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lenin96
02-04-2009, 09:51
I'm just wondering what things will be in this mod, so lets post our ideas.

Sir Beane
02-04-2009, 12:40
PeverGREEN :tongue: knows this already, but I would like a BigMap version of the map, complete with as many provinces as we can physically cram into it. In addition to that it would be nice to see a few more places make an appearance, such as Indonesia and more of Africa and South America.

I'd also like to see certain islands become provinces. Iceland (if it isn't already) Svalbard (to the North of Norway) the Canary Islands, the Scilly Isles, The Hebredies, all of the Caribbean islands as their own provinces, and the same for the islands in the Bahamas. And maybe if the map extends far enough why not throw in the Galapogos islands as well. :laugh4:

Also it might be nice to make places such as France and Spain more than one province, depending on how it works in-game.

Other than that it might be fun to try and add more emergent factions into the game. And maybe try and create a viable pirate faction (although that could be for another mod).

What do people think about these ideas?

pevergreen
02-04-2009, 13:32
ITS pevergreen! RAWR.

Well, as for islands becoming provinces, that will be no problem. As for a bigmap, I'm thinking area, not just the map already given. But for an initial release, why not! :grin2:

This isn't planned to be a major historical mod, but if I think France/Spain/others should have a bigger platform to launch off, then sure. But keep in mind, your opinions matter more than mine. If you guys want stuff changed/balanced, let me know and I'll do it.

Depending on programs needed, I may also begin a spinoff that would add new units and factions.

Megas Methuselah
02-05-2009, 19:25
We can hope there won't be a faction limit, but who knows? :shrug:

Fisherking
02-05-2009, 23:18
How difficult is it to add factions?

Adding the units and perhaps techs? Any idea about that from working in M2?

If you are adding all that land it has to be populated. Just wondering about the peoples of the South West Pacific…also adding more tribes to North America is not a bad idea. South America would be mostly conquered, outwardly at least…some of the tribes there still are wild, like parts of New Guinea were until recently.

pevergreen
02-06-2009, 01:13
As for extending the map, I think I will be forced to fill it with unhistorical units to start with.

Going on M2TW, adding a faction is quite a bit of work, even if you use pre exisiting units (which will have incorrect colours and so on). It will help if CA releases the SDK.

It can be done, but will take some time, as the base I have within M2TW may not help, due to the new engine and such. Maybe it will be tons easier to add a unit.

Sir Beane
02-06-2009, 14:01
As for extending the map, I think I will be forced to fill it with unhistorical units to start with.

Going on M2TW, adding a faction is quite a bit of work, even if you use pre exisiting units (which will have incorrect colours and so on). It will help if CA releases the SDK.

It can be done, but will take some time, as the base I have within M2TW may not help, due to the new engine and such. Maybe it will be tons easier to add a unit.

In my opinion Africa will be hard to do accurately given the variety and number of the various local tribes. Asia will be even harder, probably impossible, given the various Asian cultures and how different their architecture and units would look.

On the plus side you can add in the whole of South America without being too incorrect. Just fill it with Spain and Portugal and it will be more or less accurate to history. And Australia is practically deserted at the time. The aboriginal tribes did very little fighting, so representing Australia as more or less deserted would not be too inaccurate.

There are quite a few places that were occupied by a faction already in game that can be added in without problems. A lot of island chains (especially tropical ones) come to mind.

pevergreen
02-06-2009, 14:57
And as for those areas, I think we could suffer them to be there, and populated with incorrect unit types.

Australia...<3.

And as this is Extended Vanilla Mod, I don't want to be changing too much. The player should be able to play vanilla, then see this as an extended version. Not too much new stuff. We can go off on crazy sub mods though.

Sir Beane
02-06-2009, 17:54
And as for those areas, I think we could suffer them to be there, and populated with incorrect unit types.

Australia...<3.

And as this is Extended Vanilla Mod, I don't want to be changing too much. The player should be able to play vanilla, then see this as an extended version. Not too much new stuff. We can go off on crazy sub mods though.

I heartily agree with the decision to keep the mod as vanilla is possible. :2thumbsup: Changing too much can alienate people who liked vanilla.

Making the mod as modular as possible using sub mods is a really good idea. Allowing players to mix and match exactly what features they want to install can help avoid people not downloading the mod because they dislike one feature.

You could divide the mod into certain sections. For instance:

Extended Map - Mod that adds in more land and more provinces

Rebalances - If the game is rebalanced then this could include those changes.

