Htw Spin-off Mod - Ancient: TW

**macsen rufus** · 03-07-2007, 13:15

Hi there Dimitrios! Good to see you around again - how can I forget the guy that emailed those pics?

It's taken me a while to get back to finishing off the Bronze Age scenario, as I mentioned above, my last computer died on me and all the old work was lost - including my Roman Invasion one (Britannia 43, I called it) -- that will take ages to redo, so it's on a back burner for now. I had loads of extra stuff gathered together for the BA project though, lots of new ship images etc, but it's all gone, or locked away on a disc I can't recover .... I know, I know, back ups!!!

Anyway, I've finally got a new PC, back into HTW and relearning all the modding I'd forgotten over the past year or so. Hopefully I'll be able to finish off the Bronze Age campaigns for HTW BA one day - I just found my old notes last night, so I can recreate a lot of the lost work. Meanwhile, I'm working on the Bronze Age Europe "cross-mod". I won't be making any new units as such, just recycling HTW models.

I've got them ported across to the XL map okay, had a few battles as the Egyptians and Hittites, and making steady progress. I'm concentrating on the Egyptians first. Anyway, a couple of tasters for you...

Starting provinces:

Egyptian campaign:

I still have lots of research to do, but it seems Bronze Age warfare was mostly chariots supported by spears and archers, with a few local variants. Getting into western europe things are a lot vaguer, with fewer chariots, more general "tribal" types etc.

16 factions so far but might consider others: Ligurians, Phoenicians, Israelites, "The Sea Peoples", Sicels, Canaanites... The problem is that the Middle East is the most interesting area, but doesn't have enough provinces. I know someone once was making a mid-east campmap, and I'd love to get my hands on that!

No promises on whether it will ever be releasable, or how long it will all take, but I'll try.

@Axel - yes, you've got the latest versions of HTW and the patch, but the factionshields have been redone since that one, and I think I have some newer .txt files too. I'll do a new install and see what has changed since then.

**dimitrios the samian** · 03-07-2007, 14:30

Macsen ,, You are keen !! Seems like it will be a labour of love for you ,, Have you played Rome TW yet ? Im sure if you are going to put so much work into a project it would be better to do it on a platform thats very very popular ! I would be willing to help as much as possible ,, they currently have a Rise of Persia mod happening and also a Hellenic version as well ,, nothing Bronze Age or Old Kingdom Egyptian so it would be a definate goer and im sure plenty of modders would jump aboard to help out ,, cheers ,, DTS

**axel** · 03-07-2007, 17:00

Hi mate,
It looks really great i think there will be a lot of people playing this mod mate

(Macsen ,, You are keen !! Seems like it will be a labour of love for you ,, Have you played Rome TW yet ? Im sure if you are going to put so much work into a project it would be better to do it on a platform thats very very popular !) Who sais this is not verry popular ? mate i think there will be a lot of people playing this mod mate

**dimitrios the samian** · 03-07-2007, 23:19

Hi Axel ,, Like Mac say's it may never make it out their ,, I wish HTW was still as popular as it was in its heyday ....but it isn't !! check the thread index .... zilch !!! sad but true ,, Seems like other mods are still very popular XL & a few more ,, Like i said earlier I will be reloading MTW + its mods to give em all another crack ... Anyway should Macsen complete the Broze Age I definately want a copy !!! .. By the way have you got Fall of Rome 3.1 yet ?

**axel** · 03-08-2007, 11:45

Hi mate,
Yes mate i hope this will get out also it would be great to play this mod mate
yes i got Fall of rome as well the last version they fixed it up really great its a wonderfull mod. I got 7 modded MTW on my PC i love the game
Well i hope this will get out to play

**macsen rufus** · 03-08-2007, 19:06

I hope it sees the light of day before another computer dies on me

I have got RTW + BI, but found it bit of a disappointment, and also I don't have the first clue on modding it (okay, so I didn't have a clue when I started on MTW either.... but wanting to get HTW BA working gave me a motive to learn.) Also, I have an NVIDIA video card, so need different drivers to play MTW and RTW. As it's such a pain to keep swapping over (I once left my machine with NO video output by uninstalling the wrong drivers

) so I've decided I'd rather have MTW + mods than RTW.

