http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=253976
(For M2TW:Kingdoms)
Anyone tried this yet? It sure looks yummy. :)
Quote1. The Middle-earth Map
Play on an extensive historically accurate map of Middle-earth as it was in the Third Age, including 114 settlements taken straight from Middle-earth lore and completed with several fictional locations.
Visit the wonders of Middle-earth, like the Three Towers, the Argonath or Durin's tower and see all the unique locations of Middle-earth like Minas Tirith, the Black Gate or Isengard. See the hills of Rohan, the huge forest of the Mirkwood and the dark ash of Mordor.
2. The Factions
Play with all important factions of the Third Age, including Gondor, Rohan, High and Silvan Elves, Dwarves, Eriador, Dale, Isengard, Mordor, Rhun, Harad and the Orcs of the Misty Mountains.
Every faction has its own strengths and weaknesses, benefits and disadvantages on the battle as well as the campaign map. Decide if you want to face your enemy with a small, but trained and heavily armored army or if you count on masses of units to overrun your foes.
The unit design is based on visual references of the Lord of the rings movie trilogy, completed with fictional units and artwork, all based on the lore of Middle-earth.
3. The Gameplay
The end of the Third Age is a time where good and evil wage a decisive war for the final domination of Middle-earth.
Both ways, freeing the good people of Middle earth as well as bringing the world under the shadow will not be an easy task for the player.
A new campaign and battle AI will make the player's life much harder and a unit recruitment based on a cultural level and a regional recruitment requires strategically decisions and will slow down your expansion if not properly planned.
The AI will also receive certain bonuses like extra money or additional armies if they get in serious trouble to compensate the lack of human intelligence and the lack of income through missions.
4. The Design
In order to reflect the world of Middle-earth as good as possible, there is an almost complete rework of the 2D and 3D design, including the menu, the interface, the symbols and pictures and much more.
To create an even deeper atmosphere, all cultures have a unique set of music and unit sounds and voices were completely changed for many factions.
Lastly there is a huge amount of new videos, including the intro, the faction intros and many in-game events.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg6.imageshack.us%2Fimg6%2F9582%2F0004jeg.jpg&hash=e83a6f6d3d135461d32de62e4bc0625ac0f3bcbf)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg22.imageshack.us%2Fimg22%2F3806%2F42447960.jpg&hash=f879ebed7547cf4d667edce3f032de5fea7fd365)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg524.imageshack.us%2Fimg524%2F1623%2Fologhaivssindar.jpg&hash=019b6d4dbb610072a0aa381cb171e8dcf2b3bd7d)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fscreenshot.xfire.com%2Fscreenshot%2Fnatural%2F0c0dab9c2a50b524aa27812c27b08f00404d2cc0.png&hash=a0de1d9b5df5643ead35590b1f7a9eefc02f9f73)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fscreenshot.xfire.com%2Fscreenshot%2Fnatural%2F7cf173dcaabf40f6dca400264b3368fb4623d49a.png&hash=6e9b05f75c7daceaa374c20d69652f1331f84c8a)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fscreenshot.xfire.com%2Fscreenshot%2Fnatural%2Fb410e982ec0dfbd353b6f95d86cc8ab8f0f67386.png&hash=4c29fe5df3023016da0c05df0e115fa3615e62f4)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi592.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt2%2Fcrazyryan61287%2FTA%2520total%2520war%2Fkingdoms2009-04-2618-24-18-68.jpg&hash=41279f4fae27a7c997dd2301553aeb1ef6e14a0e)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi39.tinypic.com%2F54vqtz.jpg&hash=593e644b2451bbe6f1ec0238598dd4995b283093)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi42.tinypic.com%2F29asbkm.jpg&hash=792d783ba27a6979ff5bca8a0c16edbfd4c64233)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi41.tinypic.com%2F167l9g3.jpg&hash=d5ee828d2d8ba9ce195d7530d96ed0a62c102812)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg14.imageshack.us%2Fimg14%2F6017%2F65484857.jpg&hash=fd3c99bafd6c3afa45081a193b2a7713c6d7ab10)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg402.imageshack.us%2Fimg402%2F8279%2F85199934.jpg&hash=889fe89ab603b8347424d800866657e319760a6b)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fscreenshot.xfire.com%2Fscreenshot%2Fnatural%2Fe9e443de81c26512a20e69d205425dec2272ba29.png&hash=33535eee89ae7f79557f66889ec57e0e3d484e9f)
It's time to install Kingdoms...
