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This will be opened up once I get back to working on this scenario.
Ancient TW2: Eastern Empires will feature just the "eastern" map (Illyria to India) and have three campaigns:
1 (Early) The Rise of Persia
2 (High) Alexander's Conquests
3 (Late) Diadochi
The time has come to get back to this one again :2thumbsup:
What I'm working on currently is the Rise of Persia campaign, and will reorganise everything so this will play through all three eras, hopefully with a single map and prod_files etc, but there's a fair amount to do.
Other issues being addressed:
- Europe-Asia land bridge (now working)
- Naval madness to be curbed!
- Macedonians a bit limp under AI control
- general tendency to tech-up badly by the AI
- custom battles (working for RoP, Alex still fubar...)
- Diadochi campaign to add
- lots of graphics needed for new units (esp Chaldean and Median)
- possible new provinces (Upper & Lower Thrace, more in Greece, maybe)
- more unit types, especially cavalry
:charge:
cool. keep it up.:jumping:
Nice!
:2thumbsup: :2thumbsup:
Any news on this front, Mac?
:embarassed: Not for a while.... I was getting a bit burned out, so have put it to one side for a while. I'll get back to it in due course, but first there'll be a v1.1 patch for ATW3 -- hopfully to get more sense out of the Roman AI...
Yes, this project is going forwards again!
When complete it will have the three campaigns listed above, namely:
- Rise of Persia (Early)
- Conquests of Alexander (High)
- Wars of the Diadochi (Late)
The current Alexander campaign in Ancient v2.53 will be updated and improved; I'm now working on the Rise of Persia and laying the groundwork for the Diadochi.
I plan to release a beta install soon, with RoP and Alex scenarios - when Diadochi is finished there will be a full release.
Some tasters for Rise of Persia:
Faction list:
- Macedonians
- Athenians
- Gandharans
- Spartans
- Illyrians
- Persians
- Egyptians (26th Dynasty)
- Ionian Greeks
- Thracians
- Argives
- Scythians
- Medes
- Lydians
- Neo-Babylonians
Troop types and recruitment tidied up considerably from the original Alex campaign. Elite troops and bodyguards in particular will be severely restricted (usually to the historical capital province only)
And now for the eye-candy:
Starting faction locations
https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...TW2_start1.jpg
A quick preview of Lydia
https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...TW2_start2.jpg
If I get really ambitious I'll do a new front-end, too, to distinguish it from ATW1 (Bronze Age) and ATW3 (Roman)
Busy day today, trying to remember all the old graphics tricks needed for unit icons and so on... anyway, successfully created three new units, so I think I have the hang of things again.
Here you can see some Median Heavy Cavalry (Medes' 'royal' unit) along with some Parthian Cavalry giving a bunch of Hyrcanian Hillmen very sore heads:
https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l..._new_units.jpg
There have also been some other minor changes: I decided Carmania should remain with the Medes, and not go straight to the Persians from the beginning. So the Persians now begin the campaign as a one-province wonder. I think I need to turn down the economy a bit - the factions don't seem to be 'hungry' enough at the moment...
Mac ! ... Good to hear & see you succeeded .
Those figs & shields look great .
I look forward to trying out the Persians especially beginning with one province .
re; the other factions not being ''hungry enough'' maybe you can have a separate startpos just for the Persians :idea2:
I enjoyed my campaigns with them in HTW ....... im all for play testing them & helping out with the balancing required .
cheers
A quick in and out today, only got a few minutes....
Been working on the Gandharans today, as I thought their unit roster was a bit sparse (1 chariot, 1 archer unit, 1 spear unit, 1 horse archer and war-elephants, as well as the slingers and miners that every faction gets....)