New Units - Adds in new units (if any get made of course)

Timeline Changes - Contains any change made to the timeline of the game, for instance the number of turns, turns taken to build thnigs etc.

This is just an example of course. The idea is that you could download one big mod with all the changes, or lots of little mods to allow you to pick the features you want. I suggest this because there are a number of larger mods I got for Med 2 that I liked some of but not all of. For example The Long Road, I loved the larger map and new traits and ancillaries, and the new units, but disliked the huge increase to building times (I do realise that increasing times was more or less the point of the mod :tongue:).

I'm not experienced in modding of course so I have no idea how easy or hard this would be to do. If you think I'm getting too carried away with suggestions then feel free to tell me to keep quiet. :tongueg: :laugh4:

pevergreen
02-07-2009, 01:27
Based off what I've done with the previous games, it shouldn't actually be too hard to do. In some cases, a few files would be different depending on how many submods you are running, but if I really went to town, I could probably write a program to do it all.

Polemists
02-07-2009, 09:17
DUnno

I don't know if this will be a problem again, but I know in MTW2 Age was a problem. You'd have a son's older then fathers, father's who had sons when they were 10, and people living to be 85...in the MIDDLE AGES.

So if this is a problem again I'd like to see ages fixed to be more realistic.

I know there was a mtw2 mod that did this, so should be able to be redone.

pevergreen
02-07-2009, 10:18
Really? I'm pretty sure children are not able to father a child until they are Generals (18) and married. Otherwise they don't get the chance per turn. And i've never seen or heard or had any issues about age, besides the sometimes long lifespans.

Polemists
02-07-2009, 11:13
Yea this was with Rome, it was a early version issue. I havn't paid enough attention to MTW2 to notice any problems, other then the fact that if your a monarchy you may only get 3-4 kings in the period.


Longer time span/turns sounds good to :)

pevergreen
02-07-2009, 12:08
but I know in MTW2 Age was a problem.

I know there was a mtw2 mod that did this, so should be able to be redone.


Yea this was with Rome,

I'm sure you can see where my confusion came from. :tongue:

Now, brb wisdom tooth pain.

Fisherking
02-08-2009, 11:40
I was wondering about Individual Generals and Admirals.

I am sure the named ones start with a set of traits and abilities.

Is it a simple process to add Personalities which were left out, or is it going to be difficult?

pevergreen
02-08-2009, 13:39
by personalities i presume you mean traits/V&V. it is easy to modify starting ones, yes. adding new units on the campaign map should be easy as well (eg. spain gets another general with x units that have y xp.

Fisherking
02-08-2009, 14:59
by personalities i presume you mean traits/V&V. it is easy to modify starting ones, yes. adding new units on the campaign map should be easy as well (eg. spain gets another general with x units that have y xp.

:laugh4:
Then when the game is out I am sure I will have a wish list of Leaders I would like to see in the game, that CA has left out or over looked.:idea2:





:2thumbsup:


.

Polemists
02-08-2009, 15:43
Mighty pevergreen, I seek your infinite mod wisdom lol


So when/if a mod is made to increase turns, is there a way so it's 2 turns summer 2 turns winter? Rather then say summer winter, summer winter. Or can you only increase turns and not seasons?

Just curious.

Sir Beane
02-08-2009, 20:22
I have a question (surprise surprise :tongue:).

I really want to see Australia in the game, but I'm wondering how you will represent it. While the coastal regions and parts of the inland area are heavily populated the majority of the centre of the continent is a big red desert with nothing of use to an Empire (as I'm sure you know).

So how are you planning on spacing out provinces and cities? Especially given that during the time period there weren't many large settlements in the country.

Megas Methuselah
02-09-2009, 01:13
Mighty pevergreen, I seek your infinite mod wisdom lol


So when/if a mod is made to increase turns, is there a way so it's 2 turns summer 2 turns winter? Rather then say summer winter, summer winter. Or can you only increase turns and not seasons?

Just curious.


A script. However, I'd think it'd be better with 3 summers and 1 winter for spring, summer, fall, and winter.

pevergreen
02-09-2009, 05:48
I dont have a lot of experience with turn scripting, but I do believe there is a guide on it in the M2TW modding area. It should be possible.

Sir Beane, There are more settlements in the outback than you would think. Although I only know of a few larger ones and those within my state, it won't be hard. I'm thinking of having it like America was in M2TW, a few cities, with more stacks of troops, as the Aboriginies were mobile.

