Mod: Rome Augmentation Pack v1.0

[Vorbis]

This is something I've been doing off and on for about a month now, it's a full gameplay mod, and it's about finished enough for me to be satisfied in calling it "done" (the only major change necessary is changing colors on the new units' textures). A full list of game changes is in the readme file, but here's a brief section of the readme file that explains it:

This mod is designed to make Rome a lot more fun. Namely, I felt that Rome was more skewed toward the action element of the game than previous games in the Total War series were. That's not a bad thing, and so to enhance this aspect, I've added several provinces that let the computer expand more aggressively and successfully as well as strategically blocking certain pathways (such as the Savia province for Macedon/Dacia battles, or the Pisidia province to keep the Seleucids from expanding too rapidly). While I'm not overly concerned with keeping the game historically accurate (*cough*Parthia*cough*), I do try to keep it within a certain degree of reasonableness. And besides, if it's historical accuracy you want there's already a very well-done mod for that. I'm more interested in having a fun, active, and unpredictable campaign, and I hope this enhances your gameplay experience.

-Adds 44 new units totalling 84 new recruits (they can be recruited by more than one faction)
-Changes the campaign map provinces to streamline gameplay and facilitate smarter AI
-Changes to the starting provinces and units to enhance playability and make the game less predictable
-Most units are recruitable in certain areas only
-Optional building upgrade structures now grant experience to low-end troops
-Fixed several traits not addressed by the Trivium (Trivium vanilla is in this already)
-Fixed the movement range on all agents and boats, so they move at different ranges
-Changed kill rate for slightly slower battles, but not excessively slower like a lot of kill rate mods have been doing
-Various battle modifications make those miracle "barely lose any men" battles very very rare
-Unit selection for most factions has been greatly fleshed out, with lots of completely unique units
-Expanded unit producing structures--most ports will produce pirates, for example
-Ranged weapons have longer distances now, making them much more useful, so the game isn't so heavy infantry oriented anymore
-A lot of other minor changes

This makes the game a lot more interesting, a lot harder, and (I hope) a lot more fun.

downloads for 1.7 are offline, pending bux fixes, please download v1.5 instead:
RMOD: http://vaticanspecialforces.org/rome...nPack_v1.5.zip
regular: http://vaticanspecialforces.org/rome...nPack_v1.5.zip

Thanks for trying it out, and I hope you enjoy it.

[Sinner]

Vorbis, spotted a typo in descr_mercenaries.txt in the Armenia pool...

unit merc horse archers, exp 0 cost 800 replenish 0.1 - 0.18 max ` initial 0

Presumably that should be max 1.

[Vorbis]

Oh, thank you, I'll get that updated.

[ChaosLord]

Hmm, all of these changes sound pretty interesting, think i'll dl it and give it a shot. It is nice to see a mod focusing purely on gameplay rather then on historical accuracy/realism only. Anyway, i'll post any comments/balance suggestions/bugs here once i'm able to play a campaign or two.

[Vorbis]

New version is out:

v1.5 changes:
-Added a new Academy building, Military Academies, and a research tree with two branches--civic and military. You can research one civic technology and one military technology for each academy of that type you have. Each technology has three levels (one for each level of the academy). It takes a variable amount of time to learn new skills, based on the current knowledge of the character and the level of the technology. If you keep a character in a city with technology, they'll learn it from the academy. Academies now also grant straight stat bonuses to all characters without having to learn it.

So bringing a character with no prior learning into a tech 3 city will get him level 1 in 2 turns, level 2 in 3 turns, and level 3 in 6 turns. You can't research higher level than what is available at the academy. You can stack bonuses, if you really want to take the time and deck your generals out, go right ahead, but you'll have to bring them to other cities if you want, say, two military bonuses.

-Changed barracks-structure upgrade icons, so they now show which one is an upgrade

-Scythia no longer begins with pagan fanatics (Gaul unit only)

-Dacian Royal Guards have been renamed to "Royal Guards" and are now buildable by Spain. They have the armor piercing trait, no shield, and their defense has been lowered to 13. Their cost has been lowered from 910 to 810.

