Viking Invasion III version 1.0 released!

[Leith]

Greetings,

Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?b59l8699su8pis9

Please notice this is the first release of the mod and that further development depends on feedback among other things.

Changes from the original VI campaign:

1-Almost every single unit has been re-skinned. That includes new weapons and shields as well.
2-Province income has been greatly increased.
3-The stats of most units have considerably changed.
4-Starting armies and provinces have changed.
5-Combat voices and grunts have changed.
6-New unit roster which focuses on re-balancing the eight factions.

[Raz]

Congratulations Leith on releasing your mod!
I can't promise I'll try it though. I don't have too much free time at the moment, but when I find myself with some time to spare I'll give this a go.

Already downloading it for when that time comes. :D

[Leith]

Thank you, Raz! Hope you like it.

[PershsNhpios]

Congratulations Leith, you fine engineer! I will download this from a different computer, but forgive me if some time passes before I can experience the work.

To understand your present national situation, it is very marvellous that you have nonetheless managed a release, thank you!

If you have time, could we ask a description and list of changes and features in the first post?

[Axalon]

Leith…

I wish more people around here had the decency and guts to properly support you in this thing. As this idea is as good as any. I wish I could do more then this to (encourage and) support you on this venture but as you already know – I got my hands full with Redux.

All the best with VI3…

- A

[gollum]

Originally posted by Axalon
I wish more people around here had the decency and guts to properly support you in this thing

With all due respect Axalon, this could be taken quite wrongly by a good deal of people. I am not sure who you mean that is lacking decency and guts around here really. Could you be more specific?

And also saying that you have "your hands full" with this or that is probably what other people would say - not with making perhaps but with playing other mods or other games or with RL or whatever they choose to do. After all playing mods is a choice, not an obligation or a duty people have. So you could be easily seen in the same category of indecent gutless folk, according to your own criteria despite giving your reasons - unless of course you think that only you have good valid reasons. I am pretty certain though that others have just as good valid ones.

This community has been the most dedicated, decent and knowledgeable concerning MTW practically from its beginning. There are many players here that are as much modders as players. Its rather sad to see it receiving what seems like mud in this way, and i don't think it deserves it.

[Raz]

Pshaawww! With all due respect Axalon, Leith has had all his queries regarding modding resolved by this gutless and indecent community. If he needed any further support he need only ask in these parts and I'm certain he would get a response.

That said, i have spare time this Easter. :)

[Leith]

Salutations, friends!

I think we should probably focus on what unites us; namely our love for this game:) Thank you Axalon! I look forward to playing the VI version of your newest release. I hope the short list I have made satisfies you, Glenn :)

[Axalon]

I could be wrong but…

To me, this looks like a storm in a glass of water. Regardless, this thread
already has a topic and is not that nonsense anyhow. If somebody needs
to pursue this – send me a PM if you must.

Take it away Leith…

----------------------------------
EDIT:

One thing folks…. I do not regard Gollum’s screwed up interpretations as even remotely
representative for what I have written or had in mind (in my first post). And no, I have
no interest in discussing that further…

- A

[gollum]

You are wrong in fact. It would be greatly appreciated if you could either rephrase or apologise statemets that can be taken as insulting. Playing it cool and ignore the whole thing as "nonesense" does not diminish them.

EDIT:
Axalon, this is not against you in person. I really find calling others "indecent and gutless" not acceptable, especially others of this comunity that has been very supportive of modding and modders. I am not trying to get you, if that's what you think. If you can rephrase that statement or apologise, i'm absolutely fine. I really don't have a problem with you. Whoever else would have written that i would have reacted. I admit that i was surprised that its coming from you, as you are part of this community, and yet you appear to think very low of it. Fine, its your right. But even so, such stetements are too far imo. Please reconsider and edit the "gutless and indecent" part out.

[gollum]

Actually Axalon nevermind... its ok...

[PershsNhpios]

Axalon, O Smith, we have all contributed to our settlement here in one way or another, and none have done so under any obligation. One will manufacture modifications, another will write the stories, another will encourage discussion, another will share experiences and some will only comment, applaud or observe. We appreciate every one of these actions as essential in their own right; "The best of them all when he's wanted".
I contribute nothing in the guild of smiths and engineers here, but I have written some tales and stirred some discussion in my time. I am valued.
You have contributed no hearty stories or friendly, bantering community spirit, but you have authored many innovative modifications. You are valued.
Do not manufacture class where there needn't be any.

