The Tain

I always wondered how Myth would feel/play if it took a similar approach to other strategy games : multiple playable races on multi player matches.

And the closest I will probably get is Five Kingdoms. And I found it to be an excellent plugin. A very good one indeed.

Five Kingdoms' biggest and most important feature is, of course, the 5 unique "races" that are playable at each map. Each one of them has a different unit set and playing style.

Humans are your typical Jack of all trades. They are very flexible, having a good all round unit set. Interesting enough, they have 2 types of mage: Ice and Fire, and the combined use of both can prove to be lethal.

Goblins are somewhat similar to humans and they have the almighty Dragona. But their units are weaker then the norm (compensated by more numbers) and some of them go berserk/out of control under certain situations.

The Undead rely on huge numbers of weak meele units and the unique Necromancer, who has a guard of stygs and can convert some enemy units. They also got the great ghost mortar and fetch, but they lack a standard missile unit like archers.

Dwarves are all about resistance and huge amounts of HP.The Giant Golem is a perfect example of this doctrine. They can take great amounts of beating and dish out the same in return, specially because they get lots of explosive units. Their weakness is the overall lack of mobility and attack speed.

Finally the Elves, which are in some ways the opposite of dwarves and undead. They get few units on most cases, but they are the creme de la creme in regards to accuracy and speed. Their play style involves hit and run, guerrilla tactics. They have the longest ranged attack via the Elven Mage and can play the "keep away" game easily. Unfortunately, the elves lack a artillery unit, so it's hard to dish good damage in a short period of time.

With that said, what truly sets this plugin aside from others is the fact that it's creator, Phex, went beyond common thinking and used many features from the upgraded Myth 2 game engine that few map makers cared to use.

These include things like Morale, which adds a new dimension to the battles. Having or not a morale units can mean victory or defeat; scripted events on some maps, like dead units resurrecting as ghosts; and a slave-master mechanic to a couple of units.

The maps are other great thing about this plugin. The color maps, though not made by Phex (I think), are all of high quality (A special mention to Elfwood... beautiful landscape and a new game play mechanic as well).

If there's something negative about Five Kingdoms, it's probably game balance. With 5 different factions, achieving perfect balance would be impossible, specially when I don't know anybody who beta tested it. Coupled with the fact the Myth players are spoiled by equal units teams, you can expect lots of bithcing (which I already witnessed personally).

But in the end what really matters is that if it's fun. And man, yes it is. Bringing different gameplay mechanincs to FFA maps is a big plus for me, and the great variety of units and maps just makes this a must download.

Get it and give it a try. You probably won't regret it.

Phex did very well with this plugin. This uses The Seventh God units, but I enjoy playing the net maps on this more than The Seventh God net maps. The only thing lacking is the lack of multiple solo/coop missions. Hey Phex how about making a new plugin that has a solo/coop campaign for each of the five kingdoms!

great concept, with lots of units to play around with...