Ancient TW3 - Roman Wars

[macsen rufus]

As per posts in another thread, I can report that I've made progress on the resurrected Britannia 43AD :2thumbsup: It will be bundled into a new package which also contains the Punic Wars scenario, in line with the new policy of smaller installs with more features. This means I can free up some of the animation folders for extra units (eventually...)

It's not coming out quite like the long lost original -- I think it will be better :laugh4:

In all there are 19 factions, mostly Celtic tribes in Britain, plus a couple of pre-Celtic peoples (Cruithne and Novantae in the far north), Batavians in Germania Inferior, and the all-important Romans, of course.

There's still a lot of translation to do, and new faction shields (for instance the Demetae still think they're Egyptians, despite the celtic unit roster), but it is working, and the various tribes are nicely engaging in the internecine warfare that allowed the Romans to gain a foothold.

Anyway, here's a few tasters for you:

Campaign select screen:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l148/macsen_rufus/00000003-1.jpg

Atrebates start screen:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l148/macsen_rufus/00000004.jpg

New provinces added to the map:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l148/macsen_rufus/00000002.jpg

[dimitrios the samian]

Another brilliant addition Mac ....
Definately worthy of a new backdrop !! and plenty of bif/buf image pillage from RTW ... :laugh4:

[Tratorix]

Wow, this is the mod that just keeps on goin' isn't it?

Now, if only I could tear myself away from EB so I could play it more. :sweatdrop:

[Wladyslaw IV]

Wow, this mod just gets better and better! Good work macsen rufus. :book:

[Hound of Ulster]

nifty.

Now if you could do a Warring States (China) mod.............

[seireikhaan]

Now if you could do a Warring States (China) mod.............
That would be sweet, but alas, also incredibly difficult, and would definitely need to be its own mod.

[macsen rufus]

I'll check my diary for 2011 ~D

The big job for a Chinese scenario would be units - I did have thoughts about making an add-on to fit into Samurai, but I'm not sure how "authentic" the unit animations would be. Isn't someone already working on a Three Kingdoms mod though? :inquisitive:

Anyway, I will be busy enough with Britannia for a while. I've corrected the name lists now, so Welsh factions look Welsh, Scottish factions look Scottish etc etc. There are still royal names to do, but I'm compiling lists of known royalty and heroes, and so far I have implemented Caratacus (an essential feature of South-east England in 43AD :2thumbsup: but he did get around a bit, spending time with the Catuvellauni where he originated, then the Ordovices and Silures and eventually ran off to the Brigantes who turned him over to the Romans....)

I've also decided to add one last faction, the Red Branch of Ulster, so Ireland will now be contested a bit, and it will have the FN_07 slot, for raiding bonuses, and a few well known heroes like Cuchullain :2thumbsup:

So the 20 factions will be:

I = Indigenous/pre-Celtic, B = Belgic/Brythonic, G = Gaelic

1 - Hibernii (G)
2 - Corieltauvi (B)
3 - Brigantes (B)
4 - Cruithne (I)
5 - Atrebates (B)
6 - Rome
7 - Craobh Ruadh (Red Branch) (I)
8 - Ordovices (G)
9 - Silures (I)
10 - Batavians (Germanic)
11 - Caledonii (I + G)
12 - Iceni (B)
13 - Demetae (G)
14 - Deceangli (G)
15 - Catuvellauni (B)
16 - Dubonni (B)
17 - Durotriges (B)
18 - Parisi (B)
19 - Venicones (G)
20 - Novantae (I)

The Gaelic and Brythonic division I've used is to distinguish between different waves of Celtic settlement of Britain, not real ethnicities per se - "G" equates to Iron Age A culture, and "B" covers both IA B and IA C. As the Caledonii were a federation rather than a tribe they get access to indigenous and Gaelic troop rosters.

I will be cleaning out unused units, as the RW prod_files still contain all the previous units from the Bronze Age and eastern campaigns, then I can see which animations are then unused, and get on with making extra units. So far there are about 70 units available across all factions, but some are not yet implemented pending research on Roman auxilliary units that came to Britain (and yes, Claudius did actually bring 12 elephants with him ~D). I need to convert the Hastati/Principes/Triarii into Legionaries (80-man units), and will include a "First Cohort" option for a double-century of 160 men. Germanic Heavy Cavalry will be recruitable in Germania Inferior, along with the Batavian auxilliaries that were so effective, eg in Ynys Mon where they swam the Menai Straits in order to massacre the Druids.

Roman auxilliaries (and initially legionaries) will be recruitable only through Belgica (to represent reinforcements coming from the rest of the empire), except British and German ones, obviously. Legionaries will need a legionary HQ or similar, so the Romans will have to take places like Deva and Eboracum to recruit new legionaries.

Victory conditions will match the maximum extent of historical Roman occupation.

[Hound of Ulster]

A highly professional Chinese mod team did a 3Kingdoms mod for RTW and started a Warring States mod, but the Warring States mod died. The 3Kingdoms mod's most stable version (at least for me) is a paritly translated 1.3 version. Portraits, unit sprites, and some traits might be difficult, but it might be doable.

[macsen rufus]

Progress over the weekend: I've mostly been working on Ireland, but I've also added in new animations for Roman legionaries and Batavian auxilliaries, and finally moved away from the anachronistic hastati/prinicpes/triarii line-up that I'd used just to get it going. Includes a "First Cohort" option for recruiting double-centuries.

Roman roster so far:

Legionaries (80 man century, 2-yr training)
Legionaries (First Cohort) (160 man double century, 3 yr training)
Equites (BG unit)
Sagitarii
Gallic auxilliaries (Belgica and Lugdunensis only)
Batavi auxilliaries (Germania Inferior only - yes, you have to beat the Batavians first :2thumbsup: )
German Heavy Cavalry (Germania Inferior only)
Catapults (working with crew from new animation)
Gastraphetes (I still need to find the correct Latin name....)
Oxivolos (to be implemented, and renamed, some variety of ballista, anyway...)

There will be more auxilliaries in due course, some will be province-related not as they were local, but where they were stationed - eg Hamian (Syrian) archers will be available from Lothene, as they were stationed on Hadrian's Wall. Use of auxilliaries has a certain hidden cost :devil:

Ireland:

Two factions - the Hibernii, now starting in Munster and Laigin, and the Craobh Ruadh starting in Ulaidh (Ulster). There's a range of troops available only to the Irish factions:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l148/macsen_rufus/irish_units.jpg

Some of the units are more widely available, the panel shows:

Tribal warriors
Tribal chariots (will be replaced with something specific to get a different dismount option later)
Tribal spears
Heavy slingers
Riglach - "Royal champions" - the heavy infantry
Gaiscedach - cognate with gaesetae for continental Celts
Feinnid Cleideb - sword-warband (if my Gaellic grammar is wrong please correct, someone ~D)
Oglach - "Young Heroes" - effectively the young warriors out to prove themselves, armed with spears and darts (set up with javelins at present til I check projectilestats), and as "raiders" they are experts in concealment and surprise :2thumbsup:

Plus, not showing here, Tribal Horsemen, and Matarisae (Celtic pikes)

I'm also considering a couple of "regional units" - Gamanrad cavalry in Connaught, and Nasc Niadh in Munster (unit type to be decided, but probably another elite infantry, anyway...)

I'm also planning some additions to the build_prod, too, including a vicus - a native village "attached" to a Roman fort.

[Hound of Ulster]

sweet.

Are Cu Cuchuailan and Medb going to be heroes for the two Irish factions?

[macsen rufus]

:yes: Mebd, CuChullain, Fergus (which side, though :laugh4: ), Conchubar, Loeg .... all that I can glean. Actually, hate to say it, but I'm beginning to get yearnings to do an Ireland-only campaign map and do a full-blown Tain war campaign.... let's see, maybe for 2013? ~D

I know the Tain has roots in the Bronze Age, but it has been added to over the centuries, and glossed and Christianised (though not as badly as other mythologies were, the Irish monks were more faithful recorders of folklore than some other scribes, though I think we can take Fionn's resurrection and conversion with a BIG pinch of salt :laugh4: )

Anyway, a bit of trawling online dictionaries has convinced me to correct some spellings (or use a different transliteration/anglicization) of some of the Gaelic:

Riglaoich - "Royal champions" (sing. Riglaoch)
Gaiscedaich
Oglaoich - "Young Heroes" (now with darts instead of javelins)

and there are also:

Carbadan (chariots) dismount as Riglaoich, but only for sieges
Marcaichean (horsemen) (sing. Marcach)

And a quick peek at some of the new units in action:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l148/macsen_rufus/new_animations.jpg

[axel]

looking great mate :2thumbsup:

[russia almighty]

A kick ass Irish unit would be those super heavily armored spearmen that EB has a regional.

