Ask Your Questions Here!

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

I think what Capsoi means is that there are a lot of factions of men in the game that are not Dunedain but also follow the Ways of the West (Rohan, Dale etc etc).

Ah, yes. The Northmen.

[caspoi]

Those converting between ways of the west and ways of darkness have any actual effect on factions duch as Rhovanion or Harandor?

[MasterOfNone]

Rhovanion and Harondor are the only two factions that can choose between WotW and WoD culture buildings. It has no effect on troops/buildings, so it is more about ease of expansion. It is a very recent addition to these factions and could perhaps do with more of a think through - if we get time...

[caspoi]

I thought so, so this is more about roleplaying than anything else if you want to convert one of these factions.

[CountMRVHS]

Right, 'converting' doesn't really happen in the sense of a faction like Rhun or Dunland converting to the Cult (no new troops become available if over 50% of settlements have a different alignment). The real mechanical benefit is that e.g. Rhovanion could benefit from Trials of Blood upon conquering a settlement of Rhun, rather than having to build its own Ways of the West chain and having to deal with converting the populace. So ease of expansion, as MoN said. In its current state, the ability to choose would of course only be useful insofar as one of those factions decides to expand into territory belonging to a Ways of Darkness/Ways of the West faction.

[Galgus]

That seems to make an awkward situation where Rhovanion would be more likely to go to war with the west after adopting their ways, though it makes sense in the populace control way.

[nergalsmom]

IMHO, I strongly urge you to keep culture building choice for Rhovanion and Harondor as-is, or perhaps even make it slightly more detailed if time and effort permits. If I know my Middle-Earth history as well as I think I do, both of those areas have been under the political control of both Gondor and the Men of Darkness at various points in time. If native elites in those places would be strong enough to form what amounts to factions (as is the case in the mod), it would be very strange if those local elites did not have experience working with and within both WotW-type and WoD-type administrations.

Historical "realism" aside (it's a fantasy mod, after all) I think it illustrates nicely the concept of free will present in the works of Tolkien. Evil men are often described as "decieved by the dark lord" or something similar, and few indeed (the Black Numenoreans come to mind) of the free peoples are ever described as being willingly corrupted beyond all forgiveness and salvation. Also, many heroes take great pains to try and convert defeated enemies to the ways of the west rather than simply exterminating them. Just think about the way the Rohirrim treated the Dunlendings after the siege of the hornburg, or how Gandalf resolved to try and talk some sense into Saruman even after he was totally defeated.

Anyway, such are my arguments. In any case, the cultural building choice adds a great deal of unique flavor to the Rhovanion and Harondor factions, and this is a good thing in itself, is it not?

[webba84]

You sum up rather well why we added the option for those factions, nergalsmom

[CountMRVHS]

Yes, those are all good points. There are no plans to change that particular feature as of yet. Currently both factions (Rhovanion and Harondor) also have the ability or potential to train both WotW-style and WoD-style units, either in their normal faction lineup or through assimilation units (AUs) that are 'unlocked' as those factions expand in particular directions. It's nothing like a full roster switch, but it does give a faction like Rhovanion a bit of extra flavor and further reinforces their portrayal as a faction on the margin of a cultural divide.

[demagogos nicator]

I do not ask for relase date or anything, I am just curious how is the development of the final version going..

[CountMRVHS]

Getting closer all the time. Webba is pulling together the Elven settlements as we speak. After that, the big things are the Dwarven settlements and traits/ancs.

[caspoi]

Sounds good, any sneak peaks?

[webba84]

I was hoping to have it ready for some preview screenshots by now but while most of the models are done (ish, I want to improve the textures after testing in game) they have yet to be imported into the game for use.

When Im happy with how its looking, then I will definitely share it.

[ElvenKind]

Hi webba84..

How long does the campaign last in FATW? Can it be edited in descr_strat, or, in some other file?

[webba84]

Hi!

1000 turns max according to descr_strat, though you will either win or lose long before that happens I think. Out of curiosity why would you want to change it?

[ElvenKind]

Hi!

1000 turns max according to descr_strat, though you will either win or lose long before that happens I think. Out of curiosity why would you want to change it?

1000 turns is fine with me. I thought it was less or similar to 500 turns as in Third Age TW which I used to play. I had managed to make my RTW+BI+ALEX to work on my old laptop yesterday, and downloaded FATW to try it out. Looks good so far.

I like the Provinces system. But just started playing, lets see what else is "under the hood".

[webba84]

Have fun!

[Nelduin]

I was hoping to have it ready for some preview screenshots by now but while most of the models are done (ish, I want to improve the textures after testing in game) they have yet to be imported into the game for use.

When Im happy with how its looking, then I will definitely share it.

Great news, I'm really curious to see how you have depicted Elven architecture compared to the architecture we can see in the movies, for example. Can't wait for the Dwarven one, too.

[webba84]

As well as my limited skill and RTW allows - which is to say not nearly as beautiful as what the incredibly talented people who work on hollywood blockbusters can produce.

Within the context of trying to fit in with and improve on vanilla RTW buildings though, Im pretty happy with how its starting to look. Heavily based on wood elves with a low magic, mundane aesthetic as fitting the book descriptions, Tolkien's own drawings, and the 4th age setting.

[Nelduin]

Sounds pretty good.