ES: Vol.I No.5 Mod Focus - Age Of Hellas (AOH)

[Carousel]

Mod focus by Centurion Quintus
Age Of Hellas

Centurion Quintus was forunate enough to recently catch up with Laridus from the Age Of Hellas team. What follows is the interview that occured. A note to readers, Centurion Quintus' text is in red, whilst Laridus text is left default grey. Enjoy:
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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

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A huge thank you from the Eagle Standard and all credit due to Centurion Quintus.

[subedei the great]

AOH might be the greatest mod in the history of mankind. *tongue* as this time period is my favorite

[Carousel]

Yes it is looking very promising, can I take this oppurtunity to personal thank Centurion Quintus for this interview, it's very good. A thank you to Laridus aswell, for taking the time to speak to us.

Expect to see some more about AOH in our upcoming Community Mod Update (CMU). Stay tuned. :happy

[MasterAdnin]

Can you ask them to give a pic of the map?

[Carousel]

I updated it to include a picture, I'm not sure how oldor new it is, but you can see the direction they are heading, and the campaign map in the bottom - enjoy :happy

[Prince Laridus Konivaich]

Yes, all of the screenshots from the map are quite old, and some areas, especially southern greece have changed substantially since they were taken.

For example, since that screenshot, five new regions have been added within the area pictured, three other cities have been renamed, Lake Kopais was added, and four of the cities have been moved. :wack

[Carousel]

Thanks for the update Laridus, ill be sure to keep your fans up to date on whats going on :happy

[King_Azzole]

:lol Tell quintus we want harder hitting and cutting edge questions ala fox news :lol

[subedei the great]

YEAH no pansy polite interviewing or any of that stuff we want in your face journelism!

[Centurion Quintus]

:lol

I'll keep that in mind guys.

"Why are you making this mod!?

[Carousel]

Personally I think it's spot on, you can't really compare it to the SPQR interview we have because this mod isnt released yet. I think CQ did an excellent job of prying the answers from Laridus *tongue* An interview like this needs to be informative, and it was, extremely. The difference with the SPQR interview is that it's already been released so theres double the amount of things to question (Q's about SPQR and Q's about future mods) :happy

[Prince Laridus Konivaich]

"Why are you making this mod?!"

The reason that we are making AoH is that Curtis13, the creator of the mod wanted to play a campaign in Greece as the Greeks. I joined the mod after reading a topic on the Trivum.org forums about making a campaign map from satellite data, as a part of another mod based in ancient Greece, which was being designed by a member named Oskoui. I was interested in making a new map for RTW, so I took the satellite data that had been posted in that thread and made the base for a campaign map.

Then, Curtis13 and Oskoui decided to merge their ideas, since the two mods were... almost identical. I joined the mod as the maker of the campaign map. Oskoui, however, decided to leave the mod. Originally the mod was just going to be a reskin for the different Greek factions using different colors for each city, but many people became interested, and several good historians joined, bringing the mod to where it is now.

Realize, of course, that this has all taken place since about the beginning of March, so the whole thing has been rather hectic, with changes and people flying all over the place.

[Curtis13]

Originally posted by subedei the great@May 18 2005, 03:15 PM
AOH might be the greatest mod in the history of mankind. *tongue* as this time period is my favorite

That's the plan. It is my favourite time period as well, that is why I decided to create this mod.

I'd like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, pop over to the forum website (see my sig) or the TWC specific website and post some suggestions and ideas.

Thanks

Curtis13

[Doctor_OCTAGON]

QUESTION: Will Sparta be allowed to have two faction leaders? because they did have two kings.

[The Bograt]

QUESTION: Will Sparta be allowed to have two faction leaders? because they did have two kings.

I also think they should, BUT one should have a very high command rating, and low management/influence, and the other have the opposite, seeing as only one king would lead the army, the other would stay back and manage the city.

[mentor]

8 turns per year... I think its too much, maybe better to use 4 seasons? (as Lords of the Realms)
Do u plan to make changes to Diplomacy? In Vanilla TW i didn't find it!

[Parmenion]

question....
why dont you guys include the peloponesian war????
like the hellenic total war mod for medieval viking invasion!!!
that would be better in my opinion.....persian wars and the great greek civil war within....with all the factions.....aitolians-spartans-athenians-corinthians........!!!!

[Shaun]

well, this mod is looking great!

[Strahd]

are you guys going to have thassaly(?) and are they going to have better cavalry than infantry? also are the spartans going to have two "leaders" or just one? is athens going to be the naval power house or are they going to start the same as everyone else? and are you including the helot "slaves" that followed the spartans into battle? what about the "Theban Sacred Band" ? sorry for so many questions this mod looks..... IS going to blow every thing else out of the water!!!! the map is looking great, and the skins are butiful. i like SigniferOne's animation it is closer to real hoplite fighting than RTW's "phalanx. but n e way keep up the work.



ps you can gartee that ill play it, i had the hellenic mod for MTW: viking. i love this time frame. long live Athens and Sparta!!!!

[deadcell87]

Thessaly is one of the main factions and their cavalry will probably one of the best in the game. I don't know if you can have two faction leaders at the same time. About Athens I don't know. And I think Sparta will have a helot unit. The Theban sacred band unit didnt come around untill the end of the Peloponesian Wars so thats a no.