Zulu Mod!!!

[Sundjata Keita]

Excellent work! I will put your name in the credits of the mod.

[The_Mark]

Thank you. Just send me PM if you need it tweaked.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Hey guys
I post in the SCC thread you have.
I'm learning to model myself, but I suck.
When I get done ill make you a cannon or somthing.

[Sundjata Keita]

Cool that would be a great help, do you think you could model a gatling gun? If you want some good 3dsmax tutorials about modelling try http://www.pixel2life.com.

[dclare4]

Blunderbuss - musket-type, cut-off/shortened with a wide trumpet-like bore for spread of shot.
Short-ranged but with deadly shotgun effect at close range.
Horse Pistol - also called a 'dragoon pistol', a large primitive flintlock-type pistol.
Very Poor accuracy and probably its only virtue is causing fear in its target.
Thrown Stones - not even slung, these are stones or small rocks picked up and thrown.
Poor damage but virtually inexhaustible.
Militia Flintlock Musket - general issue musket, one generation ago that is. Lower accuracy due to age.
Deadlier than most other fire weapons, especially en-masse. Poor training may offset this.
Percussion Pistol - much more reliable and accurate pistol, this is the next generation handgun.
Still very short ranged but more accurate than the old horse pistol.
Repeating Rifle - a single-shot weapon with extremely fast reload time.
Of passable accuracy which is somewhat made up for by the speed of its reloading.


Axe - long-handled woodcutter's axe for general household use.
Adequate close-quarters weapon.
Frying Pan - typical iron kitchen utensil for cooking food and personal defense.
Can probably stun an enemy and in a tight spot it's better than nothing.
Pitchfork - sharp double-bladed farming impliment on a long pole for making hay bales.
Deadly in the hands of a desperate defender.
Scythe - another farming impliment, a long curved blade on a pole for cutting hay or wheat.
Deadly in the hands of a desperate defender.
Hoe - another farming impliment, a flat iron plate on a pole for cultivating the land.
Not much good as a weapon as its not sharp like the others, but its better than nothing.
Old Sword - a heavy straight bladed weapon reminiscent of a heavy rapier in use during the 1700's.
Rusty and trusty it has seen better days but a sword is still a sword.
Knife - a short stabbing weapon easily concealed for close-in action.
Not very long-ranged but can wound and kill with enough ferocity.
Stick - an ordinary thick wooden club-like stick. Doubles as a walking stick.
Not very effective at all this is your typical last-resort weapon.
Clubbed Musket - this is basically the musket, turned around so the butt-stock is used as a club.
Unwieldy but better than nothing and with enough strength can smash a man's skull.
Sabre - Your basic cavalry weapon, well balanced and heavy enough to cleave a man's skull from his body.
Somewhat unwieldy it is a hacking weapon, particularly effective for close-in fighting.
Machete - A large, heavy wide but short hunting knife similar to a falchion in shape and size.
Brutally effective in the African bush for cutting thru anything from thick grass to a foe's body.


Old Bearded Colonist
- officer
- dressed in dilapidated farmers' clothes with a straw hat and worn out shoes
- Fire: Blunderbuss
- Melee: Stick

Matronly Woman Colonist
- officer
- dressed in long skirt and typical colonial style frontier clothes with worn out shoes
- Fire: Horse Pistol
- Melee: Frying Pan

Young Female Colonist
- officer
- dressed in long skirt and typical colonial style frontier clothes probably with a bonnet
- Fire: Horse Pistol
- Melee: Pitchfork

Women Colonists
- soldier
- dressed in long skirt and typical colonial style frontier clothes with maybe a straw hat
- Fire: Thrown Stones
- Melee: Pitchfork

Farmer Colonists
- soldier
- dressed in dilapidated farmers' clothes with a straw hat and worn out shoes
- Fire: Blunderbuss
- Melee: Scythe

Retired Officer Colonist
- Officer
- a veteran of the wars, he wears a dilapidated uniform coat over basic farmer's dress and a straw hat.
- Fire: Horse Pistol
- Melee: Old Sword

Farmer Militia Drummer Boy
- Officer/Musician
- a musically inclined young boy assigned to beat the drum and keep up the men's spirits.
- Musical Instrument: Drum
- Melee: Knife

