Htw Spin-off Mod - Ancient: TW

I spent a bit of time last night updating my Egyptian names and portraits - could still use a few more portraits for generals (I've got about 20 so far). Princesses are okay, about 15 of those. When it came to inputting my male names, I found out I'd got 500 of them! Even so, when I started a new campaign to test the names I still ended up with two generals in the first couple of years with the same name :inquisitive:

Before I can make a beta release I will need to clean out my directories and remove loads of extraneous stuff - the game folder currently contains over 2Gb - don't know where that all came from! But there must be heaps of unnecessary image files I can remove, and old MTW stuff that can be safely edited out of some of the txt files.

Hi mate
I got a mail from Anneke she`s the maker and designer and artist from this site : http://euler.slu.edu/Dept/Faculty/ba...gypt_Page.html
and this is wot she made maybe you cane use them? :http://euler.slu.edu/Dept/Faculty/bart/Paintings.html
http://euler.slu.edu/Dept/Faculty/bart/Paintings-2.html
really nice wot Anneke made

more links of copyright-free fotos :http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/index.html
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ca...:Ancient_Egypt

On Anneke`s website she got by every Farao also a warleader`s named!!
There s also a godist named Neith she also hade here connections with war here s a pic : http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nit.htm

Anath whase a war godist (virgin warrior goddess). Ramses de Grote named his oldest dauther Bintanath after here

Queen Hatshepsut lead here own army in combat at the battle of Nubia But wos it a real war???

Monthu en Anhur (also Onuris named )where importend war gods.

I most thanks Anneke from most information she`s wonderfull :2thumbsup:

I hope you got enough for now mate if not let me know

Some very nice pics there, Axel :2thumbsup:

I've now started on thinning out the unnecessary stuff to get to a beta-release, but there's still over 2GB of it left! Hopefully a lot of that will not need any replacing so needn't go into the install pack. Remember this install will go onto XL, so make sure you have a clean install of that first...

Hi mate
Will do you take your time i am here if you need me :2thumbsup:

Last night I managed to get the HTW maps imported - did the castles first, as I had finally had enough of trying to beat down Mediaeval citadels with blunts sticks :laugh4: They work fine, or at least the ones I tested. The field battle maps have also been carried across, and although they work, there is a small problem whch will take forever to sort out - the pre-battle screen pics (the little one that scrolls around between the two generals) are all messed up. Some are missing, so the little pic is black, and some are attributed to the wrong map, so the preview is misleading. BUT THE BATTLES WORK, so it's just an aesthetic fault really. Not something to hold up the beta for - I know it needs fixing, I know pretty much HOW to fix it (remember all the file names I changed when I imported the maps.....), but it will take ages to actually do it.

Hi mate
Thats good news, you take your time good things alway s takes time :2thumbsup: a little question is the mod 2 gig or is your MTW and mod together 2 gig??:egypt:

The whole modded MTW folder is about 2GB, so a lot of that won't need to be included in the install pack, you'll already have it. I've already cut it down from 2.6GB!

BTW on the maps, for the field battles I've ADDED the HTW ones, so the originals are still in there. This means there will be much more randomness of battle fields (I think the 'flat inland' range has 50 maps in it now). I also need to edit a few bits of border info in the start pos as HTW has some map types that MTW / XL doesn't have (such as inland mountain river and some coastal river types) - it's no good having the maps if they never get called on :beam:

Superb progress Macsen ,, I'll be making space on my HD over the next few days ..... :beam:

Well, spent a lot of last night playing testing the battle maps, and I'm glad to report the HTW ones are nicely interspersed with the originals for plenty of variety. I'm even discovering maps I'd never even encountered whilst playing HTW itself :2thumbsup: The lack of and incorrect pre-battle images is a bit of a niggle, but as none of the maps have caused a CTD so far, I think everything will work out fine.

I do want to put some time aside to sort out the castles and upgrades situation, as there are too many levels of stone and not enough of wood. And I also have some particular castle maps I want to make when I have worked out how. Let's just say they'll be a little more "in period" and kind of interesting :beam: Though that will probably be post-beta....

Other changes: I went over the region attributes last night, although I'll probably revisit a few of the details again. I have "turned down" the farming income considerably and changed a lot of the rebelliousness settings. One thing you will notice when playing, is that if you make assumptions about provinces based on previous MTW/XL experience, you may be surprised. Don't expect to find iron in all the same places or assume that certain provinces will be cash-cows like they are in mediaeval campaigns. It should keep you on your toes, strategically.

I've been thinking a lot about the Sea Peoples recently, and the historic "Catastrophe". Now the academic sources all have varying views on what the catastrophe was, but I recently went off to Amazon and bought Drew's "The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200BC" (so many Google searches came up with reviews, quotes, & references to this book I thought it must be worth a few quid!). It's a little bit erudite (he insists on quoting various researchers and authors in their original language, so a smattering of German, French and Italian really help!) but very well argued, so I will probably base my version of history around his. Which does mean that certain orthodoxies may be overturned (eg Mycenaean chariots almost certainly WERE archer chariots just like in the Middle East). I'm still not convinced that the Sherdan came from Sardinia though :beam:

So, what I'm proposing is that the High Era will be brought a little earlier in game terms (ca 1200BC) and introduce a "Sea Peoples" faction, with a few scattered provinces, each of which produces certain troops eg Sherdan from Sardinia - even if I don't quite believe it, game mechanics impose certain limits which have to be overcome somehow :laugh4: , Lukka from Nicaea (closest approximation to old Lykia), Sicily for Shekelesh etc. It would be REALLY nice if they could be made to emerge, Golden Horde style, but I think the best we can have really is a High Era startpos that will introduce them as a new faction. From their start position, I intend to give them a big army, a big navy and tiny income, and barbarian_raider personality. That should set them off after the riches of the Middle East from the outset. Obviously by High Era the other factions will be a little better developed, so hopefully it should still be possible to fight them off with skill, care and dedication....

OKAY, that's all for now, I really should get on and do some work ~D

Hi mate
It sounds and looks real good :2thumbsup: you been really buzzy

I'm following this with a lot of interest. Sea Peoples are a great idea for High - should make for quite a different gameplay from early (and make good use of all those island provinces). Any thoughts for Late? My history that far back gets a bit hazy, and the map doesn't suit things that were small scale or happening too far East. But two periods is already twice what I hoped this Mod would give us.

Hi Western, thanks for your input, nice to know there's more interest out there :2thumbsup:

Quote:

---

My history that far back gets a bit hazy

---

Don't worry - everybody's history that far back is hazy - even the experts'!

