A rebalance mod, aiming to get the maximum enjoyment from the game while changing as little as possible.

Includes some mods by other people (Orcs, More Realistic Plants and Engravings). Orcs and Plants were further modified.

Also included some Excel development spreadsheets which automate certain mod development tasks and so might be interesting for other mod developers (or not ).

Changelog follows:

Races.
* added orcs from 3rd party mod with some modifications.
* rebalanced goblins and kobolds.
* split elves into three cultures: noldor, teleri and laikwendi.
* split humans into six cultures: humans, zeevolks, varyags, nomads, eskimo and berbers.
* split dwarves into two cultures: dwarves (vanilla) and duergar (evil isolationist).
Civilizations.
* orcs (orcs race). brutal technologically advanced warriors, using mostly heavy weapons.
* goblins (goblins race). average evil race, will kidnap.
* kobolds (kobolds race). skulking thieves, mostly use blowguns and stilettoes (will not deal great damage, but critical chance is very high so beware!).
* noldor (noldors race). town race, prefer mountains. technologically advanced elves (no steel though).
* teleri (teleri race). town race, prefer ocean coasts. prefer lesser metals but have access to all animals and will send a liaison, so they are great to request exotic pets from.
* laikwendi (elves race). essentially feral elves from vanilla DF with some cultural modifications. they have access to some really lethal arrows though.
* imperials (humans race). essentially vanilla humans from DF. they have a piercing short sword which dwarves can order but cannot manufacture themselves.
* ganza (zeevolks race). merchant cities, usually located on coasts and rivers.
* varyags (varyags race). proud warriors and sailors of the north. they favour two-handed weapons for their punch.
* nomads (nomads race). warriors of the steppes, may be quite dangerous with their bows. they favour weaker metals though.
* eskimo (eskimo race). rarely appears in the coldest areas of the map, and even if they appear they rarely survive. a primitive northern race.
* berbers (berbers race). a skulking culture to complement kobolds. will send thieves and raiding parties.
* dwarves (dwarves race). essentially vanilla dwarves from DF.
* duergars (duergars race). evil isolationist variety of vanilla dwarves with minor mental and cultural modifications. they usually start as hostile to every other race so play them to get nearly-constant attacks and sieges.
Items.
* ammo: added some variety for blowguns and crossbows. added higher-damage arrows for laikwendi.
* shields: added tower shield (dwarves cannot produce but can import and use).
* toys: expanded list of toys to better reflect cultural differences between civs.
* weapons: totally rebalanced, added practise weapons (very low damage) and primitive axes/hammers/spears (can be manufactured from stone).
Minerals and Metals.
* added anthracite coal (appears in veins inside metamorphic layers).
* added reactions to convert petrified wood and graphite to coke.
* generally rebalanced coal to produce more coke (rich coals now produce 3, poor coals produce 2).
* added and modified a number of alloys.
* heavily modified steel production reactions - there are now two variants of how to produce steel, one needs more flux another has lower productivity.
* a number of reactions now requires catalytic components (they are used up with 5% probability).
* added mithril as a second deep ore. adamantium is now great for weapons while mithril is great for armor.
* rebalanced price, damage and block coeffs for all metals.
* flint is now a sharp stone like obsidian. however only primitive weapons can be produced from stone so resulting damage coefficient is about 66% IIRC.
Plants.
* added plants from 3rd party mod with some modifications (mostly prices for plants and products).
Shapes.
* added a huge number of shapes from 3rd party mod for greater variety.