Magic?
Quote from: Caliga on April 27, 2009, 12:45:23 PM
Magic?
RTF - read their forums. No time for play during the week.
They have Hobbit Archers :menace:
Quotehistorically accurate map of Middle-earth as it was in the Third Age
Right.
Quote from: frunk on April 27, 2009, 01:12:42 PM
Quotehistorically accurate map of Middle-earth as it was in the Third Age
Right.
Well, there was a Forth Age mod with what you could claim was an Alt Hist map. ;)
Oh wow. :cool:
Downloaded...forums make it sound like it needs balancing work though in regards to archers... :unsure:
I'm a sucker for these kinds of mods. Bought Kingdoms just for this mod (though I had kinda wanted it for the New World scenarios anyway).
Is Kingdoms an expansion for MTW2, or MTW?
Quote from: Berkut on April 29, 2009, 09:48:46 AM
Is Kingdoms an expansion for MTW2, or MTW?
2. MTW's add on was "Viking Invasion" or something.
Mod is very well done, pretty impressed. And I don't think arrows are as overpowered as everyone cries about.
Quote from: Alcibiades on April 30, 2009, 11:33:36 AM
Mod is very well done, pretty impressed. And I don't think arrows are as overpowered as everyone cries about.
I think this game will be my weekend project, since it is supposed to rain. If the arrows are, indeed, overpowered, then I will just play as an archer-heavy power! :lol:
Quote from: grumbler on April 30, 2009, 11:35:28 AM
Quote from: Alcibiades on April 30, 2009, 11:33:36 AM
Mod is very well done, pretty impressed. And I don't think arrows are as overpowered as everyone cries about.
I think this game will be my weekend project, since it is supposed to rain. If the arrows are, indeed, overpowered, then I will just play as an archer-heavy power! :lol:
Yeah I tried a game as the Elves, the arrows are strong, but not crazy strong.
I tried it as well. Nice map!
Quote from: Alcibiades on April 28, 2009, 06:05:44 PM
Downloaded...forums make it sound like it needs balancing work though in regards to archers... :unsure:
It's just close to the source materal. Tolkien, like all good Englishmen, knew that the bow was by far the most powerful weapon that existed in the middle ages.
What about the Campaign A.I? Won't all the "good" factions attack and invade me as the hobbits?
Quote from: Viking on April 30, 2009, 10:45:28 PM
What about the Campaign A.I? Won't all the "good" factions attack and invade me as the hobbits?
Not sure, but Sauron called for an 'Invasion' in my game, they took the capital of Rohan...... :unsure:
And the orcs of the misty mountains keep harassing the hell out of Rivendell ...need to take them down heh.
Quote from: Alcibiades on May 01, 2009, 12:01:06 AM
Quote from: Viking on April 30, 2009, 10:45:28 PM
What about the Campaign A.I? Won't all the "good" factions attack and invade me as the hobbits?
Not sure, but Sauron called for an 'Invasion' in my game, they took the capital of Rohan...... :unsure:
And the orcs of the misty mountains keep harassing the hell out of Rivendell ...need to take them down heh.
ok, so you've played a few turns..
what about somebody who's been backstabbed by the hobbits?
one thing I was thinking about was that it sometimes feels wrong compared to the War of the Ring as portrayed in the book. It's too slow paced, too easy to make more armies ad infinitum. I feel that if Gondor can just keep pumping out armies, and the whole thing draws out for years at an end, the sense of a showdown between good and evil goes away, and it turns into a generic fantasy mod.
