An unusual mage unit encounter

[twistingserpent]

I'd like to start this message off by thanking you for the work you've put into Lords of Magic over the years! It's greatly appreciated and die-hard fans like myself are always happy to see the content you create on a regular basis.

The reason I posted this thread is because I was playing as Chaos in a game a long time ago and I can't recall exactly how this happened, but an enemy took control of my mage tower and started sending mercenaries to attack me. This is pretty normal, but I recall seeing an enemy unit called a Transmuter. It had the sprite and appearance of a Dryad, but appeared to be classified as a champion mage unit.

I tried everything to learn about this Transmuter- subduing it with a thief, taking control of it via Possession, and checking the unit lists on the custom start screen as well as the GS5 website. However, nothing seemed to reveal much information. Your website says nothing about this unit, I can't find a thread about it, and the only thing I managed to learn from Possessing it is that it seems to be a Chaos mage of some sort. I even Googled it, but there are literally no posts about this on the internet that I could find.

It wasn't much trouble to beat in combat, but naturally I'm extremely curious! Was this an incomplete project you left in the code, or perhaps some sort of secret encounter you placed in the game for reasons unknown? I wasn't aware the forums were still active, but now that I see that they are I would love to get some information on this!

[Boaster]

Transmuter, as I called it, is not a unit the game should have spawned, except in one of the quests Legends of Urak (I forget which).

Transmuter used to be, what I would term, an Invisible Witch. It was supposed to have the Dryad's sprite, possibly-maybe, but it had no overland or in-combat sprite by which to select it or attack it, or anything.

I suspect that maybe it was intended that way by the makers, or possibly unfinished business.

It could go either way.

Transmuter is basically a Chaos spell caster that would qualify as a Marauder (or "Wild Man") type of unit (like Orcs, Wolf Riders, Goblin Archers, Centaurs, etc.).

[twistingserpent]

Thanks for the quick response!

Yeah, I just thought it was a strange and interesting encounter. I'd never seen it in vanilla LOMSE, though, so I was wondering if it was something placed in the game by you. I found it interesting that it was yet another Chaos mage, considering the fact that the shaman and witch are both in the game.

Has anyone else mentioned this happening in games? I find it hard to believe I'm the only one.

Also, do you often experiment with creating alternate champion units? I feel like there's some interesting room for design space there! Adding the Siegfried quest champions to the main game was a great touch!

[lemminkainen]

Weird. I've played the quests last month and I didn't notice. Never met it on Urak either. Do you know where it is in the GS files Boaster?

[plebeian]

Aug 24, 2018 2:28:37 GMT -6 lemminkainen said:

Weird. I've played the quests last month and I didn't notice. Never met it on Urak either. Do you know where it is in the GS files Boaster?

    Apologies for interfering, aware that you didn´t ask me, but in case it helps, I´ve found something in gs.mpq/units/chwiz2.gs, evident by the label ¨/name"Transmuter"def ¨.

   

[Boaster]

Aug 24, 2018 4:12:08 GMT -6 plebeian said:

Aug 24, 2018 2:28:37 GMT -6 lemminkainen said:

Weird. I've played the quests last month and I didn't notice. Never met it on Urak either. Do you know where it is in the GS files Boaster?

    Apologies for interfering, aware that you didn´t ask me, but in case it helps, I´ve found something in gs.mpq/units/chwiz2.gs, evident by the label ¨/name"Transmuter"def ¨.

   

Yep.

The Invisible Witch occurs in the unmodded game in the Order or Hidden quest, I don't recall.