Trying to sift the supportable evidence from the orthodox grand assumptions is nigh on impossible, but the view I'm taking is influenced by Drews' book as mentioned above. He's changed my mind on a few things.... I do now accept that, okay, maybe the Sherdan did come from Sardinia, the Shekelesh from Sicily etc. Although it seems like these were really just small mercenary components fighting alongside Libyans and Philistines (ref Medinet Habu stelae) rather than a huge army in their own right. But still, for game play purposes I think I'll stick with the original plan :beam:

Late era will be different again, I'm not entirely decided on what exactly will feature yet, as the precise dates aren't finalised. I'm tending towards:

Early: 1275BC to 1200BC
High: 1200BC to 980BC
Late: 980BC to 700??

So Late will include Solomon's Israelite kingdom, Neo-Hittites states and Neo-Assyrian empire, and the Greeks will have developed a little bit - I still need to check appropriate dates, but I guess this is the "Geometric" era of Greek history, so the appropriate HTW units are already available. Also the Phoenicians will be well established (I might have to pretend that Carthage was a founded a little earlier than it really was.

Progress over the weekend:

* Quite a few province and castle names changed (eg Ugarit, Canaan, Phoenicia, Etruria, Assur, Hatti, Colchis + more)
* Rebel 'factions' renamed (no more Jacquerie in Bronze Age France :beam: )
* Finally worked out why the era description wasn't showing (a 'd' where there should have been a 'D' - arrgh!)
* A few border details changed so that certain unique HTW maps get played in suitable places (inland mountain river now defends Hatti to north, west and south to represent the Halys river)
* An hour-long struggle with CTDs after trying to place a resource as a trade good :furious3:

It's going to be impossible to remove all anachronisms, as so much is truly "prehistoric" in the pre-literate parts of the world, but I guess we're just going to have to live with a few compromises.

Finally:

Here's the results of importing the HTW castles - I think this assault looks a lot more like Bronze Age Norway than the old MTW maps:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000006.jpg



https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000007.jpg

Great looking pics Macsen. When it comes to factions, have you thought about the Cimmerians for Late? Chased off the steppe by the Scythians and then migrated down through the Caucasus, fought the Assyrians around 690 and finished up 60 or so years later in Lydia (ie Nicaea in MTW terms). Check it out on Wikipedia - could make a good use of S. Russia and Anatolia, and should be possible to clone from the Scythians (says he glibly).

Hi mate`s
Pics look really great macsen

Nice thoughts Western ..... Im sure Macsen will consider it perhaps ,, I figure he still has more unused skins leftover from the Bronze Age Expansion that he can actually use on this upcoming mod on the XL map ..... What we really need is a Mesopotamian Map !! So the HTW Persians can be used / cloned as well ..... perhaps even Indians of the Indus Valley too !! .... just dreaming for now :idea2:

The Cimmerians are present as rebels (ie province rebel name) for now - thinking of turning them into a faction for high/late - meanwhile there are some Cimmerian HAs available in Khazar etc - mostly to prevent the Thracians steamrolling the steppes. Strictly speaking they're probably proto-Cimmerian, but some of my sources suggest the language group was already present of the lower steppe by this period. Potential anachronism, but in gameplay terms fills another dead spot on the map :beam: And yes, the HTW units include some Scythians, which is what I'm turning into Cimmerians.

Last night I got stuck into the map editor, and have made significant progress towards a new castle type. Basically tested the concept by altering an HTW map, so now I know it works I can make my own from scratch, but more true to the original idea. I managed to test it in a custom battle by exporting it in into MTW-VI (for some reason custom battles don't work in the Bronze Age, bit of a pain....) and it played quite well with Irish, Vikings, Northumbrians and Picts, anyway! The second type I'm planning will be a cake-walk compared to this one. If they're ready in time for a beta release they will be included, but I might have a castles expansion pack later instead, we'll see...

I was also tidying up some little details around faction shields as well (some of them are still distinctly 2D looking, so I'm putting on shading and resaving them, so they look more like the rest). Oh, I love Photoshop :beam:

So what I propose:

* I'll finish off faction shields and colours (too many green factions)
* cut out as much unused stuff as possible
* make a few more tech tree changes
* set up a start leader for the remaining factions (I still have four King Bendidoras out there!)
* set up separate names for each faction
* maybe... finish off one or two new castle maps
* maybe... tidy up the front-end

.... and then I think I'll be ready to do a beta release :2thumbsup:

Yipee !!!! :dizzy2: A NEW MAP :beam: .... I have faith in you Macsen ,, I like the rest of us popping in & out firstly want this to come out & then ........ well why not a new map centred around the Euphrates & further expansions backwards into the golden era of Assyria , Babylon & all those others "if it takes your fancy ofcourse ",, Ok - One question out of curiosity ,, How have you factored in the Mongol Horde event ? that takes place ?

@DTS - hmm, how to let down gently -- it's only a new battle map with a castle, not a new campaign map -- maybe in due course, though!

AFIK the various events like GH, gunpowder etc are hardcoded to certain dates, so it's probably not possible to have one without the rest, though to be honest I haven't looked into it properly, just avoided those dates, like most mods do. Now I have found the text messages that come up with these events, so they could be changed, but I expect the "results" would still be the same - ie new trade goods appearing, acumen to certain governors, influence to faction leaders. BUT these will probably cause CTDs if the appropriately named factions aren't present (ie as it's based on VI the factions are labelled as FN_01, FN_02 etc rather than FN_ENGLISH, FN_DANISH yadda yadda..) However I don't see any reason one faction (ie Sea Peoples) couldn't be labelled as FN_GOLDEN_HORDE, but they'll almost certainly end up emerging in Khazar, unless region declarations are changed, and suddenly it all starts to look very complicated.... not impossible, but involved.

Another line of thought I intend to investigate is to try and make "civilised" and "barbarian" castle lines diverge (should be possible by using the "upgrade" slots) and if I get really ambitious make some "Middle eastern" castle textures based on those fort pics you emailed....

And in 2012 I might resurrect my Britannia 43AD mod :laugh4:

I live & hope ,, But your news & progress over the past few weeks is amazing Macsen :beam: ,, I must be honest & say that I downloaded the Bif Slayer & along with my Paint-Shop Pro began messing about with one Citadel bif or buf and found it most interesting but beyond me at the moment :dizzy2: but I did manage to make it Assyrian !! surprised myself ... I am pleased to hear that we can use other imported images to represent castles / forts & citadels on the campaign map as it just gives it that extra flavour ,, Let me know if you need more pics of any type OK ,, I just feel I want to assist in some way and eventually over the next few months learn how to make/modify parchments , campaign map peices , review panels etc etc ... cheers for now ,, DTS

Only a little update today:

2 new castle maps - the one I trialled as an HTW map yesterday has been redone, and whilst it has some quirks, it does work, and the other idea works, no serious quirks. Unfortunately I was up til 2am playing testing, so haven't had time to take any screenshots for you, but to cut to the chase they are 1) a crannog and 2) a hillfort.

