"Forgotten Realms Of Middle-Earth(FRoME) NOT FOR 3. ///FARE WELL LADS!MOVED TO NEW FORUM

[koultouras]

great work koultouras and beorn (sorry I didn't congratulate you on time, but I was busy with a school project and I didn't log in the DAC forums yet)
It is good to see that you listened to one or two of my comments on the unit rosters. Thanks for that.
I was surprised that you had allready done so much for dunland, didn't expected that.
As said to beorn earlier: The dunlands are really how I imagine them allways. Very nice!!!
Just awesome work koul and beorn. I will be happy to make some ancillaries for these factions

@ Eol
this

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

2) A 2d-artist to construct the factions symbols
and units' info cards ( several members have allready shown their interest
and we would like to thank them for that..... )

is reffering to u m8!
thanks for all the hep and the support!

[ChaosReigns]

Wow, this is extremely cool. Props on the units.

[Jarlaxe]

great work guys,congrats

[Earl of Memory]

Wow, those units look rather nice. By the way, what are you looking for when you asked about Normal maps?? Are you looking for quality such as the units of Rusichi TW? I think they used zbrush or at least I remember some guy saying so (not easy to do, but awesome results). Some easier to make normal maps can be done with photoshop or GIMP, very easily with a Plug-in, and then its your task to control the illumination and that stuff (e.g. so that armor looks shiny and realistic).

Now, some criticism on the dunlending units...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I've always thought the men of Dunland (and Bree, and some others) to have been meant "celtic" by Tolkien, which I don't really see represented in some of the units (who look very nice by the way).
The shields, arms, even the beards, and some unit concepts don't seem to fit that role.

For instance, the shields could use more "natural", intricate patterns, and could be bigger, probably oval, but not round shields (larger shields were mostly used when armor was unavailable, at least in Europe); maybe with the influence of the rohirrim and their round shields, some could use them. Celts from 300BC used oval shields mostly, and could be used as a concept for the faction IMHO.

Also, I believe very few of them should have blonde hair, instead they should have dark hair and dark eyes (brown, black); they even used "strawheads" as an insult (referring to the blonde haired rohirrim).
Also, IIRC, celts preferred to have no beards (difficult to keep maintain and keep clean), instead using mustaches or small goatees. Maybe the cold climate of the hills justifies the beards, but the upper classes could use a more "fashionable" mustache instead.
Maybe also intricate blue patterns which cover their skin, to make them look all the more celtic, intimidating, savage, and wild. That would be great indeed, and very different from the other factions, which gives them a sense of "uniqueness".
Maybe also a champion unit, wielding swords and shields or two-handed swords, who keeps morale up, since tribal warbands don't have the highest morale.
So, in summary, dark hair, less beards, large oval shields, intricate patterns, its what i suggest.
I think that's about it, maybe just change the names a bit so that not all the names are "Dunland+Weapon".

Great work +Rep

[Jean=A=Luc]

This is a pretty interesting take on the "morality" of Dunlendings:

But despite their involvement with Saruman, and their various assaults upon Rohan in the ThirdAge (and a possible involvement with Sauron in the SeA), Dunlendings were not a particularly "evil" people. They feared the Elves, and their grievances against the Rohirrim and the Dúnedain were at least partially justifiable -- if they were a chauvinistic people, they were no more so than the Rohirrim. Not all of them trusted Saruman, either, and many who travelled north into Eriador were not agents of Isengard, but "poor bodies" seeking lands where they could live in peace (The Fellowship of the Ring). And Dunlendings always hated Orcs, even if they were forced at times to fight alongside them: the "squint-eyed Southerner" at Bree was a half-orc who had been evicted from Dunland. But Dunlendings appear to have been friendly to other folk -- the Stoors lived among them in the fourteenth century of the ThirdAge, and they sheltered Dwarves of the House of Durin who had been dispossessed by Smaug. After the Battle of the Hornburg, when they were made aware of the lies of Saruman -- which had provoked them into joining the assault upon Rohan -- they made reparations to the Rohirrim by helping them to clear the battlefield, and made an undertaking to never again make war upon the Mark.

link: http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/wiki.cgi?Dunlendings

Perhaps their allegiance in the game shouldn't be strictly tied to evil.

They are indeed reported to have had brown/dark hair and the team mostly portrayed this well with various shades of brown. I don't see any overt "blondes" though some have fairly light hair.

[Simon_SnowLock]

yes i would love to see a realativly neutral faction ( atleast as much as one can be in total war) but would this but evil factions at a disadvantage in this mod?

[BohemianHussar]

Loving the idea of the Galadhrim being their own faction, was waiting for DAC to play them but judging from your guys progress something tells me this mod may come out sooner due to less work required.

Any hint at how the Galadhrim will be different from mirkwood by chance? Then again nvm, that would ruin the surprise of this mod! I just hope its compatible with the vale of Anduin mod as well it its completed cause then that's a total of 5 new fun factions to vie for power in middle earth *evil smirk*

[Earl of Memory]

I don't see any overt "blondes" though some have fairly light hair.
[/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]

Maybe its just my eyes or my computer...