-Removed several units from Macedon's beginning lineup, and their starting denarii to 4000

-Mercernary Scythian Horse Archers no longer crash the game in when in battle

-Fixed an error with horse archer mercernaries in Armenia

-Briton can build a second missile building at tier 3, allowing them to recruit British Noble Archers (they couldn't before)

-Increased base farming level on in Gallaecia and Hispania by 1

-Reduced base farming levels and trade resources of Parthia provinces

-Carthage now starts with an Academy

-Fixed a problem with Carthage receiving a generic tier 5 barracks upgrade icon

-Warguards are now 9 attack, 11 defense instead of 11/13. Their javelins have 15 instead of 17 attack.

-Increased Seleucid's starting units slightly (they have hoplite militia or peltasts instead of peasants)

And some screenshots, showing the homeland system from v0.4, and the new civic research options:



Regular files (backup and overwrite): http://vaticanspecialforces.org/rome...nPack_v1.5.zip
RMOD: http://vaticanspecialforces.org/rome...nPack_v1.5.zip

[Sinner]

This looks really good, cannot wait to get home from work to try it out.

[Paul Peru]

I'd love to try it out, but the vatican doesn't want to talk to me.
Is it hosted elsewhere as well?

[Vorbis]

I'm sorry, but I've unexpectedly hit my bandwidth cap for the month, if someone can host this until December 1st, I can send you the file--otherwise I'm afraid it will be down until then. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

[Vorbis]

The downloads in the first post are back up now.

[Paul Peru]

It's really nice, Vorbis!
I finally got around to trying it, and your Augmentation pack has made me eager to play again (after thinking I'd stay away until the next patch) Very nice work!

[Leif]

Hey I'm new to these boards but have a few mods.

Ok, I've been CTD every time I try to load. I think it might be related to the fact I have four mods, all in the activision folder to which RTW was installed. Here they are:

Rome - Total Realism
SPQR Realism
Rome - Total Backup (Vanilla RTW)
Rome - Total Augmentation (Your mod)

So I go into the Rome - Total Augmentation folder and run RomeTW.exe and Rome Total War with your modifications started up. But once I selected a campaign, (Julii faction) and began to load, it CTD.

What's wrong?

[Vorbis]

Hey I'm new to these boards but have a few mods.

Ok, I've been CTD every time I try to load. I think it might be related to the fact I have four mods, all in the activision folder to which RTW was installed. Here they are:

Rome - Total Realism
SPQR Realism
Rome - Total Backup (Vanilla RTW)
Rome - Total Augmentation (Your mod)

So I go into the Rome - Total Augmentation folder and run RomeTW.exe and Rome Total War with your modifications started up. But once I selected a campaign, (Julii faction) and began to load, it CTD.

What's wrong?

You were right on the money when you thought it was the previous mods.

Rome mods all overwrite existing files and not all mods overwrite the same files, so each one needs to go into its own RTW install, or use the Mod Switcher and the RMOD version of each mod (so you can install it, uninstall it, and then install another mod).

[Vorbis]

Merry Christmas, it's version 1.7. Hoo-rah.

Changes
-barrack upgrade structures now allow you to build any unit outside your homeland/domain, but you cannot upgrade their experience. So if you're playing as Carthage and you take Sparta (not homeland, not domain), you'll need to build the Circus Maximus equestrian barracks, the Circus Maximus upgrade for the barracks, and this will allow you to recruit level 0 Sacred Band Cavalry. The AI seems to do much better with this now.

-lowered health/law bonuses from government structures

-principes now have +2 morale and +1 armor

-Hastati have -1 morale

-Egypt now no longer says "All your base are belong to us" when demanding you become a protectorate. It's not funny, get over it.

-Libya is now part of Egypt's Homeland

-Flaming ballistae and scorpions are now much more accurate against infantry (half regular accuracy)

-Repeating Ballista now has the same damage rating as a normal ballista (it was far far weaker before)

-Number of men in artillery squads have been doubled, as have engines (since these didn't scale with larger units). Costs are the same.

-All chariots now have -8 to horses, so have at thee.

-Sap points are MUCH easier to destroy now

-Barbarians build forts and watchtowers for half the cost

-Superior Agent Training now adds +1 valour to general's bodyguards at level 2, and _2 valour at level 3.

