Roma Surrectum - Building an Empire

**DVK901** · 09-29-2006, 20:58

I have been working on a mod for RTW v1.5 for some nine months or so, and it is nearly completed except for some additional play testing and finishing the Unit Cards (which I have been slowly re-doing to match the units represented, using the original CA cards.) The name, as the title suggests, is "Roma Surrectum"...which means "Rome Arises". It is a provincial campaign lasting from 300BC-200AD, and quite frankly...it's massive. 400+ mb as it stands, and I just can't get it any smaller.

Here are some features of this mod, which at least in some ways I have tried to make unique...addressing the wishes or wants of some I've read on this forum and TWC:

1. Four provincial campaign maps, two using Webbird's large map, and two using Mundus Magnus 3 map....each one has a united Romans, and a united Romans with Senate.
2. Numerous goodies that are pretty much expected in a mod, Skymod by Archer, Prometheus Grass, Darth's formations and Sinuhet's AI 6.5 formations, grass mods, vegetation, etc.
3. Rome's Legions....ALL of them..with the exceptions of one that never fought a battle and was disbanded, and XVII, XVIII and XIX..which were destroyed in the Battle of the Teutenberg(sp?) forest, 9AD, and had no names. All the other legions are named with their full names and titles...35 Legions in all.
4. Each of the 35 Legions has it's own Standard, with it's own historical symbol and name on that Standard (as far as is known).
5. Each Legion is placed by means of an overall AOR system 'roughly' according to the known legion camps of Rome in 80AD..with exceptions of course, for the sake of game play and common sense (in otherwords, putting three legions in Britian would be a lot of overkill for the game).
6. There are a total of 16 different models used for the legions, so there's a lot of variety...my favorites are 'Legio I Minerva' (which I used for the splash screen), and 'V Macedonica' (because the model is a black legionare with black shield, and the Legion's symbol was a Black Eagle..real kick-a looking Legion!) Each legion also has it's history in game(as far as is known).
7. There are 12 numbered 'Republican Legions'..consisting of Hastati, Principe, and Triarii Manipals..using a common 'SPQR' standard..recruitable in 20 different AOR regions, and using a total of nine different models for variety, with matching Unit-cards.
8. 12 'transitional' Republican Legion '1st Cohorts' that appear at a later time to carry the 'eagle standard', and sort of show a gradual change in the Roman military and it's legions. At this point the Hastati disappear. (Most Romans are Riczu models)
9. Added three new Roman 'units'..Roman Governor, Roman Counsul, Roman Praetor Vicarius with foot-soldier bodyguards who are the governors of cities and regional areas and territories...(freeing real Generals to fight!).
10. Two 'new' factions, using converted scipii and julii. One is Epirus, which is quite common nowadays, but the other is 'Syracuse'...which in my take on the history of the time and the area, was of more impact than Bactria. Syracuse was a major power in the Mediterranian around 375-300bc, and was in league with Epirus. Syracuse had actually invaded and sacked Carthage itself not long before this campaign begins. So I felt they were a decent and 'new' addition. Both factions are Greek, of course.
11. Egypt has been almost totally converted to it's historical 'greek' self of the time. New units, standards, etc.
12. Carthage has been heavily revamped with new units, standards, niceties.
13. Every faction has had all units reskinned..thanks to Webbird's kind permission, and most have new units, AOR systems, etc.
14. Almost all building levels can now be built by all factions, including Barbarians. So all have many new buildings, BI buildings brought over into RTW, new 'Warport' level for ships with AOR per history, and several new buildings for Romans.
15. All factions are limited...or shall I say..handicapped by an AOR system that prevents the building of more elite units outside their known area of influence. It seems to have balanced the game somewhat, and prevents lightening fast expansion by one 'super-power' that overwhelms all the others.
16. Various AOR units are available for all factions in captured areas.
17. All factions have 'reforms' of a sort tied to the Marian Reforms to change their military somewhat and make more 'time-period' common-sense type units available to them....assuming they survive to the Marian-reforms. For instance, all 'peltasts and slingers' disappear in favor of archers.
18. Many, many changes to things that would affect economy and squalor.
19. Unit strengths are very balanced, and judging by the hundreds of custom battles I've fought, almost any faction will have a chance of winning. Also, with Sinuhet's new AI configuration, every battle is a real fight, and you'll get a bloody nose no matter who you are!
20. Unit recruitment is now '0'...but I'm thinking of including a '1' turn EDU.txt as well.
21. Building costs are increased, and in some cases building times.
22. 'Rome' and 'Italy'...as far as the game sees, have been swapped with another province in Spain in the hopes that the Marian Reforms will be delayed to a more realistic time. (A tip from one of the map/AI/stuck-army threads on TWC).
23. Character movements are greatly INCREASED in this mod. The change has helped correct the issue of many AI armies getting 'stuck' or abandoned, only to have more show up in the same place, and suffer the same fate.
24. Many other tweaks, but no scripts, no 4tpy...I find them irritating and buggy. So far, I seem to have written a Mod that is as CTD-free as can be, and I like it that way.
25. The two things that have simply escaped my capabilities to change are the roman scipii and julii names...every time I do it, the attempt is a disaster! And I am not Photoshop smart enough I guess to figure out how to change the default icon interface for the factions. All other buttons, banners, symbols, etc are changed, but this simply refuses to co-operate.

I guess my question to all is this.....with MTW2 on the horizon, and so many really nice Mod's out there anyway, is there any interest in this sort of thing? I am more than willing to share the work, but I've I don't consider it a loss if no one is interested. It has been a learning experience for me, adn I have always been a fan of the archeaology and history of Rome. This game has only heightened my interest.
Also, I have already done a lot of work on two more Provincial campaigns for RTW...'Roma Surrectum - Fall of the Empire'...which will cover the BI time period of roughly 325-475AD. And another is done but needs to be re-done (because I did so much better in 300BC-200AD campaign)...called 'Roma Surrectum - Reclaiming an Empire', from 475AD-700AD and beginning with Justinian's recapture of a good portion of the old Western Empire.
In these last two, I converted the 'Senate' (text-wise) into the 'Emperor'..so 'His Imperial Majesty' gives the missions and commands instead of the Senate.

Anyway, look forward to hearing some feedback.

**spirit_of_rob** · 09-29-2006, 21:14

sounds interesting and ambitious, maybe u should show some screenies of ur new legions might help generate more interest

**Byzantine Emperor** · 09-29-2006, 21:17

Yeah, sounds good, but can we see some screenshots? A picture is worth a thousand words!

**DVK901** · 09-29-2006, 21:46

I'll work on that.....thanks.

**Incongruous** · 09-30-2006, 02:06

WOW!

That really is amzing dude good work, I really wan't to play.
As far as I can see, MTWII won't be near as fun as most of the MOD nearing completion for RTW such as EB and RTR7 and of course yours.
I really am intrigued by this idea of AOR legions. nice!

**DVK901** · 10-02-2006, 15:13

I've put some screen shots on TWC...for some reason I couldn't get into the Guild this weekend...anyway, there's a thread there also.

**william the bastard** · 10-03-2006, 18:50

Originally Posted by DVK901

I
10. Two 'new' factions, using converted scipii and julii. One is Epirus, which is quite common nowadays, but the other is 'Syracuse'...which in my take on the history of the time and the area, was of more impact than Bactria. Syracuse was a major power in the Mediterranian around 375-300bc, and was in league with Epirus. Syracuse had actually invaded and sacked Carthage itself not long before this campaign begins. So I felt they were a decent and 'new' addition. Both factions are Greek, of course.
.

Sound very interesting, especially Syracuse. Keep it up!
Syracuse will spice up the conquest of sicily.
Give them a powerful navy and very strong walls. If I am correct Syracuse was well known for their strong defences.

**UltraWar** · 10-05-2006, 20:29

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=63456

This is the link to the TWCENTER thread of this mod

Looks promising

**DVK901** · 10-18-2006, 17:00

Thank you 'UltraWar'....I get a little confused by the fact that TWC and the 'Guild' are different. Roma Surrectum is nearing completion...I have someone helping me now with factions other than Rome unit naming and info to make it a bit more historical and interesting. Taking longer than I expected...and then I gotta find somewhere to put this monster. It will appear as a 'beta' to start with.

**Thurnor** · 10-20-2006, 23:18

Roma Surrectum now has its own sub forum at the twcenter.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forum...ysprune=&f=251

**DVK901** · 11-14-2006, 20:54

Just an update on Roma Surrectum:

1. We're nearing the finish of the first round of beta testing, and a patch will be released this week. The Mod itself will be released more than likely the following week...barring some disaster.

2. A number of changes have been made to make this Mod unique, challenging, and interesting to play. First, to compliment Syracuse and Epirus as new Greek factions, two more new factions have been added:

The Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus
The Kingdom of the Attalids

Thrace and Numidia respectively have been changed into these historically interesting and notable Kingdoms, one based on the northern shores of the Black Sea and the other in Pergamum where a beautiful Greek city was built and prospered for centuries.

3. Another significant change has been made to gameplay, in additon to a global AOR system, and it involves how the Slave Faction behaves as well as 'merging' the pretty much unhistorical and insignificant 'Britons' into a global 'Free Peoples' Faction. These changes include:

a)The Slave Faction now recruits units and behaves like a real faction.
b) Spawning has been cut down as far as posible.
c) Strat Map color merges Briton and Slave regions into one.
d) Free People will attack other Free people!
e) Free People will attack you!!
f) Free People will recruit units that are region specific (by AOR), including Generals, diplomats, spies, assassins and navies.
g) Strat symbols and colors have been changed for the Free people so that now there will be 4-5 or more different banners displayed above the cities in different areas.....creating the illusion of 4-5 new factions that fight in different ways, with different units in different areas.

The overall effect of the AOR, the Free People faction and many other changes has resulted in a balanced campaign that over a 40-50 yr period (tested) is a struggle for ANY faction to gain much ground. No 'mega-empires' formed early by Egypt, Seleucid or Rome. In fact, each faction seems to survive well for a long time.

4. Some additional units, major economy and unit/building cost adjutments.
Some battle adjustments and a few fixed goofs:(