[macsen rufus]

A couple more screenies;

New legionaries:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l148/macsen_rufus/new-legionaries.jpg

New catapult crew:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l148/macsen_rufus/new-catapult.jpg


I also had a look through the auxiliary detachments attested in Britain, and have decided to add about 5-6 different cavalry alae, and 7-8 infantry cohorts. The "Roman" version of the German Heavy Cavalry is now renamed as "Cohort Batavorum equitata" (I think, I might have stuck with Ala Batavorum in the end, but the Batavians did come as a mixed cohort, hence the "cohort ... equitata" notation), plus there will be Nervii, Pannonians, Asturians and another Celtic tribe whose name I forgot overnight ~D Infantry auxilia will include Gallorum from belgica, someone else from Lugdunensis, Batavorum of course (already implmented - just a name change), Thracum (will make them light infantry), Hamian Archers for when Hadrian's Wall is built, Classica (marines), Vasconum (Basque) heavy spearmen.

I've managed to change most of the fort names to something "in period" across most of the mainland - Pouis is proving difficult, but we now have strongholds like Deva, Aquae Sulis, Durnovaria, Canovium, Camulodunum, Coriosopitum, and (of course ~D) Ratae Corieltavorum.

@RA - yes, I was thinking of some sort of heavy spears for the Nasc Niadh - I haven't got EB loaded up yet, though, but I can check their website for details of that unit :2thumbsup:

[Hound of Ulster]

the Roman helmets look kinda wierd.

I can't wait to play as the Red Branch.:jawdrop:

[macsen rufus]

the Roman helmets look kinda wierd

They do a bit, but it's about the closest available animation, really. I could probably find a more realistic helmet in there somewhere, but then the armour would be more wrong.... and it also matches with the animations for gastraphetes and oxivolos, so the same look applies across the "Roman" units..... and no, I'm not creating any new ones ~D I'm using the "old" Roman animation (which has the outdated helmet types) for some of the auxilia.

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l148/macsen_rufus/new_auxilia.jpg

[Hound of Ulster]

whatever works.

[axel]

Hi Macsen,
About the three kingdoms china mod Raz isn t doing the mod anymore see:

Raz
User of Unused Smilies





Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: If I stay behind this wall for a few seconds, my bullet wounds will heal!
Posts: 271 Re: The Romance of The Three Kingdoms.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry to say this - It's what every mod will probably go through at least once - But I don't think I'll be able to finish this.

I'm not going to sugar-coat it, I just can't be bothered, that and several other things. Some modding related, some more to do with my life away from the PC. I haven't worked on this for quite a little while, and in that time I've learned a few extra things about modding, structural things that would require me to start from square one. I think I might've promised too much, sorry to say.

Unlikely true, but I'll suggest it anyway... I would be very happy to see this project done - if someone would like to pick this project up I'd be glad to hand-over what I've done and you can take it from there. Very, very sorry to those of you expecting a release.


maybe you cane finish it somme day :2thumbsup:

I done a little googling for units and more stuff for china if you want i could mail it to you:beam:

But in the meen while i am looking forward to this wonderfull mod :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup:

[naut]

Oh wow that's lovely! Great work! Good to see you're still modding. :2thumbsup:

[macsen rufus]

Hi Rhythmic, yup, still plugging away :beam:

The Britannia scenario is still behaving a bit oddly, and I think it's going to need a lot of tweaking for the economy and AI preferences. The Romans are having trouble grasping the central idea that they are supposed to be invading Britannia, and keep getting distracted by making Belgica happy and secure. And the British factions are having trouble maintaining loyalty, so there's oodles of rebellions and re-emergences, so they're not really training armies properly, just relying on loyalist uprisings etc. I might need to make the map a bit richer, or possibly reduce the size and/or upkeep for BG units so there's some money left over for other units. I don't want to overdo it though, as the constant inter-tribal warfare makes it rather interesting if you play one of the tribes :bow:

Roman recruitment has been tweaked a bit now, so legionaries can only come from a Legionary Fortress, which can only be built in Belgica, Dere (Eboracum), Pec Saetan (Deva), Guent (Caerleon) and East Seaxe (Camulodunum). Auxilia are on a mixed system - some are regionals (eg the Gallic auxilia and alae, Batavians etc), some depend upon having a Military Port (Pannonian cav, Hispanic aux etc etc) which can only be built in a few provinces, as it depends on having a "natural harbour" first (which is indestructible and non-buildable) in those few provinces which were historically used as bases for the Roman fleets.

I still need to add in the features for allowing Britannic auxilia to be raised, but it will probably depend upon a vicus, which was a small native settlement attached to a Roman Fort and established under the 'management' of the Legion. The vici will also have some other benefits, as they did a lot to persuade locals that Roman spending power was to be welcomed, and legionaries were able to supplement their rations with more fresh foodstuffs and access other *cough* amenities *cough* etc. Besides 'Auxilia Britannorum' I also intend to add hunters and native scouts for a bit of colour....

[Hound of Ulster]

when are you shooting to release the Britiannia expansion?

[macsen rufus]

Hi Hound - it's far enough away that I don't have a date planned yet....

[Hound of Ulster]

take your time.

[macsen rufus]

I've been plugging away at Britannia over the weekend, in particular keeping an eye on how the AI handles the Romans (I've been playing as the Hibernii and Croabh Ruadh to minimise the impact of my own actions on the British mainland).

So far it seems like:
* The Romans haven't properly got the idea that they are invading Britain, though it is improving
* They really don't know how to defend the Rhine, so Germanic incursions keep knocking them back
* They have a lot of trouble with province loyalty (but that seems pretty general for all factions)

I think part of the problem is that they have no 'native' spear units, and depend on auxilia for that role - ie Batavians (which means they have to conquer Germania Inferior first) and the rather expensive Vasconians, which require other infrastructure they don't have at the start of the game. They do have one unit of Batavi at the beginning but they're stationed in Kent so they can play their historic role in defeating Caratacus...

A lot of the odd behaviour seems to be down to the number of factions - 20 factions in 40 odd provinces is a lot, and the land seems to have trouble feeding them all. I've had to make the farmlands a bit more productive, reduced a few upkeep costs and bodyguard unit sizes. Otherwise the AI factions never get any troop variety, just BGs and basic level troops (tribal warriors and slingers). So there's still a lot of stat tweaking to do, especially for unit preferences and building combination influences.

Still, I have been progressing on units: gastraphetes are now renamed as Arcuballistae, and oxyvolos are Manuballistae. I've also added in the Nasc Niadh, heavy spearmen in Munster only (after all they were the historical royal bodyguards for the Kings of Munster, and the Order still survives today, although now called the Niadh Nasc!) Oh, and did I say that the Irish version of tribal warriors has been beefed up a bit in recognition of the Irish art of 'stick-fighting'? They are now known as Àrmuinn (Irish is a very rich language when it comes to different words for "warriors" :yes: )

I've also instituted an interesting "feared unit" network between various Irish units, and beefed up the rebel provinces as well, so taking control of all Ireland is a lot harder for either of the factions...

Anyway, I'm going to have to start up yet another new campaign to test the latest changes, which should hopefully make the Romans a more convincing world-conquering power than they have been so far :2thumbsup:

Then there are more names to add - a wider variety of Gallic style names for the Belgic tribes, historical tribal kings and heroes, the Irish kings and heroes etc - and new faction shields for a lot of the tribes (the Ordovici wearing Spartan colours just looks wrong, but the aesthetics can wait for now :laugh4: - though I do have a nice collection of Celtic knots for the new ones).

One other odd one, that I've never seen before: two re-emergences in the same province :dizzy2:

[dimitrios the samian]

Good to hear its getting better Macsen ,, take your time and make it as challenging as possible ,, Im sure it will only get better as you keep tweaking .. cheers .

[macsen rufus]

I've managed to test the newest tweaks, and the campaign seems to develop in a more stable manner now - there are still loyalist uprisings and the occasional re-emergence, but the AI factions seem to have a better grip on things finally. The latest reforms of the Roman troop training facilities seems to work okay, and Caratacus has been killed once again :laugh4: I think I'm clear to get more new features in place again :2thumbsup:

[Hound of Ulster]

why don't you try giving the Romans a provience in Brittiania itself. That might kick the AI into trying to conquer the whole island.

[macsen rufus]

They already have a bridgehead in Kent, facing up to Caratacus across the Thames. Now they're acting a bit better, and sometimes they attack him, sometimes they go sideways into Sussex and whack the Atrebates.


