Viking Invasion III---A mod in development

[Leith]

Greetings,

The aim of this mod is to make the original viking campaign more enjoyable. To that end, units' graphics will be altered using my modification of some of the Hellenic:Totalwar skins. In addition, the unit roster for each faction will be revised. Some minor sound effects, like grunts and death cries, will be replaced.

Adding more regions will not be possible without some major help from other modders. Adding new factions will be considered but my priority will be to make each faction stand out.

You can choose to be active in the making of this mod by making suggestions as to what you would like to see in it. Right now I'm tampering with the unit roster and your help would be appreciated. I'm thinking of starting the mod in 740-750 A.D so we could have probably some sort of 'reforms', which would render some units obsolete (spearmen, for example) while introducing some more powerful ones.

The first two units I intend to implement are:

Town Militia (Recruited through building a muster field and is available to every faction except the vikings who get the 'Viking Militia' instead.Town Militia are peasants equipped with short spears and small shields and have poor morale)

Spearmen (Recruited through building a blacksmith and is available to every faction except the Irish who get 'Kerns' instead. The standard spearmen retain the same stats of the original game but get +2 honour. Kerns on the other hand are spearmen equipped with light javelins.)

I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions!

P.S It's a one-man-project right now but this could change if you wish to.

[PershsNhpios]

Thank you for the announcement of this surprise, O Leith of Syria.

I think you will be most popular for initiating a new attempt on improving the VI campaign - the most neglected of all in the game. You will see in our beloved Main Hall an argument in which many factions are criticised for being generic and without specific and embellished identities.
Since this is what you mainly intend to address, it seems you will have the support of many.

I do not know what you specialise in as a modder, and I am not a modder myself, but my suggestion is to improve AI aggression, strategy and other decision making rather than adding new factions or units.

Although I love the addition of factions to the MTW campaigns, I do not see any reason to make more factions for VI unless a considerably larger amount of provinces is planned as in Britannia Divided.

I think that if you could do as Gollum has done (And maybe you will find assistance from him), by ignoring cosmetic improvements and rather focusing on making a balanced, challenging and immersive game with the AI functioning as well as it possibly can - you will be highly respected for your work.

Most importantly, everyone will be playing VI as if it were a new game and not a necessity for installing MTW mods!

Thank you for putting this forward and I hope you find help.

[gollum]

Well, the Viking invasion campaign in my view is ripe for a satisfying campaign due to of course the period, the setting and the better representation of Britain.

The first thing i would aim to balance would be the Houscourles and the starting forces/incomes of factions. Of course, these goa after you determine the rosters and the dependencies. Its good to have some elites, but not too difficult to access for the AI factions.

Will post again as you progress and as time allows.

Good luck in your undertaking :)

[Leith]

Hello, Glenn,gollum!

Thank you for posting! The major reason why gamers prefer RTW and MTW2 to MTW is because of the graphics, plain and simple. If we want to renew the interest in MTW, graphical improvement should be a priority. A game with beautiful graphics but with a weak AI on the other hand will ruin the fun in the long run. The ideal option would be to include both, which is what I will try to do. I don't specialize in any field actually. I only started learning Photoshop on my own two months ago. But I have the determination to improve things, which is what counts in my opinion. Through reshaping the Tech Tree among other things I think I will be able to influence the AI behaviour. You see, my friend, Glenn, a major problem that the AI, and the whole campaign as a whole, suffers from is the incredibly low moral of most units. Even the supposedly powerful Armoured Spearmen have a moral of 0. Now having upped the moral a bit, a battle may last more than a couple of minutes! Another problem is that the factions are not distinct enough. For example why should you play as the Scots? They only have one lousy unique unit, with a moral of 0. Apart from that they lack character. So this mod is not about including new units because that sounds nice but because the units that already exist are either nearly useless, like peasants for example, or underpowered, Armoured Spearmen for example, or too good for their cost, like Gallowglasses.

Would it be historically accurate to include the Housecarles, gollum ? If so, do you think they are too good for their cost ? I think they're all right but I will certainly remove the Jomsvikings, who unbalance the game in my view. I am thinking, to maintain historical accuracy, to include the Royal Hirth as the bodyguard unit for the Saxon factions. I intend to include Hirdmen as the bodyguards for the Vikings. As for the other factions, I have not decided yet but will take suggestions.

The units that have been done so far:

Hirdmen
Viking Armoured Spearmen
Armoured Spearmen
Viking Raiders
Spearmen
Peasant Archers
Saxon Archers
Town Militia
Viking Militia

Units I am working on right now:

LightFyrdmen
Longspears

In the first screenshot, you see Viking Raider
In the second, you see Armoured Viking Spearmen
In the third, you see Speamen

[Leith]

http://www5.0zz0.com/2011/01/26/18/247459569.jpg

http://www5.0zz0.com/2011/01/26/18/420692676.jpg

http://www5.0zz0.com/2011/01/26/18/518500155.jpg

[gollum]

Wow, got busy. Nice skins :)

The Houscarles are most certainly historical. They are the heart and soul of the Viking campaign. They just need to be balanced out - they are too strong. being too strong impacts on the autocalc as well as the battlefield.