Farmer Militia Musketeer
- Soldier
- The local boys assembled and drilled into something of a military unit. Wears farmers clothing.
- Fire: Militia Flintlock Musket
- Melee: Clubbed Musket

Native Laborer
- Soldier
- Slaves or native farm hands hastily assembled to defend their master's property.
May have some dilapidated cast off clothes like shirts or pants.
- Fire: Thrown Stones
- Melee: Hoe

Trader Militia
- Soldier
- Small-time traders fighting to defend their livelihood. Wears better quality clothes and shoes.
- Fire: Militia Flintlock Musket
- Melee: Axe

Early Colonial Official
- Officer
- Wearing a stylish round hat and a coat of European fashion this glorified clerk fights best at a distance.
- Fire: Percussion Pistol
- Melee: Sabre

Late Colonial Official
- Officer
- Wearing a stylish round hat and a coat of European fashion this glorified clerk fights best at a distance.
- Fire: Repeating Rifle
- Melee: Sabre

Colonial Priest
- Officer/Musician
- Wearing a long black cassock and carrying a Bible this man of peace will only fight as a last resort.
- Musical Instrument: Singing Voice
- Melee: Stick

Missionary
- Officer/Musician
- Wearing a straw hat/pith helmet and a sort of Dr.Livingston outfit, this man of peace will only fight as a last resort.
- Fire: Repeating Rifle
- Melee: Stick

Town Militia
- Soldier
- Recruited and paid by the municipality, their equipment, uniform and weaponry are better than Farmers or Traders.
- Fire: Militia Flintlock Musket
- Melee: Clubbed Musket

Great White Hunter
- Officer
- An adventurer, explorer and living-legend, the kind they write stories about, dressed like Alan Quartermain or something.
- Fire: Repeating Rifle
- Melee: Machete

[dclare4]

Hi there Sundjata,

Wow! Looks like you're on a roll there! ;-) Great looking models!

Was wondering though, if you could do another Dragoon Guard Sgt model with higher (probably just below the knee) riding boots - but keep this one you already have too! I love the nice wrapped around scarf on his pith helmet!

Yeah, please do, I'll do some retexture modding with the ones that are already done!

Cheers,
Harlechman (Clare)

[Sundjata Keita]

Will the Dragoon Guard Sgt with riding boots be riding a horse then? If so that's another model done pretty easily.

I think now I'm going to finish off all the 1860's models and then maybee we can get a historical battle set up. It's still a long way off but if we all work hard I think we can do it in the next few weeks.

[stichmaster1]

got my computer back and photoshop 7 installed, so some shields are coming soon!

[Sundjata Keita]

Sounds good. If you need any help with the shields just say

[Epistolary Richard]

I'm just answering your post from the ZOR mod thread.

Now we can have a unit set for the natives, the british, the zulus, the portuguese and the boers and that will be about it. This basically cancels out the hardcoded culture types apart from the limitations and allows us to set specific regional units.

For recruitment, I got all my information from How to...add hidden resources and use them and from Complex conditionals for recruiting and building which you should have a look through if you haven't already but don't get too sucked into the second one or you'll never come out again!

As for culture, the ownership culture tags in edu and edb are just shorthand, you can get around them by specifying the particular factions.

I don't know if you've thought of this, but the bigger impact of culture will be in cultural unrest in occupied settlements. As the culture of the factions is hard-coded you'll have to give some thought as to how you're going to divide up your factions.

On a similar note, you're able to input a 'base unrest' in your provinces to represent particularly truculent areas, which will affect every faction apart from the one who is originally assigned it. It's listed as 'chance of rebellion' in descr_rebel_factions and you can find out more about half way down this thread on Ludus Magna.

[Sundjata Keita]

Thanks for your help Epistolary Richard. We are going to get the basic campaign map done before we start making all these adjustments because we have some new and quite original ideas (thanks to dclare) about tech trees and cities. Dclare, are you doing the campaign map? I posted a link to a collection of maps in the links thread on our own forums.

Just one more unit done today. Here is the British 1880's Auxilliary Officer. Same applies to this guy as the others, needs new face and collar doing. He does have pockets but you can't see them very well so they will be redone on the texture.

[Myrddraal]

Another quality model. Someone probably already posted this but have you decided on how to do the walls?