Incongruous
02-09-2009, 06:46
Don't know if I can post in here, but here goes anyway.

I reckon a unit movement slowdown will probably be required, judging from our most recent experiences, I also expect that the need will arise for slightly less accurate and damaging stats for muskets and cannons, just a guess.

I know that this may make some roll their eyes at the idea of a slow and tedious battle, but imho, MTW allowed for amazingly good musket duels (arty left alot to be desired) because they were drawn out. The way the game played meant that the primary job of the player was to manouvre correcty.
I truly mean correctly, for it should be so that you must make a decision about where your army will be and try as hard as you can to get it there, if you misjudge what it takes to get there or the position itself, game over.

For this is what battles were really about, gaining the best position, not "KILLZ THEM!", if you managed to take the best ground and hold it or force the enemy off it, you had probably just won the battle.
But I feel that in order for this aspect of war to be properly done, units must be slow moving and less effective with muskets that what I expect CA have made them, otherwise as you attmpt to take the hill, your army will be shredded as if those muskets were repeater rifles.

Polemists
02-09-2009, 15:31
I wouldn't mind seeing a fifth trade theatre, though I don't know where it would be or what it would include or if it could be added. :laugh4:

Sir Beane
02-09-2009, 23:03
I dont have a lot of experience with turn scripting, but I do believe there is a guide on it in the M2TW modding area. It should be possible.

Sir Beane, There are more settlements in the outback than you would think. Although I only know of a few larger ones and those within my state, it won't be hard. I'm thinking of having it like America was in M2TW, a few cities, with more stacks of troops, as the Aboriginies were mobile.

Excellent. I realise there are a lot of settlements in the outback around now, my point was that there weren't back then. Not for a while anyway. But if you put in the ones that are around now it won't be a problem to have them exist a few years early. :2thumbsup:

I cannot wait to run around Australia. Please, please make kangaroos, koalas, or some other stereotypical Aussie animal into a Trade Resource. Just to add to the Down Under flavour. :laugh4: (I hate to stereotype, but I do love Australia's wildlife)

One small question. If reefs are represented in game then will you be modeling the Great Barrier Reef?

pevergreen
02-10-2009, 00:39
Oh yes, of course I will!

I'm thinking if any animal should be represented it would have to be the wombat.

Chloe
02-15-2009, 01:18
If the unpacker is released with Empires then I might be able to reskin a few units.:yes:

lenin96
02-15-2009, 02:03
I hope we don't need an unpacker, that really annoyed me with M2TW.

pevergreen
02-15-2009, 02:28
If the unpacker is released with Empires then I might be able to reskin a few units.:yes:

Awesome!

Fisherking
02-20-2009, 10:34
One thing I saw mentioned that disturbed me was that troops unloaded from sea have no movement.

Perhaps the new system does not calculate reaming movement points of the force any longer. This is good for the naval movement but not really accurate.

I would much rather see landed units have a small amount of movement even if it is something of an exploit, than to have none at all.

6 months is a long time. Movement has never reflected real life distances and giving units some small amount of movement is better than none at all.

I guess we will have to see how it plays in the game but it may be something worth looking into.

Sir Beane
02-22-2009, 11:58
I'd like to ask if we can add Switzerland into the game as a faction? Because recent reviews suggest it is no longer in there for some reason.

pevergreen
02-22-2009, 11:59
If for some reason it isnt, I don't see why not.

For those of you following this, I have been tinkering around with what I can access in the demo.

If nothing else I should be able to get rid of some of the scripting on the land battle.

richyg13
02-24-2009, 08:49
IDEA:

Increase the unit sizes (for the ultra setting) to match that of a traditional battalion of the C18th.

For infantry at least...

For Cav could make these Companies.

pevergreen
02-24-2009, 09:08
Unit sizes will definately be modified. I looooove big units.

richyg13
02-24-2009, 20:05
The only problem with the Total War's series has been its attempt to be "beautiful" and therefore for performance reasons has had to cut its unit sizes to unrealistic levels.

Other games that I've seen including full unit sizes (eg. Histwar and Take Command) have been forced to have a 10 to 1 kind of display ratio for the units.

Techinically when you recruit a unit it should be an entire regiment! around 2000 men.

Sir Beane
02-24-2009, 22:50
Unit sizes will definately be modified. I looooove big units.