As they work in VI it will be possible to add them in there and play them as a custom game, so if anyone wants a taster - just PM an email address and I can send them out tomorrow (DTS I have yours so will send them anyway :2thumbsup: )

The crannog is modelled as close as MTW will allow ie it's a bit too square and it's a peninsula rather than linked by a bridge, but you get the general feel. It also has a river in it so the attackers can't deploy right at the gate (although the starting army does seem to face the wrong way at first.... :inquisitive: - but I think that's down to combining a river and a castle, the HTW map does the same... I guess at the deployment stage it says "Hmm, there's a river, I have to deploy in the north. And there's a castle, so I have to FACE north" ... :beam: )

The hillfort is similarly a bit too square (but you'll never get round that as the maps are grid based). It really requires a larger map, so the higher castle levels will go onto a 'large' one.

Next one I've sketched out is for a cliff-top fort, well defended and overlooking the sea. Hope to make that one tonight.

Well, I didn't get the cliff-top stronghold done, but I did finish off the hilffort series of maps and succesfully imported them into the Bronze Age, and even managed to call it up properly using the "map group" entry from region attributes. In the process of testing I discovered the reason why citadels don't work properly in HTW BA - the map groups are organised for five castle levels each with one upgrade, yet the second castle in the game (fortified village) calls the map for 'level 2 upgrade 0' rather than 'level 1 upgrade 1'. Therefore all the other maps are out of sync by a level, and once citadel level is reached there are no maps left. Hence the "default" battle map loads instead (a slightly bumpy flat grassland without trees or water or hills). You get exactly the same map when you set border attributes that don't match any map type in your battle/maps folder.

Mind you I've only tested up to second level yet, so am not able to say what the full fix for HTW will be, but I shall in due course :2thumbsup:

Anyway, here's the hillfort in action, with extreme perspectives possible thanks to -ian:

View from south east:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000011.jpg

View from south west:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000012.jpg

A couple of close-up views:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000013.jpg
https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000014.jpg

Fantabulous Macsen !! very nice indeed ,, also well done unravelling more of the synchronicity & how it all gels ,, Have a good Easter man and make sure you put in a bit of R&R time for yourself ok .... cheers ,, DTS

Hi DTS - there's a couple of maps winging their way via email, including one of the hillforts. I'd like to hear how they play for you (and of course they'd be good for any scenario up to & including Roman era :beam: )

I had a few pints of R&R last night, the main reason the new clifftop one didn't happen :laugh4:

Hi mate
pics are great mate really great

Good news everybody!

I decided it was time to draw a line, and call progress so far the "final beta", so I have made a little install pack, copied it back into a new copy of XL, and lo and behold, after three of four CTDs related to missing files, I finally had a second working copy of my beta. Which means I CAN RELEASE THE INSTALL PACK :balloon2: :balloon2: :balloon2:

All I need to do now is find a way to get it out. Even as a ZIP file it's 250Mb! I don't think any of my sites have that much spare room - I did consider "hiding" it in one of my work's websites, but again, not enough space :laugh4:

So it looks like I need to get it on to 3D or similar, but I can't do that til I copy it to CD to bring into work with me. So all being well it will be available tomorrow.

More later - for now I have to sort out why my anti-virus software is saying its own core DLL is a virus.... :inquisitive:

Hi Macsen
That's great news. Can't wait to try it.

EDIT: Yippee! It works. THE BETA INSTALL WILL BE ONLINE TOMORROW!

Woooowy i gonna get it :2thumbsup:

Happy Birthday Marcus :balloon2: :balloon2: :balloon2: :egypt:

Awesome !!!! MTW lives on .......... & with a Rome Mod on its way as well :beam: its going to bring a lot of Rome boys back to MTW ... Ok talk to you soon Macsen re-beta-testing ,, cheers ,, DTS

It's uploading now - 249Mb of zipped file! Another couple of hours to go. Hope you're not on dial-up :beam:

And here it is! Don't all rush at once ~D



LINKS TO BETAs now disabled - get the current version here

Hi Macsen

Finally got it downloaded and it plays and looks great. I did about 40 years as the Assyrians and spotted no bugs. Obviously there is a dead page coords issue - no bodies. Otherwise, I'm just missing a steppe faction to threaten Assyria from the north. The Balts have now expanded to Georgia and are fulfilling that function, which is novel!

This is a great start and I hope you are encouraged to go on to the later periods - looks to me like the Mod is basically there and the rest is more gain for less pain.:2thumbsup:

Yay! Glad the download works okay, that's great news. Lucky to find that hosting site, most of them will not allow files of that sort of size, and this one gives you 250Mb max file size (my zip was 248.9Mb :beam: )

Ah, yes, the deadpage -- I knew there was another "known issue" I should have included in the readme file. It's one I've put to one side for now, on the grounds that I expect more units to go into the mod yet, so rather than keep updating deadpage coords, I'll do the whole lot in one fell swoop. For now the Bronze Age has uncharacteristically self-tidying battlefields :laugh4:

The other one you will notice is that the CASTLE and CITADEL map pieces are the old MTW ones, not the HTW ones, so the castle flags don't line up properly. If you have HTW simply copy across two buf files from your HTW install: campmap/pieces/buildings/castle.buf & citadel.buf (NOT the ones from the Hellenic folder) and that will fix it. Meanwhile I've started on a patch, and this is already in there.

I agree about the steppes, that's why Khazar is so well built up (ready to make Cimmerian cavalry if the rebels ever get any money). I notice the Balts are doing quite well in my game - I decided to just sit back and play it through for a while rather than concentrating on bug fixing etc for a change. At first it was the Thracians who used to steamroll the steppes, but the Balts are at it quite well in this campaign. At the other end of the continent it's the Iberocelts who are prospering.

I'm playing as Alisya, and have most of the Mediterranean trade routes tied up, and a thriving little empire that covers all the islands and is pushing up through Italy to the Alps. I think I need to "homeland" the Greek units, as they're a bit too tough and too widely available.

I still have my doubts about the Assyrian chariots, as I've just used the Persian Scythed Chariot model from HTW, and I guess they should really be the same as the Hittite & Egyptian style.

Oooh shit !!!! damn dial up :dizzy2: @#!%* up again !!

Hi Dimitiros,

if you're struggling, I'll post it up again in a few parts. Links later! :2thumbsup:

Hi mate
I downloaded it but its 5.6 kb it take me not even a second to download??? is this OK??

Hi Axel - sounds like something's wrong - it's quarter of a gigabyte, so should take half an hour or so even on ADSL! Check the size of the file, should be 243MB.

I just tried it, and my share of the work's bandwidth is about 92kB/s today, and it's telling me it should take about 45mins.

