Dragonlance: Total War

[Samurai Waki]

I've recently noticed the trend for Fantasy Mods to lean towards LOTR(Lord of the Rings) and I'd like to put out my suggestion for a completely different fantasy mod, based off of TSRs Dragonlance series(probably the best fantasy series aside from Tolkien's). The Game would last roughly 60 years starting from the Pre-War the PreWar Buildup to the War of the Lance to The beginning of the 5th Age. The Continent of Ansalon is huge and covers a wide variety of different climates which the RTW engine could present rather aptly...aside from a few marshy areas and some jungle. The biggest problems I see with the game is A.) Dragons with both the ability to fly and various types of Breath as well as magic and B.) If such a creature could be made how would it be implemented because they were a central part of the war.

The Game would have a lot of different major and minor factions which I will list.

The Dragon Empire-Essentially it would perform like the Romans there are 5 separate Wings that attempted to conquer the world via directions of the Emperor and each color of wing represented the Dragon that was ridden into battle. There would of course be a Central Area called Neraka which is the power base of the 5 seperate factions and act like Rome as a completely different faction in itself.

The 5 Different Wings are:
The Red Wing: main dragon are fire breathing red dragons absolutely monsterous compared to most other Chromatic(evil) Dragons they are extremely aggressive and think themselves superior but their maglomania tends to make them drift from the important tasks at hand.

The Blue Wing: very militarily organized which could make or break them because of their intense focus on everything militarily involved they overlook everything else that could hamper them at home. Blue Dragons are very tactically minded and breath an intense electric current.

Green Wing: Green Dragons are not the most powerful Dragons in melee and lack the awesomely destructive breath like the others do(they breath a mixture of firey chemicals that makes their enemies sear with heat and choke like tear gas) They will not stay in melee for a prolonged period but they are the best magically oriented Dragon with which they can cause enormous damage. The Green Wing is more economically oriented.

Black Wing: Black Dragons love solitude, they are a sadistic bunch that while are not so much looked down upon by other Dragon species but their lack of contact. They are tough brawlers that use their Acid Breath to great extent but lack the tenacity to fight over creatures much larger than themselves, they rarely use all but the simplest magic. The Black Wing prefer to keep their business to themselves as such they produce the finest assassins and are masters of the underworld.

White Wing: The White Dragons are perhaps the most Primal Dragons they are small, and unintelligent compared to other species...however they are fast and tough fighters that if used wisely can turn the tide of any battle as they possess a nasty Ice Breath that can freeze an opponent in their tracks. The White Wing are the least gifted of the Wings but a wise general may be able to turn the tide.

If anyone is interested further on this please reply I'd like to hear as much input as possible. Please keep in mind that the Dragon Empire represents only one faction out of many others, they are the(evil) Roman Factions of the Dragonlance series.

[smoothiemaker]

this is the best of ideas it is the worst of ideas (tale of two citys)

first dragon will act more like calvery then dragons even (though you can get they to go over water ,if you make them life sived compared to infintry they will not be avle to enter forasts for trees would block them and you cant make them fly over(i think))
seconed five factions in a unbrakeable bound bad idea
good ideas i like the book and and the game if made right would look cool
but you could have to do this
dwarfs ccontrool mountian area
elfs forest area
goodhumans kinghs one coast
plains men desert
minatars control islands
orks control area between forest and moutins
and dark human kingts controll outher coast
for mercinarys you can have dewars and the dragon people (dont remember real name)

[BassV2]

how are u going to get dragons in ?

[ChaosLord]

Ah, that sounds pretty cool, though it'd take alot of custom-skinning and trying to work out things like breath weapons and magic. Its been awhile since I read DragonLance but heres an idea for some more factions.

Elves:
Qualinesti
Silvanesti
Kagonesti

For some reason I can't seem to remember the names of the dwarven kingdoms, though I think they were divided to hill and mountain dwarves, and of course there was a gnomish kingdom. You could include a kender kingdom but it'd be kind of odd since they were just a few scattered towns and tended not to fight. For humans I can't remember any major cities, besides for Pantalantus as a major city and such, and Solanthus too I think?

Its been several years since i've read them, i'll have to dig out my books and read through again.

For unit ideas theres obviously the various types of Draconians, Knights of the Black Lily, Dragons, evil mages/priests. You could also do hireable mercs in the form of characters from the books, make them really buff and able to actually help in battle. You could also have the three schools of magic in as resources in various regions, so only they can produce White/Red/Black Robed Magi.

