My First Ever Mod:

[Kront the King]

Not saying I could code it or patch code from what little of it I might be able to understand to get my desired result, but I am saying we will never know in this nexus of bogartary! lol

[Kront the King]

Okay, so I'm still hunting the tools for use on version 1.1 to at least change the flag icons and images to something less Medieval and more ancient. But for those who might want to know, here is what I have done thus far.

Faction Reworking:

FN_ALMOHAD = Poeni/FN_MINOR/MUSLIM
FN_POLISH = Romans/FN_MAJOR/ORTHODOX
FN_TURKISH = Huns/FN_MAJOR/PAGAN
FN_EGYPTIAN = Numidians/FN_MINOR/MUSLIM
FN_BURGUNDIAN = Greek City States/FN_MINOR/ORTHODOX
FN_NOVGOROD = Celts/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_RUSSIAN = Belgae/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_HUNGARIAN = Aedui/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_SPANISH = Sequani/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_ITALIAN = Arverni/FN_MAJOR/CATHOLIC
FN_SWISS = Dacians/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_GERMAN_HRE = Germania/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_DANISH = Goths/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_ARAGONESE = Etruscans/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_SICILIANS = Sabines/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_PAPIST = Maltese/POPE/CATHOLIC

This is a good balance in western Europe and makes the Roman map feel really accurate aside from the date, which I can't seem to make go into a B.C. era without the extreme age crashes. I totally remade the turks into the Huns, the Golden Horde will enter the map as the Xiong Nu, thus, they will feel like just more Huns invading the empire. I didn't give them priests, instead I made assassins a 5 in spreading the Pagan religion. ;) This works out, as churches and mosques make the effects minimal for other factions, and simply making a taven produces your bloodthirsty human sacrificing druid. ;)

The mechanics work out well if the player chooses Rome as its faction, but playing as the Arverni or Huns is a toss up at this point to see if Rome will be the mighty empire you want to fight. The Sabines and Etruscans are just as mighty an Italic people and I like the challenge of having to subdue them first, and the Poeni in Sicily and the Greeks in Naples. The Pope is in Malta set to an income of 85 to stiffle his effects on the map. But he dies off early, and the Romans have to put down a revolt of well armed Maltese rebels (Papal loyalists) just as they are becoming powerful in Italy. All that is fun, fun, fun for a player, but for the AI the Romans might be wiped out. Bummer if your heart is set on being Attila in Germania fighting into Roman Gaul.

And let me tell you, it is a real task!

I tweaked the infantry of the barbarian/Catholic & Islamic groups, I nearly totally removed cavalry in all but a light flanker copassity to make the warfare more infantry based. The honor levels are high for the core units of all the factions so the units fight till they are burger for a long time before fleeing in fear. ;)

For the Xoing Nu warriors and their Slavic-Germanic Hun kinsmen, the battle must be won through tactical savvy and the use of ranged weaponry to soften up much more compotent melee fighters in most of the European tribes. And of course their cavalry will play a major role in any battles on open ground.

I fought through Germania before they had black shield armor, and when I hit the Aedui there was a real stalemate in taking and loosing ground. Most pleasing and unexpected. The Goths in particular are a good rival who matches direct opposites with the Hunic tribe.

All in all, the factions are well done. Huns have no navy, all the Catholic/Barbarian tribes have Longships. Muslims have Dormons, and the Latins and Greeks have Galleys. I tried to help the AI Roman empire by giving it Wargalleys that are produced in only 1 turn. But still they struggle to get established with only three western provinces.

They begin with:

Corsica: Income: 290
Sardinia: Income 350
Rome: Income: 500
Greece: Income: ??? (unchanged)
Crete: Income: 390

I got tired of the Pope's constant "don't attack blank" so I just made the Roman's Orthodox like the Greeks. It helps Rome takeover the east easier, and is sorta realistic, as the Roman faith borrowed heavily from the Greeks. The effect of making all the western tribes Catholic makes them more stable in relation to one another, so wars are brief but brutal between them, and by having so many barbarians, the player at the helm of Roman legions gets to sample minor differences in unit makeup, while loosing none of the fun aspect of the next mosterous tribe Rome must face. Belgica, Celtica, Narbo, they are alive and well in this era.