HTW was the first mod I ever tried, and I'll never forget that first battle, invading Messenia as the Lakadaemonians! It really knocked my socks off, seeing all those hi-res shields, javelins flying everywhere, and the battle maps are still some of the best I've seen. They'll be carried across into the Ancient mod when I work out how. I don't think it will be difficult, I just haven't looked into it yet. I think I'm going to have to make my own "hill fort" maps for western europe though

Latest news on Ancient-XL (my working title!):

- more Egyptian units added: Egyptian archers, Sherdan mercenaries (like Greek BA militia, but tougher), Medianite cameliers (from HTW) only available in Sinai and Arabia.
- proper Egyptian portraits for Pharaohs and princesses
- one "Famous king" added: Ramses II (charismatic leader)
- using HTW versions of nubian spears and guards, only available in Libya and Egypt
- building up a full Egyptian name list

Next faction to look at will be Assyrians, then Hittites.

I need to decide on a date for "iron age" technology to appear (maybe as a "high" period) but giving early access to the Hittites in Anatolia and Celts in Hungary / Halstatt homeland. I'm also making the pagan ("barbarian" tech-tree more drawn out so they have to do more developments in order to catch up with the "civilised" factions of the Middle East (not forgetting that early advantage in ironworking and maybe horse breeding

)

**axel** · 03-08-2007, 23:59

Wooow great mate if you got the change cane you show somme pics ???

**wumpus** · 11-28-2007, 03:28

macsen rufus:
The BRONZE AGE (Ancient TW) work that you do sounds very interesting. I like it very much. More power to you on that.
And it's a pity you lost your Britania 43. What a great loss. It would have been a great game too--maybe make a scenario about what could have happened to the lost VIIII Legion. (A recent movie speculated that VIIII Legion formed the core of Uther Pendragon's army--you know, Uther the father of King Arthur of Camelot.)
Anyway, you have my full approval for your admirable project.
Hawooh.

**dimitrios the samian** · 11-28-2007, 08:27

... CONGRATULATIONS Macsen .. 500 posts !!

**macsen rufus** · 11-28-2007, 17:31

Greetings, Wumpus, and welcome to our little primitive backwater

Britannia 43 was a great loss, indeed, but all is not lost as I'm sure it could be built back into the broader framework of Ancient -- after all, it uses the same animations and so on. I'd have to recreate some of my research re British tribes, and which were factions and which were rebels. As far as I recall, the factions I used were Atrabates, Dumnonii, Cruithne (Picts...), Silurii, Corieltauvi (of course,

), Caledonii, Iceni, Ordovici, Hibernii, Parisii and I'm sure there was at least one more faction in Wales. And maybe Catevellaunii, too. Dubonni? Hmm, well, lots of British factions, anyway

And there were a unit of elephants as I did find at least one reference to Claudius bringing some with him for the period he was here in person, about 12 of them IIRC

Another plus since then is that I can now mod the campaign map as well, so a new version is now possible, with the Gallic mainland as a "playable" area for the Romans to start from, which means I wouldn't have to give them Cantware as a beachhead

@DTS - I'm afraid the Assyrians are going to have to be content with just their battering rams, that being the most attestable technology available up to the 7th C BC. Well, there were other things, but nothing "doable" in MTW, only siege towers and ladders, and that's pretty much it

Mining is already addressed, of course...

V3.0 release will just be up to the Alex campaign - so I can get it out before Xmas - Diadochi etc later....

EDIT: WOOT!

500 posts in the thread, and I've reached 1,500 as well. Dang, didn't see that coming

**dimitrios the samian** · 12-12-2007, 00:45

Howdy Mac ,, Been quite here for almost 3 wks ! but thats fine , cause all thats important is that your getting much more gaming time than modding !! After all thats the driving force that keeps us at it !
I like many others are gratefull you have done so much already and look forward to V3 sometime in the new year ..... cheers .

**macsen rufus** · 12-12-2007, 16:52

I'm going to draw a line before Xmas and do a 2.5 release with what I have at present, there's a bit more work to do yet before I can call it a V3.0, but want to have something new out for the holidays for everyone. I also have a side-project for someone else on the go, but it's not my place to reveal what it is

So V2.5 will include the Alex campaign, and all the recent changes for the Punic and main campaigns.

Myself, I think I'll be playing Mount and Blade over Xmas, for a change of scenery