That's pretty much always going to be the case with mods of this sort, though. The whole War of the Ring was about one game-turn long!
Hopefully, someone will take this mod and create an actual "Third Age" mod out of it, with factions that include powers of the whole Third Age (like Angmar and Arnor), and not just try to mod the last year of the Third Age in a game where turns are seasons.
I can live with that abstraction. though. Otherwisee I'd be playing "War of the Ring" (or whatever it was called) in C6 emu.
Did they bother with "hero" units or ents? :P
Quote from: Fate on May 01, 2009, 09:51:05 AM
Did they bother with "hero" units or ents? :P
What is a "hero unit" in the TW sense? :huh:
Quote from: Syt on May 01, 2009, 08:25:18 AM
I can live with that abstraction. though. Otherwisee I'd be playing "War of the Ring" (or whatever it was called) in C6 emu.
Oh, I think we can all live with the abstraction, though, as Lucidor points out, it feels awkward and wrong to have Gondor raise 10,000 new troops by the time Frodo can walk from Hobbiton to Lothlorien.
I am simply saying that making a campaign game out of the Third Age of Middle Earth might be interesting, since we would be able to do/see things not covered by the main portion of the book.
Closest thing to a hero unit I've seen are those trolls....impossible to kill.
Quote from: Alcibiades on May 01, 2009, 10:46:33 AM
Closest thing to a hero unit I've seen are those trolls....impossible to kill.
Doh! :Embarrass: How could I have forgotten that any troll would be a hero to Fate?
Quote from: Viking on May 01, 2009, 12:05:48 AM
ok, so you've played a few turns..
what about somebody who's been backstabbed by the hobbits?
Eriador went to war with the elves in the game I'm playing now. I don't remember who declared.
Quote from: grumbler on May 01, 2009, 11:56:04 AM
Quote from: Alcibiades on May 01, 2009, 10:46:33 AM
Closest thing to a hero unit I've seen are those trolls....impossible to kill.
Doh! :Embarrass: How could I have forgotten that any troll would be a hero to Fate?
:lol:
I think a First Age mod would be great, as it featured more infighting amongst the "good" factions, was much longer in time frame, and more epic in scale and size of battles. No hobbits either, who would cease to be but for the Rangers patrolling their borders. Sorry, but Hobbit archers just don't inspire me as a legit army, nor do the militia rabble they might be able to call up combined with sherrifs and bounders.
Quote from: Judas Iscariot on May 01, 2009, 03:00:23 PM
I think a First Age mod would be great, as it featured more infighting amongst the "good" factions, was much longer in time frame, and more epic in scale and size of battles. No hobbits either, who would cease to be but for the Rangers patrolling their borders. Sorry, but Hobbit archers just don't inspire me as a legit army, nor do the militia rabble they might be able to call up combined with sherrifs and bounders.
That's a great idea. Angband would rock. And Sauron as the wolf-lord.
Quote from: Judas Iscariot on May 01, 2009, 03:00:23 PM
I think a First Age mod would be great, as it featured more infighting amongst the "good" factions, was much longer in time frame, and more epic in scale and size of battles. No hobbits either, who would cease to be but for the Rangers patrolling their borders. Sorry, but Hobbit archers just don't inspire me as a legit army, nor do the militia rabble they might be able to call up combined with sherrifs and bounders.
First Age would suck, as all the Nolder could do was await destruction until they suffered enough that the gods took pity on them, and,
deus ex machina, destroyed Melkor.
Second Age could work, with the player being the High Elves and holding on until Sauron revealed himself, then X turns until the Numenoreans arrived.
Best would be a campaign starting with the arrival of the Numenoreans and continuing through the Third Age to Sauron's defeat (or victory). This suits the game scale better. The Numenoreans would need a couple leaders called "settler" that would vastly increase population in Osgoliath and Anumimas to represent the exiles, but they could have short lifespans.