[Sundjata Keita]

Yes, the walls are just repeating ballistas. There are two ballistas in game so that means two walls, if we extend them to the right length then we make a choke point in the middle for Zulus to come through. The animations of the crew cranking the ballista and firing it etc. will be replaced with rifle animations and every time the ballista fires there will be a smoke effect, rifle sound effect and an invisible bolt will come out. The damage for this will be made higher so it seems as if people are getting shot.

Progress with walls

-completed getting walls in game with choke point
-uncompleted getting animations in game (having problems with this)
-uncomplaeted getting smoke
-uncomplaeted getting high damage invisible bolt

[Sundjata Keita]

Preliminary unit list, all suggestions welcome

Zulu Units

uMbonambi
uNokhenke
inGobamakhosi
uThulwana
uMcijo
izinsizwa
iNdluyengwe - unmarried
iNloko
iNdakawombe
imiVa - reserves
uFasimba
uThalwana
iziNyozi
inDwali
uBheuwula
uHtwayi
uFalza
uDududu
imVuemnyama
iShlangu
iMgombamakhosi
uPoke
inKonya Ebenmvu
uGibabanye
iziPeze
iNdlondlo
umKhuze
uNomgamulana
umZwangwenya
umSikala
isiBabule
iNkonkoni
uShisizwe
imiDwaimba
iNdlu-yengwe
abaQulusi riflemen
izinDibi - support troops
cattle herd


British Units

East Kent Regiment (The Buffs)
Somerset Light Infantry
Warwickshire Regiment
King’s Rifles
Connaught Rangers
Argyllshire Highlanders (Highland Light Infantry)
Duke of Edinburgh's Regiment
Natal Native Contingent
Volunteer and Frontier Cavalry (British Volunteers)
Lancers
Dragoons Guards (King's Dragoon Guards)
Mounted Infantry
Auxilliaries
Naval Brigade Gatling
Royal Artillery Field Battery
Duke of Cambridge Lancers
Light Infantry Regiment

Portuguese Units

companhias indígenas de caçadores - light rifle company
companhia de artilharia - artillery company
Prazeros - trader-adventurers (although these could be mercenaries, they were of Portuguese origin but were out of the control of Portugal's crown)
Dragão - Dragoons
Mosqueteiros - Musketeers
Atiradores
Cacadores - light infantry
Ordananza - militia

Swazi Units

Dlamini warriors
Sobhuza's guards
isAnusi - witchdoctors
abaQulusi riflemen
umtsakatsi - wizards
Missionary
Great white hunter
Tinkanyenti
umbutfo

Boers

Cape Coloureds/Native Laborer
Old Bearded Colonist
Farmer Colonists
Scouts
Transvaal rangers
Retired Officer Colonist
Farmer Militia Musketeer
Colonial Priest
Town Militia
Cape colony volunteers
Trader Militia

Ndwandwe

Ndwandwe warriors
Nomahlanjana
Northern Khumalos
Central Khumalos
Southern Khumalos
Mavuso
Nkosi
Mbandzeni
Seneleleni
Shongwe
Lomawa
Nukwase
Mswati

Basotho/sotho

Mathombeni
Magodongo
Xobongo
Manala
Mdungwa
Phaswana
Dzele
Mxabule
Magodongo
Musi
Mafana
Sipho
Sindeni

[Duke Malcolm]

perhaps you could lose the battalion numbers of the british regiments, since what is being trained is, mor or less, a battalion

[Sundjata Keita]

Yeah I don't think you can have numbers in the unit names anyway

[stichmaster1]

i was going to suggest the same thing on our other forum

[IrishMike]

I don't think that the numbers would work very good. While they would provide a very deep sense of reality, they would be practical to train to of the same units of the same number.

[Sundjata Keita]

Done!

[dclare4]

Hi guys,

Looks like ZTW is picking up steam and gaining interested future players! I'm just really happy and I'm sure you guys are too.

Well basically (about sticking spears or pitchforks in the ground) I don't want these objects to magically disappear and appear - well okay if pitchforks or hoes and other farm impliments are too impractical let's let it go - but I think it would be nice if we can have the troops 'sling' their firearms (blunderbusses or muskets) or holster pistols if engaging or engaged in hand to hand combat.

As for numbers I agree with what's been said. It will look a bit weird and cumbersome to name specific units. Potentially ANY unit in the British army might have been sent to Africa (remember the mod covers not just the famous Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 but the entire period - hopefully - from about 1800 to 1880) and I think it would be just a waste to clone large groups of similar units just so every regiment is represented. I would however like to keep the nicknames as our identification for units, to wit...

