The Age of Mankind: Total War

[Lonely Soldier]

The Concept

The human race is spreading across the face of the Earth. Clans and alegiances are forged and broken. The armies of Rome march across Europe. In the East, the Chinese states are restless, the forces of Japan grow stronger and the Indian lords consolidate their reigns. In the Americas the Incas and Maya develop their civilisations.

Will all of this remain?

Or will one mighty power rule the world?

Through more than two thousand years of history, you will guide some of the greatest civilisations the world has ever seen. From the Iron Age and into eras not yet come.

This is:


Mod Team:

Texture Artist: richyg13

Modeller: kornsoadhts

Mapper: irish_own

Concept Artist: BishopSix

Researcher and Concept Artist Specialising in the Americas: CplTony

Researchers: GaugamelaTC, ianofsmeg16

Researcher, Director: Lonely Soldier

Positions Available

Supplementary Texture Artists - European faction unit and building skinner.

Modellers (2)

Anyone else who wishes to help - Please Apply !

[Myrddraal]

Covering the whole world? Will you make a huge map, or reduce the scale dramatically?

[shifty157]

wow. I think the word ambitious applies nicely to this. The whole world and the whole of recorded history. Wow. Good luck with this one. If you pull it off you will be amazing.

[Lonely Soldier]

Myddral - The world map will probably end up being an expanded version of the current map in RTW, but movement speeds in relation to the time taken up by turns will be more accurate - a Roman army could march 30 miles a day, so I think they'd be able to get from Tarentum to Rome in less than 6 months!

shifty157 - It'll probably be from about 50BCE to 2150CE - though whether or not the kind of warfare present in the twentieth century will be applicable remains to be seen. If not, the mod will probably end in about 1900 - or there abouts.

We will probably end up using alot of the work of other mod teams (if they'll let us ) - such as Napoleonic units from Napoleonic total war 2 etc.

[GaugamelaTC]

I like the idea. Will you still be doing custom battles.
If so how will you implement this? Will you just put all the units from all the ages under the faction they correspond? Or will you be making eras like MTW?

[Lonely Soldier]

GaugamelaTC - Eras are a definite possibility for custom and multiplayer - you couldn't really pitch a tank battallion against hoplites!

[GaugamelaTC]

That's definitely good,because in multiplayer battles people would obviously go for the most modern and powerful units,whereas in custom battles people might impose a certain amount of self-discipline.
I also have some questions regarding your plans for unique units and a unique look and feel to each faction. Games like Rise of nations let me down in that sense. They only had a few unique units(although admittedly they did have a degree of uniqueness to their buildings and unit skins)
SO for example if you were the greeks (which I'm assuming will be in here), will we be getting 4,5,6 unique units for each era?
Also any idea on factions, and eras.
sorry for the long post just really excited about a human history mod that will actually be good.

[knoddy]

i have one question a mod of this size u would expect there to be alot of factions right. did u know there is a hard coded faction limit of 21. how will u get past this???? i dont mean to deflate ur bubble or anything but u cant just leave peeps out. actually one idea i had was with ur suggestion of chinese city states at war. u could have one or two major chinese factions and have the rest set as rebels and make it so that the chinese have to fight rebels and only rebels to gain control of china before venturing out into the world. Other than that it sounds good VERY ambitious like shifty157 said. a total conversion mod takes alot of time and effort but good luck and cant wait for a look see at it =)

[Lonely Soldier]

GaugamelaTC - One of my main inspirations for this mod was the lack of decent effort which went into the cultures in RoN. Hopefully, by the end of the process, every culture will have their own almost entirely unique style and units - where applicable .

knoddy - I will be putting a draft faction list up in the next few days. I welcome help and comments from any interested people!

I will also be putting up draft lists of new features etc. which the mod will use.


THIS IS A CALL OUT TO ANY INTERESTED MODDERS!!!!!!

If anyone is prepared to help with this mod in the graphical aspects I would be much obliged to them!

MY ROLE:

I will be the main researcher on units, tactics, architecture and history and general director on the mod, as my skills in modelling etc. are far too basic for anything like this. I also have some ability in music editing, so hopefully I can contribute in this capacity as well!

I think this mod could turn out to be something truly incredible, as long as we get enough modders taking part!

[Sundjata Keita]

I think it is possible to condense the factions into about 20, RoN managed to do it (well before the expansions). It doesn't have to be ultra realistic, anything like RoN would be amazing to play with the total war engine. It would be great to send your ancient era troops against 5000 medieval era knights. I can't help but good luck with the mod.