-Military Supply Lines now adds 5% unrest at level 2, and 10% at level 3.

-Efficient Construction now adds -10% to trade at level 3.

-Soldier Longevity is no longer researchable.

-Shield Bearers now have 7 attack and 8 shield (instead of 15 attack and 12 shield), take 2 turns to build, and cost 430 instead of 360.

-The Senate is no longer listed in the playable faction list, since they don't work to begin with.

-Choosing "view city on battle map" no longer results in a CTD (and is even improved! play spot-the-hashishin in every city!)

-Judean Zealots take 2 turns to build, and are buildable only in Judea through the Temple of Jehova

-Jerusalem begins the game independant as a respectably well-built city (sans military structures) with an Awesome Temple of Jehova, and a pretty badass garrison

-Seleucids begin with several Shield Bearers, because they kept getting whomped on by Parthia and Armenia

-Persian Immortals no longer have armor-piercing missiles, and they cost 200 less

-Hashishin have 8 arrows that do 18 damage instead of 9 arrows of 27 damage

-Added a new building set, consisting of the Atrium at large town and Basilica at City size. The Atrium gives your governor a chance to receive the "Sane" trait and increases fertility. The Basilica does that and adds 1 morale to all troops produced in that city. Nothing earth-shattering, but they're buildable by all factions.

-Increased the fertility traits massively. This will increase the number of children born across the board, but not when they're born. Children appear to be birthed by a triggered event (cities controlled > governors), so instead of having one or two babies being born when that even happens, you'll get three or four.

-Added several triggers to try and make the late-game a bit more difficult.

-Added new Parthian unit "Priest of Zoroaster", which are essentially naptha throwers, but, you know... cooler. Built from tier 3 temples.

Regular version:
http://vaticanspecialforces.org/rome/RAP_v1.7.zip

RMOD version (installer included):
http://vaticanspecialforces.org/rome/RMOD-RAP_v1.7.zip

[IamDeD]

I have the same problem as above and reinstalled RTW and i'm still having it.
TAhis looks like a cool mod, but i cant play it!
Please Help

[Vorbis]

Is it crashing to desktop when you click on the "start campaign" button, or simply not loading?

If it's not loading, make sure you've deleted the map.rwm file in the /data/world/maps/base folder.

[IamDeD]

its crashing when i click the start campaign button

[Vorbis]

Hm, let's run down some of the more common causes:

Fully patched RTW?
No prior mods installed?
Delted map.rwm?
Selecting "Provincial Campaign" instead of "Imperial Campaign"? (I don't know why I don't just overwrite the imperial campaign...)
Mod extracted/installed to the correct folders?

[Leif]

Yeah possibly, but vanilla and all the other mods I have work. I selected Provincial campaign. The directory is:

C:/ Program Files/ activision/ (appropriate mod here)

C: = my hard drive
(appropriate mod here) = the mod

I have used the original files from RTW and placed them in the (appropriate mod here) folder. Then, I extracted all the files from the corresponding mod .zip archive and said yes to all. To play a mod, I select RomeTW.exe in the corresponding mod folder.

i heard this works. If I'm wrong, could you tell me where I can find the mod switcher?

[Come Together]

I dled the mod, and tried to start it and it crashed. i read your post about deleting the map file, and i got to the campaign map. Whenever i tried to build anything though, it crashed to the desktop. (there are no other mods installed, its fully updated, and it's installed to the correct folders.

[Vorbis]

Well I feel like an idiot. Obviouly, I changed something between my final testing phase and release (since I ran through 60 turns without crashing), but I can't for the life of me figure out what is causing that CTD (which, by the way, appears to happen randomly within the first 6 turns). So until I do figure it out, I'm going to take the v1.7 downloads off line and suggest you roll back your version of v1.5.

I'm really sorry about this, and I'm definately going to take steps to make sure this doesn't happen in the future. If you'd like links for v1.5, here you go:

RMOD: http://vaticanspecialforces.org/rome/RMOD-...onPack_v1.5.zip
regular: http://vaticanspecialforces.org/rome/RomeA...onPack_v1.5.zip

[Paul Peru]

I was planning to post about my CTD-problem with RAP 1.7, but seeing as the issue is already known, I won't bother.