East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) - The Buffs (considered an Elite unit so they're separate)
Somerset Light Infantry - The Light Infantry
Warwickshire Regiment - The Warwickshires (of course they have to have their own)
King’s Rifles - The KRRC OR The Rifles (from what I read they didn't do too well in this war)
Royal Scots Fusilliers - The RSF or Royal Scots Fusilliers (they fought in another African campaign in the area IIRC)
Connaught Rangers - The Connaught Rangers
Argyllshire Highlanders (Highland Light Infantry) - The Highland Light Infantry
Duke of Edinburgh's Regiment - can be grouped in with generic line infantry I think OR we can have another unit type 'British Volunteers' representing recently raised line regiments which didn't really have as much esprit de corps as the veterans like the Buffs.
Natal Native Contingent - The NNC
Volunteer and Frontier Cavalry - local volunteer units
Lancers - The Lancers (these already will include the 17th Duke of Cambridge Lancers)
Dragoons Guards (King's Dragoon Guards) - The KDG
Mounted Infantry - these are a generic unit type
Auxilliaries - these will include Constabulary and other locally raised not too famous units
Naval Brigade Gatling
Naval Brigade Company
Royal Artillery Field Battery - we should differentiate between heavier and lighter batteries and have a separate Rocket battery type.

What do you think guys?

Cheers,
Harlechman516 (Clare)

[Myrddraal]

I agree, it would get way too confusing if you repeated the same units. You've got a good list there. Its plenty.

[dclare4]

By the way, I don't think I ever expressed my appreciation to The Mark for his sterling contribution for the Buffalo formation. Thanks very much!!

Formation-wise there's not really very much we can do I think besides the buffalo, horde, regimental line, regimental column and regimental square formations. I think most fighting (skirmishes and minor battles at least with the Euros) will be between irregulars which would be spread thin on ground and taking advantage of cover.

Cheers,
Harlechman (Clare)

[Sundjata Keita]

There was the Zulu crescent formation and the other native tribes used the skirmisher line formation (I think it was just two lines). One other thing we must include is being able to hide in long grass, when two native tribes fought together it was mainly different regiments that would go off and approach the enemy in different ways, some might hide others might charge etc. It was very disorganised and I think it will suit the AI in RTW perfectly

[dclare4]

" I think it will suit the AI in RTW perfectly "

HAHA! I love the bitter irony behind that line ;)

I think the ability to hide depends on what kind of unit it is and what animation it has? I see some RTW troops crouching. But actually I wonder if it's possible for us to have a special ability "crawl" for the African factions?

For the Euros I'm thinking the special ability would be normal fire and (instead of flaming arrows) short range rapid fire equivalent to "Independent! Fire at Will" (will try to get old Maurice Micklewhite to say this for us) - maybe 1000-500 yards distance rapid loading and firing at cost to accuracy.

Here's what I was wondering though, guys. What exactly DO the screaming women or general types do? What I want to do (if possible) is to make 'auxilliaries' invaluable to an army's ability to fight on the field. For the Africans these would be required:

Herd of Cattle - like Sundjata's idea these would be like the 'war dogs' except they're not really meant to fight.

Tribal Women - these would actually be the women and children of the tribe that would accompany an army out to fight. Fighting between tribes of the time usually involved more intimdation than actual killing. These were inconclusive affairs marked by showers of thrown spears. When Shaka's innovative and aggressive use of the iklwa changed tribal warfare their presence on the battlefield proved tragic. When the army they were 'rooting for' broke and ran they were slaughtered!

For the Europeans... We have the following fellows:

Supply Wagon Train - These actually should function like the mobile battering rams but are for providing protection like a wagon laager. They would hold the supplies of the army. If this is not possible they could be represented by service personnel (also so we could make good use of those cool auxilliary figures that Sundjata created).

Coralled Horses - These would be similar to the 'Herd of Cattle' for the tribes. These would be the armies mounts and carriage horses (for artillery, wagons, etc.) They would be under the watch of 'horse holders' and such.

I don't know how exactly but armies should be given some sort of a penalty if they're not present. The question is, how to make them present for battle? The only unit present for every battle is the 'general' unit but I'd rather give the general a command staff type unit. But if we have to work within the game and there's no choice...

