets)[docs.google.com].
Here, I’ve been a bit more imaginative, bringing in new takes on the races classical traits.
Finally, this is where I’ve truly hit my playground in coming up with fun ideas.
Just like in the previous mod, each form now has specific standard traits. For example, when you pick Ancient, you’ll automatically be assigned Ancient Heritage, Poisonous and Resistant instead of Arcane Focus, Defensive Tactics, Weak Constitution. The same applies to any original game pre-generated heroes that don’t have specifically chosen traits. Two reasons: 1) I can’t make my traits free, because then they won’t end up with randomised heroes. 2) I think this fit the traits better thematically and some of them would otherwise overlap somewhat with what I’ve made. Anything you edit yourself will stay the way it is, of course.
This mod is to be used as a replacement of original AoW 3 Races+, and is not meant to be used together with it. I recommend doing a backup of your Lords and starting a new game with this one. I’ve tried loading games started with the base mod with mixed successes. Changes include base and expansion FormTraits_ .rpk files, implementing the standard traits picked for every race, so that Dwarves always get the Dwarven Heritage, etc. If you want spawning units on the map to have the standard traits, make sure this mod is lower in the mod order than any other that changes this. Furthermore the Decaying, Diseased and Wet statuses have been modified to accomodate for the Cure Disease and Slimy Scales abilities to work.
You might also notice that this mod sorts all forms alphabetically, instead of the (at least to me) random mess they usually are.
- Although Disgusting Stench is meant to not affect Constructs, Goblins, Simians and Undead, I’m not sure this is working.
- Halfling Very Lucky/Unlucky trait will only work when facing other units with Racial Heritage traits, ie no animals.
- Starting the game without this mod activated will remove all Heritage Traits from your existing Rulers. I recommend making a back-up of your Lords folder when doing so.
Again, many thanks to the mod community in the AoW 4 Official discord channels.
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Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
