Amazon: Total War Announcements

[Spartan198]

The download doesn't seem to be functioning.

[Mafioso]

its functioning well i just checked it

[Subrosa Florens]

i agree, your mod look awesome!

Thank you Conq.

The download doesn't seem to be functioning.

Are you downloading from the Mod Realms links? As with Mafioso, both of them (RTW and BI versions) are working for me.

[Spartan198]

It's working now, but the download wouldn't start at the time that I posted earlier.

[Subrosa Florens]

It must have been marauding Gauls.

[Subrosa Florens]

Since I have been playing them, I have been thinking about the Valkyrja and how I might make feel more distinct. Not with dramatic things like units or temples, just with a little more depth to their background.

Since they are a democracy, I am thinking of calling the leaders of the Valkyrja "Equals". The Faction Leader would be "First Among Equals". Rather like the title Princeps, that the Roman emperors used during the Principate. I could use Greek or German/Norse words for the titles, or just stick with it in plain English as it is.

I have also been thinking about the Spearwoman unit they get at 3rd tier.


I would like to give them a less generic name the simply "Spearwomen". Going with the shield design I might call them something like the Dragon Guard, or Drakonis, or Dragon's Teeth (I rather like that one, as it is a nice play on their spears). Does anyone have any other ideas?

[Killerbee]

I saw your tutorial at the modrealms , really great Subrosa !

[Subrosa Florens]

Thank you King.

You mean my hosted ATW forum right?

[Killerbee]

I meant this AAR :

http://www.modrealms.com/forums/showthread.php?t=721

[Subrosa Florens]

Oh, thank you again then!

I have the same AAR going on here at TWC though...

[Spartan198]

It must have been marauding Gauls.

*Leaves to conquer Gaul, then returns successfully with many slaves*

No, it wasn't them. They didn't have Internet.

[Subrosa Florens]

Maybe they sold the internet afterward for Roman wine?


While I think about a name for the Spearwomen, I went and renamed the internal faction name of the senate to slavs for both the BI and RTW versions of the mod. This means no more senate tab when playing the Romans. It also means I can now do emergent hordes in the BI versions if I want.

I was originally thinking of doing the Gorgons that way, and have them emerge at a predetermined date during the game. Perhaps 20 years in or so. That would give them a lot of largish cities to sack when they turned up in North Africa, and allow the other factions a chance to get situated there before facing them. So I might go ahead and do that. Of course if I do make them an emergent faction, I will create a Provincinal Campaign that would allow you to play them as normal.

[Spartan198]

When you implement SignifierOne's animations, will hoplite units be getting overhand spear animations, too? I know ATW isn't intended to be an uber-historical EB clone or anything (which is one of the reasons I like it; EB is good, but just too...GAH!...for me), but hoplites with overhand spears are a major gameplay plus for me, as it disinguishes them from being "phalangites with shorter spears".

I went and renamed the internal faction name of the senate to slavs for both the BI and RTW versions of the mod. This means no more senate tab when playing the Romans. It also means I can now do emergent hordes in the BI versions if I want.

Meaning no more CTDs if I accidentally click it.

But hopefully the Romans kept their purple SPQR coloring, though. Red Romans are way too commonplace.

[Subrosa Florens]

When you implement SignifierOne's animations, will hoplite units be getting overhand spear animations, too? I know ATW isn't intended to be an uber-historical EB clone or anything (which is one of the reasons I like it; EB is good, but just too...GAH!...for me), but hoplites with overhand spears are a major gameplay plus for me, as it disinguishes them from being "phalangites with shorter spears".

Why thank you. EB is too GAH! for me as well. I am more interested in just having fun.

I do want to get all of the hoplites using the overhand animations in the BI version. In the RTW version they do not look right with the overhand attack when in Phalanx. But in BI I will give them all Shield Wall, which I found works quite well with the overhand attack. It also distinguishes the hoplites from the phalangites very well, as one has shield wall and the other phalanx.

However, I found that Signifer One's animations have the hoplites turn their shields sideways. When you have a round shield it is no big deal. But with a figure 8 or crescent shield it looks awful. So I have been working on editing the animations to straighten that out. I am almost done. I just have a few things to clear up. If worse comes to worse I can just use the javelinman animation for the Amazon hoplites, which I am doing with the Valkyrja Spearwomen right now.

Meaning no more CTDs if I accidentally click it.

Indeed! There will also be a Roman Provincial campaign in the future, to give the Roman player a bit more of challenge, in the early game at least.

But hopefully the Romans kept their purple SPQR coloring, though. Red Romans are way too commonplace.

Yes indeed. Purple all the way. It is the imperial colour after all. I actually went with it because the Senate flags all have the Roman Eagle on them, which I think makes for a much better faction symbol for them than the Julii wreath.

[Spartan198]

In the RTW version they do not look right with the overhand attack when in Phalanx.

I would figure they'd look like overhand hoplites in BI without shield wall engaged...?

[Subrosa Florens]

The ones in the front rank do. But the ones in the rear ranks still elevate their spears at 45 degree angle. It looks very odd.

Depending on how much of a glutton for extra work I am, I could use the javelinman animation for all of the hoplites in the RTW version. But then I would have to spin around the spears of all the hoplite .cas files so they would not be backward.

[Subrosa Florens]

I have created complete map showing every territory, city, and port (click on the thumbnail to see the full version):


Basically I took map_regions.tga, blew it up, and added the names of all the territories and cities. While I was at it I changed the internal names of many cities and a few regions to match the names being displayed in-game. I also renamed Neo Themiskyra to Vanahemir.

[Subrosa Florens]

I did a little work so far today. I made farms destroyable, and since I have noticed that the cities in the Crimea are growing at insane rates, I reduced their base farming levels and removed the grain resource from Chersonesos. I also noticed that the Amazon Warband cost was far too low, and brought it up to be more in line with that of other Warbands (but slightly cheaper, as they are not quite as good).

[Subrosa Florens]

As you can see I am still working on little things in between the Valkyrja AAR. I went through the bottom and mid-tier units and raised the morale of all of them. Now your basic 1st tier infantry unit (Warband, Town Watch, etc...) will have a morale of 4. 2nd tier is usually a morale of 6, and 3rd a morale of 8. This varies slightly by unit. I even gave all Peasants a morale of 1. This ought to make the bottom end units the AI loves to spam last a little bit longer in a fight.

I also decided to rename the Valkyrja Spearwomen to Drakones (Drakon being Greek for Dragon), and updated their campaign description to shed more light on their use of the dragon as their faction symbol.

It was also at this time that the Valkyrja adopted the dragon as their symbol. To their barbarian neighbors the dragon was a monstrous beast which they all feared. However, the Amazons had always known the serpent as a symbol of women's wisdom and power. A creature of the Underworld that knows the secrets of regeneration and rebirth. They saw the northern dragon as nothing more than a new face upon their old and dearly loved serpent, and laughed at the fools who dreaded it.

I am now thinking of creating a few new Valkyrja mercenary units. The old Amazon Hoplites look kind of odd on the steppe. I might create an Axewoman merc to replace them there. Maybe a merc Amazon Horse archer too. I am also giving thought to changing the model for the Valkyrja's base archer unit to the new female Barbarian Archer.

[Subrosa Florens]

Since I have discovered that I have much more room to expand in the EDU, I have decided to create separate entries for all of the Valkyrja units. This will allow me to give them unique descriptions and give them all snow bonuses.

I have also noticed that the Valkyrja have been very difficult to play. Even for me. I know from email that other people have not been nearly as successful with them as I. So I think a little balancing in their favour might be in order.

One of the big problems I have been having in my own Valkyrja campaign is the large distances between my cities. They are really more like islands in a vast ocean, each essentially on its own. Compounded with this the capital is located far from everything else, so as you expand it quickly is too far away to be a viable troop recruitment center. Contrast this to a Carthaginian, Greek, or Amazonian campaign where their capitals and other beginning cities remain viable troop production centers for nearly the entire game.

So one thing I know I will do is move Melanchlaeni to the east and a little south, and Careote to the west and a little north. Then I will put a new province with Vanahemir in the middle of them. The old Vanahemir will remain as either a rebel settlement or a starting Valkyrja one (with a different name of course).

I am also thinking of doing things to improve their economy in general. Increasing base farming levels, the number of resources, initial populations of their regions, making their units cheaper, or somewhat more powerful, etc... I might even put a grain resource in one of their territories to push up the population growth, but I am uncertain about that.