Destiny of an Emperor- Ludmeister's Remix v3.0, rev. 1 http://jeffludwig.com/doae/ ********************************************************* This patch kit will convert a stock version of Destiny of an Emperor to Destiny of an Emperor-Ludmeister's Remix v3.0. Here's exactly what this will accomplish: This mod aims to improve the gameplay of Destiny of an Emperor. The result is almost an entirely new game! Battles are designed to be more decisive, tipping in favor of the more powerful/smarter army much faster. Tactician heavy armies are designed to be more viable (and more necessary) over a long march, though it is also helpful to have distinctly warrior-ish officers too. Difficulty is increased slightly, though several castle battles are designed to be rather nasty. The end of the game is designed to give players a hefty challenge. This mod offers a significantly different experience than any of the previous versions of the Remix. I have meticulously retooled various game variables again, and include numerous changes by others. This verison of the mod would not have been possible if not for the inspiration and expertise of many contributors over LordYuanShu forums. MiDKnighT, especially, provided the hacking wizardry behind the 8 tactics improvement, as well the coding of many new tactics, and the added number of soldier progressions for officers that receive level ups. I'd like to thank Sonic Penguin for allowing me to use his excellent officer portraits to enhance the gaming experience, and for DragonAtma's pixel art in updating the DoaE font. Thanks to LordYuanShu himself for providing the excellent forum, and a huge shout-out to Niahak for continuing to make Destiny of an Editor ever more awesome, without which the Remix would not have been attempted. Thank you to Zhuge Liang also, for his encouragement and for being a great motivator. It's fun to hang around with a group of modders such as these folks, who know a good game when they see it ;-) Notice, effective March 1st, 2012 ****************************************************************************** For this release and all new releases, I am discontinuing the use of IPS2EXE to create patches that can be applied without an IPS patching program. These executable patches set off certain virus and malware scanners. Version 3.0, Rev. 1 Changelog ********************************************************* * Fixed a critical stack overflow bug which caused battles to freeze (thanks MiDKnighT). Version 3.0 Changelog ********************************************************* * Tactics have, again, been overhauled. MiDKnighT from Yuan Shu forums has contributed some very powerful new gameplay strategies by coding Duel, Life/Arise, as well as Berserk and Protect tactics. The Berserk tactic can break through an enemy Vanish tactic! * Sonic Penguin has allowed me the use of his graphical wizardry, and Ludmeister's Remix features many of his officer portraits. Many officer's sprites have also been changed to their DoaE2 equivalents. * Experience is gained quicker in Shu, Wu, and especially in Wei, over-against v2.0 of the Remix. * The difficulty curve has been changed. The game is a bit easier to start out, but gets progressively nastier in Shu. Wu is quite difficult, and Wei may take some patience. You'll need those levels! * Every allied officer has a Base Armor Class, which is based off of their level. Higher Str officers tend to have better Base AC's. Armor is now no substitute for talented officers, who are experienced in battle. Base AC is capped at 100. The best Armor is AC 90, and the best Helmet is AC 50. * There are several pieces of equipment that allow an extra attack when equipped. Those are: Longbow, Flame Bow, YouYuu Bow, Talon Sword, Assassin Dagger, Master Robe, and Hermes Cap. * Most every officer can learn at least one tactic. The less Int an officer has, the more physically oriented his tactics are. * Every officer brings their own set of tactics to battle, just like in v2.0. But now, but the strategist has been made totally obsolete. Now you don't have to keep one high-Int officer out of battle at all times to use tactics. * Officers may "Defend" and in so doing, can regain a small number Tactic Points (credit: MiDKnighT). * Directly offensive tactics and healing tactics are significantly more effective as your army gains experience levels. Additionally, fire, lightning and healing tactics are bolstered by a high Int stat. The Skirmish, Archery, and Destroy tactics are bolstered by Str and Agi (credit: MiDKnighT). * Lightning tactics (which replace Water tactics), as well as Skirmish and Archery, automatically succeed in hitting all opponents (credit: MiDKnighT). * Whenever someone in your army learns a tactic, the army gains a flat 8 TP bonus. There's no random variance. * Upper-end tactics cost quite a bit more. * The arsenal of DoaE has been expanded, and now there are 31 weapons, 9 armors, and 8 helmets! * Added two new weapon shops that you can find across China: One in Hu Lao Guan, and the other in Cheng Du! * Added several places where you can change officers, and several places where you can save your game. Also added one inn at Chen Liu fortress. * While in an officer's Item screen, you can enter multiple commands before you return to traveling. This is extremely helpful for reorganizing your backpack, and equipping multiple items. * Many textual edits have been introduced. While the storyline has not changed, there are some new surprises in store for players of earlier versions of the Remix! * There is a small chance after every victorious battle that your army will receive spoils from the enemy (above the normal experience and gold reward). * Items are sold back to stores at half the normal rate (new rate is 37.5%). * The font used in-game has been meticulously recrafted. There are new icons describing all weapons and tactics! Also, the game's palette has been minorly tweaked (design credit: DragonAtma and myself) * All officers have been rebalanced due to the widespread changes to the arsenal and the tactic list. * Roving forces have been powered up, especially the later you go in the game. * Bugfix: fixed the instant KILL of Guo Si if you attempt to cancel the leader's orders in battle. Version 2.0, Rev. 2 Changelog ********************************************************* * The