[GaugamelaTC]

Well I'd like to help in anyway I can publicity and ill see if there are any free skinners about. Try twcenter.com thats a good place to get publicity. If you get one of those cool signature things for your mod down the line Ill put it on both my accounts.

[Lonely Soldier]

Sundjata Keita - You raise a good point regarding realism. I think the factions in the mod should be inclusive of as many civilisations as possible - e,g. having maybe two or three African tribes rather than the hundreds that really exist.

GaugamelaTC - Thanks so much for the offer!!! I will definitely take you up on it!


I now have a thread at the Strategic Command Center: http://www.stratcommandcenter.com/fo...showtopic=8104

and at the TWC: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index...1812043374&st=

Though this thread will remain the central one for the mod!

[Lonely Soldier]

Factions and Symbols

Here is the second draft - I have altered the European factions thanks to advice from GaugamelaTC:

The Roman Empire (may include Egypt - and their units in the appropriate provinces - depending on starting date) - Red

The Hellenistic States - Pale Blue

The Chinese Kingdoms - A single province faction representing the Emperor and his capital will act as a senate, there will be a second Chinese faction which will be analogous to a unified Rome.

The Isles of Japan - Dark Red


The Mongols - Brown

The Indian Princedoms - Gold

The Polynesian Tribes - Green


The Mayans/Meso-Americans (Aztecs may feature as a sub-culture) - Turquoise

The Incas (Amazonian tribes will be included as rebels - Incas can train these unit types in the appropriate provinces) - Gold may be better for this faction than for India.




The North American Tribes - Iriquois, Crow and Apache

The South-East Asian States (name not final ) - Jungly Green

The Slavic States (Russia etc. Eastern Europe) - Grey

The Celtic and Germanic States (Western Europe) - Blue

The African Tribes (Zulu, Masai ) - undecided colour

The Persians - Purple (maybe)

Remember that this is only a draft list and that I welcome any feedback or ideas. Pretty much any culture that doesn't make this list will be featured, either within a faction or as rebels.

Also, some faction names will refer only to the geographical location and not to the culture/s. This mod does not aim to be totally realistic - having a single faction for all of western Europe (between ancient enemies) for example - but each faction will have the full cultural range of its component nations.

IMPORTANT NOTE - Unless otherwise stated these colours are only to be used for banners and border lines - they are not to be used for unit colours except if explicitely stated!

Remember that this is a work-in-progress: check back regularly for alterations!

[GaugamelaTC]

These are just suggestions so take them or leave them.
Perhaps you could replace Briton with a western european faction with benelux, france, britain and ireland, spain, germany and portugal. Then instead of northern europe you ould have a faction comprising of eastern europe, russia and scnadanavia. Will the australians be included with the polynesians? For your african tribes maybe you should include something for egypt or north africa. In south america, you could have a faction apart from the incas based on the people who live in the rainforest? Some ideas for north american tribes: Inuids, aztecs/mexico, carribean states?

[thelordskinner]

WOW

This sounds like a great mod Please Tell Me when it is released!!




Yours The lords skinner!

[Lonely Soldier]

GaugamelaTC - Most of your suggestions seem sensible - especially those reagarding Europe. In terms of the Americas and Africa, it all depends on the starting date - which is yet to be decided on. Many of the factions (Incas/Mayans for example) will incorporate the minority cultures. Yes - Australian unit types will be trainable for the Polynesian faction, but only in the Australian provinces.

thelordskinner - Just keep on checking on these forums! Does the word skinner in your name relate to graphical skinning?

[Lonely Soldier]

Technological Era Placeholder

In the mod various reforms or technological inventions will allow for a faction to gain access to the next "Era's" (or Age's) units and structures.

The following list is very rough (no dates etc.) and is, as are all other lists, open to improvement and suggestions:

Iron Age (IA)

Steel Age (SA)

Medieval Era (ME)

Gun Powder Age (GPA)

Renaissance (R)

Age of Reason (AR)

Industrial Age (NA)

Information Age (FA)

Space Age (PA)

And probably one or two more (depending on how ambitious we feel )

Certain factions will recieve technologies earlier than others (China getting gunpowder etc.) - the others will have to trade for them.

Check back here often for updates!

[Lonely Soldier]

Units Placeholder

This is a list of possible new units - please refer to the Eras post for abreviations:

The Roman Empire

Cataphractarii

Patrician Knights (MA)

The Hellenistic States

Phalanx Musketeers (GPA-): Musketeers who carry large shields and form a phalanx formation from behind which to load and fire.

Bomb Ballistas - Ballistas which hurl explosive canisters.

