Fall from Heaven 2 – Ashes of Erebus Features
It’s hard to know for an outsider where the Ashes of Erebus content begins and where the content from the various modmods ends, so I’m not going to try to make the distinction. On top of the base Fall from Heaven 2 features, explored above, you get the following:
- Broader alignments so that alignment isn’t tied solely to religion; there are a number of ways to influence your civ’s alignment (building things, razing cities, creating units…).
- An additional alignment axis for every leader. In addition to the Good – Evil axis, there’s also the Chaotic – Lawful axis. This stems from the popular alignment system of D&D, giving nine possible alignment designations
- More civs and leaders, including lizardmen and the undead (“fallow”, as they’re called in-game).
- “Minor” and “Emergent” leaders, which allow leaders to grow as their civilisation does.
- More terrain and unique features.
- More explorable lairs, which may provide a reward or awaken some malevolent force.
- Worker promotions which allows, for example, increasing their work rate.
- More responsive artwork e.g. due to differences in civ and religion.
- Ranged warfare.
- Extra mana types.
- Improved flavour starts (so your civ ends up near lore-friendly terrain) and map options.
- Many more units and buildings.
- Balance and stability improvements.
- Multiple barbarian factions – barbarians, animals, and demons.
- Cultural control so that forts generate culture for your civ.
- Commander/minion mechanics between Great Commanders and chosen units (which gain bonuses from the relationship).
I’m sure there are many more that haven’t been well-documented. It may only be possible to tell by making an exhaustive comparison to the base mod (either by playing or combing through any source code); the best way to tell whether you prefer Ashes of Erebus over the base FfH2 is to play it!
It’s worth noting that this is still a mod in development; there are still game-breaking bugs (albeit rare) and there is still content in-the-works. This practically goes without saying, though; mods are rarely “finished”, per se.