I'm now uploading it all in four smaller zip files to make slow connections easier (as each one is available I'll activate the links below):

Part 1: Main folder (474kb)
Part 2: Battle (116Mb)
Part 3: Campmap (45Mb)
Part 4: Textures (87Mb)

These are folders in the main TW directory as before.

Good news !! Im almost 20% and counting down ..... hopefully another good nite will see me up around half way ,, DTS ,,

:beam: 10 downloads so far, don't know if this includes failed attempts and my tests cancelled halfway through (or Dimitrios doing it in shifts ... :clown: )

Anyway, all the smaller pieces are up now, so if anyone wants to do it piecemeal that's possible, too, cheers all!

Hi Macsen

I think this mod is rather hidden away. You'd have to be pretty hard core https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/image...embarassed.gif to be browsing the largely defunct HTW site and happen across it. Maybe there just aren't that many MTW1 fans out there now - but I doubt it.

I know it's still a beta but would you have any objection to me giving it a puff in the main forum so that people know it is live and know to go to HTW and take a look? The work deserves it - and I'm sure there are more people who would get a kick from playing it/chipping in ideas and assistance.

Hi Western, no objection, not now that the beta's actually up and available. I was just wary of saying too much beforehand, as you've no doubt seen how many threads there have been about "I'm doing a great mod..." then no release follows :beam:

Must say I'm still having fun with the Alisyans, I've played it through to the beginning of the "high" era (1200BC) and my mirmidons have just come on line. (So far the only unit that's era-dependent, but the epetes will dismount to mirmidons as well....)

I'm not sure I trust the Iberocelts - they're my allies but have about 15 stacks lined up around my most northwesterly outpost in Genoa. I think my tough Helladic types can thrash them, but even so it'll be a three-hour battle if they DO decide to invade. (BTW my other allies are the Assyrians :2thumbsup: ) I've just about crushed the Hittites, and was about to start on the Mycenaeans but they quickly threw a princess at my heir, so I'll hold off a while on them :laugh4: I still have my doubts about whether Alisya should be a "Greek" culture, but not sure what else they'd be at that stage of history. Admittedly in the game's Late era Cyprus was Greek, but 1275BC... hmmm...

What do you think of the economy so far? I suspect it's all still a bit too rich and am tempted to "turn down" the farms a bit more. (Nothing to do with those 15 stacks of Iberocelts on my border, honest.... :beam: )

hi mate
I cant download them they are all about 5.6 kb and empty files :help:
dont understand i trey to download other files just to check and it works, but your files i cant get :inquisitive:
i am on ADSL mate

Macsen

I agree the economy may be a bit too easy. But I wouldn't want to lose the ability for the AI to build some really big armies, which is one of the things I like at present. Personally, I wonder about going the other way of increasing the cost of some buildings and both the purchase and running costs of some units. Carried over from HTW, many are really low. I think there ought to be a pretty stiff premium to pay for quality troops and economic development, so build decisions have to be thought about carefully (while less thoughtful AI barbarians can get on with spawning hordes). The premium is there now for chariots, but not so sure for other troops and buildings.

Incidentally, looking at support costs, I think the costs for maintaining ships (1:5 compared to purchase price) are the highest I have seen on any Mod. I agree ships should have high support and have always cranked up from the pitiful levels in vanilla. Does trade still pay even at these costs? I have to ask an Alisyan - an Assyrian doesn't know. https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/image.../gc-laugh4.gif

@Axel - I'm mystified. How are you doing the download? Have you tried a right-click and "Save target as..." - that works okay for me, and a left-click just brings up a blank page and the "Open or save?" dialogue box. Any pop-up blocker installed? (Although I don't think that would be the problem, but you never know.....)

Have you tried the smaller files, or just the large, full install? I really can't see why it's not working for you :no:

@ Western - the balance between the unit costs and the "productivity" of the map was one of the first things I spotted once this started to come together, as the HTW units are really cheap at present. But even in HTW I find the economy always takes off and I can train and build in every province, permanently. So I think it may well come down to increasing the cost of things.

As for the ships, I have not edited them at all, so standard HTW stats apply. I will eventually reduce the number of ship-types available (and spread them through the eras) as there are some major anachronisms! For the beta I just needed something that would work :laugh4: As to your question, yes, trade does pay, especially when you have copper as a trade item (as it should be, of course... :beam: ) I finally decided to take on the Iberocelts (that 15 stacks has become 30 .....) so took out most of their navy, in the hopes of a civil war. My trade plummeted from a 6k surplus to 3k deficit as they had been my main customers, and I had ships in every sea region with a port.

Yihaaa .... almost 50% and ready to resume .....

Hi mate
I am downloading now at this moment, it work now :dizzy2: dont know why he did nt the first cople of times but now he works thx mate:2thumbsup:
ill play it this weekend :balloon2: :balloon2:

That's good news, Axel! :balloon2: Glad you can get it now. The only thought I have is maybe we'd used up all the bandwidth for the day (1Gb per day = 4 full downloads).

AND DTS - sorry, I've just looked at my email, and seen your mail! There's a reply on its way, wasn't ignoring it, I just don't check email as often as I come to the org ...

And I notice I've had three "bandwidth limit" notifications from mydatabus.com as well.....

Hey everyone :turtle: . I just registered for the forums (although i have been playing MTW since it came out) after at least a year or two of enjoying this site. I've been keeping up with your work on this mod for a little while now and I was wondering if you needed anyone else to help you with this project. I am a pretty decent modder, except for creating a new campaign map and completely new units (i.e desinging the unit icons and animations and such) which i am trying to learn now. I am working on a mod of my own, which i plan to release info on soon. I was wondering in addition (if it is not to much of a bother), if i may use perhaps your animations and such from your basic tribal warriors.
Oh and i downloaded your beta. It's addicting :dizzy2:. I spent most of this weekend playing instead of modding hehe. :egypt:

Welcome Iron Lord ,, Good to see another excited player enjoying the Bronze Age Mod by Macsen ,, Im also looking forward to sampling it very very soon ,, Tell us a little more about your Mod ? cheers for now ,, DTS

Hi and welcome Iron Lord
Its alway s great to see more modders, myself i cant mod and dont have much time to mod becose of my work :furious3: but if i hade more time i would learn. there are more modders who are asking for help like the new Rome mod see : https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=79240 i hope this mod will be made as well, Marcus made a wonderfull mod :2thumbsup: And yes tell us more of your mod please :laugh4:

Hi macsen rufus
I have to say i am sorry, Iam keep calling you marcus, a bit stupid from me :dizzy2: :dizzy2: i ment to say macsen the reason is becose i got a friend who cals himself marcus on line with somme game cald Rune so sorry mate i am really a :embarassed:

just downloaded a copy for a look see :-)

are you going to mention this beta release in the Main Hall?
you should

cheers,
B.