I've now added some more :2thumbsup:
A quick taster here:
https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...ian_prebat.jpg
Ratheza: Indian chariots - royal unit
Isvasa: basic archer, but can hide in the open - short bow (** new **)
Paramesvasa: now made more elite (means 'excellent archer' in Sanskrit) - longbow
Zaktika: spears
Zaktigraha: light lancer cavalry, fast but fragile (** new **)
Azviya: horse archers
Khadgadhara: swordsmen (** new **)
Not shown:
Kalpita: war-elephants
also in planning are: Prasika (javelins), Parzava (axes), Zula (pikes) and Yuddhanauka (faction-unique warship)
They've also had a few offices added. Whilst play-testing I had a chance to watch the other factions... Persia got the idea and attacked the Medes; Babylon, Lydia and Egypt have all expanded; and Illyria and the Scyths are slugging it out. Athens has taken the lead in Greece. Most imprerssive was that the Egyptians have worked out how to sail around Arabia to attack the Persians in the back :2thumbsup:
Still got lots of ideas I need to enact, so will be busy for a while yet. I should have a beta sorted before too long, Dimitrios, I'll let you know as soon as :bow:
Well done Mac ! ...great research .
I'll get a file of Indian names ready if need be , as I noticed a deadly duo the Yuvaraj's showed up !
Will the Kadgadhara Unit have only 25 ?
Take yr time & when ready , i'll be onto the beta pronto .
cheers for now
D
Hi Dimitrios,
This army had a few beat-up units from previous battles, though some are fresh. For the record, unit sizes which are reduced here are: Khadgadhara (100), Ratheza (80) and Azviya (96)
I think the two Yuvaraj's just like to hang out together - they don't meet a lot of people with the same name - my Indian name list is over 620 for the males...
Anyway, last night I got the Prasika javelin unit working, and accidentally conquered three more provinces by chasing the Scyths around in attempt to test them in battle! They are a very weak unit, basically young boys and peasants. They have less ammo than most jav units, low morale and unit size of 80. They are faction-unique, and like the Isvasa, can hide in the open.
In the process of testing the Prasika I discovered that both the Takabara and Persian Archer animations were fighting with no melee weapons visible, so that got fixed too :2thumbsup:
The research isn't really rigourous, I'm using the principle that if there is a word for it in Sanskrit, it's fair game to make the unit :laugh4:
I'm going to try and put the last two units together now, the pikes and the axes - I think these will make up for the weakness of the skirmishers... I'm thinking I might have Varmavat Zula (roughly 'armoured pikes') to make up for lack of shields.... anyway, more later
And here they are:
Armoured pike and axemen, the Varmavat Zula and Varmavat Parsava
https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l..._and_pikes.jpg
Some battle stats (I was just beating up some rebels to try out the new unit icons...):
https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...ttle_stats.jpg
And finally, the complete Gandharan roster, as available in the capital province:
https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...ndh_roster.jpg
Great news & good work all round Macsen !Quote:
Originally Posted by macsen rufus
In the past i also noticed many "Hellenic glitches" .
A few days ago whilst playing HTW , I also noted the Skythian Light Cavalry on the battlefield .
They are in the HTW (Bowmen) folder & have vanishing shields & weapons & the bow animations are out of sinc .
I have noticed in your screenies that popular bif ? Textures/Men/PlateS bif ~;) will once again be heavily used .
In that bif , the Archer firing has a glitch in plate 11 .....check it out please .
Im currently putting sandals on them & thickening up the bow & i would like to redraw 11 being the mid motion between 10 & 12 ofcourse .
cheers for now
I'll have to take a look at those animations - Bowmen especially as it gets a lot of use with all the various cavalry types needed for this map. In a way I can understand why the HTW team did cavalry the way they did (makes animations easier to set up) but it does have a couple of issues - the first one is that you get a massive 'select area' on the screen in battles so you often pick up the wrong unit, and the other is that you can't change mounts for a bit of variety (with the exception of chariots). So for the Indians I've tried to use some desert and turkish (sipahi-type) riders with the one horse I have left, with mixed success. The Zaktigraha have an animation glitch, which I'm sure you'll spot as soon as you play the beta, but that's down to putting a camel rider on a horse, and I haven't really delved enough into that side of things to fix it yet.