EDIT: I've actually made a few changes to the start map that shows at the top of the thread - the Catuvellauni have an extra province, Dorset has changed from Atrebatean to Durotrigean, the Hibernii now have Munster instead of Brega, and of course the Croabh Ruadh are in Ulster.

[macsen rufus]

I've started on the new faction flags, and the Croabh Ruadh now have a more realistic "red hand" symbol... the next wee puzzle is how to persuade the Romans they really ought to train a few legionaries before they start on the catapults, and am tinkering with the personality preferences yet again. I might just change the starting buildings to make them behave more sensibly :skull:

I've also done bit of a reform on the the province titles as well, trying to improve economic and loyalty issues. Much to my utter disgust and embarrassment, it seems to be the Corieltauvi who always get wiped out first, and gave them bit of a play last night. It just looks like they're going to be one of the harder factions :laugh4:

[Hound of Ulster]

it just looks like they're going to be one of the harder factions

oh, well.

What your plans for the installation of this particular add-on for ATW?

[macsen rufus]

Well, the Corieltauvi play well enough, at least once you've identified who the major threat will be ~D I did manage to conquer most of Britain in the end, then of course, the modder's curse - had to make some tweaks and the save-game was no longer playable. You just never get to finish a campaign when you're modding :laugh4:

The install will be as part of a new release - Ancient TW3 "Roman Wars" - too much has been changed now to keep it as part of the original, which was the point behind going the separate installs route.

I've made a few more of the new faction emblems, and it's looking a bit more in-period now. The Romans still need a lot of tweaking, as the AI really doesn't have a clue on how to play that faction. In fact it's soooo bad I might even have to remove the Batavians and relegate them to "rebel" status, as the Romans really don't watch their backs. It would be a pity as the Batavians have also learnt the trick of raiding the east coast of Britain, in a nicely historical twist....

The poor performance of the Romans aside, though, the inter-tribal warfare amongst the British factions is quite a lot of fun, as they all have subtly different unit rosters. I've been giving the Ordovici a whirl over the weekend, just trying out their new logo, really ~D and had a few amazing battles. Wresting Cornwall from a Durotrigean re-emergence was a great one - 2000 vs 7000, though I had the advantage in stars (7 vs 3) and in tech (mostly v2 and +1w, +2a). It was a glorious bloodbath, to say the least, and earned my Champion a "skilled attacker" into the bargain. The Ordovici, like most of the factions with mountainous homelands, are quite restricted for cavalry, only tribal horseman and Celtic noble cavalry are available (and the nobles need the top of the line horse-breeder building - I captured one before I had been able to build one...) The BG unit is the Celtic Noble infantry, and as a perk gaesatae are available (if you can ever afford them :clown: )

[macsen rufus]

Ah, well, I broke the curse and actually took the Ordovici through to 100% victory last night, though after the 60% point it was the usual MTW steamroller effect. Still, it was fun to kick the Romans out of Britain ~D, and I had a great 3 or 4 way battle at one stage, when I bribed two out of three Atrebatean stacks in Sussex, then the Romans and the Batavians (who were rather unexpectedly allied...) also invaded.

Overall odds were about 3:1 against me and my rag-tag bunch of slingers, tribal spearmen, half a unit of Celtic noble infantry and three mounted units - covignae, tribal horsemen and Celtic noble cav. My general was the bribed three-star ex-governor, who showed up at valour 8, being very proud and very brave :beam: . The remaining Atrebates had a similar line-up, though smaller, and a no-star general, easy meat really.

I dismounted my tribal spears to spear-throwers, but saved the throwing spears for the other two armies, who were fielding a large force of Germanic heavy cavalry and equites, lots of slingers and some low-grade infantry. Luckily they retired to one corner of the map whilst I mopped up the Atrebates, then I had to march all the way back again (through the snow, no less) to deal with the larger threat.

Slingers to the fore, I started stinging them whilst my spearmen lined up beyond the tree line. Eventually the heavy cavalry let valour get the better of their discretion and they charged my slings. A quick retreat into the trees led the heavily armoured cavalry into a volley of throwing spears and a wall of pointy sticks. In the trees the Celtic noble infantry are real horse-butchers, armour piercing too, and I soon had the Batavians' top-end units routing, which cleared the field of most of the infantry as well. It was then down to the spearmen to advance to pin the remaining cavalry whilst my mounted wing flanked round the trees to clear the remaining slingers then rear-charge the two enemy generals. Rome lost her last Caesar and the Batavians stumped up a massive ransom and were forced back to the continent.

Not a bad performance for an un-teched, bribed army (I hadn't bothered reinforcing it as I thought I'd just be up against the Atrebates...). I thought I stood no chance, but I think it showed what good old tribal guile and tactics can do against an army that was far superior 'on paper'. However, it would have been a different story I'm sure if the Romans had had any legionaries on the field.....

I know, I know ... "When's it coming out?" you'll all be thinking. Well, I just got the good news that we'll be off work for Easter, so I'll have a good long stretch of time for polishing up and final tweaks, and hopefully getting an installer sorted. So maybe shortly after Easter - about a week or so, I guess, but as with all things modwise, this is an estimate rather than a promise :2thumbsup:

[macsen rufus]

A release is getting close - Britannia is working pretty much to my satisfaction, it's had bit of a presentational overhaul, more historic figures added, and the Romans are getting a bit more aggressive. There's also a wadge of new portraits and names.

Some things left to do: unlock some of the castlemaps; Auxilia Brittanorum to add, plus a couple of others; check the Punic campaign still works, and transfer some portraits across. All being well I should have an installer after the weekend :2thumbsup:

[Fenixx]

Will we be seeing my fav Warrior Queen, Boadicea or Boudicca, of the Iceni?

[macsen rufus]

:book: Now that would be telling.... anyway, you won't have long to wait to find out...

but :yes: , and Cartimandua of the Brigantes, too :2thumbsup:

[Fenixx]

Cooool! Will have the legions muster in dragon's teeth formation (or will foil them and take and sack Londinium, broooahahahahaha!!!)

[macsen rufus]

Well, what you doing still stood there - get downloading :clown: Yup, link posted in the download thread. Enjoy!

(I'm afraid there's no Londinium - that castle space was taken by Camulodunum instead, hard choice, but decided that was more significant for the actual invasion and early settlement :book: )

[naut]

Downloading now. Nothing better to get my juices flowing, (another 30 odd units, plus regional units and sprites for all 100+ to go for me :sick:).

Good thing I have a huge hard drive, otherwise I'd have no space for anything. ~;p

[macsen rufus]

GL with your mod, it's sounding increasingly ambitious :2thumbsup: You just reminded me there's a couple of units I never quite got round to for Britannia, and I spotted bit of a boo-boo last night as well, so will have to regard this release as a beta for the time being :embarassed:

I got part way through a Parisi campaign and discovered the BG unit can't be retrained :wall: I also discovered it was the hardest faction I've tried so far, and actually got whupped first time around, as in an attempt to save the precious cash I had trained loads of Celtic swordsmen and neglected my tribal spearmen. Bad mistake, very very bad mistake. Celtic swords have bit of a morale 'problem' - they're a charge-oriented unit rather than a slug-it-out unit, which means if they don't break the enemy immediately they tend to lose heart - and run. Boy, can they run! And they're elite, so once they go, everyone goes..... Second attempt on the campaign I swallowed the costs and went back to majoring on the spearmen, with just enough swords to do their job, and it was a lot easier keeping the army in the field ~D

I now have about 20 provinces, one producing w3/a3 upgrades, and I've only just achieved a reasonable economy. I'm still struggling to get my real elite units (Celtic nobles and gaesatae) trained, due to lack of cash. And trying to get trade going is a nightmare - so many enemy ships around I may as well just stand on the beach throwing florins into the water :laugh4: Land borders are such that I can't expand without exposing something, I don't have the cash for a spare stack to plug the gaps, and I can't get the cash without expanding. Bit of a tough one, worse even than the Corieltauvi.

[naut]

Spot the soldiers. :clown:

https://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9894/invisiblemr6.jpg

[macsen rufus]

Oh :furious3:, :daisy: and :wall:

I can't hoodwink you with some BS about early Celtic stealth technology, then? :clown:

Looks like I need to do another re-install and spot what's missing - thanks for reporting that, Rythmic :bow:

[macsen rufus]

Hmmmm, I did a re-install last night, using my stripped-down copy of MTW (as per the instructions for Ancient) and used the installer, and I had fully visible Celtic nobles, so I'm at a loss regarding the problem. Tried it on high and low screen resolution, all the animations are present and the actionspage entries etc, and all the units I tried were visible.