Thats just some stuff off the top of my head though, i've got to look through the books again for more ideas. I'm not sure if you'll be able to get alot of support for the mod though, LotR is the "in" thing at the moment despite DL being being a better series. :P As for how to do dragons, perhaps its best not to try and make them flying. Just use elephants as a base and have their wings folded in. They would be terrors on the battlefields given the right stats, and with the pre-coded bonus versus elephants you can assign to troops it'd allow you to make dragon-killer units. I'm not sure how to handle breath weapons though.

For magic units you could have them use flaming arrows by default(not sure if this is possible) to represent fireballs, and then give them something like the druid/screaming woman abilities to encourage/frighten troops. I don't think assigning effects like slowing down enemies will be possible with the engine unless the modding tools CA releases allow ALOT of control. Anyway, i'll stop rambling on. Its a great idea, I hope to see it get off its feet.

[JR-]

there is already an excellent alternative fantasy Total War, namely; Myrrdals - Wheel of Time: Total War, give him a hand if you are of a mind.

if you wish to do DL: TW then do so, i for one shall cheer you on.

[Samurai Waki]

The breath effects and magic are the least of my concerns at this moment, as CA next update will allow rendering for particle effects, but the flying units would be tough, not to mention 10 entirely different species of Dragons. The Draconians(standard foot soldier for the Dragon Empire) some certain species can fly or glide, the Baaz can glide, Kapak can Fly, Sivak can Fly, and I'll have to refer on the 4th species which can't. There are also Great Eagles and Griffons used by the Silvanesti and Qualinesti which would have to be taken into account. Archers can do enough damage to rout a Dragon, but not outright kill one, magic and other Dragons seems like the best way to kill a Dragon.

And of course my follow up on other factions:
As aforesaid the Dragon Empire would be romanesque but each Highlord wants supreme control and if Neraka is seized by one of the Dragon Empire factions than war breaks out amongst them, keep in mind that the only thing keeping the Dragon Empire together is Takhisis, if the temple of Takhisis which can only be built in Neraka is destroyed than all of the Wings are free to kill each other, if not than the faction ruling the temple would also control the other four factions.(or destroy them?)

Knights of Solamnia: These are perhaps the biggest opponent to the Dragon Empire, the Knights of the Sword, Crown, and Rose are the best in the world. However they have been looked down upon with great distrust and anger since the cataclysm almost 300 years previous to this, the Knights control the areas of Palanthus, Solanthus, Nordmaar, and Gunthar.

Seeker States: the Seeker States are located in the Peninsula of Abanasinia, militarily weak, but they have some of the finest Agricultural lands, and trade pours into the towns of Haven and Solace(another difficult area to reproduce).

Plains Barbarians: The Plains Barbarians are a confederation of tribes located in Eastern Abanasinia and south in the barren lands of Duntollick, they are looked upon as being savages but in reality are just living in a conflicted environment where sophistication is without meaning. The plains barbarians have some of the finest warriors available.

Desert Tribes: located in the deserts of East and Central Ansalon, permanent civilizations are difficult to come by. Although they have aligned themselves with the Knights of Solamnia, the Blue Wing bears down on them hard from the north, and whatever trade goes from the port town of Flotsam in the East, goes through their lands and into Dragon Empire held Sanction, the Dragon Empire will be looking to conquer these lands to secure trade.

Ergoth: The Empire of Ergoth was once the most powerful Empire in the world, but Vinas Solamnus challenged the Ergothian Empire and won. After the cataclysm the Empire of Ergoth was sunk excluding to lands, Northern and Southern Ergoth. With the exception of Daltigoth in Southern Ergoth, the rest remains in control of Qualinesti, Silvanesti, and Kagonesti Elves, as well as Ogres. The Northern Island is split in half east of the mountains is the Kender State of Hylo and to the west remains in Ergothian Control. The Ergothians are fine warriors, but are also the human equals of the Minotaurs at Maritime shipping, and since they control the Straights of Ergoth that split the north and the south, they can make a potential financial killing.

City State of Kalaman: Lingering very close to the Dragon Empire, the City state of Kalaman is a maritime port city that has existed on its own since the Cataclysm, whatever trade goes from the East and into Palanthas must go through Kalaman and so they have become significant in the World Trade market. Kalaman does not field any home grown troops, Mercenaries have always been the mainstay of this place.