PlateS isn't PplateS in this install - that folder has the original MTW 'armoured spearman' body with a variety of new shields (as used for Niadh Nasc and Vasconian Heavy Spearmen etc in 'Roman Wars') - I had to rearrange all the folders to eliminate Facshield units way back in the process of stabilising Ancient. You'd need to let me know which unit you mean, and I'll be able to find what folder it's in nowadays :2thumbsup:
I'm going back to finish my Gandharan campaign now, and will keep looking for glitches and hopefully build enough buidings to get all the 'Offices' through. Alas, the Medes and the Persians are both dead (mostly my faullt, I'm afraid....) and the Scyths are no more. The Illyrians are resiting my progress, and until I can get some ships in the Black Sea will prove too slippery to pin down. The Ionians and Lydians have been slugging it out for decades, with a front line which moves a province here and there, then back again. Babylon is rich for the picking but they are my allies... (I try to never to attack allies, although I will often engineer a reason to break the alliance first). I'm not sure what the other Greeks are up to, but the Macedonians are gone and the Argives and Athenians are at tooth and nail. Trying to get spies/emissaries/princesses over to that part of the map, but they all get caught or assassinated. There's no such thing as 'modder's diplomatic immunity' unfortunately. I could just switch faction to take a peek, I guess....
OK more later, cheers for now
MHere you go Macsen .
Attachment 18430
Its PlateS from Hellenic TW .
Gotta go now its getting late
.... but Whooa !!
Im itching to play on that lovely Alexander Map above .
cheers for now
Aaah... that's now in the EEuroCav folder in mine - it's akondistes and all that sort of thing... will keep my eye on them now :bow:
I've taken Gandhara well past the 'majority win' point and have a long to-do list based on what I saw, and a few things I need to check in the unit_prod. Each enemy faction proved very different to fight - as expected, the further west I worked, the tougher the infantry became, and the Illyrians gave me a real hard time - the Indian elite troops just vapourised in the melee. You can imagine how I felt about Athenian hoplites after that...
FYI, the list now includes:
- more naval reforms (general and some for the Gandharans in particular)
- a range of new BIFs and LBMs needed
- some units' availability to check out
- couple of border corrections
- BIG shake-up of the Scythians
I think the Gandharans are pretty much 'done' now, apart from the ship changes and starting kings. I'm going to check out the Ionians next, as they didn't tech up at all (or got trashed by the Lydians too many times...)
For the Scythians, I want to reflect the fact that they weren't just a single entity, but a coalition of different tribes. I'll give them units to reflect this (Saka, Massagetae etc etc) with just a few recruitable in the appropriate provinces for other factions when they conquer the area.
OK, back to the work
Excellent so far Macsen ! & it will only improve , im sure of that :bow:Quote:
Originally Posted by macsen rufus
Its great news you found each enemy different ! & im sure heading west in this mod with the Indians will be a challenge many will enjoy .I look forward to hearing & eventually experiencing the melee when they finally find there way to the Greeks ! friggin awesome :creep:Quote:
Originally Posted by macsen rufus
.....................................................................................
Ok Mac , I reckon when you kick things of with the Ionians , you start a thread :yes:
Ionian's Faction Thread , instead of rolling into this one , at a later date transfer what we have already here into the Gandaharans thread .
I also dig your Sanskrit war philosophy on troop types , :laugh4: , you know google had a hard time finding info , but im like you on this issue , its all about gameplay on MTW & we have to make the most of what is available .
....................................................................................
Ok Now a few pics by me on the bit of work I've done on that bif .
In addition to the Akondistes (as you remembered) its used by Toxotes also , so here is pic with quiver & a full row of them with boots .
Its all a work in progress at the moment , but I am doing it correctly I believe & in Photoshop .
I'll put the boots on hold for now & I will do a full bif with Sandals & Belt to begin with (it will be the generic one) .............. then another separate one for the Toxotes .
& more will follow , anyway , cheers for now more later .
Attachment 18442
Attachment 18443
Those boots look good :2thumbsup:
I know how time-consuming that must be, all the figures in all 12 frames ... kudos for your tenacity in taking that on!