One way to do that is reduce their stats a bit and make them slightly better than the stats of the average units of the campaign. AP stats and high attack and high armor, is a bot too much. Also the rest of the units in the VI campaign have comparatively low stats, lower than the core game overall, and that means that the gap between the average VI unit (spears etc) and the elite Houscarles (that are easily available if memory serves), makes them too good.

But all this makes sense, only after you determine the rosters. Fix the rosters first and you can balance them afterwards, once cast in stone.

[PershsNhpios]

Very nice work, Leith! Your units seem to be a much higher resolution (?) than what is seen in most other mods.

Are those the finished products? Or will you stain and age them a little more?

I like your ideas Leith and I will play this mod.

[Stazi]

Very nice work, Leith! Your units seem to be a much higher resolution (?) than what is seen in most other mods.
Glenn, imo these units use standard high res textures. As I mentioned in your thread here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?132616-The-Purpled-Edge-Tyberius-2.2&p=2053255651&viewfull=1#post2053255651) your pc gives you low res textures, although the mod provides high res too. I've found two reasons of this: graphic card with low ram memory or old card installed in PCI slot (not AGP or PCI-E). It may be drivers and/or resolution related problem too. Probably, cards with chips other than nvidia/ati aren't recognized too and game runs in safe/low-res mode. If you give me your pc's specs, maybe we will find the solution.

Sorry, for this little off topic.

[Leith]

Hello, friends

I have been busy with creating unit cards for all the units I have made so far. I have never done that before,unit cards that's, so after a couple of days I think I'm kind of happy with the results, for now at least. I have made a new bif for the Light Fyrdmen and LongSpears, for which I will post a couple of screens at the end. I have doubled the income of most provinces and increased the rest by 50% to 60%. I have removed the following units:

VikingThralls(It has been replaced by VikingMilitia)
CelticWarriors( It will be replaced by CelticWarband)
Peasants
Jomsvikings
Vikingkarls (It has been replaced by VikingRaiders)
UrbanMilitia(It has been replaced by TownMilitia)

The Huskarls, and the Housecarls will then be included, gollum, although their stats mightn't change much. The reason why these two units appear unbalanced is because, as you have rightly pointed out, most units are so weak. Thus, by upping the original stats reasonably, they wouldn't be overpowered. Unlike the original campaign, even the lowly Spearmen unit is not a pushover anymore in this mod.We will see about that when I'm done with the unit roster nonetheless.

Glad, you like the screens, Glenn, and yes this will be the final product, for these units that's, but the unit cards will be completely changed. The other skins aren't ready however. I'm working on them whenever I get some free time. Expect some more screens at the end of this post and expect some more next week!

I am still undecided as to how the Tech Tree for the Picts, Scots, and Welsh will shape up. I'm taking suggestions. Thank you for reading and posting! (In the first screen you see Light Fyrdmen in the front and Armoured Spearmen in the back. In the second screen you see Longspears)

http://www2.0zz0.com/2011/02/02/18/647355967.jpg

http://www3.0zz0.com/2011/02/02/19/857890660.jpg

[Stazi]

Congratulations! Very impressive work. Shields look really great.

I'm curious how do you create new units' graphics? Do you capture frames form the program like 3dsmax or you create them "by hand"? What programs/tools do you use to create units/icons/info pics? I'd like to make some modifications to some of the existing mods but I have hard time to even start (especially pallets thing makes me confused). If you don't want to flood your thread with off topic info, please send me a pm.

[Leith]

Hello. guys!

Well, I have been busy with re-skinning the Bonnachts and I'm pleased
with the result. I still have some final touches to make and will post
screens next week. I am still working on the unit roster and I'm
wondering whether including the 'Ostmen' for the Irish faction would be
historically accurate. We're talking about the year 750 A.D, the
starting date for this mod. I am planning to create 'reforms', as it
were, at which point primitive units like Town Militia and Spearmen are
replaced by more powerful ones, like Swordsmen and probably Royal
Spearmen. What do you think about this addition ? My view is that we
will have more than 300 turns if the game starts at 750 A.D giving us
some extra time that we could use to implement those reforms. I'm also
planning to make every single province count for something, i.e to
provide a new unit, or to give a bonus to a unit you already can
produce or access to iron. What do you think about this?

The screens I'm about to post show Axemen and Celtic Warband:

http://www10.0zz0.com/2011/02/09/18/728427654.jpg

http://www7.0zz0.com/2011/02/09/18/357699903.jpg

[Leith]

Hello, Staz!

Thank you for your comments. I have not created new graphics in as much as I have modified existing ones. I'm talking about the Hellenic:Total War mod, a superb mod in every aspect in case you have not played it. Some of them are heavily modified like the Light Fyrdmen and Viking Spearmen. The shields and bifs are modfied by hand and by using Photoshop and Corel Draw. Corel Draw is great when it comes to keeping the original pallet. I use the same programs to do unit icons. I think there are many threads in this forum which describe in detail how to modify/create bifs/skins and/or unit icons.

