5 Dwarf Tanks
Update status: Seems to work fine with 5.2
This is a mod I originally just wanted to make for myself.
I was absolutely stunned by the great mods from d3rpyn3wb yet at the same time felt overwhelmed with how large they are. So I just went ahead and was able to use his work as a blueprint to make a much smaller and less ambitious mod that „only“ introduces 5 new tank designs with a limited, but hopefully still meaningful impact on how the Dwarf faction plays overall and came to the conclusion that the result doesn’t deserve to stay locked away in my own game files alone.
I cannot stretch enough that all the groundwork comes from Derpy and that this mod would look so much worse if I wouldn’t have been able to use animations and the foundation of the assets from Derpy’s mods. So if anyone happens to actually want to thank anyone for making this possible, I would kindly want to redirect them towards d3rpyn3wb.
With this out of the way, here is a description of the tanks that are part of this mod:
Vorkhul Drung
This is a smaller tank that can be recruited on Tier III. It’s specialized to thin out large groups of infantry with its gatling gun. Although it would be kinda bold to call it „quick“ it is at least fast enough that it can also be used to harrass the flanks of enemy armies that lack mobility.
Vengryn Thrund
This is a similar tank to the Vorkhul Drung regarding the facts that its just as fast (for a Dwarf unit) and has the same building requirements. But instead of a gatling gun it has a 3 barreled turret with high penetrating power. It can do fine against quite a few enemy types, but its doing especially well, when it comes to thinning out the lines of monstrous infantry or other large targets.
Drakk Maraz
This is a larger tank, that also requires the Tier III engineering building to be recruited and is supposed to be some kind of armored cannon alternative for specific tasks. The extreme focus of its explosive shells is terribly inefficient against large groups of enemies, but is rather scary against single entities.
Haraz Dron
This tank requires the Tier IV engineering building for recruitment and expands the fiery options the Dwarves have towards a more indirect artillery alternative with long range. The rain of fire it brings is rather easy to dodge and due to its trajectory it cannot fire at targets that are close, but any flammable enemy that actually gets caught in it will end up having a rather bad day.
Khrum Uzkul
This fortress made of metal can only be built with the tier V engineering building. It is slow and has a short range, but its incredibly capable of holding a position and hurting a large variety of enemies that dare to enter said range.
It is worth noting, that Malakai also needs to build the necessary buildings in an actual settlement to recruit any of these. Not even Malakai is going to be able to construct an entire tank in a makeshift workshop on his Thunder Barge. But primarily I think it makes his campaign more interesting if there is at least something he can’t do on the fly.
Known Issues
As far as I can tell there is no way of creating turrets with the ability to turn that have only a specific turning angle. As a result there are instances of the Khrum Uzkul turrets turning into and shooting through each other. This is only a cosmetic issue though.
The movement of the tanks can be a little janky from time to time. I think it comes down to them basically using the core dreadquake framework which, being a train, is a little janky on purpose, but maybe I will be able to improve on that a little at some point.
There is also no cool explosion death animation yet when a tank gets destroyed, I hope to be able to implement that in the future.
Compatibility
Should be compatible with basically everything.
Adding it in the middle of a playthrough seems to be unproblematic, but I advise against removing it in the middle of a playthrough.
If people want to make submods, just go ahead.
My SFO Submod can be found here 5 Dwarf Tanks SFO Submod
Credit
I want to further credit all the other people who contributed to making this mod possible.
That includes, but is not limited to:
Ole for his amazing AssetEditor
DJ Fro-Fro for his RPFM
Ylech for his Master engineer gyrocopter mount
phazer for his QtRME
The Modding Den for modding resources
snek and GreenPhoenix for their amazing mods and assets
d3rpyn3wb for his Dawi Gunpowder Units and Dawi Ironclad Mount mods
And of course CA and GW for the game itself
Overall I would appreciate if anyone using this mod as a blueprint themselves or even entire units, would credit me and more importantly d3rpyn3wb and everyone else who contributed to parts of it for making it possible.
Other than that I have no issue at all with people using as much of my work as they want.