While mishmashing a few historical periods and severly missing elephants in North African affairs. I'm pretty pleased with it so far.

As I make changes I will update here from time-to-time.

Cheers! :)

[Kront the King]

Okay! lol

So I was just as unpleased by the era clashing in that mod as anyone who read this post, and I went authentic! lol

I bumped up the time to 300 A.D.

Then I made drastic revision to the factions! lol

Here are the new updates, but it was super fun fighting a Punic War & Gallic War prequel:

FN_ALMOHAD = Almoravids/FN_MAJOR/MUSLIM (Non-Historical)

FN_BYZANTINE = Eastern Romans/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_POLISH = Western Romans/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_TURKISH = Huns/FN_MAJOR/PAGAN
FN_EGYPTIAN = Alans/FN_MINOR/PAGAN
FN_BURGUNDIAN = Franks/FN_MAJOR/ORTHODOX
FN_NOVGOROD = Picts/FN_MINOR/ORTHODOX
FN_RUSSIAN = Angals/FN_MINOR/ORTHODOX
FN_HUNGARIAN = Saxons/FN_MAJOR/ORTHODOX
FN_SPANISH = Slavs/FN_MINOR/ORTHODOX
FN_ITALIAN = Geats/FN_MAJOR/ORTHODOX
FN_SWISS = Danes/FN_MAJOR/CATHOLIC
FN_GERMAN_HRE = Jutes/FN_MAJOR/ORTHODOX
FN_DANISH = Goths/FN_MAJOR/ORTHODOX
FN_ARAGONESE = Vandals/FN_MAJOR/ORTHODOX
FN_SICILIANS = Britons/FN_MINOR/CATHOLIC
FN_PAPIST = Papacy/POPE/CATHOLIC

I know, I know, 665 at least before I can really add an Islamic faction, but I hate the dullness of the Sassanid culture. It would mean a lot of junk units wouldn't get used, and so I made the Almoravids a sorta 'Super-Muslim' amalgam of Turk and Moorish units. But there are still no crusades or jihads.

Pagan factions still spread the faith with assassins.

And I added the Byzantines, but they are a pretty solidly 'twin' unit faction with the western empire.

If the player on this mod manages a few local conquests of "Papal" states in Asia they can grow wealthy by 600 and attack the Eastern Romans. I advise patient peace with that faction until then, as they tend to crush the AI Almoravids rather swiftly if you play another faction.

Huns are more challenging early, as they have to supress the Alans first. But it feels like the Attila game setting we are all waiting for now. ;)

Cheers!

[Axalon]

Ummm... You are aware that there are unit-GFX much better suited for the supposed period you seem bent on, right? See the stuff (skillfully) created for the HTW-mod, its all there or so I believe. Obviously that stuff can never be officially/publicly included in your project/mod without any proper and explicit permissions by the creator(s) - BUT - for strictly private/personal use at home, I suppose it could be done and it would work just fine with the outlined period. Or so I believe...

Just saying...

- A

[Kront the King]

Thank's for the reply. ;)

I think HTW is a VI only mod, because I looked for any mods I could download for the pre-expansion game and didn't find but a few that don't require VI. I think it might work for both, because it was started in v1.2 I think, but I'm just working on the retro crap I'm forced to suffer with.

If I had my VI disk still it would be very easy to just make the files and set the colors myself, but the 1.0-1.1 game is very limited and restrictive. I want to make it an original 'me' production, so I don't want to steal any juice from anyone. ;)

But I may try to get the files for a personal run with special changes like you suggest.

I might go buy a Gold Set just to get the VI easy mod file system up and going to my advantage, but I'm thinking I will just buy a new system and play Attila when it comes out. lol