Hello Barocca ,, Good to see you at this end of the forum ,, I really do hope you enjoy the game :yes: .... Q ,, Would it be possible for you to enlighten me on how you made those really nice campmap peices for Samurai ? ,, I have the necessary time patience & appetite to learn so I can help Macsen with expanding & refining this mod and also fire up some interest and get the Rome mod actively moving along ,, I have checked the Repository & Lab without finding anything ...see my post their ,, cheers ,, DTS

this thread? in the Alchemist Lab
:bow:
B.

Hi everyone - good to see the Bronze Age community is snowballing! Welcome to Iron Lord and Barocca (one day I'll get back to to my Samurai campaign :laugh4: )

@Iron Lord - the animations are mostly those from HTW, the only changes I've done really is swap a few shields around (ie for the tribal spears etc)

@Axel - Marcus, Macsen, all a bit confusing, no worries! Just don't abbreviate it to Mac, the short form is Macs (because 'cs' is a double letter - there's no 'x' in Welsh :laugh4: )

Don't have long now, maybe back at lunchtime, just thought I'd let you know I've started on the "high" era and introduced a Sea Peoples faction. It's fine to play, but when they're AI controlled, they are seriously inert. Just sit there losing money and influence, and not rampaging through the Aegean and Levant like they should ('barbarian raider' personality my foot!) Might need to move them into the FN_07 slot (Vikings in VI) and see if that makes any difference.

Will also be adding Cimmerians and Prytani to fill up some gaps currently rebel.

Hi mate
your ancient mod is wonderfull mate i cant waith till its all finished,
is there any thing else i cane do to help mate?? i am playing the Mycenaears at the moment i will report if i find any thing like bugs or stuff

Hi Axel, glad you're enjoying it. For the time being, a bit of concentrated playing is what's required, and let me know any problems / ideas / suggestions. Especially if you try a few campaigns, keep a track of what the AI factions do. If you find that any faction always takes over, we may need to rebalance things a bit. Also try a few different factions and see how they play - are you struggling for money, is it too easy, does the tech tree seem okay etc.

And enjoy the Mycenaeans, of course, come the patch their 'homelands' will be reduced so that you won't be able to train the better troops types away from the Helladic world :2thumbsup: And don't forget you can dismount your epetes ...

Meanwhile I'm looking at the "high" era, and will be able to put a patch together for that later.

hi mate
ill play a fue campains with different factions and will of course enjoy this lol:2thumbsup: ill let you know

Hi mate
just a question are there no emissary i cant see them mate but other factions are asking for aliens and my second question is are when cane you make horse (cavalerie) i like your mod mate its really good no problems so far:2thumbsup:

Hey Mascen, I have a few question on how you did a few things for you mod for Horde:Total War if you don't mind as i am having a few frustrating problems. My first question is i can't seem to find where you edit the name of a religion e.g. for when you look at there shield and it says the faction and religion. I've tried changing the name of the religion in the names section but that doesn't work. :wall: Do you know how to do that?
I addition, i found this for if you wanted to changed the name of the religion when you look at the religion percentages. Go to TOOLTIP in LOC/ENG and search for religion until you get to where it says for example:
@{"Percentage of the population following the Pagan religion. This value can be influenced by buildings, events, invasions and the actions of agents in this region."}
This can be changed to whatever you want it to be. I can't recall exactly but i didn't think you edited this yet.

My other question is that I am having a problem with a UNKNOWN_unit_type problem when i am trying to add in a few new units. Now i know how to fully add new units and graphics and such. From everything I have read in the forums as farback as i can go, this is usually caused by a additional tab or something like that. Even when i go back and remake the unit in the Gnome from scratch i still get this error. So i end up spending way to much time trying to add even just one unit. So my question is how did you avoid this kind of problem/do you know what i am doing wrong/any tips on making new units? :help:

I know i am asking alot of question, but if you can help me in any way that would be awesome.

Quick update: new shields for the Hittites (as seen on the swordsmen only so far):

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000019.jpg


Don't have long right now, but @Axel: in early era horses were really only used for pulling chariots :beam: the only cavalry available is the Amazigh Horsemen (Libyans only) and the Cimmerian Cavalry (steppe provinces only) There will be more available in the LATE period when the Assyrians learn how to ride & shoot properly.

Emissaries come from the Law Court for "civilised" factions (I think that includes the Greeks). For the Pagans, the "Shaman" acts as emissary (Pagan Sacrificial Shrine).

@Iron Lord, I'll be back at lunchtime :2thumbsup:

It is a matter of careful copying/pasting where Gnome has little to add.

Basically if you have copied just one tab more/less than you should you will get this problem.

Another thing is the waste left by Gnome in the ending lines of crusader file - if you add massive amounts of data you will notice that sometimes even dozens of units can appear twice, but as not legitimate entries.
These will be seen as data 'without connection' appearing after the last real unit.
The only solution is to eraze such data by simple deletion, though with some care I must add.



There is one very good solution when adding new units to the game - copy the data and paste it , though not at the end after the last unit, but rather somewhere before it, all you need to copy the whole space between the unit before and the one after - including all spaces/tabs etc and place it in the same way somewhere lower.


BY all the data I mean this:

Code:

---

AlgerianNaval        INFANTRY        250        6        1        0        80        80        1        DISCOURAGED        "MUS_REBELS(-10), MUS_LOYALISTS(2), MUS_PEASANTS(2), MUS_BANDITS(-20)"        FN_TURKISH                        "POVERTY_STRICKEN(5), DESPERATE_DEFENCE(70), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST(70), CATHOLIC_NAVAL_EXPANSIONIST(70), CATHOLIC_TRADER(70), CATHOLIC_CRUSADER_TRADER(70), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST_CRUSADER(70), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE_CRUSADER(70), POPE(70), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE(70), CATHOLIC_ISOLATIONIST(70), ORTHODOX_DEFENSIVE(70), ORTHODOX_EXPANSIONIST(70), ORTHODOX_STAGNANT(70), MUSLIM_PEACEFUL(70), MUSLIM_EXPANSIONIST(70), MUSLIM_DEVOUT(70), BARBARIAN_RAIDER(18), REBELS(70), CLOSE_TO_SUPPORT_LIMIT(33.5)"                "{GUNSMITH2,SWORDSMITH}"        "ATTACKER,ANTI_SPEAR,STRONG"                ALL_PERIODS        NO        "HEIGHT( 85 ), RADIUS( 25 ), SCALE( 120 ), PROJECTILE_TYPE( SBOW ), SAMURAI( NO ), MARCH_SPEED( 7 ), RUN_SPEED( 11 ), CHARGE_SPEED( 12 ), MIN_TURNSPEED( 2 ), MAX_TURNSPEED( 8 ), TURN_TO_MOTION_SPEED( 8 ), MAX_INMOTION_TURN( 96 ), FORMATION_WIDTH_SPACING( 75 ), FORMATION_LENGTH_SPACING( 75 ), ENGAGEMENT_THRESHOLD( 1500 ), CHARGE_BONUS( 4 ), MELEE_BONUS( 3 ), DEFENCE_BONUS( -1 ), ARMOUR_LEVEL( 1 ), HONOUR_LEVEL( 4 ), AMMO( 5 ), FORMATIONS_PREFERRED_NUM_ROWS( 3 )"        NO                "own_unit_tooltip1, own_unit_tooltip2, other_unit_tooltip1,  other_unit_tooltip2"                "PESTUCAV, YES, YES"                "FN_TURKISH, FN_PERSIAN, FN_MAROCCAN"        "ID_TUNISIA,ID_ALGERIA"        "Missile, Shocktroop, Spear, Cavalry"        "SKIRMISH(1), ADVANCE_PARTY(1),
OUTFLANKING_FORCE(0), MAIN_BODY(2), HOLD_TERRAIN(0), RESERVE(0), REINFORCEMENT(1), ASSAULT(0), ASSAULT_COVER(2), ASSAULT_COVER_CASTLE_ATTACK(0), COVER(2)"                        0                UNFORMED        SMALL        NO        1        NO        0        0                                MuslimFeudalLevy        yes        SWORD        YES        "HIGH,LATE"        "FN_TURKISH":book:
TufekchiMusketeers        INFANTRY        300        5        1        0        80        120        1        DISCOURAGED        "MUS_REBELS(-1), MUS_LOYALISTS(1), MUS_PEASANTS(-5), MUS_BANDITS(-10)"                ID_EDESSA                "POVERTY_STRICKEN(31), DESPERATE_DEFENCE(130), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST(170), CATHOLIC_NAVAL_EXPANSIONIST(170), CATHOLIC_TRADER(170), CATHOLIC_CRUSADER_TRADER(170), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST_CRUSADER(170), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE_CRUSADER(170), POPE(170), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE(170), CATHOLIC_ISOLATIONIST(170), ORTHODOX_DEFENSIVE(170), ORTHODOX_EXPANSIONIST(130), ORTHODOX_STAGNANT(130), MUSLIM_PEACEFUL(130), MUSLIM_EXPANSIONIST(130), MUSLIM_DEVOUT(130), BARBARIAN_RAIDER(24), REBELS(130), CLOSE_TO_SUPPORT_LIMIT(112.5)"                "{GUNSMITH2,SWORDSMITH}"        "MISSILE, ANTI_SPEAR, STRONG"                "HIGH,LATE"        NO        "HEIGHT( 85 ), RADIUS( 25 ), SCALE( 120 ), PROJECTILE_TYPE(  XBOW ), SAMURAI( NO ), MARCH_SPEED( 6 ), RUN_SPEED( 11 ), CHARGE_SPEED( 12 ), MIN_TURNSPEED( 2 ), MAX_TURNSPEED( 8 ), TURN_TO_MOTION_SPEED( 8 ), MAX_INMOTION_TURN( 96 ), FORMATION_WIDTH_SPACING( 75 ), FORMATION_LENGTH_SPACING( 75 ), ENGAGEMENT_THRESHOLD( 1500 ), CHARGE_BONUS( 4 ), MELEE_BONUS( 2 ), DEFENCE_BONUS( -2 ), ARMOUR_LEVEL( 1 ), HONOUR_LEVEL( 2 ), AMMO( 5 ), FORMATIONS_PREFERRED_NUM_ROWS( 5 )"        NO                "own_unit_tooltip1, own_unit_tooltip2, other_unit_tooltip1,  other_unit_tooltip2"                "MAILHCAV, YES, YES"                FN_TURKISH        "ID_BULGARIA,ID_HUNGARY,ID_CROATIA,ID_SERBIA,ID_GREECE,ID_CONSTANTINOPLE,ID_CRETE,ID_RHODES,ID_GEORGIA,ID_ARMENIA,ID_RUM,ID_LESSER_ARMENIA,ID_EDESSA,ID_TREBIZOND,ID_NICAEA,ID_ANATOLIA,ID_CYPRUS,ID_ANTIOCH,ID_SYRIA,ID_TRIPOLI,ID_JERUSALEM"        "Missile, Shocktroop, Spear, Cavalry"        "SKIRMISH(1), ADVANCE_PARTY(1),
OUTFLANKING_FORCE(0), MAIN_BODY(2), HOLD_TERRAIN(0), RESERVE(0), REINFORCEMENT(1), ASSAULT(0), ASSAULT_COVER(2), ASSAULT_COVER_CASTLE_ATTACK(0), COVER(2)"                        0        UNCONTROLLED        UNFORMED        NONE        YES        1        NO        0        0                                Minerteam                SWORD        NO        LATE        FN_TURKISH
:book: TufekchiYenicheri        INFANTRY        450        11        2        0        80        100        1        OK        "MUS_REBELS(-1), MUS_LOYALISTS(-5), MUS_ZEALOTS(-15)"                                "POVERTY_STRICKEN(24), DESPERATE_DEFENCE(110), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST(130), CATHOLIC_NAVAL_EXPANSIONIST(130), CATHOLIC_TRADER(130), CATHOLIC_CRUSADER_TRADER(130), CATHOLIC_EXPANSIONIST_CRUSADER(130), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE_CRUSADER(130), POPE(130), CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE(130), CATHOLIC_ISOLATIONIST(130), ORTHODOX_DEFENSIVE(130), ORTHODOX_EXPANSIONIST(130), ORTHODOX_STAGNANT(130), MUSLIM_PEACEFUL(130), MUSLIM_EXPANSIONIST(130), MUSLIM_DEVOUT(130), BARBARIAN_RAIDER(21), REBELS(130), CLOSE_TO_SUPPORT_LIMIT(30.5)"                "{GUNSMITH3,SWORDSMITH2,MILITARY_ACADEMY}"        "MISSILE, ANTI_SPEAR, STRONG"        2        ALL_PERIODS        NO        "HEIGHT( 85 ), RADIUS( 25 ), SCALE( 120 ), PROJECTILE_TYPE(  SBOW ), SAMURAI( YES ), MARCH_SPEED( 8 ), RUN_SPEED( 11 ), CHARGE_SPEED( 13 ), MIN_TURNSPEED( 2 ), MAX_TURNSPEED( 8 ), TURN_TO_MOTION_SPEED( 8 ), MAX_INMOTION_TURN( 96 ), FORMATION_WIDTH_SPACING( 60 ), FORMATION_LENGTH_SPACING( 60 ), ENGAGEMENT_THRESHOLD( 1500 ), CHARGE_BONUS( 7 ), MELEE_BONUS( 3 ), DEFENCE_BONUS( 4 ), ARMOUR_LEVEL( 1 ), HONOUR_LEVEL( 7 ), AMMO( 5 ), FORMATIONS_PREFERRED_NUM_ROWS( 3 )"        NO                "own_unit_tooltip1, own_unit_tooltip2, other_unit_tooltip1,  other_unit_tooltip2"                "PESTUCAV, YES, YES"                FN_TURKISH        "ID_BULGARIA,ID_HUNGARY,ID_CROATIA,ID_SERBIA,ID_GREECE,ID_CONSTANTINOPLE,ID_RHODES,ID_ARMENIA,ID_RUM,ID_LESSER_ARMENIA,ID_EDESSA,ID_TREBIZOND,ID_NICAEA,ID_ANATOLIA,ID_CYPRUS,ID_ANTIOCH,ID_SYRIA,ID_TRIPOLI,ID_JERUSALEM"        "Missile, Shocktroop, Spear, Cavalry"        "SKIRMISH(1), ADVANCE_PARTY(1),
OUTFLANKING_FORCE(0), MAIN_BODY(2), HOLD_TERRAIN(0), RESERVE(0), REINFORCEMENT(1), ASSAULT(0), ASSAULT_COVER(2), ASSAULT_COVER_CASTLE_ATTACK(0), COVER(2)"                        0        DISCIPLINED        PERFECTLY_FORMED        NONE        YES        1        NO        0        -3                        ISLAMIC(1)        Minerteam                SWORD                ALL_PERIODS        FN_TURKISH