What do you think guys?
Harlechman

[Myrddraal]

Hm I don't think you'll be able to make a crawl animation where they stay hidden...
You get revealed when you move in RTW

[Sundjata Keita]

Shame about the crawling it would have been very good, I wonder what the WW1 mod is going to do then. What about if the crawl was a special ability and that it reduced the chance of them getting hit by spears/bullets to zero. The ai would know they were there but would have to attack them with a melee attack.

The normal fire ability sounds good to me and so do the auxilliaries. I will get to work on the cattle model now, it looks difficult.

BTW did I mention to everyone that we will be releasing the historical battle Gqokli Hill in the next couple of weeks. There will be 4 different types of Zulu regiments on show and a cattle herd for the auxilliaries (in the real battle these played quite an important role). There will be 4 different types of Ndwandwe regiment on show and if I get round to it some tribal women (who came to celebrate the Ndwandwe victory before the battle begun).

Remember the Zulu proverb - don't begin the meal before the water is boiling

[Epistolary Richard]

I think the ability to hide depends on what kind of unit it is and what animation it has? I see some RTW troops crouching. But actually I wonder if it's possible for us to have a special ability "crawl" for the African factions?

The hide ability depends on the unit attributes set in export_descr_unit (hide_forest, hide_anywhere etc.) but as Myrddraal says moving reveals the unit. But perhaps instead of being concealed they can have a higher protection against being shot, similar to the testudo.

What exactly DO the screaming women or general types do?

You can find some investigation of unit attributes and general in the below threads:
Effect of unit attributes
What do command stars do?

Basically though, units with command, druid or screeching women are all about giving morale boosts to nearby friendly units or morale nerfs to enemies. General (apparently) adds to attack ratings as well.

I've tried to work in some 'invaluable' units (eg, mercenary captains) to one of my mods but with little success. The unit attributes are very limited in scope and while their area of effect hasn't been measured I can't believe it's that far. Recruitment can't be made dependent on the presence of units, movement will always be limited by the slowest, unit attrition (like the defenders during a siege) isn't open in the text files AFAIK. Perhaps something can be done with scripting but that's out of league at the moment.

My only promising avenue of development appears to be general's traits and ancillaries. It would be straightforward to invent new ones to govern movement speed, morale factors, battlefield healing etc. etc.

Of course RTW was going to have a whole supply line thing as well but they ditched it. RTR mentions supply lines re: recruitment for v6.0 so perhaps one of that team can explain further.

[Sundjata Keita]

Looks like I beat you to the crawling fix idea by about a minute

Is there no way to make it so that units have bonusses attatched to them, don't siege weapons improve morale amongst your troops? We don't need to make auxilliaries neccesary, just advantageous.

Also is there a priority setting for the killing of certain units? The enemy always seems to go for my general and I want it so that the ai goes for the cattle so they can be used as a distraction.

[Myrddraal]

Sorry ER, It seems I deleted your double post just as you edited it, but I had a feeling that would happen, so I copied your text before I did it. I've now edited you post to contain the original message.

[Epistolary Richard]

Looks like I beat you to the crawling fix idea by about a minute

Darn modem connection, if I'd been on my broadband I'd have got you!

But I think the kudos will go to the person who actually creates the crawling animation!

Is there no way to make it so that units have bonusses attatched to them

Well, as I said, command and druid attributes both give morale bonuses to nearby friendlies. But that's about it for one unit being able to influence another.

don't siege weapons improve morale amongst your troops?

Not as far as I'm aware.

We don't need to make auxilliaries neccesary, just advantageous.

I got the impression from dclare4 that she wanted them as virtual necessities to make an army viable. But I imagine that they've end up being 'merely' advantageous as you'll run into the limits of the game.

Also is there a priority setting for the killing of certain units? The enemy always seems to go for my general and I want it so that the ai goes for the cattle so they can be used as a distraction.

The AI prioritisation is probably based either on stats or on cost (should be easy to test, I'd do it myself if I was near my copy of RTW). However you probably don't want cattle with huge attack stats so try artificially inflating their defence or their cost and see if that makes a difference.

remember the mod covers not just the famous Anglo-Zulu War of 1879

Did I miss something? I thought the mod specifically wasn't going to go that far?