Announcing Tataraba: A Princess Mononoke Mod for Dominions 4

I am very pleased to unveil a project I’ve worked on for some time — a Dominions 4 mod inspired by the classic anime movie Princess Mononoke! The mod is fully playable, although it doesn’t yet have its own sprites, and balance remains a work in progress. It adds one new Late Era faction, Tataraba, whose features are below:

– New units! Tataraba’s bread and butter is the Riflewoman, a slightly better version of the basic crossbowman with two key advantages – she does double damage to magic creatures, and she is fanatically loyal to her cause. Other Tataraban soldiers wield grenades, grenade launcher-style Ishibiya, or flamethrowers that can scorch whole squares full of enemies. Stealthy Jibashiri hunters can infilitrate enemy provinces and use their blowpipes, grenades, and rifles to pick off unwary defenders. Lepers’ afflictions make them poor soliders, but they inspire friendly units in the same squad.

– Mages with forge bonuses and drain immunity!

– New spell! Sick of enemies sneaking through your provinces? Construct Glider allows players to field an unarmed scout with flight, stealth, a patrol bonus, and immortality (representing the pilot flying out of danger).

– New national pretender! The Godkiller is a human air/earth/fire mage armed with an ishibiya; she is a superb leader in battle and freespawns riflewomen every month in which she is in her own dominion.

– Some weaknesses! While Tataraba has devastating ranged weapons, it lacks cavalry (and dedicated melee units), heavy armour, and powerful mages.

Download the current version of the mod (0.05) here. Install by placing the contents of the zip file in your c:\users\your name\app data\roaming\dominions 4\mods folder. Enjoy the mod, and suggestions are welcome!