---

From one 'book' to another.

From my experience it remains the best possible approach - this way it is possible to add dozens of units in no time without a need to test the resuts too often - once per a dozen is enough..:2thumbsup:



@Macsen rufus

I have read a little about assyrian horsemen from 900 B.C. and earlier times - early empire. They rode in pairs - one was steering both horses another one was only for shooting and fighting.

Apparently one was armed with a spear and shield (the 'driver') and the second was a kind of mobile archer - calling him horse archer would be too much.

It often diesmounted before a battle when requested.

Another thing - they apparently rode one horses' bottoms - proper saddles were not yet invented.

My question is are you gong to try to add the feature ?

I know it is possible - since HTW uses full horse-and-rider animations you can combine two different models in one cavalry unit by setting one as a mount and moving it is the coordinates so they are side by side now.

The flaws are that
- this way you have a number of teams instead of people so you might want to rise their stats a little (and give them proper anti-missile protection - a large shield or a pavise would be sufficient) - one death mean two models less.
- the animation used as 'mount' cannot have any attached weapons at all - so the right place for the mobile archer in the team.
- the weapons' coordinates for the spear armed model might need correction - the new model coordinates might impose it.


Might be hard, but probably you will have something noone else uses - and it will be absolutelly historically accurate.
If you don't know where to start check my Izci Tatarlar in PMTW - the cavalry with two mounts.


Regards Cegorach

@ Cegorach -- I have seen the info about the Assyrian "mobile archers" and was just going to pretend they were like ordinary horse archers :laugh4: But, you are right, to be really accurate there should be the two horses side by side...

I don't recall seeing the Iczi tartarlar with two mounts - is this in PMTW v1.5? That's the latest I have, so I might be getting behind, or I might just be unobservant :beam: Anyway, I was considering having a look at some of the things you'd done in there for ideas... The main problem is I'm not really set up for doing a lot with animations, it's okay to swap a few shields and weapons, but any 3D modelling or anything requiring artistic ability is beyond my boundaries.

The other thought I had was maybe using a chariot pair as mounts.

@ Iron Lord - yes, the method Cegorach outlined above is pretty much what I do - open the prod_file in notepad, copy a unit that's a bit like the one you want to make, and paste it in between existing units (I usually put them in just before the beginning of the ships so they're easy to find). Then save the file, and reopen in Gnome, and edit the stats from there. Once it's saved with Gnome, I REOPEN it AGAIN with Notepad, to make sure there are no extra bits of Gnome-junk on the end. If there are, delete this and resave, then try it out!

I also tend to do things by stages - ie make a copy of a unit, change its name, but not the animations or stats, train it, run it through a battle etc to check all the names and info pics are all okay. Then I'll change the animations and so on. Bit by bit, so when errors crop up they're easier to find. One thought that springs up on your "Unknown unit" problem -- this can arise from entries in the DISMOUNT or FEARED UNITS column. I had that a few times, copying things from one unit_prod to another - many HTW units I've recycled are afraid of elephants, and I don't have elephants in the mod, so the FEARED UNITS column was what caused the crash.

I haven't tried changing religions, I'm afraid, but I believe the basics are hardcoded and you can only change the text descriptions and the icons. That's something I've put to one side as a "finishing touches" project.

The wierdest problem I've seen is that one certain unit always causes a CTD if I try to place it at the beginning of a campaign with the MakeUnit:: command. There are no other problems with it, it works in battle, is trainable, belongs to the right factions, culture, era and provinces and so on. But once I try to put them on the map in the startpos file, they always cause a CTD. Anyone else had a problem like this? I just cannot find anything that may be causing it, and it has cost me a few hours to track down after I updated my startpos. Really had me pulling my hair out, as it was so unexpected...

culture will do that,

now i am very rusty but IIRC
unit culture must match culture of faction it is assigned to (who owns the province)
and culture of province must match culture of province owner too....
cheers,
B.

Hi Barocca -- thanks for that. I think the culture etc is all correct, as the unit is trainable from turn one, and it's an "all faction" unit, as well. In terms of culture/faction/location it's no different to other units that CAN be placed safely. But I will have a closer check :2thumbsup:

Macsen thx mate :2thumbsup:

Currently developing the "high era" ( "The Catastrophe"). As well as the Sea Peoples, I've also added in the Cimmerians and Prytani who will both go into the early era too. There will be more factions to follow, including Ugarit (decided to make it an independent state rather than part of the Hittite empire - it was historically wiped out in the Catastrophe, so the challenge will be to survive :2thumbsup: ), Ligurians, Philistines and Israelites (late era only). There are too few provinces to really do justice to the intricacies of Middle Eastern politics of the era.... Oh, and the Phoenicians of course, for the late era.

Here's the starting position for the High era (so far):

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...atastrophe.jpg

Hi Macsen

All sounds very tempting. I've been playing the beta quite a lot, with no issues or crashes. The imported stuff from HTW is good of course - top quality battle maps and graphics, but I also really like the feel you have achieved with new emblems, portraits, info-pics etc. It's a visual treat to play and I can't wait to see the new work. :yes:

Hi mate
It looks really great and i am really enjoying this mod mate:2thumbsup: :beam:

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

A little more progress last night - biggest change is that I've now put the Sea Peoples into the FN_07 slot (which is the "Viking" slot) which had been given to the Thracians at first. Having checked out a few moves with the Thracians using the -ian facility I finally convinced myself that this slot is what caused the Thracians to rampage all over the place! They were able to get back on their ships without ports (just like the Vikings) and they always seemed to have too much cash (raiding bonus!) SO the proper place for all this is with the Sea Peoples! Eveything seems to have switched over okay, but I doubt I've tested it all thoroughly yet. It was about the last thing I did before falling asleep last night, so I've not had time to see how the AI handles them, but I expect they won't be as inert as they were at first :skull: .