Were there any others in stealth mode or just the Celtic nobles?

[noone23]

You know me Macsen Rufus - install challenged. Anyway, how is this install supposed to work? Do I need to make another copy of MTWVI for this or can I install on top of something I already have here? If the former what else do I need for this and if the latter where should this install be directed? Also, might it not be better to wait a little bit if you are about to update this update? I'm standing by awaiting further instructions.

[noone23]

Does this install mean that we will have two copies of Punic Wars on our HDs? I think I don't have to tell you about how precious HD space can be.

[macsen rufus]

Hi Noone - this is the first of the new "separate installs" series (I know, so why issue TW3 first....? :clown: ), and eventually there will be three of them: ATW1 being Bronze Age, ATW2 Eastern Empires (Rise of Persia/Alex/Diadochi) and this ATW3 Roman Wars.

The old issue (I believe you have 2.53 now) will be superceded. Each package will require its own cleaned out copy of MTWVI 2.01 as per the original. It will take more disc space overall, but also offers the option for anyone who only wants a single period/area to stick with just that.

So yes, you will have two versions of Punic for a while, though you can save a few hundred MB by deleting all the Punic folders and the startpos file from your 2.53 copy. It's the textures/campmap/(mod) folders that take up most of the space as they have the campaign maps in there which are huge (MapTex2 is usually 30MB or so....) This way both ATw1 and 2 will only need a single campmap, though ATW3 still has two.

All future developments will be subdivided between those three packages, and not transferable between them.

And yes there will soon be an update to ATW3 as I've now tweaked it for custom battles to work with proper unit rosters, but that will only be a couple of txt files to change.

What I really need to know is if anyone else has the 'Stealth Celt' problem :clown:

[Fenixx]

Mac,

No ghosts here, at least in Engles, Seaxes, and south of the Hadrian Line.
However, looking at Rhytmic's screen, can't tell who he is, but has Caledonian allies, is it possible the Caly royal nobles are dismounted, and theres trouble afoot in the dismount field??? Just an idea I had. If you're taking reports, I have had some other, very minor issues (Many of which you're already probably aware of, so I won't rehash).

[macsen rufus]

Hi Fenixx, good to hear you've no ghosts :2thumbsup: Judging by the colours Rythmic has jumped right in at the deep to play the Venicones - the Caledonians have an infantry BG unit - dismounts always show in the tool-tip what unit they're dismounted from. Anyway, I can't imagine what the problem is except the wrong animation BIF, but that shouldn't be possible???

And yes please, anything you spot would be handy to know - there are known issues on pre-battle map images (some missing, some wrong), a lot of new units still need new reviewpanel and info-pic graphics, and troop rosters for custom games aren't correct (but I have fixed that now and can release new unit_prod shortly).

For a change of scenery I've returned some of my attention to the Eastern Empires pack and have (finally) got the Rise of Persia working, and this time have the custom battles straight from the start. Amazed myself by winning a battle as Gandharans against Greeks in custom, but it was close, very very close. Looking at what I could afford in the army select panel I was expecting to get annihilated.....

[axel]

Hi mate,

I am playing as the romans and no problems so far mate ill keep you updated
ps i really love this mod cheers for that mate :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup:

[macsen rufus]

Hi Axel,

Glad you like it :2thumbsup:

Hope the new Roman tech-tree is working out for you, and you've spotted which provinces you really need.

If you find any bugs, let us know :bow:

[axel]

Hi mate
I am having a blast with it, mate you are good with mods they should offer you a job at activision :2thumbsup: gg mate
I most say i am starting a course in about a fue weeks with 3ds max so i hope to work with asap.
Ill report bugs if i find them mate but no problem so far :2thumbsup:

[Fenixx]

Mac,

Dispatch from legate, Leg. VI Victrix, Eboracum, Britannia.

Of Interest:
1) The bane ogre of every modder, typos ("mean" instead of "man" in info card, or perhaps you meant "mean men" :) ,among others).
2) Building Vicus - upon completion, yields "could not translate" message.
3) In custom battles - The new default_parch. are exquisite!!!, but on this screen a bit too dark to be able to see foreground info. IME???
4) Horse Breeder for Romans - Although implied in info card, and again implied in Batavian Cavalry reqs., wasn't clear at first that it needed add. building besides Horse Farmer, i.e. Spear WS.

Not a item, but I like what you did with the Augustan Temple, Legionary Fortresses, and Military Port. Clever and impressive.

Oh, and in PUNIC - pushed through the Carthy fleet and landed in Carthage proper, unopposed (#1 Pet Peeve - Gawd I wish GA mode were possible - AI leaves perfectly good homeland open - Guess the Cathrys had riches elsewhere to grab).
Anyway, at end of actions phase, I am awarded TOTAL VICTORY!!! Probably in the conquest reward multiplier of the Startpos? Did I get that right? Or was this intended?
Still, all very enjoyable.

[macsen rufus]

Hi Fennix, and thanks for the input :bow:

Do you recall which unit has the typo? I know there are a few that still have original HTW text, but of course the HTW team weren't native English speakers like wot I are, so a few corrections are still needed. And of course, I do suffer from dyslexic fingers when doing new ones ~D (Look very very closely at the stronghold in Mierce.... :embarassed: .....)

The vicus thing is easily sorted :2thumbsup:

The custom parchment has been fixed, ready for the inevitable patch - along with proper rosters for cutom battles.

On no 4, there's not alot you can do about it - the game engine only shows "prerequisite" buildings at the first of the line, and doesn't show any second/third level buildings required for further upgrades.

Re Punic - yes, Carthage and Rome are the only two provinces required for victory, but you really should have to fight for it first :no: Dumb AI again.

And yes, GA options would be great... alas.....

The up-coming patch will also add a few goodies in the form of some new unit info_pics, as well as some tweaks to the Romans starting position, corrected custom games etc.

[Fenixx]

Mac,

Re: Typo. Haven't returned to game, but I think it was a Roman infantry unit info card. It just struck me funny bone.
Re: Parchment. Hope you only had to change it for custom battles. Elsewhere, they are perfect.
Re: Building PreReqs. I know, I guess I was thinking of units or the way it was done for shipbuilders (...with compass) in vanilla.

RE: Punic - I wanted to clarify that the Carthis were not a pushover. It took 10-20 turns to wear down their navy in the first place. I had a good fight (my Cannae) with them in in Liguria (they took a naval shortcut, unlike Hannibal), which I came back from and kicked them out. Only then after a protracted naval attrition (most land ops came to a halt) and going into the red twice and back out, was I able to break thru.

However, I was wondering, if it would be possible for me to comment/edit the "instant victory" conditions so I could continue the game and try to complete the history. I.E. how is this done?

I imagine you'll be expanding the Roman story in later releases anyway?!?

P.S: Re: G.A. Didn't VH (in XL) have some progress in this area?

[macsen rufus]

Victory conditions are part of the province attributes in the startpos - last entry of the SetAttributes line is a TRUE/FALSE flag. Needs to be TRUE to count towards victory. As the scenario only has the historical years to run (ie ends in 146BC) I wanted to make it quick and savage ~D Hence only Rome and Carthage are set to TRUE in the startpos.

GA is very much hardcoded, maybe possible to change some peripherals, but it's all tied up to vanilla factions, and most importantly dates, which brings in historical events as well. Trying to use GA would mean a total rewrite of everything, then I'd have to put up with the discovery of gunpowder, Magna Carta etc etc etc. Unless you're doing a mediaeval era mod it's a total no-no.

I found the "mean" legionaries of the First Cohort :laugh4: And as for parchments, most menu screens use the background image and superimpose the parchment, but custom battle screens use a different copy of the background with the parchment already on it - and that's one I forget every time I do a new front-end... :embarassed:

[seireikhaan]

Any news on the mod front, Mac?

[macsen rufus]

No news, it's on a back-burner whilst I get on with some RL stuff :bow:

[Wladyslaw IV]

Do I need 2.53 I believe it is or is ATW3 -Roman Wars the full install? I haven't been following this mod too much as I haven't had much luck with ingame graphics issues, the ignominious 3D problems in battles either with Vista or my new graphics card or maybe even both. :furious3:

[axel]

same here mate,
my computer wos striked by lightning, so i got a new one AMD5600 Dualcore, 4 gig work memory and 500 gig hard disk space, and 8600 ge force 512 mb grafic card and i cant even play MTW becose the driver problems for the Nvidea 8000 serries a lot of people got the same problem mate:furious3:

[macsen rufus]

Hi Wladyslaw - ATW3-RW is a complete, seperate install, doesn't require any earlier version of ATW.

