Third Age Total War

[Galain_Ironhide]

I noticed nobody has made any mention of this mod yet so I thought I would share it you all. For those of you who have not seen or heard, Third Age Total War is a complete conversion of M2TW based on Lord of the Rings. After installing tonight, I can gladly say I no longer have any need to go spend 90 bucks on ETW for at least another 6 to 12 months. This mod is insane!

This mod was released only five days ago and still in its infancy - and to be honest it does require some unit re-balancing and a little fine tuning (but that will all get fixed in the 1st patch no doubt), however checking on that "other" forums visitor lists, TATW has been striking more interest than ETW has. Just as another sparkle of info for you all is that this was primarily put together by King Kong, the man who gave us Stainless Steel 6.1, so you know straight away the quality and time has been put into this - something like 2 years worth of work.

You can choose between 12 factions, They are - Gondor, the Dwarves, High Elves, Silvan Elves, Eriador, Rhun, Harad, Mordor, Orcs of the Misty Mountains, Isengard, Rohan & Dale



First up I played a couple of custom battles, the most exciting part I couldn't wait for was to control the Giant Mumakil and drive them through an army of Rohan Horses. Below are some sample shots of my deadly trail of destruction:

I was LMAO right here, I didn't realise I had picked so many Mumakil. Oh well, look out men of Rohan!
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2880-MamukilsRohanstest.jpg
The batlle begins
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2882-MvR2.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2883-MvR3.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2891-MvR4.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2906-MvRImpressive.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2916MvRdeadinf.jpg

Next up, I really wanted to see what those Olog-Hai and Cave Trolls were like in action against the tiny tinmen of Gondor. I really enjoyed this part too.

These Dudes mean business.
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2922-MorvGonOloghai.jpg
The army of mordor march towards the men of Gondor
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2924-orcmarch.jpg

Gondor opens fire
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2926-theadvance.jpg

My Cave Trolls charge for the kill
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2966-Cavetrollcharge.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2969-cavetrollcharge2.jpg

Olog-Hai charge Godorian Swan Knights
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2973-Ologhaicharge.jpg

Gondor Charges in retaliation
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2977-gondorcharge.jpg

The melee begins
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2943-thebattle.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2949-cavetrollgoingbeserk.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2987-midbattle.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2993-knightvcavetroll.jpg

Check the cool flagbearers
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/3000-flagbearers.jpg

Finally Gondor is beaten to a pulp and they retreat.
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/2951-gonretreat.jpg
The Age of Man is over. The Age of the Orc has Begun! :skull::skull::skull:

Finally, I began a campaign as Mordor and gotten about 10 turns in. A LOT of effort has been put into the campaign map, as you can see below.

Barad-dur and Mount Doom.
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/3002-gamemapBaradDur.jpg

The Black Gate
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/3003-GameMapBlackGate.jpg

Minas Morgul
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/3005-MinasMogul.jpg

Osgiliath - They split this into two cities which is rather cool. As you can see Gondor have already taken the West, I ended up taking the east and because you are automatically war with each other Gondor spent no time in attacking me. I'm currently under siege so that will be interesting.
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/3010-GameBegining.jpg

Minas-Tirith in all its glory.
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg164/Galain_Ironhide/3012-GameMapMinasTirith.jpg


If you've also downloaded and played this mod, share your thoughts. If you haven't, its definately worth a look at. Highly Recomended!

All the Best.
:2thumbsup:

[PBI]

Thanks for the suggestion. Downloading now. :bow:

[ericrocks]

Can someone give me a link so I can download it.

[Galain_Ironhide]

Click on my Gondor sig below and that will take you to the TATW subforum at TWCenter.

From there click on the Sticky thread - Third Age - Total War 1.0 Released!

[ericrocks]

Never mind found it and downloaded it.

It was cool, I tried out some custom battles.

I'm happy no unit is to powerful.

Whats the point of having to elf faction though there almost exactly the same.:inquisitive:


Wish they had dragon riders too.


Forgot how to post screenshots ,sorry.

[ericrocks]

Here is a battle where I fought some orcs as The Elves.
I ended up winning after a long battle.
sorry for the crappy quality ,lots of units on the field.








https://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/ericth13/battlebegins.jpg



https://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/ericth13/archersraisehell.jpg




https://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/ericth13/cavetrollssuck.jpg



https://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/ericth13/haha.jpg



https://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/ericth13/CHARGE.jpg



https://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/ericth13/Anattackonmygeneral-Copy.jpg



https://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/ericth13/ballistacrewdies.jpg



https://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/ericth13/therelastunit.jpg


https://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/ericth13/owned.jpg

[DisruptorX]

This mod is fantastic. Haven't played Empire since it came out.

How'd you deal with those trolls, melee or ranged? I haven't played as a good faction yet, just Rhun and Mordor, but having fielded trolls in battle, I know they are monstrously good.