Well, the Ionian campaign is about over, I've just taken over Parthia, which gives me a common border with the Gandharans. Just whupped the Persians good and proper as they decided to invade Susiana across a bridge. Kinda fun seeing light slingers and archaic archers take out a whole bunch of Persian Royal Guards and Immortals. Due to long supply lines and few 'Greek' recruitment provinces my eastern armies are very heavy on the auxilliaries, as it takes an age to march my hoplites over there. The army that held back the Persians included Phrygian and Judean archers, Phoenician Colonial Militia, Hebrew Militia, Parashim, and Chaldean Skirmishers as auxilliaries, whilst my factional troops included a couple of units of Mercenary Hoplites, Heavy Slingers (dismounted to light slingers for more ammo) and some Polemiste and Archaic Archers left over from the early era. Quite a mixed bag :laugh4:
Found a few more things that need changing: their start position is too undeveloped, so they need the castle level and a couple of other buildings upping in Ionia. I've got to rethink Royal Units across the eras. More border and port issues to fix. Yet more units fighting without weapons. Some unit / faction availability issues to fix. Also I need to add an 'elephant' resource as a prerequisite for the Elephant Trader - it's an expensive building (3000) and most factions seem to build one even though they get no benefit from it. Also some tweaks needed to names.txt and heroes.txt (but I'm going to have to have a big session on heroes anyway once research is complete)
And I've finally decided on the dates for early/high and high/late transitions: it will be 490BC and 380BC - roughly based on Marathon and the Yficratian reforms respectively. Alexander and Diadochi will both be set in late and no scenario beginning in high, although that might all get finagled depending on how it behaves.
That's probably it for a couple of days, as I'll be off earning a crust.
Quick update:
- elephant trader sorted
- Greek 'offices' revamped
- Greek royal units now in right eras
- some names and descriptions corrected
- tech-tree tweaks
Back at the weekend :bow:
Howdy Mac .... Yes , toughen up those Ionians ! Historically despite being in the shadows of Lydia , the Lydians respected the Ionians for many reasons ......Quote:
Originally Posted by macsen rufus
I agree ! Do the Scythians as you suggest & it will be just right .
Thanks for the compliment Mac , Im hoping somehow I need only do 1 complete bif plate & then find the method to cut & paste all the boots or sandals to the other 11 ...... any help will be most welcomed :bow:Quote:
Originally Posted by macsen rufus
Yes , re: The Ionians ,Up them even more if needed , how many provinces have you split their strip of coastal Empire into ?
Perhaps even a Citadel in their capital Miletus ? ... So as its were their uber strong Hoplites come from & having to travel from their to almost India & battling along the way emphasise their importance & depicts their value .
ps ...... What was going on with those Immortals & Royal Guards ? could it be another glitch carryied over from HTW ? hehe :inquisitive:
ciao for now
Today I took the Spartans out for a spin, and their starting position was HARD mostly down to being strapped for cash.
It didn't really help that all the captains I had were complete thickos, dimwits, dunces, call it what you may, but the two starting units only had one acumen between them.... Then there were famines every other year.
So, in true Spartan fashion, I decided it had to be either a) a mark of disfavour from the Olympians, or b) it was all the fault of the moral degeneracy of all the other Greeks and I had to kill them all. Either way it boils down to this: to survive as Sparta you need to blitzkreig the other Greek factions and rely on rebel-farming (whilst being careful about provoking re-emergences). It was so tough I had to save up for three years to be able to afford a watch-tower in Argos :dizzy2: It would have been two years, but guess what? Famine...
It was a challenge on hard, but I managed to pull through. I think expert may be impossible... it all comes down to stretching out that starting treasury and getting really good at using those early, cheap skirmishers. Once you have the economy rolling Sparta becomes the heavy infantry steamroller par excellence... you just have to get there first.
Anyway, a few things tested out quite nicely, and Sparta definitely has a different feel to Athens, which is good.
Re Ionia - it's a one-province wonder (like ALL the Greek factions in this scenario) and due to map limitations it's a bit un-geographical, but it's the closest I could get. For the player, Ionia has an easier start than Sparta, though it's still a toughie. There is an obvious way to go to get the ball rolling, once that's done things kick in nicely. Ionia (the province) gets a valour bonus for Rhodean Slingers, and the faction has a cost benefit on them, so a unique double advantage there. I'm really getting to like the Rhodean Slingers, used them a lot with Sparta (recruitable in any Greek province with a port to reflect them going off as mercenaries, same principle with Cretan Archers). The province is also in the Lydian recruitment zone, so the Ionians get access to Lydian Heavy Cav. Lydian Infantry and Lydian Archers.
A few more items have gone on to the to-do list (though a lot have also been cleared from before), so definite progress is being made.
