Ancient TW - Original HTW Troops > Editing , Improving & Modifying

[dimitrios the samian]

For those not in the know , the troops used in Ancient TW are the originals created by the Hellenic TW team & those by Duke John , I believe ? . ( if they are some peopleI have missed please let me know ) The same team that brought us HTW began another mod & when it was about 50% ? of the way thru their Bronze Age Mod ceased , that is until Macsen stepped in & revived it & released it , the rest is MTW Modding History & it continues .

Macsen with the troop bif plates available has gone on to create a plethora of troops by mixing & matching weapons & shields .
In the beginning modding was all new to me , as were Cdrives , folders , tga's , bmp's , photoshop etc etc
I did manage to create a Review Panel & I caught the bug
With such a variety of soldier types already fielded in Macs mods , I have started my journey into the animated side of things only recently & I'm enjoying it immensely so far .
I am familiar with RTW & have seen many hours of battles on later releases , but the reviews of the players is the same frustration followed by more frustration , superb I candy yes , but MTW still has the best tactical battlefield AI of all !!
Anyway , I will repost a few pics from last week & my modding journal continues here .



This figure (bif) is the first one im going to finish & send to Macsen to use .
It is a very popular one , Originally used by HTW for Akondistes , Toxotes , Cretan Archers , Light Archers , Skirites , Peltasts & Thrasian Peltasts .
Well when I'm done they will be much improved . All will have belts + sandals or leather footwear & a mixture of swords & quivers .
I will look at making a Thracian bif & I have plans for a different Cretan Archer ( more on these two later )
So back my first project , I did have a slight problem creating the new bif but it has been solved ( covered in the main thread)
I will continue the work necessary so these poor little guys look like they are wearing & fighting in more than a plain tunic
In the interim only today , I doodled on PS for a while & created two more , just one pic one 1 plate , but its a start , here is a peek



Anyway , I'm back working on the Akondistes & Peltasts as of spare time tomorrow.
More soon on those as it become available ......
cheers

[macsen rufus]

Hi Dimitrios - looking like you're really getting your teeth into the animations!

I'm not sure which release of Ancient you have, but it's probably been superceded where Thracians are concerned. I now have this BIF for them (plus tribal archers and agrianes and hyrcanians, iirc). I think it was one Duke John let me have years ago:

[dimitrios the samian]

Yes nice bif that one !
I have it & eventually I will see these "tribal archers and agrianes and hyrcanians . as I think they are made of the same bif but different shields & weapons ..... ( I'm beginning to understand most of the mechanics behind it now)
Anyway Mac , I have Hellenic TW & your first ATW2 ...( the one with its own map)
Your 2.53 & Roman TW3 available for download here have the wrong textures/men .( at least for my 3 attempts at dl them)
When you get a chance replace your latest 2.53 here at the Org & i'll be up to speed ! ........... I hope

[macsen rufus]

I won't be re-releasing 2.53, as it was the 'catch all' package. All of its scenarios will be parcelled out between ATW1 (Bronze Age), ATW2 (Eastern) and ATW3 (Roman), and hopefully many errors and omissions will be corrected in each package as it comes out (well, we can all live in hope )

And not to put any ideas into your head, but when I turn towards the Diadochi scenario in due course (weeks if not months away yet, alas...) I am going to need some African hoplites for the Ptolemies I think just a change in skin colour based on the Macedonian hoplite bif should do the trick.

EDIT TO ADD: thanks so much for forwarding that screenie of Stazi's brilliant discovery, it's quite amazing. See here what I'm doing with it.

[dimitrios the samian]

I won't be re-releasing 2.53, as it was the 'catch all' package. All of its scenarios will be parcelled out between ATW1 (Bronze Age), ATW2 (Eastern) and ATW3 (Roman)

And not to put any ideas into your head, but when I turn towards the Diadochi scenario in due course (weeks if not months away yet, alas...) I am going to need some African hoplites for the Ptolemies I think just a change in skin colour based on the Macedonian hoplite bif should do the trick ......

Howdy Mac ... sounds great , coz I was only campaigning on the V2 Edition , so im looking forward too seeing the "Age of Charoits" in the right setting & all improved ofcourse
Ok , About that bif , I think I can do it no problems , what im going to do is join a photoshop forum & get some tips as I know its a lot easier than drawing 260+ Helmets , I reckon one full plate of helmets & then its just matching them up & giving them a quick clean ....



I have this bif , it is from BKB's work , its the akondistes from HTW ...
Q ? ..Would the animation suit a Hoplite that you need ?

[macsen rufus]

That's a nice looking BIF, but from what I've been reading, Ptolemy's African hoplites were equipped in the regular Hellenistic style as with his native Egyptian hoplites. That's why I was thnking the Macedonian hoplites with a good tan would be the easiest route to go...

I've been looking at the Babylonians today, so will start a thread for them whilst it's still fresh in my memory.