Warlords: Total War ( could it be possible? )

[Nikator]

Is it possible to create a mod which would follow the life of just one man?

I think that many people would find this new twist on the RTW world
to be an exciting and interesting departure from what all RTW games
have brought ( or are yet to bring with Medieval 2 ).

So, bear with me. I'll tell you the way I imagine it,
you tell me if it's technically possible.

The game would start-off at about the same time RTW:Barbarian Invasion does. Around 400-450 AD. ( or not, whatever rocks your boat :) )

The important thing is that the player would start-off as just one man,
who has a lifespan which wouldn't last more than a few decades,
and it would be up to the player to make the most of this man's life.

To become a new Alexander, a bright shining legend, or just a soon-to-be forgotten founder of an (un)succesful dynasty.

The game ends when your character dies or gets killed in battle, or assasinated. Your resulting wealth, influence, traits/ancillaries and kingdom map would be saved and uploaded on an internet site, and compared to other warlords.

You'd begin with some money, or a regiment of loyal mercenaries, or fellow legionaires. Or as a cheftain of a small tribe.
Bribe or take-over a city, and start building your own kingdom,
or storming someone.

The entire world would consist of just 2-3 proper factions: Western and Eastern Rome, Huns and Sassanids ( all unplayable ) and several playable one-man factions from which the player could choose ( or be randomly 'born' into the role of a man, without a chance to select ).

The goal of each of these factions would be different. As a rebelled Roman General, you'd ( for example ) start-off somewhere in Gaul or Balkans or Middle-East, or as a Barbarian warlord in North/East Europe, you'd attempt to unite your kin tribes and take a piece of Roman empire for yourself.

Your army would grow by buying mercenaries ( which would be cheaper ),
you would be able to sack cities for enormous loot and then bribe other cities,
or besiege them. You should be able to recruit troops within 0 turns, but only after you convert cities to your favour ( cultures would clash, of course ).

There should also ( if possible ) be an option for you to become assimilated into the culture you're conquering. So, for example, if the character you lead
has a trait which enables adoption of foreign culture, you could have
a Barbarian Warlord who adopts Roman ways and vice versa.
( this should provide for various challenges, as each choice has its advantages and setbacks ).

But, no matter what you do, death will claim your only character after just a few decades. Game Over. In this way, skill and only skill could help you carve a large empire. Persistence doesn't help. Each turn counts.

So, please tell me, is any of this possible at all, or
is it just a pipe-dream?

[Nikator]

So, I guess nobody likes any of the ideas presented,
neither do you want to inform me of the actual possibility of
implementing any of the ideas into a modification???

[Monkwarrior]

OK, be patient mate.
You have proposed a lot of new features that it is necessary to analyze carefully.

First point: only one man (with a small army and at least one diplomat, I hope). This is possible if this faction has horde ability, and I'm not an expert in modding BI. I imagine it is possible.
In any case, I cannot see the difference between that start and starting with an empty settlement in RTW.

Second point: single man forever? It seems to me that you preclude the possibility of a marriage and that man won't have any son that continue his empire.

I don't see any strong problem, but it would be necessary to design properly the starting situation, just to prevent this one-man-faction to be crushed by one of the big empires.

[Epistolary Richard]

I presume he could get married, have children etc. just so long as the game ended when he died. I think it would be possible with a trait and a background script. Give the guy a unique trait for example, and have the script check each turn to see if a character with that trait still exists. If not, end the game.

[alpaca]

Well I like the idea very much, it would be a cool twist on R:TW.
I think most of this is actually possible, but I don't know if you'll get a team together - I'd help but I don't have time with all the stuff I'm currently doing...
But if you get that together, maybe I can aid you a little in the future, as it will require a lot of scripting.

[Lentonius]

i have often considered this, like a compilation of campaigns of famous generals...

there could be 4 campaigns,

alexander
caesar
hannibal
vercingetorix

that would be possible, but a script that would mean you have no cities and somehow your armies can replenish

[Nikator]

Thanks for the replies, I'm glad you like the idea.

I think it would be a nice challenge for players to do as
much as possible within a timeframe of a few decades.
I'm not a modder, just had this idea haunt me ever since Medieval TW came out.