[Mount Suribachi]

It looks amazing, certainly a real labour of love. Now that my new PC is up and running I shall definately be d'loading this baby :2thumbsup:

[ericrocks]

This mod is fantastic. Haven't played Empire since it came out.

How'd you deal with those trolls, melee or ranged? I haven't played as a good faction yet, just Rhun and Mordor, but having fielded trolls in battle, I know they are monstrously good.

I would try to hold them up with a large infantry unit and then charge with calvary to the rear,make
the calvary retreat and charge again.


Arrows seem pretty useless against them, but flaming artillery fire works.

[Dead Guy]

Wow, I must say I've been awaiting this mod for a long time, since I saw that it was work in progress, with much anticipation. It doesn't look like it will disapoint. Thanks for the heads up, I simply must play this.

Your screens really resemble the movie Galain =)

Have you fought any sieges at special places like Minas Tirith? Have they managed to not get the generic cities? That would be immense. I know there was talk about unraveling the code of how castles are built on the battle map but never heard the end of it, only that it was hellishly hard to mod.

[DisruptorX]

Have you fought any sieges at special places like Minas Tirith? Have they managed to not get the generic cities? That would be immense. I know there was talk about unraveling the code of how castles are built on the battle map but never heard the end of it, only that it was hellishly hard to mod.

Unfortunately they haven't figured that out yet. So sieges are in generic castles. Osgiliath is landlocked, etc. There's many things that can be made better, for example, changing the voices so that the orcs don't address you as Kaiser, Easterlings don't praise Allah, and orcs don't fight during the day. But given that its a mod, that's kind of nitpicking.

[Dead Guy]

Unfortunately they haven't figured that out yet. So sieges are in generic castles. Osgiliath is landlocked, etc. There's many things that can be made better, for example, changing the voices so that the orcs don't address you as Kaiser, Easterlings don't praise Allah, and orcs don't fight during the day. But given that its a mod, that's kind of nitpicking.

I agree. It is still very, very impressive work. Would have been epic with custom cities.

[DisruptorX]

Its version 1.0, and I believe they are still working on it. So we may see custom cities eventually.

[Prussian to the Iron]

this is amazing.....too bad now i have to go back and re-install m2.

what patches does it require to install and does it need kingdoms?

[Galain_Ironhide]

this is amazing.....too bad now i have to go back and re-install m2.

what patches does it require to install and does it need kingdoms?

You need Kingdoms. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere you can run the mod using v1.4 or 1.5, however patching up to 1.5 would be advisable.

[Subedei]

i was wondering too why nobody yet mentioned this mod. I have installed it for like 2 weeks now. Playing as dwarfes is fun. The map is a beauty, so are the units and the music. It is worth a try, even if you are not the biggest LOTR fanatic.:2thumbsup:

[Mount Suribachi]

Been playing it for a few days now and it is incredible. Its obvious how much love and attention have been lavished on it. The graphical models are simply out of this world.

There are still lots of little things that need tidying up and tweaking (massively underpowered dwarves for example), but given the immensity of the mod and the fact that it is only version 1.0 it is a truly immense achievement.

Now if this doesn't make CA look into doing Middle Earth: Total War, I don't know what will!

[Prussian to the Iron]

Now if this doesn't make CA look into doing Middle Earth: Total War, I don't know what will!

yeah, the same way Europa Barbarorum made CA do fully historical games right?:laugh4:

[Mount Suribachi]

Is there even a playable version of EB yet? Or is it still Europa Crashtodesktoporum? I got bored of waiting through all the hype.

Highly nerdifiedly accurate historical wargames that are full of bugs don't have quite the selling power as anything with Middle Earth on the cover :book:

[miniwally]

The voices have been fixed for evil factions they actually sound like orcs now.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Is there even a playable version of EB yet? Or is it still Europa Crashtodesktoporum? I got bored of waiting through all the hype.

Highly nerdifiedly accurate historical wargames that are full of bugs don't have quite the selling power as anything with Middle Earth on the cover :book:

i dont think a patch has been released for EB in at least 2 years, and it has been as bug-free as possible since.

[antisocialmunky]

Is there even a playable version of EB yet? Or is it still Europa Crashtodesktoporum? I got bored of waiting through all the hype.

Highly nerdifiedly accurate historical wargames that are full of bugs don't have quite the selling power as anything with Middle Earth on the cover :book:

... It was finished like 2 years ago, dude ...

They are working on EB2.

[Intranetusa]

Is there even a playable version of EB yet? Or is it still Europa Crashtodesktoporum? I got bored of waiting through all the hype.

Highly nerdifiedly accurate historical wargames that are full of bugs don't have quite the selling power as anything with Middle Earth on the cover :book:

... It was finished like 2 years ago, dude ...

They are working on EB2.


har har har..... :laugh4:

[Diggiz]

This is my great defeat. :D

https://i52.tinypic.com/k0ltoz.jpg

What think?

[lewis765]

please send me the link please mate

[Zim]

For the mod?

You can find it here (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=500418).