Future of TROM - Towards NTW - Help needed

[Johan217]

(Or, to cut a long story short: After NTW is released I shall retire, and so now I am looking for brave souls who want to take over the mod and adapt or develop it for NTW)

Dear all,

With Napoleon: Total War only a few weeks away (though I expect a delay ) it's a good time to start thinking about the future of TROM. In fact I've been thinking about it for quite some time already, but I was a little afraid to put my conclusions into words.

I think it is safe to say that ETW is currently kept on life support by CA/SEGA and will die shortly after NTW is released. I give it a few more weeks until the first major NTW mods start to appear, but not longer. And if ETW dies, then the ETW mods will die with it. So the only way forward is to adopt NTW.

For those of you who have not been with TROM from the start, a little history may be worthwhile. The concept and the framework of TROM is the work of one man: Sage2 (Sage, if you're reading this: thanks for giving it to us!). At some point (I think it was April or May) I joined Sage to help out with the AOR system and mostly some cosmetic work. Around August, however, Sage went to do other things and TROM was pretty much dropped into my lap. I did my best to continue his work, adding more features, fixing and tweaking stuff and keeping watch over this forum. Even though I got some great help from individual players (thanks to all of you, I'm not mentioning you by name, but you know who you are! ), it has mostly been a one-man effort. And though it's been a rewarding experience, it has also been demanding and, most of all, very time consuming. The mod has grown too big for one person to handle it.

I can't say that I am looking forward to NTW. Which is sad, because the Napoleonic era has always appealed to me. But my experiences with ETW, coupled with the heavy workload, have worn out my enthusiasm for the series. I may or may not buy NTW upon release, I may even do some modding for it, but I will not take charge of a mod of such proportions as TROM.

So, what now?

I am appealing to all TROM players who have some knowledge of modding - whether it's modding unit stats, editing textures, or whatever - to get together and take this mod to NTW. Alternatively, I am also looking to make TROM completely "open source" to any mod team who wants to incorporate portions of TROM into their mod. I am sure that some of the TROM features, like the AOR system, campaign tweaks, or the general unit balance can be useful as part of a large NTW mod.

I will of course continue to support and develop TROM until NTW comes out. But after that... it will be up to someone else.

Feel free to post in this thread and discuss, or better still, volunteer for duty.

Most of all: thank you all for your support over the months!

[altbzat]

i will be able to help alot with research on historical uniforms. but my knowledge about modding and texturing is more than limited

regards

[moopere]

Thanks for your great work Johan. Its a difficult thing to keep up such a large workload and at the same time keep the enthusiasm high. It doesn't help when every 4-6 weeks CA goes and breaks everything for not very great reasons (DLC for goodness sakes!!!).

We the TROM players are extremely lucky that although the most active modding period of TROM may now be over, the mod is in such a complete state and so bug free that there is probably very little left to actually do aside from keeping compatibility with new CA releases (and I bet there will be another one around the release of NTW).

It hard for me to imagine what NTW is going to be like. ETW with new skins? Seems likely, but there could easily be major changes to the underlying databases as well causing a world of pain and problems for modding teams.

Anyway, thanks for giving us a way to actually enjoy ETW! I'd have shelved this game long ago if it were not for TROM in both its SP Campaign and MP formats.

Best regards, Moopere

[Marechal_Davout]

Johan - Thanks for all the hard work.

You have always made yourself available to help user issues or implement compatibility fixes. It is obvious to all of us that this was a major undertaking and that you could use a change of pace

This mod has taken this game to a new level

Thanks again

[Horgo Splendis]

Thanks for all the hard work and effort you put into the mod Johan, it is appreciated. Good luck in your future endeavors my friend.

A quick question though, Is there anyway to turn this blasted Steam auto update off so I could just enjoy the mod as it is currently? I have numerous times turned off auto update only to find it put back on somehow. I would love to play it offline without Steam at all. Not sure if that’s possible. That way if no one is up to the task of taking over Trom, I could just play it as is for as long as I wish.

I may have found my answer, although I dont have much faith in steam.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...3160-AGCB-2555

[Edax]

You'll be back, but best take a vacation and let some other modders do the footwork for now. Soon the call to battle, something that only Total War can provide, will probably bring you back to TROM. Unless NTW is a compete sham for money...which I hope isn't. I think we should all wait for the reviews first, and not pre-order for those Scot-Greys.

[Serenissima]

I'll be happy to help advise on the historical aspects as usual, especially the naval ones, which are my specialty!

I don't know a single thing about actual modding though. <.<

[Beastro]

If TROM moves to NTW then I'll be buying it.

Whats the eta on Sages return?

[Johan217]

Last thing I heard from Sage is when he went to take a leave after he got back from the Middle East. But that was in August...

[WarnerVH]

Johan, my hat off to you. You have made this game playable for me and I will miss it in the NTW version of modds. I hope there is somebody who will port the game over with you in the background guiding it forward.

Hats off and salute *S*

[Russ_Ace]

i have a feeling NTW will be just like M2TW kingdoms. I will follow this mod to any game and i will always play Trom for etw.

[Beastro]

I pre-ordered NTW for TROM.

Don't let me down.

[Rustem35]

I pre-ordered NTW for TROM.

Don't let me down.

I thought there would be no trom for NTW

[Beastro]

I thought there would be no trom for NTW

I think it is safe to say that ETW is currently kept on life support by CA/SEGA and will die shortly after NTW is released. I give it a few more weeks until the first major NTW mods start to appear, but not longer. And if ETW dies, then the ETW mods will die with it. So the only way forward is to adopt NTW.

This is what'll happen to ETW once NTW comes out.

CA will rather deal with a clean slate than bother to fix ETW, imo.