Haste tactic can increase the number of agility-based bonus strikes executed by a general, and protect against being struck multiple times by opposing generals. * Fixed a typo or two. Version 2.0, Rev. 1 Changelog ********************************************************* * Fixed an issue with auto-equipped items in the beginning the game not also giving attack and defensive values. Version 2.0 Changelog ********************************************************* * Officers can have 8 tactics in their repertoire! * Tactics have been meticulously rebalanced (who learns them, when they are learned, etc.). No tactic is learned at levels 7, 17, 19, 29, and 34, and the final tactic is learned at level 36. * It now requires 150 INT to learn tactics in Liu Bei's army, and all users of tactics can be tactician. * Every officer brings their own set of tactics to battle, and *not* the strategist's! This will make the make-up of your fighting party more important, and make your choice of tactician less important (as they only provide the TP to power your officer's skills). * If an officer has less than 150 INT, they will not be able to use tactics in battle. No more uber-powerful Zhang Fei healing tactics... * Agility is now every bit as primary a statistic as Strength and Intelligence. It provides the possibility of granting bonus attacks against forces that are slower than the attacker. If the difference is significant enough, the attacker may make two or more extra attacks! As the game progresses, having a low Agility will definitely be detrimental to your health... * Many officers (about 50) level up, and almost all of them have their own progression. There are 6 starting values for these progressions (80, 100, 125, 160, 200, and 250). * Many officers have all new (well, sorta) portraits, taken from Capcom's excellent sequel, Destiny of an Emperor 2. * Numerous battle messages have been shortened or made more punchy, meaning you won't have to mash the "A" button much as the round of battle progresses. It also means that if you're wanting to direct a battle via savestate... you'll generally to do it a round of battle at a time. * Subtle changes were made to the experience curve, as well as the amount of experience and gold gained per battle. * Fixed a bug in Version 1.0 and 1.1 that leveled your army from 50 to 53 if you saved the Ji Zhou priest's free level up until your army couldn't level up anymore. Maximum level is now 51 again, as Capcom originally intended. * Fixed a few textual anomalies that were present in Version 1.0 and 1.1. Version 1.1 Changelog ********************************************************* * Edited the tactic's learning order and priorities. This makes endgame battles much more interesting as any tactician having 210+ Intelligence features useful tactics that provide viable attack strategies (though higher Intelligence generally yields more surefire strategies). Version 1.0 Changelog ********************************************************* * A general's status screen shows their AGI, and not T.P. If you want to know if they can be a tactician, they will have Tactics listed (after Level 1, of course). * Soldier graphs in battle are improved (Full length of green bar depicts about 64000 soldiers). * The palette for Character sprites have been tweaked slightly. I'm not a fan of pink. * All tactics have been given an English name. I wouldn't call them "translations" because I don't know Chinese... I merely described the tactic in English. In addition, the names of several weapons and armors have been edited. * Item disappearing bug is fixed. * Many more generals gain soldiers at army level up. Many Generals have different stats. * Liu Bei can recruit Yuan Shao during chapter 4 (where Zhou Cang was recruited). Zhou Cang is recruited at Luo Yang, in place of Wang Gui. Yuan Shang is the nemesis for Chapter 4. Doesn't make sense... I know. * Can recruit Lu Meng after fighting Sun Quan, and Zhang He after defeating Cao Pei at Ru Nan. * Unbilletable generals Zhuge Liang, Lu Bu, Zhang Bao, and Guan Xing are now billetable. * Food is consumed a bit slower now (x/1600, min. 1) * All Items (excepting elixirs) cost more. * Attack damage is much more randomized. Critical hits are more devastating. * Power of Weapons/Armor/Tactics are heavily modified. Water tactic #2 attacks whole party. * Gain 5-8 TP per level. TP cost for most tactics reduced. Regularly using Tactics is a viable strategy now, and sometimes essential! * Attack damage calculation is heavily modified. Specifically, the size of an officer's army is much more important in determining casualties inflicted. Before, a general's effective Strength was determined by calculating: Strength * (digits(army size) ^ 2). In other words, if a 250 STR general with 500 soldiers attacked, his effective Strength would have been 2250 (250 * 9). Ludmeister's Remix calculates the Strength multiplier differently, based on a stair-step approach, as shown below. Army size (soldiers) Strength multiplier (x = army size) 1 to 255 (x / 32) + 1 256 to 2047 (x / 128) + 7 2048 to 8191 (x / 256) + 15 8192 to max (x / 1024) + 39 Hence, when outnumbered, using brute force will likely result in the good guys getting routed. At times like that, Intellect and the correct tactics will be very important to victory. To convert your Destiny of an Emperor ROM: ********************************************************* The following applies this and all future releases of the Ludmeister's Remix Destiny of an Emperor mod. 0. First of all, you will need to obtain a clean NES ROM of Destiny of an Emperor. You are on your own for this step, as it is illegal to provide ROMs of copyrighted material. There are sites that do provide this ROM though, and you should be able to obtain it. 1. When you get it, make a backup of it if you would want to play the stock version, play another mod, or, in case I post an updated version of the mod here... I am not going to make version 1.0 to "version whatever" patches for my mods, for instance. 2. Download the Ludmeister's Remix mod. 3. Use the IPS patching program of your choice to apply the .ips patch to the correct ROM. As I use IPS XP (http://home.arcor.de/minako.aino/ipsXP/) to create my patches, I recommend using this program to patch your ROM. 4. I hope you enjoy it!