Welcome to Escalation Second Release, a mod for Kohan: Ahriman's Gift. It was built from the ground up: we dropped (almost) everything, and started thinking up the factions, races, units, buildings. Numerous new ideas were added. Some things were not broken (in our view), so we didn't try to fix those. :-> After countless hours of work, the mod began to take shape. The results were satisfactory, so we released it to the public.

About a half year has passed, full of testing and fun. This release is much more balanced, and we created a handful of crack SAIs as well in the meantime. If you didn't meet the First Release, read this short story to get a feel of the setting. We hope you'll enjoy this mod as much as we do!

If you played the First Release, here's the new stuff (besides balance changes):

• All unit data, including mana regen rates, in an Excel file (created with Modalizer)
• Tough new SAIs to clash with
• Boss heroes enabled: Amon Koth (Y), Dhavrum Belraag (R), Garoj'mok (N), Karg (C), Lord Sar Lashkar (Y), Lord Shohn Maht (Y)
• Negative mana costs 7 gold instead of 5

"Samman looked towards that other hill, where the Nationalists' troops were preparing for battle. It was still early morning, the bodies of positioning troops looked like insect swarms crawling in the faint light. The slowly diminishing fog made the sight even more ominous, eerie. He leaned forward in his saddle, trying to pierce the lingering white mist still settling the valley before him. His well-trained charger mare, Hammerer stood patiently atop the hill, awaiting his command.

- General Ravid, sir, a messenger came from Eben Baruch.

He heard only one man's footsteps approaching, yet two people were standing beside his steed. One of them was his adjutant, the other a grey-clad ranger, a barely visible apparition in the morning fog.

- Tell me the news.

The ranger bowed his head, cleared his throat, and started speaking.

- Sir, we found that the enemy will be using Rhakshas as shock troops to confuse or perhaps break our lines. Also, it looks that their longbowmen atop that hill will fire into the valley while the Raks are still battling us... After our ranks have thinned out, their heavier units, supported by Zealots and Fanatics, will rush down the hill, in hopes of utterly crushing our resistance.

- Rhakshas? By the light of the Creator, how could they tame those filthy, mindless beasts?

- Sir, they made a pact with the Wicked Fang tribe. It's those Draugas who somehow subdued the Rhakshas... A prisoner we captured told us that their Drummers found a way to summon vengeful spirits called Slayer Spirits, and the Raks answered to those Spirits' call. Our captain promises you that we'll investigate the matter as soon as possible. Now, the good news. Our Haroun friends, who where helping us out while scouting, upon seeing the Raks, pledged themselves completely to our cause. Their Windriders will be here in one or two hours - they were riding half the night to get here in time. Another good news is that they have Spirits of their own. Besides their usual Wind Weavers and Wizards, Nature Spirits, wielding the power of their sacred forests, will be fighting on our side. The Haroun will respond to our captain, who therefore asks for your strategy and specific battle commands.

- That's a lot of news, indeed. Give my thanks to Eben for these valuable pieces of knowledge. But I sent a request to him to find a roundabout path for our cavalry, what about that?

- I beg your pardon, sir. I almost forgot about that one. It seems that there is no way to move the Lancers into the back of the enemy, I mean, not in a few hours. There's too much undergrowth, and the slopes aren't quite gentle, even foot troops would have trouble climbing up and down in these treacherous hills. We haven't found a single usable path going from here to there - this is really an untouched wilderness, sir.

- Well, it also means we don't have to fear that the enemy will be making a backstabbing move. Now, I need some time to ponder over the current situation. I'll be sending you back soon, with the commands Eben requested.

He turned to his adjutant.

- Send word to Lady Yasin, Captain Eshkol and Captain Farouk. We'll discuss tactics here, not in my tent as usual.

Samman looked back to that other hill again. The new factors he just came to know were troubling him, making him look like a worn-out old man. He clenched his teeth. 'It doesn't matter what they do, or what they bring against us. We must beat them in the name of the Creator to defend our sacred heritage from the influence of the Nightbringer - as we always did in ages past. We've got inventions of our own: freshly trained Battlemages, Conjurors. We'll find a way...'"

Individual changes are too long to list (you wouldn't bother reading them anyway :-P), so here's a list of important features. Note that there are a lot of small changes not mentioned here.