You'll probably want to make this optional though, since many people are struggling to run the game as it is, without 10,000 men on the field at once. :tongue:

pevergreen
02-25-2009, 01:31
Yeah, and since you can modify it to whatever you want pretty easily, I'll probably just do a mini guide on it.

Sir Beane
02-25-2009, 13:51
I have another suggestion. I was playing on the demo and in the naval battle I noticed that every single ship looks near exactly the same. They are all plain, brown and boring. It would be nice if we could edit the tetures a little to add a bit of paint to them and brighten them up.

I seem to recall that British ships were black and yellow for instance (it might be a bit later than the timeframe though). I also think that a lot of other ships were brightly painted and had different figureheads depending on where they were built. Ships were certainly not as identical as they appear in game.

How easy would it be to add a little factional variation into ship's paint jobs?

richyg13
02-25-2009, 23:15
I have another suggestion. I was playing on the demo and in the naval battle I noticed that every single ship looks near exactly the same. They are all plain, brown and boring. It would be nice if we could edit the tetures a little to add a bit of paint to them and brighten them up.

I seem to recall that British ships were black and yellow for instance (it might be a bit later than the timeframe though). I also think that a lot of other ships were brightly painted and had different figureheads depending on where they were built. Ships were certainly not as identical as they appear in game.

How easy would it be to add a little factional variation into ship's paint jobs?

It depends 90% on the coding. If the game has been coded to keep each ship the same then we're buggered. If they have allowed for some kind of factional differences then it just takes an artist (like myself) to go in there and change stuff.

pevergreen
02-26-2009, 01:25
I doubt there is coding to keep ships the same, would they not be just models?

richyg13
02-27-2009, 00:40
There has to be a section of code or scripting that tells the game what models to load. The record could be an array of models (w/ textures) of just a single reference. I'm guessing the former since thats how the land units work.

geala
02-27-2009, 09:20
I would like to have first
- better flags
- 4 turns
- bigger units (100 for cavalry, 400 for infantry f.e., what is still too little but could symbolize the normally weakened squadrons/battalions on longer campaigns)


Then of course also
- more provinces, bigger map
- weaker, that means more realistic cannons (which had a range far too long imho and the strange ability of indirekt fire seen in combat first only at the end of the 19th c.)
- perhaps, if they are so fragile as some suggest, a slightly stronger cavalry (which decided many battles); let's wait and see
- drums, pipes and bagpipes (is it in the game? I read about it but don't hear it in the demo)
- if possible new factions with new units (in the east f.e.: Siam, Birma, Safavids of Persia, Afghanistan, Goorkhas of Nepal, second Indian faction Maratha or Mughals, all important players in the 18th c., China as the biggest empire with the biggest army in the 18th c. would be difficult/impossible but fantastic)
- new traits
- in short terms: make it like Europa Barbarorum :laugh4:

pevergreen
02-27-2009, 10:39
It is not going to be a history mod. It is going to be mainly vanilla. New Factions are unlikely. The biggest changes will be the maps.

richyg13
02-27-2009, 19:27
I wouldn't rule out new factions... wouldn't be outlandish to suggest their inclusion if you accept some help on the matter.

pevergreen
02-28-2009, 01:37
I'm not going to prevent help coming! :laugh4:

I'd just like to concentrate on finding out what is easy enough to do. Adding a proper factions is a decent amount of work, so I'm hoping, if anything, to just add a small one, Switzerland, to start off with.

I checked the link in your sig, thats some nice work!

Sir Beane
02-28-2009, 20:39
Looking at the screenshots of the Caribbean that are out there now we definitely need more islands there. So far we have Curacao, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola and thats it. More islands = more fun :2thumbsup:.

richyg13
03-01-2009, 00:05
I'm not going to prevent help coming! :laugh4:

I'd just like to concentrate on finding out what is easy enough to do. Adding a proper factions is a decent amount of work, so I'm hoping, if anything, to just add a small one, Switzerland, to start off with.

I checked the link in your sig, thats some nice work!

Yeh I agree with Switzerland being a new minor faction and I think Portugal needs more love and made into a major faction.

You can then start to dig up other small to medium factios not properly included and add them too. I'll probs have more suggestions after the game's full release < on which note, play.com have confirmed they have their copies now in stock so mine is likely to be shipped by monday and should recieve tuesday.

Also, the work I have on deviantart is nothing compared to the main project I'm working on currently :)

Sir Beane
03-01-2009, 00:45
Yeh I agree with Switzerland being a new minor faction and I think Portugal needs more love and made into a major faction.