The Chinese Kingdoms

Crossbowmen (IA)


Repeating Crossbowmen (SA)


more reference shots of this weapon are available by request.

Imperial Gaurdsmen (only available with a Monarchy - and in the Imperial Provinces - All Ages)

all purpose Shield reference


Swordsmen - Upgrades available in each age - All Ages

Spearmen - Upgrades available in each age - All Ages


Archers - see Spearmen

...

The Isles of Japan

Ashigaru (all ages)

Yari Samurai (IA-)

Yumi Samurai (Longowmen) (MA-)

No-dachi (MA-)

Mounted Yari Samurai (IA-)

Mounted Yumi Samurai (MA-)

Katana Samurai (MA-)

Warrior Monks (requires Buddhism)

...

The Mongols

Peasants (all)

Archers (all)

Spearmen (all)

Steppe Cavalry (with spears/swords/bows) (all)

Mongols also have access to some Chinese influenced units after SA.

...

The Indian Princedoms

Elephants - various stages
[img=http://img245.echo.cx/img245/7104/elephant8zl.jpg]


Sikh Swordsmen (elite unit) (requires a Sikh Temple)

Sikh Cavalry (elite unit) (requires a Sikh Temple)


Archers (IA-)

Cavalry

Tibetan Cavalry (only available in Tibetan Provinces SA-)


Tibetan Horse Archers (only available in Tibetan Provinces IA-)

Chariots (possible General's unit SA-)


All-Purpose References


This is a good weapons page: http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/indianarms.htm
...

The Polynesian Tribes

Mauri Warriors (IA-)

War Boomerang Throwers (only available in Australian provinces IA-)

Spear Throwers (IA-) - upgrades available at each age

Spearmen (IA-) - upgrades available at each age

Easter Islanders - only available in Pacific Island Provinces

Warriors

Spear Throwers
etc.

...

The Maya
[img=http://img258.echo.cx/img258/8291/mexica21le.gif]

Spear Thrower reference
[img=http://img258.echo.cx/img258/6229/webpageimagefatlatl6ly.jpg]

Warriors:

Jaguar Warriors, Spearman, Captain


Mexica Cuahchic, Warrior Priest, Alliance Warrior


Bowmen (SA-)

Standard Weapons





Shields and Banners






Province Specific units - Tlaxcalans:

Tlaxcalan Captain (may use a simplified version as a standard unit type), Texcocoan Captain (ditto)


Bowman, Soldier and Elite Warrior of Tlaxcala


Other


The Inca

Warriors:
Chinchaysuyu Warrior, Quechua Slinger, Chimor Warrior


Inca General (may be used as a captain), Chinchayasuyu General (more likely to be used as a Faction Leader), Inca Axe Warrior


General's Armour


Sun Warriors - requires temple to the Sun God

Amazonian Tribesmen - various - Only available in Amazonian Provinces


The North American Tribes

Tomohawk warriors

Spearmen

Rock Throwers

Spear Throwers

Club Warriors

Archers


Post-European Great Plains Cavalry


Breastplate


various tribe specific warrior types...

The South-East Asian States

Elephants

Cambodian Warriors

Vietnamese Warriors
etc.

The Slavic States

Boyars

Sabre Warriors...

The Celtic and Germanic States

Longbowmen

Welsh Longbowmen

Knights

Billmen

Spearmen

Claymore Warriors

Woad Warriors etc.


The African Tribes

Zulu Warriors

Masai Warriors etc...

The Persians

Horse Archers

Murabatin Infantry

etc. etc. etc.

More to come...

Some unit types will be trainable for any faction - though only in particular provinces. For example: Spartan type units will be trainable in sparta for most factions etc.

[Lonely Soldier]

Features

The mod will have several new features created for it in order to accomidate new gameplay needs. Again, none of this is set in stone! The main concept of the mod is to see how various cultures would have developed theoretically, had they not been conquered etc. So, the mod will aim to be as realistic as possible, though not at the expense of gameplay, within its own, somewhat fantastical (though still based in reality), scope.

The list so far is:

- Technology trade system (new technologies can be traded for - or stolen by spies - from more advanced factions. For example: Gunpowder can be traded from the Chinese etc.)

- Governmental systems (when the conditions in a faction's settlements drop below a certain level, a different system of government can be put in place at the capital by constructing the desired system's required structure.)

- New trade systems: railways, air freight etc.

- Dynamic faction and settlement names: Londinium becoming London at the appropriate date etc. Slavic states becoming the Soviet Union - if they are Communist.