Ok thats it for Human Kingdoms, we still have the Qualinesti, Silvanesti, Kagonesti, Kender, Dwarven, Minotaurian, and Centaurian Kingdoms left.

[smoothiemaker]

one thing if you make a mod with out asking the author (or who owns the licensce)of the dragaonlace you will be lawsuted

if you make the mod make it after the dragaon high lords about the time of the knights of Takhisis( this would allow you not to have to make Draconians)
and make dragons like ships except thta they cant cary solderes
and dont for get the minators

[Samurai Waki]

I'm already getting there, I'm about to consul the Director of TSR about allowing a bypass of the Dragonlance license, pretty much I'm okay as long as I include the TSR logo but I still have further work to do. As far as dragons go, they could actually be used on the battle field, I'm seeing if the Gravity modifiers would allow a creature to hover or fly, seeing as that elephants can throw units around, perhaps we could use that same effect to allow a creature to fly.

[smoothiemaker]

the problem is not the flying it the sive of the crakes btween trees dragons wont fit in to it and cant go above

[Samurai Waki]

Well the best way to find out is to ask the source, I'm going to try and see if I can get into contact with a programmer at CA.

[BassV2]

this is a very good idea but I have to remind you guys.... Are you guys going to make liek 50 new DRAGON models ?! and rewrite a part of the engine somehow?

[Samurai Waki]

Well not entirely, 10 Different Kinds of Dragons at the most...and rewriting the source code in C++ is a big no-no.

[smoothiemaker]

if i could help you i would but i am not good a at programing so good luck hope it turns out good if you need any help i can try and i have a realy geeky freind

[BassV2]

Well not entirely, 10 Different Kinds of Dragons at the most...and rewriting the source code in C++ is a big no-no.

this mod is a very big task and good luck to you and your team develooping it :D

[smoothiemaker]

i dose not have to be big. have a basic unit for each of the 10 factions and build around the basic unit (like the romes lots of units same basic constuct) (so you can make a elf and then but a spear, sord, or bow in there hand and make different units)and some faction will have the same units divernt colors to repersent the dragon they worship ( the red, wight, black, green, blue) (copper, silver, gold) then expand each of the fations to have one or two unique units, or let diferent factions have different stats for the units.

[Samurai Waki]

smoothiemaker is right, It won't start big anyway...but as soon as I find some good skinners and programmers...who can make basic models for each faction we can work off from that.

[smoothiemaker]

bigest problem will probably be dragaon becouse of there sive (they are the sive of a small privet jets) modleing and skining will be hard not to mention lag coused when they move

[smoothiemaker]

a idea i was re reading (skiming over)the books and it would be cool if you sould build a prist/pristes of min... (the healers) and this woould drasticly increas heald casulty rates

[Samurai Waki]

Yes, the Clerics both good, evil, and neutral would all be good...however, they should only have limited power...so if a unit of 120 has sustained 60 casualties or 50% than the Cleric could only heal 1/2 of the casualties so they would regain only 30 casualties and be back to a strength of 90, Each Cleric could only do this maybe once or twice, and if a unit is destroyed than there is no way that unit could be rehealed. Unless there is a way I could implement necromancers

Also mages or war wizards would be good thing as well, but mostly faction exclusive...being the Dragon Empire, Knights of Solamnia(auxiliary mages), Silvanesti, and Qualinesti. And now that the .CAS file has been found and hacked, Skinning shouldn't be a real problem. The Humanoid races will be easy to do as I have already found a believable elf model for 3dsmax which I can convert to fit in the RTW engine.
Magic will be a difficult thing to implement, besides Dragons, this will be my second biggest concern. I think that Fireball will be easy, but I also want Sleep Spell, Freezing Spells, Electric Spells, Illusional spells...a truly horrorific endeavor but if I find out how(and I am working on it) then it would be truly great. BTW I got approval from RTS to do this game.

[smoothiemaker]

i dont think you can have a single nunit with more then to attacks so there is a normal and a special (like arrows flameing arrows) for fire and frezz you can use the rocks just cange the animation of them to be fire or ice same for the dragons.

[smoothiemaker]

it would be cool if tthe prists could act as units and gain experiace and the more experiance they gained the more casulatys they can heal

[BassV2]

good point

[Samurai Waki]

Well the nice thing about 3dsmax is that I can import certain creatures I.E. Dragons off the internet and mod them to my liking...implementing them in the game could be tricky though.