----

Leith! O Smith, I hope you are not too perplexed by the tiff which has come about in your country. Please be safe, else we must despair of a perfected Viking Invasion III. The suggestion I made was not for my benefit, as I had some idea already of what modifications had been made, but a successful advertisement of a mod always begins with a well-nourished description page.

[Cyprian2]

The revamped units from your preview, Leith, unequivocally blew my mind. I'm not free to play MTW-VI at this time, but I'm downloading VI III and plan to make my return to the game in a few weeks––when I will be playing your mod along with gollum's Caravel mod. Thanks for all your hard work!

EDIT: first download link appears to be broken; second download link is for a .rar file called "Medieval - Total War." Is that the correct version?

[Leith]

Hello everyone!

Yes, that's the correct one, Cyprian2. I just checked the link and it 's working fine. Sorry about disappearing from the forums but as you may have guessed things are getting pretty rough in this part of the world right now. Having internet access is becoming more and more difficult. Take care for now!

[Cyprian2]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Leith. I expect to give your fine mod a whirl this week/end. I'll let you know what I find; of course, there's no rush getting back to me. Here's hoping that peace and justice prevail in your part of the world.

[Cyprian2]

So, I finally had a chance to try the mod and....what can I say? The textures are fantastic, with the highest attention paid to detail and authenticity. Very, very nice work, Leith. To be honest, I was only disappointed by the few vanilla skins still hanging around. (They don't stand up to the quality of your new units, and in future builds, it would be great to see all of the units re-skinned after your own unique fashion.)

I started a campaign as the Irish and really enjoyed the variety of troops fielded by both my own faction and the initial Irish rebels. For once, the rebels put up a fight before succumbing to my superior tactics. In fact, the battles are very tough and melee lasts a long time. I like that units from both sides will often rout before one side is finally mass-routed; a very realistic feel. Also, the warriors have faces! I could almost make out their battle-hardened expressions (or, in the case of my enemies, their looks of utter terror).

I'm still learning about the campaign and the various tweaks you've done. You weren't kidding when you said you upped the income of provinces––I've had well over 1k for most of the game so far. Makes me wonder what it'll be like to play as the Picts and Welsh, now that they aren't so monetarily challenged. I haven't yet faced off against the Vikings, but it's in the wind. Should be interesting when I do, and I plan to provide screenshots.

Thanks, Leith, for all the hard work that no doubt went into making this mod.

[Leith]

Thank you, Cyprian! I'm glad you're having fun. The mod was pre-maturely released though. I had to choose at one point between releasing the mod in its current state or postponing that--indefinitely. Obviously I chose the former. Only 50% of the units have been included. Only one Era has been implemented. Many interface cosmetic changes have not been added. Little play testing has been done by way of making sure all the factions are balanced. In view of the little to no feedback received so far, I will work on another MTW project though I have not made up my mind yet as to its main theme: Ancient hoplite warfare or a Dark Medieval mod.

[Cyprian2]

Glad to see you back, Leith (and I hope you've not been too affected by political unrest). I've actually fallen off MTW a little of late; just busy with other things. I am, however, very excited to hear that you're contemplating another mod. I am still quite impressed with your work on VI III, and think it could be even more stellar in a "finished" form, but we all know how it feels to tire of a project, and I certainly consider it a highly playable mod as is. I was looking into Psychonaut's Britannia Divided, at his amazing unit roster (great historical names, etc.), and thinking that it would be an absolutely unstoppable game with: a) a few more factions added, and b) your beautiful skins. Unfortunately, I am a modding illiterate and would have no idea where to start on such a project. Still, between you and Psychonaut (who unfortunately doesn't seem to care about modding MTW anymore), no one's come closer to elevating the Viking campaign to the truly great game it deserves to be. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing what new things you'll bring to the community. The classical hoplite mod sounds a lot like what was done with Hellenic Total War, which––if you haven't played yet––has some superb skins. Also, a Dark Ages mod sounds intriguing. Or did you mean a version of Medieval with a "darker" atmosphere? That would be neat, too. Anyway, all the best in your future endeavours.