You can then start to dig up other small to medium factios not properly included and add them too. I'll probs have more suggestions after the game's full release < on which note, play.com have confirmed they have their copies now in stock so mine is likely to be shipped by monday and should recieve tuesday.

Also, the work I have on deviantart is nothing compared to the main project I'm working on currently :)

All good ideas :2thumbsup:. I'd love to see Swizerland added and Portugal fleshed out. And I can already think of a few good ideas for other minor nations to add if Switzerland turns out ok.

Out of all the mods suggested so far this is by far the most promising :2thumbsup:.

Many thanks to you pevergreen :yes:.

pevergreen
03-01-2009, 01:11
New minor factions are no problem. I won't be able to look at the game until the 5th when it comes in, and I should be starting full time work so...

Beskar
03-01-2009, 18:00
You thinking of modifying variables such as the price and upkeep of ships/profits possible from trade/etc.

Many reported that building and up-keeping a ship is cheaper than a bunch of Scots (don't Scots run on whisky?) so making ships far more a realistic price an idea, but possibly not make it the real prices, but more of a ratio/more realistic range in comparison.

richyg13
03-02-2009, 00:26
You thinking of modifying variables such as the price and upkeep of ships/profits possible from trade/etc.

Many reported that building and up-keeping a ship is cheaper than a bunch of Scots (don't Scots run on whisky?) so making ships far more a realistic price an idea, but possibly not make it the real prices, but more of a ratio/more realistic range in comparison.

yeh good plan

pevergreen
03-02-2009, 03:06
Yes, as soon as I saw the low upkeep for ships I knew I had to change that fast.

Mailman653
03-02-2009, 03:24
I was thinking, it the RtI campaign ends in 1810 and the Grand campaign ends in 1799, could it be possible to mod the Grand campaign to also end in 1810? I think that would be pretty cool, it would add 20 extra turns.

pevergreen
03-02-2009, 03:41
I am definately going to be adding turns, though by extra years, or extra turns per year, I am not sure.

richyg13
03-02-2009, 12:21
Both in my books... adding extra turns per year would, however, require sorting out alot of mathematics including shortening the move distance of units on the campaign map to reflect they only moving 3 month's distance.

Extra turns are easy to add to the end, I reckon ending in 1815 would be best, end of the Napoleonic Wars. Start date changing would require a review of starting provinces.

pevergreen
03-02-2009, 12:51
Yeah, I'm no history buff of that era at all, so I will just extend, rather than move the starting date back. But even then, I might need to redo some starting stuff.

The historian
03-05-2009, 22:57
I'd like to ask for Moldavia and Wallachia to be added as minors, ottoman protectorates of course

Sir Beane
03-05-2009, 23:31
Any idea if modding will become possible in the future pevergreen? Will modders work out how to edit files or or CA going to have to step in?

It will suck if modding stays impossible for long. :no:

pevergreen
03-06-2009, 05:35
It does seem like we have to wait for mod tools.

I tried a bit of modding, but it deleted about 7gig of game files...so...

Beskar
03-06-2009, 23:19
I would like a force_accept mod some where, the AI always asks for like 60,000 for anything, even wanting you to pay 10,000 so they can trade with you. It just gets silly. One faction just refused to accept anything, even if I gave it all my provinces, 1,000,000 gold, etc just for a trade, they would just go "Do you think I was left out in the sun too long? I am not stupid!" or some random crap like that. So even trying to work out how the AI decides on diplomacy might be an idea to find ways to improve it.

For example, when I offer technology, the Ai doesn't think anything of it at all, but when I request 1 or 2 from the AI, they want 60,000 odd for it.

pevergreen
03-07-2009, 02:11
The diplomacy Ai is good. If their populace does not like you and they think they can beat you in a war, they will not accept things.

I havent heard them ever asking for that much money, this is the first case. Screenshot please.

The highest I've seen them ask is 600 or so.

If you ask for trade from Denmark as Britain on turn 1, it will cost you 150 gold.

Beskar
03-07-2009, 06:02
This is how much it is.

France, for example, I just requested peace, bearing in mind a shot hasn't been fired, etc.

I first did 10,000 state gift.

Then I offered 100,000 gold , A ton of technology (I am almost full tech, everyone else is at max, 50%) just for a simple peace. (Even though I can easily if needed, build an army and just conquer them)

They said no. Why? It isn't realistic for them to decline. They are basically bankrupt, everyone ganking them, and they refuse a very good offer like that.

