FKoC: Information, progress and To-do list

[Sol Invictus]

Looks very impressive. I am really looking forward to trying it out.

[Augustus Lucifer]

• It only has 2 factions, most people think you need 31 factions for a mod to be taken seriously.
• Both factions are English.
• There's no French faction to beat up.
• It's an unglamorous period of history that few know anything about.
• The map focuses on a tight geographic area rather than a continent.
• It's only cool to make a mod with a 'world map' these days.
• There's no green ork things, mythical beasts, 3 foot tall men with hammers or any kind of fantasy element.
• Rosters lack the variation most TW players have become used to since MED2's release.
• The short period of time means there're no real tech upgrades.
• ETW with it's "FIFTEE OHZ MYZ GODZZZ" factions is always going to draw the attention. Little do they realise that 90% of the factions and their units are going to be cloned.

I knew all of this before I even put pen to paper, let alone mouse to ms3d.

My hope all along has been that a few core ECW fans will pick it up and enjoy it, for the level of historical research that has gone in to it has been immense.

Cheers

I think all of those things are what makes this mod so fantastic, combined with your work ethic which is to say the least, exceptional. This sort of mod is my cup of tea, and I think people will find with E:TW that Total Conversion mods are going to die out in troves:

70% of the mod proposals in the "Empire Mod Proposals" won't make it past conceptual development and minor birth pang phases
15% of the mod proposals in the "Empire Mod Proposals" won't be able to produce the changes they set out to, and give up
10% of the mod proposals in the "Empire Mod Proposals won't make it through the bulk stages and will release content in an unfinished and unpolished form, if at all outside the team
5% of the mod proposals in the "Empire Mod Proposals" have a slim chance at producing a mod with the quality of RTR, SS, or BC
0.001% of the mod proposals in the "Empire Mod Proposals" have an inkling of hope to match the depth and breadth of work into EB for ETW

Now there's the vague possibility that CA will surprise us and E:TW modding will be as easy as typing this message was, but if that isn't the case, the above scenario seems quite likely.

As for why a lot of people go for big mods, it's partly due to acumen. A skinner/modeler can release a skin pack for one faction or a small focused mod, with critical acclaim, but a coder with no artistic talent can't provide the same in a small tight package, outside of released scripts, so mods started by a coder or a historian have a way of being overly ambitious and large, since the small scale stuff is unimpressive.

Cheers,
Augustus

[AlphaDelta]

the mod is awesome and u should get like a modding award

I won 2 awards for my 2d and 3d work in Broken Crescent. With mods like Rusichi pumping out insanely detailed units it's unlikely I'll win again.

And that is why I think this mod is so great. It concentrates on such and interesting and globally important events that make the UK the nation it is today. I also love its simplicity, depth and uniqueness

An excellent point. This period defined the UK for hundreds of years. As far as I'm concerned It was more important to English history than the Roman invasion, the Norman conquest and perhaps even WW2.

I'm only wondering why it is built on M2 and not on Kingdoms, as for the few but significant features that Kingdoms comes with

Two reasons. I don't own (or want to own) Kingdoms. I didn't want people to need to buy Kingdoms to play my mod.

the balance, seeing this item is first at 60% developed.

Balance is difficult to get right with one or two, or even a team of people. It'll need a lot of feedback to get it right and the only way to do that is to release the mod.

Cheers

[Anibal at portas]

great mod this,two factions is good and historical.
irish army or scotland army implicated in the war for any event?
irish,scotland or france mercenary troops in game?
historical person or generals in game,cromwell,price rupert,etc?
political,military events in game?,thanks.

[AlphaDelta]

If you take the time to read the previews you will have all your questions answered.

Cheers

[Anibal at portas]

thanks.

[Goth]

This mod looks very promising, all the work done is of an incredibly high standard. Really looking forward to downloading this but it will unfortunately be xmas before i get to play it.

Goth

[AlphaDelta]

The To-do list has been updated. Most of the scripting is now complete.

Cheers

[demostene]

OH, YES!!!

Finally, a good pike&shot warfare mod! Gorgeous! Oh, the English Civil War... How romantic a period! Hmm... Maybe not exactly romantic, but I love it for sure!
Mylords, I know I'll annoy you, I do know I shouldn't ask this, I either know you won't answer me... but... in a distant (veeery distant) future, will you think about a Thirty Years Total War? You know, is my best erotic dream...

All my worship to this mod,
D.

[AlphaDelta]

I don't know a great deal about the period, but I know that a 30 year war mod would be exponentially more work than this mod has been. Certainly the work I've done thus far would provide a good basis for expansion. To do it properlly it would need atleast 15 factions and that would involve a heck of a lot work.

Cheers

[Point Blank]

Can't wait AD

[demostene]

I don't know a great deal about the period, but I know that a 30 year war mod would be exponentially more work than this mod has been. Certainly the work I've done thus far would provide a good basis for expansion. To do it properlly it would need atleast 15 factions and that would involve a heck of a lot work.

Cheers

For sure it would be a hard work. But I think that 9 faction will be enough: House of Habsburg (Spain and Austria), Duchy of Bavaria, Electorate of Saxony, Electorate of Brandebourg, Electorate of Palatinate-Bohemian rebels, Kingdom of Danemark, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of France, United Provinces and, but not strictely needed, Kingdom of Poland. Moreover, the basic unit roosters can be the same for all the 5 German factions, maybe with differnt flag colours and different officiers... This would reduce your work greately! In general, all these armies could be quite similar (except Swedish one). Moreover, XVII century rooster don't need to be so enormous - pikemen, harquebusiers, musketeer, dragoons, cuiressiers and some artillery - no more than 10 units per rooster, I think. And far less for the Electorates, in my opinion. And concerning Poland and Sweden (the two faction which should have a more unique rooster), another XVII century mod (Dominium Maris Baltici) is working on them and their units are quite similar to yours in terms of high textures quality and historical accuracy (even if with less variety of details)!
Also the map could be quite small, focusing on Germany (with little pieces of Netherland, Switzerland and Poland at the corners). France and Sweden should be mongol/timurids hordes which strikes in determinate years... Oh, it would be great...

But now I beg yor pardon and I shut down. You're working hard on this gorgeous mod, and you also have private lifes... Asking is easy, I do know... Modding is not.
So, sorry again and thanks for your attention
D.

[corey4045]

yes thank god please do a thirty years war mod even if its units i got some pics of the soldiers so if u decide to do one i got a lot of pics plus u would get ALOT more support and help

[Sir Nicholas Altman]

AlphaDelta the man. I was wondering where were you. Well I guess your geniousity will bring us another excellent mod! Can't wait to play it!

[AlphaDelta]

demostene,

Thanks for the info, but it's not a project I have lined up.

Cheers

[Giovi]

wow great progress

[Headlock]

As a stereotypical Irishman, I have to say-

"f%&$**g well done! ye wee mad F#~**** B*£$%***, ye!

Seriously, though, this is VERY impressive work. And it came slap bang out of nowhere!
well, relatively!

I have been off these forums for a long long LONG time, but this mod is certain to drag me back!

On that note, in order to give some help:
1. - I can playtest,and would absolutely love to.
2. - I have very good experience with Photoshop CS2+, so I can definately be of use (if needed) for screens, etc. Please see this link for a loading screen i did for a Civ 4 mod; the original screen is on post 1 of that thread.


3. - I have a small smoke mod, it was incorporated into Darth Vaders M2 mod (see sig below) - it heavily increases the smoke amount, duration and distribution of musket and cannon smoke- it adds more realism (ie, the clouds hang around more, reducing visibility, and are dirtier) without make it anal, or ott. Or so i like to think!

[EDIT] - yep, just saw your post on my mod thread! So great minds think alike, eh/? Absolutely, Please Do Use it, I would be Very flattered to see my hickory dickory bit of work included in this fantabulous mod, my good sir! Etc etc etc

Anything I can do to help, basically!

Great work. And I totally agree with your deliberate, mature and considered focus on a limited theatre, timeframe, etc. Good choice of same as well!

Regards,
HDK

[AlphaDelta]

"f%&$**g well done! ye wee mad F#~**** B*£$%***, ye!

Seriously, though, this is VERY impressive work. And it came slap bang out of nowhere!

Thank you. South-east Asia is more or less nowhere so yes I agree!

1. - I can playtest,and would absolutely love to.

Everyone that downloads the mod is going to be play testing it! There won't be any testing period before release because I want to get this mod out there as quick as possible.

2. - I have very good experience with Photoshop CS2+, so I can definately be of use (if needed) for screens, etc.

Love the CIV4 loading screen. Once the mod is released I'd love to see a mini-mod that focuses on replacing the in-game screenshot loading screens with photos of re-enactors, famous paintings and portrait pictures.

If you'd like to design a new logo to feature on the main menu screen that would be great.

3. - I have a small smoke mod, it was incorporated into Darth Vaders M2 mod (see sig below)

Thank you for the permission to use this mod! It makes a huge difference to the feel of battles. There are times when you can barely see your own unit through the smoke of their pistol or musket fire.

Anything I can do to help, basically!

Other than the logo the only thing i need some help with is the text work, faction descriptions and unit descriptions

Cheers

[AlphaDelta]

Progress update..

The covenanters are now complete, implemented and scripted to spawn on the historical date. I've made new banners for the Covenanter units.

Only the new model army is left to be added and scripted, and then it's just text work and a readme away from release.

Cheers

[Father Jack]

That is excellent news indeed, well done!