MTW-Redux Beta Released!

[Axalon]

Hi guys, the cleaning of this thread and forum is no vacation! Iv'e been running up and down thru some 250+ posts (and all the other threads) and it probably took well over 2 hours! All because of Filefront - due to the supposed shutdown yesterday (We'll see how long the links I left holds)! If I would have done nothing, I fear it might have become slightly chaotic and disorderly around here! Now, we cant have any of that! So now every measily little pic is safe, sound and linked elsewhere - far, far away from the filefront disaster. Anyway...


Achilles: No worries man, I’ll release it when I’m done with it (it has become bigger and more complex than I originally had in mind a few months back. Plus I don’t get work with it in the way I would like). In the mean time either play some more ETW (If you can bare that, it crashes too much to make a believer out of me. Besides it’s essentially just a lot of M2TW with muskets anyhow) or do some good for the redux community instead and share some of your experiences with other newer redux-players over at the new player & tips thread….


Gollum: Discussing the social and political circumstances in Syria is too off topic for my tastes (you and others are free to discuss it elsewhere if you like but this is hardly the place for it). I thus forward a friendly reminder that you are welcome to post and discuss here as long as you keep it more reduxy or something that could somehow more easily lend it self to that context.


Leith: Salutations right back at you! Above all, welcome to the redux area. I did appreciate your praise here, what you wrote sure hit home, I only whish that more people were active posters here – it would be much more fun and interesting. Now, as for factions, Scotland and strat-maps….


First of all, my alterations of the strat-map is limited due to the massive hardcoded obstacles that MTW 1.1 presents in this area. Thus I can’t operate with the same “ease” that I could in VI and thus I have only done limited amount of changes. I also want the game to be as stable as possible (I am unsure about the effects of additional provinces in that sense).

Secondly, and this is also because of MTW 1.1, there will not be any additional factions in the default version of redux (as in the basic platform). The faction-colours will just be awful in MTW 1.1 and it is impossible to add additional faction descriptions as well. It might be ok for others but this is nowhere near acceptable for me. So, I won’t even consider it. And, even if I could do it in VI - I won’t since I want a coherent game regardless if it is MTW v1.1 or VI. That has always been way more important for me. Also, I pretty much covered this ground in my earlier response to Durango in previous post (additional comments regarding extra factions in general can also bee found in post:203, factions & variety section…).

Thirdly, and I said this before and I’ll say it here again. There is nothing stopping you from doing this alteration on your own; as in the Leith Scotland redux sub-mod or home-mod. The redux graphics and designs are already done. The original game also provides you with GFX you need for it. You don’t need to do additional units, the units already included in redux are more than enough to also cover Scotland as well. Thus I have virtually done all the balancing for you already. Scotland already got 3 unique units – so you don’t even have to bother with that unless you want more units there. By design you have 12 vacant unit-slots available – earmarked for just cases like this one. Use them! The castle flags, shields, unit-banners and such are also already done in VI, the demo and in historical battles files so you wont even have to do that either. All you need to do is to put everything together and perhaps give some few additional florins to the Scottish province and you are almost done. There are guides for this so use those – hell, those guides even use Scotland as an example so you really have things all laid out for you. You could probably do it all in a week or so.

So, I suggest that you do it yourself. After all, redux is probably unique in this way (as far as MTW goes anyhow), since it is internally designed to allow additional and further alterations by the redux-players. No other version for MTW, to my knowledge, is designed that way. Then, when everything works and is solid in the game – perhaps you might want to share it with others? Upload it and drop a link in this very forum! If you don’t include or use any of my material in your uploaded mod there is no problem! If you do, you must first acquire my explicit permission to use and distribute that material publicly and the best way to try and get it, is to drop me a PM and ask (however, don’t get your hopes up, chances are pretty slim that I would give it - since I had many bad experiences with such things. Sad, but very true). Still, I can’t see how that would be necessary for you to include my stuff in such a package (short of some modded/altered txt-files - I’ll probably have little objections about that) - so this should not create any problems for you ether. I am sure that there are plenty of others that would like to try such a sub-mod if you put it together. Considering the circumstances there is a fairly large group of redux-players out there, you know.

Finally, it makes me happy that at least somebody wants me to continue with further mods and additional expansions for redux - after the basic platform is done and released (hopefully that will with 3rd edition, I really would like that). I probably will to some extent….

However, once the platform stand completed it seems unlikely that I will dedicate as much time and effort to support others that play redux and there should be little need for it. When it’s done, it’s done. I could be wrong, but the kind of effort and dedication I did put in during 2008 will probably not happen again once I am done with the basic platform (because it is a lot of work). When I am done with that, all my initial goals have been fulfilled; a solid alternative version for the MTW-concept and game has been realized and it also available for the public – no matter what version they got.

At the very least, redux will stand as a possible and solid option to all other major “medieval” mods that have been released so far. In most cases these operate and are designed within the CA-templates (the battle-system or era-progressions are two obvious and typical examples of that) and thus they also inherit many of the problems found within that template (that is, strictly speaking of the problems that you can do something about). Redux provides a much needed alternative to that template and my goal is/was to make that alternative available to the public. It probably won’t happen, but it would be great if other people used this platform to do sub-mods, further expansions or stand alone mods, even if they were unrelated to the setting of redux. After all, it is impossible for me or anybody else to do something that corresponds to all tastes and ideas. The best game designer for you, are you! Redux acknowledges that and thus it is designed to be “bendable” and fairly mod-friendly and at the same time offer a solid alternative to the MTW-concept. This is anyway, my view on the redux-platform….

Oki, that is enough of me for now. Feel free to stick around and post some more around here if you like.


- Cheers