Re: boots - yep, you need to do every figure in all 12 frames of the BIF. C&P won't help much as everything will be in a different position or angle in each frame. That's why I've not done much editing of those BIFs beyond adding shields and weapons, as those DO need to be in exactly the same place in every frame, so a quick C&P is fine.
Not a glitch - tactics :verycool: The Phoenician Colonial Militia stopped 'em getting off the bridge, and my missiles threw or shot everything they had into the flanks.Quote:
ps ...... What was going on with those Immortals & Royal Guards ? could it be another glitch carryied over from HTW ? hehe
Not sure who I'm going to try out next - either the Scythians or the Macedonians. I think the Macs are pretty much up to speed though (bearing in mind that in this era they were basically a bunch of backward sheep-:furious3:ers pretending to be Greek). It's not until the LATE campaigns that they become anything special. And to play out Scythia, I think I want to get the 'confederation of tribes' reforms done first. All of which means I ought to stop procrastinating and get back to the 'to-do' list...
Got the Scythian reforms underway over the weekend, with three new units completed: Sarmatian Heavy Lancers available only in Sarmatia and Scythia.; Scythian Mercenary Horsemen and Scythian Mercenary Warband which are only available to Greek factions in the Scythian recruitment zone. Both Mercenary units can dismount to Scythian archers.
Made a few changes to the recruitment zones for a few units - e.g. Parthian Cavalry are now restricted to Parthia, Dahaea and Bactria.
Other units planned for the Scyths include:
- Gelonian* Militia (medium spear infantry)
- Saka Light Cavalry (very fast, small unit - for scouting and chasing routers mostly)
- Saka Infantry
- Massagetae Horse Archers
- Dahae Heavy Cavalry
- Parthian Infantry (as dismount only for Parthian Cavalry in sieges)
- Maybe also a dedicated Scythian Royal Bodyguard unit - there's good archaeology to support it, and the current unit is a bit weak
* The Geloni were of mixed Greek and Scythian blood, living in the town of Gelonus in northern Scythia. The 'town' will be represented in-game by a unique building needed to recruit the militia (will be available to Scythians and Greek factions only).
On playing the Scythians, I think their start position is too generous, so will take away one of their provinces, and make them need to conquer the other tribes first :whip:
More generally, made a few needed corrections to some icons etc, and have a list of other stuff which won't be save-game compatible with my current campaign, so that will have to wait til I've tested the Scyths through to 'high' era.
Awesome Mac !!
I enjoyed reading your micro AAR on the Spartans .
Im amazed at your brisk pace re: tackling the Scyths & as you know I'm itching to play your latest creation !
Keep up the great work Mac .
Ok , of topic ......
Re; those bifs I have been photoshop'n.
I decided to try out a partially done bif on my pc , to see if my work in progress looks good on the battlefield .
I have been following these instructions below , which you wrote many years ago .
I use Photoshop 7 & readbif 0.1.0.2 ( purpleshogun)
I extracted all 12 as bmp , opened in PS7 saved colour table , added boots , 1 bif modded .
I used readbbif & imported all 12 & created the new bif .
but !! ............ when I re-open to view it , its got purple haze all over it ?
check out pics below ....
Attachment 18509Attachment 18510Attachment 18511
To double check , I extracted all 12 frames ... did nothing to them & created a new bif using those 12 & same thing ... purple haze ~:confused:
I'm hoping im doing something basic wrong ..... I do get an error on the readbif & am wondering about the colour palette ?
( I save , but I have no instructions on how to re-include it)
I am willing to put in all the hours required to mod this figure & then the Slinger we use .....
Any help appreaciated :bow: , for the betterment of our existing troops & creation of new ones !! :beam:
cheers
Attachment 18512
OK, I'll go to the BIF thing first:
The bold bit - if that's really the order you did things - is probably the cause.Quote:
I extracted all 12 as bmp , opened in PS7 saved colour table , added boots , 1 bif modded .
I used readbbif & imported all 12 & created the new bif .
but !! ............ when I re-open to view it , its got purple haze all over it ?
You need to create the new BIF first (256x256 x 12 frames) and THEN 'import all'. It can also help if you close BIFreader and re-open again before creating a new BIF as (I seem to recall from long ago...) data from the previous image can linger and mess things up.