Glenn, I appear to have forgotten to let you know that I'm using the -ian switch while making those screens. The -ian switch enables you, among other things, to zoom in more. Hence the higher resolution.

[PershsNhpios]

Don't worry Leith - I know this. But seen the result of my zooming in the Hall - I don't receive such resolutions since the game decides for me.

Wonderful work again, O smith.

300 years of a campaign? May I suggest a Norman Invasion...?

[Leith]

Hello, everyone!

I was busy last week so I couldn't post any screens but this week is different and I will post a couple. Hello, Glenn, and thank you for the kind words. 'Norman invasion II' sounds promising. Perhaps after the first release of the mod it will be implemented. Right now the original factions need to be balanced enough. But I have a question: what advantages does an elite unit have, besides being able to 'ignore routers who aren't elite' ?

The first screen shows Bonnachts ( who have become much more effective in my view) while the second shows Welsh Horsemen( very effective light cavalry) about to throw their light javelins:

http://up.arab-x.com/Feb11/Ewl41280.jpg

http://up.arab-x.com/Feb11/Gm441449.jpg

[Raz]

Elite units have mostly morale benefits. They are completely unaffected by the general's death (at least directly) and they require twice the number of routing friendlies to have a morale drop (as opposed to regular units).

It's briefly covered in this thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?75234-How-Morale-Affects-Units).

[Leith]

Thank you very much, Raz! I needed more information due to unit balancing issues. No matter. here are some more screenies:
In the first screen you see Highlanders charging

http://www14.0zz0.com/2011/03/09/17/966874787.jpg

In the second screen you see Royal Bodyguards fighing ArmouredSpearmen:

http://www10.0zz0.com/2011/03/09/17/259250261.jpg

In the third screenshot you see Nobles, the elite warriors of the Irish and Scottish armies, charging into a line of VikingRaiders:

http://www6.0zz0.com/2011/03/09/17/262537427.jpg

[cogre]

if i may be so bold as to ask for a change in the one part of the vi game that bugged me, the length of time it took to get farming started was like 16 turns or something, can something be done about that,

get pics man , can't wait to try this one out.

[Leith]

Hello, Cogre! The number of turns has been reduced to 12 instead of 16. Is that good enough ? :) Here are a couple more screens:

In the following screen you see Fyrdmen, the standard soldier of the Saxon factions:

http://up.arab-x.com/Mar11/Xwc01584.jpg (http://up.arab-x.com/)

In the second screen, you see Welsh bandits. The skin was taken from Middle Earth TW.

http://up.arab-x.com/Mar11/oc201834.jpg (http://up.arab-x.com/)

[cogre]

works for me , thanx

[PershsNhpios]

Ω Leith of Syria, smith and artificer, we await news of your discoveries in the modification VI, and examples of your art, please oblige us!

I hope friend that the troubles of which we hear affecting many nations neighbouring yours are not troublesome to you, and that most precious important work, such as that which serves the preservation of our Hall, is not interrupted by more 'worldly' matters.

Let's hear from you soon!

[Leith]

You're welcome. Cogre! Hello, Glenn and thank you for your concern. Things are calm in Damascus where I live but the spark of the revolution in my opinion has ignited. The governmnt may cut the internet off as well as electricity and water by way of terrorizing the civilians in the hope they would appreciate the 'merits' of living by the book the regime dictates but little will that do. I might release the mod earlier than I originally planned because of this. No matter, here is a couple of more screenshots:

In the first one you see Cumbrian Spearmen while you see Celtic Fanatics in the second.


http://www10.0zz0.com/2011/03/26/18/254204515.jpg (http://www.0zz0.com)


http://www13.0zz0.com/2011/03/26/18/390612676.jpg (http://www.0zz0.com)

[Dol Guldur]

Just wanted to stop by and wish you the best of luck with this mod.

- Dol Guldur,
Creator of Viking Invasion II (among others!)

[Leith]

Thank you very much, Dol Guldur, not only for wishing me luck but also for creating such a fine mod; namely, Viking Invasion II. In fact your mod, together with Norman Invasion, have inspired me to do this mod.

[Dol Guldur]

I'm glad you liked NI and VI2, and that they have inspired you! :)

[HopAlongBunny]

It is looking very good :)

Best of luck in getting this together!

[Aradan]

A VI mod! Very best of luck!

[Phalanx1970]

Any news on the development of this mod. It looks great. It's been about 5 years since the last time I have played MTW and I just started playing again. I liked Rome TW and the others but there is just something about the original MTW that gives me that excitement when I play it, and I actually like the graphics in the original better than the newer games. haha! maybe I am just nostalgic.

[drone]

Welcome to the .Org, Phalanx1970! ~:wave:

I would love for Leith to finish this up, but he may have more pressing matters at the moment. Leith - Stay safe, hope all is well. :bow:

[Leith]

Hello guys! I have not forgotten about this mod yet. A lot of work on this mod has already been done and I intend to complete it as soon as I can. Thanks!