When they're all finished there will be three different mods in the series:

ATW1 - Bronze Age Europe only (3 eras)
ATW2 - Eastern Empires - Rise of Persia / Alexander / Diadochi
ATW3 - Roman Wars - Punic / Britannia


v2.53 is the last version where I tried to cram everything into a single install :bow:

[Sigma]

Heya, long time no see, I was wondering, later on in the future after you get those mods up and out, is there a possibility that you could make a Dark Age era of the mod?

I was asking because, well you've covered just about every other era, why not the Viking age? :P

[macsen rufus]

Hi Sigma,

Everything has been on the back burner for a while, though I will probably get the Eastern Empires stuff finished over the winter when the dark evenings come along.... but I won't be straying into any other eras. There are a couple of Dark Age mods around currently, so maybe worth checking them out :bow:

[Sigma]

Hi Sigma,

Everything has been on the back burner for a while, though I will probably get the Eastern Empires stuff finished over the winter when the dark evenings come along.... but I won't be straying into any other eras. There are a couple of Dark Age mods around currently, so maybe worth checking them out :bow:

Ah ok, :) also did you ever get the BA eras for HTW fixed? I have a AAR in the making thats stuck from a CTD in the early bronze age as the Minoans :help:

[macsen rufus]

I have HTW BA working, but not fully-featured (and I have a Minoan campaign in progress, though unplaid for a few months :beam:)

Did you get the old "Quickfix" I did for BA a few years ago? I still have that around if you need it, but it might not be save-game compatible.:bow:

[Sigma]

Ya, that would work, as long as it makes the game non-crashable :P

[Sigma]

I found it but the link is dead :(

[macsen rufus]

Long time a-coming, but I will soon release a v1.1 patch for Roman Wars. So far I have concentrated on the Britannia 43 scenario, but I think it's made some good progress.


Updated unit icons
Roman AI makes better progress invading Britain
New units added
Custom battles straightened out in B43 to accurately reflect campaign-mode unit rosters
A few tweaks to make rebellions more challenging...


There's probably still some work to do on the Punic Wars, and I'm very tempted to do another scenario concentrating on eastern provinces, but that will be v2.0 at best as it will require a new stratmap (ie not next week, okay ~;) )

[dimitrios the samian]

Good too see you post with good news ! :2thumbsup:

..... just quickly , Whats B43 ?

& yeh , keep tweaking , All the Tribes should be united & fighting against the Romans .


oftopic ...
A new stratmap is what we need & as we are only at V.0.91 time is on our side , to be honest whilst beta testing our current one was sending me dizzy :dizzy2:
I have 2 better maps on hand .
One is MTW ready but it has no India its the Holy Lands Map from the Jihad Mod & I think can be downloaded here .
But my fave is below .... I googled & found it .

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19065

[macsen rufus]

You'll kick yourself....

B43 = Britannia 43AD


All the Tribes should be united & fighting against the Romans

Not really - a lot of tribes allied to Rome, and the in-fighting was a factor in the success of the invasion historically - despite the efforts of Caratacus, Boudicca and Cartimandua. After all, there's no enemy like a close enemy ~D

My last test-play was with the Atrebates, and if the Romans hadn't had a spare princess in the early game it would have been very difficult to survive. The Romans also got the idea about dealing with the Batavians early on, so their feet weren't cut out from under them this time.

[dimitrios the samian]

the Roman helmets look kinda wierd.

I can't wait to play as the Red Branch.:jawdrop:

Yep , I agreed also , all those years ago .......
but with a bit of patience & lots of time ... voila !!
19079

They should have been drawn like this from day dot ....


You'll kick yourself....

B43 = Britannia 43AD.

ofcourse ! silly me :laugh4:
I must admit my knowledge on Roman Britain will be improving lots after I watch a few doco's .

About this map you mentioned mac ........... Any chance of a bit more info please .
To be honest that Alexandrian Map should be replaced , cheers .

[macsen rufus]

Re Roman bodies - they were never designed to be Romans, I simply re-shielded an existing body so as not to re-use the 'early' Romans (ie hastati, principali and triarii) and to keep them consistent with the artillery crews available.



About this map you mentioned mac ........... Any chance of a bit more info please .
To be honest that Alexandrian Map should be replaced , cheers .

No more info yet, as it's only a temptation so far, not a plan...

I like the Alex map - it's very educational :book2: But I could probably find a pale, bland, imitation for history wimps :laugh4:

However, nothing much will happen for the next two (maybe three) months, as it's the full-on busy period for me, workwise. It's the mad rush that pays for all the free time for the rest of the year....

[dimitrios the samian]

...... But I could probably find a pale, bland, imitation for history wimps :laugh4:
However, nothing much will happen for the next two (maybe three) months, as it's the full-on busy period for me, workwise. It's the mad rush that pays for all the free time for the rest of the year....

Yes please mac :yes: ... if I knew how to do it I would not ask .
I figure I best keep plodding along & produce a few more reskinned & those new troops ! ( Biblicals - Slingers , Egyptians & a also new Gauls ! )
"That plain map above with India would be just perfect" , unless ofcourse you find another better one ~;)

[macsen rufus]

The background image is just a TGA, all the provinces etc are set by the LBM overlay. However they need to line up to look right, so it needs to be the same area with the same projection, but you could use a picture of a cute kitten* for the background, it would still work whatever the image.

The actual map graphic is something like MapTex.TGA in the campmap/textures folder, iirc, and there's also a smaller version for the faction selection screen at game start.

That terrain map you posted would be good, but it cuts off too soon in the west, and doesn't include the Epirus/Illyria area.

* other cute creatures are available ~D

[dimitrios the samian]

:bounce: ... awesome !
Lets find a new kitten for good old DtS ~;)

[macsen rufus]

I've created a new scenario for Roman Wars, using an entirely new campaign map - this is why I've been a bit quiet online recently...

Anyway, here's a sneak preview:

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19173

19174


There's still a lot of work to be done, but it will incorporate many of the innovations first aired in Eastern Empires, and of course lots of new units for the new factions.

The campaign map is the largest yet for the Roman Wars mod, with 76 provinces, and it's working fine. There are 14 factions, with new ones including the Bosporan Kingdom, Parthian Empire, Palmyra, Lusitanians and Galatians.

It is not quite as strictly historical as some previous scenarios as it was an era of great flux, so I wanted to br9ing in some factions which would rightly have just been considered rebels by this time (such as the Gauls), but the general rule of 'Gameplay trumps history' has been applied for more fun.

Contrary to previous campiagn maps I didn't use LMM to make it - just started from a map of the terrain then created the LBM overlay by hand (well, Photoshop...) and all the data from a spreadsheet. It has proved to be just as easy this way, and it was all working within a couple of weeks.

I'm porting over units from Eastern for the eastern factions, and there will be more left to create (the Parthians are going to be fun ~D) and this will include some based on the oversized BIFs, so as to clear up BIF folders for new units (again, mostly for the benefit of the Parthians).

I was considering making a patch for this, but the changes are so wide-ranging it will be easier to make a new complete install, so when it comes out it will be a full-blown v2.0. No time-scale yet, but I would like to get it done before the end of the year if possible.

[western]

That looks super-cool. I love new maps - and conquest of the map always made a lot more sense in the Roman period than it does for medieval

[macsen rufus]

Thanks, Western :bow:


conquest of the map always made a lot more sense in the Roman period than it does for medieval

Certainly they had the most extensive Empire on the European map, historically - I'm toying with the idea of making the 'victory' provinces just those conquered during the Republican era. Admittedly, that is most of the map ~D

The biggest problem with this scenario is how to deal with 'royal families' for the two Roman factions, as both were really run by collections of 'heroes' - it might be I need to implement the Caesar side of things as a dynasty, but the Optimates really need Pompey etc just being hero-generals with a fairly anonymous 'Consular family' heading up the faction. I'll keep mulling it over, but it's going to go way off the historical line anyway.

It's not quite so clear-cut as the Hellenic Successor kingdoms were for EE - in this scenario the only one of those left (Ptolemies) throws up a few problems for rendering in MTW - ie they were in civil war themselves, with one side led by a queen. Why oh why oh why couldn't they just run their kingdoms in a manner suitable for MTW :no:

[dimitrios the samian]

Great work Mac .......