[Invictus XII]

Hey, I've already got competition!

[WarnerVH]

Just curious here; but has anybody taken the reigns behind the scenes in attempting to mod NTW in an official way in the venue of TROM?

[Johan217]

Just curious here; but has anybody taken the reigns behind the scenes in attempting to mod NTW in an official way in the venue of TROM?

Nope

At least I have bought NTW and I am not totally put off by it. I'll even stick my neck out and draw up a preliminary blueprint for TROM II: (I'll post this elsewhere later so hopefully some modding talent will take the bait).

The Rights of Man II for NTW
Mod philosophy
Basically, unchanged from TROM: create a slower paced, more challenging game; preserve the general gameplay of the original (i.e. no extended campaign, new regions etc); and strive to reflect authentic 19th century tactics on the battlefield.

With the advent of MP campaigns, it will be impossible to keep offline and online gameplay separated. Unit stats etc will be balanced for MP as much as possible, but SP gets precedence.

As with TROM, TROM II will have a specific end point: no use in adding an endless list of new features. It's just that for TROM I did not have enough manpower to realise that end point, and the fact that ETW patch 1.4/1.5 broke a few things didn't make it easier either...

Main features
- Reworked battle mechanics (land and naval)
- Rebalanced campaign mechanics (i.e. "making it more difficult")
- Regional recruitment (AOR) system
- Bugfixes

In detail
Reworked battle mechanics
- Reduce the ridiculous movement speeds of the original
- Increase musket range (with degrading accuracy), reduce rate of fire
- Probably an overall decrease of melee stats
- Remove grenades, wooden stakes
- Remove hiding abilities for all units except Light Infantry and Irregulars
- Reduce movement speed and turning rate of ships, rebalance of projectile stats

Rebalanced campaign mechanics*
- Increase the effect of attrition, possibly compensated by making supply depots more effective
- All units except maybe irregulars may suffer attrition
- Significantly reduce AI tendency for raiding, forcing it to use larger stacks (especially with its historical generals)
* Provided it does not cripple the AI

Regional recruitment (AOR) system
- If possible, make the bonus units you get when you liberate a country faction specific; if not: use a generic "Foreign Volunteers" unit with a distinct uniform
- When you occupy a nation's capital, you can recruit units of that nation (e.g. occupy Bavaria and recruit Bavarian Line Infantry, with its distinct uniform)
- A limited number of regional units (probably mostly auxiliary units, the occasional "elite unit" or "unique regiment")
- Militia, be gone! 19th century rulers were paranoid about handing muskets to the common folk. Remove Armed Citizenry (and recuperate its 3D model for some other unit ), the pop-up garrison will consist of a new "Garrison Troops" unit (substandard Line Infantry) and some Militia.
- Rebalance the building requirements so that some elite units are available early in the game.

Bugfixes + other
- For a start, correct the eyesore spelling "Voltiguers"

Graphics, UI, Sound, Music
None! These are mostly a matter of personal preference anyway. Try to ensure compatibility with 3rd party skin/effects/music packs etc as much as is practical. That minimap icons mod looks interesting however

PEOPLE NEEDED
(where's that Lord Kitchener poster when you need it?)
Needless to say, I'm not going to do this on my own, or even for the long run (I have a life to lead, and want to play games I actually enjoy a lot more than TW when my wife and kids have gone to bed ). So if nobody steps forward, it means the end of TROM, I'm sorry to say.

More specifically, I am looking for at least 2 people who:
- have a lot of spare time on their hands
- have played TROM, or at least agree with the general outline decribed above
- can work with DBEditor, ESF Editor and MS Excel
- have a good eye for unit stats and their effects in-game (it's this very part that I do not want to do)
- can provide tech support on the forum

Apply here or via PM.

[Yarkis de Bodemloze]

Count me in. I am already working on my personal gameplay mod TROM-style. I start with little changes while playing the camapaigns. Here is a list of what I did so far:

Campaign Changes:

- lowered research points of all research buildings by 20%
- AI no longer gets a big research rate bonus on H/VH (this was done to slow the research rate ovverall, because factions can always get tech through diplomacy)
- reduced player income on H/VH slightly
- removed artillery recruitment bonuses from the manufactory building line and added them to the gunsmith building line instead

Battle changes

- reduced unit movement speed by 20%
- reduced square bonus vs cavalry from -25 to -20
- ship repair rate halved (from 4 to 2)
- reduced accuracy of land artillery slightly: calibration area changed from 25 to 35
- reduced range for half chance to hit for all weapons by 20% (to balance the reduced movement speed out)

Overall I am quite happy with nappy so far. It's my impression that put a lot more thought into gameplay mechanics. Therefore I am reluctant to change too much from the start before getting enough experience with the game.

Future plans:
- adding prestige victories back ( I already got that to work but the prestige point distribution needs some balancing)
- increasing cavalry strength to 80 men per unit

[Johan217]

Count me in.

You, Sir, are a star! And hired, too

- reduced accuracy of land artillery slightly: calibration area changed from 25 to 35
- reduced range for half chance to hit for all weapons by 20% (to balance the reduced movement speed out)

Did you manage to edit the projectiles table? I can't seem to open it.

[Yarkis de Bodemloze]

You, Sir, are a star! And hired, too


Did you manage to edit the projectiles table? I can't seem to open it.

No, I edited the rules table.

My next project is to edit the recruitability of warships (and continue playing my campaign...). Don't know why CA made it that only dockyards can recruit these which limits warships to a small number of factions. My idea is to give trading ports a limited selection of warships to build while dockyards get the whole range of units with higher experience bonuses or other bonuses to shipbuilding, and also get a limited trading capacity.