[Eöl]

I just hope its compatible with the vale of Anduin mod as well it its completed cause then that's a total of 5 new fun factions to vie for power in middle earth *evil smirk*

Don't worry. Or they will make it compatible or they will add VoA into their mod. You will have 5 new factions with this mod. (of course 19 new factions with DAC)

[Khosrau]

Wow, what an unexpected but really nice surprise!

I'm amazed by the progress thus far, those models are awesome. Great work team!

Also, nice to finally have some hammers in the game, those golden dwarves ar sublime.

[koultouras]

@ Earl of Memory
thanks for the kind words.... As for celtic apperance , 1 /3 of the units have an almost celtic-gothic apperance (i am obviously referring to tribal axemen who are my favourite)
if you observe them more you will realise that several units have been given heads of Highlanders of SS

@JAl
yes .... i was thinking of it as well....... but i am no lore expert---and i have one of the most well informed ones(BEORN) as my colleague----, so he is the one to make those decisions

@Justinianus
We tried to give another Factions concept for these Dwarves
Since Erebor (former Dwarves) will be the master miners, we decided to represent the Blue Mountains as the master blacksmiths of that world,
i am not quite sure if it would that lore accurate , but we didn' t like the idea of making another dwarven faction with the same charcteristics & concept
Besides that, mining was not the only thing that Dwarves have mastered but imho forging was definitely one of them.....

Any hint at how the Galadhrim will be different from mirkwood by chance? Then again nvm, that would ruin the surprise of this mod! I just hope its compatible with the vale of Anduin mod as well it its completed cause then that's a total of 5 new fun factions to vie for power in middle earth *evil smirk*

well as already said the division of them was a last minutes decision
so do not expect to see the variety of the the allready previewed 2 factions
we just made some color adjustments and Beorn (who is in charge of their rosters) had some ideas of making some units that the 2 factions will share and some unique as well....
there are though some TOTALY new units but there are only 2-4 of them for each facrion.....
the basic work on this 2 was mainly focused on changing battle styles of some units / weaponry and skin colors

[Violator]

You are right!! They are miners, blacksmiths, and even "sculptures" in a way if you think what they did in the "Palace of Moria"!!

[AnthoniusII]

Exelent work here my friends...(+rep)!!!
Realy top class....
I would sugest Lord Calidor's weapon pack for your human factions(atleast the weapons that they fit)...

[Jackie Treehorn]

I asked the question again, since I didn't got an answer yet. Will there be more settlements for the new factions? If not, than the several factions will consists of only two or three settlements. For example Isengard can not more expant to the north and east, since there is dunland.

[koultouras]

I asked the question again, since I didn't got an answer yet. Will there be more settlements for the new factions? If not, than the several factions will consists of only two or three settlements. For example Isengard can not more expant to the north and east, since there is dunland.

yes sorry but there was to much activity by that time

well we havent thought of that yet , our primary goal was not to get involved with mapping
cause it is (yet.... dont forget i started moding on last november) an unknown territory for me

i can surely code some but my knowledge reaches only the modification of edu/desc.build/moddels.db
and that just to implement units ingame in order to take screenies

Now i suppose (for start) that there will not be any change on the map but i suppose that we will have to
see that matter thoroughly eventually in the future

[Jackie Treehorn]

Thanks for the quick answer. It can work with the excisting settlements, though I suppose it might weaken some factions. Specially the Dwarvs, Silvan Elves and Isengard, might get problems, since they will not more be able to create big realms so easy. I would expect that a conflict Isengard vs Rohan will start earlier, since Isengard will be blocked to expand to the east and north. On the other hand side, it can have the effect that Isengard will not more have war with Eriador and High Elves and can concentrate on Rohan.

[koultouras]

well having divided dwarves into 2 factions and placing dunland in the middle of the map
will definitely affect the way of the campaign .... i can imagine (or since nothing is tested yet on cmpgn due to lack of codder , i would hope ... ) that war will now be concetrated on territories and
will not expand into an "all against all" war.... i like to see rohan facing isengard/dunland (both with limited chances of expansion) together and dunlendings fighting to keep northern borders clear from
eriador and H.elves

in the north ered luin will not have serious threats on start but OoMm will soon be at their door step, but theY(oomms) have to watch their eastern borders as well since from now on there will
be a distinguished north/eastern threat.... Erebor , who still will have to conquer Moria and keep rhun at bay......

this is how i suppose it will affect the campaigns

[Beregond]

Wooww, I just noticed this!
totally fantastic work!!

I'm really looking forward to trying this ingame! rep to both of you!

could you please listen to some of the minor comments:

would it be possible to make some different helmets for higher-tier Dunland troops, more fully enclosed, perhaps some viking ones?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

how lore-wise are the helmets with horns for Dwarves?

[koultouras]

@beregond
1) i was thinking of smth like that , but this would make them really close to the rohirim's apperance .... no matter how influenced are they by rohan / or no matter
how crucial the interaction was between these two peoples , we decided not to make a rohan replica-faction but to be more creative

2) Well horns was just something i thought of in order to make them distinguished from erebor( Ered-luins planning was my duty solely)
i really cant be sure about that .... (Ohhhhh , Beorn where art thou? he can surely confirm whether it is lore-wise or not)

but even if not dont they look nice?

[Beorn]

Τhanks for the comments, guys!

As for the mapping issues, we plan to add 3 settlements in the Dunland area and to make something special for Isengard....