Everything else is just the same, they only accept when it's either too good not to pass up and even then, they can still pass.


In the end of RTI when you play as USA, the game tells you "It might be an idea to buy provinces from some of the factions in the area", Florida alone costed 80,000 till they accepted.


There are also bugs to do with diplomacy. The nations don't accept government type changes in the calculations. So for example, the Netherlands, say "different government type -25" even though my Russia is a republic and the Netherlands is a Republic.
Screenie: https://img8.imageshack.us/my.php?image=republicwhat.jpg

I can send you my game files, if that is possible.

pevergreen
03-07-2009, 07:53
a 70mb save file isnt really something i should be downloading for another few days.

But yes, I should be able to change the diplomacy stuff. Not until mod tools.

I could start hex editing ships etc. If there was interest.

Jazzy
03-08-2009, 15:14
I have collected some information about 16th, 17th and 18th century infantry tactics and organization of battle lines in these periods. - If there is an interest I could contribute these here with references so modders can have easily access to. While VEM is not laid out as a "historical" mod project, the informations may still be of some use in relation to the modification of some of the stats.

pevergreen
03-08-2009, 23:25
Yup, stat rebalances and possibly uniform modifications are definately planned. :grin2:

Feel free to start a new thread.

lenin96
03-09-2009, 11:30
When do you intend to start work? When modding tools are released?

pevergreen
03-09-2009, 12:49
ASAP after modding tools are released.

Beskar
03-09-2009, 13:59
Ever thought about modding the way government can be changed? For example, you can change the government at a mouse button which causes a certain about of dislike, but which has a chance of causing a revolution. So let's say you wanted to go Republic from Monarchy, it might upset the Upper Class so you have to quell a revolution.

or, you could make revolutions far more stronger. As one game, it was impossible for them to win unless I had no units in my city at all as their conscripts were mowed down within seconds by line's men.

pevergreen
03-09-2009, 14:10
I havent had a revolution yet, so balancing it may be something I do (I'm about to have two rebellions at once)

I don't think I will change the method of revolutions, but I need to play more to find out.

Beskar
03-09-2009, 14:18
In my games at least, the revolution gets a cannon, general's bodyguard, horse, 2 militia and 2 conscripts. You can just hold the city with 4 line's men in the city, plus you get given +2 militia. It's not much of a challenge, just a "mild annoyance" of having to defeat them.

Darth Venom
03-12-2009, 16:14
Hi everybody,

my 2 cents concerning map expansion (Australia and the like):
There should be the possibility in the game to do at least what really happened in history (until 1799 or later if the timeframe is expanded). This includes Portugal in Brazil and on the African coast, Spain in Peru, the Dutch in South Africa, etc. (more resarch needed on my part here... :shame:)

Modelling an "empty" Australia shouldn't be a problem considering ETW apparently allows for "wilderness" territory which belongs to no specific province but can be crossed on foot if need be (see North America). So some small seperated costal provinces where settlements were belonging to a "native Australians" faction with limited population growth possibilities seem reasonable. Same for every other unsettled area, i.e. Africa, far South America, ect.. Asia obviously is a different matter...

ZIM!!
03-12-2009, 21:35
Anyone thinking about modding the Byzantine empire into ETW sort of "what if they survived" mod? That would be pretty cool.

gareth3
03-12-2009, 22:19
I have a few ideas. One, try and find a way to make the game files as close to MTW2 so people can mod their own games as well (I have never done anything big but I made some countries berfore). Secondly, some cavalry, (the Carabineers for example) should able to act like skirmishers. Also, a combinatation of the long range units and the light dragoons. My example would be mounted Jaegars who ride to a location, dismount, and act like normal Jaegars from then on until they remount.
This one is kind of like Civilization, you can build a fort in the regionless areas of the map, and it develops into a province eventually, the main fort becomes the town and any smaller forts nearby become the villages. This last one is a little complicated but sounds awesome...Land-Naval battles! On the coast, land armis fight and if they have a navy near by the ships can fire on the enemy.

pevergreen
03-13-2009, 03:11
This one is kind of like Civilization, you can build a fort in the regionless areas of the map, and it develops into a province eventually, the main fort becomes the town and any smaller forts nearby become the villages. This last one is a little complicated but sounds awesome...Land-Naval battles! On the coast, land armis fight and if they have a navy near by the ships can fire on the enemy.

That would be a major mod, this mod will not change the game that much.

