Jump to content

Hammer Gate


Sigurð Stormhand

Recommended Posts

Hammer Gate is the name which I have given to the dependant town I have built around Battlehorn Castle.

I've mentioned it before, and you've seen a few pics, the inn, the North tower....

I suppose this mod has it's roots in some tinkering I did shortly after "the Fighter's Stronghold" was released, adding a little decoration to the towers so I felt slightly less silly dumping my companions there. That progressed to opening the other towers up, then like anyone else who works on that castle I realised it was built like a jenga tower, big holes in the space, etc. and I thought, "I can add more stuff".

This a pretty familiar tale with Battlehorn Castle, but then I looked at the exterior, it measures 7x3 in "big" castle pieces, but the Great hall alone measures 3x7, and the total interior measures something like 10x7, this sort of thing works in the cities because you usually don't notice dislocation between exterior and interior because of the city transition (a trick Arthmoor has successfully ruined) but I found it increasingly irritating in the case of Battlehorn Castle, especially when you consider that it effectively precludes luxuries like windows, etc. as they also tend to ruin th effect by highlighting the interior/exterior disconect.

So, I have made it my mission to cram everything inside Battlegorn Castle into that 7x3 space, mostly by building "up" rather than "out" and in the process the castle, and it's staff have expanded expontentially.

So, a couple of pictures to give you an idea of the monstrosity I have crafted for myself.

th_Hammergate1.jpg

th_Hammergate2.jpg

As you can see, in addition to expandinding the gatehouse and adding additional towers I have also added a second couryard at the back of the Keep, this acomadates the second hafl of the basement and a walled garden. The curtain wall is fully conected, as far as possible without having to pass through the five towers on the wall, there are exterior wooden walkways and steps to try to avoid theat where there isn't a significant change in wall height. I've added a quartermaster, guard captain and castle guards, two more maids, a porter, three hunstmen, a gardener, a groom, a mage, and a librarian to the castle staff. All are more or less complete in terms of AI, inventory, having somewhere to sleep. Actually, the second maid only exists theoretically, but she will be added as soon as I can be bothered.

given the strict space constraints I have ended up adding the dependant town and then the farms and stockade. The latter is partly an attempt to mitigate against the bandits who seem to gravitate towards the poor peasants.

What else...

I have plans, for a long time I didn't but now I do.

1. New upgrades, including "basic" upgrades like hiring a general staff which will be prerequisites for certain more "high status" ones, like the vanilla vinter and taxidermist.

2. Actual guards, and the ability to get locked in your own dungeon (escape impossible), possibly also a corrupt guard to pay off your bounty. As these guards will all start with 100% disposition they will also "take care" of small bounties automatically.

3. Shops! In addition to the quartmaster there will be an apothecary and a baker, as well as two inns and a "tavern" to service the merchants who will stop through, some of whom will stop over during the Oblivion crisis on their way to Hammerfell.

4. The town will grow dynamically as you buy certain castle upgrades, i.e. no matter what order you buy the upgrades in the town will gradually develop as you invest in the castle.

5. A few small quests to take advantage of the castle's resources or make deals with traveling merchants. As the castle is upgraded surplus tax revenue will go up as the town expands and you are able to exact rents and tolls.

6. Three more quests which will add upgrades to the castle and give you the opertunity to increase your fame/infamy score by a couple of points.

7. Hopefully not a lot else, becuase I alrealy have no idea how to do half of this.

Basically, this is like a model trainset for me, I've been quietly and incrementally adding to it as hobby and now it has reached a sort of critical mass where I feel like I should add quests and dialogue. I really have no ETA at this point, but I thought I'd share.