The bad news is that the next patch will not be save-game safe, and you'll have to start your campaigns all over from scratch :beam:

The unit roster for the Cimmerians has had a bit of work now, as well:

* Cimmerian cavalry - BG unit
* Tribal warriors
* Slingers
* Tribal archers
* Cimmerian spearmen
* Cimmerian archers (compound bows + axes)
* Cimmerian warband (axes)

They have no sword unit or javelins, and the Cimmerian unique units are "homelanded" to the steppes (the infantry homeland is slightly larger than the cav homeland, as well). Although all factions can train CimCav in the appropriate provinces, the Cimmerian faction has a cost advantage on these, even so they are still expensive and high-tech (two level 3 facilities required) as we're talking about the very first stirrings of equestrianism here :2thumbsup:

Prepare to defend your northern borders, Western :beam:

I've also redone a few of the review panel unit icons, so there won't be quite so many identical-looking spearmen etc. I've now got a good selection of graphics software so should be ready to do the battle unit icons as well, where it really matters (having the same icon for skirmishers and heavy infantry can lead to some serious tactical blunders :laugh4:)

Good luck everybody, very nice to see this old beaty HTW being kicked alive again.

I will not be of much help, I have lost all HTW files over the years, Komninos may have an old back-up, if the man still hangs around here.

If you all have time, visit our new game developing company The Lordz Games Studio one day, as the road from modding to actually building your own games is hard work and stressful, but also loads of fun.

Take care and threat HTW with respect, the old lady deserves it.:-)

Cheers,

LZoF

Hi LZoF, good to see you back around these parts!

I like to keep the old HTW heritage alive, and bring life to all those half-finished units in the animations :beam: . Another part of the pay off is I intend to go back and do more on the HTW BA campaigns as well, I only really got halfway last time, then my old PC died :no:

Good luck with the new venture, by the way - it looks very exciting, and I'll be sure to give it a try. After all something has to be the first game I buy since getting MTW, and nothing else has even come close yet :2thumbsup:

Over the weekend (well Sunday, anyway...) I had another session, and have tried out the latest changes.

The Sea Peoples are in need of more work, as they are still decidedly unscary and incapable of destroying three Middle eastern civilizations on their own. They are much more likely to attack the rebels in southern France than go after the rich pickings of Hatti or Kemet. Maybe I need to reduce the navies of the "civilized" factions, and also make the Ligurians a faction (which was in the plan anyway).

The Cimmerians are also rampaging quite well across the steppes, but looking at their armies, I think the tribal warriors will have to go, but shall replace them with Jav Cav. Also I think the CimCav (horse archer) units are too large. The Prytani seem to do okay, slowly taking over the whole of Britain from the rebels.

I've enabled the rebels to train tribal warriors, so their armies are no longer huge stacks of slingers :beam:

Also had bit of a clear-out on the tech-tree, removing a few "too advanced" buildings, adding a couple of new ones, and tweaking some build-dependencies. Barbarians can no longer build citadels, and emissaries come from unique buildings, except the pagan shamans. The result is that "civilized" factions can ONLY get their full morale upgrades from a single province.

EDIT: continued after interruption ....

New units in the pipeline:
Egyptian
* menfyt spears (once I work out the weapon co-ordinates ~D )
* nakhtu-aa heavy infantry (the "strong-arm boys")+ dismountable version with javelins

Libya
* Libyan tribesmen (low-defence axe maniacs)

Sea Peoples
* Lukka (archers?)
* Meshwesh (tribal axe type, also for Libya, trainable in Tunisia)
* Ahhiyawaa (sp?) - "Achaeans" based on Myc amippi

Illyrians
* Illyrian raiders from HTW (HIGH onwards)
* Illyrian cav (LATE era)

(the Illyrians are in a tough spot, I gave them a try and had to fight off a couple of Mycenaean invasions, no wonder the AI Illyrians always get wiped out...)

Barbarians
* Hunters (hide-in-open bowmen, small units, good melee stats, like hashishin etc)

But the main issue for now is getting the Sea Peoples into "character", and get them raiding before they go bankrupt....

Hi Macsen

Don't know how to make the Sea Peoples aggressive, but if you want to drive them to expand south and west, you could play around with sea regions. Looking at your set-up, if they only had coastal ships, you could close Ligurian/Tyrrhenian and make Gulf of Gabes deep water - et voila. Other factions could still get everywhere through the deep seas (not that the Celts ever did invade Africa, but I guess you want your phoenicians and greeks to be able to go west). Just a thought. :beam:

Oops, I meant "south and east" :oops:

I had the most frustrating session ever last night - three hours to add ONE BUILDING..... and in the end it seemed it wasn't working just because MTW didn't like the NAME of my latest build_prod file. Having checked EVERYTHING to do with the building over and over, to find this glitch.... aaaagh :furious3:

It was just one of those days yesterday :no:

@Western - interesting ideas, but I think the presence of the Ligurians as a faction will certainly help, and I think the Sea Peoples will need a better economy. They have certainly picked up their ideas a bit since I made them FN_07, but keep losing Nicaea to the Thracians (which is not too inaccurate, as it's believed the Phrygians were a Thracian tribe who crossed the Bosporus - though not quite yet :laugh4: Might have to remove the land-bridge here, or make Thrace more rebellious so they're less likely to invade.) The Sea Peoples often manage to invade Phoenicia so long as the Egyptians/Hittites/Assyrians haven't already taken it....

Regarding the ships, they're all designated as deep sea, as per HTW (though I have now made a few tweaks, and might make the basic ship coastal only again, as well).

Hopefully tonight I'll be able to put my time to better use than tracking down odd quirks :wall:

yeahim having trouble launchgin your mod.. i have total war ERAS MTW VI

so its fully patch and all but when i install your patch to .

the creative assembly/mtw gold eddition

then when i click on the icon on desktop it continuly ask for the cd-rom.

lil help please im dying to play the greeks which in fact were the first ones to conquer the known medaterian.. then the phoicians came. then the persians..

anyways yeah i wanna change history:smash:

lil help fixing this problem. i'll post the cure in apothacary

Hi Bonfire - the Ancient mod is designed to be installed over the XL mod version 2.1 (to get the right campaign map), so you will need that one first. I must admit I have never used the Eras install, so I don't know if that has any other issues compared to the original game. It might be best to check in the Apothecary, if it has cropped up as an issue it will have been dealt with in there by now :beam:

sorry double post...