The only other thought is that you have a colour table problem - when editing in PS7 are you staying in indexed mode or converting to RGB? If the latter, you need to reload the colour table when you convert back to indexed mode. On the MODE>>INDEXED menu you will be prompted for a colour table. It is safest to select 'Custom', then on the custom dialog box select LOAD and pick up the table you saved when you first opened the BMP. That way the BMP you save will be indexed correctly for loading into BIFreader.
See if any of that helps, if not holler again :bow:
And now for something completely Scythian...
I've blitzed the changes and new units today. Units added are:
- Gelonian Militia (medium spear infantry) [in Scythia only]
- Saka Scouts (cavalry, can hide in the open, a single javelin ) [in Saka only]
- Massagetae Horse Archers [in Massagetia only]
- Scythian Nobles (Royal Bodyguard unit) - smaller unit, but tougher than Scythian Cavalry [in Scythia only]
Gelonus is a pre-built, unique and indestructible building in Scythia - spearmaker2 needed with it to raise militia (was just a spearmaker but that was too easy to get...) Might need to tweak stats a bit more yet.
Reduced starting provinces as promised, and have installed historical royal names.
Gotta go, work beckons...
Great news Macsen !! :2thumbsup: we have both made progress .
I managed to create the new bif , was the fault of the readbif .
I think its wise we start a new thread , so all our info is grouped .
So more great news on in that thread ...
Good news indeed. You can now continue cobbling for the shoeless :laugh4:
I've just started a Scythian thread - noticed you're online at the same time as me... probably down to me working nights at present.
:laugh4::laugh4: haha .. I certainly will , thorns shall not halt them .
& with winter approaching I will also become a part time Milliner as well as Armourer :yes:
btw ...good on the Foxes also !!
Most of what has been done this week has been posted into the various RoP faction threads, but there are a few still left to do. These will come in as and when I've had a good hard look at them and played the faction through to the 'high' era (70 turns).
I have now started on the reforms based around the 'province resource' idea using the invisible, indestructible 'buildings' in 50 of the 56 provinces (alas, 50 is all you can have without CTDs). Still, that makes a very powerful change to the basic set-up on the campaign map, and I can now do things I've always wished I could do. This innovation (thanks to Stazi's amazing discovery) will make for some really interesting features, and I'm developing that, firstly with the Greek factions.
There's also been a few naval reforms recently, but I need to find a way to stop the Babylonians spamming ships out of Phoenicia! Ships have gone the way of other units and are recruitable on a 'recruitment zone' system. Gandhara has a faction-unique ship, whilct in the west, two new ships are available in and around the Dalmatian coast: Lemboi and Liburnians. Phoenician and Egyptian ships are only available from Phoenician and Egyptian ports now. Era transitions also affect ships.
All factions apart from the Illyrians, Ionians and Thracians have historical kings now, with appropriate 'royal' names to get some chance of further familiar characters taking their respective thrones. Each Greek faction has a unique name list, and other points of differentiation are underway, with the 'province resource' really helping on that score.
Starting kings:
Macedonia: Alcetas I
Athens: Pisistratos I
Gandhara: Pukkusati
Sparta: Anaxandridas II
Persia: Kûru (Cyrus)
Egypt: Ahmose II
Argos: Timenos
Scythia: Idanthyrsus
Media: Astyages
Lydia: Croesus
Babylon: Neriglissar
For Illyiria and Thrace, there are no records of rulers in the exact period, and Ionia, being a League, is a bit complicated....
One more new unit has been added which doesn't appear in any faction thread, and that is the Parthian Infantry which are only available as a dismount for sieges (come on, guys, it's demeaning to have to get off your horse, we're not doing it just anywhere, you know....) As with the mounted Parthians, they have big axes and are rather good at using them.
I might have mentioned elsewhere, but Rhodean Slingers can now dismount to Heavy Slingers in sieges to enable them to hurl their pots of flaming oil at wooden walls and stockades.
A few new units are in the 'to do' list, but they'll get done in a splurge, along with straightening out custom battles - ok, that's for my benefit to test new units more easily, but it will also make custom battles playable in the final release.