[Leith]

Hello and thank you again, Cyprian2! It's perhaps people like you who make me continue to mod MTW. Britannia Divided is a great mod, and would be even greater if a new map were created so as to include all the factions that were not included in the first release. I cannot do the map but I can re-skin the units and probably do some balance, since some units are quite unbalanced. However, all this would be insufficient if a new map were not created. As for this mod, if enough support/feedback is shown, I might develop it even further.

I'm currently working on a mod which starts after the Norman conquest of Britain in 1066 A.D. Its aim is to make the factions more distinguished through reshaping the unit roster in MTW. If you are interested I might post a few screenshots of the new units once I have progressed enough. Basically most--if not all-- of the original MTW units will be reskinned. Some of them will be removed or replaced as necessary. Every faction's play style should be different. At least that's what the plan is. If you have some neat ideas or suggestions, please share them. This is going to be OUR mod in the sense that everyone is invited to take part in one way or another.

I really love the hoplite VS legionnaire theme so perhaps I will make a mod about ancient warfare but very few people, it seems, would be interested in such a mod, which is why I have started working on a Medieval mod. It was the Hellenic MTW mod actually that got me started on modding this fine game. Regardless, I will post a few screens of my new units once I think they are good enough.

[Leith]

Hello everyone,

I've been working on version 2.0 and here is what you can expect:

1-New unit skins. This means that the previous new skins will be re-skinned too.
2-Different unit roster based on regions, e.g Connacht Warband, Reget Spearmen, etc.
3-Four additional factions: The Manx, the men of Ulster, the men of Munster, the Manx, and the East Anglians.
4-Revised province income.

I've made the first bif and here are two screens:

Connacht Warband

https://img856.imageshack.us/img856/5199/connacht.jpg

Athfoltan Warband

https://img713.imageshack.us/img713/4416/athfoltan.jpg

[Leith]

Hello everyone! Here are some more screens!

Domon Infantry:

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2383/domonz.jpg

Fyrdmen:

https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2292/fyrdmen.jpg

Cantish Spearmen:

https://img607.imageshack.us/img607/...tishspears.jpg

[Durango]

Detailed shields, I like

[Cyprian2]

Very nice work as always, Leith. The new skins are gorgeous -- shields and all! I also love the idea of adding new factions. What about a second viking faction while you're at it? (ha, ha!)

[Leith]

Thank you very much, guys! The bad news is that I have decided to use different graphics for this mod, which means starting all over again. All the new skins will be replaced. The good news is that initial results show that the bifs I'm working with should look even better than the ones in this preview. But......you wil have to be patient since we don't get a lot of electricity where I live, even though it's one of the most important cities in the Middle East, Damascus. Go figure..

P.S It's good to have you back on the forums, Cyprian..

[Stazi]

The good news is that initial results show that the bifs I'm working with should look even better than the ones in this preview.

I'm curious what BIF resolution do you use for units? Soldiers look normal but shields have a lot of details.

[Leith]

Hi stazi! Sorry it took me so long to answer. The shields were taken from a rome TW mod, which is why they look so detailed. Thanks

[Leith]

Hi everyone! I'm pleased to inform you that viking invasion 3 is back in development with a completely new set of units, graphics and stats. It's almost as if it were a new mod! To show you what I mean, I have decided to post some screens. Hope you like them!

Here is the new spearmen:


In this screenshot, you see Swordsmen fighting Levy Spearmen:


Next is the new Fyrdmen:


In my next preview I'll show you what I have done with the viking units.

[dimitrios the samian]

wow !
Leith , you made 2 different color designs on identical bifs
The Spearmen & Fyrdmen .

[Leith]

Hello dimitrios! They have different armour. The spearmen's armour is a heavily modified version of the huscarle/kardakes hellenic bif while the Fyrdmen's armour is a modified version of the peltasts/plates bif, the one you've been working on. No matter, here is a short preview of the viking units, as promised:

Viking Carls


Viking Landsmenn


Viking Guards. This is by far the most difficult bif I've made for mtw because of many factors. It's still work in progress:

[dimitrios the samian]

Nice !
I really like the Landsmen & Carls great textures .
The bif you use for the Guards needs stretching , there may be a way to do it with LotR Unit maker .