• Multiplayer recommendations
  We found that - mainly because of reduced settler and engineer cost - Escalation should be played with about 100 less starting gold than your usual KAG games. We usually played with 600.
  If you enable lairs, disable tech rewards. Since tech units are already deployed somewhere, getting a unit tech may break the game - or do nothing at all. Sorry for that, but there was no other choice (see the last section for explanation).
  Faction units were implemented using the faction's elite unit tech. You just cannot play this mod to its fullest with Elites disabled. :-) However, you might want to play a "trash" game with lots of basic troops and supports. Your choice.
  Try playing on the map provided with the mod: in No Mareten Please, there are 4 slots for each of the independent races (built for 2vs2 team play). And not a single Mareten village or settler around...
• Economy
  Just a single change, but that's important enough: negative mana deducts 7 from your income instead of 5.
• Building health
  Doubled to make buildings more fortress-like, also to decrease usefulness of flanking. Settler and engineer build rates were also doubled, so building a village or repairing a town takes as long as before. Outposts have the same health as before, fortresses have slightly less.
• Building militia
  Overall strength increase, archers added where missing. Towns and cities are significantly harder to take. Citadels are up to their name: they have magic-user support militia, very strong cavalry front ranks, militia regeneration rate is more than twice as before, base numbers are four 5-long companies. Haroun militia has been vastly strengthened against melee attackers, they're more like Windriders now.
• Independent races
  Villages and cites were added. Drauga, Slaanri and Haroun settlements have 1/3/5 slots just like normal Mareten. Gauri have 2/4/6.
• Building upgrades
  Some number shuffling here. All citadels are cheaper. Village to town upgrade time reduced, city to citadel increased.
• Basic unit concepts
  Much more faction- and race-specific units than before, you can build only the most basic units in foreign Mareten settlements. All tech units became normal units in Escalation, deployed somewhere. Elites can be only built in your faction's settlements. Powerful units cost much more (in terms of gold) than before. Plunderers (upkeepless low-morale mercenaries) can be built everywhere.
• Captains
  Lots of captains were added. Every type of captain comes in three "power levels" (not necessarily all of them exist in the game, since they may not be needed). Supreme Captains tend to cost a lot.
• Elite units
  Were strengthened even more, given some resistances, and cost 3 mana (and some i/w, of course) per piece.
• Archers
  The bowman was re-made as longbowman, and is available only in Nationalist settlements. This way, each faction has a different archer unit available. Melee vulnerability idea from Balance mod grafted into Escalation. Goats were strengthened a little, but they cost 2w1i. Check out the vorpal-damage Heartseekers, another weird unit from the Nationalists.
• Cavalry
  All cavalry got anti-archer bonus. Lancers moved to Council.
• Builder units
  Settlers cost less. Engineers are cheaper, but combat values have been reduced as well. Nationalists have a super-settler available, which builds much faster. Combat Engineer available to Royalists. Settlers can be recruited in independent settlements.
• Basic support unit concepts
  Support units are divided into three power levels: normal, enhanced, elite. Normal units costs 15 gold (1 or 2 mana), enhanced 25 (typically 2 mana and some other), elite 40 (typically 3 mana and some other). All of them have 24 movement (there are some exceptions, Gauri are slower, Haroun faster, etc.).
  Basic faction priests now available with a simple Temple, the upgrade is only necessary for elite priests. Lots of new ideas implemented, so that independent races can have their own support units.
  Movement was increased to boost supported cavalry companies, since using supports with them took away their speed edge. Using supports wisely is even more important than before.
• Common support units
  These can be built anywhere. Pilgrims were called Clerics before. Wandermages were Magicians. There is a new type of common support available: the Lightbearer is like the Battle Priest of old times, look for it everywhere except in Ceyah settlements.
• The Spirits have awakened
  Every independent race has a Spirit unit available. There is nothing really exceptional about them, they're just cool. :-) Not to mention they're useful.
• Heroes
  All heroes have 50% magic resistance. Non-melee heroes have 50% ranged resistance. Melee heroes have 75% ranged resistance, 50% melee resistance. Melee heroes now typically give big company bonuses, weak melee heroes were strengthened. Set them to engage and watch!
  Magic-user heroes' spells were tweaked to boost the weaker ones. Not perfect, but hopefully better than normal KAG. ;-)

 

• Abbreviations:
  P - Pilgrim, W - Wandermage, IE - Iron Export, CG - Carpentry Guild
• General
  Take your time. Since towns are stronger, usually it's not worth to use some rusher build. A posted town can defend against anything a rusher build can yield. Even your villages are somewhat stronger. Start econing until you're ready to build what you want or sense some real threat. When playing team games, more powerful rusher builds are possible with teammates helping each other out, however, this tactic has its disadvantages too.
  Scouting is still very important. Each faction (and the Haroun) has a good scout unit. Use them.
  Choose your supports wisely, match them to the front line. The fact that you have access to advanced or elite supports doesn't mean you have to use them on every unit you build. The most basic Pilgrim can be a great boon even to elite units.
  Plunderers are useful when you're (unexpectedly) pressed into combat without access to good units, and one or more of your econ villages has been taken over. This means you have gold (sold the Bank, IE, etc.), but no slots to provide upkeep. Even without supports, they can provide a good defense (teamed with the militia), but with priests and/or mages they wield a real punch (till mid-game). Also, when you put together an army, and have gold but no upkeep left, try adding some to the bunch.
  As a defensive measure, consider upgrading your border or strategically important settlements. Village to town completes in no time, providing you with much better militia, better regen rate, and more building health (and two more slots, so you can build a wall there). The same stands for getting up to city or citadel, however the latter takes a lot of time. Think in advance. If the enemy is already attacking, it is - usually - too late to begin upgrading. By the way, walls are quite important in Escalation games by our experience.
  If you have access to another faction or race's settlement, try using their units. Maybe their scout unit is better in your current situation than your own. Maybe your iron upkeep is better spent on Drauga Berserkers than on Axemen. Always check your options before deciding.
  If a Ceyah opponent is nearby, don't forget to call in the Lightbearers. Exchange one of priests with one of these Shadow hunters when building front-line companies (you might want to use only 2 or 3, and after that, keep the normal build). The lightnings they throw are actually Holy Bolts - watch them decimate skeletal or zombie armies with amazing efficiency.
• Council
  Towns, Banks, IEs for starters. Build a Ranger ASAP, later on they will act as a weaker archer unit, when no more scouting is possible (or necessary). For Pathfinder support, you need a Barrack.
  The mentioned "upgrade as defense" tactic is most useful for Council players, since they have reduced upgrade costs.
  Basic: Pikeman/W/W or Pikeman/P/Channeler, Crossbowman/W/W. Fairly cheap masses, you can use the mana upkeep later for Battlemages. Don't forget that you need an Armory Guild to get the price reduction on Crossbowmen.
  Rampager: Lancer/Pathfinder/Pathfinder. Great for raiding and protecting Battlemages, balanced wood/iron and low mana cost.
  Roasted Mareten: Battlemage/W/Conjuror. Since this build is very costly, you'll have only one or two for a time. Try complementing them with Lancers, if you're under pressure. However, when you have 4 or more of them, they can do horrible amounts of damage at the beginning of the combat, destroying whole companies in ten seconds. Theoretically, you only need 1 Conjuror per regiment (and then switch to Wandermages), but it's best to use at least 2.
  Hold the line: Lancer/P/Channeler, Halberdier/P/Channeler. A slow, but powerful and fairly cheap force can be built from Halberdiers and Crossbowmen (matched speed).
  Elite: In the long run, you'll have a good surplus of iron, use that for Lancers. The build is Battlemage/Storm Lord/Storm Lord, Mystic Archer/Storm Lord/Storm Lord, Lancer/P/Oracle. Don't forget to throw in some Conjurors somewhere.
• Drauga
  Ahh, the assault tanks of fantasy games. Hordes of Hunters and Berserkers are better than a few good units (i.e. Beast Riders). All of their supports lead towards aggressive attacking. Do so.
  Hunters are good flanker units for their price. Fast and high on damage, they can eat up supports in no time - hopefully before the enemy can turn back to protect them.
  And don't leave the Slayer Spirits and War Drummers at home. Just watch how they boost a simple, 1 iron/piece Berserker company. Warlocks still have Conflagration and now they can use the Invokers' Fire Shield as well. They are too good for the horde, place them behind Beast Riders.
• Gauri
  Gauri are excellent front troops when the enemy relies heavily on magic. Remember, you need a Wall to build any of their units (that takes up the extra slot :P). The Anvils and Hammers are similar to their previous selves. The Golems are very tough, resistant to everything, so if you can afford the mana cost, go for them.
  Taskmasters and Pilgrims are the best choice for the smithy troops. Maelstrom Engines are there if you need to break through heavy fortifications. Motherlode Spirits are similar to Golems, but they can throw Forked Lighnings.
• Haroun
  The old Haroun units didn't change much. The Rainbringers are as usual, the Windriders are somewhat better, but higher on upkeep (no more goat hordes). Runners are excellent scouts, if you can get a Haroun village early, be sure to build one.
  The Wizard is a very versatile support, always use it instead of Wandermages. Dryads and Nature Spirits were conceived to make Windriders stay in the field longer. And if you decide go to archer-heavy, build up to the Wind Weaver, the Haroun elite mage, and make your enemies attractive... :-)
• Nationalist
  Banks and IEs in every village, maybe a Quarry to get an engineer. Your scout unit costs iron, but sometimes even IEs alone can keep it up. Don't upgrade until you have to. When in desperate need, losing villages, don't forget the Plunderers, a single village can hold a Market (Bank) and a Temple or Library. And you'll have lots of money in this situation to pay for them.
  If you survived the first 10-12 minutes without major trouble, you'll become powerful very fast after that. Your economy is rocketing, and your unit selection is the widest among the factions, with many good mid-powered units. You also have the option to build elite supports with only a town, a costly but very rewarding path.
  Basic: Axeman/P/Zealot, Longbowman/W/Summoner. Summoners are very useful early in the game. Note that you can build these companies from a single village each.
  To protect and serve: Enforcer/P/Zealot. One of the best buy in the game, if you don't mind the speed (somewhat faster than the Halberdier, though). The Zealot makes them literally fight to the last man. Matched speed with the Longbowmen. Other build: Disciple/P/Zealot, available with a single village.
  Kill 'em all: Heartseeker/W/Enchanter. Heartseekers have solid damage, are very good against high-defense units like Knights, and are not vulnerable in melee. The best mid-level support company in the game, don't use them on their own. As with the Conjuror, you need only a few Enchanters.
  The Ones: Disciple/P/Invoker, Longbowman/Fanatic/Enchanter. This is an elite support build, the necessary town is: CG - Barracks - Mage College - Nightbringers. Econ villages should hold CG - Mage College as you add more of these companies. As stated before, expensive, but truly devastating.
  Elite: Doom Guard/P/Invoker, Enforcer/P/Invoker, Heartseeker/Fanatic/Enchanter. The Nats have the cheapest and best balanced elite regiments, regarding iron/wood upkeep.
• Royalist
  Build IEs only, and upgrade only when necessary. A single CG for the Scout and possibly Footmen (that village will be a good candidate for upgrading later). If you don't need an engineer early on, a Quarry is not necessary, as you can build Combat Engineers with a Barrack, and Workshops will give stone upkeep.
  Basic: Footman. Your cheap and reasonably fast horde will take villages, maybe towns. Later on, fodder to hurl on the enemy before the Knights ride in, and protection against flanking if you keep some in the reserve. Supports are best used elsewhere, remember, these are not mindless zombies fighting to the death. Don't forget the CG price reduction, it counts when you mass produce them.
  Hack'n'dash: Swordsman/P/Battle Priest, Skirmisher/Sorceress/Sorceress. Only good when used in numbers, or as a defensive measure.
  Spitting Headache: Slaanri Champion/P/Battle Priest. Very balanced cost (think of Workshops), excellent fighting value, slow.
  For King and Faction: Knight/P/Battle Priest. Aren't cheap, but fast and hard-hitting. If you can get 2 or more of them, you have a very potent raiding force. The ultimate non-elite flankers, carving their mark into the back of the enemy. Complement with Skirmishers (matched speed), serve (over)heated.
  By the Light of the Creator: Paladin/P/Lightbearer. The Paladins are too specialized to use as a main force against other than the Ceyah, though their magic resistance and enchantment immunity can be very helpful if the enemy is bringing magic-heavy companies. In this case, use a Battle Priest instead of the Lightbearer.
  Elite: Cavalier/Battle Priest/Celebrant, Knight/Battle Priest/Celebrant, Skirmisher/Elementalist/Sorceress. Don't forget the Billet for these units, it'll save you lots of gold. Since Cavaliers are extremely expensive, build them on a 1 per 3 Knight ratio (depends on your economy, of course), and put them in the middle of the regiment.
• Slaanri
  Their basic troop and the Mystic are largely as they were before. Murk Spiders are specialty units, only build 1 or maybe 2: their webs can catch fleeing troops, even Kohan (enchantment immunity is very rare among them on lower levels), allowing higher company destruction probability (and higher "I killed them munchkin Kohan" boasting probability :-).
  The real show is, however, their new supports. Yes, you can build Marshmasters, who were called Slaanri Slavers in normal KAG. You could meet them in the "Enemy Within" campaign, summoning wave after wave of 3-long Slaanri companies. The other fellows, Swamp Spirits have really bad breath, sometimes referred to as Volley of Flame...
• Ceyah
  Your start is similar to the Royalists, but build Banks instead of IEs. It is advised to build a Quarry sometime into the game, since Shadelings have stone upkeep anyway, and engineers are especially important to Ceyah. Mana Forges are very useful components, they provide the upkeep for either a (short) Shadow Beast/Shadow Knight company, or for 4 priests (of the horde).
  You have to choose between a few good units or a horde. Look at the map, ponder the situation, and decide. You have to build up your economy accordingly, since switching to the other is quite costly.
  Plunderers and units from non-Ceyah settlements are a good choice to remember when someone uses Lightbearers or other anti-Ceyah units against you. Even supported engineers can help you out.
  Basic: Zombie and Skeleton with any support you can muster, Bone Bow/Necromancer/Necromancer. Not much to say about this one, meat'n'bones.
  The bigger the better: Giant Skeleton/Prophet/Shadow Priest. The standard choice for a good battle force, if you bring some Bone Bows as well.
  Clawing the way: Shadow Beast/Prophet/Shadow Priest. Fearsome raiding company.
  Wuthering Depths: Shadow Knight/Lich/Lich. Mmmm, tough dried meat, summoned bones, dark fireballs... what else do you need?
  Elite: Void Beast/Acolyte/Macabre. You don't need anything else (high speed elite force!), or, if you're low on economy, put the elite supports behind Shadow Knights and the like. You'll have some wood surplus typically, blow it on Bone Bows with Liches.

SAIs were optimized with the following settings: hard difficulty, 600 starting gold, 2 Kohan, not very crowded map.

For a guaranteed challenge, play with a buddy against 3 well-mixed SAIs on a 192x192 map. Use at least 1 "power company" and 1 horde SAI, and different factions.

• Bem (Council): The stereotypical hoarder-horde builder, lots of various companies, including some non-Council ones.
• Celcia (Council): She has a mediocre performance in the early game. However, when she begins recruiting her Battlemage legions after roughly 20 minutes...
• Crane (Nationalist): The famed warrior monk of the Shaolin temple will, of course, train his disciples on you.
• Edward (Royalist): The once and present English king can build elite support units in his starting city. If he survives fairly well for more than a half hour, expect the Charge Of The Golden Brigade (Cavaliers).
• Elisa (generic): She can start playing with any faction, or even an independent race (on a scenario map). Don't expect anything spectacular from her besides that, she's just the template for building a new Escalation SAI.
• Gorgey (Ceyah): Balanced SAI. Relies mainly on Giant Skeletons, later Shadow Knights.
• Haynau (Ceyah): Mixed Ceyah horde, you know this. 'Nuff said.
• Hunyady (Royalist): A cavalry commander. Needs some time to begin pouring out the thundering Knights in copious amounts. Until that, a band of weaker units with support.
• Kossuth (Nationalist): Builds Enforcers with priests in the beginning. One company of those can typically take a village. Good economy, gets strong quite fast.
• Lord Soth (Ceyah): The Knight of the Black Rose will use raw meat and summoning supports to overwhelm you.
• Palpatine (Council): The lovely Senator can use elite supports from the very start. Consequently his economy builds slower.
• Rommel (Natonalist): Let's burn! He can build Invokers in his starting city. Otherwise, a good mix of Nat units, mediocre economy.
• The Beast (Ceyah): Very dangerous early on. A company of Shadow Beasts will find you quickly, is able to swallow a village's defenders, and usually even towns. Able to recruit Void Beasts soon (like 25 minutes). Slightly weak economy.

"512 objects should be enough for everyone" ;-)

1024 is a hard limit for some internal counting. It seems that each unit (building, etc.) takes up 2 "space", that gives the above limitation. This was the reason for leaving out many new units, i.e. unique engineers were planned: Council Artisan, Slaanri Bricklayer, etc. Faction- and race-specific militias were planned as well. Simply put, Escalation is full, we can't add anything to it.

Escalation can be found at:

• The Awakening (Mods section)
• http://endrosz.freeweb.hu/kohan/

Developers:

• Blade (SAIs, heroes, testing)
• Ras (Modalizer utility, testing)
• Endrosz (everything else)

Balance mod credit goes to:

• Grond