Darth Venom
03-13-2009, 12:40
Another thing I thought of reading through this sub forum:
You can't really expand the map (which is what I'll be looking forward to the most) without adding new factions. Otherwise the current model, where once a colonial power is destroyed in Europe its holdings become independent (imho the proper way to deal with this situation), simply won't work. Imagine Prussia being defeated in Germany but living on as a proper faction in Groß Friedrichsburg on the Gold Coast. Can't imagine anyone wanting that...

I also have some ideas on theaters and the areas the map should cover imho. I could write them up and draw some sketches if anyone (pevergreen?) is interested.

Greetings

pevergreen
03-13-2009, 13:31
Yeah go for it!

Stuff thats in here may not be current, as much was before the game was released.

Should be quite a bit easier to mod than I thought, so gradual stages of bigger maps are definately in. Expand what we have first, then go own some noobs (noobs = areas not in game)

Keep on posting mate, you've only got ten from the last 5 years. I seem to be beating you :grin2:

Darth Venom
03-13-2009, 19:28
Quality not quantity! I prefer to tech up before I strike ;-) have mostly lurked around quite frequently though. Done quite some modding on MTW (1) when all you had to do to create a new unit & faction was edit some text files (not that it would ever have worked :inquisitive:). Ah, the good old times...

As I said above it would be nice to enable the player to do whatever really happened from 1700 - 1850 (?). Also I don't like the trade-spot system for Africa & the Indies because it seems way too simplyfied and makes it too easy to gobble up massive amounts of resources.

Generally theatres function as a seperatly taxable area, have a seperate Governor and are a area of recruitement for special units.
With "landbridge" I'm below talking about a route between theatres like Persia is now which might consist partly of water though.
Size/Population and wealth of colonies should be determind by their development until 1850, maybe a bit more.

Based on these assumtions my ideas for theatres would be:

Europe/North Africa/Middle East
As it is plus Switzerland (Why on earth is that not in?!?!). Should have landbridges to India and maybe Africa (via the Nile). Also leave France & Spain as a single province. Capital taken = faction destroyed, that's how it should be imho. Governments in exile weren't quite invented then. I don't see any advantages as well, money can be generated through towns, strategic depth through forts and Paris has enough recruitement slots.

Africa
Including everything south of the Sahara. Mostly unpassable wilderness though. Colonies (i.e. native factions or existing colonies at 1700) should be:
- some very small ones from modern Senegal to Gabun, connected by land. Maybe some natives upriver to add to the challenge.
- Angola costal regions
- South Africa, the only one with significant inland access, the Brits and Boer settlers controlled much of modern SA by the 1830ies.
- Mozambique & Madagascar costal regions
- St Helena, Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles poor but strategically useful islands
Land access to this theatre might be possible along the Nile, but shoud take ages. Literally.

India
As is, still excluding east India. Landbridge to Europe and East India/Indies

East India/Indies/Australia/New Zealand
Not sure about the inclusion of East India, needs some more thought and research. In the Indies provinces where historically accurate (Timor, Sumatra, big chunks of Borneo and New Guniea, Philippines and some more islands if adequate).
Australia as mostly unpassable desert with small provinces where applicable. I'm sure there are Aussies around who know more about their history than I do. Same goes for New Zealand, but the provinces should encompass the whole islands.
Also some small pacific islands if historically justifiable.
There might be a size issue here if the distances are modelled correctly, (Auckland-Kuala Lumpur ~8800km while Reykjavík-Baghdad ~5600km) no idea about playability or engine issues.

North America
As is minus everything roughly south of Martinique. Mainland South America gets its own theatre. In the east expanded to encompass Alaska an California, which should be reachable by the New Spain and Russia with the same difficultiy.
Landbridge to South America (who would have thought...).

South America
Entire continent with the appropiate Portuguese and Spanish colonies. To limit Spains power the two Viceroyalities New Spain and Peru should be seperated and not as easily included into Spain proper. Also the Falklands, South Georgia and maybe Galapagos should be there. If players want to explore hardcore an inclusion of a zero-population, almost zero-income antarctic province :beam:.

Far East
consisting of China, Japan, Korea and Eastern Russia. This is probably the region I know the least about, so I can't give to much detail yet. Probably the most work as well, considering the amount of provinces and well-established factions. Landbridges to East India and Europe, the latter only via modern central Russia/Kazakhstan to allow Russia to get to its potential Pacific holdings. As we know they eventually got to Alaska and south to northern California

That should about cover it. More detail (maybe as a "suggested provinces list" in a seperate thread) late next week, when I'm back at work...

lenin96
03-14-2009, 00:07
That's some good ideas:beam:.