More pictures to follow when I have time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very cool, and I'd dust off my Oblivion game to have a run at this any day. Your description of it has a very Crossroads Keep feeling to it, the only good thing to ever come from NWN2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very cool' date=' and I'd dust off my Oblivion game to have a run at this any day. Your description of it has a very Crossroads Keep feeling to it, the only good thing to ever come from NWN2.[/quote']Thanks.Crossroads Keep is definately the model here, though it'll probably feel more like The Vigil from DA: Awakening now that've played that. I particularly liked "holding court" in Awakening and it would be nice to add a little bit of "feudal management" to the castle.I have a couple of ideas on thatI want to try to spoil as little as possible, but I fear this thread may include many instances of "how do you..."The basic idea is not to have wide ranging quests at new locations, I have two ideas for quests that visit existing ones, but instead to build up the castle and the characters there.So, you get upgrades like the "basic" servants that include the maids, groom, gardener and huntsmen, as well as seperate ones for the quartermaster, the mage, librarian, you can restore the chapel and contract a priest... These will be the sorts of things that will build up the town or open up improvements to the castle.So, for example, if you have the quartermaster you can then get a little quest from the master huntsman and then you can buy poisen arrows, or talk to the mage and have specialist ingrediants imported from over the border.Then there are "vanity" upgrades, like commissioning a tomb for Lord Kain or gifting unique books like the Mythic Dawn Commentaries to your library to raise your own prestige.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, I would like Dwip to weigh in on this rather nasty conflict with AFK Weye.th_Hammergate3.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Sigurd - I forget precisely how the land goes around there, but the easy way would seem to be moving Publius' farm there across the road near where the M-> marker is (or near where the big rock is on the other road). The main thing you need to be careful of is the four Legion guys who spawn in the sheep enclosure - they need to be far, far away from your NPCs, or else Bad Things will occur during the inevitable showdown there.(Though, on second thought, the biggest problem you're facing is that Publius' farm is overrun with persistent refs and is a major quest stage location with a big fight scene. So maybe it IS easier to move you and not me. Samson's the patch guy, though.)@Hanaisse - It's not like Battlehorn is impossible to get these days, last I checked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Sigurd - I forget precisely how the land goes around there' date=' but the easy way would seem to be moving Publius' farm there across the road near where the M-> marker is (or near where the big rock is on the other road). The main thing you need to be careful of is the four Legion guys who spawn in the sheep enclosure - they need to be far, far away from your NPCs, or else Bad Things will occur during the inevitable showdown there.(Though, on second thought, the biggest problem you're facing is that Publius' farm is overrun with persistent refs and is a major quest stage location with a big fight scene. So maybe it IS easier to move you and not me. Samson's the patch guy, though.)[/quote']I see basic options:1. Integrate the two mods, bring Publius' farm within the stockade, this is the best option from the point of view of maintaining the logical coherence of the area, as otherwise the stockade needs to bow inwards rather awkwardly inwards. Publius' farm would need to move to the empty space on the eastern side of the stockade, my NPC's would need AI packages to stay inside while the ambush is happening, or to go to the inn, and I'd have to kill the guards, but they respawn.None of this presents a huge problem for me, but the map marker would need to move, which likely requires a cleanup quest. Alternatively, we could just disable the map marker as it is redundant in this case.2. Move Publius' farm to the T-junction where the road to Battlehorn meets the main road. This presents it's own issues. The palisade needs to bow inwards, there is a farm just outside the stockade when everyone else is inside, which undermines part of my quest where you need to reapir the palisdae in order for the farmers to feel safe and you're still likely to attract the two guards anyway.I'll mock up both visually so we can have a look at the options.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, totally contradicting the thrust of what I previously said: I tweaked my palisade so that pretty much all of Cadicus farm sans actual farm house was outside it.I move the farm forward, rotate it -26 degrees and changed out the door.th_Hammergate4.jpgAcceptable?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whatever makes you happy, though it does seem a little strange to have it JUST outside the palisade. If we're being all logical, it does sort of make sense to have it inside the palisade somehow. But it's really up to you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whatever makes you happy' date=' though it does seem a little strange to have it JUST outside the palisade. If we're being all logical, it does sort of make sense to have it inside the palisade somehow. But it's really up to you.[/quote']Well, maybe he's a crazy old man who lives just outside the palisade because he's not scared of the wolves?I dunno, I'm just trying to disrupt the two mods as little as possible. Moving him inside the palisade does require redoing all those fences you built, as it is all I did was move the farmhouse.I'll have another stab at it tomorrow, right now I'm doing object scripts. I don't feel like more landscaping at this time of night.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first patch photo looks like a pretty good solution to me. Even when you have gated castle villages, not all of the farmhouses are inside the gates.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if we're all happy with that the next, and much more awkward, question is what the fuck to do about Verona House Bloodlines' Abandoned Prison

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Before attempt at patching: th_Hammergate5.jpgAfter: th_Hammergate6.jpgThe landscape and finding space are not the problem. The issue is that the landscape is higher, both the guard and the mapmarker are below the height of the land. This implies that bothe player and the guard are in danger of falling through the world.Quite how to handle this, I don't know. But I'm assuming it requires a "wrapping" quest that updates when the Verona House quest does.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not really. It would just require some creative persistent object swapping. I'd have to check, but I'm pretty sure the prison is always accessible. If not though, then yes, the VHB quest would require patching to see to it the right door and map marker are handled.That gets super ugly super fast though if you run into people who aren't using the fixed version I released because there could be as many as 5 different versions of this thing floating around out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not really. It would just require some creative persistent object swapping. I'd have to check' date=' but I'm pretty sure the prison is always accessible. If not though, then yes, the VHB quest would require patching to see to it the right door and map marker are handled.

That gets super ugly super fast though if you run into people who aren't using the fixed version I released because there could be as many as 5 different versions of this thing floating around out there.[/quote']Like I said, the map marker and the guard, both of whom are below the terrain are potential issues, swapping out the door was a doddle.Anyway, I need to take a break from modding to do some actual work now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

OK, quick update.I have spent the last few days scripting the battle for the castle, nothing very elaboarte but it should give you a sense that maybe the defenders of the castle feel like you might deserve to just have a Barony land in your lap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

OK...So the battle is 90% done, there being just one final little tweek to make it flow better. This has been almost as frustrating as I was expecting, which is saying something.So now:1. There is an actual quest to aquire the castle, with actual stages.2. You actually have to start the quest, no more magic rumour!3. As a side effect of this, it is possible to visit Battlehorn Castle prior to the battle and meet Lord Kelvyn.Now, on to parenting all that new clutter and setting up the scripts for the reciepts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...