Desert Dawn: Help for Rayyas Children

Modding
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Hey there,

I’m a big fan of modding the shit out of my games, so I did with Stonehearth, too. There are a ton of really awesome Mods, but sadly, quite some of them were obviously written for the Forest Biome, but I really love the style from Rayyas children and prefer the desert over the forest.
There are quite a few things, that bug me out about the desert, Rayyas children didn’t get that much love from the developers as their green brothers :frowning:

So I decided I want to make a rather big Mod for the Desert Biome with Rayyas Children in mind.
I never wrote a Stonehearth mod and I never wrote anything in JSON before, so it will propably take a while, but I think I can manage learning yet another language :smiley:

I have seen many things from other modders and will ask them for permission to reuse their models when the time comes, but first, here are some ideas of my own:

  1. Weather.
    At the moment, I’m not satisfied with the feel of snow in the desert (apparently deserts are actually quite snowy). I can’t lay my finger on the problem, but maybe it has to be thicker, at least. Also, I usually don’t notice the reduced working speed mentioned in the weather description in game, so there have to be harsher penalties. I mean, usually you just freeze to death within a week ( but that might be too harsh in game…)

  2. Clothing
    Different Colors and for different Temperatures, maybe some different models for some jobs. Would make the weaver less pointless.

  3. Different recipies
    I think its just unfair to deny them their bows, just because there is not that much wood. There are indeed a few trees, and most desert tribes do have bows irl. Also, it’s quite difficult to get the carpenter to lvl 5 in time before the goblin raid (forgot the chiefs name) comes to make the flute you need to weaken him. Also quite unfair, I’m sure, Rayyas Children are very talented musicians.
    Maybe we could use some more decorations for the herbalist? (have already some ideas for that one)
    Also I intend to recolor some models from other mods, but I need their permission to do so first, of course.

  4. I don’t intend to alter the map generation, unless someone has a really good suggestion for that. I highly recommend a mod called Rivers from BrunoSupremo for the desert biome on Steam Workshop btw, looks awesome. And more realistic. I would settle near a sufficient watersource, if I had to live in the desert…

  5. Classes (forgot to mention before :D)
    I love unlocking new classes through the game and there are a ton of good ideas out there. I would model them for the desert, of course. Eg: a fighter promotion (like the blade class mod)

I wrote this post, because I want to ask for your own opinions of what should be in the desert and what should not, before I start, I’m sure, I’m not the only one loving Rayyas Children here :slight_smile:

Edit: For the snowy thing: I will wait a bit, maybe a patch for this is coming. Dunno, though.

2 Likes
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Where I live, in the high desert it does actually snow in the winter from time to time. Winter here is very cold. Spring time brings lots of green and blooms from desert plants. Unless you are talking about the Sahara; desert biomes are much more diverse than yellow and brown.

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I agree that the snow in the desert looks strange. Deserts are not always hot, but the one in the game clearly is, with all that sand and theme.

About the archers, people overestimate them. You will be better with a cleric or knight for the low level enemies. But the windchime could be adapted to something else, they even have a glass version for rewarded decorations…

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Yea, I only know the Sahara, visited, most awesome holiday ever. I swear.
Well, seasons are it’s own around the equator, I guess… I think it’s more about the altitude. Actually, you can go skiing about 70km from Marakesh, too :smiley: But women aren’t allowed.
Higher up there is obviously some snow and I know about the stony, grey deserts, too. But the desert biome in the game is quite… deserty? :smiley: You know, not that much of a high altitude stony dry land, but more like the actual desert sand dune thing you imagine if you think about deserts in general.

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My house one winter.

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I actually play on hardcore all the time and especially the enemy archers are just a pain in the arse. They kill a lvl 5 knight with two clerics healing him and my soldiers are to slow to follow them.

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I based Desert seasons on my experience living 10 years in Jordan, with some exaggerations to make the seasons feel sharper. Snow is rare, but not unseen. E.g. here’s snow in Wadi Rum:

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Even though it looks like this in the summer:
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Awesome!

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The key to Ogo’s army is a high level footman that provides an AoE attack :wink:

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I didn’t know that it’s that much. Quite awsome :smiley: Okay, how about this: make the snow thicker, maybe. I just don’t get the feeling of “Uhh, it’s cold there” at the moment and more a “well, my sand is white…”

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It’s more about: Why taking the archers and the flute practically out of the game for Rayyas Children? Less about: I die without them.
Don’t use them if you don’t want to, but I would prefer to choose. When Rayyas Children are done making bows, then it’s really pointless to use them, I tend to have about 7 to 10 higly trained soldiers then.

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Another shot of my driveway. This is in Joshua Tree.

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Edited snowy thing. Better? :slight_smile:

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And here I was thinking, from the first pic, that you were in New Mexico.

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I can see how you think so. We are the extreme left flank of the great desert south west.

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I’ve always thought the initial combat class should be a slinger class. :wink: :laughing: