@Silver regarding the astrolgy type spells. I see why you would avoid them. There is a workaround though. Every turn could make a check for all non Conjuror type units and if the conjuror faction has enslaved some units they would be turned into some roaming type units that you can define so it fits with the lore. I could see some fun in that and it would give you an excuse to introduce some kind of fun unit. Im thinking such units should be rather weak to keep it balanced.
In regards to the Conjuror units (including the roaming spellmarkerd units) I think they are very well done. Its so fun to see them battle the enemies and often its kind of unpredictable because many of the battles depends on the Conjurors to use there first few turns to summon creatures and if they do they can win over rather large armies.

I'll change the Eerie summoning rituals to require being within 1 square of "-76 void plane" whatever that means. The manual doesn't say. So you still have to at least be right next to it but not quite right on it. The negative terrain numbers tend to be a broader umbrella, so maybe it'll include the buildings you're talking about, or at least cast a somewhat wider net somehow.

Thanks Doppelganger! <3
Glad to hear the early game is feeling good. Now I just hope the mid to late game has the right balance, too. In the updates before this one, the higher tier summoning rituals were way too cheap. xD
I avoided any spell schools that include things like confusion, command or enslave, because the Conjuror isn't supposed to be able to recruit any units except Dreamers. If you gain control of commanders from other classes, it would negate that. Hence no Astrology on the Eerie variants. None of the creatures you can summon in combat or via summoning rituals have spells like that either.

@Silver Im loving the forest units that actually let me use the herbs. I was a little dissapointed that the Void units only is available to be summoned in the void. I would prefer that the Conjuror could summon them in places like the Sphinx, Pyramids, Eiry Farm, Stonehenge etc.
Also I was wondering why the Eiry Conjoror didnt have any Astrology spells?

@silver its definately has become much more enjoyable playing the early game. you are the right track

I've overhauled the summoning ritual prices again. Also increased the recruitment chances for Dreamers from 1% to 2%. Continuing to search for the right balance here.

Another mini-update! Costs of promotion rituals and new Dreamers have been significantly reduced.
Thank you so much, Faceless! I've spent weeks on it, yeah. ^_^ Some days I worked 12 hours straight.
The crystal forests are supposed to be there. Part of the effects of the Dreamer on reality near their home. The upgrade rituals eventually will let you turn the hut into a tower, then a crystal tower, a tower of the elements and finally a crystal palace.

Just started a new game and I've got two Crystal forests right next to me. Seems like a bug.

I love the mod! I've enjoyed this far more then most I try out. Must of been a ton of work too.

New update is out! One thing I'm still not sure about is the costs of new Dreamers, and the cost of the promotion rituals. I want a good balance so summoning rituals, new Dreamers, and leveling up the Dreamers are all worth using.

@Silver also if you go with a hut you could make some kind of mysterious statue to protect it. It might be from this mysterious unit (possible from the void) that her powers originates in the first place....something like that. Just an idea. :)

@Silverbell thanks, really appreciate it. In the lore it could be that everytime she sleeps (every turn) there is a chance that se dreams up some monsters/unit. She has little control over her abilities so its should be random and random strength. just something free spawn to help claim jungles and forest without putting the Conjuror at risc.

Ah thanks! I'll fix the fire and frost drakes today.
Yep, some Dreamers/Spellweavers/etc. by their nature move with a bit more haste than most of the others, like the Peregrine and Ephemeral ones, so they're one step faster. All Conjurors get faster as they level up. Those ones just get there quicker.
Hmm you have a point there. I originally had her start in the Palace because I wanted something fortified, so the class doesn't just get wiped out immediately in the early game. Hence the big army as well. The Palace seemed the most thematic out of the fortified locations.
Also I didn't realize the Palace had that teleporting ability that only the Illlusionist can actually use, so it's a bit misleading.
I'll change it up a bit, have her start in a hut and give her rituals to upgrade it as she levels up.
I'll also give the early game and starting units another look. It's a tricky thing to balance, but this feedback is really helping! <3

some observations playing the game:
I still find it a bit boring in the beginning. Basically your starting unit is to weak to roam around and I find myself sitting and waiting for gold and especially mushrooms. Waiting is no fun so early game is as of now not very enjoyable. I need something to do.
Also usually I have alot of herbs that I cant use for anything. Maybe you could enable the conjurer to summon some roaming forest units to help with claiming jungles, forest and swamps. That would give me something to do while I wait to upgrade my conjurer.

Are Peregrine Spellweavers supposed to have three move?

@Silverbell: thanks for updating the mod so quickly.
I have have a question about the lore and the mod. My understanding is that the Conjurer is a kind of freak kid that has a natural gift for manipulating reality. I would think that the game should reflect that this kid grow in power and yet she start out by having a big catle and a massive army. I dont get that. Wouldnt it be more in sync with the lore if she started out in a hut and in the beginning now and then spawned roaming units and as she grew these units would become more powerfull and maybe even contrallable. I would prefer that progression instead of the big army and castle and it think in would be more aligned to the lore you started with. Anyways thanks again for the updates

Conjured Fire Drakes are summoned as commanders.

Hello. Having fun with the mod so far. The ritual pricing seems better as well. The Conjured Frost Drake has the sprite of the Baron. Looking forward to seeing this mod evolve.

New update is out! Thank you all so much for the feedback! It would have taken me forever to discover and figure out all those issues on my own! <3

Thanks for the balance advice! Maybe I'll cut the summoning ritual gold costs down to a quarter what they are now, and the rest of the resource costs in half.

What the Ephemeral summoning rituals actually do is summon creatures that have the Wander 8 behavior, meaning they roam to human settlements and citadels.

A bit of general balance advice: Stupid units should be generally be cheaper than their non stupid counterparts, as they can suicide or walk around doing nothing. Your summons are a whole order of magnitude too expensive. Having randomness in your summons is not a problem, that's core to coe5, but people are dissappointed when they press the button because the result is useless.

For reference, you have a warrior summon that takes 150 gold and 30 diamonds, this is a net worth of 210 for 1 warrior. Warlocks can summon 3d4 (3-12, avarage 6) warriors for a combined 50 gems, a net worth of 100/6 per warrior. That makes your stupid warrior 12 times more expensive than the non stupid warriors.

You get more value per turn than a warlock as you have more types of resource, but that value can't be spend as everything depends on gold.

Also, creature of "civilization" was difficult. I didn't want to include too many "mundane" units, so it was hard to find things to put in that category. xD

Oh yes, I'll try lowering the costs for the summoning rituals, if they're not feeling worth using. I had a suspicion that might be the case. I want to find the right balance there.

And yes, the mod is mainly designed for single player. I'm not knowledgeable enough to make it balanced for multiplayer.

I had hoped the mutate minions wouldn't follow their creator, since they're stupid. But it seems it doesn't work that way.

I'll change the summoning Conjuring ritual (eg Ephemeral Conjuring) to Conjuration, so hopefully it's a li'l less confusing.

Daydream, Dream, Weave, Shaping, Spells, Coalescence, Conjuring, Creation and Manifestation are the summoning rituals. The difference is they'll have a prefix. So a Thalassic Dreamer would have Thalassic Conjuring, which is the summoning ritual. If it just says "Conjuring" with no prefix that's the promotion ritual.
Civilization includes creatures that prey on human settlements, like Rocs. It's more of a loose association.
The mutate minions such as Dreamtouched, Spellmarked, Warped, Altered and Awry, are definitely something I'm still adjusting. I had a suspicion they were too strong. Will probably nerf them here today somehow.
Hmm I think I'll change the starting commander to the Affluent Dreamer. Her summoning rituals only cost gold.

Thanks for the feedback! that's really valuable! I definitely still have a lot of adjustments and testing to do.
The summoning rituals are supposed to be very random and vague, so you never know what you're going to get. That and some other factors are supposed to make each run a bit different. That can be either fun or really frustrating. xD But RNG is definitely a factor here.
The Conjuring ritual is just supposed to promote the Spellshaper to a Conjuror. The promotion rituals are Dreaming, Spellweaver, Spellshaping, Conjuring, and Lucidity. Not sure if the promotions to Conjuror and Coruscant Wellspring are working. Haven't had a chance to test that yet.

Okay, have taken a game all the way to the end. This class is very feast or famine, and attaching gold costs to the summons meant that I never felt summoning was worthwhile. It is interesting, for sure, and your vulnerability to siege weapons and assassination keeps it from being totally overwhelming, but I think this class desperately needs clearer descriptions of what kind of stuff you are actually summoning and what wander behaviors they are scripted to follow. Would not recommend for multiplayer, but it is a novel single player experience

I used the Conjuring ritual for 4x150 gems... and it summoned nothing, but gave me a new ritual known. Very odd. Also, seems like some tier 3 conjurers can spawn escort clones, and at least one, the Ephemeral version, will spawn them not following, so they just wander

My Peregrine Spellshaper is creating a Peregrine Warped multicaster under their control (it is a Stupid unit, but this bypasses both that AND the spellshaper being non leader) in battles. Not sure if a rolling/expanding ball of lvl2 battle mages as your first meatshields is intentional

(Both times I summoned a creature of civilization, it was bird themed. I'm assuming there might be an error in the summon list, I was expecting a human that would stick around as garrison or patrol gold income tiles)

@avo yeah, early game can definately be frustrating. i have only once made it to and upgraded form of the Conjurer. many games give me no access to all the diamonds and so I take big risc often killing me. so i start over and over again lol

Spending 75 gold on one eagle warrior who immediately suicides into an independant castle feels pretty bad. I feel like this class is full of traps... but I AM still playing

Have tried it for maybe 20 or turns. Weird, the dreamer you start with is unable to activate the teleport function of the Palace of Dreams. Maybe it is coded to be illusionist only? This seems like an intensely single player PVE class, since you only start with one controllable commander and they can't bring escorts besides their in battle summons. I am retrying battles over and over again with save+reload, or I will have long stretches with literally no controllable units.

Oooh, cool! I've been thinking about a class that starts with a Palace of Dreams for a while, since the tile swapping mechanics on that are really strategically interesting. Thanks for making this, will check it out soon.

So this is an amazing concept, but i do have some critiques i think would improve things immensely.

First off is either making your starting commander use rubies or making the palace of dreams give diamonds. As it stands, it just makes the start unbearable when your one starting army inevitably kills it's self and you have no way to summon more unless you get super lucky with a diamond spawn.

Second is to make the dreamers and their upgrades use one of their summons and their rod/hand move every turn. As it stands its just frustrating when they die because the guy whose entire gimmick is summoning refused to summon anything three turns in a row.

(also the starting lord's spellmarked follow him even though they're meant to be stupid)

All in all, great mod that has real potential, but needs some good quality of life upgrades in my opinion.

I have only tried it a few times and it seems like a great mod. I learned the hard way that the Conjurer is rather fragile in the early state and that one has to be smart and patient.
Also excellent lore, thanks :)

This mod sounds so awesome and detailed! Especially your first time modding! Congrats on making your first mod! I look forward to playing it!