Why oh why oh why couldn't they just run their kingdoms in a manner suitable for MTW :no:

why not just create a statrpos/Campaign scenario that's purely a "what if" to suit the MTW engine :idea2:

[macsen rufus]

Hmm, perhaps I didn't flag the joke clearly enough.... :clown:

[dimitrios the samian]

The campaign map is the largest yet for the Roman Wars mod, with 76 provinces, and it's working fine. There are 14 factions, with new ones including the Bosporan Kingdom, Parthian Empire, Palmyra, Lusitanians and Galatians.................................
>> Brilliant macsen :bow:!! How nice it would be if those darned 2d Bif Plates did not take so long :confused:

I'm porting over units from Eastern for the eastern factions, and there will be more left to create (the Parthians are going to be fun ) and this will include some based on the oversized BIFs, so as to clear up BIF folders for new units (again, mostly for the benefit of the Parthians).
>> Mac , If you get the time let me know how you picture the Parthians to look like ....... & an idea for you to ponder , you could use some of the Bronze Age troops just as temporaries , until we can skin up or mod some Parthians etc etc .
Also take a look at Fall of Rome , could be a few we can use with permission .

[Leith]

Hello, friends! I am so happy that you are going to create a new scenario for your Roman Wars mod. Roman civil wars have always fascinated me. I can only commend you, Mac, for your dedication. Having said that, I do hope you will consider the following:

1-In all the Roman war scenarios the AI of the Roman faction was extremely disappointing.

2-The Roman Legionary didn't look so Roman at all.

I might be able to help with the second issue in the future but for now I cannot wait for the release of your mod. I wish you all the best in this endeavor.

P.S I forgot to ask something:"Are we going to have a more varied unit roster for the Roman factions?

[dimitrios the samian]

Hiya Leith , I think Fall of Rome has some nice legionares and other bifs that macsen could use , i do remember the Roman that was used in the Patrician Mod being very rough ...... You have me worried about the AI , im sure it will be better this release .cheers

[Axalon]

That looks super-cool. I love new maps - and conquest of the map always made a lot more sense in the Roman period than it does for medieval

I agree... And it reminds me of the old Amiga game Centurion (which I had loads of fun with back in the day)... One small thing thou, had I created this map... I would have moved the map slightly to the right, about 10-20mm - allowing the Iberian Atlantic coast to show more naturally/spacious on it and instead cutting out/excluding the Caspian Sea and the Gulf altogether (as they are stumped anyhow), and the tip of England as well... But, that's just me... Regardless, I like the idea of having a map centered around the Mediterranean. Whenever I find the time, this or the eastern-empires-scenario - are probably the ones I'll try.

Keep on cooking Mac... :D

- A

[macsen rufus]

Evening all,

First off, I should say the 'hope to get it finished by the end of the year' idea was waaaay over-optimistic. Now work has kicked into Xmas-rush mode, what spare time I have is mostly used for sleeping and eating... and the odd bit of play-testing of course ~D

Yes, we do need some better late legionaries for the Romans, and a completely new 3d model would be ideal... but I doubt my PC would cope well with 3d software - as I say, it's more of an abacus with an LED on the front than a serious computer. I do have some Rise of Rome bifs (from DtS I think) so will have another look at them when I get time.

re Parthians - this will be a cav-heavy faction (or infantry-deprived if you prefer...), the main components being light horse archers and a few flavours of cataphract. For now, I'm using the vanilla 'boyar' body for the cataphracts as it has the basics for Parthians - ie armour and pointy helmets.

Roman AI has improved in my current version of Britannia. It's still a bit limp in RCW although I haven't done much work on the Roman factions yet and they are due for play testing. Their roster includes a variety of auxilia from various provinces, but the problem with the Romans is that their core army was very uniform and standardised, and doesn't give us much room for variety (bearing in mind I'm not going for fantasy units like gladiators and 'praeventores' so beloved in RTW).

re the map - the northern part of the Atlantic is non-playable, the seas that are accessible are all contiguous from the Gulf of Gades through to the Black Sea. Britain and the land across the Caspian are unplayable too. Ship-building provinces are severely restricted as the MTW AI always seems far too keen on ships. The main reason the northern Atlantic zone is dead is to prevent the Gauls going ship-crazy and neglecting their army...

Axalon - I never played Centurion, but I used to enjoy Praetorians (until I discovered MTW) and I was prompted to do this new scenario after playing the Julius Caesar boardgame (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37836/julius-caesar) with a friend. Once the Christmas rush is over, we'll start having our game nights again, and I want to play that more...

[dimitrios the samian]

Gotcha Macsen , Cav heavy Parthians it is , I did a quick read up & they have some great variety .
Anyway below are some of the troops as used in the "Fall of Rome" mod .

Yes , I know some may say , huge time gap between 43AD & the Fall of Rome , 400+ years , but these bifs look really great , more Roman ! than the two bifs we currently have (legacy of the HTW team) ..... but I like them also .

I personally would prefer using these & use my imagination as it would make it more realistic & immersive , perhaps you may also find a bif that's better than the vanilla Boyar ~:) your using & ofcourse others also .

I think the download link is still active & there was a late addition by the maker of the mod a Campaign that mentioned Queen Zenobia ? ..... it may also have bifs never used/seen in the 3.0 or 3.1 release .

The F.O.R mod is currently in the archives section & im sure we could get permission to use what we need .:2thumbsup:

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19221

19222

19223

19218

19219

Leith , I have noticed you have re-skinned some very nice units also , well done :2thumbsup:
( im refering to the pics you have posted for your upcoming V.I III mod )
Perhaps some of those could be used in some of macsens mods ?
As all they would required would be a little effort eg , a bit of Photoshoping ( small additions or erases ) eg a pointy bit drawn onto the top of those Huscarle helmets & voila Assyrians ! ( or a worthy addition to the Eastern heavy ranks anyway.

@ Axalon , its good to know that another orger played & loved Centurion , what a great game it was !! I enjoyed it immensely also .

@ mac .... Rise of Rome ? hmmmm :yes: ..... I never mentioned that , but it would be a great Mod for next year , or the one after :2thumbsup:.

[YanBG]

These units look awesome Dimitrios!

[Leith]

Salutations everyone! Good to see this mod getting the proper attention it deserves. Thank you for contributing! Allow me to make a few points:

1- You don't need 3d programs at all, mac! You have several options to choose from; using the Fall of Rome bif or a modified hellenic-based bif. The good news is that I have managed to modify the Fall of Rome bif so much that I have fixed all of its problems, I think. If you look closely at Custom1 textures, in the Fall of Rome, using ReadBif you might notice some graphical problems and bland colors. I only did the first frame however and it would take me a long time before the modification process is complete. If you want a screenshot, let me know. The bad news is that I have not started on the Roman Hellenic-based unit yet as I , like yourself, have been extremely busy at work. Having said that, if push comes to shove, I might do it, just to make sure your mod plays and looks great.

2-dimitrios, I don't mind granting permission to you or Mac for using some of my units. Just lemme know which ones you might be interested in.

3- The Rise of Rome mod has been in development for a couple of years now since I have been busy working/doing stuff but if you want to take over, be my guest! I can send you everything I have done up to this point. I might also help with the unit graphics in future.

[macsen rufus]

Gah! Fall of Rome, Rise of Rome, easy to get confuzzled when you're sleep-deprived :clown:

The infantry units look good and as you say, more Roman than what I have now - will need a change of shields, but that's simple enough. The cavalry units seem to be vanilla MTW BIFs though, with the cataphracts looking a lot like the same 'boyar' BIF I was looking at for the Parthians...

Gotta rush again, but to the pub, not work tonight ~D

[dimitrios the samian]

These units look awesome Dimitrios! ........ Yan , good too see you around mate , hope all is going well with your new job .
These Bifs in the pics above are not my handwork , they are from the "Fall of Rome" mod , I'm 99% certain Maximus re-skinned them pixel by pixel !!
You know Yan , Ancient Total War really needs a Roman Bif circa Julius Caesar era :yes: .... as what you seen posted above , skinned by Maximus ( Mod Creator) depict late 3rd & 4th century .
The one used in Ancient Total War by macsen is the original HTW one, & to my eyes actually look more 3rd/4th century BC ItalicxGreek .... (( eg Etruscan , Samnite , Syracusan , etc etc ))
Perhaps you could create one using the software you are familiar with ? ..... its ok if you are busy & cannot .
But should you wish to contribute a Bif check with mac first as he knows more about how Romans dressed back then .
cheers



2-dimitrios, I don't mind granting permission to you or Mac for using some of my units. Just lemme know which ones you might be interested in...............
The Rise of Rome mod has been in development for a couple of years now since I have been busy working/doing stuff but if you want to take over, be my guest! I can send you everything I have done up to this point. I might also help with the unit graphics in future.........

thanks Leith , :bow: .. I will check them all again at a later date .
I really liked quite a few of your textures (especially some of the helmets )
With some cutting & pasting on Photoshop we could add some variety to the 3 Eastern Units we have at present .
I may do up a few quick cut & paste ones & post pics over on the Graphics Thread to show what is possible .
............
As for taking over the Mod , hehe ....
Truly I would not know were to start ! :grin: ...
I will leave that up to you & Macsen should he be interested



Gah! Fall of Rome, Rise of Rome, easy to get confuzzled when you're sleep-deprived :clown:

The infantry units look good and as you say, more Roman than what I have now - will need a change of shields, but that's simple enough. The cavalry units seem to be vanilla MTW BIFs though, with the cataphracts looking a lot like the same 'boyar' BIF I was looking at for the Parthians...

Gotta rush again, but to the pub, not work tonight ~D ..................
yep shields ofcourse & Have a beer for me to Macsen :yes: cheers ~:cheers:

[YanBG]

I could give it a try, Macsen should just let me know. Probably it won't take long to switch the props(helm etc, there should be some free roman era resources, so i won't have to model them), of my infantry, that's the good thing with the scene :D

If the animations have to be changed, that would make it more difficult.

[dimitrios the samian]

Hello Yan ... Will only be a reskin , no new animations needed , really great you are willing to help out , just pm macsen , he knows what those romans should look like , cheers.

[macsen rufus]

Hi all,

Yan - PM on its way to you :2thumbsup:

@DtS - the current stand-in Roman legionaries I'm using are based around one of the later hoplite models with new shields and weapons. I went for that one mostly because it matched the artillery units from HTW (including the gastraphetes/arcuballistae). The biggest problem is lack of helmet crests. When I started this whole thing I never dreamed I'd wind up with three complete mods ~D

Anyway, I have downloaded and installed Fall of Rome for a closer look, and am quite enjoying my first campaign... however, I gather Maximus has disappeared from the scene, so may be hard to track down.

@ Leith - I have plenty of projects on the go, but if you need help with Rise of Rome I could probably find some time in 2017

Cheers for now

[macsen rufus]

Gah! Was really getting into my FoR campaign, then up comes a crucial, pivotal battle which will determine the history of the Roman Empire(s) for decades to come - a nice juicy bridge battle which I can win if I fight it myself - then it goes and CTDs on me. Seems the mod is not fac-shield safe and needs a fix before I can continue.... maybe Capitoline Jupiter is smiting me for being distracted from my own work ~D

[dimitrios the samian]

Howdy Mac ......
Yeh .... I know why you used that Bif & its all good mate , like u say "thems the ones we got thems the one we use"
& as mentioned if they had some crests they would look even better .
I don't mind drawing in 200 odd crests onto them next winter ~;) & even touching up the other antenna like feather crests on the other Roman bif also .
I do hope Yan can pull of some magic & give us all a Roman circa Julius Caesar ... be really great !
I reckon Jupiter is calling also .
cheers

oops ...hamata it is :book2:

[macsen rufus]

We're too early for the lorica segmentata - it's hamata for our guys :bow:

I've given Yan an outline for what's needed, and I'm sure we'll see a great improvement over our ersatz Romans...

Time for bed :Zzzz:

[dimitrios the samian]

...
re Parthians - this will be a cav-heavy faction (or infantry-deprived if you prefer...), the main components being light horse archers and a few flavours of cataphract. For now, I'm using the vanilla 'boyar' body for the cataphracts as it has the basics for Parthians - ie armour and pointy helmets.
...

macsen , I remembered a discussion I had with Leith quite a few months ago now .
Parthian Cav related :yes:
Its over at his VI III thread .
Very nice Heavy Cav which you may want too look at .
cheers

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?134250-Viking-Invasion-III-version-1-0-released!/page2

[dimitrios the samian]

Found these shields , on the Patrician Bif .....
Worth a look ...... ?

19265

cheers

[macsen rufus]

Everything's worth a look ~D

[macsen rufus]

I've been a bit quiet online recently, but work proceeds on the RCW scenario.

I've been bringing the Ptolemies up to date, and have done a fair bit of work on the Numidians, too with quite a few new units. I've just about wiped the map in my current Numidian campaign, so they are viable contestants, although the naval side is a bit tough for them.

I also need to modernise the Gauls (and Galatians) a bit more, and the Lusitanians probably need a further tweak, though they're nearly finished. Once the units are all sorted out, there'll be a few more map tweaks to finish off, and then all the historical heroes, and then we should be getting close to a release :2thumbsup:

[macsen rufus]

The biggest problem with this scenario is how to deal with 'royal families' for the two Roman factions, as both were really run by collections of 'heroes' - it might be I need to implement the Caesar side of things as a dynasty, but the Optimates really need Pompey etc just being hero-generals with a fairly anonymous 'Consular family' heading up the faction. I'll keep mulling it over, but it's going to go way off the historical line anyway.

I have now decided the way I'm going, and I'm glad to say it's working so far...

The Julio-Claudian dynasty has proved quite easy to model once I discovered that most of them were actually called Gaius Julius Caesar, with just the cognomens being more individualised. Which is probably why we popularly know them by slightly incorrect names nowadays. Using a twist on the trick I used for the Ptolemies in the Successors scenario in ATW2:EE, I have managed to get an accurate portrayal of the first four generations of the dynasty, and the fifth is nicely lined up to roll over when my current Caligula karks it... and after that there is just Nero to come :2thumbsup:

19339

For the Optimates, I am going with the 'anonymous consular family' idea, plus a good dose of heroes, but I haven't worked on them much yet, just Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus who is one of the starting heroes. The Populares, of course, start with Marcus Antonius and Gaius Antonius, and there are more to add.

The whole Roman naming thing plus their Republican system of government really does push the bounds for the MTW engine, so I'm quite happy to have at least one dynasty working out in order, if not exactly true to history

[dimitrios the samian]

Fantastic news macsen ......
Perhaps with a bit more work you will get the Optimates to roll correctly ?
Either way , positive progress has been made .
Keep up the great work .
DtS

[macsen rufus]

Nah, the Optimates simply can't roll correctly - two new consuls each year, then they got beaten by Caesar. It's all fantasy history for them beyond a few heroes :bow:

[Lord Ahrens]

I always enjoy coming back to this mod, even to replay Egyptians over and over and over.......great job! :beam:

[dimitrios the samian]

I always enjoy coming back to this mod, even to replay Egyptians over and over and over.......great job! :beam:

keep coming back LA .....
There is going to be lots of new & re skinned troops appearing in upcoming releases .

"fantasy history" ... sounds like fun mac with lots of room for experimentation !

[macsen rufus]

Thanks, Lord Ahrens :bow:

It's good to know people are still enjoying it. Don't forget to check the Downloads thread for the latest editions.

@DtS - for a lot of the factions, their development in the game will also be fantasy history, because most of them were about to become destroyed or subjugated by the growing Roman Republic/Empire in the real timeline:

- Gauls - really should have been subjugated already, but I'm giving them a chance as a sort of uprising...
- Dacia - King Burebista was really the high point of their history, but chose to ally with the wrong side in the Civil War
- Ptolemies - already fading rapidly before becoming a client kingdom, and soon thereafter a Roman province
- Armenia - changing so many times between loyal client and upstart rebels they earn themselves a place as a faction here
- Lusitanians - a good case can be made for them as a 'catch-all' faction for independent-minded Iberian tribes
- Galatians - really there to add some chaos to Asia Minor (FN_07), but eventually came under Rome
- Bosporus - historically were already Roman clients, but I'm giving their Pontic royal house another shot at glory
- Numidia - Also at their high point under King Juba, riding high after the Jugurthine War, but soon became clients
- Palmyra and Nabataea - here to represent restive local populations and to add some spice to the Middle East
- Parthia - a rare faction that persisted a long while yet in real history...
- Illyrians - the confederation of Dalmatian/Pannonian/Paeonian etc tribes caught between Rome and Dacia, fighting for survival


Latest progress:

Ptolemid royals set up
More heroes for Optimates and Populares
Dacian royals and heroes set up
Some economy tweaks to help balance out starting positions
Made some corrections to battle maps re terrain/rivers etc




I've been giving the Gauls a whirl recently to watch the other changes play out in-game, and everything seems to have worked out ok. The Optimates have become more dynamic now they have some heroes (including a hotshot Emissary called Marcus Tullius Cicero :2thumbsup:) Also the two Roman factions have got into a proper war this time around, and the Optimates have come out on top. My Gallic kingdom has grown nicely, but I'm looking at that sea of purple and thinking I don't have the troops to expand my borders much more. Once I go up against the Optimates, I think I'm in trouble....


EDIT to add: no need to go up against the purple kingdom-eaters, two civil wars in four years have about finished the Gauls' chances

[Lord Ahrens]

Thanks and downloading Bronze age now :beam:

BTW you are making a full world Roman Campaign? Would be sweet..

[macsen rufus]

@LA - RCW has the largest map in the Roman Wars mod - from Lugdunensis in the NW across to Elymais in the SE.

Britannia 43AD uses the Viking map, and Punic Wars is centred on the Western Med.


I'm not sure there's much new in the current Bronze Age mod - and the Punic and Alex campaigns have been removed and tranferred to ATW2 and ATW3 respectively. ATW1 still needs bit of an overhaul, but I'm concentrating on the other two for the time being...

[Lord Ahrens]

Ok great stuff, whatever you guys do is always high quality. BTW I was wondering if you all have time some day for a new modding adventure revolving around the B.C. era warring states of China...Its one mod that has been talked about but I have yet to see anything done for it. I ask you all because your models and animations are very good, so the mod could use someone with your expertize. I have fairly modded text, maps, and some modeling so could use help in the future.

[macsen rufus]

BTW I was wondering if you all have time some day for a new modding adventure revolving around the B.C. era warring states of China...


It would be nice if someone did one, but it won't be me, alas. I've only got so far with Ancient because of the great legacy of units created by the HTW team, and I don't have enough knowledge of the place/time for the Warring States. Really I think it might be a project that could spin out from the Samurai mod as the units there are more suitable for East Asian armies, I expect....


Anyway, once Ancient is wrapped up satistactorily, I have another project in mind, which many have uttered and no-one has actually done (for MTW, anyway...) But if that happens, well, you'll only know when it's released...


And back to the regular programme:

I have been running a Parthian campaign these last few days.

It was a touch and go start, struggling for money to defend long borders with a very limited troop roster - even with some of the map's richest provinces under our control. Having fought our way out of our remote corner of the map, we could finally start recruiting some infantry to back up the oh-so-expensive armoured horsemen for which we are rightly famed. Although the Empire expanded, the new lands were not rich, and supply lines were long. First we made the Armenians bend the knee, and the Galatians had to be wiped from the map as they were troublesome neighbours. The Palmyran camel-botherers were despatched more easily than swatting the flies that follow their noisome beasts.

Syria was a rich prize, but Caesar's forces had it well guarded. Ach, how we need those Phoenician shipyards! Caesar and the Senate seem to have agreed to divide the Republic, for there is no sign of the fighting our spies had predicted between them. An uneasy truce settled across Anatolia as our armies lined the Halys, and the Republic's thousands of legionaries stared across at us. Still, some of our younger princes ventured north to the empty grasslands and caught the Bosporans asleep in their beds. The northern tribes are passing fair on horseback, and it takes but a few coins to drag them and their poor relatives on foot into our royal army. They helped us greatly when the riches of Dacia were needed to bolster our groaning treasury!

The peace with Rome did not hold. They tried to storm our strongholds asross Asia Minor, and we fought for our lives. Some outposts fell, but our great hero Surena was a lion on the field and his men were fierce as demons. Thousands of the Romans died in that battle, nor did we spare the survivors. Our swift horses ran them down in the hundreds upon hundreds as they fled our arrows, and an example was made of their heaped skulls.

War rages still. We push them back province by province, but their navies are everwhere. We cannot leave a coast undefended and cannot launch a single ship without it being lost immediately. Wisdom would suggest an alliance with Caesar, but those Phoenician shipyards are too great a prize to ignore. Having taken Aegyptus from the Senate we were able to turn back upon Caesar's garrisons in Judea and Syria. The sieges continue, but soon they will fall....

[dimitrios the samian]

Wow !! ...
It sounds like you have quite a challenge on yr hands .
Great narrating also mac .
Let us know how it goes ....

[macsen rufus]

Syria fell, the shipyards are ours and the shipmen hoisted our banners atop their masts. They are too few to fight the colossal Republican fleet, but their swiftness enables them to distrupt enemy shipping and foil any plans for invasion. Our coasts secure, our armies can march ahead, across the Balkans, into Italy and Greece.

As the hooves of our horses thunder through Europe, Caesar and the Senate finally come to blows. We shall watch them fight as our troops regroup and rest their horses. Italy is vulnerable when our forces arrive, and tumbles quickly. Soon the Senate rules little more than the stable yard of a final stronghold, and Caesar's dreams are dust blowing over the Alps, never to return.

In Africa, Ptolemid pretenders sprout like mushrooms in the dungheaps of Libya, but Aegyptus is ours and the false Pharoahs are stopped at the Nile by our withering arrow fire and stout spears. The fields of the delta grow fat on their blood and our treasury is secure for our final push into the west.

Only the barbarous Gauls stand in our way, but not for long! The light of Ahura Mazda shines over lands cleansed of all their false gods, and our weary warriors now rest beside the Western Sea, wondering what may lie beyond the waves....

[macsen rufus]

Another little taster from the RCW campaign - the arch-enemies meet!

19404

Now for the main news: v1.5 has been released

There's a link to the new version in the downloads thread. This includes the RCW campaign and the new legionaries (and auxilia) based on YanBG's new model, plus all the tweaks and changes I've mentioned above.

It has been tested as a re-install, and seems to be working properly, but as ever, there's always a chance that one of the 3,700 seperate files may have been misplaced or not updated or whatever, so please let me know here if there are any problems.

Requires a clean copy of MTW:VI as usual, check the text box during install to see a list of files that can be deleted before you continue.

[dimitrios the samian]

Well done Mac !
I'll download it soon ....
Unfortunately , I wont be playing any campaigns until I finish & deliver at least half of the bifs I'm currently working on .
But I'll most certainly be having a few Custom Battles as soon as time permits , to check out those lovely new Romans by Yan .
.............
Would have been an easy victory for you in this battle ~;)
cheers

[macsen rufus]

As expected, I found a couple of glitches in that some old files have persisted and need to be removed. It's not a major breakage, but makes things look a bit odd at times on the battlefield, because it places some extra shields on figures.

Simple fix: go to Textures/Men/Items/Shield6

Delete SamniteAUX folder
Open GallicAUX folder and delete all files EXCEPT fight.txt




Would have been an easy victory for you in this battle

Yup, and I got my revenge in first, because that 4* under Pompey was Marcus Junius Brutus ~D

[Leith]

This is a great mod. I hope it will be further developed in the future. Cheers!

[Kaiser20]

I just started a game as the Ptolemies and it's been pretty fun! I've expended into Asia minor and beaten the Nabateans. Maybe I have an old download of the game but all the Ptolemaic kings have the same name lol. I'd loving the units as Egypt and it's been fun to expand and see the world change. So far the Purple Romans are super powerful and have a strong fleet, hopefully they won't attack me or I'll lose all the money I'm making at sea haha!

[dimitrios the samian]

Maybe I have an old download of the game but all the Ptolemaic kings have the same name lol. I'd loving the units as Egypt ......

Good too see you download & play a different Ancient Mod .
Im sure macsen will drop in soon & check into this "glitch" with the kings .
We have new units planned for this Mod also , so expect an update by mid year or perhaps before ...
cheers

[Kaiser20]

Yeah this mod works for me! it's been a blast trying to make Alexander's empire again with the Ptolemaic dynasty. I'm so glad these kind of mods exist for this game, I love managing my character's loyalty and the civil war mechanic. The only thing that I find that I dislike a bit is the building icons. It's kinda hard to see what is what and they aren't even in colour. Granted now that I'm use to them a bit it's easier to manage.

[macsen rufus]

Hi Kaiser,

Hey don't blame me, the Ptolemies were especially unimaginative in their naming :laugh4: By this time, we're past the majority of the historical dynasty, so once you're past Ptolemy Caesarion all you get is the number.

As for the icons, they're mostly legacy items from the old Hellenic which provided the springboard for these mods, and I've consciously kept the same overall 'look'. Actually, that's what started me on the long road to modding myself, as the original HTW sets didn't distinguish between levels, so I found out how to edit BIFs and started adding stars for higher level buildings, and all the rest is.... well, history ~D

I've recently played a Ptol campaign myself, and that has revealed a coule of missing files in the latest install - you'll probably notice this if you take thureophoroi into battle... I'm working on a patch :bow:

[Kaiser20]

Alright awesome! I'm enjoying the mod so far, I killed off the Galatians and then they came back a few years later under a new king with three whole stacks. It was like another wave of gauls migrating into Anatolia! Pretty cool experience. Thanks for taking the time to make these kind of mods!