Can't get the idea of this mod off my mind...

[Kaidonni]

Technically, by culture, I was referring to what I'd rename and re-logo the religions as. Sorry if I confused anyone. But thanks for the tips on the other use of culture in MTW. :)

At the moment, I'm still considering whether or not to go ahead with the mod, while working out certain features. It's the investment of time that concerns me, what with trying to get out of laziness and procrastination where my animation is concered. Of course, I could work on the mod at times when I'm not animating...

I've so far formulated the way 'Religion,' converted to 'Culture,' would work:
-There'd be 6 'Cultures' - 1) Roman, 2) Hellenic, 3) Barbarian, 4) Egyptian, 5) Eastern, and 6) Carthaginian;
-Agents and buildings (possibly will allow temples and other special buildings if they can be destroyed whenever a rival Culture takes a province) will not spread Culture - only by owning a province can it be spread;
-The Roman Culture will be converted from Catholicism so I can use the Papacy, renamed, to have some sort of reign over another faction, a playable Roman faction, in the form of Senate Missions, replacing Crusades (but working exactly the same);
-This playable Roman faction will be able to request such Senate Missions on non-Roman territory - so, for example, if you hate those pesky Carthaginians, and want to show them what's what with a nasty army, the Senate might 'endorse' a special mission to invade;
-The Islamic religion will be converted to the Barbarian Culture so the Jihad system can be used in the form of 'Horde' missions in which barbarian peoples join together against a common enemy and try to retake annexed land;
-Zeal is no longer useless under this system, so special agents will be used to increase zeal in provinces.

As for the factions...here is a possible list I've been working on (generic placeholder names only at this point), along with the culture set (R=Roman H=Hellenic B=Barbarian Eg=Egyptian Ea=Eastern C=Carthaginian):
1) Roman Senate (SPQR) R
2) Army of Rome R
3) Epirus H
4) Greek City States H
5) Kingdom of Macedonia H
6) Seleucid Empire H
7) Ptolemaic Empire Eg
8) Pontus Ea
9) Armenia Ea
10) Parthia Ea
11) Illyria B
12) Scythia/Sarmatia B
13) Galatia B
14) Tribe to represent Gaul B
15) Tribe to represent Germania B
16) Tribe to represent Brittania B
17) Tribe to represent Iberia B
18) Picts B
19) Carthage C
20) Numidia C
21) Etruria H (if they were Roman, they'd also be tied to SPQR, which I don't want)
22) Kingdom of Pergamum H
23) Rebels

The above list is along the lines of what I'd prefer...

As for time span, preferred beginning is 280BC, preferred ends would have been either 79AD (when Vesuvius erupted) or 117AD (when the Roman Empire was at it's greatest extent). However, I am considering RTW's 14AD, as I don't like the idea of too many turns. 359 or 397 just seems far too many turns. 294 is a more comfortable number. Oh, and 280AD is a preferred start date because of Pyrrhus of Epirus - gotta have him. 295BC, another preferred start date, deprives me of adding him in just the way I want him - ready to either get a butt whupping off of Rome, or to, well...not make his name in history how he did...