- Dynamic factions and settlements: The Celtic and Germanic states may split at some point. The Aztecs may appear in central America and their capital (Tenochtitlan) with them - this will probably prove to be impossible, so don't get your hopes up!

- Religious fervour system: similar to that in Medieval: TW, factions will be able to train representatives of their religion to try to spread it to other settlements.

- Dynamic Wonder system: New wonders can be built when the time is right. Also certain wonders may be automatically destroyed at certain dates - E,g. Pharos in the Middle Ages etc.

more to follow... Watch this space!

[Myrddraal]

How do you plan this?

- Technology trade system (new technologies can be traded for - or stolen by spies - from more advanced factions. For example: Gunpowder can be traded from the Chinese etc.)

[Lonely Soldier]

Myrddraal - Probably in the form of a diplomatic treaty - like trade rights, alliance etc.

[GaugamelaTC]

Can I have some historical clarification please, did the persians(or arabians) use gunpowder before those in europe?

[Lonely Soldier]

GaugamelaTC - Well the turks did use cannon to destroy the walls of Constantinople quite early on, around the14th century I believe, which is somewhat earlier than the Western Europeans used it.

On another matter, could someone tell me how to create one of those signiature banners and upload it? Thanks in advance!

[Lonely Soldier]

Government Systems and Religions Placeholder

This is the first draft list of potential government types, ideologies and principles - these are in no particular order:


Systems:

Monarchy - Monarch elect/birth right

Oligarchy/Aristocracy

Tyranny

Democracy

Theocracy

Dictatorship/Police State

Republic

Fascist State

Valeoist State - officials elected based on fitness and ability for the position.


Sub Systems

Caste system


Economic Models:

Capitalism

Communism


Principles:

Internationalism

Nationalism


Religions

Christianinty - may include several denominations

Islam - several variants

Buddhism - several variants

Hinduism

Taoism

Aetheism

Olympian Greco-Roman Religion

Ancient Egyptian Religion

Animism

Mesoamerican Religions

Shintoism

Incan Religion

Nordic Religions

Voodoo

Several African Religions

Judaism

Polynesian Religions


The religions and systems on this list can be accessed at certain points in the campaign and will grant certain bonuses (these will appear on this list shortly).

[GaugamelaTC]

Not sure how to upload it but if you take a screenshot of some skins in action when it gets going and then use paint or something else to put some writing over it (preferably the mod title) that seems to be what everybody else is doing.

[GaugamelaTC]

I think the faction list is pretty much perfect for me, I can see your point on the amazonian tribes, I researched and there wasn't much war etc. Can I ask how and why the celtic and germanic states would split?
Religion wise, perhaps you could start by giving native americans and probably the celts, germanics and slavs animism for their religion. (there probably are other factions that should start with it but I'm not sure).
Regarding religions will they stay only to the age that is relevant (eg egypt starts with the ancient gods but as time goes on converts to Islam.) Or can we choose not to have to convert, and take Osiris and Ra and the others to glory!!! For systems you could perhaps include the Caste System for India to start with.

[Lonely Soldier]

GaugamelaTC - Any faction can choose to convert or stay with their current religion as they choose - so yes, the Egyptian gods could still be worshipped in the 21st century! Different religions will grant different benifits and most will have their own bonus units. Animism will probably feature more in Africa and the Americas, after all the Celts and Slavs had their own deities etc. which doesn't really fit with animism.
What I meant by the celts and Germans splitting is that this would have to occur if you wanted World War I or II etc. This is by no means a certain feature, I think new and original civilisation development and gameplay is a higher priority than recreating actual history. Also the caste system is a good suggestion, and could probably be used for several cultures. What would happen is that a new faction would emerge (say Britain) and automatically take over the appropriate provinces (or something like that anyway).

I will soon be starting to add units to the Unit Post. These will be those that need to be added to the game rather than a comprehensive list at this stage.

[Lonely Soldier]

New Wonders

This includes a new type of wonder: Natural wonders

The Great Wall

The Grand Canyon

The Pillars of Hercules

The Great Barrier Reef

More to come...

[Simetrical]

Um . . . perhaps you should look into how much is possible with the engine? You can't implement new diplomatic options, for instance. And you can only include 255 models, with at most one skin per model per faction, and only one arms/armor layout per model. And you can't include all twenty factions unless you want to run into issues with Roman hardcoding—you're limited to seventeen, or nineteen if you don't mind three sharing FoW. And, well, the list goes on. You'll have to cut back your plans a little, at least.

-Simetrical

[Lonely Soldier]

simmetrical - Thanks for the heads up.