Darth Venom
03-14-2009, 00:21
Thanks,

completely forgot about east Asia though, just added it to the list. :shame:

miniwally
03-15-2009, 19:11
has this started development yet?

Darth Venom
03-15-2009, 20:27
Ok, as promised the above as a picture
Theatre boundaries are red
Blue are the "send unit of, get it back elsewhere one or more turns later" things. No idea if this works with land units, but that would be handy in Russia.
Green are the kind of landbridges we now have through Persia and in the Persian Gulf.
https://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3580/bigworldmaptheatres.jpg

Mailman653
03-15-2009, 20:27
How about removing the standard bearer for the Native Americans? It seems a bit odd to me they would be carrying a big flag to battle, European style.

richyg13
03-15-2009, 22:52
Ok, as promised the above as a picture
Theatre boundaries are red
Blue are the "send unit of, get it back elsewhere one or more turns later" things. No idea if this works with land units, but that would be handy in Russia.
Green are the kind of landbridges we now have through Persia and in the Persian Gulf.
https://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3580/bigworldmaptheatres.jpg

I would personaly suggest that the Europe - East Asia link be void from this outline, it seems a little unrealistic that any army would venture into this region. However, the rest of the map links are spot on my books.

pevergreen
03-16-2009, 00:06
Thats good!

Just need the bloody SDK now.

Darth Venom
03-16-2009, 00:25
I would personaly suggest that the Europe - East Asia link be void from this outline, it seems a little unrealistic that any army would venture into this region. However, the rest of the map links are spot on my books.

I added that primarily to enable the Russians to get to their holdings on the Pacific which existed since the mid 17th century.

But as pevergreen said, sadly everything we can do now is hope that all these ideas can be realised with the SDK.

miniwally
03-17-2009, 20:37
what's SDK?

Mailman653
03-17-2009, 21:40
what's SDK?

Software development kit, AKA mod tools.

miniwally
03-17-2009, 22:38
Software development kit, AKA mod tools.

thanks what are the mod tools CA say they're going to release going to be able to do? and can someone make a topic on all technologies you can get cause then i can help research it better

Beskar
03-27-2009, 14:28
How about adding a Town Watch unit?

Basically, its a unit all factions have (with variations) which are basically police. In actual combat, they are bad, but, when in settlements, they have the garrison bonus that dragoons have.

I noticed that many factions don't have dragoons for example, which makes some factions harder to repress some cities, especially the big ones. This would fix that but giving no edge in combat.

Incongruous
03-29-2009, 10:53
Don't know if this has been brought up, but the British Line infantry units are lacking in, flavour, certain ranger units carried tomahawks and could go toe to toe with thenatives in most conditions. They also seem to have a fairly odd formation, perhaps a new formation could be made for them? Kinda like the horde formation in Rome?

Line infantry, I just don't know here, they feel too unwieldy some times, and far too maleable at others. They clearly need to be slowed down, alot, as does cavalry, and to allow for some use of tactical skill, the accuracy of muskest needs to be reduced, range increased and morale increased. I have seen infantry march towards a cannon emplacement with the intent of dislodging the guns, only to see them run after the first few shots.

Also, is there some kind of bonus for marching in column? Could there be one? If this was allowed for then lines could be slowed down in speed utterly, as per real life, and allow for more tactical possibilities upon the field.

Mailman653
04-03-2009, 17:51
Don't know if this has been brought up, but the British Line infantry units are lacking in, flavour, certain ranger units carried tomahawks and could go toe to toe with the natives in most conditions. They also seem to have a fairly odd formation, perhaps a new formation could be made for them? Kinda like the horde formation in Rome?

I think late light infantry get the skirmish formation which is essentially everyone spread out in a not so neat formation so it may be possible. Personally I think seeing natives in line formation is rather odd. If they are a musket or archer unit, fine, but an all mele unit....I don't think so.:book:

As for the tomahawks, this may be possible. I've been reading that the game has two or three slots for weapons, a primary and secondary. So if I'm right, it could be possible to mod the secondary weapon slot to to a tomahawk, so when they are in close quarters combat, they switch from muskets (primary) to tomahawk (secondary).

sezgin
10-19-2023, 17:31
Hi! I really wonder what does vanilla campaign means? I searched on the internet and here but couldn't find any answer :D :oops: