This is the consolidated volume of all of our mod focus reports to date. Enjoy :happy (Credit goes to GauisGizmo for this volume)
Mod Focus by Titus Atius Labienus
Punic Total War
Here is an explanation from the man himself (edited and abridged by myself):
"Punic: Total War is my current pet project; to model the entire Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome. The work done is in association with the Rome: Total Realism mod and there will be cooperation and a pooling of ideas and concepts.
I believe in sharing resources, and an open, and talkative, modding community. It's the way it was done with Rome: Total Realism and it's the same way it'll be done with Punic: Total War."
"The mod intends to produce:I was fortunate enough to be able to secure some of GaiusJulius’ valuable time to have him answer a few questions for me. You can read this below.
- A entirely new campaign map restricted to the west Mediterranean, stretching from Greece to Spain which is in fact bigger than the existing map and more accurate.
- A expanded emphasis on mercenary recruiting.
- Location-specific troop recruitment.
- Small towns that were not very important during the wars won't have the ability to develop very far, not nearly like the major cities. Large cities like Roma or Carthago will have the power of being a city state.
- Protracted turn durations - more turns in a year, creating a more cinematic environment with much more scripted events and triggers.
- A emphasis on historic events and battles.
- Completely new factions from the ground up such as: Rome, Carthage, Samnium, Aechaen League, Epirus, Macedon, Massyli, Massaesyli, Helvetii-Boii, Bituriges, Arvernii, Syracuse Confederation (open to name change) Spartan Confederation (open to name change) And three, as of yet, undetermined Iberian factions."
Interview:
Question 1:
I’m sure we are all looking forward to this mod, and I know far better than to ask for a release date for it but could we be given some sort of indication as to progress so far? Has the new map been completed, and how many of the intended new units been finished for example.
Answer 1:
The new map is completely finished as far as terrain and province placement goes. Resources, city building levels, base farm levels, and garrisons still have to be added, but these can be done over time, and as historically as possible for the time period. Actually, now that I think about it, I shouldn't say the terrain is 'completely' finished.
I'll be adjusting the terrain over the whole course of the project to get the topography as accurate as possible.
As for the units, we have a number of those 'finished.' there will work going on all of them up until release. There is a large, Large list of new units to be made in the Punic: Total War forum.
Question 2:
How are you intending to revamp naval combat to emphasise its role?
Answer 2:
That's a tough question. I'm still in the basic planning stages, and have a number of pages of scribbled notes.
At the very basic level, new ships will be added, so-called 'barbarian' nations will not be able to become as advanced as say, Rome or Carthage, in naval warfare or naval trade, some cities will be able to build larger fleets than others, and there will be mercenary fleets for hire in specific areas.
We've also considered the idea of a complex 'policy' concept, where you can adopt one of three policies that affect your roll as a world power on the sea. For a very basic rundown, if you played Rome, before being able to build a Port, the Senate would have to 'adopt' one of the following: The 'Sea trade' Policy, the 'Coastal Defence' policy, and the 'Fleet Warfare' policy. If you chose the 'Sea Trade' policy, that city would be unable to build advanced warships, and would instead have a path opened up to it to build and purchase upgrades to your sea trade from that port. You would be able to construct very basic ships for troop transport, and possibly recruit expensive mercenary fleets, but that's it.
On the other hand, if the Senate adopted the aggressive 'Fleet Warfare' policy, you would LOSE those sea trade bonuses and upgrades, and instead that specific port would concentrate on building large fleets of powerful ships to control the sea.
Of course, all of these ideas are still in their infancy, and there are MANY other ones to consider. Suffice to say, naval combat will be made more interesting by the time of release, with a greater emphasis on role-playing.
Question 3:
Will your mercenary system and location specific recruiting function in the same way as Rome Total Realism’s ZoR, or more recently ZoR+? If not, what differences will there be?
Answer 3:
No, the mercenary recruiting aspect will differ marginally. There will be more involvement than simply moving to a province and clicking a button; more character interaction.
As for location specific recruiting, I'll give an example for one.
Cavalry.
We've all been through the debates, with those who believe Cavalry is too powerful, and those who believe it's fine the way it is. I believe both sides are right.
Weakening cavalry by lowering their offence isn't the key, as they WERE that powerful a force. They were just simply not as common as they are in the game. To get to my point, one of the ways in combating this is to make a specific 'horse' resource, where you can only recruit cavalry in these regions. Plains, areas where cavalry existed in history, etc. No more recruiting cavalry in the mountains. This is already up and running.
Question 4:
Really two questions in one, but as you are using Myrddraal’s “More than Two Turns a Year” mod (This is an assumption on my part), will you be devising something better than the Show Me How activation? Will the Four seasons you include be influenced by weather variables respective to each season?
Answer 4:
Myrddraal's four turns in one year script is fantastic. It really is. The only difficulty with it, as you mentioned, you have to activate it manually each time you load a game. I can't say much, because I'm honestly not that experienced in scripting and programming, but we're looking into some way to have an outside program run the script for you.
Question 5:
How are you going to cap settlement development, and will this affect the recruitment options for these smaller ones, in contrast to the major cities?
Answer 5:
These are awfully specific question. ;-)
There are a number of ways to 'cap' the development of certain settlements. We're still searching for the best one. The general idea is to not allow a backwater to become a Rome, BUT to keep open the possibility of the 'What if...?' scenario.
And, yes, it will affect the recruitment options for smaller settlements, in contrast to the major cities. This will also be evident in their navy, as well as their army.
Question 6:
Could we have a sneak peek of a few examples of the new historical events being included? Triumphs perhaps?
Answer 6:
'Fraid not. ;-)
We're not to the point yet where we're working on those, although the time will come soon.
Question 7:
Will a range of new historical battles (outside of the campaign itself) be included within this mod?
Answer 7:
It's possible, although we're only concentrating on making the campaign as great as it can be right at the moment.
Question 8:
Could we possible see the new campaign map or its current progress? I’m sure there will be demand to see how exactly your new factions and the map will pan out.
Answer 8:
Of course. I've attached two screenshots of it. The first is Greece, and the second is a part of Rome. We've included historical sites, such as Cannae, for novelties sake. While some of these, Cannae for example, weren't really major towns, but we thought it'd be nice to allow the player to plan attacks and maneuvers around these famous sites.
Question 9:
The use of historical figures as generals within the mod will add realism, but will you be working on the Traits and VnVs in the mod, perhaps tweaking them to a different scenario, and the 4 turns a year, as I’m sure no one wants to see generals winning 4 battles a year and becoming virtual gods. Or am I wrong here?
Answer 9:
Of course. We're using TTO's 'Cherry Vanilla Pack' as a base, but we'll be modifying those for interesting new traits tailored to the scenario.
Obviously, nobody wants to fight 4 battles a year and we'll be balancing this issue out. With 4 turns a year, representing 3 months a turn, we can more accurately replicate unit build times, along with building construction times. Also, because of the size of the map, we'll be adjusting the movement points for units, so '4 battles a year' won't be a problem by the end of it.
Question 10:
Are you going to be releasing beta versions as with Rome Total Realism or will you only test internally or using the TWC Beta Test Team until you feel that you have a finished product for the community?
Answer 10:
The plan is to release a 'Vanilla: Punic Wars' once the campaign map is finished completely, with garrisons, resources, etc. This will be completely bare bones, that can be played with the vanilla (or regular) game. This means you can play on the Punic Wars map, with the new factions, and install ANY other mod you'd like, to customize it to your own desire. Then, once it's finished, we'll be releasing the actual 'Punic: Total War' mod, with ALL of our new features, units, and gameplay dynamics.
I believe in open-source, and not 'exclusive' content for a mod. We're not in competition here, and by making it available to others, we can only help the community.
Thanks for your time GaiusJulius.
Mod Focus by dimitricus
Europa Barbarorum
Hello and thank you for taking the time for this interview.
It is my pleasure to be here!
Question 1
Now im sure that much of the community is already aware of the project but for
those who aren't, what is Europa Barbarorum?
Answer 1
Europa Barbarorum is a modification for Rome: Total War that aims to make the game more fun, challenging, interesting, and historically accurate. The modification is huge in scope; so large that almost every single data file will be affected. The imperial campaign is being remade from the ground up, within the limitations of the RTW game mechanics. Our team has been working on conceptualizing the mod for over a year, and we are almost ready for our first public appearance, the recently announced EB open beta test.
Question 2
And what is your position in the team creating this mod?
Answer 2
Europa Barbarorum is a community mod, in that we are a group of modders who all have an equal say in the creative decisions around the mod. I am one of two project "managers." Along with Aymar de Bois Mauri, I take care of organizational and project management issues; I also serve as the head public relations person for the team.
Question 3
Why did you decide to start work on this? what was your inspiration if you like?
Answer 3
The EB team was first energized by some early previews of RTW. All of us have a desire to play a realistic, historically accurate RTW campaign, and some of the early depictions of "barbarian" factions were especially depressing for the creators of EB. In January of 2004, several of our first members got together to gather research and information to assist Creative Assembly in making the "barbarian" factions of RTW more realistic. Eventually the team realized that in order to see them made well, we had to do it ourselves. Eventually the scope of the project expanded to be remaking all factions, and then creating a "total conversion." We decided that if we were going to do this, there was no reason to do it half-way.
Question 4
What do you think about other realism projects, such as Rome: Total Realism, or SPQR for
instance. Have you ever considered them rivals?
Answer 4
The Europa Barbarorum actively participates in the modding community as a whole, and supports all modders in their efforts to bring RTW modifications to life. To date, we have not come across another modification that shares our exact objectives.
Question 5
Are you incorporating any parts of these other projects, such as the RTR ZoR idea?
Answer 5
The only modification that EB currently includes is the Trivium's Cherry Vanilla Pack. However, we have a team working on traits and ancillaries for EB, including .Spartan and Raven, so even the CVP may become obsolete for us in the future. EB's recruitment system is home-grown, based in part on the MedMod concept of "homelands," and on a desire to make unit recruitment more historical in general. (Several EB members took part in Wes' MedMod effort)
Question 6
I know alot of people have been hassling you for release dates, and it would be foolish to
expect one with such an impressive workload, but how is the progress going so far?
Answer 6
Quite well. We have recently overcome several major obstacles that had threatened to throw the project off track. Progress is accelerating as we implement more and more of our conceptual ideas.
Question 7
Do you ever see a possibility for this being one of those projects that just seems to get
lost and forgotten?
Answer 7
There is always a danger that projects made up of project teams who aren't getting paid to do work will falter. However, the community response to the EB project has been so overwhelming that we have had to all but completely lock membership due to growing pains. We are too far along in our development cycle to disappear now. I guarantee that the community will in fact see a public version of EB.
Question 8
Is it possible for a preview of something that the public hasn't seen yet? a secret unit
or a part of the map for instance?
Answer 8
I can show you a preview of something we have not yet touched upon in our weekly news releases. As you know, we are completely remaking the entire campaign. While we have shown numerous screenshots of new units, faction icons, a preview of our new map, we have not yet shown some of the strategic level graphics improvements we are working on. Here you see a work in progress by Alin, a new way to display sieges:
note: this does not represent the map layout, just the way sieges are now shown
Question 9
Your integration with the voice mod team is interesting. what impact do you think this will
have on Europa Barbarorum? and what about other mods in the future?
Answer 9
This union has been mutually beneficial. Europa Barbarorum has benefitted from the wealth of knowledge the Voicemod team members bring, as well as the work they had already completed on the Voicemod. The Voicemod has received invaluable help from EB team members, with knowledge of ancient languages the Voicemod may well have never found elsewhere. The community as a whole will benefit from this union through a more immersive game experience.
I thank you very much on the behalf of the community for taking part in this interview but
i must let you go now, as i'm sure you have much work to do.
Dimitricus, it has been a pleasure. Take care!
The Mod has its own forum containing information, screenshots and lots of information about the mod. it can be found here.
Mod Focus by GaiusGizmo
The Hun Invasion
Here is a description of the mod by Horsearcher
"Once i wanted to create a full blown 'hun invasion' mod, back in November. I was barely skilled of modifiying skins and such, so i started off by changing simple things as the shield design, color and flag. I was just testing my skills and I was basicly still gathering information about the game, what is moddable what is not; What is possible with the RTW engine and what is not. Then as i learned more and more, i started to edit other aspects of the game. Soon we received the infamous 1.2 patch and i started to play the vanilla RTW, pretty much deserting the whole HI project. Then i learned some skills as i was still not satisfied with the game, and i started to edit more skins and the hun invasion mod was resurrected from about 10 skins i found on my hard drive. I started to edit more and more, plus i learned to edit other things, such as inserting new fixes (the horsearcher fix), editing the strategy etc. By the end, i realized, that i cannot make new models, neither have time or have experience creating a "realistic mod" with strategy map and units. It would have also required to change all the factions and edit basicly everything since we are talking 600 years ahead of the regular RTW timeline."
Here is an interview with Horsearcher about his new mod
Interview
Question 1:
What will the new Huns be like to play as (easy, hard)?
The huns (scythians) are hard to play on the beginning, but they get very easy as you gain your new units and upgrade your army. The major problem is the financial status, because of the location of the tribes (scythia). I tried to force the player to use their armies efficently, so he/she would use the same army most of the time and try to save the troops instead of building new ones all the time.
There are also a few suprises in the game, some other new units scattered around, which weren't available in vanilla RTW
Question 2:
What will it be like for other factions in this mod, especially those whom are close to the Huns?
The dacians are allies and stay allies most of the time, unless you invade them. Early in the game, I should rather stay low profile, since not many units available until later and the dacians have superior units early on.
The parthians will try to attack from the east, but after a few turns they can be forced to be either neutral or alliance. The major threat is the Pontus and the Thracians, since both faction like to betray you (if you allied) and since Thracia is right next to the hun tribal center (old scythian capital), they might attempt to invade early on. It is advised to crush them first before they grow too powerful.
If you play as Rome it feels like vanilla, with the exception that you can't attack the Senate right away as some people did, they have a large-stone wall now in place.
If you play Carthage, you have a larger army to start with with a bigger fleet available and also Carthago is a large city with the capability of producing some very good units.
If you play any eastern factions, your job is a little easier to manage, since you got more money from the start.
Playing as the Selecuids is not as challenging anymore, (more money) so Egypt shouldnt be a big threat as they were in vanilla.
Playing the Greeks is also eased-up since they have big stone walls in the beginning and the only problem that might come is that the enemy (rome, macedon) also have big stone walls
so the player is forced to have siege equipment and the gate-ramming is just won't cut it.
Question 3:
Will this mod use Myrddraal's 4 turns per year mod, or have you come up with a better solution for it?
This isn't as a heavy mod as RTR or SPQR, so i didn't intend to change too many aspects of the game, other than skins and stats. So my mod is uses the regular 2 turns a year a la vanilla RTW.
Question 4:
Will any other factions be added/changed, if so, what are they?
The romans are modified both, visually and by unit stats. As scythia is far away at the beginning, by the time the player reaches the border of a Roman state, they will be harder to conquer than usual. (as playing the huns)
All romans have new skins, some new units, such as the Sagittari, a roman horse archer, an update for the javelin cavalry after marian reforms.
Samnite warriors are reqruitatble by all roman factions they are the basic spearmen for the romans until the triarii arrives (imperial palace)
Also, just of fun, i made a new carthaginian general for carthage, he looks sort of like Hannibal Barca on both - strategy map and the battle map.
Townwatch upgrades after marian reforms to "town guard". A littlebit heavier armored and a bit better than the townwatch, but not much.
Also another bonus, All factions has their own faction specific walls (visual) since i activated the 'de-activated' walls in vanilla, so egyptian wall looks egyptian and eastern wall looks eastern.
Question 5:
We all know this mod is already out, but what new features do you intend on adding in the next version?
I'm not sure that there will be another version, but that can change. As an update, i would change more factions, but pretty much keep the simple "light- mod " status of this mod.
Question 6:
Will any historical figures be added, such as the infamous Attila the Hun?
Well, no sorry. It is possible though, to create a custom historical battle with possibly a famous hun/roman battle and Attila to appear. I'll might make a downloadable custom battle.
Question 7:
Can we see some screenshots of the new Hun faction?
as you wish:
roman skins:
This gives a basic summary of the Hun Invasion mod made by Horsearcher. I downloaded this mod and I think it is great! :grin Horsearcher's skins are of great perfection, one of the many things I like about the mod.
If you want to see the main page for Horsearcher's mod, go to Horsearcher's website
Mod Focus by General_Sun
Fourth Age: Total War
Today I finally managed to get Professor420 to sit down for a interview. Professor420 is the Co-Art Director for the Fourth Age: Total War mod team for Rome: Total War.
The following is an edited version of the interview done over twcenter’s IRC.
<General_Sun> Hey
<Professor> Hiya
<General_Sun> So, what exactly is it that you do as Art Director?
<Professor> What do I do? I oversee all the graphic work that is being done and make sure it is of a high quality, makes sense design-wise, is coherent with the rest of the faction, all of which require multiple critiques (though I'd rather be the one critiquing than having to revise), amongst a variety of other administrative duties. This is in addition to the actual graphical work I do, including building models, fixing models, and other odds and ends (web design, painting, video editing, etc.).
<General_Sun> Oh cool, it sounds like you're a very versatile person!
<Professor> Yes, a jack of all trades, which is why I'm art director I guess.
<General_Sun> What are the Fourth Age’s gameplay goals, how will the gameplay differ from those of RTW?
<Professor> FATW isn't out to revolutionize RTW gameplay. But we are taking advantage of the work done by those in the mod community, including new animations, night battles, scaled skeletons, customized cities, etc...
<General_Sun> So FATW won't be only including original work, it will also contain mishmash of custom community material?
<Professor> But the diversity of factions, and complete replacement of everything RTW, will make it an entirely unique experience.
<General_Sun> That is the best of both worlds by the looks of it, the best that the community has to offer, and the unique experience of a Fourth Age mod.
<General_Sun> Are you taking inspiration from all the other mods that came out, such as SPQR’s 0 recruitment time and RTR’s zone of recruitment?
<Professor> The fact that I don’t' know what either of those are indicates that I don't have time get outside of the SCC modification forums, and no, we're not taking inspiration from them.
<General_Sun> Lol ok
<General_Sun> Will the FATW be released all together in one big package or will it go with betas and gameplay previews?
<Professor> We are planning a demo release, an historical battle, the Fords of the Isen, which should be out in a month or so. There are some scripting problems which are delaying its release, but we're all working hard on it... After that though, there will probably be no open beta's or previews (perhaps another historical battle) until our final release, expected at the very end of the summer/mid-fall.
<General_Sun> Wow that's very soon!
<Professor> Progress is coming along very nicely now that summer has begun. We've already seen an influx of new talent.
<General_Sun> We all know that FATW will be using a custom storyline based on LOTR. Any clues on what they will be about?
<Professor> I'm really not at liberty to discuss the story. But it is based on Tolkien's unfinished "The New Shadow," which talks about the reappearance of a dark cult within the lands of the Reunited Kingdom. Outside of that, though, my lips are sealed.
<General_Sun> What is the approximate difficulty of the mod? Easy hard?
<Professor> Well, I don't really have a mind on that matter, I'll trust the Programming team and play testers on that one. It should be more balanced than RTW though, and each faction will have distinct playing styles.
<General_Sun> How many factions are you planning and will all of them be designed to be playable?
<Professor> We are using all the available factions except the Senate. Not all will be playable, but the unplayable ones will be quite unique and important to the Middle-earth experience, such as Hobbits, Bardings, Woodsmen, etc.
<General_Sun> How do you plan to deal with the major debatable faults of RTW, examples such as the rebel pop-ups, squalor, etc?
<Professor> We will be working on whatever we can through text files, and correcting any problems (such as squalor) with the addition and tweaking of buildings and whatnot. But for things that are have been erringly hardcoded (AI, for example), we're relying on specialized teams within the mod community, like everyone else is.
<General_Sun> Will you be including general fixes like the 1.2.6/7 FIX PACK & MOD by Borsook and the CVP by the Trivium?
<Professor> No idea, but I suspect if we need them, we will. No decisions have been made as of yet.
<General_Sun> Will you be converting the mod over to be compatible with the expansion pack after its release? And how long do you think that will take you?
<Professor> Since I can barely edit the text files, I can't really say for sure. We'll have to see what new features the expansion pack provides (fixing many of the RTW problems, new features, etc), and if converting the mod is worthwhile, I am sure we'll convert it.
<General_Sun> In a few sentences, how would you describe FATW?
<Professor> An extraordinary graphical and historical exploration of JRR Tolkien's little-discussed Fourth Age on the greatest RTS engine to date.
<General_Sun> What are some tips you would give to newbie modders?
<Professor> There is a tremendous amount of skill involved in graphical modifications. It takes a long time and hard work to make production quality textures. Make sure your models are efficient and clean. Learn all you can from tutorials. Practice, but practice well. Don't just fool around not knowing what you're doing, pressing this button and that. Find yourself some guidance and direction.
<General_Sun> Thanks a ton Professor, do you have anything else you want to say?
<Professor> I would like to say thanks to the hardworking members of my amazing team, and the rest of the RTW mod community, which has done a terrific job in overcoming the lack of tools CA has provided us. Also, www.thefourthage.net will be up shortly, you can follow our progress there.
<General_Sun> Well thank you very much, you can always reach me on msn if you have anything to add.
For general information about the mod, you can find it in the team’s Official FAQ.
And here are the links to the Fortnightly Updates!
Mod Focus by Centurion Quintus
Age Of Hellas
The following is interview conducted with Laridus from the AOH team by Centurion Quintus. CQ's text/questions are showin red, whilst Laridus' responses/comments are in default grey - Carousel, Managing Director
Hello, and thanks again for giving some of your time for this interview.
You, and the RTW community are welcome. It is my pleasure.
Most people already know, but what is the Age of Hellas mod?
Age of Hellas is a mod for RTW, set in Greece around the dates of 510BC and 431BC. This is roughly the period of the Persian Wars, including the famous battle of Thermopylae.
What unique, or origional features, or implimentations will Age of Hellas offer the player?
It will offer a completely new campaign map, covering Greece and the Aegean world in great detail; it will feature hoplite warfare in as historically correct a manner as is possible with the RTW engine; and will hopefully include limitations on campaigning in the winter, specifically halting army movement.
I know it was discussed amongst the AoH team, but what plans do you have surrounding the issue of phalanx on phalanx warfare, and how do you plan to remedy it's lathargic pace?
We do not have a final plan to fix the pace of phalanx warfare; this is currently being discussed, and will be discussed more seriously later in mod development. SignifierOne's or similar hoplite animations will likely be imployed for the visual effect of phalanx warfare. Essentially, I do not know how phalanx warfare will be 'sped up', as it has not been thoroughly discussed, or decided.
The mod is currently open to suggestions on this issue.
Could you possibly shed some light on your position, job, or affiliation to AoH?
My original, and main position in AoH is as the creator of the campaign map. Recently, I have been the acting team leader, as the mod's creator and leader, Curtis13, was offline due to internet problems.
Do you plan to impliment any "turn-per-year" increase or decrease?
The current plan is to implement eight turns per year. I do not know how this number was chosen. The high value is due to the increased size of the map, which makes it necessary for armies to be able to travel farther across the map in one 'year' of game time.
What about the use of historical events during this period, and how do you plan to incorporate them into AoH?
This has not been discussed by the team. Several important military events are planned to be incorporated as historical battles. The current list for inclusion is: Marathon, Thermopylae, Plataea, Mantinea
And for our last question, is there any ballpark for a release date, or beta?
There is no known estimated date for a release.
Well thank you again for your time, the community, and myself are most appreciative.
Of course, my pleasure.
Thanks to Laridus for this interview.
-Cent
Mod focus by teecee
SPQR
Hey guys and gals, today we have a treat for you. We have a very comprehensive interview with lt1956 of SPQR mod infamy. The interview was conducted by our very own teecee, so all credit due to him please and enjoy.
NOTE: teecee's text is in red, and lt1956's text is in default grey.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LT1956, let me thank you for taking time out of your schedule for this interview. I know that there are folks that are interested in modding in general and the SPQR mod in particular and as one of them, I can tell you that we are appreciative of your time and effort.
1. What were some of the first strategy wargames that you played?
“ Hmm, My first strategy games were castle, castles2, Lords of the Realm 1& 2, Conqueror 1086AD. That’s when I had a Packard Bell 33Mhz SX (no math coprocessor) 4Mb of onboard Ram SIMM and a Trident 256k VGA video card. Lol. Later I upgraded to 8mb and 66mhz MX (with math coprocessor) to use win95 to play Lords 2, etc. Before that I had a Commodore 64k. But there were No real strategy games at that time.”
2. Would you describe yourself as a wargamer or more of a history buff?
“ I would say a little of Both, But leaning more toward a Wargamer than History buff, as you can see with SPQR. lol Over all I feel historical accuracy is Important, but not to the point of hurting gameplay. Gameplay is the key for me, not graphics or complete historical names and places. So many games have great historical accuracy or Graphics, but lack gameplay. Castles2 is a great example of Gameplay when games didn’t have bugs or graphics, but still were fun.”
3. Is SPQR, in it’s various incarnations, your first venture into game modding?
“No, actually I have modded several games including some for Legion, Chariots of War, Terminator3: War of the Machines, Stronghold Crusader, Carnivores: Ice Age and a few other that I cannot recall. SPQR is the Largest Mod I have done yet, and one of the most fun projects I have done.”
4. How large is the team that worked on SPQR?
“Well the Team consists of myself as Coder for the game, Alcibiades of Athens, Vrabac, Trigger for Graphics and Models, Linedog is the Mapmaker and Andymate is the Lead Beta tester. They are all great guys and we all think alike when it comes to gameplay, if it wasn’t for them SPQR would never look as nice or play as well as it does now”
5. Could you tell us roughly how many man-hours of work went into the making of SPQR?
“Honestly, No I can’t, but it’s in the few Hundreds for sure, if not more. I was concentrating fully in my spare time to get Rome Total War where I wanted to be, when I first played it out of the box.”
6. What was the most difficult aspect of making SPQR?
“Balancing the Units in game, making the most realistic and longest battles I could, and making sure everything worked like Rock, Paper, Scissors. The Key to SPQR for me was making a Mixed Army necessary and removing the horribly fast battles, I was afraid to blink, as the battle would be over. lol”
7. What was your overall intent, your focus when you started working on SPQR?
“Making Rome Total War the way I wanted it to be out of the box and wasn’t. I then started to notice others liking my ideas, so I thought why not share with others? There was no Ego or delusions of Glory with SPQR, it’s truly a Fan mod for everyone who like its style of play. I believed I achieved my goal of making the game more fun for myself and others, and that was my intent from the start.”
8. Will there be further versions of SPQR for RTW?
“Well I will be working on SPQR: The Late Republic, which will allow the player a new feel to the game like an expansion, which will include later period units to start with. It will also include a new map with more Roman Provinces to be protected and a more advanced enemy with better units to start with. Basically this version is to add a little different flavor to SPQR, more of an expansion than a new mod.”
9. Will you be updating SPQR when the Barbarian Invasion expansion is released?
“Hmm, this is a tough Question, it really depends on CA. While I am not part of the boycott, I am seriously disappointed with some missing features in RTW. If the expansion doesn’t really add much to the game, then the chances of an updated version for the Xpack are slim. But then again you never know?”
10. If so, could you favor us with some of your early ideas?
“ If I do, it will not only be the original SPQR but likely a Late Empire mod to take advantage of some of the Barbarian units. Main thing is to keep SPQR updated and improved to make the game better.”
11. Do you prefer the time period covered by the impending expansion or the time period of RTW? Why?
“Actually, No. I prefer the Middle period during the late Republic and early Empire. My reason for this is because that period of time had some of the best battles and leaders in history, and was the PAX Romana. There was Caesar, Mark Anthony, Agrippa, Cato, Sulla, Pompey, Augustus and many more great leaders and characters. I would have to say 65bc-70AD would be my favorite time period for the game.”
12. What is your favorite historical time period from a wargaming perspective?
“It would be Medieval, Rome, Napoleonic, Zulu wars in that order.”
13. Where do you stand on gameplay versus realism in wargames?
“Gameplay comes first. Realism is there to support gameplay. I would rather read a good book about history, than try to recreate an exact historical game, which can never exist. I feel realism gone too far hurts gameplay.”
14. In SPQR, Thrace, Numidia and Spain are all eliminated immediately. Why did you feel that this was necessary?
“Yes, I do. My reasons were that of Gameplay, I found that removing these factions allowed certain nations to be more productive and harder for the player to conquer. There were also some Historical reasons, as all three of those powers were more of a rebel origin, than an actually fighting nation. They stayed in their borders and that can only be duplicated in the game with the rebel faction.”
15. Stone Walls is the best upgrade for every faction except the Senate. Could you elaborate on this?
“Stone walls only, were for gameplay reasons. CA didn’t make any ladders for the larger walls and the AI isn’t the best siege engineer in the game. lol Also historically not every city had epic and large stone walls in the game. Since I cannot control what the AI builds, the best way was to remove the 2 largest walls. I left the Epic walls for the Senate because Rome was known later for its Large walls, and for gameplay reasons, this makes Rome harder to conquer. As you see the reoccurring theme is gameplay”
16. In SPQR, the Urban Cohort is available before the Marian Reforms. Why was this decision made?
“Hmm, that was an oversight, it should have had Marian reforms mentioned. What happen is before the patch 1.2 we didn’t have to worry about this, as building the Palace was enough to trigger Marian Reforms. But now we have specific requirement to trigger the reforms, and thereby allows this oversight to be seen if the reforms don’t take place right way. This will most likely be fixed if there is another update. As of now it wasn’t worth releasing a patch for a small oversight. What can I say, I am human. lol”
17. I’ve noticed that the Urban Cohort only has an attack value of 7. Why so weak on the offensive?
“Yes, I did this for gameplay and historical reasons. For one thing Urban cohorts were nothing but policemen really and were not used much, if at all in the field. This means that CA made a mythical unit based off a historical unit. What I did is return the Urban Cohort to its rightful place as an upgraded Town watch. The weak attack is because they are good only for town defense and not for field use.”
18. Playing as a Roman faction, there is only one type of temple available, the Jupiter series of temples and upgrades. Why put a limit on this aspect of the game?
“This was done again for gameplay, what I found is the differences in the Temples were slim to any, and since I removed the Growth Bonuses from the Romans, some of the Temples were redundant. Also Jupiter was the father of the gods for the Romans, and I felt the Bonuses were a good balance for this temple use. I find it disturbing that games feel it necessary to add 10 types of temples or Barracks to a game. I never liked the idea and find it unnecessary and complicated for the player. SPQR’s philosophy is KISS (keep is simple).”
19. I’m currently playing SPQR 3.0 as the Julii Roman faction. Early on, I gave Narbo Martius to the Senate. Since that turn, the Senate has added 6 more territories. I’ve noticed that they do not build pre-Marian units and that they’ve built up quite a lot of Praetorian Cohorts and Praetorian Cavalry. This means that once the civil war is thrust upon me, the Senate will be a very tough nut to crack. Was it your intention that the Senate be the “big, bad” during endgame or is this behavior by the AI atypical?
“Well yes, that was my intent. As the Senate was usually backed by several senators, which I cannot reproduce, this was the best way to give teeth to the senate. Also what you did was set yourself up later, sure you have it easier letting the Senate fight your battles, but then later you will have to deal with them, and this adds strategy. The senate only builds Praetorians, which no one else in the game can make. This makes them handy to hold off invasions and give challenge to players playing other factions, as well as making the old trick of getting the senate to act as a buffer dangerous.”
20. I’ve noticed that armories are not available in SPQR. What was the thinking behind that decision?
“In SPQR they do not do anything because of the balance stats for the units, they are only available to certain factions that build chariots. In SPQR they became redundant and since I could not modify how much bonus they gave, they became useless for non chariot factions.”
21. Was there anything that you wanted to do with your mod package that the “hardcoding” of RTW made particularly difficult or impossible?
“Yes Lots, AI was the biggest problem, especially for battlefields. Also missing features like naming or Legions, Battle statistics for losses and kills for campaign games, and of course 3D ship battles.”
22. Did you consider changing the load screens in SPQR?
“Not really as I liked the load screens they came with, plus it adds a lot of Mb’s to the file. It’s already over 90Mb, make it anymore and the poor guys with a 56k modem will never be able to down load it. I try to only add what I feel is needed and keep size down.”
23. What were the thought processes behind the selection of the music that you used for SPQR?
“Glad you asked that. RTW music was OK, but it wasn’t Roman, it was more Greek and Eastern, it reminded me a lot of Troy. Back in the 1940-50’s some composers tried to make some music they believed sounded Roman. This is the music we all grew up, hearing it in movies like Ben Hur, The Robe, Quo Vadis, etc. I believe this music echo’s the Might, Power and Majesty of ROME. As for the battle music well what can beat a good score like that, which gives goose bumps when you see your men hold the line against Barbarian hordes. In the Score you can hear the carnage and melee of battle. As for the Campaign, it sounds of Empire building and expanding, while being pleasant to the ears. SPQR is about War, Total War and I believe this music I chose indicates what to expect with this mod.”
24. Do you think that console systems are a good platform for strategy games?
“No I do not, I feel they are good for making money and that is all. I believe the strategy behind it is to tap into younger markets and to simplify the gameplay for a target audience less than 15 years of age. Consoles are good for action games, but not strategy games, IMO.”
25. What are some of your thoughts about some of the other mod packages that are out there or are in production right now?
“Well, there are many good mods both large and small, really too many to name. But what comes to mind is RTR which is an excellent mod and is what inspired me to make my own mod because them tailoring toward realism more than gameplay. EB is an awesome mod that I am working with as a team member, and looks to be one of the most historically realistic mods yet for RTW. I am very glad to see all these mods popping up like Vlad, DathVader, Bouis, Gaius Julius modifications. Also there is a whole bunch of Small mods that really add to the gameplay of RTW.”
26. Can you describe the SPQR mod package in 5 words or less?
“SPQR is Total War!”
Once again, LT1956, let me thank you for taking the time to talk to us. I’m sure that the many fans of SPQR will appreciate getting some inside information about you and your marvelous mod package.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A huge thank you to teecee and lt1956
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many thanks to GauisGizmo and .Spartan for making this all possible.
and <span style='color:red'><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Rome - Total Realism</span></span>