I have played the game for a dozen turns each as three factions (High elves, silvan elves, and Gondor), and none of them have any feel for the books. they are [insertTWhere] on a new (albeit glorious) map.
I don't think it would suck at all. The Noldor were rather competent in their seiges of Angband, and but for some bad luck and betrayals, they might have been able to actually win without the gods coming forth. It also is the setting with the most varied factions, the most overall used territory, the longest timeframe, and the least black and white morality portion. Angabnd is all that is evil yes, but the Noldor and other elves and humans fall anywhere between dark grey and white.
Quote from: grumbler on May 01, 2009, 10:07:49 AM
I am simply saying that making a campaign game out of the Third Age of Middle Earth might be interesting, since we would be able to do/see things not covered by the main portion of the book.
Not so sure about that, when would it begin?
Year 1? No Sauron, no Mordor, no Rohan (they live in Rhovanion), no Isengard, no Dale, just Arnor and Gondor, the two kingdoms in exile. As well as a shitload of Dwarves and Elves. Khazad-Dûm is still a Dwarf city. Hobbits still in lives in the Anduin vales.
861? The Splitting of Arnor into Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur.
1000? The arrival of Sauron in Dol Guldur, though very, very weak.
1300? Angmar is founded?
1409? Cardolan is overrun?
1432? The Kin-strife in Gondor?
1637? The Great plague?
1856? Wainrider wars? The Northmen of Rhovanion flees to the Anduin vales.
1974? Arthedain overun?
1981? Dwarfs abandon Khazad-Dûm?
2002? Fall of Minas Ithil?
2510? Balchoth invasion and founding of Rohan?
If you start at year 1, the forces of Evil will have to perform a miracle to even get to 3019. Heck they don't even exist, and besides doing over 3000 turns? Yikes that is one marathon game.
Personally I'd make it from 1640 on. Angmar exists, Sauron is on Dol-Guldur, but the watch on Mordor has been abandoned, kin-strife has been, Arnor is divided.
Quote from: Ape on May 02, 2009, 04:00:48 PM
Personally I'd make it from 1640 on. Angmar exists, Sauron is on Dol-Guldur, but the watch on Mordor has been abandoned, kin-strife has been, Arnor is divided.
Agreed. The game would not be interesting until the rise of Angmar. Not sure how you could handle the Dwarves discovering the Balrog, though.
The first age wouldn't feel right unless they could implement non-traditional units such as werewolves, giant spiders, giant eagles, dragons, and balrogs/other demons. Melkor's army would seem rather bland if it consisted of humanoid calvary, swordsmen, and archers.
Quote from: Fate on May 04, 2009, 09:58:19 AM
The first age wouldn't feel right unless they could implement non-traditional units such as werewolves, giant spiders, giant eagles, dragons, and balrogs/other demons. Melkor's army would seem rather bland if it consisted of humanoid calvary, swordsmen, and archers.
You mean if it was more like unmodded RTW?
Quote from: Lucidor on May 04, 2009, 11:33:56 AM
Quote from: Fate on May 04, 2009, 09:58:19 AM
The first age wouldn't feel right unless they could implement non-traditional units such as werewolves, giant spiders, giant eagles, dragons, and balrogs/other demons. Melkor's army would seem rather bland if it consisted of humanoid calvary, swordsmen, and archers.
You mean if it was more like unmodded RTW?
:lmfao:
The battle Ai still sucks. :mad:
With incredibly outnumbered forces, it is still possible to get the AI to commit bits of his force to deal with skirmishers, and then whittle him down when he is too disjointed to respond.
Not that this is completely bad, as the AI raises huge armies at will.
In my game, also, Pope Sauron took Edoras very early, and Rohan was never a factor.
How do you guys beat those damn trolls? What should I attack them with?
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on May 10, 2009, 03:13:29 PM
How do you guys beat those damn trolls? What should I attack them with?
Very, very carefully
Archers, ballistas and spearmen
Thinking of doing some modding on this mod :pinchL like reducing the Gondorian and Elven recruitment
Patch has been released:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=260637
QuoteFIXES
- white battle map interface (hotfix included)
- Dunedain Knights missing their melee weapon fixed
- wrong faction banners disabled
- missing rebels and mercenary unit cards fixed
- diplomatic text refers to wrong factions fixed
- Dale freeland archers' bows float in the air fixed
- Beorings javelins float on the air around them fixed
- snaga skirmishers weapon fixed
- new meshes for Isengard heavy Uruk-Hai units
- Breeland riders have invisible weapons fixed
- Uruk Halberdiers missing secondary weapon fixed
- Goblin Halberdiers missing secondary weapon fixed
- warg sprites added
- Troll Cage descriptions fixed
- Henneth Annun "object on battle map bug" fixed
- Horse Guard animation fixed
- rebel generals/captains with silver textures fixed
- Harad "invasion" mercenaries with silver textures fixed
- all floating cities and castles fixed
- hardly/unplayable bridge and river issues fixed
- new orcish diplomat/spy/assassin cards
- eryn dolen stuck at village fixed
- minor 2d symbols fixed
- 2hhanded orc error fixed
NEW FEATURES
- New and huge sound package (a huge thanks to Smirk )
* all medieval phrases deleted and replaced. No more sultans, gods and piety...
* all wrong voice references to the vanilla factions fixed
* new and reworked speeches for all factions and orcs
* reworked all voices for campaign map
* dwarves have own scottish accent
* New troll sounds and orcish voices for battle map
* fixed missing catapult impact sound
* and more!
New unit and battle map balance
* new animations for better unit cohesion
* missile units weakened, ammunition varied, new elven arrow type
* mumakil costs decreased, increased morale
* trolls more vulnerbale to missiles, slower, more expensive throw units into the air, availability decreased
* raised morale for all troops
* improved cavalry and charges
* improved stamina for dwarves and other units
* halberds and spear units improved
* arrow/ballista towers weakened, walls and gateways improved, more logical stats
* many other little unit stats changes
Other
* new loading bar
* several map improvements, like smoother and realistic rivers
* new event pics for the orcish factions
* northmen portraits added
* events for advanced units are earlier
* Eriador - High Elves alliance
* no more witches
* servants of Sauron slightly weakend
* Generals can get older
* More logical character traits at campaign start
* garrison script slightly nerfed
* good factions will survive longer
* new fire textures and sound for burning men and burning buildings
Included Sub-Mods
* non breakable alliances without a diplomat (Thanks to Archaon)
* smoother coastlines (Thanks to Nevada)
* improved Eldar models (Thanks to Razor)
* Germanicu5 Battle AI (Thanks to Germanicu5)
* Germanicu5 stakes script (Thanks to Germanicu5)
* Witchking model (Thanks to Devils_Advocate)
* spelling mistakes fixed (Thanks to Krazy Krook)
I tried to install this but everytime I do I get a message that says the file is broken. :(
Quote from: Razgovory on February 14, 2010, 02:04:27 PM
I tried to install this but everytime I do I get a message that says the file is broken. :(
I see the necromancer of Dol Guldur has struck.
And I gave up this mod when the AI started spamming trolls; it was already getting boring whacking a full Mordorian stack at Osgiliath every bleeding turn without having half or more of their army consist of those arrow hogs.
And nothing I've read has suggested they've fixed that.
I wanted to kill some Orcs. Mongols kinda work... but not as well.
I just looked through the scripting for this, the highlights are...
Every time the AI goes under -500 ducats they get 10,000 at the start of the turn. Which basically means the AI never runs out of money.
For certain cities, the AI will get 3,000 ducats and a good stack, if you take it and they are under 8 cities total.
So basically the AI is building at full speed, recruiting at full speed and if it loses a city, it gets a full stack and more money.
Meanwhile I'm running a 6k economy with Gondor maintaining the garrisons and two half stacks I have fighting my wars for me holding off the pirates and mordor, both of which are getting 10k extra per turn.
I've just been playing the battles.